Jewish Yemeni woman tells Muslims why she would never convert

Najat Nahari is a Yemeni Jewish writer who seems to have achieved a measure of popularity for her writings. Her family moved to Israel when she was young and she says she experienced discrimination there, so she went to college in Cairo and now works in Beirut.

She is quite anti-Israel, of course, and her Facebook page features someone holding a sign saying "Anti-Zionism is not anti-semitism."

Nahari says that she does not believe in any religion nowadays.

A recent article of hers was just reproduced in Middle East Online where she says that many Muslims tell her daily that she is going to go to hell for not embracing Islam, but others send her much nicer proselytizing stories, some of which she describes as beautiful.

However, she says, she would never convert to Islam, for three reasons.

One is that there are many strains of Islam, each of which claims to be the only correct interpretation with the adherents of competing Islamic theologies going to hell. She doesn't like the odds that the Islam she would choose would be the "right" one.

The second reason is that Muslims today are fighting each other all over, and have massacred each other in very ugly ways; how could any Jew become a Muslim when Muslims are already killing each other because of religion? She says you never hear of Jews killing each other over religion, on the contrary, Israel has set up an entire country because of religion.

The third reason is that Islam originally promised to provide freedom and justice and deliverance from oppression, ignorance and poverty. But today, what Muslim countries offer these?

Najat says, "To be frank and honest: Most of our Arab and Islamic countries are filled with poverty, ignorance, injustice and human rights violations; lack of development and and lack of economic power... At the same time, states run by Christians and Jews who are regarded by some as infidels are enticing Muslims to migrate to work or live."

Najat clearly respects Islam and it appears that her words hit home at least for some Muslims; this essay (in Arabic) received over 900 "Likes" on Facebook.