01.07.08

Fake Conversion Stories

Posted in Islam at 12:52 pm by Haider

I recently read a blog post about the fake story that Tom Cruise became a Muslim, and remembered an email I received some time ago about Bill Gates converting to Islam. The email included a “snippet” from The Christian Science Monitor article where Bill Gates announced his conversion. I looked through the CSM site, but didn’t even find Bill Gates mentioned there!

I don’t understand how people would go through the trouble of faking someone’s conversion story, hoping that it will make Muslims feel more certain and confident in their religion. It’s a really cheap approach that quickly backfires. If somebody builds his conviction on such stories, his trust in Islam will come crumbling down very quickly when he finds out that these stories were made up. And it’s not that difficult to find out whether they’ve been made up or not! I mean, issues like this won’t exactly stick to a single article from a single source. They’ll spread through the media like wild fire! If they don’t, then the story might be slightly dubious, especially when it involves such a high profile figure like Bill Gates. And it’s not as if Bill Gates is in hiding, or lives on Mars. He gives many speeches in many places, and if he doesn’t mention his new faith, chances are the story is made up.

What I found disgusting about the Bill Gates conversion story is that it included a fake quote where he says that he couldn’t find happiness with material wealth, but found happiness through Islam (or something along them lines. Who cares if I’m accurate, the quote is fake to begin with! :P). It’s one thing to claim that someone became a Muslim, but another to give a reason for his conversion. Reasons give us an understanding of what human nature is like. If the reason is fake, we are presented with a distorted impression of reality. Is this how we wish to present Islam? That it’s suitable only for a made up reality?

The sad thing is, many Muslims engulf themselves with false ideas and impressions, that they no longer see reality, and, therefore, don’t realise where their thinking took a wrong turn, and what they can do to correct it. Ideas like “Islam brings happiness” are so simplistic that they cover up some important truths. They give the assumption that all Muslims are happy, when it’s clear that they are not. But rather than attempt to discover the reasons for their misery, we overlook it, and repeat the mantra “Islam brings happiness”, “Islam brings happiness”, “Islam brings happiness” to numb the pain.

I can tolerate ignorance, but deceit is so ridiculous and shameful that I don’t like seeing it associated with Islam, or used by those who seek to promote it.

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