‘O Allaah, keep me alive so long as life is good for me, and cause me to die when death is good for me.’
Author: Meryem Chin
Muslim Revert, Writer & Founder of The New Muslim Co.
The Evil Eye in Us
“What’s the evil eye? Isn’t it superstition! You actually believe that there’s such a thing?” “Wait…. did you just say someone can actually harm you with their envious looks?” “It sounds just like black magic! You actually believe in that?” “Uh… okay.” – silence – It’s difficult trying to explain the concept of the evil…
How Islam Changed My View on Friendship
I was never really quite the extrovert. My shyness as a kid somewhat morphed into forced extroverted-ness when I became older, the kind where you find yourself alone in a social situation and have to force a smile and stick out your hand to people you don’t know… and then wonder why you’re making so…
A Chinese Muslim Convert’s Budget Wedding
Being of Chinese descent, weddings are tricky business for me, a Muslim convert. From the sending of roast pig from the groom’s family to the bride’s family during Guo Da Li 过大礼 (the sending of betrothal gifts); the display of dragons and phoenixes on the bride’s Qun Kua 裙裤 (traditional Chinese dress), both mythical and…
When Falsehood Seems like Truth
The Group that Lured Under the Pretext of Empathy and Superiority A few weeks after my conversion, I was invited to join a Facebook group, a page termed as a ‘support group for Muslim converts’, which I enthusiastically plunged into (yay, an entire community who understands me!). As a new convert, there were so many…
Death, is a Blessing
I have been blessed with the privilege of not knowing what it was like to lose a loved one in my 27 years of living till now. Just before I became Muslim 3 years ago, I remember my aunt asking me what I’d do if I were to die tomorrow, and I said that I’d…
The Secret Sabr
This reflection is by far the longest one I’ve taken to write (It’s been sitting in my draft folder for a few years, and I wrote and re-wrote it over and over again, deleted and written again and again). It’s not because it’s about sabr and I wanted to write it with sabr (haha, bad joke),…
The Pen is Mightier than the Sword
Learning from my Pen, and from Others’ Pens Sometime last year when I was still penning my learnings and notes on my blog Between Faith (before I started The New Muslim Co.), someone told me that it was very unusual for Muslims/ reverts like myself to publish about their journey, about Islam, because they would…
A Muslim in Allah’s Eyes… but not in Yours?
Today, a new sister reverted to Islam. It was a joyous occasion, but it brought me to realize a very sad and sobering reality. Our new sister’s story is a very unique, and a very inspiring one. She had been on her path to Islam for close to 9 years (that’s almost a DECADE.) it…
The Permanence of Loving Temporarily
Death and the Temporary World Do I fear death? Do I fear that my loved ones will leave me, one day, through death or by other means? Does my love cause me to cling ferociously to them, not letting them out of my sight, afraid that something may happen to them once I lose sight of them?…
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