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From: sam@iastate.edu (Masroor Syed Abulkhair)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.islam
Subject: Re: HOW I REVERTED TO ISLAM
Message-ID: <1990Dec10.052822.2397@nntp-server.caltech.edu>
Date: 10 Dec 90 05:28:22 GMT
Sender: bes@nntp-server.caltech.edu (Behnam Sadeghi)
Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
Lines: 27
Approved: bes@tybalt.caltech.edu

PEACE.
I disagree with Nasir Khwaja.

1.   Muslims are now using the term "REVERTED" instead of "CONVERTED" in
case of Islam very commonly. The reason being the Muslim belief that all
children are born MUSLIMS i.e. they are in harmony with the world in
obedience of Allah, and completely w/o sin. Our parents however, often
impose their beliefs on us making us christians, jews, or idolators.
When we become Muslims, we are going BACK to our original state of
purity. Thus the word `Reverted'.

2.   Many African Americans are reverting to the true faith. Most of
them belong to the majority `sunni' Islam.  Some are also joining
different `religious groups', calling themselves Muslims. Some of these
may have a non-Islamic content.  If I classify some of them as
non-Muslims, it may be due to my sunni-hanafi bias.  However, I cannot
take a general position w/o carefully examining each one of these
groups. e.g. any cult that discriminates on the basis of race or color
is non-Islamic. However, it is not clear if any of the African-American
'Muslim' group discriminates on this basis.  Many Afro-American Muslims
are very highly respected in Muslim circles. However, each ethnic group
{Arab, Pakistani, African, Malay, American} seems to prefer its own.
African Americans are usually referred to as AMERICAN Muslims among us
FOREIGN borns!!

Hope I was a help
abulkhair masroor