I was online one night scrolling through Facebook, and had found a revert sister that shared her feelings about how she felt hurt, and had made a vow to never go back to the masjid again.

She didn’t go into details on her wall post, but she had told me her story (permission was given to me to share anonymously) which had led her to this feeling of bitterness towards people she encountered at the masjid.

“I swear I will never EVER go back to a masjid ever again in my life after repeated experiences I’ve endured with person after person in my community!” She said.

Revert’s Experience in the Mosque

When I asked her why, she went on to explain that: “I became Muslim about a year ago, and my first experience at the masjid was very disappointing. I didn’t know anyone; so I didn’t know where to go, or what to do, or say.

I didn’t know I had to take my shoes off at the door; and I had walked (unknowingly) into the men’s prayer area. A brother came up to me with an angry face and yelled at me saying:

“What is wrong with you? Don’t you have any respect?”

I was terrified and speechless. I didn’t know what he was upset about; so I just ran out, and went back home. I cried for about an hour, and was scared to ever go back.

She then asked me: “Why are Muslims so rude? Do they not teach manners as part of Islam?”

I reassured her that not all Muslims are like this and told her that this had no part in Islam; I told her that these people are just ignorant, and that they do not represent Muslims as a whole.

After spending over an hour trying to bring her spirits back up, she said that she would try to let go of all this bitterness she acquired.

The very next day, she messaged me and told me that she found another masjid in her area; it was a completely different experience for her. Her confidence had been restored.

Forgive and Forget

We just have to face the reality that there will be rude, ugly people everywhere we go; but we have to learn how to deal with it, and to move past anything negative that we encounter and not let it hold us back.

If we hold onto bitterness, it only destroys us, and doesn’t even faze those we resent. Once we realize this, we can learn to overcome bitterness to become better. We have the power to make that choice.

Bitterness is caused by hurt and anger; and the solution to bitterness, is forgiveness, love, and the ability to forget. You might say: “I can forgive, but I can’t forget”… But this is something you have made a conscious decision to make.

You can forget if you really want to move on and become better. You may ask, “But how can I forget such things?” It isn’t something easy to do, but it can be done! There is hope out there.

When we hold on to negativity, we are only harming ourselves, and poisoning our soul.  Bitterness is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die.

Turning to Allah with dua will always bring you a sense of love, comfort, and hope. So hold tight to that rope to Allah!  When you have a negative feeling about someone, immediately replace it with a pleasant thought, and make a dua for them.

Forgive them on the spot for what they are doing or saying to you; try not to hold resentment towards them. Don’t allow Satan to take control over your happiness.

Down Under

Jamieson, a revert brother from Australia, told me how he overcame the bitterness he held against another Muslim brother, whom we will call Ahmed, with whom he went to university and also worked with.

He was in a situation where he needed a ride to university because his car had broken down.  Ahmed offered him a ride for a few days, and then Ahmed told him on the 4th day that he isn’t a bank, and that Jamieson needed to reimburse him for the gas.

This had left Jamieson confused, but he told him that he would give it to him the next day at work, because he didn’t have cash on him at the moment.

The next day, he gave Ahmed enough to fill his tank, but Ahmed told him that he also wanted money for his time! They ended up in an argument, and didn’t speak to each other for weeks.

He didn’t like the situation that had unfolded the way it did, and wanted to mend their friendship. So he made a sincere effort to talk to Ahmed about why things happened the way they did; he told him that he didn’t like the bitterness that was being held between them both towards one another.

During their discussion, he discovered that Ahmed had cancelled a job he was doing to make money to pay for his tuition, to help Jamieson, and had withheld that information from Jamieson, so he had taken his frustration out on Jamieson.

Jamieson apologized because he wasn’t aware of what Ahmed was doing to help him, and promised to help him find another job to reach his goals, which he did. This softened the hearts between both of them.

A Lesson

Jamieson’s story is a great example of how bitterness can be destructive, but if we take the effort to calmly and sincerely talk to those that hurt us, we can develop long lasting friendships with those whom we once held bitterness towards.

Holding onto bitterness brews anger and frustration. We hold on to it, blame society for everything that causes the bitterness to grow and grow, and continue to talk about it and never work to resolve it.

When we love one another like Allah loves us, despite hardships we encounter, we can find a way to release the bitterness and attain “betterness”.

Cleanse yourself of bitterness and hurt, and gain the love of others and Allah, because bitterness imprisons your soul, but love can release it!

Forgive and forget for your own sake!

(From Discovering Islam’s archive.)