Salaam

[Amanda]

Assalaamu alaikum,

Just wanted to introduce myself... I reverted about 8 months ago, but I am still learning, and I hope that this will be a good place for me to find the answers to many of my questions.

I'm Canadian, but I'm living in Indonesia with my husband, and am finding in difficult to find people who are also Muslim but who can speak English well enough to help me learn more. Thus, I'm finding it necessary to look for an online community to support me. Insha'allah, this is the one!

[al Amaanah]

:wasalamex

welcome to IB ukht! insha Allah u'll have an enjoyable and beneficial stay here. may Allah grant u more 3ilm and keep u steadfast upon this deen, Allahomma ameen.

:w:

[ژاله]

welcome to IB Amanda, inshaAllah you will find here many brothers and sisters who will be of help to you, enjoy ur stay. :)

[Najm]

WalaikumAsSalam WaRehmatuAllah WaBarkatuhu

Enjoy you stay, and please do ask if you need any help!

FiAmaaniAllah

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[ardianto]

Wa alaikumsalam wa rahmatullah wa barakatuh.

Welcome to the forum.

I'm Canadian, but I'm living in Indonesia with my husband, and am finding in difficult to find people who are also Muslim but who can speak English well enough to help me learn more.

I understand your problem. Is not easy to find an Indonesian who can help you learn more about Islam and also can speaks in well English.

There are Indonesians who can speak English well but cannot help you learn more about Islam because they are not ustadz/ustadzah.
There are Indonesian ustadz who can help you learn more about Islam but they cannot speak in well English.
There are ustadz/ustadzah who can speak in well english but usually they are very busy.

But you can join in 'Kelompok Pengajian' (Reading and learning Qur'an group) where one or few members can speak in well English. So, altough the ustadz (Islamic teacher) cannot speaks English, another member can help you to translate the lesson. Try to find any information about 'Kelompok pengajian' like this in your area.

FYI. I am living in Bandung.

[Amanda]

Assalamu alaikum,

Thank you for the welcome, and thank you for the advice. I shall look into classes in my area (I'm in Bali... which makes it easy to find people who speak English, but as noted, not that can both speak English and help me to learn).

[Strzelecki]

Wa 3alaikum salam, Amanda.
Welcome to the forums.
I hope you enjoy IB and have a beneficial stay here.

[- IqRa -]

:welcome: to the forum and to Islam :D

[glo]

Welcome to IslamicBoard, Amanda.
This will be a good place for you to learn. I have been here for three years, and I continue to learn more about Islam every time I log in here. :)


Did you and your husband convert together?

[zakirs]

Assalaamu alaikum sis..

Welcome to the forum.. feel free to ask any Q's

[Amanda]

Thank you again for the warm welcomes... I already feel like a real part of the community!

As for your question, Glo,

Did you and your husband convert together?

no, he was born Muslim. But I had reverted before we got engaged, as I felt that it was the right religion, alhamdulillah. (I always feel like I have to explain that I really believe, since there are many people here who just convert on paper as a result of Indonesian law preventing marriages of people of different faiths.)

[glo]

Thank you for your reply, Amanda. :)

I have a side question - nothing to do with your own situation.
Is a Muslim man in Indonesia not allowed to marry a Christian or Jewish woman? I thought that was permitted in Islam.
It just seems wrong that people feel the need to fake their own conversion in order to get married.

Back to your own situation, language barriers can be a real problem. Is your husband the only one you can really communicate with?
Are you learning the native language? That may be a step forward.

[Amanda]

No he cannot, by Indonesian law... all marriages must be of people who are of the same faith. So, either you have to convert on paper (which a lot of people do) or get married in another country.

As for the language thing, it's so complicated here! I'm living in Bali, so I have lots of friends (both Muslim and not Muslim) and they all speak decent English, and my husband's English is very good... but none of them feel that they are knowledgeable enough to teach me more than the basics of Islam. So often I have a question, but they are afraid to answer in case they are wrong (which I understand). But I haven't found an imam whose English is good enough to understand and explain the answers either (although I'm finding many answers to my questions here on the forum).
I am starting to learn Indonesian, but that's where it gets complicated. Each island has it's own language too, and sometimes even each city or region. So, although my husband can speak Indonesian well, at home he speaks his city's language, and then he speaks yet another language with people from the same island! Having all these languages being spoken around my home makes it difficult for me to even grasp Indonesian. Trust me, sometimes it's enough to make my head spin!

[glo]

Trust me, sometimes it's enough to make my head spin!

I can imagine!
My head is spinning just hearing about it from you! :crickey::D