Iqra Abd al-Nur

Nobody warns you about this part. You expect the questions. You expect the confusion, maybe even the arguments. What you don't necessarily expect is the quiet – the phone calls that stop, the invitations that dry up, the feeling of being present at a family gathering and somehow not really being there at all. Converting to Islam can change relationships you assumed were permanent and uncomplicated. And sometimes, yes, it can cost you people. If you're in that right now, I want to say...

There's a question a lot of women ask themselves and never say out loud: am I actually Muslim enough? Not "am I Muslim," you know that answer. The question that keeps you up is smaller and sharper than that. It's whether you're praying enough, covering enough, know enough, feel enough. It's the quiet comparison to someone else's certainty. It's the sense that everyone around you got a manual you never received. I know this question well. I spent years reading before I ever said the words out...