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St Francis Magazine Vol 8, No 4 | August 2012
distant memory of not being Muslim (Iran for example, or the Berbers
of North Africa). It is also affected a great deal by the reputation
of traditional Christian communities within a country, as well as
by the political machinations and military adventures of western
“Christendom”.
3.2. Life’s Unfolding Journey
For converts from Islam, the issues of identity never really go away.
This is not only because they are so intractable, but also because the
issues themselves unfold during the course of a lifetime.
Suppose you are born under Islam and later choose to follow
Christ. Your life might unfold something like the following hypothetical
scenario.
3.2.1 In infancy
Within minutes of your birth your proud father recites in your ear
the words of the shahada, ‘There is no god but Allah and Muhammad
is his apostle’. Later, in the “religion” column of your birth certificate,
he enters the word “Muslim”. Thus is your collective religious
identity assumed and ascribed before you have any choice in the matter
at all.
3.2.2 Growing up
From your parents and your “significant others” you internalize a
Muslim worldview and way of life which you don’t at first question.
Imbibed on your mother’s lap and reinforced by your daily routine,
you “know” that it’s wrong to put your left foot first when stepping
into the bathroom, or for a woman to walk outside with her head uncovered.
Your social religious identity is absorbed as you grow
through childhood.
3.2.3 As a teenager
Later, you begin to choose or achieve your identity in a more selfconscious
way. You go through a phase of Islamic zeal, no longer
slacking your way through Qur’an classes but genuinely trying to
live by its teachings. Your core religious identity is being formed in
a more self-conscious way than before.
But this very process prompts questions in your mind about Islam.
You bring them to the imam but he frowns on your daring to
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