Tips for Volunteers

Below are some tips we have for you:

• Be careful about sharing too many personal details in your profile – this includes details of your location or any social media details. Whilst we do aim to monitor messages and profile details, we do still advise caution against those that may have insincere intentions with using the platform.

• Report suspicious/rude/offensive behaviour to us – we reserve the right to delete users in violation of the rules at Help for Reverts. Volunteers are not here to be abused, and it is your duty to make us aware of any abuse from someone posing as a revert.
  This applies to email correspondence via our online platform or privately.

• Be realistic with the number of hours you specify – if you know you’ll find it difficult to volunteer many hours within the month, please ensure you do state this on your profile. Whilst you may be passionate about helping a revert as much as you can early on, we understand you have other commitments in life, and it’s advisable to offer support on a consistent basis – rather than allocating lots of time early on and then forgetting about them later on.

• Be realistic with how you can help a revert – e.g. you may not be a scholar or have a good understanding of the Arabic language. Avoid presenting the perception that you’re knowledgeable in this area, as this will be detrimental to not only the revert, but yourself.

• Not everyone is looking for the same type of support – some reverts may be attending Islamic classes elsewhere and you’ll find they don’t really need the educational support. They may just be missing an attentive ear, a good friend which you can be inshaAllah. Try to find out more about what help they need, as opposed to telling them, what help you think they need.

• Try not to be over-bearing – it’s important to be mindful of how often you’re communicating with the revert. Are you messaging them twice a day? It may be too much for them. There’s no fixed rule for how often you should communicate with the revert and thus, this requires wisdom from the volunteer.
  At the same time, we strongly encourage to avoid delaying your reply to reverts. A major challenge new Muslims face (and why many reverts leave Islam) is the lack of community support and feelings of abandonment. It’s important we provide that emotional support, encouragement and guidance to help deter them from choosing their old lifestyle again.

• Keep reminding yourself why you’re doing this – inshaAllah, you’ll receive a great reward from Almighty Allah and find many generations benefiting from your small contribution to a revert. Once you’ve left this world, you’ll passively receive a share of good deeds too.