I had a similar discussion with another Qatari some time ago, He thinks that a person born into Islam is always better than a revert.

I said that to live an entirely different life, then learn about Islam, then choose to accept it is better, since a person born into Islam MAY do the things he does just because he was being raised like that and as a habit, while the other has repented his sins (which in Islam convert from negative to positive), and has made a personal choice of Islam.