Circe retweetledi
There is something we Muslims don’t really acknowledge or talk about enough, and that’s the effort reverts put into learning the Islam.
We celebrate their shahadah videos. We share “welcome to Islam” posts. But we rarely talk about what comes after.
This afternoon at work, I walked into the prayer room for Zuhr and saw a brother already praying. He had two rakahs left, so I quietly joined him.
While we were praying, I noticed a faint sound playing in the background. It sounded like it was coming from his phone or maybe a EarPods, but I wasn’t too certain.
After we finished, I completed the remaining two rakahs and I joined the next people that were about to pray Asr. He didn’t leave straight away and sat at the back of the room. He waited until I completed my prayer, then approached me.
He looked apologetic and said “This is the first time someone joined me in prayer and he wasn’t sure if I did it correctly.”
He mentioned he was following the recitation through his headset and seemed genuinely concerned that he might have made a mistake with how he led the prayer, being the first time. You could tell he had been thinking about it throughout.
I told him he did everything right. I told him I heard a faint sound playing in the background but couldn’t tell if it was him. I asked for his name and had a little chat about work. I could see the relief in his face.
What stood out to me wasn’t the technical correctness of his prayer but the sincerity and effort behind it.
He was so conscious about pleasing Allah, and not offending others in how he prayed, that he waited just to make sure he hadn’t done something wrong and to seek correction. He wasn’t casual about it. He wasn’t indifferent. He was intentional about it.
How many of us, born into Islam, carry that same conscious humility and intentionality?
We rarely speak about the weight reverts carry. The courage it takes to choose Islam.
The discipline it takes to learn from scratch, the pronunciation, movements, rulings. The quiet practice sessions. The YouTube video on repeat. The earphones or phone in prayer because they are still learning.
The quiet effort, the nervousness, the private struggle and striving to get it right. We don’t talk about that effort enough!
There is no time I listen to, read about, or meet a revert that I don’t learn from them.
Today encounter reminded me that guidance isn’t just about accepting Islam, it’s about striving every single day to grow in it to please Allah, and not wrong others.
May Allah make reverts and all striving Muslims steadfast upon this religion. May He reward our hidden effort, anxious questions out of sincerity, and grant us the understanding of it.
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