Anglo-Australians Show New Face of Islam

Rasa – Despite the negative stereotype Islam has in Australia, Sarah, an Anglo blue-eyed Australian woman who embraced Islam says she never found peace and quiet and connected with God until she converted to Islam.

News ID: 1382

Date: 14 October 2014 - 15:44

RNA - SARAH is a proud Anglo blue-eyed Australian woman.

She’s also a proud Aboriginal and a Muslim.

But while her journey to Islam took three years, her message for those who see her story is shorter — she is still the same person she was then, the only difference is she wears a scarf.

The Sydney woman, whose story features on SBS program The Feed tonight, said she never found peace and quiet and connected with God until she converted to Islam.

The Feed reporter Patrick Abboud delves into the lives of two ordinary Australians who converted to Islam in a bid to present a new side to Islam people may not hear about.

Sarah tells Abboud: “I’m a proud Aboriginal Australian Muslim. It’s a profound quietness when I pray and when I connect with God. I’ve never had that up until I embraced Islam.

“I hear of all the atrocities that are happening overseas and I pick up my Koran which is my life guide. There is nothing in there about torturing people, conflict and fighting.”

She told Abboud that converting took a long time and she researched, read books and watched lectures online and has never been happier with her decision.

Sarah grew up in bible belt of the NSW hills district which has highest Christian church attendance in the country.

She converted to Islam while studying psychology at uni.

“My message to Australians who will watch this story and who are afraid of me is we’re not that different,” she said.

“I’m an Australian. I bleed red, I have hair but this is how I choose to live my life. I’m the exact same I just have a scarf on.”

Abboud also talks to Sydney man Luke, whose journey to Islam was a little more complicated.

“What goes on around the world or what’s going on within Australia I don’t think that skews my judgment of what Islam really is because I feel I know better,” he said.

“I feel I know the true Islam and that’s what gives me peace.”

Abboud told news.com.au that given the current climate he wanted to see what life was like for people who had converted to Islam.

“I wanted to see the reality for Anglo-Australians who had converted,” he said. “It’s an element of the Islamic community which isn’t talked about.”

He said he had known of people who converted through marriage but not much had been heard from the Anglo-Australian perspective who had done the same for other reasons.

He added converting has been a very positive experience for Sarah whose indigenous grandfather has accepted whole heatedly, having seen a dramatic difference in her.

But Luke’s experience was not as smooth with his family at first struggling to accept his decision.

President of the Australian New Muslims Association tells The Feed it is seeing around 3-4 converts a week, of which Anglo-Australians make up the majority.

“With the current situation we are in now you get the feeling that people are looking at you differently as if you’re one of the enemy now. We asking the wider community to get to know what Islam is all about,” he said.

“Build those bridges. Remove the fear.

“I don’t want to see my religion dragged through the mud nor do I want to see my fellow Australian scared of me or my wife or my children so I’m doing this for the future.”

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