Lauren Schreiber, 26, Rebecca Minor, 28 and Lindsey Faraj, 26 shared their experiences after hearing the news of Boston bombing and Katherine Russell, the US born wife of Tamerlan Tsarnaev.
Lauren Schreiber, 26, converted to Islam in 2010 after a study-abroad trip. She and others want to dispel stereotypes that have sprung up after news reports about Katherine Russell, 24, the U.S.-born wife of suspected Boston bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev according to a report published in NBC News.
When an American convert to Islam was revealed as the wife of the dead Boston bombing suspect, Lauren Schreiber wasn’t surprised at what came next.
That kind of assumption isn’t new to Schreiber, 26, a Greenbelt, Md., woman who became a Muslim in 2010.
“The moment you put on a hijab, people assume that you’ve forfeited your free will,” says Schreiber to NBC News and she favors Hijab. “It’s not because somebody made me do this,” explains Schreiber
Rebecca Minor is another one who chose Islam on her will. The 28-year-old coverted to Islam five years ago. Wearing a hijab “reminds me to be a good person,” she said.
About 1.8 million U.S. adults were Muslim, and about 20 percent had converted to the faith, Pew researchers say. Of those converts, about 54 percent were men and 46 percent were women.
NBC News also interviewed Ms. Lindsey Faraj, 26, reverted to Islam with her husband. She says that wearing a headscarf and other traditional Islamic garb in public often leads people to assume she sacrificed her American life to please a man.
“’You must have converted in order to marry him,’ I hear it all the time,” says Faraj, who actually converted simultaneously with her husband, Wathek Faraj, who is from Damascus, about four years ago.
She’s also heard people say that her husband is allowed to beat her, that she’s not free to get a divorce, that she and her two children, ages 4 months and 2, are subservient to the man. Such concepts are untrue, of course, she says.
“Accusations of brainwashing are harsh,” she says. “They cover up the fact that we don’t comprehend why people like ‘us’ want to change and be like ‘them.’” the NBC repors says.
All three women say they came to Islam after much thought and spiritual searching.