I was reassured that
what I wanted was to visit this country as an
American tourist,
and when I visit the mosque, I feel reassured
and at peace, and I loved Islam, but how was
the experience for you after you lost eight
of your family members on September 11? Didn’t you feel that they were the ones
who caused that? Some
Americans considered Islam and Muslims to be the
cause of their victims, and how did your family respond?
I think it was one of your daughters who even cut you off after you converted to
Islam. It is true that they did
that, and when they attacked the World Trade Center,
I was at work, and
there was a great shock,
but I
did not refer to culture
or
anything. It is possible that someone used Islam as a reason
to do that, but I have no reason for that. If you
converted to
our guest in
California, Angela Collins, to know
from her first experience, I think you listened to the call to prayer in
Turkey, then you converted to Islam after
September 11, in a period of time. Why? What happened on
September 11 caused you a matter of challenge or a matter of
curiosity to know this
religion? September 11 was a motivating matter, and
it was a period from 97 to
2001 During that period, I heard the call to prayer like the
other guest and it opened my heart. I did research
and asked many questions and met many
Muslims. After that, I was convinced of
this religion and did not reach a period of months in which I had a
testimony and September 11 happened and it was
easy for me to understand the teachings of Islam and the difference
between the extremists’ theory and it was clear what
happened and what did not happen and what happened
was not authentic to Islam and that was against the teachings of
Islam. After reading the
Quran and the pictures of the Most Gracious at that time, it was
clear because they are the words of God.
Angela, regarding your name, you chose to stick with
Angela Collins and did not change it to an Arabic name. I do not
say an Islamic name.
Why? Because Islam is a global religion and my
name is global. My name is the name that my mother gave to me and I am
proud of it. I want people to know that
Islam reaches the West and has Western names and
that adopting Islamic names is out of respect and
is not mandatory. In this case, because I am from the
West, I want to prove that Islam has ties
to the West and that Americans can find a connection
with others. You are now running a school. An Islamist, we
will not mention her name, of course, there is a fear from some that
some may not like to hear that.
We had an experience in bringing Angela even from her
place in Orange County. She had to
drive her car for us more than 60 or 70
miles or 100 km to come to a studio in Los
Angeles because many of the studios in
your area refused to have you go out on the island with us
and they considered that we were promoting Islam and exploiting
September 11. Why is this feeling in an
area like California that is supposed to be
open? And if I know that Orange County is a
conservative area or brought a conservative and right-wing in a
liberal area, which is the
state, Yasser, yes, it is just a conservative area and
from the right, and you know this is what is happening. She appeared
on the Fox program, which is amazing, and she spoke about the
creator of Islam in a convincing way, and I received
many
messages expressing interest, and I felt that I was
proving that point, that the media is subject to
censorship and does
not show the real picture. This is what I
proved. If you turned into Safia, Safia, your name was
Elizabeth, are you convinced by the logic of Angela’s idea
that why don’t we keep the names Elizabeth
Torres instead of Safia Al-Qasabi for example or
Elizabeth Al-Qasabi because this is your husband’s name? Why the
change? Is there an emphasis on identity that we must
change to Muslim or Arabic names?
What I understand is that there is a lot of freedom
and Islam in Islam and this name was offered to me in
Marrakesh. I was not forced to accept this name. I liked it
very much and I had a choice to keep my
American name, but this is my choice. The Arabic name,
as for
your experience, as for Florida, Safia, you
converted to Islam and married an
Egyptian. Angela, I believe she is married to a Kuwaiti or was
married to a Kuwaiti. Is marriage the reason that you
converted to Islam,
in the sense of wanting to be associated with someone no matter the
price, even if it is a change of belief? I leave the question to either
of you who wants to start.
This was not in my case. I became a Muslim before
marrying my husband, and I do not think that is
true.
I converted to Islam two years before I
got married, and I worked on a
program and my
husband was the camera man, but I have a
final message in Half a minute from
each of you, start with Safia Al-Qasabi to our viewers, an
American woman who was Jewish and converted to Islam
despite all the
consequences of being a Muslim in America after
September 11. Do you have a message and a final word? Safia
Abu I
say praise be to God who converted to Islam. Glory be to
God, glory be to God for this opportunity to learn and
embrace
Islam. I want to emphasize that the world understands that
what happened in
September has nothing to do with a
specific religion, and God willing,
I will be
better off there as an
American citizen. This is an opportunity to learn and open our minds and
not understand other religions. What is required of
American women Safia to do or
Muslims in America to do? Five years
after September 11, a message to those in
America. The message is that
we continue to grow in our faith so that we may be
Muslims and we will not give up. Sometimes I
cry and feel
sad, but when I
pray for my Muslim brothers and sisters, do not be afraid. Safia Al-
Qasabi, thank you Angela Collins. Listen to a
word from
you. I agree with Sufi’s words, and we must understand
Islam in a different framework than people’s actions.
Unfortunately, there are people who do not act in accordance with
Islam, and we are human beings and we make mistakes.
Mistakes were made on September 11th. The
best thing we can do is spread the
message and help people. Islam is wonderful, and
if people knew about teaching Islam, happiness would prevail.
Unfortunately, this is not the case now, but God
willing, we will continue our presence in the media and correct
mistakes and wrong ideas about Islam. Thank
you very much, Angela Collins and Safia Al-
Qasabi, two new Muslims after September 11th,
of course.