Santo Mohammad

This must be some sort of elaborate joke.

UNION CITY, N.J. – Jasmine Pinet sits on the steps outside a mosque here, tucking in strands of her burgundy hair beneath a white head scarf, and explaining why she, a young Latina, feels that she has found greater respect as a woman by converting to Islam.

"They're not gonna say, 'Hey mami, how are you?' " Ms. Pinet says of Muslim men. "Usually they say, 'Hello, sister.' And they don't look at you like a sex object."

While some Latinas her age try to emulate the tight clothes and wiggling hips of stars like Jennifer Lopez and Christina Aguilera, Ms. Pinet and others are adopting a more conservative lifestyle and converting to Islam. At this Union City, N.J., mosque, women account for more than half of the Latino Muslims who attend services here. Nationwide, there are about 40,000 Latino Muslims in the United States, according to the Islamic Society of North America.

Many of the Latina converts say that their belief that women are treated better in Islam was a significant factor in converting. Critics may protest that wearing the veil marks a woman as property, but some Latina converts say they welcome the fact that they are no longer whistled at walking down a street. "People have an innate response that I'm a religious person, and they give [me] more respect," says Jenny Yanez, another Latina Muslim. "You're not judged if you're in fashion or out of fashion."

Okay, I'll agree that Latino men tend to be disrespectful of women. I've had several female friends over the years who have complained to me about the cat calls, et cetera. That having been said, this is outrageous. Islam? Respectful to women? It's Islamic law that allows a woman to be stoned to death if she's raped. It's Islamic law that allows men to have the genitals of their wives sewn shut if they leave for an extended period of time in order to ensure that they're not violated by another man; that's right, sewn shut. It's Islamic clerics who have written books about how to beat your wife without leaving incriminating marks.

But for many family members and friends, these conversions come as a surprise - often an unwelcome one. They may know little of Islam other than what they have heard of the Taliban and other extremist groups.

That creates an inaccurate image, insists Leila Ahmed, a professor of women's studies and religion at Harvard University. "It astounds me, the extent to which people think Afghanistan and the Taliban represent women and Islam." What's really going on, she says, is a reshaping of the relationship between women and Islam. "We're in the early stages of a major rethinking of Islam that will open Islam for women. [Muslim scholars] are rereading the core texts of Islam - from the Koran to legal texts - in every possible way."

The cleric who wrote the book about beating women without leaving incriminating marks was from Spain... SPAIN!!! What about the Saudi Arabian female television presenter who was beaten so severely by her husband that she almost died?

All this story about Latina converts to Islams tells me is that the women in the article don't pay attention to the news.