69 million page views

Conversion or reversion?

Reader comment on item: Westerners in Trouble Who Convert to Islam

Submitted by Prashant, Jul 15, 2017 at 04:46

Dear Dr Pipes,

A lot of Muslim converts call themselves reverts. A person can call themselves whatever they want and it should not be any of our problem but a lot of ignorant media have also started to use the word 'revert' to refer to the Islamic converts as if the word 'revert' and 'convert' were synonymous.

People who call themselves reverts to Islam do so to assert the Islamic belief that everyone is a Muslim in the original state but gets misguided. Conversion to Islam to these people is a reversion because it means that the converted person is returning to the original state. I find the implied meaning behind the word 'revert' particularly troubling and insulting. I do not think that in any state of my being I was ever a Muslim: I am a firm believer in the golden rule, I believe in freedom of thought and speech, I believe that many good paths can lead to the same God, I believe that God and religion should be the last causes for which peoples should fight with each other, I do not think one single book should guide all human beings for all time to come, I, also, do not think that there ever was a last prophet or a last book from God, and I am not misguided. What I just said was a literal opposite of Islamic shahada and I want to keep it that way.

Using the word 'revert' instead of 'convert' is yet another example of Islamic holier-than-thou attitude. There is no chance that I will ever be a Islamic convert and there is an even smaller chance that I will ever be a revert. Sorry.

Submitting....

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".

Submit a comment on this item

Reader comments (7) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
2They Identify With Mohammed: A Reject Who Got Revenge [105 words]DaveOct 25, 2018 21:37245705
3Conversion or reversion? [283 words]PrashantJul 15, 2017 04:46239983
Expect more conversions to Islam in the aftermath of Trump's election [137 words]PfrashantFeb 20, 2017 21:00236844
1She should read 5:32 and 5:33 [61 words]PrashantMay 25, 2015 22:00223518
1Westerners in Trouble Who Convert to Islam [124 words]Sunita GandhiOct 2, 2014 08:35218388
I read Qur'an twice [131 words]Michael SMay 29, 2015 21:59218388
2The real problem is in Islamic societies [200 words]PrashantMar 10, 2018 01:24218388

Follow Daniel Pipes

Facebook   Twitter   RSS   Join Mailing List

All materials by Daniel Pipes on this site: © 1968-2024 Daniel Pipes. daniel.pipes@gmail.com and @DanielPipes

Support Daniel Pipes' work with a tax-deductible donation to the Middle East Forum.Daniel J. Pipes

(The MEF is a publicly supported, nonprofit organization under section 501(c)3 of the Internal Revenue Code.

Contributions are tax deductible to the full extent allowed by law. Tax-ID 23-774-9796, approved Apr. 27, 1998.

For more information, view our IRS letter of determination.)