Lucy Bushill Matthews and Abdur-Rahman Abou Almajd in dialog about Welcome to Islam.

"And you see people entering the religion of God in groups" 110:2

Prophet Muhammad said that Islam –with out conquering- will enter every house and will spread over the entire world.

Islam is the fastest growing religion in Europe and United States due to immigration and to some degree conversion. There seems to be a tendency of Western women converting in larger numbers than men.

I always think about what Ambassador Akbar tells me that Four out of five white converts in to Islam are women, out of an estimated 30 thousand converts a year in America.  Of the women we met, like Nicole Queen for example, many had striking similarities in their reasons for converting to Islam. Women we met were seeing a culture out of control and women being treated as objects. They see Islam as a way of drawing boundaries around, and demanding respect for themselves and their families. They also complained that the excesses in society are a threat to the young.

Sister Lucy Bushill-Matthews wrote a great work called welcome to Islam: A Convert's Tale , it isn’t only expected the Arabic edition appears quickly but also it must get prizes.

Lucy Bushill-Matthews

Lucy Bushill-Matthews is an English Muslim convert, she is a writer and the author welcome to Islam: A Convert's Tale 2008.

She has been a Muslim for 16 years and is now married with 3 children under the age of 10. She has run a Muslim school for many years, spoken about Islam with children at primary and secondary schools and those visiting the mosque, and trained teachers, police and other groups of adults about understanding Islam and Muslims. Lucy has also written a regular light-hearted column about being a Muslim mum in the Muslim lifestyle magazine Emel.

Having recently moved to South Africa, Lucy now works for Islamic Relief on skills development in poor communities, and on projects encouraging creative expression amongst the Muslim youth.

Sarah Joseph said: “Islam is the world’s most talked about religion, although often not for very positive reasons these days. In these troubled times, Lucy Bushill-Matthews’ first book, Welcome to Islam, will bring a smile to your face as she engages the reader with her deadpan humor.

She details her journey to Islam and the subsequent negotiations with friends and family, taking the reader on a tour of the faith and also her own personal circumstance. From the moment she converted Lucy had a lot of explaining to do, but her patience through the endless, and often bizarre, questions that she encountered comes through. With genuine warmth, honesty and openness, Lucy reveals herself to the reader. If her descriptions of her husband following her round with tarpaulin in case her home birth spoiled the carpets do not dispel two-dimensional stereotypes of Muslim women, nothing will!’’

Q: Ok, as you like, you said to me "I would be happy to interview on 'misperceptions of Islam' that Muslims and non-Muslims have. e.g. Muslims often assume you have to have a 'Muslim' name meaning an Arabic one and that there is only one interpretation of how to do things, .."

well, don't you know it is not necessary to change your name.

You can speak up new Muslims feelings to take in consideration.

Lucy: I understand Muslims often ask you why you haven’t got a Muslim name.

I do have a Muslim name. My name is Lucy, which means Light, same as the Arabic word Nur. Muslims usually mean why don’t I have an Arabic name. The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) never insisted people take names from a certain culture, for example Salman was Persian, Bilal an Ethiopian.  Muhammad only changed people’s names when they had a bad meaning, such Abu Bakr, the first person outside the Prophet’s family to become a Muslim. But he wasn’t called Abu Bakr then. He was called Abdul Ka`aba. When he was born, he was taken to the Ka`aba, he was dedicated to the gods of Ka`aba, and named Abdul Ka'aba meaning slave or servants of the Ka`aba. That was acceptable for the polytheists of Mecca. But clearly being a slave to the Ka`aba is not an Islamic thing to be. And so he changed his name to Abu Bakr - it means father of the young camel. There was also Abdul Shams (meaning Servant of the Sun)  whose name he changed to Abdul Rahman (worshipper of the Merciful, meaning Allah).

And non-Muslims ask you if your husband is Muslim and if he comes from an Arab country…

I wonder, would we ever ask a Muslim man if he became Muslim because of his wife? The ridiculous thing is I often find myself assuming that a woman I meet who is married and has embraced Islam has made that decision because of her husband. And then I catch myself for being so prejudiced for assuming a woman has no capacity to think independently.

It seems incongruous to many that someone would choose to follow Islam without being married to a Muslim. I am married to a Muslim but, like many who embrace the faith, I became Muslim before I got married, and it was a choice that was independent of my decision to get married.  My husband is not an Arab, and was born and brought up in the UK and Africa; he has also chosen to follow Islam.

Q: Why did you become Muslim?

Lucy: I met a number of Muslims over the space of three years who inadvertently encouraged me to question the Christian faith with which I had been brought up – some were in the UK, others in Egypt and Palestine, but these good and also not-so-good examples of Muslims all made me want to find out what it was all about. So whilst at university, I researched it, with no intention of becoming Muslim.  It took 18 months of talking to Muslims and reading before I decided to take my Shahadah.

Ultimately, I became Muslim because I believed in the simple but universal and inclusive creed: There is only one God for all humanity, and a series of prophets and messengers coming to communities throughout the world with this same message – prophets starting with Prophet Adam, including Prophet Jesus, and ending with Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon them all. I also had great appreciation for the practical aspects of Islamic life. Including appropriate relationships between the sexes, the lack of alcohol, and the spiritual and collective routine of prayer and fasting.

Q: When non-Muslims see you wearing a headscarf, what is their reaction?

Lucy: I started wearing a scarf after 2 years of being a Muslim, as I felt this particular step towards increasing modesty was an important although minor part of the faith. This has been the hardest part of being a Muslim, as my faith is now so visible to all. My parents were initially very disappointed with my choice, as non-Muslims in the UK generally associate head-covering now with oppression and being forced to cover up – even though only a few generations ago it used to be normal for women cover their hair. But Hijab also makes it easier for me, as Muslims can now identify me as ‘one of them’.

Q: What did you have to compromise on when you became a Muslim, to maintain close relationships with family?

Lucy: I had to focus on what was really important, and weigh up the different options using the principle of ad-Darar al Ashadd Yuzaalu bi-darar al Akhaff ‘i.e., Greater harm is to be removed by the lesser of two evils’.  For example, as a Muslim you should not sit with people who drink alcohol. But you should also not cut off family ties with blood relatives. I knew that it would be a big issue for my parents if I began to dictate what they should or should not drink in their own home if I was coming to visit. So my parents now know that, although when visiting my home there will never be any alcohol, in their home they are free to make their own choices about what to drink when I visit.

Q: What is your book ‘Welcome to Islam, a convert’s tale’ about?

Lucy: Only the first chapter is about why I converted – the rest is about the impact of embracing Islam in all areas of life, including the world of marriage, work, Muslim and non-Muslim community, and children. Importantly I wanted to include children and how we can attempt to bring them up as Muslim– making the point that conversion does not just impact the convert, but also people around us and the subsequent generation.

Q: Why did you write the book?

Lucy: I wrote the book primarily for non-Muslims, so they could get a basic accessible introduction to Islam and Muslims, with a little humor thrown in along the way.

I also wrote it for other converts, to document experiences they can empathize with, so they can know they are not alone.

But it has ended up being read by many born Muslims, who seem to appreciate learning about another person’s journey, so they can then reflect on their own life.

Q: How do you live your daily life as a Muslim?

Lucy: Unlike in Mecca, where the whole day is structured around prayer, my day is full of many other commitments: school runs, work, children’s activities, learning Arabic, teaching school – so many places to be at so many different times.  I make sure fit in prayers along the way, sometimes at home, sometimes at work– sometimes even in the car! After all, the whole world is a mosque.

My work involves identifying charitable projects for a Muslim institute. It takes me so many poor communities in South Africa, and I learn a lot from those interactions.  I work part-time, to be able to spend time with my children when school is finished for the day.

Q: What do you teach your children about Islam?

Lucy: I teach in a school where they learn how to read and pronounce Arabic Qur’an correctly, but also importantly to understand its meaning and question and discuss the Islamic message in a sociable environment. They learn Surahs at home and practise them there and in the car – unfortunately they are often in the car for long periods of time, so we have to use some of this time constructively!

I take the children regularly to an orphan centre so they can interact and help those less fortunate than themselves and learn first-hand that Islam involves caring for others. I

also emphasize that the inner character matters more than what they look like, as there is so much pressure about appearance as girls in particular become teenagers – most of these kind of lessons take place based on things that happen around them that we discuss.

Q: What do you write about in UK’s Emel magazine?

Lucy: My piece is called Reflections. I write about characteristics of an Islamic personality, such as compassion, seeking forgiveness, and reliance on Allah. I also discuss how we use Islamic institutions, such as school.

Q: What is it like to live as a Muslim in South Africa, where you now live?

Lucy: I have found it is easy to live life as a Muslim in South Africa.

When I first visited South Africa, one of the first things I noticed was that even the wet wipe in one of the restaurants had a Halal (lawful) sign on it. A Halal wet wipe - I had never before seen such a thing. What it signified to me was a large Muslim presence – it is only 2% of the population, but the Muslim population is generally educated and present in all aspects of media and business, so its impact is visible.

All kind of restaurants are Halal in South Africa – they are a bit harder to find in the UK. Even McDonalds is certified Halal, although just because it is Halal doesn't mean I want to be there, much to my kids’ disappointment.

And there are spaces to pray everywhere. There is a small community prayer room around the corner from where we live. Shopping malls have places to pray and so do even some restaurants – although as a woman, I have found myself occasionally squashed in between the spare saucepans and the serving dishes. My Hijab attracts very little curiosity, which is refreshing – but my very English accent is usually commented on instead!