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The New Muslim’s Field Guide

by Corbin

For Immediate Release

The New Muslim’s Field Guide

Publication Date: 2/1/18

From the minds behind islamwich comes a new and greatly anticipated book for converts to Islam: 

The New Muslim’s Field Guide

Available on Amazon today, The New Muslim’s Field Guide is a not-so-technical manual for new Muslims, written by people who have been there, done that.

A first-of-its-kind manual written from 20+ years of combined experience from the field, The New Muslim’s Field Guide offers insightful advice on navigating the maze of culture, politics, love, identity, and faith.

This is the guide every new Muslim needs as they take their first steps into Islam.

“Converting to Islam in a western country like America can prove daunting and overwhelming, and it’s easy to lose sight of the most important part of Islam: our own individual relationship with Allah. Some of us were blessed to have other Muslims to guide us through the sometime treacherous water. Fortunately, with The New Muslim’s Field Guide we can all have such guidance at the ready, 24 hours a day. Theresa Corbin and Kaighla Um Dayo are the two dear friends you can rely on to take your new faith with no judgment, no fear, and no regret.”

– Maryam C. Lautenschlager, new Muslim

Unlike the current books on the market that focus on explaining the Islamic rulings behind this or that and ensuring new Muslims have correct aqeedah (creed), this book offers new Muslims hard-earned wisdom in a common-sense, practical approach.

It not only briefly discusses the rites and rituals that the new Muslim must learn and develop, but it also discusses the deeper, personal journey every new Muslim must take: how to navigate this new faith without losing one’s identity, how to handle interpersonal relationships within the new Muslim’s new community, how to deal with Islamophobia, and so much more.

In addition to all the great advice, the authors share their own personal stories of tragedy and hilarity from when they were new Muslims.

For more info about the book and a free sample, check out our website newmuslimsfieldguide.com

The Authors

Theresa Corbin

Theresa Corbin is a French-creole American writer and graphic designer, who converted to Islam in 2001. She holds a degree in English Lit from the University of South Alabama and is the author and designer of The Islamic, Adult Coloring Book.

Corbin is currently a contributor to About Islam and Al Jumuah online publications. Her work has also been featured on CNN and Washington Post. She writes about and has been studying culture, gender issues, Islamic thought, and sectarianism since 1998.

Kaighla Um Dayo

Kaighla White, a.k.a. “Kaighla Um Dayo”, is a writer, mother, and women’s rights activist. Before embracing Islam in 2009, she was an evangelical Christian who attended Lincoln Christian University. She is a former contributor and editor at About Islam, and a contributor at Al Jumuah and, of course, islamwich.com.

Her greatest passion is sharing the wisdom she has garnered these 30 years: life hands you lemons, but you don’t have to be bitter. Um Dayo is finishing up her degree in English Language and Literature, and writing a novel loosely based on her experience as a second wife in rural Egypt.

Get the book

The New Muslim’s Field Guide is $15.99 USD, £11.32 GBP, €12.90 EUR

ISBN-13: 13: 978-1981328994

Available on Amazon (Kindle version to be available by Feb. 3, 2018)

Review a Copy

Journalist, bloggers, new Muslim mentors, and imams send us an email for a review copy, letting us know how you can help converts benefit from this book.

Email: authors@newmuslimsfieldguide.com

Website: newmuslimsfieldguide.com

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The Last Sermons of Prophets Jesus and Muhammad

by ssiam ♥ 7 Comments

Written by Stephanie Siam

Is Earth flat? What happens when we sail past the horizon?

Did dinosaurs really exist? How did they become extinct?

Are there intelligent forms of life on other planets? Have they ever contacted us?

What happens after we die? Has anyone come close to experiencing it for real?

A cursory glance at a general encyclopedia shows humans have never fallen short of curiosity and wonder. Never satisfied with the present and tangible, we strive to answer questions every second of every day — even those that have been answered before!

And, no matter, what the subject of interrogation is at the moment, the one topic that always finds its way back into the spotlight of our inquisitiveness is religion. Believers and non-believers, alike, insist their truth is THE truth and all others must conform to THEIR interpretation.

Before we get too far ahead of ourselves, I’m not trying to drag back the dead horse and beat it all over again. This post is not going to question the truths of Islam — or any other religion, for that matter.

mankindPhoto Credit: history.com

There are a great many people who’ve made a significant impact throughout the History of Man: Socrates, Aristotle, the Virgin Mary, Amelia Earheart, Gandhi, MLK, Hitler — hey, not ALL impact is positive.

But I can almost guarantee that no matter which influential character of history you name in a mixed group of people, there are two individuals whose existence is incomparable to the rest: Essa (Jesus) and Muhammad, may God’s peace and blessings be upon both of them.

Read more ›

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DIY Prayer Clothes

by Corbin ♥ 11 Comments

Written and work-shopped by Theresa Corbin

This post is from over two years ago, but I received a very nice email about it this week (thanks, David! I usually only get hate mail).  Honestly, I have forgotten that I had even done this. Lots of stuff happens in two years. So, I thought why not dig it out and re-post it in the hopes that someone might find it useful. See below for a thobe/caftan tutorial for the brothers or sisters who like caftans- so comfy! 

Ladies, have you ever ordered a prayer outfit online, only to have it arrive and realize that it is translucent, or that it is super clingy, snags easily, too cheapy and too expensive all at the same time? Well, I’m here to tell you that you don’t have to suffer through subpar prayer clothes any more!

With a few materials from around the house, or from the craft and home sections of most stores, you can have your own luxuriously, couture prayer clothes.

Prayer outfit

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Religious Manipulation in One Word: Fitna

by Corbin ♥ 7 Comments

Written by Theresa Corbin and originally posted on Aljumuah.com

You are fitna!  If you’re a Muslim woman, it’s likely that you have heard this a thousand times. You might have even been convinced that your own existence is somehow bad or the cause of evil or misguidance (which is essentially what fitna means).

“Women are Fitna” has unfortunately turned into a blanket statement and a kind of religious manipulation to keep women from participating in, well, pretty much everything including their own lives.

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Much of what Muslim women face in terms of oppression is because many misunderstand the meaning of one particular ḥadîth (a saying of the Prophet Muhammad [PBUH]):

I have not left behind me any fitna more harmful to men than women. (Bukhâri)

And this misinterpretation plays out in very real and destructive ways in Muslim women’s lives.

Fitna in Driving?

Maha Salman recalls a trip to her husband’s country, where she was unaware of cultural standards. She ended up feeling traumatized after being told she had caused fitna. Salman says, “While I was visiting with my family, I needed to get something out of the car.

I put on my outer garments, grabbed the keys, and went to the parking garage. As I approached the car with car keys in hand, one of the [morality police] started running toward me yelling fitna and something else in Arabic that I didn’t understand.”

While disallowing women to drive is seen in few countries, it is still based on the “religious” assumption that women driving, in their particular local context, will lead to fitna, or a door to sin, in many ways.  Yet we know that in the Prophet’s time his wives rode camels, the modern equivalent to driving. The Prophet œ said:

The best women among the camel riders are the righteous women of the Quraysh. (Bukhâri)

Fitna in the Mosque?

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Misquoting Muhammad (PBUH)

by Corbin ♥ 18 Comments

written by Theresa Corbin

Recently, I was digging around for some inauthentic hadith for a project I am working on. Since, in Islam, we have a strict grading system to let us know which hadith are actually attributed to the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and which ones are just made-up, it was pretty easy to find the made-up ones.

There are tons of these made-up hadith that are just trash tossed from the sacred texts of the authentic hadith collections. Some people are the worst, wanting to manipulate the religion to suit their own desires.

misquoting-muhammad

Then I thought it might be fun to take a look at some made-up (or fabricated) hadith and make fun, er, point out how absurd they are. Again, all of these hadith were made-up and are not actually said, done, or approved by the Prophet (PBUH) himself. I would NEVER EVER make fun of any authentic hadith. And neither should you. That is dangerous territory.

But since these are all from liars, game on, playas!

1. Made-up hadith: The sneezing of a person while another is speaking is a proof that what the person is saying is the truth. (Classified fabricated by Ibn Jawzee)

Theresa’s Response: This one is kinda like believing that if a cat farts in the middle of the street, you know you are going to come into money. It’s superstition and weird at that. Muslims don’t do superstition.  

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Ignorant, Arrogant Hypocrites

by Corbin

written by Theresa Corbin and Maryam Lautenschlager

We, as Muslim woman, have handled the ignorant, arrogant hypocrites with kid gloves for far too long. We have been pushed well beyond any person’s limit. The gloves are coming off!  

We will freely admit that being a Muslim woman comes along with so much patronizing and splaining it is maddening and exhausting.

But here’s the thing- we hardly ever experience such splaining from Muslim men. Nah, it comes from non-Muslims of all kinds: doctors, engineers, beauty school drop outs, republicans, lawyers, paralegals, democrats, men, women, children, hand puppets (seriously)… *catches breathe*.

For sure, there are Muslim men who support the patriarchy and even toxic masculinity – nothing to do with Islam. We have never denied this. In fact, a lot of what Theresa does and researches and writes is because she is calling bullshit on this phenomenon within the Muslim community. But even the patriarchy supporting Muslims do not belittle us, disrespect us, or shut us down like the ignorant, arrogant, hypocritical non-Muslims do. 

Ignorance

So the kind of non-Muslim (please note this is not every non-Muslim, but it seems to us to be the majority) we are shining a light on come at Muslim women, trying to tell us about how “bad” our faith is for women and how oppressed we are, blah, blah, blah, ignorance ad nauseam.

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Sabr Doesn’t Mean What You Think It Means

by Corbin

written by Theresa Corbin

Sabr. If you are new to this site or Islamic thought in general, you might Google this word and find out that it stands for the Society for American Baseball Research. Yes! We Muslims are so very invested in researching American Baseball. It’s alllll we think about.

I am not a sports fan (big shocker), but honestly baseball is the one sport I can tolerate. But I joke. Sabr, the term I have chosen to write about today has nothing to do with baseball at all. So relax, you silly right wing nutters. The Muslims ain’t coming to establish no Shariah on the baseball diamond.

But if we did, I am sure it would make the sport so much more high-stakes. Stealing bases would get you your hand cut off. I joke again. You gals and guys know me-I ain’t for that.

Ehhmem, so sabr, it is an Arabic word that is peppered throughout religious texts. And it is usually translated as “patience”.

And be patient, indeed Allah is with the patient ones. (Quran 8:46)

The problem with this translation, although it can mean patience, is that it makes people think that sabr only means patience. And that leads people to believe that sabr means to just let bad stuff happen and lock it up tight and never talk about it.

The other problem with this understanding of the word “sabr”, since it is such a heavily used religious term, is that it is also used to manipulate people with religion. Shock! Horror! What? People use religion for there own evil gains to manipulate others into doing what they want? How! This is news to me?– you might be thinking.

But you aren’t thinking that because you know people suck. I’ll say that again for the people in the back -PEOPLE. SUCK. <— write it down. remember it. trust in God. not people. because? that’s right! people suck. including me.

Well, that is not at alright. Sabr is so much more than patience. Sabr in fact means steadfastness, perseverance, patience in the path of justice, patience in doing what is right and good even though smacking people seems like so much fun. Sabr does not mean be a patient victim and let people oppress you.

But often this word is thrown around at victims of oppression to convince them that they should put up with and actually enable their oppression. E.G. a woman who is regularly beaten by her husband because he has a small penis and this make him angry. She goes to a dimwitted sheikh (scholar) and he actually tells her to have patience, meaning just put up with it or enable his behavior by doing nothing to stop it.

The thing is that Islam is not a religion that allows people to enable each other and it certainly does not advocate for people to allow oppression. How do we know this? We know this because of the famous prophetic tradition that states:

The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “Support your brother whether he is an oppressor or is being oppressed.” It was said, “O Messenger of Allah, we help the one being oppressed but how do we help an oppressor?” The Prophet said, “By seizing his hand.”In another narration, the Prophet said, “By restraining him or preventing him from committing injustice, for that is how you support him.”

Recently, I wrote an article about not putting people on pedestals. And as I always do when making a claim, I thought of the opposition’s argument against my claims. One idea that disturbed me while writing this but could not address due to space was that I knew people would take this to mean that the victims of a crime should never have put the perpetrator in the position to hurt them.

NO! This is victim blaming and I don’t stand for it. In this article about not idealizing people, I was addressing people in general, not victims of a crime. In general I absolutely believe that we should not idealize people. As the term “human” or “person” suggests, we as human beings are all weak and fallible pieces of dust on our way out.

But the thing is that if you are a victim of a crime by someone you put on a pedestal, the fact that you put them on a pedestal does not make the crime your fault. You must seek justice. Our religion demands it. Islam does not manufacture victims: 

O you who have believed, be persistently standing firm in justice, witnessing for Allah, even if it be against yourselves or parents and relatives. Whether one is rich or poor, Allah is more worthy of both. So follow not [personal] inclination, lest you not be just. And if you distort [your testimony] or refuse [to give it], then indeed Allah is ever, with what you do, acquainted. (Quran 4:135)

Never ever be complicit in oppression especially if it is your own oppression. Never be silent when you see oppression, especially if you are the victim of a crime, even if the perpetrator is very close to you. The term sabr for the victim means to strive and persevere in seeking justice and stopping oppression. 

And never let anyone tell you any different even if that person calls him/herself a scholar. Scholars are wrong every day. Some scholars are even invested in keeping victims quiet in the name of protecting male supremacy. Don’t put up with it. To God we all are equal. By God we are demanded to stop oppression. By God we are charged with seeking justice. If you prefer to listen to a scholar over Allah then you should know that is worship. 

It is narrated from Adi bin Hatim (May Allah be pleased with him):
I heard the Prophet (May the peace and blessing of Allah be upon him) read this verse:

“They (Jews and Christians) took their rabbis and their monks to be their lords besides Allah, and Messiah -son of Maryam, while they were commanded to worship none but One Ilah (God Allah) La ilaha illa Huwa (none has the right to be worshiped but He). Praise and glory be to Him, (far above is He) from having the partners they associate (with Him)”. (Qur’an 9:31)

So I said to him (May Allah be pleased with him)’ “Verily, we did not worship them,” to which he replied, “Did they not make Haram what Allah made Halal so you then made it Haram, and (did they not) make Halal what Allah made Haram and you therefore made it Halal?” I said, “Yes.” He said, “That is worshiping them.” (Ahmad and At- Tirmidhi)

Criminal behavior is haram. Allowing criminal behavior and not witnessing against it is haram. Do not let the sheikhs tell you it is sabr to enable it. This is worship. Sabr when witnessing against evil, injustice, and oppression means perseverance and steadfastness in seeking justice and stopping evil and oppression. 

Sabr sometimes means to be the tree that grows through concrete and tears it up in the process. 

 

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