Jordan Richter and Me

I went to my first live documentary screening at Central Market. It really opened my eyes. I was really moved by what I saw. The screening was attended by Malaysians of all races as well as foreign tourists and expats.

Documentary title: Wayward Son: Jordan Richter

Producer/Director: Mustafa Davies

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Google Jordan Richter and Mustafa Davies.

Briefly: Jordan Richter was a promising teenage skateboarder in '90s. He rose to fame quickly; won competitions and awarded many endorsements.

However, at the height of his early career, he found Islam and became a Muslim at 16 years old. Unfortunately, he befriended Muslims who had a very narrow understanding of Islam. They advised him that photographs and skateboarding were haram. Not wanting to displease Allah, Jordan Richter gave up his passion of skating for Islam.

15 years later, he discovered that skateboarding and photography is permissible. He is now skateboarding and entering competitions again.

The documentary focused on his pain growing up with drug-abusive parents, and his challenges of becoming a Muslim in America.

This is what I learned from the documentary from Jordan's experience:

• when he converted, the Muslim community were proud to be associated with a new believer i.e. muallaf
• the Muslim community taught him ritual and cultural practices confused for Islam
• most of them did not bother to guide him post conversion. he had to guide himself
• he felt very lonely as a Muslim; having lost his friends when he was Jewish, and now that he's a Muslim, he has not gained many true Muslim friends
• thinking that skateboarding was haram and inpermissible, the discontinued his passion for what he thought would please Allah, and found other permissible means to survive but surviving on little income

What moved me:

• even though he gave up his passion, he was never angry at Allah. He never left Islam and just soldiered on
• even though he was lonely without companionship, he soldiered on. He did not desert his faith
• that many new believers face a possibility of losing their family and friends, and yet the majority of the existing Muslim community are not as accepting or indifferent to their situation
• many existing Muslims do not realize that reverts/converts are just like young children. they are learning step by step. The average insensitive and unlearned Muslims expect reverts/converts to don Muslim-Muslimah dress immediately, to know how to perform prayer, to understand the adab at a mosque, etc. IMMEDIATELY. Rightfully, new reverts/converts need to have a solid understanding of Islam (aqidah) to strengthen their faith (iman) & behavior (akhlak) before proceeding to the ritualistic aspect of Islam.
• For example, if a revert/convert used to enjoy alcoholic beverages, they are not required to abstain immediately. They are expected to reduce their consumption gradually until they no longer crave the beverage. It's just like smoking or emotional eating.
• the majority of existing Muslims tend to be very judgmental towards new believers i.e. always looking for faults
• Muslims in general tend to only assist or do charity for MUSLIMS only. Yet, they forget that Islam encourages you to help others inclusive of non-Muslims. I do agree that I do observe this. Muslims do not like to help non-Muslims in the city, what more at rural areas. I cannot explain why this is so.

Having a friend who is already beginning to embrace Islam, I feel moved, and I feel I can foresee her challenges. Alhamdulillah, my family has agreed to unofficially adopt her.

I cannot bear if she has to experience the same things as Jordan Richter, or any other new Muslim for that matter.

She needs a support group more than ever.

May Allah make things easy for us.

Thanks Jordan. No, thank you Allah for leading me to the documentary and giving me the realization.