Born Muslim VS Revert Muslim

Assalamu Alaikkum wa rahamatullahi wa barakatuhu,


First of all we were all born muslims. Only some got misguided and had to revert back. Born in a muslim family prevents misguidance. As for me, throughout my childhood, my family took care of my religious studies. My grandfather was a preacher so I had no problems in that. But in my opinion, in my childhood till teenage, I followed Islam and sunnah because I was afraid of Allah and hellfire. Later, when I started thinking and understanding the Qur'an, that's when my feeling for Allah was both fear and love. Maybe because, in my childhood, i didn't have enough intellect to understand or maybe I didn't have the interest. I still remember my mother used to make me read Qur'an compulsorily for an hour everyday after maghrib. Only then, I will be allowed to play. So, it was more due to fear and force. But, later, with intellectual maturity it changed. It was indeed a very good growing experience. I have been reading Qur'an for long but my understanding improves while I grow up. It is really good experience.

Assalamu Alaykium!

I am the opposite of you except I don't wish to have been born to a Non-Muslim family. I think you are so lucky in so many ways. Although this might not be true for all Muslim but we, raised Muslims, took/take our religion for granted and blindly follow Islam until later years of our lives. We don't seek knowledge of the deen a much as you guys. We don't study nor put the amount time you guys spend or have spend learning about the deen unless we are young and our parents force us. During this time in our childhood, we only study Islam because of fear not because of love and for its beauty unlike you guys. There a lot if not more young Muslims who will tell I have found Islam just like a revert because it is now that young raised Muslims, passed their teen years, are starting to really reflect on Islam rather than just taken because it is the religion of our forefathers and Allah was merciful enough to give us this bless opportunity. Yes, we memorized the whole Quraan (some of us), grew up with the stories of all the prophets, know some hadiths at the top of our heads but that is something if it was not for Allah and our parents we would have. We got this far because of fear. Islam is beautiful and I believe one should have a reason, other than Allah made me a Muslim, to be Muslim. We, raised Muslim, often lose sight of the beauty of Islam and why are Muslims but you guys don't because of the amount time you guys have spend learning about it.

I think a lot of Muslim including myself would relate to brother Ersad on his story.

:salam2:

Dear sister Isra, our sister Shahnazz made a fabulous post on this subject somewhere, and I know you read it as well, because you had commented on it too. She summed it up beautifully - that maybe people were born muslim because Allah knew they were too weak to actually look it up themselves and turn against their family background to accept something new. I think that post was really good.

My own experience as a born muslim has been not that pretty - most of born muslims take Islam for granted, just as they take their ethnicity and their different food habits for granted. It's all always been cultural for me, and it's not until later that I started learning about Islam myself and finding out that half the stuff I thought was Islam was only culture, while the other half was never even mentioned to us. True, our parents teach us how to pray, but they never enforced it upon us - always, studies and dunya were more important. We were encouraged to fast, but if we had exams the next day, we were encouraged to pay more attention to that. When I was young, yes, we did have our Quran teacher come every single day in the evening since I was 6 years old, so I'm truly grateful for that - but my Islamic teaching was very lacking in other areas. Sometimes, I feel jealous of reverts who will have all their past sins forgotten, while we keep our sins. And there's a tiny bit of frustration that why didn't our elders teach us the proper Islam? Why didn't *their* elders not teach them, and why had generations of parents neglected the proper upbringing of their families??

Assalamu Alaikum:

Reversion is a constant process that began right when Muhammad (SAW) began preaching Islam and will continue till Islam reaches each and every home on our planet (there is a Hadith).Likewise today we represent first generation of Muslims in our lineage. But our later generations would be (Allahu-Aalim) born Muslims.

Let me say,once my Muslim friend just said me ''how fortunate you are that Allah (SWT) chose you as a Muslim among 2.5 million Non-Muslims of our city". This was an amazing realization. Isn't it?. Your Creator the Lord of this vast vast vast universe Himself guiding you towards a path that takes you towards His abode (salvation). Amazing. We are blessed.

May our last breath be on commitment to Deen of Allah (SWT).

Regards.

Tabassum07 said:

:salam2:

Dear sister Isra, our sister Shahnazz made a fabulous post on this subject somewhere, and I know you read it as well, because you had commented on it too. She summed it up beautifully - that maybe people were born muslim because Allah knew they were too weak to actually look it up themselves and turn against their family background to accept something new. I think that post was really good.

My own experience as a born muslim has been not that pretty - most of born muslims take Islam for granted, just as they take their ethnicity and their different food habits for granted. It's all always been cultural for me, and it's not until later that I started learning about Islam myself and finding out that half the stuff I thought was Islam was only culture, while the other half was never even mentioned to us. True, our parents teach us how to pray, but they never enforced it upon us - always, studies and dunya were more important. We were encouraged to fast, but if we had exams the next day, we were encouraged to pay more attention to that. When I was young, yes, we did have our Quran teacher come every single day in the evening since I was 6 years old, so I'm truly grateful for that - but my Islamic teaching was very lacking in other areas. Sometimes, I feel jealous of reverts who will have all their past sins forgotten, while we keep our sins. And there's a tiny bit of frustration that why didn't our elders teach us the proper Islam? Why didn't *their* elders not teach them, and why had generations of parents neglected the proper upbringing of their families??

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Wa alaikome salam

Yes I know dearest sister that there have been other threads touching on this subject but what I wanted to hear about are the things you mentioned AFTER telling me about the other sisters thread!

I want the true nitty gritty! I want the passion and the true deep down feelings that you all are representing here in this thread to me now.

I want to thank everyone who has responded to this thread. You are all truely blessed brothers and sisters and I pray that Allah will reward you for sharing your true feelings with me now. You know your posts brought tears to my eyes. Not tears of sadness........no quite the contrary!!! Your posts made me feel what you feel as born Muslims and the struggles you had to go through to discover Islam for yourselves which you may or may not realize but each one of you actually did that!!!! Just like a revert! Even though you were blessed to have Islam all of your lives it took you years to actually understand it enough to love it and want to know more about it!

Please keep your stories coming. I am so happy I opened this topic. Alhamdulillah!

wa salam

Wa-alaykum-us-Salaam wa'Rahmatullaah,

Sister Tabassum07 the last two sentences of your post remind me of what my mum sometimes says if there is a conversation. That our mothers and fathers of old were simple folk, unable to read and write, therefore where could they learn from and who? Therefore, Allah knows best, to them (may Allah have mercy on them all), were they aware of the importance of Tawheed, for example. It makes me wonder why there is sheer surprise when a practice of the Qur'aan and Sunnah that goes against the family/community tradition is met with disapproval despite us being literate and slightly more learned than those that have gone. (i.e., we have the blessings to seek knowledge, understand and verify it) Hope this made sense.

Salaamu alaykum

Muslims vs Revers
Take the vs out they are both good as long as u have the kalimah
and whorpship allah
Born & Reverts vs Nons

As-salam 'alaikum

Every muslim man/woman in the face of the earth, is revert.
some realize it at early age, some late, some even before death.
Allah said:
Allah guides whom He wills, but Allah also said: Allah guides who strives or wants to be guided.
Allah also said: Allah never guides the wrongdoers.

born muslims are of no use, until he/she believes in his/her mind.

I'm a born Muslim and I know how wrong I was and still my people are, I couldn't realize it if I were not reverted.

I start to learn Quran before I went to school, by class three or four, I completed the Quran recitingwith tajweed. i knew all basic teaching of Islam.

so what, that didn't make my life change until I realized in my heart.
yes, those worked a lot, some teaching were still existing.

now to conclude:

for new Muslim it is hard to learn new things
for born Muslim, it is hard to throw their old beliefs and put right teaching.

the final words, by the by we'll be rewarded insha Allah azza wa jal

jazakum Allahu khair for the thread, that you started, to pick some points, and i made some points, if they make sense and help insha Allah

wasalamun 'alayk

^Yes, exactly. We as born muslims were taught to read Quran. But I didn't touch a translation of the Quran, nor bother to know what it meant until after my teenage years. Deep down, I was always interested in the basics and the stories though - I had a series of 8 books, "Islamic Studies for Children." And they had a lot of basic material which I read when I was a child, I used to sit and ponder them and love them, like a storybook. The seed of the Love for Allah was always there, but it needed nourishment and care to grow. My surroundings and environment and the dunya denied it that nourishment, so the seed just remained there, hidden and buried, like a seed of grass buried in deep snow during a blizzard. But then, springtime came and the snow melted. In ways, I am like a revert. Allah SWT is the One responsible for guiding me. When I took up hijab, I had to fight off stares and taunts from my own family and relatives, just like a revert. Everyone said to me I had time to do all this stuff when I get older. My relatives, some years ago now, at first thought it unreal when they discovered I actually had started waking up to pray Fajr on time - you know, all these basic things which a muslim is *supposed* to do, are largely considered alien these days. Even now, there are a lot of aspects which raise the eyebrows of people around me, so its tough every day. Sigh.. please don't ask for the nitty gritty, sis. It's something better left unsaid and unexamined because it contains darkness. Allah showed us all the light, and may that light blot out our past darkness, ameen.

:salam2:

As a born muslim,I thank Allah that it was easier for me to discover Islam,alhamdulillah.Most of my relatives,weren't very practicing,many of them even didn't perform the daily salah,or if they did,they weren't that punctual.As born muslims,here,what we are like everyone else who knows only a little more about Islam than a non muslim.Like we read the Qur'an just like a traditional thing as sister Tabassum said.It is either read at someone's death or when a new house is built and inside the house they read Qur'an.Many of the muslims here are swayed by Bollywood and take inspiration for their life from Bollywood,Cricket players and other non Islamic sources(astaghfirullah).We can say that the only things that makes us muslims is the kalimah and belief that there is one God and Muhammad is His messenger and like him there were messengers before and Qur'an is our holy book.Salat are confined to Jumah for many people or even to Eidayn.It is like there is veil on our eyes,we have the Qur'an we read it and don't understand it.As sister Tabassum pointed a Qari or a Hafiz is appointed to teach young children Qur'an,he is confined to teaching them how to read Arabic Qur'an and maybe tell them about few articles of faith and stories of the prophets(peace be upon them all).There are also many deviations therein as well.Kids being taught wrong aqeedah.Hence they are losing their way.Also negative image of muslim portrayed by media,some of the muslims here,it is unfortunate to say do not want to be identified with practicing muslims and want to be called "liberals",like not wearing hijab or keeping a beard or not performing salah,celebrating non muslim festivals like it's their own and many other things.Act like non muslims do.Bombarded by non muslim media and their content,many of us are subconsciously appreciating and adopting their ways.Many wish to follow their desires and that leads them astray.
In short more emphasis is laid on worldly education and well being than on knowledge of Islam.Parents do stress on competing in this worldly life and deen is taken for granted.
Allah is who guides and he guided me,Alla praise and thanks be to Him alone.Beautiful and Majestic is He.
The biggest contributor for bringing me to learning Islam in my life were four things:
1)My mother:She prays and reads Qur'an performs salah punctually,mashaAllah,she was worried that growing around non muslims,I might get out of hand(so as to say) and have no consciousness of what our religion is.So she was always on the look for a teacher who would teach me Qur'an and after that how to offer salah and teach me stories of prophet andother things.Alhamdulillah for such a loving and caring mother.I love her a lot and I am grateful to Allah He gave me such a mother.May Allah bless her and be pleased with her and reward her immensely.Ameen

2)My teacher,who is a Qari,he is one of my biggest mentor in religion.One evening when I was 6 or 7 years old ,my mother was lamenting how I might be swayed away from deen in this non muslim society and how she wanted me to learn Qur'an.Suddenly there was a knock on our gate.There my (to be ) teacher was standing asking for donation for a local Masjid.My mother saw a great opportunity here and asked if he would teach me Qur'an and he readily agreed.In the start I ,like other kids,hated it.I wanted to go out and play with my friends,because he used to come in the evening and I had to leave my game in the middle and go to study,but as time passed,he also taught me many stories of the prophet the kalimahs and their meanings,many other stories and some masnun dua's and some sunnahs and some adab that got me interested.Later he taught me how to perform salah.(I loved listening to his jinn stories ) May Allah bless him immensely.Ameen Now I was concsious of the fact that who I am (a muslim),so I wanted to learn more.

3)The Qur'an my cousin gifted me: Although my teacher had taught me Qur'an,he only taught me how to read,but I never knew the translation,except sometimes at places when I was learning to read the Qur'an ,he would tell me the translation of that part and talk about them.
My cousin ,who had just returned from Birmingham,had got to know my interest in Islam(by that time I was really yearning to learn more) ,bought me a translation of Qur'an in English by Dr Muhmmad Mohsin Khan.I was 12 years old then.That was the turning point in my life.I had always read the translation but never knew the meaning.The more I read the Qur'an the more it got me interested,I started reading it with great interest.I remember,areading Qur'an alone in a room,when a famous movie was being shown on television and everyone else was in that room and they would call me to watch,the Qur'an(translation) captured my heart in such a way that now nothing else seemed interestin and so I stayed in room reading the translation.

4)Internet:After having studied the Qur'an in English I wanted to learn more and more and this thirst kept increasing,so I wanted to go somewhere and internet has a humongous amount of knowledge more than what you want. I went on internet and by that time 9/11 had taken place and there was a lot of anti muslim propaganda on internet ,I was frustrated by it.I used to debate them and it kept getting on my nerves and I got frustrated and left.By that time,due to my interest in Islam and practicing it many of my friends had left me and even many of my relatives(it is sad) distanced me from themselves,because it was like here comes Kashif,he will start talking about Islam(I was an adolescent and I didn't know when to talk about what).Also I held on to the hadith,"Talk wise or be silent."So there was nothing much to talk about,since all my classmates and same age guys around me talked about were girls,songs,movies,fahsh things. So,I kept silent always and slowly drifted away from everyone(like an outcaste) and became a loner.That didn't affect my belief though but I was frustrated and was it the brink of losing myself trying to learn what people talk about BUT salah was like a thin rope that kept me from drowning.I always offered salah,even when I was at the lowest of my faith,that kept me going.Then one day suddenly out of blue hile I was browising internet ,I came across videos of people reverting to Islam and that bought tears to my eyes and revived the lost zeal in me and I started learning about Islam again(that is how I found this website) and then one day I heard a lecture by Br Bilal Assad(May Allah bless him and reward him immensely.Ameen) ,titled,"Those who desire paradise".It shook me to the core and awoke something in me that had been dormant throughout.,That is when there arose in me something that is still there alhamdulillah and growing exponentially.My mother is always supporting me and Allah is always there leading me,alhamdulillah.I hope it continues till the day I die.Ameen.
Although waswasas do come to me even to this day,but I shrug them off alhamdulillah and seek refuge in Allah.I have now decided to hold to Qur'an and sunnah to my heart and salah to my heart till the day I die.May Allah help in that.Ameen.Allah musta'an.There is prayer which I always love to recite when I feel weakness of iman,it is:[2:250]
Rabbana afrigh 'alyna sabraun wa thabbit aqdaamana wansurna 'alal qawmal kaafireen.Ameen
"Our Lord, pour upon us patience and plant firmly our feet and give us victory over the disbelieving people."Ameen.
May Allah never let our hearts swerve from the truth after it has found guidance.Ameen.

That was something about me,being a born muslim and discovering Islam,well,I said it and Allah is the best of judges.

As-salam 'alaikum warahamtu-llah


I liked what sister Tabassum said, well versed.
yes, the same problem I faced, with Beard and whenever I go out with a friend, I stop when it is prayer time, so they had to wait outside, even if they were Muslims, but they didnt use to pray, may Allah rectify their condition, but it can be easily understood, from this, what is born and revert

i still remember and it is not too long ago, when I visited my country last time, my mom, she is religious, but a bit afraid of the situations, so she didn't allow me to wear Imamah/Arabic scarf/turban outside or even at prayer time.

at fajr, I used to wear it, because at that time ,may be mom was doing wudhu or just woke up other than that it was hard to convince, actually i was never able to convince her to wear outside. and I didnt argue, because it is nothing fardh or something mandatory.

story of beard is something amazing, I laugh and sometimes it hurts.

one of my aunt said: do not come to our home unless you shave it! it was casual conversation, but i didnt feel well.

another aunt said: you look bushy, why dont you clean up, dont you want to marry?lol

other said: devdas, your girl friend left you?

these were funny, but i was hurt when it was told to my mom by some handcount relatives, of course senior, they told mom to take care of me, and investigate where do i go, to whom i meet, etc etc, what a sudden change, someone is brain washing him, take care of your son. they suspected me.


anyways, struggle will be everywhere, Allah said that do we think that only if we say I believe that would be enough, no, Allah will verily test us with fear, diseases, lost of property and other things.


fee amani-llah

saifkhan said:

As-salam 'alaikum

born muslims are of no use, until he/she believes in his/her mind.

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wa alaykum salam. I had a discussion with some of my teachers on matters similar to this. We are talking about "Muslims" and we do not know the situation they may be in. As long as a person is a Muslim, believing in Allah and the final Messenger (S) , its not for us to say they are of "no use".

We are all "Born Muslims", what matters is our

Anyone who follows Islam with a sincere heart is lucky. Those who stick to the teachings of Islam, have good manners, remain humble and keep seeking the truth. Perhaps one person has more chance to learn than another, but, it's not how much we know, rather it is how much we believe. Some of the sahaba, were martyred in battle on same day that they took their shahada.

Its our intentions and commitment that count. Everyone will be judged independently by Allah, no matter what their background.

Narrated 'Umar bin Al-Khattab (radhiyallahu anhu)
I heard Allah's Apostle saying, "The reward of deeds depends upon the intentions and every person will get the reward according to what he has intended. So whoever emigrated for worldly benefits or for a woman to marry, his emigration was for what he emigrated for." (bukhari)

Abu Hurairah reports that the messnger of Allah (Salallahu Alayhi wa Salam) said:

Surely the first person who will be judged on the day of ressurection (Qiyamah) will be a shaheed (matyr). He will be bought before Allah who will then list the favours which were bestowed upon hin (in this world) and the shaheed will recognise them. The Allah will ask, "What did you do with them?"

He will reply, "I fought in your cause and died as a shaheed"

But Allah will say "You are lying. You only fought so people would call you brave, and so they did"

Then the command will be issued and he will be dragged on his face and thrown in hell Hell-fire.

Then a person who aqquired and taught knowledge and recited the Quran will be bought before Allah who will then reamind the person of the blessings (he received) and he will recognise them. Then Allah will ask, "What did you do with them?

He will reply, "I aquired and taught knowledge and recited the Quran for your sake"

But (Allah) will say,"You are lying, you aquired knowledge only so people will call you a scholar and you recited the Quran so they would call you a reciter, and so you were called these things"

Then the command will be issued and he will be dragged on his face and thrown in to Hell-fire.

Then a person whom Allah made influential and who was given riches would be brought forward and informed about the favors he received, and he will recognize them.

Then Allah will ask, "What did you do with them"
He will reply, "I donated in every cause you would have wanted me to"
Allah will say, "you're lying. You only donated so that people would call you generous, and so they said it."
Then the command will be issued and he will be dragged on his face and thrown in Hell. (Sahih Muslim)

Assalaam walikum,

What knowledge are we gaining with this topic.

Born Muslims simply have more culture in the way of practice. That is true of all faiths.
Reverts bring in a little of their culture to the faith.

As to the deep stuff..it would be talking about the soul.

:salam2:

I was thinking about this hadith:

The Prophet :saw2: said, "The best people are those of my generation, and then those who will come after them (the next generation)"

The first generation (the best) were all reverts.

Aapa said:

Assalaam walikum,

What knowledge are we gaining with this topic.

Born Muslims simply have more culture in the way of practice. That is true of all faiths.
Reverts bring in a little of their culture to the faith.

As to the deep stuff..it would be talking about the soul.

Click to expand...

Wa alaikome salam

Oh sister sister sister. Although I do realize this thread does not have any of the banter you adore I for one am gaining MUCH knowledge and much more appreciation of my brothers and sisters who have posted. I am seeing through this thread how much they have struggled just as I have to achieve excellence in their deen. They are born Muslim and although before reading their "stories" I didnt realize that even born Muslims had to "find their way" to Islam. I thought it was a given but I always wondered and now through their posts I can understand.

So please if you find no worth in this thread refrain from being here or rather "change the channel" back to the usual threads you normally involve yourself in. This thread is very useful and it avails some of our born Muslim brothers and sisters the advantage of telling their struggles towards improving their deen just as we have had many threads here about reverts telling their way to Islam.

To everyone else who posted JAZAKALLAH KHAIRAN. I pray for you all that Allah will reward you for your efforts at improving your deen and for sharing with your brothers and sisters here at TTI. Ameen

wa salam

Isra said:

As salamo alaikome

Inshallah all of my brothers and sisters here at TTI are doing well and your Iman is strong!

I have always considered myself amoung the lucky ones to have been chosen by Allah to follow his religion. Yes I am lucky or I should say I am blessed.

I didnt know about Islam all of my life. I wasnt taught about Islam by my parents. I didnt grow up a Muslim. Since I first read in Quran that Allah guides to his religion whomever he wills I have felt a sort of jealousy towards born Muslims. I mean if you think about it the way I do you would be jealous too since "Allah guides whomever he wills" and he didnt guide me until later in my life and I had much to be sorry for by then.

I always wondered what my life would have been like had I been born to Muslim parents and raised Muslim. I know it would have been much different. I wonder if I would have embraced Islam as strongly as I did being a revert. I know there are no answers to my questions. Im not really even asking just pondering.

I made this thread hoping to discuss what other members ideas are about the differences between being born Muslim or being a revert Muslim. I am not trying to start a debate but just a simple discussion please. I already know Islam's view on the subject so please no lectures - just give me your real thoughts and ideas.

I know most born Muslims think reverts are luckier and many reverts think born Muslims are luckier. In my heart I realize that we are all lucky......born Muslim or revert Muslim because we are all chosen by Allah to follow his true religion.

What's your opinion?

wa salam

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:salam2:

Be thankful to Allah (SWT) that you are a Muslim!

sachin4islam said:

Assalamu Alaikum:

There is a race. Some competitors have privilege to begin the race right from gun shot point. Some are allowed to begin the race from a point much behind the actual start point. The race goes on. This race is towards Lord of Worlds. During the course of race different competitors capture different intrinsic energy (Taqqwwa). This is the sole factor that favors you during the race. This is the factor that one lifts irrespective of the point from where he began the race. Hence it is immaterial for this race as to from where did you start the race.

Hence the possibilities are Born Muslims=Reverts,Reverts=Born Muslims,Born Muslims≠Reverts or Reverts≠Born Muslims.

Allah (SWT) knows the best.

Regards.

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Wa alaikome salam

I realize now that my wording of the title to this thread is deceiving. Im not asking which is better. I know there is no difference since the end result is the same. I want to know what is in your heart. What is your opinion on whether or not being born Muslim gives you an advantage or is it the other way around.

As I said in my original post I know they are both the same according to Islam and that everyone was born Muslim. I know all of that. I just want your opinion. What struggles did you face either being a born Muslim or a revert?

wa salam

Assalaam walaikum,

Yes, what is our jihad.

We all have our personal jihad. That is a better title.

And sister, as you ask for knowledge this is it. Jihad. Each Muslim has his own journey ( jihad ).

So we need to gain understanding of this.

What is the definition of jihad. What are the examples of jihad. Why are we so scared to use this term. And at what age does a person become responsible for his or her own jihad.

Thus born or revert is not relevant. What is relevant and needs to be understood is there is some point when we become aware of the conviction of our jihad. And what do we do to propagate our conviction to serve the greater good.

It is not banter that I adore. I call it like it is. At some point in time the realization comes to us. The question you asked takes time to answer.

So I have to ask everyone are you ready to call yourselves jihadist. I am.