There's so much to say about this. Insha'Allah I will write a bit about it and either put in a separate post or email to you privately. MashAllah, so many good people. They do a brilliant job of counteracting the bad.

one of the things i was very very touched by is how modest and down to earth muslims can be. They can have Phds, a huge amount of Islamic knowledge, a lot of wealth yet you see them soo genuinly humble and soft. Also the high moral character of many Muslims I met is unreal.. of course there are exceptions but in general I am very blessed to have met some extraordinary people that are a big inspiration... me loves Islam!

It wasn't till I went to a program celebrating the life of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) put together by a group of Turkish students that I met some really nice, welcoming women. This is roughly 9-10 months after I converted. Two of them invited me to dinner the next week and there, I met another really super nice Turkish lady who had brought me a gift of several books, a picture frame, & prayer beads. And she never met me before. Unfortunately, she is moving on to study for her ph.d. two hours away :(. But she helped me to gain a little faith in this community.

Three of my favorites right here:

1. Always noting that in every community I've lived in (warts and all), there's always been at least ONE person, oftentimes a brother, who would come each week and cook for the entire community. Nine times out of ten, this would be done "invisibly" without any self-aggrandizement, announcement, etc.

2. When I had my first child, I was a bit at a loss with being a new parent and had a bad case of post partum depression. I never asked for help, but I really needed it through my pregnancy and post-delivery. Money being extremely short, one sister actually e-mailed around and got several women who were complete strangers to me to send me boxes and boxes of clothing that their own children had outgrown. Total strangers. After the birth, a sister in my area called up and forced my husband to come by her family's home to pick up mounds and mounds of food every-single-day for the first two weeks after I gave birth to my baby. We neither spoke the other's language or saw each other often.

3. The recent fundraising for Sr Amatullah's bone marrow transplant ended up raising enough for her operation, most of the donations from total strangers. Unfortunately, she passed away, but the greater Muslim community- Sunni, Shi'i, Conservative, Progressive, National and International all pulled through for her and her family in their time of need, and helped to give them a chance.

Among Muslims I have found the most generous people. Some of them raised the money for me to go for hajj. Some have hosted me in their homes so I could experience a masjid as there wasn't one where I lived, and they even paid my travel expenses to get there.

Salaam alaikum, I am really enjoying this village. It's a good way to interact with other converts and share and learn from each other :)

One of the main reasons I became so interested in Islam was when I met this Muslim family at college, and mashallah, the kids treated their parents and elders so well. It was like nothing I had ever seen before in the U.S. You don't find those kinds of people very often. Also, it is amazing how the Muslims I have met with do anything to help each other out. It's a great bond, and I do really feel like it's one big family within the Ummah.