When I was in middle school there was an African American student.....who could sing almost all the words to the classic Indian song, "Churaliya hai tum ne." The girl had no desi roots.
I've taught a couple of students to say phrases in urdu....and I've picked up a little bit of Spanish from them. I don't have Hispanic roots....and although I only know bits and phrases.....one of my Hispanic students once told me that I speak Spanish better than native speakers of the language.
I know an arab woman who can speak a little bit of urdu she picked up from movies and her desi husband. She once told me that she "must have been a desi in a past life."
*********** Often times actors have to learn a foreign language for a movie and they are able to speak that language with surprising fluency and with the correct accent.
******* I've noticed that when people have a genuine and sincere interest in learning and acquiring a new language or culture...........it's not an impossible goal to accomplish.
It takes courage for someone to talk about their personal life on a public forum. Whether or not Tayyebeh is telling the truth is between her and God. Although....anybody....who feels the need to fabricate such stories just to get attention is one disturbed individual. And I doubt that many people would deliberately lie about converting to another religion.
What I don't understand is why can't we be happy for another person. Why can't we make the effort to diplay a positive image of ourselves as Muslims? By doing so...we might even invite others to think about Islam seriously. Muslim converts need support from other Muslims. Accusing them of lying is not being supportive...it's making us look bad. Even if one assumes that Tayyebeh is lying.....it still won't kill one to give her the benefit of the doubt and be supportive and encouraging. BECAUSE.........there could possibly be non-muslims on the brink of converting who could be reading this thread.......and might feel encouraged by everyone's welcoming and supportive response. Or on the contrary....they might feel DISHEARTENED/DISCOURAGED by the negative reactions of some Muslims on here.
Instead of debating whether lying is a bigger sin than drinking and fornicating....let's think about how we're presenting ourselves. Even in a potentially negative situation........we have the choice of either displaying a positive image of ourselves.........or a negative image of ourselves.