I can't imagine why someone would so willingly give up their freedom like this. Being "in the market for a new philosophy" must be a euphemism for "have no idea what to do with my life". A free, western woman converting to Islam is like a black American joining the Klan - it just doesn't make sense. Of course, selling your freedom so you could use an easier form of birth control suggests a certain shallowness. The irony is that by becoming a Muslim, she gave up her reproductive rights!

Islam will be diluted, changed, secularized, watered-down, wrapped in science and scholarship, etc. just like every other modernizing religion has done. We have Reform Jews, Unitarians, sex-positive Muslim women. We have "devout" Christians who fornicate, get plastic surgery, drink too much, break the law, lie, over-consume, and do any manner of things that seem to be directly contradicted by the humble, austere life of the historical Jesus. Jews eat pork, work on the sabbath, etc. We now have Muslim women who put a piece of cloth on a portion of their head ("veil"), get Arabic tattoos on their LOWER BACKS, and talk about being sex positive.

It's not any different from the rest of the "moderate" religious types. Through a combination of "re-interpretation" (aka change what all the words in the Koran mean) and outright, willful ignorance of what it says in that and other Islamic texts, you can adapt Islam to be whatever you want it to be. People have been doing it for ages.

Religion is not a constant. It is a tool used by individuals, political organizations, etc. to organize people into groups and get them to behave a certain way. So are myths, legends, fables, fairy tales, books, stories, etc. Just like Cinderella's sisters didn't chop off their toes to fit the slipper in the Disney version (like they did in the original Grimm's fairy tales), this woman has decided that the shameful subjugation of women in the majority of the Muslim world doesn't apply to her, or "isn't that bad," or rationalized it some other way.

Whatever works. It's not as if every other religion has strictly adhered to its fundamental ideas. Shit, even people who CALL THEMSELVES fundamentalists are often blissfully unaware of what the REAL fundamentals of their religion were.

Worship on, weirdos.

@1 By the way...fuck you. You clearly know nothing about the religion except what you can twist into something awful. Go to your local library. Pick up a book (I suggest Islam: a guide for Westerners) and the next time you open your mouth, more than bullshit will spill out. That all being said, I'm definitely going to find this book. It sounds remarkably like my current journey as a black woman, engaged to a Palestinian Muslim, interested in conversion. Oh and @1 next time you open your mouth about the black experience, pick up a fucking book. Converting to Islam as a woman is nothing like a black person joining the Klan. Islam rejoices and embraces women and there is nothing but respect and love for them in the Koran. Swear to god @1 get a fucking clue.

@3: Be sure to read up on Muslim polygyny before you sign the dotted line with this guy, and make a point of carefully negotiating for the collateral he's supposed to give you before you get married. I've heard that one benefit to Middle Eastern men of marrying American converts is the converts learn a lot about their religion from the men and conveniently don't find out about a lot of the rights Islam confers to them. In other words, the men can get away with not fulfilling their obligations to their wives. Tell him to buy you a house as his wedding gift to you, and make sure that house is officially your collateral. That way you'll at least have a place to live if things go south.

Also, find your own iman independent of any he introduces you to, and ask that iman about your rights in Islam. If he resists, recognize that as a red flag and run.

Paul, I am curious if you would write the same review if the book were identical in every way except instead of converting to Islam the author's restlessness had resulted in her converting to fundamental Christianity, moving to Colorado, and marrying a member of one of those megachurches. Would her claims of her religion being sex-positive not be absurd to you? Would you still endorse the book as useful for people who need convincing that theirs isn't the best or only way to live?

I don't understand the self loathing eagerness that leads us to not see as abhorrent in other cultures that which we so easily identify as such in our own.

@3 I agree with you, spouting anti-Muslim nonsense doesn't prove anything but that the first commenter is woefully uninformed. I'm a convert to Judaism (my husband's family is Jewish, and from Israel) and even after I had decided on my religious path, I studied the Koran. Islam is a beautiful religion, the people who disparage it have rarely taken the time to read the Koran or learn about Muhammad, and are only interested in spouting their xenophobic hate.

I hope you and your husband-to-be are very happy, nevermind what the bigots who want to parade as "concerned citizens" say.

Shalom, Salaam.

@3: Read Ayaan Hirsi Ali.

Muslims are just as fucking crazy as Christians and Jews. Why single them out?

@8 That was the type of Muslim female experience to which I was alluding.

This reminds me of a Loneon woman in a punk band I remember... Was her nom de punk Polly Esther? Went from punk rocker to burka wearing muslim wife. Anybody remember her? should i go to Questionland?

@8 and @asshole Sir Vic...while her story (with which I am familiar) is profoundly tragic, and her courage and bravery are incredibly admirable, these scenarios are not typical for Muslim women. How dare you jump to extremes? As though there aren't awful people in any religion, even without religion (i.e. asshole Sir Vic). It is not the religion itself, it is what individuals do with the religion. I am taking the time to understand the beauty and purity of all religions because I believe they all have something to contribute. You making these blanket statements is incredibly disgusting (Sir Vic) and reprehensible. Meet my fiancee. I have never met a more beautiful soul, who is kind and patient and loving and treats me as more than an equal. And he is Muslim. And he learned to be this way with women and others from his father. And he from his. And so on. And all of these men are Muslim, and all of their wives are loved and respected equals. Why don't you read that story? Or probably not...because it's far easier to be an asshole with prejudice than actually take the time to realize that not all Muslims are fanatics. Same way not all Catholic priests are rapists. Or all black Christians homophobes etc. You take the extreme and fail to recognize the beautiful. So I pity you, and your narrow narrow world view.

There are many renditions of conversion. Here's another one http://richarddawkins.net/articles/4333-…

In her photo the author looks dreamy and self-satisfied. And beautiful too. Perfect for a book like hers, but infelicitous too for showing a religious person looking fuzzy and beatific. . .

@3 @12 Converting to a religion just because you love your spouse is a little disingenuous. As for the beauty in Islam (though I suspect we have serious disagreements on what is beautiful), this is what religious cults do. They lure you with the beauty and then dump the not so beautiful stuff on you once they've got you stranded at their bootcamp. This is why I judge a religion by the behaviors of their followers (a religion and a religous devotee are one and the same as far as I'm concerned) before looking at the "beauty" of their scriptures.

@Mozzie - With all the venom you display, you have no freedom to sacrifice. You are already enslaved by your anger, and blinded by rage. The yoke of Islam will slide easily around your neck.

@16 My husband to be has never encouraged me to be anything but honest to myself and what I want. My exploration of all religions is encouraged not tampered. And in no way is my decision to convert or not convert influenced by him. He would love me the same if I were a Pagan, or a god hating atheist. Love, for me, has never dictated my religion. @Sir Vic...you are already enslaved by your prejudice. And the yoke of hate and ignorance has already all encompassed your shallow life. But thank you for your words. It's refreshing to have something roll right off your back, by a stranger I neither know nor respect.

@Sir Vic
U sound like the typical "american idiot"....... true proof that brain washing works! There's many paths to GOD.... but there is only one GOD......... so who cares what u give up or take up to get there!! Grow up!!

@19

You don't there is only one God, or any at all, unless you've been brainwashed as well.

again another lib-tard, trying to prove she is so culturally open. Good luck in Egypt/the middle east. Over there women are subserviant to men, and in some parts cannot go out on public without a male companion. This woman is like those stupid hikers in Iraq.... I hate to say it, but they got what was coming to them.

it is a cruel fucked up world out there and doe-eyed idealistic young americans think that they can just go to places of conflict and everything will be just fine, like it will be some cultural awakening/life changing vacation. But in reality you are a target, you walk around a impoverished third world country with your sunscreen on, your 50 dollar ex officio travelers pants, your $150 northface jacket, your $200 dollar digital camera. While everyone around lives on $2 a day and you think its all just fun and games....... American Ignorance at it's finest......

@22 the world is what you make it, it is a oyster but the pearl you are looking for isnt coming to you from any fiction you create. american freedom is to be admired but freedom always comes at a price that is more than financial. xtianozman

@ Sir Vic: If you actually read the Quran or knew what the fuck you were talking about you'd realize Islam is actually a very accepting and loving religion.

Unfortunately, Islam, like every religion, has its fundamentalists who get all the attention and misinterpret the Quran to fit their political doctrine. Those fundamentalists don't speak for all Muslims any more than Pat Robertson does for all Christians. In fact, Islam's most notorious symbol of "oppression against women"- the hijab-isn't even mandated in the Quran; it just calls for women to dress modestly.

Now, I've never been to the Middle East- and I doubt you have either- so I can't speak to life as a woman in those countries. But I have been to Algeria. My dad is Algerian (mom is American) and in all my visits, I've never felt restricted by my gender. I never wear the hijab and frequently go out with just my grandmother or aunt. The only thing that comes close to me "giving up my freedom" is that I wear capris or pants instead of my usual short shorts, a reasonable request from my grandmother and the culturally polite thing to do.

Islam can be interpreted in various ways and there are millions of Muslims who don't agree with the oppression of women and the bad name fundamentalists have given their religion.

So, in conclusion, fuck you for being an ignorant asshole.

@12 - a beautiful comment. That was one of the most clear-headed and articulate statements in this comment section. Thank you for that. Sir Vic is not worth responding to. His hatred and bigotry make him blind, deaf, and dumb.

Thank you so much @24 and @25 for the wonderful support. I was beginning to think I was alone in this!

Wow. Just wow. To the story and comments both (my own included).

If there is any sort of god/goddess or the plural of the above at all, he/she/they are laughing their asses off right about now.

Like the ants we all step upon, if the higher power(s) is there, he/she/they does not even notice our bs crap.

We're all so stupid. Fighting over what we WANT to be real. Such a waste of energy.

@11: You're thinking of Poly Styrene of the X-Ray Spex, only she went Krishna, not Muslim.

@27 fighting against what you vehemently believe to not be real is no less a waste of time. We aren't stupid for having passion and purpose. Regardless of what form that does or does not take. But thank you for wasting your time and sharing your opinion.

So here's a cold dose of reality about how the Muslim men in Egypt "love and respect women".......

97% of women in Egypt have suffered Female Genital Mutilation (http://www.path.org/files/FGM-The-Facts.… and numerous other citations).

So I wonder if Mrs. Wilson still has her genitals intact?

I agree 100% with the analogy of a women joining Islam is like a black person joining the KKK.

Suggested questions for your prospective Muslim friends and fiance to REALLY find out how peaceful and loving they are....

1) Do you believe that Israel has the right to exist in the Middle East?

2) How do you reconcile the fact that the 51YO Mohammed married a 6YO and consummated it a couple years later? Shouldn't a prophet with direct connection to God have the foresight to understand child pedophilia?

3) If you lived in Egypt would you FGM your daughters and wife like 97% of the other women there presently are? Do you find that 97% number OK?

4) Would you like to ultimately see United States move towards Sharia Law? So if not, why not, don't you want to practice your religion like hundreds of millions of faithful Muslims do?

5) Why do you think there is no effective Muslim based opposition to Al Quida's worldwide objectives? Why is there no fulltime and ongoing mass repudiation of AQ on a global scale by Muslims?

6) Christianity and other religions have splintered into a 1,000 different directions as it adapts to modernity. Why hasn't Islam? Is it possibly because anybody who tries is exterminated?

7) What will come first, Islam's snails pace move to modernity or an Islamic terrorist acquistion of a nuclear weapon?

8) Would it be OK for your son or daughter to change religion or reject all religion. Would they still be welcome in your house?

So ask those questions and really probe their answers and don't settle for short answers that they think may fool a non-Muslim like yourself. Dig deeper and really determine if they have opinions like you on these important issues. So do this for a dozen of your " peaceful and loving" Muslim friends and tell me what you find out.

A great Youtube video about radical Islam and their American support group CAIR. First minute is a little slow and then it transitions to a fantastic rock song "Open Season". Blends in images and uncensored Palestinian video hate that is being streamed to Muslim youth.

Some lyrics...
I don't need a faith that's blind
Where death and hate bring me peace of mind
With views that are stuck deep in the seventh century
So much sand in your eyes to blind to see
The venom that you leaders preach
Is the path to your own destruction

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9oX5Q2ft…

1) I believe that both Israel and Palestine have the right to peaceably exist and function together and that anything less is wrong. My fiance does too.

2) How do I justify it? I don't. Same way you can't justify little girls getting married at twelve (which was the arguable age when the Prophet consummated the marriage) Do I agree? Of course not...do I agree that Marie Antoinette was expected to marry and have sex at 13? No. Or that Mary, mother of Jesus, was around that same age? Of course not. But then...I'm not trying to marry a child.

3)Of course not. Never ever never. And I'm disgusted that you would assume that of Muslims. That number represents individuals who are not following Islam. Who follow tradition over religion. If you weren't such an idiot you'd know that the Koran strictly forbids practices like that. Outlaws them. Take that up with the assholes who are still practicing that.

4)Seeing as I live in a country where freedom of religion is a guaranteed inalienable right, and there is a separation of church and state, no. If I want to live under Sharia law I'll move. But, like all other normal and average Muslims I'm completely okay with the law here in the United States of America. Stop making assumptions by the way. You're kind of (well you are) an asshole.

5) Of course there is. There absolutely is. Do you even know any Muslims? Then you'd know that none of them agree with Islamic radicals. Why is there no moderate Christian group that stands against the injustices committed by homophobic Christians? That stand up and say that same sex marriage is totally okay, and that the hate lavished on the gay community is disgusting? Look at all sides of the equation.

6)Suffism, Sh'itte, Sunni, Bedouin, Nation of Islam...etc. I'm surprised they've all been exterminated seeing as I know individuals in all of these roles. What is up with your hate by the way? You're looking only at the radical picture and taking no time to get to know the average, normal American Muslims who have children, and fall in love, and have jobs, and make mistakes, and are successful. They're everywhere. You're hate is getting in the way of that.

7)What will come first? You actually knowing what you're talking about, or you not being an ass clown? Take the Amish for example...are they a threat? The nuclear weapon part..nobody should have one. Not even the United States. Screw nuclear weapons for everybody. They're dangerous no matter religion guides the hands that control them. You should know that.

8) Oh absolutely definitely. You clearly don't know me. I was raised Christian for 18 yrs. and I made the decision to explore all religions, even the lack of religion. Judiasm, Agnosticism, Catholicism, whatever. Would my child be welcome? Absolutely. Am I going to share my beliefs with my children? Absolutely. Will my fiance do the same? Abso-fucking-lutely. I'd never marry him if he didn't. I hope that they question. I WANT them to doubt and figure out life for themselves. I want them to come to me and be Buddhist, Taoist, whatever. It's interesting. That shit's the spice of life. My religion is not necessarily their religion unless they want it to be.

Finally, god get the whole picture before you just spout out your ideas. Pick up a book for the other side. Read the Koran and then decide if you hate it or not. When all you read is hate, and all you hear is hate, then all you will ever be is hate. When you only see things through the lens of prejudice then you will only see that which is absolutely wrong. I research everything. I question everything. But from the sounds of what you've asked of me, you clearly do not hold yourself to the same standard. You're hilarious and absolutely pathetic. Hate hate hate hate hate...and all I've felt and will continue to feel is love. From Muslims, from non-Muslims. Everybody. Hope you've learned something today. But...probably not.

Let's wade through the Taqiyah (decption) and get the truth count.

1) +1 Ok pretty surprising if it's true.

2) -2 ... due to your avoidance of the obvious fact about the age difference between the perpetrator and victim and the assertion that Mohammed had the ear of a God that did not understand ethics.

3) -2 due to you trying to separate the 97% FGM rate of Egypt from Muslims. Since Egypt is 90% Muslim, the horrendous FGM rate can only be achieved by overwhelming Muslim support.

-2 due to your lying about how FGM is against Islam ..... The Prophet said to her: "Do not cut too severely as that is better for a woman and more desirable for a husband'." This proves that he was for the practice and even in the mildest form of FGM the "cut" is the removal of clitoris. Maybe in your eyes this was Muhammed being moderate.

4) -2 Total evasion of the question where you start with "Seeing that...."

I'm reading between the lines that you would prefer Sharia law. Yes you like enough of the material things about US not to move (like the strip joints that the 911 terrorists frequented) but in your mind the US would be improved with Sharia.

5) -1 Of course there is NOT an EFFECTIVE Muslim opposition to AQ. In contrast there are countless examples of support for AQ by Islamic nations.

6) -1 Small examples of unique strains of Islam. The radical is the majority and the polling of Muslims in support for Sharia in European countries is the proof.

7) -2 So much wrong with your reply. Global deaths by war was on an exponential upward curve UNTIL the discovery and justified use of nuclear weapons by a nation that was Judeo-Christian at its roots. Thank God it was discovered by the nation that has facilitated and enabled the longest march toward global freedom that has ever happened in the history of the planet.

8) +1 But I don't really believe you. I especially don't believe you if you converted since 911. I believe most conversions to Islam since 911 is a childish form of expressing your contempt and hatred of the United States.

So you pretty much pegged the Taqiyah truth meter to a -10.

Various:

"Read the Koran" ... Flowery talk that is enforced with the sword. No Thanks.

"When all you read is hate".... no the media is saturated with the PoliCorrect "Islam is peace" crap. After 911, I went through the PC phase of questioning the U.S. policies but the more I read and watched with my own 2 eyes, the horror of Islam was greater than what I could ever have imagined. After a year or so of study I realized I just wasted a bunch of time. In the end the bumper sticker was straight to the point.... "All I need to learn about Islam is what I learned on 911'

"When you only see things through the lens of prejudice..."...... Barf. Talk to me about prejudice when a non-Muslim can live in any dominate Islamic country without fear of his life.

"I research everything. I question everything." ........... But yet you miss the whirlwind of hate and intolerance that comprises Islam and that you personally propagate.

"Hate hate hate hate hate...and all I've felt and will continue to feel is love" ......Your whole response was nothing but hate. Hmmmmmm.

Face it, there is that pathetic bumper sticker that shows all the religious symbols that form the word "Co-exist". What a farce. Everybody knows there is only ONE religion/cult where all the trouble begins and ends. The world's refusal to acknowledge that fact will most likely bring a horrendous body count.

@Jimbo99...you have no credibility. Clearly none of you do. I have not converted and am currently enjoying my religious free existence. But I'm allowed to explore. I'm allowed to question. And your whole cocky attitude about how I want Sharia law is hilarious. Seeing as I have yet to even fully understand what it says and wants, how can I want it? Talked to my fiance yesterday and we came to the conclusion that people like you and all of the others on this page, are the exception. Not the rule. Not everybody hates Muslims. I'll be content with that. Your comments are too narrow minded to even respond to. Yet I have. And I've wasted both of our times. And I'm saddened by your prejudice. But then I don't know you. And thank god I don't have to.

"And your whole cocky attitude about how I want Sharia law is hilarious. Seeing as I have yet to even fully understand what it says and wants, how can I want it? "

Good gawd woman !! If you ever step foot in an Islamic country you don't have a CHOICE about if you WANT sharia or not. Don't you understand the simple fact that you become his "personal property" and he can pretty much do with you as he wishes.

"I have not converted and am currently enjoying my religious free existence"

Does you fiancee and future in-laws agree that you have that freedom for yourself and your future kids once in the marriage? Do the women and children in his extended family have these freedoms? If not, you sure as heck won't have them because that would make him appear to be weak amongst the other extended family males.

"Not everybody hates Muslims".....

The only thing I hate is when people stand by and let lost women like yourself (EXPLORING as you put it) jump into the black abyss of Islamic misogyny without speaking up and saying the politically incorrect things that need to be said to wake you up. Sometimes the truth is really ugly.

Finally....
I encourage you to take your fiancee to any non-Islamic house of worship (Buddhist, Jewish, Hindu, 999 flavors of Christianity, orthodox, liberal, whatever) that offers professional pre-marriage consultation and have a few meetings with them. Talk with them about your expectations of life, love, and relationship in your prospective marriage. Let the counselor do his/her work with probing questions.

If your fiancee refuses to go along or participate willingly, consider that a GIGANTIC RED FLAG and that you've been duly warned.