I can't really remember if it did or not for me. But I do recall that I saw a different picture from reading the Qur'an and learning how the Prophet (saw) treated women. I find that Western media protrayal is quite horrid of Muslims, and I would not be surprised that if you took statements made about the Jews in Germany around the 1930's we would find that we could replace Jew with Muslim and it would fit some of today's attacks well.

Here is an article that I just read that I think you all will find interesting.
english.aljazeera.net

Jazakallah Khair Elle79 for sharing your experience, and I'm truly happy that those experiences did not detract you from following Islam. Insha-Allah you find your prince among men who will be comfortable with his duties in Islam to give you the freedom you need.

Men are meant to be the protectors of women:

The Quraan states:

"Men are maintainers of women with the bounties which Allah has bestowed more abundantly on some of them than on others; and with what they may spend out of their possessions" (4:34).


May Allah (swt) grant you all your duaas'

p.s. I had also been given the impression that when there are visitors, Muslimas would feed the men and then retreat to the kitchen to eat separately by themselves. So I guess this was one expectation that seriously bothered me. Generally, the fear is of being stifled, not having the freedom for intellectual and personal growth.

At first, before I did much research, this topic was absolutely terrifying. I love everything about Islam but was scared about this, and was also very unsure about the apostasy/death penalty thing, which I'm still uncomfortable with unfortunately.

But anyway, once I read the Qur'an and looked into some websites, I felt fine. This isn't something I go around advertising but I was seriously sexually assaulted by the first Muslim man I met here and the second didn't treat me well, but even after that I wasn't scared of converting, because I knew there were Muslim men out there who truly practiced Islam and thus behaved better.

Didn't have any expectations, but had concerns of just generally being brushed aside, disrespected, and perhaps being given little freedom to lead my own life, especially once married. My fear was, "What if I want to go away to the mountains for a week, alone, for no clear reason? Would a typical Muslim man be ok with that?"

My fear was of Muslims, not of Islam.

I accepted islam primarily because of its pristine monotheism, and because the teachings of the quran and our beloved, puh were so perfect. I am a former christian who from childhood had problems with the concept of trinity, original sin and the contradictions of the bible. Also the fact that christians would chose to follow parts of the bible and ignore others was a problem for me. As a person of colour, the racism and slavery inherent in the worship of another human being was also a huge problem.
The teachings of islam confronts and lays to rest all these problems.
Al hamdu lilah I am able differentiate between the teachings of islam and the behavior and shortcomings of muslims, and so the behavior of muslims in this area did not influence my decision in any way.
In every part of the world including the west women are devalued, oppressed and denied basic human rights. The only religion which addresses this is islam which unequivocally states that women and men are spiritually, morally and socially equal and gave women legal rights to property, inheritance etc.
Muslim women need to educate themselves and their sisters about the rights given to them by Allah SWT, and his beloved, puh. They also need to demand those rights within a framework of islamic behavior, not based on a western feminist model. If we demand our rights based on a western feminist model, we will not be supported by our muslim brothers and sisters who agree with our positions, and those who take away our rights and disrespect and oppress us will have all kinds of arguments to use against us. But if we confront them in a gentle, respectful but firm manner, with arguments based on the quran and sunnah, what can they say.It is my belief that we are treated the way we allowed ourselves to be treated. I have heard sheik Hamza Yusuf say many times that we have to speak up. That is what the female sahabah did. He said that in the early revelation Allah SWT would refer to the believers using the male noun as we use mankind to mean all of us, but one of the women asked the prophet puh about that and from then on all the revelation spelled out believing men and believing women. And there are many other examples.
Muslims are human and our community is rife with ignorant and unislamic practices which so many of us try to pass off as islam. We have to ask Allah SWT to guide all of us to the truth and purity of his religion and away from ignorance and wrong.

The treatment of women was one of my main questions and cocerns that held me up from converting to Islam. I feel victum, like so many others, to the media and what it said about Allah's religion. After talking with knowledgeable imamas who told me that it was not ok to abuse women and that those who abuse women do it from their own will and not the command of Allah. I began to then ask myself questions like, "why would Allah want to abuse something so beautiful that he created?" I think with a little commom sense anyone can tell that it is against Islam to abuse anyone. After putting to rest those fears I was able to freely come into Islam. As a man who has seen abuse of women I would never associate myself with a way of life that allowed it.

Islam in theory is unfortunately vastly different from Islam in practice and as long as you realise that, you have a more realistic perspective of things.

I knew many converts who have had a culture shock when actually interacting with muslims, after being solely exposed to Islam in theory.

But as long as YOU are aware of your rights as a muslim woman, that is empowering in itself and that way you know what you're entitled to and YOU define what you expect and will accept!

thanks for the comments. I don?t have time to read everything right now, but when i was concidering converting, i think i tried to ignore it all. I mean, I wanted to be a muslim, I wanted to worship Allah, and not have to worry a bout what people though. This is why i?m Muslim. Unfortunetly, i have seen women degregated, and i have had to speak up many times to say that women that wear hijab aren?t being repressed. anyways...salaam aleykum

Salaamun Alaikum

I can't help it, I have to pipe in...

I knew about the sexism within the ummah beforehand, had a fairly decent grasp on women and gender within the general notion of Islam (however, it was not thorough, nor is it now, ten years later).

However, after becoming a Muslim, I never expected to see *practising* Muslims (both male and female) treating women like crap. Unfortunately, I did witness it, over and over, more than I care to reiterate.

In terms of theology, the sexism I've found in "Islam" usually has to do with specific scholarly opinions and/or fatwas, and less to do with the primary source- the Quran itself. I've also seen less well known hadeeth in all schools of thought that disturb me in regards to women's roles. In order to reconcile the two, and to remain a Muslim and a woman who doesn't hold hatred for herself, I've had to basically come to the conclusion that I don't always believe the secondary sources.

In terms of the community- we know the poor treatment as well as the poor opinion of women is out there, and it is rampant. However, I don't see large changes coming, though I wish for it.

I wasn't really at all concerned, since being trained in anthropology i am able to distinguish culture from religion. but of course i braced myself for this stereotype, both within and without the community. it's an uphill battle.

Salaam akaikum. When I first started learning about Islam, I never was concerned with being treated badly. The Muslims I met were not the mistreating type. My parents were concerned when I had plans at one time to leave the country and move to the Middle East because of what they had seen in the media. Alhumdulilah, I got married 6 months ago and my husband treats me very well. It's like any other aspect of Islam, you have to educate non-Muslims about the truth and be an example in the way you live your life.

I was concerned about it because my family was concerned about it, so I did have to study about it and investigate it, etc. And honestly, as in any other faith or din, women are not always treated appropriately amongst Muslims, either. However, Islam itself as a din is superior to anything else in justice to all of creation including women.

I had the exact same experiences!

Well, I never heard any of those rumors when I was learning about Islam. In fact, the first thing I learned about Islam was one of the rights it gives women (I don't remember which because I immediately began researching all of them), and this is what initially interested me in Islam. Mostly because there is so much patriarchy in Christianity, and I was so astounded to see the level of respect and honor, as well as civil rights bestowed on women in Islam.

I never knew what TRUE equality was until I learned about equality in Islam. In the West, equality means sameness, and women try to be like men in order to get their rights. They should not have to. That sense of justice found throughout Islam is what drew me into it.

I have run into many people who hold those negative stereotypes of how women are treated in Islam. Sure there may be some truth to their claims based on what they have seen of certain cultures, but it really saddens me when they attribute that to Islam, and one of the hardest things you will ever do is try to convince someone who believes Islam treats women as "second class citizens" that they are wrong. They simply refuse to believe otherwise.

Alhamdulillah that I didn't have this hurdle to jump when I found Islam.