A converts encounter with the Salafi Sect

when i became a muslim, i had no idea that there were such extreme muslims....reverts in particular. i was under the false idea that everyone was a basic muslim, understanding and forgiving, marching in the same parade. it took many hours of struggling in debate with very strict muslims to make me understand that there was something more.....salafi muslims.for a while i thought my ideas of islam were very off target. i had no idea what i was up against. i thought i was not being a decent muslim. but once i did catch on, i found some relief! i say relief because i really did beat myself up for a while wondering why my ideas were not on such a high plane. to me salafi meant the first generations of muslims, the ones who were blessed enough to have been around the prophet, pbuh, and the years afterwards. somehow i had been shielded from the current movement of muslims who take everything to the most extreme level. the ones who susbscribe to wahhabism.im a firm believer of to each his own.....if you want to be a moderate muslim, strict muslim, wahhabist, sufi, shia , sunni, that is each persons private decision. but i dont believe in forcing your opinions about your life and religion down anothers throat. each persons relationship with Allah is something that doesnt have to be explained to anyone else. its private.but, and maybe im wrong here, it seems that salafi muslims have a tendancy to want everyone else to accept their ideas and conform lest they become a "bad" muslm. "low iman". not on the "correct path". how many times have i heard all of this. and the anger that often goes with it is a little unsettling too. mainstream muslims have a tendancy to want to just explain islam to others and let them digest it as they want and inshallah that person will go forward with it and not let it remain idle in their brains. that, to me, is where no compulsion really lies.
taken from http://islamfactor.org/index.php?showtopic=1487