^ Diwanay Sahib,
I wasn't being "emotional"....as you so assumed. Sarcastic...yes...but emotional...no.
If you haven't been in one's shoes.....it's not always easy to say with such certainty what is "normal" and what isn't.
There are many people on GS who like to share aspects of their personal life......sometimes to get advice/opinions........and sometimes simply for the sake of sharing with others an event in their life that has emotional meaning for them (be it a birthday, a wedding, getting a new job, buying a house/car, being in love, having a crush on someone, and yes even.... conversion).
I have read accounts of people's conversions. What is so abnormal about that? For us **who were born into Muslim families........being Muslim might be something we take for granted......or something we don't think about......like breathing or blinking our eyes. But for one who converted from another religion......it is a **BIGGER **deal. We don't know what the emotional experience is like for her because we ourselves have never been through this. For someone who was going through **emotional turmoil........for someone who went for a long time without faith.........and then found peace in a religion.......for such an individual the conversion could be an experience of elation.....something they want to share.
Believe it or not......people do share their joys and moving experiences for the sake of just sharing. We human beings do have the need to express ourselves.
Why is it that we don't have a problem with a Muslim who creates a thread on some miracle found in the Quran or some recent scientific discovery confirmed by Islam???.............In such situations we say, "MashaAllah".............because it confirms our faith and pride in Islam...............BUT............when someone decides to share a story of how they converted to Islam because they found truth in the religion..........................we criticize it????????????? WTH??????????? Oh the double standards.
Not that I lived during the time of the Prohpet SAWS. But I'm trying to imagine things from that time period. I imagine that it must have been difficult for him to educate people about Islam who were blindly following the Jahil ways of their forefathers. And some of those people converted to Islam. Perhaps they felt exhilaration and joy in accepting a faith that FINALLY made sense to them. Perhaps they tried to SHARE the experience of their conversion with their own families and friends. Perhaps they told them how at peace they felt. And there was no YOUTUBE.......no cameras rolling during that time. NOTHING but simple verbal/personal interaction with other people. OMG.........the HORROR........how dare they share their experience with others!!! They surely are "abnormal."
In that case.......let's not share anything with anyone or we'll get accused of "seeking attention." Let's not share with others our experiences with death. I mean why the hell should we? Death is a fact of life.......it's inevitable.......everyone deals with it. Why share it? And if you're not some celebrity like some of the well-known Islamic speakers.........and if you don't plan to go on youtube...........you should just keep your mouth shut and not talk about your experience. Let's not talk about the birth of a baby...........after all...........it's such a common place occurrence. Why make such a big hoopla over it? Babies are born all the time. Why should one try to "seek attention" by bragging about their new-born child? Let's not talk about weddings either. After all..........it's another mundane occurrence.
We can talk about all other worldly commonplace things for hours and hours and nobody throws a cow............BUT..........when somebody wants to share their moving experience about conversion that can help even native Muslims strengthen and confirm their own iman..........THEN THE CLAWS COME OUT??????
We accuse someone of being an "attention seeker" because she shared her story on Gupshup. But ........one who broadcasts on Youtube would not be called an "attention seeker?" That's ODD. Youtube.......really puts you out there in front of the masses. Maybe the individual is too shy to be seen in a video? Some people are camera shy. So.........the only way to believe someone.............is if they go ALL OUT........by putting up a video of themselves????????
And if a video interview on youtube is "proof" of credibility.......that's ridiculous........cuz there's a lot of crap on that site as well. Such an argument is weak to say the least.
Diwanay Jee...............Even I MYSELF **had mentioned in my first post in this thread that faith is **between the individual and Allah. Whether Tayebeh is lying or speaking the truth............only Allah knows. But even if one does doubt her honesty.......there's no sure-fire way of proving it.............so would it kill one to be happy and supportive of another person???????????????? Would it kill us to to be polite even if we have doubts about the person? After all........don't we fulfill such polite formalities in daily life anyways with people we don't always trust (relatives, coworkers, boss, etc)?
I've heard people of other religions sharing their miraculous religious experiences.............it's wrong to immediately accuse the person of wanting to seek attention. Not everyone feels comfortable putting themselves on youtube. As a shy person......I wouldn't want some video floating around about me. Some people feel more comfortable sharing things with an audience of a smaller scale.
To us being Muslims might be nothing to "ooh and aah" over because we were born into Muslim families. We'll never know what it's like for a convert. She could be sharing just to express her relief....joy....in finding a religion that makes sense to her.....and maybe even to encourage others as well. Why are some simple concepts soooooo over analyzed to the point that we have to invalidate basic human emotions? Unbelievably pathetic!