‘SISTERS’ TO LEAN ON
For new Muslims, Ramadan is a time of challenge and welcome
Zully Hussin took her first tentative steps toward Islam alone.
Hussin, a 38-year-old Latina who had been raised Catholic and turned to Pentecostalism as a teen, didn’t know any Muslims. Yet, as her questions about Christianity deepened, she felt herself pulled toward the religion.
So Hussin, who lives in Pasadena, took to Google, scouring the internet for information. She watched YouTube videos. Ordered books she spotted on websites. Absorbed as much as she could about Islam.
In her prayers, she asked God to lead her to the truth — a quest that led her to conversion and a community of women who helped her navigate her newfound Islamic faith. The “sisters” support groups connect new converts to longtime Muslims through WhatsApp messages, group text announcements and Facebook pages. They offer advice on everything from where to buy culturally appropriate clothes to questions about the Quran.
For Hussin and other “baby” Muslims, the outreach has been invaluable — especially during the holy month of Ramadan, which observant Muslims mark with introspection, prayer and a fast from dawn to dusk.
It can be an especially difficult time for new converts, who often feel isolated during the nightly ritual of iftar, when families and friends gather to break fast,
and during Eid Al-Fitr, the celebration marking the end of Ramadan, which is Friday.
“We want them to know that they are not alone, that we are with them,” said Samina Khan, president of the sisters group for the Houston chapter of the Islamic Circle of North America. “We want them to feel at home.”
About one in five of the roughly 3 million Muslims living in the U.S. were raised in a different faith and converted to Islam, according to the Pew Research Center. About half of Muslims born in this country, and two-thirds of Americanborn black Muslims, are converts.
For many, accepting Islam can create a schism with family members who practice a different religion, and hostility from their previous faith community. The “sisters” networks are a way to step in and fill that void.
Farah Naz, who runs a support group for new converts at Brand Lane Islamic Center in Stafford, recalls being called into the mosque one morning after a newcomer, looking for someone to talk to about Islam, wandered in. Naz says she “dropped everything” and took the woman out to breakfast, then grocery shopping. Just to help her feel more at ease.
“This wasn’t a time to train her in dietary restrictions. It was just a way to get to know her,” Naz said. “It’s a journey. She needed to feel comfortable before jumping in.”
During Ramadan, Naz encouraged older Muslims to invite new practitioners to their homes for iftar so they would feel connected to the community. She also is helping organize an Eid celebration for new Muslims, one of several taking place in the Houston area on Friday. One group called “Reach Out,” which is headed by four women and representing 10 mosques, is hosting a high tea for recent converts.
The outreach is not only a reflection of the spirit of Ramadan, but it also allows Naz to reciprocate the kindness shown to her when she first came to this country from Pakistan.
“I was welcomed and supported,” she said. “I had family who helped me navigate this new country. This is my way to pay back.”
Hussin, who started exploring Islam after a divorce from her Pentecostal husband, remembers telling her mother and sisters that she was converting and that she planned to wear a hijab. Her mother wondered about the requirements of the faith, about whether her daughter would now pray to a different God. Allah is the same god, Hussin responded.
On the day of her shahada, or proclamation of faith, at a Houston mosque in October 2016, Hussin met Michelle Haney, who converted to Islam six years earlier. Like Hussin, Haney also had studied the basic tenets of Islam through online videos and websites before converting. She understood how difficult — and lonely — those early days can be.
So, Haney, in turn, introduced Hussin to “Sister Tosha,” Latosha Cooper, then a member of the Clear Lake Islamic Center board in charge of a class for new and recommitted Muslims. The class, which meets on Sundays, also is connected through a WhatsApp group, where newcomers can contact imams with questions, seek counsel and find support.
That fellowship helped Hussin get through her first Ramadan last year, when she was not yet prepared for the headaches and thirst that came from fasting and when she ate far too quickly after breaking fast after sundown. During those struggles, she turned to the sisters in the mosque.
This year, she has gone to the mosque for iftar, where she is welcomed as a member of the family by other Muslims, who share their food and offer a warm embrace.
“I had this support when I became a Muslim,” said Cooper, who converted to Islam 14 years ago, “Now, it is our responsibility to be there for them, to be brothers and sisters in this space.”