Tom Facchine – Minute with a Muslim #196 – The Value of Muslim Converts

			Congress have a lot to contribute to the Muslim community and a lot of value to give. And part of
that is their perspective. They got a fresh perspective on things and they've got fresh eyes. That's
not to say that Congress don't come in with their own baggage and their own influences from before.
Of course they do. But a lot of times, you know, we get into silos, whether you're from a certain
part of the world are you used to doing a slam or practicing assignment a certain way you have your
sort of cultural sort of things and your religious things, and most people they're not very aware of
what's what, it's just all together. And so a convert offers you kind of this mirror? Or you can,
		

			you know, they can say, well, what's this? What's that? And you can kind of even read, have a
reckoning with yourself and be like, Well, what's actually from Islam? And what's from my culture?
What's What have I inherited from my parents that what even if it was given a religious
justification, maybe it's not really from the religion, and so conference are extremely useful in
other ways, but in that way, especially right, because everybody needs to check themselves, right?
People who come into this world, in a Muslim family, you know, they need to check themselves, they
need to have, especially in North America, we talked about taking ownership of your faith and
		

			rediscovering your faith and choosing your faith for you. No one's going to hold your hand, no one's
going to do it for you in a place like North America, you're going to have to take ownership of it
and make it yours. Okay, well, part of that process, and especially as your kids get older, and
you're you have grandkids, maybe one day is figuring out what are the things that you can let go and
what are the things that can't, you can't let go, right, the things that are actually part of the
religion, you got to hold on to those things and make sure that they're not compromised, the things
that are cultural, you know, maybe you like them, maybe they're nice, maybe they provide a lot of
		

			good memories, and maybe they even have other benefits. But when push comes to shove, if you
understand that this is isn't actually from the religion, and you have the freedom and the clear
conscience to let those things go, right. And so conference can help with that whole sort of
dialectic or that whole process where we're kind of benefiting from each other and the perspectives
that each one has, you know, for the people who come into it, you know, obviously, they come into
this world, in a Muslim family, they have their own their own value, you know, they've been around
longer, they've seen the way that things are done, they have a lot of experience, right. And so they
		

			have a an Ability to Benefit conference in a tremendous way too. But it has to be a mutually
beneficial sort of relationship. And so no conference should feel like they're just a guest, right?
You don't have to feel like you're a guest in the masjid or you're a guest in Islam, or you're a
guest in the Muslim community. Now, you're now a Muslim, right? And you're just the same as
everybody else. You're just as equal and as valuable as everybody else. You might have certain
particularities about your situation, and a certain particular perspective that you have, and that
is valuable, and you should use that right while also recognizing that other people have a different
		

			perspective on things that's also valuable in a different way.