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The Story of my Conversion to Islam and my
Emigration to Egypt
A German student
Convert to Islam narrates :
The story of every westerner’s conversion to Islam that I have known or read
about is rather unique and differs from that of other converts. In many cases,
Western converts to Islam have undergone long periods of psychological,
spiritual, social and even physical crises during which they were doubting in
all their traditional beliefs and values.
Their feeling of up-rootedness and their rejection of Western society
surrounding them made them search for guidance in other directions, namely in
the religions and philosophies of the East.
My own story is a unique one too, since I have become a Muslim as early as at
the age of twelve. I was a pupil of the 6th class and had no contact with other
Muslims. I was born in 1950, in a rural area of West Germany. I was a child of
refugees who had been expelled from their homes in Eastern Europe after the end
of World War II because they belonged to a German minority. Therefore, from the
very beginning of my life, I had been in a state of insecurity, fear and need.
My family belonged to the Roman Catholic Church but only by name, in reality
they were free-thinkers. Thus, I was brought up without being admitted to church
(baptized). At home, I was taught that there is an Almighty God, and that we are
responsible for our deeds, and that we have to lead a moral life.
My relatives wanted me to chose by myself the right creed when I grow up, which
I did. During my late childhood I was constantly searching for the right
religion, and I attended church voluntarily, both the Catholic and the
Protestant one (since I did not belong to either of them), and I took Protestant
lessons at school, and attended Sunday-school, studying the Bible. In the end I
thought of joining the Protestant Church, but God the Almighty saved me:
However in 1968, I had the occasion to travel to London with a group of
students, in order to improve my English. God the Almighty led me to the Islamic
Center at Regents Garden, run by Al-Azhar (although there are many other Islamic
Centers in London, run by other nations). I declared my Islam, and was given
books to teach myself how to pray etc. But, best of all, I was introduced to the
late Shaikh Ahmad Hassan El-Baquir, former Rector of Al-Azhar University, who
happened to be in London for Medical treatment. He invited me to Egypt and joins
the Azhar in order to study Arabic and the Holy Quran.
In October 1969, I arrived in Cairo for the first time. I got enrolled at the
Islamic Girls’ College at Madinat Nasr and received Arabic lessons. I was deeply
impressed by Egypt, its culture and the kindness of its people who welcomed me
warmly and helped me understand Islam better. Eleven months later I returned to
my country and joined the University of my Hometown, namely the Institute for
Oriental Studies. My professors were mostly German orientalists who were full of
prejudices and hostility against Islam, so that I had to hide my Islam in order
to continue my studies till the Master’s Degree.
At my university there existed a group of Muslim students from the Middle East
and Indonesia, who gathered on Fridays to conduct prayers and listen to
religious speeches. With their help I got to know my later husband, a Ph.D.
student from Cairo. Since his parents were living in Kuwait (his father was a
medical doctor), I travelled to Kuwait in the end of 1974, where we got married
at the Embassy of Egypt. In summer 1975, when my husband received the Doctorship
and I attained the Master’s degree, we emigrated to Egypt where I have been
working as a teacher and in 1977, we had our first son.
I found that it is much better to live in Egypt than in Germany because this is
an Islamic country where I do not have any problems in professing my faith.
Whenever I travel to Germany, in order to visit my relatives, I notice how
difficult it is for a Muslim and how hard life he would have in the West. In the
West, it is extremely difficult to perform prayers, to fast during Ramadan, to
wear a scarf as Muslim women do, to avoid eating pork, etc.
Moreover, it is extremely difficult in the West to bring up one’s children as
good Muslims, since the environment exercises great influence over every child,
and being a Muslim you are a kind of outsider to the westerners. Therefore, I am
glad to live in Egypt, whose people are known for their kindness and whose
climate is much better than that of Germany.
In 1989, I was able to make the Omrah together with my husband and my son, and
to visit El-Madinah which made and everlasting deep impression on me. Last year
I performed the pilgrimage (Hajj) with my husband, and I thank god the Almighty
for all the mercy and guidance He has given me!
At that time I was reading a lot of books (reading being my greatest pleasure)
on other cultures and religions. I was fascinated by the East, especially by the
Islamic countries. Whenever I read some descriptions of Muslim costumes and
beliefs, I was deeply impressed. Finally, I asked my family to give me a
translation of the Quran and Biography of the Prophet (Peace be upon him). On
Christmas Eve 1962, I was given these books as gifts and I started reading them
for a couple of hours. At about Midnight I had the feeling that Christianity was
wrong, and that I wanted to become a Muslim. My relatives tolerated my ideas,
thinking that I was just in a romantically mood like many young people.
In the following years, I read more and more about Islam, however, often the
books I could get, were written by orientalists, giving me wrong ideas. For
example, I read that the veil of Muslim women was to be abolished in Muslim
countries, as had been done in Turkey by Kamal Ataturk.
During all these years following my conversion to Islam in my heart and since I
was living in a rural area, I did not have the occasion to meet real good
Muslims and therefore did not know how to pray nor how to perform any other
religious acts.
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