Over the long weekend, Oct. 7-9, I travelled to Brampton, Ont. with a few friends to attend a conference organized by the Revert Muslims Association. Some of the most influential Shiite Muslim lecturers from around North America were in attendance.

A couple of excellent speakers from abroad were there too, including Sheikh Bahmanpour from London and Sheikh Ali Shomali from Iran. In case you’re wondering, the entire conference was in English — not Arabic or Farsi.

Before I go on to discuss the event, I think it’s interesting to explore why individuals who have ‘converted’ to Islam prefer to be known as people who have ‘reverted.’ We have a belief in Islam that every single person is born completely free of sin and in perfect harmony with his Lord. When an individual who was not previously Muslim turns to Islam, he or she has returned, or ‘reverted,’ to the way he or she was born — on the path of truth.

Back to Brampton we go. The event consisted of lectures and interactive workshops conducted by the speakers. The topics varied from subjects like the philosophy of hijab to free-will versus predestination.

Of the many talks I was fortunate enough to listen to during the course of the weekend, a few stood out. Sheik Muhammad Rizvi, the imam of the Shia Ithna Asheri Muslim community of Toronto, spoke on maintaining a healthy, spiritual heart. He used the example of a physical heart, which needs three things to keep it in top shape:

1. Constant exercise.
2. A good diet.
3. Staying away from unhealthy foods.

Similarly, to keep our spiritual hearts clean, here’s what we need to do:

1. Constantly engaging in Zikr, remembrance of God, will help keep our hearts aware of God’s presence. The Prophet always stressed that the heart gathers rust from worldly desires and the remembrance of God removes this rust from the heart.
2. Performing acts of goodness equates to maintaining a healthy diet. If we regularly do good deeds, it will gradually reflect in our hearts and make us more compassionate to those around us.
3. Finally, if we want to make sure our hearts stay pure, we must try our utmost to stay away from sin and seek repentance. The seeking of forgiveness for one’s misdeeds and repenting to God plays a big role in spirituality. Imam Ali has said, "The sin that makes you sad and repentant is more liked by God than the good deed which turns you arrogant."

Meeting so many reverts was an eye-opening experience for me. The master of ceremonies himself was a Protestant until eight years ago when he reverted to Islam. I also met an Australian revert who is currently an exchange student at the University of Ottawa.

All in all, the trip was well worth the nine or so hours we spent on the road. Not only did we have a great time, but perhaps more importantly, we benefited immensely from the event.