Flying while arab/muslim

[noura 0]

Having a party now!

henia, you are cracking me up w/ all these smiley/emoticons!!!

[ya falaha! 0]

ROFL!

Wicked just wicked

LOL we need the post boosts...LOL

[amal 4]

Amal, I appreciate what you are saying and I respect you are open enough to say it. I am curious, before your husband when you were scared, did you also openly say negative things about Muslims? You don't have to answer and I am not asking to make you feel bad - the reason I am asking is to see how much a person can change.

I never actually openly said negative things about Muslims but I DID go along with the crowd. If they were saying negative things, I would go along with it. I would look the other way if I saw anybody even remotely arabian/muslim looking and I felt very nervous... YES, I was scared. The only reason I didn't say anything negative openly is due to the fact that my mother taught me (very well) when I was younger that "if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all" and that is a rule I follow very closely. I never thought in a million years that I'd marry one ...

When I first met my husband, yeah he was cute..but I had no interest in talking to him. Since I'm a nice person, I couldn't just turn him away ... so I "allowed him" to talk to me. He told me he was Muslim and immediately, I started questioning him.. "Why do "you all" kill in the name of God" is one of the first things I asked him. That's when it started and we discussed Islam on a daily basis after that. The more I learned, the more I began to understand the truth. He told me many things, gave me many informative resources, and I researched online and in the library. I did most of my own searching because I wanted to see if what he was telling me was the truth. that's right...I didn't trust him as far as I could throw him .... As you can see, I did come a long way and I'm so glad that I did my research and learned the truth about Islam. The difference between me and some others is that I was open to learning and seeing/understanding a different view than I thought I already had figured out. Some ppl are not that open to suggestion.

Thanks for answering Amal.

I guess I feel that if the other poster is truly scared as she says she is, she wouldn't be posting purposely antagnostic things about Muslims where Muslims can read them in a less than anonymous way.

How you felt does sound like genunine fear of the unknown to me. I think it is great you are willing to talk about it, and I think you underestimate yourself. You were open enough and curious enough to know more, regardless of whether it took prodding. You were also willing enough to not only open your mind but marry a Muslim which is a very public and open statement acknowledging your change to your coworkers/friends, etc.

Sometimes, I think that ppl posting purposely hateful things is a cry for help and understanding. If they don't speak up, how will anybody know they need help?