Dutch converts say Islam enriched their lives
Religion 2/1/2010 12:42:00 PM
By Nawab Khan UTRECHT , The Netherlands, Feb 1 (KUNA)
More than 500 people attended the 3rd Dutch Annual Reverts Day held at the big Omar Al Farouk Mosque in Utreceht city on Sunday evening. The event was organised by the OntdekIslam foundation and the Dutch National Platform for New Muslims (LPNM).
Waleed Duisters, chairman of LPNM told the Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) that figures released in 2007 showed there were 12,000 Dutch converts to Islam, but added that "probably there are much more." He explained that it is very difficult to give a precise figure of the Dutch converts to Islam because in the Netherlands there is no registration of people on basis of religion. "We have a lot of new converts to Islam so the aim of this conference is try to help them to get to find their way both in the Muslim society and the Dutch society," said Dusiters who himself converted to Islam ten years ago.
He noted that sometimes new converts face problems as families are affraid of it and also the Muslim society does not know how to deal with converts.
"In Dutch society there are people who are sceptical about Islam and sometimes we have cases of new converts facing big problems with their families. We want to help them to lead a life without any problems," said Duisters.
The large gathering of Dutch converts to Islam and Muslims from Turkey, the Arab world and Suriname listend to lectures by renowned international speakers such as Hussein Ye from Malaysia and Pierre Vogel from Germany combined with those of young Dutch speakers as Ali al Khattab and Elsa van de Loo who is the Dutch youth representative to the United Nations.
Seven Dutch including three women converted to Islam during the conference on Sunday.
Duisters said: "Islam enriched my life. I have a stable life. I know what I have to teach to my children to be a good Muslim but also a good Dutch citizen.
" He noted that the number of Muslims in Europe is growing. More people are converting to Islam because people hear a lot about Islam so they want to know about Islam and start reading the Quran and the Hadith.
But he also blamed the Muslims of not doing enough to explain Islam.
"The Muslims in Holland had a lot of chance to give a good picture but most of the time they failed," he lamented.
"There is also another problem that Muslims are not integrated into the Dutch society," he said..
"We must live as Muslims in Holland but also in the Dutch society. If we dont do it we will remain a strange group. We advise Muslims to get involved in the Dutch society," he said.
Marck Reuvers, responsible for the press at the conference and himself a journalist, told KUNA that "this is a very special day. It is the so-called converts day in the Netherlands." "The purpose of the gathering is to show that the Dutch converts to Islam are also part of the bigger Ummah,"said Reuvers who converted to Islam in 2007.
"I was looking for something which made my life more purposeful. After becoming a Muslim I have a goal in life. I feel really happy and comfortable," he said.
Abdel Krim converted to Islam 2008 He is preparing to become social worker.
"I needed God in my life. I love the stories about Abraham, Moses, Jesus but I did not like the pictures in the Church with a white God," he said.
"But I loved Jesus too much and I loved Moses too much and I fond them in Islam. The rules are much more pure. There is no racism in Islam," the young bearded Dutch Muslim told KUNA.
He said one has to do a lot of explanation in the Dutch socity after converting to Islam. "You quit drinking, you quit smoking you quit speaking behind peoples back. So people in the neighbourhood ask why you dont drink, who you have a beard", he said.
Malleen van der Putten also a journalist who works for a Dutch Islamic broadcasts related a strange story of her conversion. She converted to Islam six years ago, she told KUNA. Van der Putten said "one day she said some bad things to a Muslim. Later she said to herself why I said these bad things about Islam and I dont know anything about Islam." She went to a shop and bought some Islamic books and read and read and then gradually converted.
She said Muslims should talk to the people, talk to the neighbours to explain Islam and there should be more interaction.
Elsa van de Loo, Netherlands representative for the youth in the United Nations, told KUNA that she converted to Islam one and a half years ago.
Her father is from the Netherlands and her mother from the Dominican Republic.
"I was raised believing as a Catholic but not practising religion," she said.
The young Dutch convernt said she started reading Quran in Dutch.
"In the beginning ti was difficult for me to understand and I didnt know many Muslims who would explain to me. Then one day I met a Muslim girl from Morocco who began explaining the Quran and Islam," she said.
"A lot of things I was looking for an answer I found them in Islam.
I feel very good.. Islam gave me peace. In the past I was restless I didnt know What I am doing in life. Where I am going. Now I have the answers," she told KUNA.
She said she never faced any problems with the Dutch government for wearing the Hijab but some critics do say how you can represent the Netherlands in the UN wearing a Hijab.
"I tell them my job is separate from my religion. When I am in my job I represent everybody in the Netherlands and what I believe shouldnt matter. I was elected to my post," said Elsa van de Loo. (end) nk.bz.
KUNA 011242 Feb 10NNNN
No comments:
Post a Comment