I was curious about that, too - it looks like a beautiful one.

what mosque is that picture from?

My first experience at the masjid was pretty interesting, because the first Muslim community I was in was very tiny. I was the only woman that went to jumuah. When I moved to go to graduate school I found the masjid there and went to the ladies' prayer room and again was feeling disappointed because there was just one other lady there. I think that she told me that there were some others in the basement and when I went down there I remember feeling so relieved because there were so many ladies there :). I think that new Muslims should realize that becoming Muslim is a huge blessing but it is definitely an adjustment. So its important to keep trying and improving our deen, and yet at the same time not beat ourselves up constantly.

Assaalmu Alaikum,

After I started my personal study in religions when I was around 19, Islam entered my heart as it was intuitive, common sense, logical and very importantly, based on reliable sources of info. However for some reasons I did not want to commit to practising Islam due to many distorted thoughts I still had so I stayed away from the Muslims.. after a few years have been wasted, a friend from work invited me to go to the Jumaa prayer one day, and that was my first Jumaa.. and Alhamdulillah that was so thrilling and energizing that it brought me back. I felt so much energy, brotherhood and met so many smily and warm faces that made me want to give Muslims a chance, and since that time, 5-6 years ago, I got hooked to practising what I always believed is the truth sinceever I started my search for it, Alhamdulillah. The community I belong to is extremely progressive, with highly educated people (almost every other person is a PhD masha-Allah), people with vision, moderation and strong on activism and volunteering.. you can really feel the energy vibes around.

However and just like any indigenous or immigrant community, muslim communities may have some imported social ills at times. But when you look closer, you'll find out all of them are totally NOT from Islam, and in fact against it. This is something I struggled with, and I know many converts do, but it is natural, and part of the TEST Allah gives us in life.

So it's very important especially for new converts to get educated well about Islam to know what's from culture and what's from religion when dealing with Muslims, and also it is important to have an open mind and see things as objectively as possible so that the cultural/unIslamic social ills that can be present sometimes do not blind us from seeing the many many great features Muslims have, Alhamdulillah. The first 2 years for converts are usually challenging, but challenges are what make our bones stronger.

asalaam alaaykum

Sure!
My first experience to masjid was disappointing. The women's area was tiny, crowded, filthy, noisy and I couldn't see or hear what was going on at all. Plus, none of the ladies looked at me or talked to me but it appeared they did sometimes talk about me amongst themselves in Arabic.

My next experience was MUCH better - I went to a different masjid and it was clean, quiet, beautiful, they had TV so women could see and hear what was going on, people were happy to see me and talked to me and helped me, etc.