Day 19: Our own paths to God
Three years ago, I got a Facebook message from someone I didn’t know, but who had read a piece I had written in MORE magazine about a day in the life of our family during Ramadan.*The reader wrote, “ Please accept my intrusion on your privacy, but I read about you online and I read your article 'Not My Mother's Ramadan'. I am a Catholic woman with a 19 year old daughter who told me two weeks ago that she is in the process of converting to become a Muslim. With that sentence, I will tell you that I am afraid, concerned, confused, cautious, curious and searching for answers and direction.”She wrote that she is a devout Christian and head of religious education at her Church. Her family life centered around the Church. Her daughter sang in the choir, was a teen leader in the youth group, and taught religious classes to the younger children. She said that all she knew about Islam was what she heard on TV or read in the newspapers. That she was scared.We started an online conversation, which continues today, although we’ve never met. I tried to answer her questions, provide some resources and contacts. We journeyed together as her daughter converted to Islam; met a Muslim man; got married.Recently I got this message from her: “My recent trip to Turkey for my daughter’s Nikkah was an amazing experience. Every day there was something new to learn and to experience about Islam. I can honestly say I am at peace with my daughter’s decision. She will no longer be my Catholic daughter. Yet somehow I realize and accept that we can follow our own paths to God."My dua, that we try and understand one another, respect one another, make space for one another. And in the words of a wise, devout, loving mother, “realize and accept that we can follow our own paths to God.”Day 19, Dua 19: Respect one anotherPS: The reader now shares her experience with the Islam she has come to understand with her Church group, the media and others. She wrote, "I think that in a very small way I too have been working at dispelling misperceptions." Ameen.*http://www.more.com/news/womens-issues/not-my-mothers-ramadan