It is stated in a hadith ash-Sharif: "Every newly-born baby is suitable for and agreeable with Islam. Afterwards they are made Jews, Christians or Magians by their parents." Likewise, I had been born as a Muslim. Yet it was only many years later that I realized this fact. Since my childhood I had been deeply interested in the past. When I graduated from the university, I began to work as a writer. I was not a well-known writer yet. Nor could one tell what I was going to be. As a Christian, I had been given some teaching on the concept of Allah and on how to worshipAllah. Yet my adoration was not confined to their teachings; I felt the same worship-like attachment towards all paragons of chivalry and valour that I had read about in history. Eventually, I was given an office in Uganda, which was under the British sway in those days. When I went to Africa, I saw that life was entirely different there. Lifestyles of people living there, the sentiments that they displayed concerning various worldly events, their behaviours towards one another amazingly defied the expectations and imaginations that I had harboured about them when I had been in London. People living in this place faced the very primitive and onerous life-styles and all sorts of difficulty they encountered in a sense of absolute trust, did not lose their jollity at times when one would normally feel quite despondent, and no degree of poverty could inhibit them from helping one another. A sacred glue composed of love and compassion had attached them to one another, which was well beyond the narrow mental grasp of people of our sort. In fact, I had taken an interest in the orient during my school days. In Cambridge, for instance, I had tasted the pleasure of reading the stories of Arabian Nights. And now, being in Africa, and so close to the Orient; I resumed reading the book. The difficult and unaccommodating life I was now leading in Uganda was making me feel closer and closer to the oriental people. As I was reading the stories of Arabian Nights now, I was comparing them with the people of Uganda and, as it were, I was living with them.
I was completely accustomed to life here, when the First World War broke out. When I applied for military service, they would not admit me into the military on account of my poor health. When I felt better I applied again. This time they admitted me, and sent me to the German front in France. In 1917 I joined the terrible Somme battles. I was wounded in these battles, and I was captured by the Germans. They took me to Germany, where I was put in a hospital. I saw extremely horrendous events in the hospital. Because of those battles, mankind suffered such horrible afflictions. Many Russian prisoners of war were brought to the hospital. They were suffering from dysentery, which had already exhausted them. food provisions were extremely poor in Germany. They did not give enough food to the prisoners of war or to the other patients. I was writhing with hunger. The wound on my right arm never seemed to be recovering, nor did the one on my right leg. I was already crippled and paralyzed. I applied to the Germans and requested them to repatriate me to my country through the Prisoners of War Exchange Commission in Switzerland. My request was approved by the Germans. I was sent to Switzerland, where they hospitalized me again. My arm and leg were entirely out of service. What would become of me now? How would I earn my living? These thoughts drove me to infinite despair. As I was in this mood of utter hopelessness, I somehow remembered the consolatory Koranic statements that I had read in a book which I had bought in Uganda. In those days I had read them again and again with deep interest and adoration; I had even memorized them. I began to pass these statements through my heart and to repeat them a number of times daily. It gave my heart a sense of relief and opened the gates of hope. And my hopes came true, too. The Swiss doctors operated on my leg once again, and my leg began to feel better. I owed this to the Qur'an al-karim. As soon as I began to walk, the first thing I did was to go to a bookstore and buy a translation of Qur'an al-karim by Savary. [This book is still my most cherished companion.] This time I began to read the entire Qur'an al-karim. The more I read, the more relief did my heart feel, the higher did my soulascend, the deeper into my essence did a tremendous mass of light penetrate. My leg was completely well now. Yet my right arm was still motionless. Upon this, I obeyed the command of the Qur'an al-karim, surrendered myself to the Will of Allahu ta'ala, and drilled myself in writing with my left hand. The first thing I did after learning to write with my left hand was to embark on writing a copy of Qur'an al-karim with my left hand. At one time, I had been deeply impressed by an episode in an Islamic book that I had been reading. The episode was about a young man who was reading the Qur'an al-karim quite oblivious of his surroundings and without even knowing that he was in a graveyard where he had come accidentally. I put myself in his place, delivered my essence to the Grace of Allahu ta'ala, and carried on my reading the Qur'an al-karim. In other words, I was a Muslim now.
In 1918 I went back to London. In 1921 I began to attend Arabic lessons in the University of London. One day my Arabic teacher, Mr. Belshah of Iraq, told us about the Qur'an al-karim. He said, "You are free to believe or not. Yet you will find that it is a very interesting book and that it is worth studying." When I said, "I know the Qur'an al-karim. I have read it, and many times, too. I believe in it," he was bewildered. A couple of days later he took me to the London mosque at Notting Hill Gate. I joined the daily prayers in that mosque for about a year. In 1922 I became a Muslim officially.
We are in 1950 now. So far, I have held fast to all the commandments of Qur'an al-karim with both hands, and this has given me a great pleasure. Allahu ta'ala's power, compassion and grace are boundless. The only personal treasure that we can carry on this trek of life and which we can take to the world to come is to offer hamd-u-thena [gratitude and glorification] to Allahu ta'ala, to surrender ourselves with love to that Almighty Being, and to worship Him.
20 - Mrs. MESUDA STEINMANN (G.B.)
There is not a single other religion to equal Islam in its simple comprehensibility or in its reassuring smoothness. Islam is the one and only one religion which infuses a sense of peace and tranquillity into the humansoul, blesses man with a life of contentment, and guides him to eternal happiness and salvation after death.
Man is one of the various creatures of Allahu ta'ala. Naturally, there is some connection between him and the other creatures. Allahu ta'ala created man in the most perfect form. What gives him this singular virtue is the soul that he possesses. Man's soul continuously endeavours to take him up to higher and higher levels. And the only source to feed the soul is religion.
What kind of a connection is there between man and the Almighty Being who creates him? No doubt, religion explains this. I studied the statements made about religion by various scholars. The following are a few examples:
(Paraphrased) from Carlyle's work 'On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History':
"A person's religion is his heart's belief, and it is, therefore, his most prominent characteristic. Religion is such that it goes directly into one's heart. It adjusts one's activities in the world. It shows the way one should follow and determines one's destination."
(Paraphrased) from Chesterton's book 'If One Should Think':
"Religion expresses the most sublime fact which a person obtains concerning his and others' existence."
(Paraphrased) from Ambroce Bierce's work 'The Satan's Dictionary':
"Religion is a source that teach people what they do not know and which infuses both fear and hope into them."
(Paraphrased) from Edmunde Burke's book 'The French Revolution':
"The common commandment of all true religions is to obey the commandments of Allahu ta'ala, to be respectful of his canon, and thereby to be closer to His love."
(Paraphrased) from Swedenborg's work 'Doctrine of Life':
"Religion means doing good. The essence of religion is goodness."
(Paraphrased) from James Harrington's book 'The Ocean':
"Everybody has more or less some connection with religion, whether as a source of fear or as a means of consolation."
Everybody in the world encounters various situations which they do not know, cannot understand, and cannot explain. It is only religion that explains to them and which infuses into them a sense of definite belief and trust.
Why do I believe that Islam is the most perfect of the world's religions and that it is the true religion? Let me explain:
First of all, the Islamic religion states that there is no god besides the one Allah, who is great, that He is not begotten and does not beget, either, and that there is not another creatorlike Him. There is not another religion to explain the existence, the unity, and the grandeur of Allahu ta'ala in the magnificence worthy of Him. The fourth ayat of Hud sura purports, "[O my born slaves], your return shall be to Me, alone. Allah is Almighty." The fifty-fifth ayat of Isra Sura purports, "Allahu ta'ala has the best knowledge of the celestial and the terrestrial creatures." Moreover, many chapters of Qur'an al-karim state that "He is the only creator," that "He is everlasting," that "He is eternal," that "He is omniscient," that "He is the absolute judge who makes the truest decision," that "He is the greatest helper," that "He is the Creator, who is the most compassionate," and that "He is the most magnanimous forgiver." I could not explain how strongly a person is attracted towards Allahu ta'ala, how he melts before Him, and how he surrenders himself to His Grace, as he reads these lines. Allahu ta'ala declares, as is purported in the seventeenth ayat of Hadid Sura, "Know ye (all) that Allahu ta'ala giveth life to the earth [with rains] after its death [with drought]. [Likewise, He gives life to dead hearts with Dhikr and Tilawat]. Already We have shown the signs plainly to you, that ye may learn wisdom." The Nas Sura purports, "[O Muhammad s.a.s.!] Say: I seek refuge with my Owner, the Cherisher of mankind, the King (or Ruler) of mankind, the Judge of mankind, (who sends them what they need and protects them against horrors), from the mischief of the whisperer (of evil), who withdraws after his whisper), -(the same) who whispers into the hearts of mankind,- among Jinns and among Men."
When a person reads these exalted statements, how could it ever be possible for him not to believe in that great Creator and not to seek refuge in Him? Aren't all these enough for a person to bask in the consciousness of a mercifulcreator who will protect him as long as he lives, and thus to abide by the right way?
Islam plainly states that it is the most genuine religion and that it has accumulated in itself all the correct aspects of those religions previous to it. It says that all the rules written in the Qur'an al-karim, Islam's Holy Book, are plain, clear, logical principles intelligible to everyone. These are extremely true facts. Indeed, if we really wish to establish a consistent relationship between Allahu ta'ala and the born slave, to unite the corporeal and spiritual components in harmony with each other, and to maintain peace both in this world and in the Hereafter, it is indispensably incumbent on us to accept the Islamic religion. Our spiritual and physical progress depends only and only on Islam's support.
Christianity busies itself only with spirituality and conscience and overloads every individual Christian with spiritual and conscientious burdens far beyond the human capacity. Christianity prejudges man as a sinful creature and demands from him preposterous expiations he could never understand. The Islamic religion, on the other hand, is based on mere love. A very deep research into Christianity carried on by a group of highly competent scientists might finally find a tiny particle of love of Allah among the plethora of heavy burdens only after an arduous ransack in the people's various moods. And then the group would sit and lament over the fact that that tiny particle of love has been lost for good in today's Christianity, which is awash in superstitions. Coleridge states in one of his books, "It is a reality that a person who loves Christianity very much becomes gradually alienated from Christianity and begins to love the church more, and at the end he loves himself the best." On the other hand, Islam commands us to respect and love Allahu ta'ala, to obey His commandments only, and at the same time to use our own reason and logic. Christianity still contains some truth. In Islam, on the other hand, everything rests on truth. In the Qur'an al-karim, Allahu ta'ala addresses to all His born slaves, regardless of their races and colours, as is purported in the hundred and eighth ayat of Yunus Sura, "Say, O mankind! Truth hath come to you from your Rabb (Allah). He who hath taken the right path hath done so only for his own good, and he who hath lapsed into aberration hath inflicted a loss only on himself. I am not your guardian." After reading all these facts and fully comprehending the tenor of the Qur'an al-karim, I saw that Islam contained the truest answers to my queries, and I willingly became a Muslim. Islam showed me the right way and heartened me. The only way of attaining peace and comfort in the world and salvation in the Hereafter is to embrace Islam.
21 - Mrs. MAVISH B. JOLLY (G.B.)
I was born as a Christian in Britain. I was baptized, and I was raised with an education based on learning what is written in today's copies of the Bible. As I was a child, whenever I went to the church I was deeply impressed by the various lights, the candles burning on the pulpit, the music, the smells of incense, and the monks in magnificent attirements. The prayers that I listened to without understanding their meanings would make me shiver. I think I was a devoted Christian. In the course of time, however, as I reached higher levels of education, some questions began to rise in my mind. I began to find some faults in Christianity, in which I had held a full belief until that time. As days went by, I noticed an increase in my doubts. I developed a gradual apathy towards Christianity. Eventually I ended up in a state of denial of all religions. That splendid sight of the church, which had been at one time the center of my infantile admiration, was now gone, like a phantom. By the time I graduated from the school, I was an atheist in the full sense of the term. It did not take me long, however, to realize that believing nothing would hollow the humansoul, leaving perpetual mood of despair and weakness. The human being definitely needed some power that would provide him refuge. Consequently, I began to study other religions.
I began with Buddhism. I minutely examined the essentials which they called 'Eight Paths'. These eight essentials contained deep philosophy and beautiful pieces of advice. Yet there was not a certain right way that they showed, nor did they provide the information that would help you choose the right way.
This time I began to examine Magianism. While running away from trinity, I encountered a religion of many deities. Furthermore, that religion was too full with myths and superstitions to be accepted as a religion.
Then I began to study Judaism. It was not an entirely new religion for me, for the former section of the Bible, the Old Testament, was at the same time a part of the Judaic book Torah. Judaism could not satisfy me, either. Yes, Jews believed in one God, which I approved entirely. But it was all that; they denied all the other religious facts, and the Judaic religion, let alone being a guide, had been turned into a cult of various complicated forms of worship and rites.
One of my friends recommended that I practice spiritualism. "Taking messages from the spirits of the dead will stand for a religion," he said. That would not satisfy me at all. For it took me only a short while to realize that spiritualism consisted in a manner of self-hypnotism and could therefore by no means be nutritive to the humansoul.
The Second World War had ended, and I was working in an office. Yet my soul was still yearning for a religion. One day I saw an ad in a newspaper. It announced a "Conference on the divinity of Jesus (Issa a.s.)," and added that people from other religions would be admitted. The conference revived my deeply-rooted interest. For in that conference they were going to discuss Issa's a.s. being the son of God. I attended the conference, and met a Muslim there. The answers that that Muslim gave to my questions were so beautiful and so logical that I decided to study Islam, which had never occurred to me before. I began to read the Qur'an al-karim, the Holy Book of Muslims. To my astonishment, the rules stated in this book were by far superior to the statements made by most of the well-known statesmen of the twentieth century, which aroused strong feelings of admiration and adulation in me. These statements were quite above the human linguistic capacity. So I would no longer believe the lies that "the Islamic religion is a concoction. The Qur'an al-karim is a fable," with which they had been dosing us for years. The Qur'an al-karim could not be a concocted book. Statements in that acme of perfection could be made only by a being above the human race.
I was still hesitant, though. I spoke with some British women who had embraced Islam. I asked them to help me. They recommended some books to me. Among those books were 'Mohammad and Christ', which compared Muhammad s.a.s. with Issa a.s., and 'The Religion of Islam', which described the Islamic religion. Another book, namely 'The Sources of Christianity, explained in an extremely clear manner that most of the Christian acts of worship were the continuation of the rites that had been performed by primitive people, and that today's Christianity is in actual fact an idolatrous religion.
I should avow that I felt bored when I read the Qur'an al-karim for the first time. For it contained so many reiterations. It should be known that the Qur'an al-karim is a book that impresses and penetrates the humansoul slowly. To understand the Qur'an al-karim well and to attach yourself to it, you have to read it a number of times. So, the more I read this holy book, the more strongly did I become attached to it, so much so that I could not go to sleep without reading it every night. What impressed me most was the fact that the Qur'an al-karim was a perfect guide for mankind. The Qur'an al-karim did not contain anything that a person could not understand. Muslims looked on their Prophet as a human being like themselves. According to Muslims, the only aspect that made prophets different from other people was that their intellectual and moral levels were very high, they were sinless and faultless. They had by no means any proximity to divinity. The Islamic religion declared that no prophet would come after Muhammad a.s.. I objected to that. "Why should there be no other prophet," I asked. My Muslim friend's explanation was as follows: "The Qur'an al-karim, the Holy Book of Muslims, teaches people all the elements of beautiful moral quality that a person should need, all the religious essentials, the path that will guide one to the approval of Allahu ta'ala, and all the necessaries required for attaining peace and salvation in this world and the next."
The veracity of these statements gets demonstrative evidence from the fact that the essentials in the Qur'an al-karim, which are still the same as they were fourteen centuries ago, are perfectly consistent with today's life-styles and today's scientific levels. Yet I was still demurring. For we were now in 1954; fourteen centuries later, that is. I wondered if there was not an iota of obsolescence in Islam that would make at least one of the principles communicated by Muhammad a.s., who was born in 571, inconsistent with today's conditions? I embarked on an assiduous quest for mistakes in Islam. My efforts to find fault in Islam despite the fact that my soul had already attained a complete belief in Islam, -so much so that the verity of the Islamic religion was like a live picture in front of my eyes-, should no doubt have been rooted in the vilifications of Islam iterated by priests for the purpose of imposing into our infant minds the idea that Islam was a very defective, inferior and heretical religion.
The first file to rake around in was polygamy. Here, I had found an important loophole. How come a man could marry four women (at the same time)? When I asked about that, my Muslim friend, whom I have mentioned earlier, explained the matter as follows: "The Islamic religion appeared in a society where a man could cohabit with as many women as he liked without any official responsibility towards them. With a view to restoring the woman into her proper place in society, the Islamic religion pared down the number of women that a man could marry, and stipulated that he should support the women, mete out justice among them, and pay them (the canonically prescribed) alimony in the event of a divorce. Furthermore, if a woman had no one to support her, she could join a family as a member, not as a slave, of the family. Moreover, marrying four women was not a religious commandment enjoined on men. It was a permission with provisos. Marrying more than one women was forbidden for men who would not be able to fulfil the stipulations. It was for this reason that many a man had only one wife. Marrying up to four women was a kind of tolerance." On the other hand, the Mormons in America compelled every male member to marry several women. My Muslim friend asked, "I wonder if the British men cohabit with only one woman?" I confessed in embarrassment, "Today all European men enter into relations with various women both before marriage and even after they get married." Then the words of my Muslim friend reminded me of the story of a young woman who had lost her husband in the war and had been looking for a man to entrust herself to. The Second World War had ended, and a programme called 'Dear Sir' on a British radio announced the following request of poor young woman: "I am a young woman. I lost my husband in the war. I have no one to care for me now. I need protection. I am ready to be the second wife of a good natured man and to carry his first wife on my head. All I want is to put an end to this loneliness."
This shows that the Islamic polygamy is intended to satisfy a need. It is only a permission, not a commandment. And today, when unemployment and poverty are making the rounds over the entire world, there is next to no place left where it is practiced. These thoughts completely eradicated the possibility that I would any longer look on polygamy as a fault in Islam.
Then, with the presumption of having found another defect, I asked my Muslim friend, "How can the five daily prayers be adjusted to our life-styles today? Wouldn't so many prayers be too much?" He smiled, and asked me, "Sometimes I hear you playing the piano. Are you interested in music?" "Very much," was my answer. "All right. Do you practice daily?" "Of course. As soon as I am back home from work, I play the piano at least two hours every day." Upon this, my Muslim friend said, "Why do you find it too much to pray five times daily, which would take you only half an hour or forty-five minutes in all? As you might lose your proficiency in playing the piano if you did not have practice, likewise the less one thinks of Allahu or thanks Him for His blessings by prostrating himself, the farther away will the way leading to Him become. On the other hand, praying daily means making progress step by step in the right way of Allahu ta'ala." He was so right!
There was no obstacle to my accepting Islam now. I embraced the Islamic religion with all my soul and conscience. As you see I did not choose it at first sight and without thinking at all; on the contrary, I became a Muslim after examining Islam minutely, looking for the possible faults in it and finding their answers, and reaching the conclusion that it is an immaculate religion. Now I boast about being a Muslim.
I am frequently asked why I became a Muslim. I am the daughter of a renowned family, and my husbandalso is well-known and rich. To those who ask me why I became a Muslim, I reply that I do not know for certain when the light of Islamrose in my soul. It seems to me as if I have been a Muslim forever. This is not something strange at all. For Islam is a natural and true religion. Every child is born as a Muslim. If it is left to itself, it will choose Islam, none else. As a European writer observes, "Islam is the religion of people with common sense."
If you made a comparative study of all religions, you would immediately see that Islam is the most perfect, the most natural, and the most logical. Owing to Islam, many complicated problems of the world are solved easily and mankind attains peace and tranquillity. Islam always rejects the dogma that human beings are born sinful and that they have to expiate for it in the world. Muslims believe in Allah, who is one. In their eyes, Musa (Moses), Issa (Jesus), and MuhammadMustafa 'salawatullahi ta'ala 'alaihim ajmain' are human beings like us. Allahu ta'ala has chosen them as Prophets to guide people to the right way. For doing penance, for asking for forgiveness, or for praying, there is no one between Allahu ta'ala and the born slave. We can supplicate Allahu ta'ala on our own any time, and we are responsible only for what we have done.
The word 'Islam' means both 'to surrender oneself to Allahu ta'ala' and 'to have belief in Muhammad a.s.. 'Muslim' means 'a person who lives in peace and happiness with all beings.' Islam is based on two fundamental facts:
1) That Allahu ta'ala is one, and that Muhammad a.s. is the final Prophet He has sent.
2) That humanity should be entirely freed from superstitions and unfounded dogmas. The Hajj, one of the (five) tenets of Islam, has a great impact on people. What other religion contains a form of worship as sublime as Islam's pilgrimage, which brings together hundreds of thousands of Muslims from all four corners of the world regardless of their classes, races, countries, colours and rank positions, and makes them put on the (uniformal garb called) Ihram and prostrate themselves with one accord before Allahu ta'ala? It is a certain fact that Muslims' worshipping together at these blessed places where the great Prophet s.a.s. announced Islam, struggled against Islam's enemies, exerted himself with great determination and firmness, will attach them to one another with stronger affections, whereby they will try to find solutions for one another's problems, and they will once again take an oath to co-operate along the way shown by Allahu ta'ala. Another use of the Hajj is that thereby Muslims all over the world meet one another, know one another's problems, and teach their personal experiences to one another. All Muslims assemble at the place whereto they turn their faces during their worships at home, and, all in one mass, one body in the presence of Allahu ta'ala, they surrender themselves to Him.
Seeing the Hajj once would suffice as an evidence to prove the greatness of Islam. Here is Islam, and I have been enjoying the pleasure and satisfaction of having entered this great religion.
The philomel of soul is ever-desirous of the rose;
Don't you ever presume fighting others is its real cause!
Ceaselessly it hovers round it, like a moth,
looking for a shelter where they could enjoy some repose.
I now know that the lovely rose has told none of its secret,
It always yearns for the philomel, like a budding rose.
From strangers that nymph has hidden her cheeks;
Unrequited love puts up with the thorn, never gets the rose.
Infatuated, the poor lover paces the road to his beloved;
Craving for the sweetheart, the lover himself dissolves.
I was raised with sheer Christian education in London. In 1930, being a young student, I encountered some eventslike other youngsters, and tried to understand them. One of them was to establish some relation between the religion and the world, or, in other words, to think over how I could utilize the religion for the accomplishment of a more peaceful and more comfortable life. Then, for the first time in my life, I came to the realization that my religion, Christianity, was too insufficient and too short for that purpose. For Christianity defined the world as a place of torture whose mere contents are evils and vices, and men as creatures sinful from birth. Let alone showing people how to lead a peaceful life in the world, it imposed on them a concept of life like an area mined with sins, left them on the horns of dilemma by saying that there was nothing they could do on their own to get out of this state of sinfulness, and then degenerated them by saying that on behalf of them priests could invoke Allahu ta'ala. Christianity left people entirely to themselves, and confined their worships to unsatisfactory Sunday masses, which they perform in the perfunctory air of the church service. In those years Britain was in a great economic depression and poverty. People were very unhappy and therefore totally displeased with the government. Christianity gave them no help in those days of destitution, nor did they find any sort of heartening quality in it to help them endure. This shortcoming had a considerably ruinous impact on me. Indulging in the rationalizing relaxation of my emotions instead of judging things with the impersonal justice of reason, I reached the conclusion that religion was something meaningless. Rejecting Christianity, I, like many other young people, took to atheism and communism.
From a certain distance, Communism appealed to the young people. Depressed under economic straits and totally hopeless of their future life, the younger generation looked on Communism as a saviour because it was being propagated with the promise that it would extirpate differences of wealth and rank. It did not take me long to realize, however, that the communist claims consisted of sheer propaganda and hollow words. Communism was the very abode of segregation, both of rank and of wealth. Everything was the same in every country. Upon this I gave up Communism and dived into philosophy. Thus I began to specialize as a pantheist in the creed of Wahdat-i wujud.
It is very difficult to get in touch with Muslims in Western countries. For in those countries there is a deep-seated rancor against Islam, which dates back to the crusading expeditions. Europeans reject Islam with hatred, though they know nothing of it. They raise their children with an education dressed with a strong feeling of animus towards Islam. So much so that talking about Islam means a violation of the established rules of decorum in their society. If someone should bring up this subject in a social gathering, the others will protest with a mute frown. In the meantime, I was sent on an official mission to Australia. Despite the 'hatred towards Islam' which had been engraved on my subconscious in the name of education, one day I somehow succumbed to my curiosity and got a translation of the Qur'an al-karim. Yet, I had hardly finished the introduction of the book, when I immediately closed the book. For the translator of the book used such an abusive and defamatory language about the Qur'an al-karim right in the introduction that it meant there was no sense in reading a book of that sort. Afterwards, I pondered on the matter. Since Christians hated Muslims and the translator was a Christian, it was very well possible that he could have misunderstood some of its parts under the influence of his predisposition and made that blasphemous translation. And there was my curiosity. I took the matter more seriously, and when I went to the city of Perth in western Australia a couple of weeks later, I visited the grand library of the city and queried whether there was a translation of the Qur'an al-karim rendered by Muslims. They found a translation of that sort and gave it to me. No words could define the emotions that began to stir in the depths of my soul when I opened it and read the first chapter in it, the chapter (sura) called Fatiha-i-Sharifa, which began with the phrase, "Hamd (thanks and praise) be to the Rabb (Lord, Creator, Allah) of alams (classes of beings)." The first chapter ended with the invocations that purported, "Guide us to the right path." How beautiful it was! I read the Fatiha-i-Sharifa a number of times. The creator mentioned here was "Rahman and Rahim," which meant "Very Merciful and Compassionate." Contrary to the Christian dogma, He had not created men sinful. I began to read the Qur'an al-karim, and the more I read the more ecstatic did I become. Whatsoever I had desired and imagined I found in this holy book. Hours elapsed, and I was completely oblivious of where I was, of the time, and of everything. In addition to that translation of the Qur'an al-karim, they had brought me some books about the life of Muhammad s.a.s.. I was reading them in utter rapture, when at last the librarian came to me and said, "It's time we closed the library, sir." I came back to myself, and left the library. On my way home I was soliloquizing and repeating: "I have now attained my goal. I am a Muslim now." With the guidance of Allahu ta'ala, I had eventually attained the Hidaya (the right way).
As I was going back home, I looked for a convenient place to have some coffee. As I walked down the street I had only the Qur'an al-karim, Islam, and Allahu ta'ala in my mind. I was quite unaware of where I was going. All of a sudden my legs stopped on their own. When I raised my head I found myself in front of an entrance built with red bricks. My legs had brought me here on their own. I read the sign hanging on the wall. It was a mosque in Australia.
I said to myself: "Allahu ta'ala has blessed you with the right way and taught you what you should do. You know Islam now. Allahu ta'ala has brought you up to the entrance of the mosque. Go inside right away and embrace this religion." I walked in, and became a Muslim.
Until that time I had not known one single Muslim. I found Islam by myself and accepted it by myself. No one guided me in this respect. My only guide was my common sense.
Approximately twenty-five years ago, during my stay in Burma [Myanmar since 1989], I took boat trips along the river on a Chinese boat daily for recreation. The oarsman who rowed my boat was a Muslim named Shaikh Ali from East Pakistan. He would spare no effort in carrying out all the religious practices commanded by Islam. His fastidiously diligent punctuality in his religious practices made me admire that man, while in the meantime I began to develop some curiosity about Islam. I decided to find out what was in Islam that kept such a simpleton continuously under the effect of a firm belief and staunch feelings of obedience. Most of the people around us were Burmese Buddhists. They, too, were extremely devoted to their religion. I think the Burmese people are the most pious people of the world. However, the Buddhist system of worships had some conspicuous shortcomings. The Buddhists would assemble in their temples called pagoda and repeat the following prayer:
Its meaning was, as some people told me, "O Buddha, be our guide! Be our canon! Exalt our souls!" That prayer was simple enough, yet it consisted of a few unsatisfactory words which had no effect on the humansoul. And there was no mention of the great Creator.
On the other hand, the acts of worship practiced by my Muslim boatman were only exquisite! This time, I began to discuss Islam with my boatman. During the hours I spent with him, I asked him numerous questions. The extremely elegant and logical answers that that unsophisticated man gave me urged me into reading books written about Islam. When I read those books, I learned with amazement and admiration all the accomplishments that Muhammad s.a.s. realized in a short time in Arabia. I found myself some Muslim friends. I entered into Islamic deliberations and chats with them. It was in those days when the First World War broke out. I was commanded to immediately join the war on the Arabian front. I did so. There were no Buddhists here. There were Muslims all around me. The Arabs were the earliest Muslims. The Qur'an al-karim, the Holy Book of Allahu ta'ala, had been revealed in the Arabic language. My contacts with the Arabs increased my interest in Islam. When the war was over, I began to study Arabic. In the meanwhile I continued to read books about Islam. The greatest attraction I found in Islam was Muslims' belief in one Allah. On the other hand, as a Christian, I had to believe in three gods, which was quite illogical to me. As I deliberated over it, I gradually realized that Islam was a much more genuine religion. I began to accept the fact that a religion that contained belief in one creator should be a true religion. Eventually, after doing ten years' service in Palestine, i.e. between 1932 and 1942, I decided to become a Muslim. So I officially became a Muslim in 1942. I have been a thorough Muslim ever since.
I officially professed Islam in Jerusalem, which the Arabs called 'Sacred City'. At that time I was a staff major in the British army. When I professed Islam, I had to undergo some unpleasant situations. My government would not approve of my becoming a Muslim. I had to leave the army. Upon this, I went to Egypt first, and then to Pakistan, and began to live among my Muslim brothers there. I wrote some articles about Islam. There are more than five hundred million Muslims living on the earth today, and they are one another's brothers. To become a Muslim means to have belief in Allahu ta'ala, the very being who is worthy of being worshipped, and to attach oneself to Him. And attaching oneself to Him, in its turn, requires adapting oneself to the norms described by His great Prophet, Muhammad a.s.. Now, whenever I remember that modest boatman, who showed me Islam's lightsome way and the true forms of worship and guided me to my Allah, though in the beginning I had thought he was a mere simpleton, I feel deep respect for him. I am trying to lead a life of a true Muslim, like him. And I see that doing so protects a person from harmful things.
Now, among Muslims, I am, alhamdu-li-l-llah' (thanks and praise be to Allah), another Muslim. And after performing each prayer, I never forget to invoke a blessing on my Murshid, Shaikh Ali Effendi the boatman, to recite the Fatiha Sura and send the blessings to his already blessed soul, for by now he might have attained the eternalcompassion of Allahu ta'ala.
25 - HUSAIN ROFE (G.B.)
When a person decides to abandon a religion that has been infused into him since his childhood and choose another religion, there should be some reasons, which are either emotional or philosophical or social. The zealous aspirations I had been feeling were impelling me towards a belief that would satisfy at least two of the above-mentioned needs. Consequently, as soon as the educational period of my life was over, I embarked on a comparative study of all the world's existing religions with a view to determining the one that deserved a true belief in it.
Both of my parents were devotedly religious, one of them a Catholic and the other a Jew formerly. Later, they both abandoned their religions and became Protestants and began to attend the Anglican Church. When I was in school I regularly attended the rites performed in the Anglican Church and listened to the lessons given by the priests. Yet the Christian credal tenets that they were trying to teach me contained a number of elements that I did not understand and which seemed quite irrational to me. First of all, the tripartite godhead which consisted of Father, Son and the Holy Ghost sounded so silly to me that it was impossible to accept it. My conscience rejected it vehemently. Moreover, the ecclesiastical credo that attaining God would require expiation was altogether meaningless too. In my idealization, the great being who was (and always is) the only being worthy of being worshipped would not demand compulsory expiation from His born slaves.
Upon this, I began to examine the Judaic religion. I saw that their approach to the unity and grandeur of Allahu ta'ala was much more reasonable and that they did not attribute a partner to Him. Perhaps Judaism was not so badly interpolated as today's Christianity. However, that religion also contained some grotesque tenets which I could not understand and would never accept. There were so many rites, prayers and compulsory religious practices in the Judaic religion that a pious Jew would have no time left for worldly occupations if he were to observe all those religious obligations. I knew that most of those rites were stupid parodies that had been inserted into the religion later by people. Thereby the Judaic religion had been thoroughly stripped of its social character and become the religion of a small minority. Concluding that there was nothing in Judaism for the world to benefit from, I left it aside, and focused my quest into other religions. In the meantime I attended both the church and the synagogue. Yet those visits were done for quasi-religious purposes. In fact, I was neither a Christian nor a Jew. Alongside the Anglican Church, I examined the Roman Catholic Church, too. I saw that the Catholic credo contained more superstitions than did the credo of those Protestants who were adherent to the Anglican Church. Especially, the Catholics' excessive adherence to the Pope and their semi-deification of him made me hate them all the more.
Now I turned my face to the east and began to examine the oriental religions. I did not like Magians' religion at all. For they gave too much prerogative to the priestly caste. A pariah, on the other hand, would deserve what remained from their scorn for beasts. It never occurred to them that they should have compassion for the poor. According to them, a person's poverty was his own fault. If he put up with it silently and without any complaints, there might be some improvement in his situation owing to the priests' intermediary invocations. The priestly order purposely spread this belief in order to strike a fear of themselves into the people's hearts and to make the people feel dependent on them. Therefore I hated the Magian religion. And my hatred even doubled when I knew that the Magians worshipped animals. A cult of that sort could not be a true religion.
As for Buddhism; the Buddhists adhered to philosophical thoughts and beliefs. They told me that, if I should exert myself, try very hard and practice the required abstinence, I would obtain great powers and play with the world like doing chemical experiments. However, I did not find any ethical rules in Buddhism. In this system also, the priestly order were different from the ordinary people and occupied a higher status. Indeed, they taught me many wonderful feats of skill. Yet those things had nothing to do with Allah and religion.
Those feats of skill were, like sports or illusionist artifices, were pastime activities and served only to amaze people who did not know them. They were far from purifying the humanheart or bringing man closer to the approval and love of Allahu ta'ala. They had nothing to do with Allahu ta'ala or with the beings He created. The only benefit they gave was that they drilled a full self-discipline into the practicer.
There is no doubt as to the fact that Buddha was a well-educated, intelligent man. He enjoined a full-scale self-sacrifice on them. He gave commandments such as, "Do not retaliate evil!" "Forego all your desires and ambitions!" "Do not think of tomorrow!" Didn't Issa a.s. say the same things? But commandments of this sort had been observed during the early days of Christianity, when the religion of Issa a.s. had been in its pure form; people had already given up obeying them. I diagnosed the same laxity in the Buddhist societies. If people were as pure-hearted as Issa a.s. or as benevolent as Buddha, they would in all probability follow their guidance and attain the state approved by Allahu ta'ala. But how many people in the present world could be so pure-hearted and noble-natured as to cease from all vices? It came to mean that the ethical principles laid by Buddha were not practicable in the modern man's system of thoughts.
How strange it was that I was living in the Islamic world and yet I was examining the other religions without thinking a bit about Islam! The reason was clear: We had already been brainwashed with the information of Islam given to us and with the books written about it in Europe, which asserted that that religion was entirely wrong, meaningless, and false, and that it infused torpor. Reading Rodwell's translation of the Qur'an al-karim had specially fixed these preconceptions into my subconscious. Rodwell had purposely mistranslated some parts of the Qur'an al-karim and distorted its meanings, thus turning the holy book into a mass of unintelligible words altogether different from the original version. It was not till after having contacted the 'Islamic Society' in London and having read a true translation of the Qur'an al-karim did I know the truth. One thing I would regret to say at this point is that Muslims are doing very little to advertise this lovely religion of theirs to the world. If they try to spread the true essence of Islam over the entire world with due attention and knowledge, I am sure that they will achieve very positive results. In the near east people are still reserved towards foreigners. Instead of coming into contact with them and illuminating them, they prefer to keep as far away as possible from them. This is an exceedingly wrong attitude. I am the most concrete example. For I was somehow hindered from being interested in the Islamic religion. Fortunately, one day I met a very respectable and highly cultured Muslim. He was very friendly with me. He listened to me with attention. He presented me an English version of the Qur'an al-karim translated by a Muslim. He gave beautiful and logical answers to all my questions. In 1945 he took me to a mosque. With intent attention and deep respect, I watched the Muslims praying there, which was a sight I was watching for the first time in my life. O my Allah, what a gorgeous and sublime sight it was! People from all races, all nations and all classes were worshipping. All those people had come together without any sort of segregation in the presence of Allahu ta'ala, and they had entirely devoted themselves to Allahu ta'ala. Next to a rich Turk, for instance, stood a very poor Indian clad in beggar-like clothes, next was an Arab who I would say was a merchant, and besides him prayed a Negro. All these people were performing a prayer in profound reverence. No one was different from any other. Entirely oblivious to their nationalities and economical, social and official statuses, they had focused all their existence to the worship of Allahu ta'ala. No one assumed superiority to another. The rich did not despise the poor, nor did persons of rank have an iota of scorn for their juniors.
Seeing all these marvels, I realized that Islam was the religion that I had been seeking for. None of the other religions that I had examined up to that time had had an effect like that on me. In fact, after seeing Islam closely and learning the essence of Islam, I accepted that true religion without any hesitation.
Now I am proud of being a Muslim. I attended lectures on "The Islamic Culture" at a university in Britain, whereupon I saw that as Europe had suffered the gloom of the Middle Ages, Islam had shone through the darkness and illuminated everywhere. Many great explorations had been accomplished by Muslims, Europeans had been taught knowledge, science, medicine and humanities in the Islamic universities, and numerous world conquerors had embraced Islam and established great empires. Muslims were not only the founders of a universal civilization, but also the recoverers of many an ancient civilization devastated by Christians. When the news of my conversion to Islam got about, my friends began to remonstrate with me and to accuse me of retrogression. Each time they did so I answered them with a smile: "Quite the other way round. Islam is not retrogression. It is the most advanced civilization." Sad to say, today's Muslims have fallen behind. For Muslims have been gradually getting less and less appreciative of their possession of so sublime a religion as Islam, and more and more negligent in carrying out its commandments.
The Islamic countries still boast the intact remnants of a warmhospitality. When you go to a Muslim's house, he will welcome you in a balmy air of readiness to help you. For helping others is one of Islam's commandments. It is one of the basic Islamic tenets for the rich to help the poor by giving them a certain percentage of their wealth. This property does not exist in any other religion. This comes to mean that Islam is the most, and the only, suitable religion for the present social life-styles. It is for this reason that there is no place for Communism in Muslim countries. For Islam has by far forestalled that social problem by prearranging the most essential solutions.
I am a naval officer. I spent a major part of my life on the sea. I served the British navy in the First World War in 1914 and in the Second World War in 1939.
Even the most perfect tools and machines of the twentieth century are far below the capacity to resist the terrific forces of nature. Let me give you a small example: we have no means as yet to defend ourselves against fog or storms. A warlike situation adds a lot more to these dangers. A naval officer has to be always very careful. The British navy holds a book that contains the Queen's Directions and the Directions put by the Admiralty. The book embodies not only records such as the duties of a naval officer and the procedures to be followed at times of danger, but also a list of awards, citations and rewards that are to be bestowed in recognition of good behaviour and distinguished services, salaries and pays, and even when an officer will retire. In addition, it contains the penalties imposed for offenses and acts of disobedience. If this book is observed with due diligence, life on the sea will be easy and orderly, danger will be minimized, and naval officers will lead a peaceful and happy life.
May Allahu ta'ala forgive me my fault and sin! Never oblivious to the great difference and always observant of the due respect, I have compared the Qur'an al-karim to that book. Allahu ta'ala is the authority who has laid down these principles in the Qur'an al-karim. He teaches in extremely explicit and exquisite expressions and in a language intelligible to everybody how all men, women and children over the world should act, from what directions danger will be coming and what should be done against it, and how the good and bad behaviours will be rewarded. For the recent eleven years, since I retired, that is, I have been growing flowers in my garden. It is in this period when I have seen once again the greatness of Allahu ta'ala. Plants and flowers grow only with the command of Allahu ta'ala. Nothing you plant will grow without His command. However hard you may try, and whatsoever you may do, your endeavour will yield results only with His support. Without this support all your effort will come to naught. It is in no one else's capacity to predetermine the weather conditions required for the growing of plants. With one command of Allahu ta'ala, bad weather will set in and ruin everything you have planted. Men have devised various systems in order to pre-estimate the weather conditions. Weather conditions are forecast today. It makes me smile to myself. For only one per cent of these forecasts turn out to be correct. The only determinant in this matter is the decree of Allahu ta'ala. Beautiful flowers do not grow in the gardens belonging to those who do not obey the commandments of Allahu ta'ala. This is only a retribution which Allahu ta'ala visits on them.
I believe with all my heart that the Qur'an al-karim is the Word of Allahu ta'ala and that Allahu ta'ala chose Muhammad s.a.s. as His Messenger to communicate that sacred book to the entire world. The Qur'an al-karim is in full concordance with man's worldly life, and it contains rules unsullied with the insertion of exaggerations and superstitions and which are perfectly logical, so that people with common sense will find them entirely true and right. Rather than bringing pressure to bear on the sense of fear inherent in man's nature, the tenets of worship in the Qur'an al-karim appeal to love and respect.
Having lived for long years in a Christiansociety and under Christian influence, a Christian needs convincing preliminary persuasion to abandon his religion and become a Muslim. However, after examining Islam, I did not need any external persuasion. For I had spontaneously believed in the fact that this religion is a true one. No one compelled me to become a Muslim. Nor was I under anyone's influence. Muslims answered most of my doubts whose solutions I had not found in Christianity, and they satisfied all my mental expectations. I therefore became a Muslim by myself and willingly.
I have realized that the pure religion brought by Issa a.s. and Islam are essentially the same. Yet the pure Nazarani religion was completely defiled with the superstitions, rites and credal tenets borrowed from idolatrous cults afterwards and turned into what has now been called Christianity. It was so repulsively fraught with the polytheistic accessions that Martin Luther, for the purpose of purifying his religion, had to reform it and to establish the Protestant sect, whereby he, let alone repairing the religion, impaired it all the more badly. As the Queen of England, Elizabeth I, struggled against the Catholic Spaniards who posed a threat against her country, the Ottoman Turks carried on their holywar against the Catholics in Europe. As Protestants and Muslims, these two empires fought against the idolatrous Catholics. The one thing that escaped Martin Luther's attention was that nine hundred years before him Muhammad a.s. had cleansed and purified the defiled Christianity and all the other religions.
Today's Christianity is infested with idolatrous elements and superstitions. For a long period of time Christianity has remained as a religion where injustice, cruelty and savagery are all but legalized, and it still maintains this horrendous identity in its exactitude. I would like you to recollect the unjust verdicts that the Spanish Christians gave at the tribunals called the Inquisition and the savageries that they perpetrated in the name of inquisition. The Sephardis who escaped from their cruelties were provided sanctuary only by the Muslim Turks, who treated them as human beings.
Issa a.s. asked his umma to obey the Ten Commandments which Allahu ta'ala had given to Musa a.s. on Mount Sinai. The first of these commandments is this: "I am the Lord thy God, ..." "Thou shalt have no other gods before me."[Old Testament, Exodus: 20-2,3.] On the other hand, Christians have disobeyed this commandments by increasing the number of gods to three. I did not believe in three gods before converting to a Muslim, either. I always accepted Allahu ta'ala as only one compassionate, forgiving and guiding being. That was the only reason which led me to Islam. For Muslims' belief in Allahu ta'ala was identical with my thoughts.
The manner of life you are to lead is totally in your own hands. If you are, say, an accountant and embezzle money from the employer's safe, one day you will be caught and wind up in prison. If you drive carelessly on a slippery road, your car will topple over and you will end up in a hospital with one or two broken bones. If you drive too fast and have an accident for this reason, you, again, will be responsible for it. It would be a grave act of immorality to lay the blame for all these faults on someone else. I do not believe in the hypothesis that people are bad tempered by birth. It is a definite fact that human beings are born with a good moral quality. A group of theorists assume that some people are evil-spirited by creation, which I reject. In my opinion, what makes a person's soul evil is, first of all, his parents, next his environment, next the subversive publications, and next evil company. Another factor that should be added is harmful tutorship. Children are inclined to idealize the behaviours and thoughts of their parents, school teachers and writers and try to follow their examples. Sometimes, without any apparent reason, children exhibit rebellious and mischievous behaviour. At such times they must be toned down with gentle, but at the same time serious, exhortation. But if we ourselves exhibit inconsiderate behaviour and thereby set a bad example for them, we cannot convince them of their wrong behaviour. How could we dissuade our children from doing the vices that have become our daily practices? That means to say that first of all we have to exhibit a perfect example for our children. We should be able to chastise them when necessary. You know that Britons are fond of sports. Sports is something that is almost sacred to us. If a person does something disingenuous or acts in a crooked way in a sports activity, he will be punished immediately and lose most of his honour. The Islamic religion has laid exquisite and very beautiful behavioural maxims and ideal life-styles, which could be, as it were, compared to our sports rules. During my research in the Islamic religion, these rules won my admiration. It was this logic and order that led me to the true religion of Islam.
Here is the second one of the Ten Commandments: "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:" (Old Testament, Exodus: 20-4.) On the other hand, today's Christian churches are full of images and icons, and Christians prostrate themselves before them!
One thing I had always mused with consternation about was that all those tremendousevents, such as the miracles of Issa a.s., his crucifixion, [which is a Christianbelief], his resurrection and ascension to heaven after having been interred, had had very little impact on that time's Jewish, Roman and other Palestinian community, and their life-styles had not changed at all. The Jews had been quite indifferent towards Issa a.s., so that it was only centuries later when Christianity began to spread. Contrariwise, the Islamic religion communicated by Muhammad a.s. spread far and near in a very short time, immediately changed the life-styles there, and civilized the semi-barbarous people. I think the only reason was that the original Issawi religion deteriorated in a short time and changed into a perplexing, semi-idolatrous new Christian religion, while Islam, on the other hand, was a logical religion intelligible to everybody. Between 1919 and 1923 I was appointed to a naval duty on the Turkish waters. That mellifluous voice that called daily from the minarets and said, "There is only one Allahu ta'ala. Muhammad a.s. is His Messenger." How lovely it sounded to my ears! Most of the books about the Islamic religion that I had been reading contained contumelies against Islam. Their discourse followed the rules of a certain textual stratagem wherein the first step was to cast aspersions on the last three hundred years' Turkish Sultans, who were Khalifas at the same time, the second step was to associate the acts of atrocity and injustice already ascribed to them and reinforced with the slanders that Turks were mendacious, deceitful and venal people and that they had been oppressing the minorities, with the Islamic culture, which was their source of education, and the final step was to conclude that a Muslim could never be as honest as a Christian. Did the Islamic religion really deserve the blame? I could never believe it. Eventually, I decided to resort to a Muslim man of religion to acquire true information. In the meantime, I looked for Islamic books written by Muslims. Some Muslim religious men living in Britain found the books I needed and sent them to me. When I read these books, I saw what a pure religion Islam was, how brilliantly it shone throughout the Middle Ages, how brightly it illuminated the dark Christian world, how, unfortunately, in the wake of a general inattention to religious principles growing in the process of time, the Islamic world gradually lost its vigour, and the recent efforts to restore it to its former state. Today's scientific improvements could find no place in the Christian religion. Conversely, they are in perfect concordance with Islam. Consequently, the blame for the decline that the Islamic world has been suffering falls not on the Islamic religion, but on today's Muslims, who have fallen short of fulfilling the requirements of this pulchritudinous religion with due strictness. I no longer had any doubts as to the merits of the Islamic religion now. So I embraced Islam willingly.
Today, some European philosophers and writers argue that religions are unnecessary. You must be sure that arguments of this sortensue from the preposterous tenets of Christianity and from its superstitions which would never receive a welcome in the twentieth century. The Islamic religion, on the other hand, does not contain any of such toxins.
Christians can never understand why Islam should meet with such universal acceptance, and they call Muslims 'eccentric people'. This is an entirely wrong accusation.
My final remarks are these: I chose Islam because it is a religion which is both theoretical and practical, easy to understand and logical, perfect in every respect, and an exemplary guide for humanity. The Islamic religion is, and eternally will be, the best way that will lead man to the love of Allahu ta'ala and to happiness in this world and the next.
27 - J.W. LOVEGROVE (G.B.)
I would like to give the following short answer to your question why I became a Muslim. I shall not attempt to give you a long lecture on religion and belief. Religion and beliefmake up a virtue that emanates from the humansoul and which is unlike anything else. It is identical with the thirst felt by a person left in a desert. Man definitely needs a belief to rely on as a dependable guide. First I studied a history of religions. I read with attention the lives and the teachings of those personages who had invited people to religion. I realized that the religious essentials that Prophets 'alaihim-us-salam' had taught in the beginning had been changed and turned into entirely different forms in the course of time. What had survived of them was only a few facts. Various legends had been mixed into the lives of those great, distinguished people, and their deeds had been transformed into myths and reached us as a conglomerate of mysterious stories. In contrast with all these ruins, one true religion, Islam, has preserved its pristine purity and simplicity from the day it was revealed to the present time and, without being polluted with any sort of superstitions or legends, it has survived to our age. The Qur'an al-karim is the same today as it was in the time of Muhammad a.s.. Not a word of it has changed. The blessed utterances of Muhammad a.s. have reached our day in exactly the same literal form as they were pronounced by him, without undergoing any alterations.
Allahu ta'ala sent Prophets 'alaihim-us-salawatu wattaslimat' to humanity whenever He deemed it necessary. They are complementary to one another. In consideration of the fact that the teachings of other Prophets 'alaihim-us-salawatu wattaslimat' have been interpolated and changed into annoying incongruities, is there another way which one could find more logical than accepting the Islamic religion, which has remained the most intact, the purest, and the truest? As a matter of fact, a simple and useful religion unsullied with illogical superstitions was what I was questing for. The Islamic religion is that very religion. The Islamic religion shows one by one all my duties towards Allahu ta'ala, towards my neighbours, and towards all humanity. Although this was originally the main objective of all religions, their tenor has been watered down into unintelligible credal tenets. In contrast, the Islamic religion embodies easily understandable, simple, logical, convincing and useful principles of belief. In Islam, alone, did I find the information concerning the requirements to be fulfilled to attain peace and salvation in this world and the next. It is for this reason that I became a Muslim willingly.
28 - DAVIS (G.B.)
I was born in 1931, and began to go to elementary school when I was six years old. Completing my elementary education after seven years, I attended a junior high school. My family raised me in a Catholic system of education. Afterwards, I joined the Anglican church. Finally, I became an Anglo-Catholic. During all these conversions, I observed the same thing. Christianity had dissociated itself from man's normal daily life long ago, and had become reminiscent of an attirement that was worn only on Sundays and kept in a wooden case only for this purpose. People could not find what they were looking for in the Christian religion. The Christian religion was trying to attach people to the church by means of lights of various colours, images, smells of incense, pleasant music, and a variety of glorious ceremonies and litanies performed for saints. Yet all these efforts fell short of attracting people. For the Christian religion concerned itself only with legendary subjects and therefore evinced no interest in what was going on without the church. Consequently, I developed a profound hatred towards Christianity, and finally decided to give a test to Communism and Fascism each, which were being propagated with sequinned advertisements.
When I attempted Communism I was happy because I believed that it rejected class differences. As time went by, I faced the awful truth: let alone rejecting class differences, Communism was a totalitarian regime wherein people led a life of slavery, a small minority inflicted all sorts of cruelty and brutality on the others, no one had the right to protest, and any sort of objection, rightful as it might be, would incur a penalty, which meant, more often than not, being sentenced to death. Stalin is a good example concerning the real face of Communism. Upon this, I shifted from Communism to Fascism.
My first impression in Fascism was its discipline and order, which I liked very much. However, Fascists were self-conceited people. They despised all people and all races outside of their community. Here, too, cruelty, suffering, injustice and oppression prevailed. A couple of months sufficed to make me loathe Fascism intensely. For Sir Oswald Mosley (1896-1980), British right wing politician, an MP from 1918 to 1931, and the founder of the British Union of Fascists.], in Britain, Adolf Hitler (1889-1945), the leader of German Nazi Party. He was born in Austria. His ideal was to develop a pure German race.], in Germany, and Benito Mussolini (1883-1945), (known as II Duce), Italian Fascist Dictator. After the Second World War, he was killed by the Italians.], in Italy, were the exemplary models of stark terror and ruthless and despotic cruelty. Nevertheless, I could not give up Fascism, for there was no other alternative left.
I was desperately writhing in a state of distress, when I came across a periodical captioned The Islamic Review in a bookstore. I scanned the book. I still cannot understand why I bought that book, which cost me two shillings and six pennies [Until 1971, British coin, worth one-twentieth a pound, or twelve old pennies; five pennies as of today.] and was too expensive for me. I thought, "I have wasted my money. Perhaps the contents of this book are mere twaddles that would not be worth a penny, like those Communist and Fascist follies." Yet, as I read on, it began to capture my attention, which soon developed into utter amazement. I read the magazine once again, and again. So Islam was a perfect religion which accumulated in itself all the best aspects of Christianity and of the other ideologies ending in 'ism'. Despite my poverty, I subscribed to the periodical. A couple of months later I decided to embrace Islam. Since that day I have held fast to my new religion with my both hands.
(Dr. Mellema is the director of the section concerned with Islamic Works of Art of the Tropical Museum in Amsterdam. He is known for his works 'Babies of Wyang', 'Information About Pakistan' and 'Introducing Islam'.)
In 1919, I began to study oriental languages in the University of Leiden. My teacher was the universally known professor Hurgronje, who had perfect command of the Arabic language. As he taught me how to read, write and translate in Arabic, he gave me the Qur'an al-karim and the works of al-Ghazali as textbooks. The subject I was majoring in was the 'Islamic law'. I read a number of books about Islam, Islam's history, and Islamic sciences so far published in the European languages. In 1921 I went to Egypt and visited the Al-Azhar Madrasa. I stayed there for about one month. Later, in addition to Arabic, I learned Sanskrit and Malay. In 1927 I went to Indonesia, which was a British dependency at that time. I began to learn Javanese in a high school in Jakarta. For fifteen years I educated myself not only in the language of Java, but also in the cultural history of old and new Java. Throughout that period of time, I on the one hand contacted the Muslims and on the other hand read the Arabic books available to me. The Japanese invaded the Indonesian islands during the Second World War. I was one of the prisoners that they captured. After an extremely severe life in captivity which lasted until the end of the war, I returned to Holland and found a job in the Tropical Museum in Amsterdam. There I resumed my Islamic research. They asked me to write a booklet telling about the Muslims in Java. This, also, I accepted, and completed, too. Between 1954 and 1955 I was sent to Pakistan to conduct a study about the Muslims there. As I have already stated, the only books that I had read about Islam until that time had been written in the European languages. After I went to Pakistan and established direct contact with Muslims, my views of Islam took a sharp turn for the favourable. I requested my Muslim brothers in Lahore to take me to their mosque. They were pleased at my request and took me there for a Friday prayer. I watched the worship and listened to the prayers with great attention. It had so strong an impact on me that I almost lost consciousness in rapture. I now felt myself a Muslim and a Muslim brother when I shook hands with Muslims. I expressed my feelings as follows in the fourth issue of 'Pakistan Quarterly':
"Next we went to a smaller mosque. A preaching lecture was scheduled to be delivered by a scholar who was a professor from Penjab University and who knew English well. As he began his preaching, he said to the audience, 'We have a guest, a Muslim brother, who has come here from a distant country, Holland. I shall mostly addEnglish words into the Urdu language so that he will understand me better,' and then he performed an exquisite preaching. I listened with attention. After the preaching was over, I meant to leave the mosque, when Allama Sahib, who had brought me to the mosque, said that the Muslim brothers who had been watching me with attention would be pleased if I should be kind enough to give them a speech, a brief one in the least, and that he would translate my speech into the Urdu language. Upon this I made the following short speech: 'I am here from Holland, which is quite a long way from here. There are very few Muslims in my homeland. Those few Muslims requested me to extend their salam [Islamic word for greeting, well-wishing and offering best wishes.] to you. I am very happy to know that you have achieved your independence and to see that the world has been enriched with one more Muslimstate. Established seven years ago, Pakistan has already secured its position. After all those difficulties you experienced in the beginning, your country has in the long last attained salvation and is now improving with speed. There is a bright future ahead of Pakistan. When I go back home, I will have so much to tell my compatriots about your kind and polite behaviour, about your magnanimous generosity, and about your warmhospitality, of which I shall spare no minute details. I shall never forget the warm affection you have displayed towards me.' No sooner had Allama Sahib finished translating my statements into Urdu than all the Muslims in the mosque rushed towards me and began to shake hands with me, and the whole place resounded with a mellow roar of congratulatory exclamations, which has preserved its unique moment of happiness in my memories. The heartfelt manifestation of brotherhood moved me so profoundly that I began to enjoy the happiness of entirely having joined the community of Muslim brothers."
The PakistaniMuslim brothers showed me that Islam is not merely a collection of theories and proved that Islam means beautiful moral quality first of all and therefore being a good Muslim requires possessing a pure moral character.
Now let me answer the second question, i.e. your question, "What was the strongest attraction that pulled you towards Islam?"
The reasons that attracted me towards embracing Islam and attached my entire heart to the Islamic religion are as follows:
1) A Unitarian belief in Allahu ta'ala. Islam recognizes one great creator. This great creator is not begotten, nor does he beget. What could be as logical and as rational as believing in one creator? Even the simplest-minded person would find it right and will believe in it. This single great creator, whose name is Allah, is in possession of the greatest knowledge, the greatest hikma, the greatest power, and the greatest beauty. He has infinite mercy and compassion.
2) Rejecting any intermediary between Allahu ta'ala and the born slave. In Islam the born slave comes into direct contact with his Creator and worships Him directly. No one is necessary between Allahu ta'ala and the born slave. People learn their duties pertaining to this world and the next from the Book of Allahu ta'ala, the Qur'an al-karim, from hadith ash-Sharifs, and from books written by the scholars of Ahl as-sunnat. Only to Allahu ta'ala are they responsible for their actions. Allahu ta'ala, alone, has the authority to reward or punish a person. Allahu ta'ala will not hold any of His born slaves responsible for what he has not done, nor will He enjoin on him something beyond his capacity.
3) The infinite mercy innate in Islam. Its most explicit indication is an ayat in the Qur'an al-karim, which purports, "No one shall be compelled to become a Muslim." Our Prophet, Muhammad a.s., commands that a Muslim should acquire knowledge, by going to the farthest places if necessary. One other precept that Muslims are commanded to observe is to be respectful of the religions previous to Islam, especially as regards their essentials that have remained unchanged.
4) A fraternal unification of Muslims, whereby discriminations due to race, nationality and colour are crossed out from the outset. This ultimate goal has been realized only by Islam in the entire world. During the periods of Hajj (Muslims' pilgrimage to Mecca), hundreds of thousands of Muslims from all corners of the world come together, wrap themselves in the uniform (clothing called) Ihram, and prostrate themselves, a colossal expression of all Muslims' fraternity.
5) The equilibrium that Islam maintains between corporeal and spiritual realities. The other religions emphasize only spirituality and a number of absurd, grotesque tenets. On the other hand, Islam gives equal considerations to the soul and the body and dictates to man how he should maintain cleanliness, not only spiritually, but also bodily. It integrates man's spiritual improvement with his corporeal needs and describes in an extremely illustrative language how he should live in full control of his physical activities.
6) Islam's prohibition of alcohol, drugs, and pork. In my opinion, the gravest calamities that have befallen mankind has been on account of alcohol and drugs. Prohibition of such indulgences would suffice as an illustration of Islam's enormous prescience and the gigantic distance whereby it is ahead of its time.
I cannot figure out precisely the time of my first contact with the oriental civilization. This contact owes primarily to language. To be more clear, my aspirations to learn the oriental languages ended in my beginning to study Arabic when I was only in my early teens. Naturally, with no one to help me, it was rather an onerous work for me to get over. Primarily with a view to learning Arabic, I bought some books written by Europeans about the Arabs and about Islam. I think most of the information they gave about Islam were far from being correct or unbiased. Nevertheless, the passages about Muhammad a.s. caused me to develop a strong admiration for his personality. Yet the information I collected about Islam was both incorrect and insufficient. Nor was there anyone to guide me.
In the long last, I came across a perfect work, namely a book entitled, 'History of PersianLiterature in Modern Times', written by T.G. Browne. I found two elegant poems in the book. One of them was the Terji'i bend of Hatif Isfahani, and the other one was the Heftbend of Mohtashim Kashani.
I cannot describe to you the greatness of the excitement that I felt when I read Hatif's poem. How delicately the poem depicted a soul that was desperately struggling in a deep gloom of indecision and depression and seeking for a murshid to guide him to salvation! As I read it, I felt as if the great poet had written it about me and as if the poem were describing my struggles to find the truth.
He, alone, exists; there's no others in existence;
To fulfil my mother's wishes and to satisfy my curiosity, I registered in a high school with a religious curriculum. Despite its religious system of education, the school did not follow a fanatical policy. The students could discuss their ideas freely, and their ideas were held in high regard. The religious lessons consisted of religious essentials that a person needed to know. However, the answer, "I feel deep respect for the Islamic religion," which I gave to a final exam question querying our opinions about other religions must have consternated the school director. In those days, the strong feelings of sympathy I had had for the Islamic religion had not developed into a definite beliefyet. I was still in a state of indecision. Nor had I completely recovered from the morbid hostility against Islam that the church had engraved into the depths of my soul.
Firmly resolved to disentangle myself from the influence of those books with European authors, I embarked on an entirely personal study of Islam; this time the only criterion would be my personal evaluation. How thoroughbred the facts that the study yielded were! It began to dawn on me why so many people abandoned the religions inculcated into them during their childhood and embraced Islam. For the first feature of Islam reflected man's own essence, his personal world, his true belief and trust in Allahu ta'ala, and its second feature involved his unconditional submission to Allahu ta'ala, his Owner, and obedience to His commandments. In the following paragraphs I shall attempt some quotations from the Qur'an al-karim, which I consider relevant to the subject. Stripped as they may be of the magnificent harmony inherent in their Arabic originals, translations of these divine statements still have very strong attraction.
The twenty-seventh and later ayats of Fajr Sura purport, "O (thou) soul, in (complete) rest and satisfaction!" "Come back thou to thy Allah, well-pleased (thyself), and well-pleasing unto Him!" "Enter thou, then, among My devotees!" "Yea, enter thou My Heaven!" (89-27, 28, 29, 30)
This statement alone would be enough to prove the fact that the Islamic religion, quite unlike the superstitious Christianity, or the other religions, which are even worse, is an extremely pure, true, and genuine religion.
In contrast with the Christian credo which imposes a tenet wherein mankind is sinful from birth and even a newly born baby has a share from sins of earlier generations, the hundred and sixty-fourth ayat of Anam Sura in the Qur'an al-karim purports, "... Every soul draws the meed of its acts on none but himself: no bearer of burdens can bear the burden of another. ..." (6-164) In fact, the forty-second ayat of Araf Sura purports, "... No burden do We place on any soul, but that which it can bear, - ..." (7-42) As you read these statements, you feel deep in your heart that they are divine statements of Allah, and you willingly have belief in Islam. I did so, too; I chose Islam, the truest religion of Allahu ta'ala, and I became a Muslim willingly.
(Prof. Dr. Germanus is a professor of 'Oriental Languages' in the University of Budapest and has a world-wide reputation. During the First and Second World Wars, he travelled in India and in the meantime worked as a teacher in the University of 'Shanti Naketen,' which was under the directorship of Tagore. [Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941), Bengali-Indian writer.] Later he moved to Delhi, and became a Muslim in the 'Jamia-I-Milliyya'. Prof. Germanus has been looked on as a great authority in literary areas, especially in the Turkish language and Turkishliterature.)
I was only a fresh adolescent that could just as soon be called a child. On a rainy day, I incidentally found an old illustrated magazine. It contained pictures of apparently overseas countries. I was leisurely turning the pages, when, all of a sudden, one of the pictures caught my attention. It illustrated some one-storied small houses surrounded with rose-gardens. On the roofs of the houses sat people in elegant attirements listening with rapt attention to someone who must be conducting a conversation under the dusky firmament that was hardly illuminated by the half moon. The people, the dresses, the houses, the house yards were entirely different from those in Europe. As far as I could figure out from the writings under the picture, the picture was an illustration of some Arabs listening to a public story-teller in a small Arabian town. I was sixteen years old then. As an Hungarian student seated comfortably in an armchair in Hungary, I looked at the picture and imagined myself being there, among the Arabs, listening to the mellow and at the same time strong voice of the public story-teller, which gave me unusual pleasure. This picture gave a direction to my life. Immediately, I began to study Turkish. For the orient had already entered my periphery of concern. As I improved my Turkish, I observed that the Turkish language contained very few Turkish words and that the Turkish poetry had been enriched with Persian and its prose had been reinforced with Arabic. Then, learning both these languages was prerequisite for a wholesome understanding of the orient. As soon as I took my first vacation I decided to go to Bosnia, which was closest to Hungary. I set out immediately. When I arrived in Bosnia, I checked in to a hotel, where the first question I asked was: "Could you tell me where to find the local Muslims?" They directed me to a place. I went there. I had picked up only a smattering of Turkish. Would that be enough for me to communicate with them? The Muslims had come together in a coffee-house in their quarter, basking in the relaxation of a peaceful environment. They were grave-featured, big-bodied people wearing baggy trousers belted with sashes and carrying bright-sheathed daggers tucked into their sashes. The turbans on their heads, their ample baggy trousers and daggers gave them a somewhat weird appearance. Bashful and timorous, I stole into the room and skulked into a corner. Sometime later, I noticed that they were talking secretly and softly among themselves and casting quick glances at me. I was sure they were talking about me. I recalled the stories we used to hear in Hungary about those Christians killed by Muslims. Frozen with fright, I helplessly awaited the time when they would "slowly stand up, stride towards me, unsheathe their daggers, and slaughter me." I began to make plans of escape, yet I was too frightened to move. Minutes passed, I do not know how many. At last, the waiter sauntered towards me with an odorously steaming cup of coffee. As he gently placed the coffee on the table before me, he politely gestured with his head towards the source of the offer: the very Muslims who were only a moment before the source of my thrilling dread. When I looked at them with trepidation, one of them looked back with a cordial and amiable smile and nodded a hello to me. Trying to curve my lips quivering with terror into a smile, I nodded back. There! My imaginary enemies rose to their feet and made for me.
My violently palpitating heart on the verge of cessation, I waited, saying to myself, "They are going to attack me now." Yet, to my amazement, they sat around me in a friendly manner. They greeted me once again. One of them held out a cigarette. As I lit the cigarette, in the dim light of the match, I perceived in amazement that these men, whom we had been prejudging as barbarians in the distance, had a very deeply venerable expression of blessedness on their faces. My awe-stricken stiffness began to thaw. With my extremely poor Turkish, I attempted to talk with them. By the time the first Turkish word left my mouth, their features had already been suffused with all the graces of a blissful expression. We were friends now. The very men whom I had been expecting to attack with daggers invited me to their homes. They showed me warmhospitality. They treated me with tender kindness. All they wanted was to provide me comfort and to do me good. Such was my first contact with Muslims. It was followed by a number of events in succession. Every new event raised another curtain from before my eyes. I visited Muslim countries one by one. For some time, I received education in the University of Istanbul. I visited lovely places in Anatolia and in Syria. During this time, I learned Arabic and Persian as well as Turkish, on account of which I was later appointed by the University of Budapest as a professor in the Institute of Islamic Works of Art Research. I found many old works of art that had been collected in the university for centuries. I began to study them. I learned many beautiful facts. In the meantime, I gathered information about the Islamic religion. The more I studied those works, the deeper into my heart did Islam penetrate, and the more highly was I impressed by the books that I read, [especially by the Qur'an al-karim and by the books of Hadith-i-Sharif]. At last, I decided to go to the orient and to examine the Islamic religion more closely. This time my journey took me all the way down to India. My soul was empty, and therefore it was thirsty. The first day I arrived there I dreamt of Muhammad s.a.s. He was wearing plain but extremely valuable garments. A very fragrant scent emanated from the garments and reached me. His polite, extremely beautiful, lovable and bright face and his light-radiating and sweet eyes benumbed me. With a very sweet but imperative voice, he spoke to me in the Arabic language, and said: "Why are you sad? You already know the path ahead of you. You have attained the level to choose the right path. Do not wait any longer, and immediately join that path!" My body was shaking all over. I said to him, in Arabic, "Ya Rasulallah (O the Messenger of Allah) s.a.s.! You are the Prophet of Allah. I believe in this now. But will I attain peace if I become a Muslim? You are a very great being! You always overcame your enemies and always showed the right way. But will I, a poor, helpless born slave, be able to keep in the path that you will show?" Muhammad s.a.s. looked at me gravely and recited the seventh, the eighth, the ninth and the tenth ayats of the Naba' Sura in the Qur'an al-karim, which purported, "Have We not created the earth as a dwelling place for you and the mountains as a support? We have brought you in pairs to the world, and We have given you the blessing of sleep so that you may rest." As he recited them, the words that he uttered rang sweetly like the tuneful sound of silver bells. I was all of a sweat when I woke up. I began to wail, "O my Allah, I cannot sleep any longer. I cannot solve the mysteries around me and hidden under thick covers. O Rasulallah! O Muhammad s.a.s.! Help me! Illuminate me!" I was, on the other hand, afraid to hurt that great Prophet s.a.s.. Sounds that I could not understand came out of my throat, and I was in convulsions all over. Finally, I felt as if I were rolling down into an abyss, and woke up, soaked in sweat. My heart was palpitating vehemently, and bells were ringing in my ears.
On a Friday, the following incident took place in the Shah Jihan Mosque in Delhi: A fair-haired, dull-and-white-complexioned young stranger was entering the mosque among some old Muslims. It was me. I was clad in Indian garments. Yet a gold medal that I had been awarded in Istanbul shone on my chest. The Muslims in the mosque were eyeing me with amazement. I and my friends reached a spot close to the Minbar. A while later the voice calling (the invitation to prayer termed) the adhan was heard. I watched the approximately four thousand people stand up with a quick motion softened with reverent solemnity and make lines, with the same orderliness and speed as you could see in a military drill. So they began to perform the (prayer called) namaz, and I joined them. It was an unforgettable moment for me. When the performance of the namaz and the khutba was over, Abd-ul-Hayy held me by the hand and took me to the Minbar. As we were edging our way towards the Minbar, I was extremely careful lest I should disturb the worshipers squatting on the floor. At last, I reached the Minbar and began to climb the stairs. No sooner had I taken the first step than I sawmyriad faces under white turbans like in a field of daisies turn towards me. The scholars surrounding the Minbar were encouraging me with heartening looks. This look of theirs gave me the strength that I needed. I looked around. A tremendous sea of people lay before me. With their heads raised, they awaited my speech. I began to talk slowly in Arabic, "O you the highly respectable people who have assembled here! I have come here from a very distant country in order to learn what I could not learn there. I have attained my goal here, and my soul enjoys full peace now." Then I went on, explaining the high position Islam occupied in history and the various miracles which Allahu ta'ala had created through the hands of His great ProphetMuhammad a.s., and adding that the recent decline of power observed in Muslim states was consequent upon the general laxity that Muslims had been showing in their religious obligations. I continued my speech by stating that some Muslims had been putting forth the pretext that an individual's efforts would have no effect on events because everything depended on the Will of Allahu ta'ala and therefore it would be futile to work, and that, on the contrary, Allahu ta'ala declared in the Qur'an al-karim, "Nothing shall be corrected unless men correct themselves, and nothing shall be accomplished unless they exert themselves," and that He had promised to help anyone who worked. I quoted ayat-i karimas from the Qur'an al-karim commanding that people should avoid helpless situations by working hard, and I explained them one by one. Finally, conducting a general prayer, I dismounted from the Minbar.
As I left the Minbar, an extremely loud expression, "Allahu AKBAR",[Allah id the greatest.] articulated in chorus, thundered in the mosque. My intense excitement had built to such a climax that I could not see my whereabouts. All I could sense was that my friend, Aslan, was holding my arm and trying to pull me out of the mosque as soon as possible. "Why are we in such a hurry," I wanted to know. "look round," was the warning reply. I turned my head. O my Allah! Right behind me was the entire congregation, running hard, trying to catch me. And catch they did. Some of them were holding me, hugging me, some were trying to kiss my hand, and others were begging me to invoke a blessing on them. And I was begging, "O my Allah, do not let an incapable born slave like me to appear as an exalted personage in their eyes!" I was so embarrassed that I felt as if I had stolen something from these pure Muslims, or as if I had betrayed them. That same day I realized that being a popular politician meant possessing immense power. Misusing such power given by the people of a country would lead the country to total destruction.
That day, I told my brothers that I was an incapable born slave, and went back home. But their friendliness and love and the respect they showed to me lasted for weeks. They showed so much love to me that its effects will be adequate for me till the end of my life.
Although I was Irish and most of the Irish people were adherent to the Catholic church, I was raised with a Protestant education. However, I was only a child when I took a hearty dislike to the Christian tenets I was being taught and began to maintain a healthy skepticism about them. By the time I reached the university level of education, which subsequently added quite a few novelties to my knowledge, my skepticism had already developed into judgement. The Christian religion would give me nothing. Then, I began to feel deep repugnance towards it, which, by and by, unfolded itself in a form of categorical denial. So urgently did I feel the need to find "a guide to lead me to the right way" that I had to improvise a credo whereby to satisfy myself pro tem. For a considerable period of time I had to do with this complicated mood. One day I came across a book entitled 'Islam and Civilization'. As soon as I read it, I saw in great amazement and joy that all the hopes I had been cherishing, all the questions that had been gnawing at my mind, and their answers as well, were contained in the book. In contrast with the reciprocal acts of cruelty and oppression among the Christian sects, Islam's peaceful and lively principles had been guiding humanity on the lightsome way of truth. The sources of knowledge and civilization had risen in the Muslim countries and sprinkled their lights on the darkened life of Europe which had been moaning under an all-round savagery. In comparison with Christianity, Islam was by far a more logical and more useful religion.
What made me fall for Islam at first sight was its rejection of the Christian dogma that "Men are sinful from birth and therefore they have to expiate their sins in the world." In the process of time, I learned the other Islamic principles pertaining to the humanities and civilization and admired the greatness of that religion. Islam did not differentiate between the rich and the poor. In Islam, people of all races, colours and languages were brothers, not only in theory, but also in practice. At one stroke, it levelled down the differences of wealth, position, race, country, and colour among people. It was for this reason that I embraced Islam.
Why did I become a Muslim? Well, the Islamic religion states the unity of Allahu ta'ala, that an eternal life awaits us after death, and that on the Rising Day human beings shall be interrogated about their activities in the world. It enjoins honesty, integrity, and an ideal moral conduct. All these things are the most basic essentials whereby a person can lead a true-guided, comfortable and peaceful life. No other religion has put them so plainly and so concisely. Truthfulness [integrity] is highly valuable in Islam. Honesty towards Allahu ta'ala and towards the born slaves forms the basis for Islam. During my quest for truth, I found it in Islam, and consequently I became a Muslim.
I examined all religions. My conclusions are as follows:
Today's Christianity could never be the same pure religion preached by Issa a.s.. The commandments which Issa a.s. received from Allahu ta'ala and communicated to people have been changed completely. The present copies of the Bible contain others' statements in lieu of his statements. Islam is the only religion that has remained pure and intact since the first day it appeared. The Qur'an al-karim has survived to our day without undergoing even a diacritic alteration.
Today's Gospels contain not the commandments of Allahu ta'ala, but the so-called statements of Issa a.s., which have gone through quite a number of interpolations, and the episodes telling about his deeds. In Islam, on the other hand, the commandments of Allahu ta'ala and the utterances of His Prophet s.a.s. have been classified in different categories. The commandments of Allahu ta'ala are written in the Qur'an al-karim, while the statements of Hadrat Prophet s.a.s. appear in a different series called 'Hadith'.
In Islam Allahu ta'ala addresses His born slaves directly. Christianity lacks this genuineness.
The most critical Christian tenet repugnant to people with common sense is its dogma of 'Trinity'. Christians believe not in one Allah, but in three gods. No Christian man of knowledge has so far been able to explain this belief in a logical way. Nor would it be possible for anyone. For this credal tenet is thoroughly ungrounded and abnormal. Only one great Creator could create the world. Belief in a tripartite deity is no different from idolatry. A person of wisdom will believe in one Creator only.
Moreover, Christians impose the belief that men are born sinful, that they have to expiate their sins, and that a denial of the basic Christianbelief 'Trinity' will lead a person to eternal perdition from where there is no rising again. Then, what other alternative could be so natural for people who are originally sinful from birth and who are deprived of rising after death as grabbing their sojourn in this life as a fleeting opportunity to taste all sorts of enjoyment and pleasure at all costs including cheating one another and perpetrating all kinds of atrocity instead of wasting their time worshipping in vain? It is for this reason that today's Christians lead a life quite independent of religious morals and principles, which in turn gradually drags them down to a totally irreligious way of life. Entirely emptied of their souls, they are all but machines.
Let us take a look at Japanese religions now: Essentially, there are two major religions in Japan. One of them is the Mahayana Buddhism,[Mahayana Buddhism is practised mostly in China and Tibet today. The second form of Buddhism, Theravada, is based on the teachings of Buddha recorded in the Pali Canon. It is practised in Kampuchea, Laos, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Thailand.] which is a mixture of original Buddhism and pure Buddhism. It is somewhat similar to Brahminism. A closer examination of their creed will show that Buddha was an atheist. For Buddha makes no mention of Allahu ta'ala and does not profess a belief in the fact that the soul will not die when the body dies. The Brahmins' views about the soul are not so materialistic. Yet they are expressed in such a complicated language that it is difficult to understand what they mean. In fact, the Brahmins' views of Brahma, i.e. whether they look on him as God, as a born slave or as a prophet, are not clearly explained. The Brahmins busy themselves with religious philosophy rather than the religion itself. In order to always imagine seeing Brahma before them, they consecrate things that they liken to him or which they think would go with him, [e.g. flowers], whereby they begin to worship things and animals created by Allahu ta'ala instead of worshipping Allahu ta'ala Himself.
Among all these utterly complicated credal systems, Islam is the only religion which provides us the truest definition of Allahu ta'ala. (Allahu ta'ala is one. He is azim (great, glorious). He is the Rabb (Creator) of all classes of beings. He is not begotten, nor does he beget. All the things in the world and in the Hereafter are His creatures. No one except Him is to be worshipped. No one except Him can enjoin commandments on His born slaves.) The second religion in Japan is Shintoism [Shintoism is an ancient religion of Japan. It includes the worships of gods that represent various parts of nature, and of the souls of people who died in the past.] which is even worse than Buddhism. This religion has nothing to do with morals. In addition, they believe in many gods and, like primitive tribes, they worship them separately. [In other words, they are idolaters.]
So, I have given you very sincere and concise information about the world's existing religions. Which one of you, after seeing and learning them as such, would choose one of them, leaving Islam aside? Is it possible? You, too, see that amidst the so many extremely muddled and inane credal systems Islam shines brightly. It is seen at first sight that due to its perfectly logical and humanitarian principles it is the only true religion.
And I, in hot pursuit of the path guiding to truth in order to quench my tearful soul with the peace and happiness it needed, came upon Islam, which was the very religion I was looking for, and embraced it willingly, holding fast to it with both hands.
With the guidance of Allahu ta'ala I became a Muslim.
I decided to become a Muslim for the following reasons:
1) Islam infuses a very powerful spirit of fraternity.
2) Islam prearranges a solution for any sort of difficulty that a person is likely to encounter throughout his life. It has not separated religious matters from worldly events. Islam embodies not only spiritual values, but alsosocial efficacies that would perfectly harmonize with today's systems, such as uniting people together and encouraging them to perform their acts of worship in lines made up of people from all races and classes, to help the poor, and to co-operate for the solution of one another's problems.
3) The Islamic religion trains both the soul and the body. In short, Islam is an immaculate embodiment of all spiritual and corporeal matters.
Islam's fraternity rejects all sorts of discrimination, race, class, and else. Muslims throughout the world are one another's brothers. There are many Muslims on the earth. Islam is the religion of common-sensed people. All the Muslims living on the earth, be they Indians, Pakistanis, Arabs, Afghans, Turks, Japanese, or Chinese, look on one another as brothers. For this reason, Islam is an international religion. Islam is the only means that could rectify the present time's degenerated societies and correct their mistakes. Because it is a religion bestowed by Allahu ta'ala, the variety of its Madhhabs makes it a religion to which people from all races and classes can adapt themselves. The Islamic religion has played a very important role in the history of civilization, and has guided many a semi-barbarian nation to civilization. The Islamic religion aims at a peaceful and tranquil life for humanity. It has prescribed the rules whereby to attain happiness and peace. The rule-making policy followed by the other religions, such as Christianity and Buddhism, is quite the other way round. The commandments of these two religions are of a quality to, let alone unite, completely separate people from one another by infusing into them a feeling of a total isolation from the world. Most Buddhist temples are situated on the peaks of mountains that would defy an average climber to scale frequently. It is the outcome of a 'fewer visitors the better' policy. A close examination of the Japanese religious credal systems will reveal a similar approach wherein the most excessive forms of isolation are essential. As for Christians; it would take no extra attention to observe that the more devoted Christians established their churches at remoter places. Inside them are as dark as possible. It dates only from some recent years that churches have been able to make their ways into urban areas. Predisposed with the belief that mankind is already sinful from birth, Christians consider the world only as a place where they should always suffer. As it is seen, the main purport commonly shared by all religions is that religion is something that should be completely insulated from the normal proceedings of human life and that life in the world consists in suffering.
The happy contrast comes with Islam, which cherishes mankind as a born slave beloved to Allahu ta'ala. Small mosques are built in the middle of villages, on cites most accessible to all the villagers. Their interiors are bright and airy. People feel pleasure in going there and performing their acts of worship there. They come together and perform their congregational prayers. After the prayers they invoke blessings on one another. They show friendly interest towards one another, and help one another if necessary. In Islam, helping people in need or, if helping is not possible, pleasing the concerned Muslims with a cordial smile and soft words, produces many blessings.
A person has a soul and a body. Allahu ta'ala has given us both a soul and a body each. As long as we live, we have to train both the soul and the body, with different systems but without discriminating between them. Islam has taken into consideration not only man's spiritual needs, but also his body, formulating extremely logical and heavenly principles for both of them.
I am a new Muslim. I accepted Islam two years ago. I am sure that Islam satisfies all my spiritual and physical needs. Japan's technology is extremely advanced today. It has been coping with the entire world successfully. Owing to this scientific progress and material well-being, the Japanese people have changed entirely. Japan is devoid of natural resources. All the raw materials are imported from abroad. But we can make more perfect and cheaper products than other countries. This success is due to continuous work and contentment with little. In the meantime, the Japanese people, who have had to work and exert themselves ceaselessly, have not had time for spiritual interests and activities, and consequently they have become like machines. The Japanese are now imitators of Europeans in their sheer materialistic pursuits. They have completely stripped themselves of all sorts of religious belief, and they are thoroughly devoid of spirituality. Today's Japanese people are entirely satiated materialistically. Their pockets are full of money. Yet their souls are becoming poorer and poorer, emptier and emptier. What could be the value of materialistic richness despite spiritual poverty? What benefit could the world reap from people clad in decorated garments but emptied of spiritual values?
In my opinion, this is the most propitious time for Islamic propaganda. For the Japanese, having reached perfection with respect to material well-being, are very much aware of the excruciating abyss in their soul and are therefore urgently questing for a guide. There is only the Islamic religion to rescue them from this spiritual bankruptcy. For Islam will be their guide in this life as well. I am sure that a qualified Islamic propagation carried on by a serious and orderly organization in Japan would take no more than a couple of generations for the entire Japanese nation to become Muslims. And this, in turn, means an honourable far-east source from where the entire humanity will benefit.
Exactly eighteen years ago,[Sixty-six years ago, as of today.] in 1929 that is, I was in Manchuria. Japan had reached one of the apices of its history.
During one of the journeys I took around Manchuria, I met a Muslim in a desert in the vicinity of Pieching. They were leading a very plain and pious life. I admire their life-styles, their trust in Allahu ta'ala, the hospitality they showed to strangers, and their sense of faith. As I moved further inland in Manchuria, I met many other Muslims, observed the same pure and beautiful quality in all of them, and consequently began to feel growing sympathy for them.
It was no earlier than 1946 that I managed to go back to Japan. In the meantime, Japan had joined the Second World War, being on the losing side in the end. The one-time powerful Japanese Empire was all gone. Buddhism, to which most Japanese people had been so sincerely and so heartfully adherent until that time, had been entirely stripped of its original essence and its logical features, and was now a mere source of detriment to society.
A minor number of Japanese people had already been Christianized. Despite the ninety long years wherein Christianity had been forcing its spread in Japan, very few Japanese people had become Christians. Yet, by the time I arrived in Japan, I saw that their number had increased considerably. The Japanese people had realized, after the heavy defeat they had suffered, that Buddha would give them no help at times of disaster. Having thoroughly lost their love for and trust in Buddha, they were now looking for a new religion. The younger people, especially, had accepted Christianity with the expectations that it would be the best possible substitute for their lost faith. Yet it did not take them long to realize that the Christian missionaries who had been trying to Christianize them were in actual fact squalid mercenaries working for American and British capitalists and that by Christianizing them they would not only refill the vacuum vacated by the no-longer wanted Buddhism, but also divest them of the deep-rooted purity and integrity that had so far been associated with their Japanese identity. During the process of Christianization, the Christian missionaries were continuously inculcating into their minds the superior qualities of American and British goods, which in turn gradually infused into them a growing feeling of aversion to their domestic goods, and which consequently resulted in an influx of foreign materials into Japan. In more concise terms, the capitalists were exploiting us to increase their wealth via Christianity.
Japan is a country lying between Russia and America. Each of these superpowers will normally try to bring Japan under its own sway. The inculcations they have been practicing on us must therefore be intended for their own advantages, rather than guiding our souls to salvation. On the other hand, especially in those days, the Japanese people needed true tutorship.
As far as I am concerned, only the Islamic religion will satisfy this requirement, guiding them to spiritual peace and salvation, and showing them the truest way they should follow. One merit that I admire best in Islam is the powerful feeling of brotherhood with which it equips Muslims. Islam emphasizes that Muslims are brothers beyond their cutaneous and racial identities, and Allahu ta'ala commands the human race to live in brotherly peace and safety without fostering any feelings of harm towards one another. Could another commandment more perfect and more true be conceived on the face of today's miserable world? Who on earth could doubt that the great being who gives such a command should certainly be Allah Himself? Last year two Muslims came to Tokoshima. They were from Pakistan. I paid them a visit immediately. They gave me very beautiful and very profound information about Islam. Later I talked with some Japanese Muslims. Two of them, Mr. Molivala and Mr. Mita of Tokyo, enlightened me and recommended that I should convert to Islam. Upon this I embraced Islam.
I wish with all my heart that Islam, the most logical and the purest religion, should spread all over the world and rescue humanity from this disastrous situation. If the entire humanity become Muslims, this miserable world will become a Garden of Paradise. Then, the Grace and Grandeur of Allahu ta'ala will illuminate the human souls and guide them on the right way, which will lead them to eternal salvation. Only through Islam will humankind attain happiness, both spiritually and physically, and be blessed with the divine favour of being beloved born slaves of Allahu ta'ala.
('Umar Mita is a Japanese economist and thinker. Formerly, he conducted some research in social areas, entered on a career as a Buddhist priest and preached Buddhism for some time, and finally became a Muslim, dedicating all the rest of his life to Islamic publications.)
Hamd (thanks and praise) be to Allahu ta'ala, I have been a Muslim for three years. I have attained a happy life. My PakistaniMuslim brothers taught me how a true and honest life should be. I met those Pakistani brothers of mine during their visit to Japan. They told me about Islam, and thus caused me to become a Muslim. I owe them very much gratitude.
Most of the Japanese people are Buddhists. Yet they are so only in name, for they have little with Buddhism in practice. They no longer attend the Buddhist rites, and they have forgotten their religious teachings almost entirely. The main reason lies in the fact that Buddhism is a conglomeration of very ambiguous and complicated philosophical abstractions and that it is of no worldly benefit to its votaries. Indeed, Buddhism would provide no help to an average-minded person against the various perplexing problems and new situations he would encounter daily. A person of medium mental capacity could not understand that religion, nor could he derive any benefit from it. Not so is the case with Islam. Islam is a simple, humanitarian and heavenly religion intelligible to everybody. This religion penetrates all the phases of human life and teaches Muslims how they should act in each of the so many various situations of life. Cleanliness is essential in Islam. Islam is the most perfect guide for people with pure souls. Islam is so logical that the most ignorant person would understand its language. Unlike other religions, Islam does not contain a privileged priestly caste or a prototype of ecclesiastical monopoly.
In my opinion, Islam's spread in Japan would be a very easy job. There could be some difficulties in the beginning. Yet these difficulties could be eliminated and the Japanese people would gradually embrace Islam. The first step is to introduce real Islam to the Japanese people. Day by day the Japanese people are becoming more and more materialistic. Yet they are not pleased about this, and they are aware of the vacuum in their souls. They should be taught that the Islamic religion is not only a source of spiritual information, but also a complete and perfect guide that will equip the human race with all the teachings they need in this worldly life.
As the second step, deeply learned true Muslims powerful enough to realize this Islamic publication are requisite in Japan. Unfortunately, the students coming to Japan from various Muslim countries do not have the potency to carry out this important task. When I made contact with them, I saw with deep distress that they were not knowledgeable about their own religion and that they did not obey their own religion. These people could not be our guides. They were people who admired the western world, who had been given European education, and who had graduated from western colleges and church schools. They knew nothing of Islam.
All Muslims should give serious consideration to the matter of spreading the Islamic religion in Japan and, as I have stated earlier, true scholars should be sent to our country. These people coming in should be exemplary Muslims, not only in words, but also in manners and behaviours. We Japanese people are pining for peace, truth, honesty, sincerity and virtue. Day by day we are losing these beautiful qualities of ours. Islam is the only saviour to rescue us from the impending destruction.
Muslims have belief in Allahu ta'ala, who is great and one. Japanese people need this sort of belief.
Islam means 'peace'. There is not another nation who long for peace as strongly as the Japanese people do. Attaining peace and tranquillity requires accepting Islam, which is 'peace' itself. Islam means living in peace and happiness with people and submission to the commandments of Allahu ta'ala. Humanity will attain salvation from disasters and savageries only via Islam.
After the Second World War I observed a growing indifference towards our religion. The Japanese people were gradually taking to the American life style. This life style lessens people's religious consciousness and turns them into machinery. And people who have been turned into machines, in turn, suffer from profound dissatisfaction. I felt the same dissatisfaction. There was a vacuum in my soul. I was not pleased about that life style. Yet, what was missing I did not know.
I visited a Muslim who was in Tokyo for a short stay. I very much admired his religious ideas and the way he prayed. I began to ask him various questions. The answers he gave not only pleased me, but also filled the vacuum in my soul. He said that there was one Creator, that that Creator had prescribed the modes of life we had to lead to attain peace and salvation, and that he was leading a life compatible with the commandments of that Creator. His words impressed me so deeply that I told him that I wanted to accept his religion, and thus I became a Muslim under his guide. After becoming a Muslim I began to feel in my heart how great a happiness it was to live in a spiritual mood so close to the Creator. My life style changed and I attained peace.
An attentive look at the way Muslims greet one another would suffice to realize the fact that Islam is a true religion. We only say 'good morning' or 'good night' to one another and just walk by. Instead of these dull and materialistic greetings, Muslims say to one another, "As-salamu 'alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu," which means, "May peace and salvation and the rahmat [Compassion, mercy] and barakat [Abundance, blessing.] of Allahu ta'ala be on you." Could a more beautiful way of well-wishing or greeting be conceived? My Muslim friend gave me plenty of valuable information about Muslims' credal tenets, about the essentials of Islam, and about the ways of worship. These things were extremely logical and humanistic. I saw and believed that Islam is a religion whereby a cleanly, simple, logical and peaceful life is possible. Living in peace and happiness, both individually and socially, requires a full adaptation to this religion. For this reason, having attained peace and salvation myself, I have been doing my best to persuade all the members of my family, my friends and acquaintances to become blessed with Islam.
Before becoming a Muslim, I was a Catholic Christian. I had been Christianized by Catholic missionaries. Yet I had never warmed to that religion. For the priests asked me to believe in three gods and commanded me to worship the Eucharist, [the ceremony where Issa's a.s. flesh is represented with bread and his blood is represented with wine.] They tried to impose a number of irrational teachings such as that the Pope was sinless and that it was necessary to obey all his commandments, and threatened that denial of those tenets would lead one to perdition. Whenever I asked the priests to explain their teachings more clearly so that I could get a clearer picture to convince my mind, none of them could explicate the tenets, but they only dismissed the matter by saying, "These things are heavenly secrets beyond the mind's grasp." How could a person accept something beyond his mental grasp? Gradually, I began to sense that there was something wrong, that Christianity was not a true religion, and to feel a bitter resentment against it. Any mention of other religions, such as Islam, would be enough to exasperate the priests; they would shout themselves hoarse, saying, "Muhammad is -may Allahu ta'ala protect us from saying- a liar. Islam is a concoction." When I asked why that religion was a mendacious one, they would falter, fumbling for an answer. This detestable state they caused themselves into motivated me to examine the Islamic religion more closely. I made contact with Muslims living in Malaya, and requested them to enlighten me about their religion. These people were quite dissimilar to the priests. They gave me very beautiful information about Islam. Let me add that in the beginning I had heated discussions with them. Yet, so convincing were their answers to my questions, and so infinite was the patience and the firmness they showed to me, that I began to feel as if a curtain was being raised from before my eyes, and a great feeling of peace and satisfaction began to stir in me. In contrast with Christianity fraught with superstitions, everything in this new religion was rational, logical and reasonable. Muslims believed in one Creator. That great Creator did not say that mankind was sinful, but, on the contrary, He bestowed plenty of blessings on human beings. Among His commandments, there was not a single dot that I would not understand. Muslims' acts of worship were intended only to pay hamd (thanks and praise) to Allahu ta'ala. They did not worship a number of images or shapes. Deep in my soul I felt the flavour of each and every ayat (verse) of the Qur'an al-karim, their holy book. One did not have to go to a temple for worship. A person could do his acts of worship in his home as well as in any other place. All these things were so lovely, so true, and so humanistic that I accepted the fact that Islam is the true religion of Allah, and I embraced Islam willingly.
I was born in the Krakow city of Poland in 1900. I am from a famous family recorded in Polishhistory. My father was a compulsive atheist. Yet he allowed his children to be given Catholic education. There were many Catholics in Poland. Being a devoted Catholic, my mother wished that we be raised with a Catholic education. I had very deep respect for religion. I believed in the fact that religion was the most important guide both in individual life and in social life.
My family had frequent foreign relations. My father had made many journeys in his youth, and therefore he had numerous foreign friends. Consequently, we had respect for other races, civilizations and religions. Without discriminating one person from another, we respected every nation, every race and, in short, every individual. I considered myself not as a Polish citizen, but also as a citizen of the entire world.
My family held moderate views concerning temporal matters. Although my father was a born aristocrat and therefore must have been a person without any practical skills, he hated laziness and inactivity, and recommended that everybody should have a job. He was totally against dictatorship. Yet he would never approve a social revolution that would demolish the world's order. He had deep respect for traditions coming from earlier times. He was against their being degenerated. In short, my father was a modernized and moderateprototype of the knights of the Middle Ages. The liberal education that my father had given me had made me a researcher and I had embarked on a research into social matters. The world had quite a number of social, political and economical problems that awaited solution. What had to be done to solve them and to find the right path? I saw that humanity had been parted into two polar opposites in those matters. Capitalism on the one side, and communism on the other. In other words oppression and terror on the one side, and a thoroughly uncontrolled society on the other. These two opposites would have to be brought together and integrated into a moderate system so that the entire humanity could attain peace and happiness. In my opinion, the humansociety would have to be based on essentials that were liberal, but at the same time disciplined, in conformity with today's conditions, but at the same time respectful of the old customs. As a person who had been educated with the principles of 'walking exactly on the intermediate path', it was natural for me to think so. We were nicknamed 'Progressive Traditionalists'.
By the time I became sixteen years old, I had already begun to wonder whether the Catholic religion could establish those essentials. Subsequently I examined the Catholic religion more closely. Then I realized that my mind could never accept some of the credal tenets with which they had tried to indoctrinate me in the church. Ahead of all those tenets was trinity. Then came the Eucharist [where bread and wine are supposed to have changed into Issa's a.s. flesh and blood, respectively], the compulsory intermediation of a priest between Allahu ta'ala and the born slave, which had been made a stipulation for the acceptance of one's prayers, attributing innocence and divinity to the Pope, who was a mere human being like us, worshipping some shapes, images and icons, making some strange signs; all these absurdities gradually made me take an aversion to Christianity. I began to think that that religion was, let alone a saviour to rescue humanity from disasters, a groundless and worthless heretical belief. I was now completely indifferent about religion.
After the Second World War, I began to feel a need for a religious belief again. I realized that humanity could never be without a religion. The humansoul needs religion. Religion is the greatest guide and the most profound source of consolation. An irreligious person is doomed to perdition. The worst evils come to humanity from irreligiousness. Leading a perfect social life requires people's being attached to one another, which in turn is dependent upon religion. I realized that today's progressive man could not accept a religion that could not cope with today's living conditions or scientific improvements, which consisted of some grotesque ideas, and which ran counter to common sense. Such was the Christian religion. To know how the other religions were, I decided to examine all the world's religions. I studied the American Quakers, [A group of Christians called Society of Friends. They are known for their opposition to violence and war. They perform their religious services in silence, and call them Meetings.] the Unitarians, [A Christian religious group, who believe in unity of Allah.] and even the Bahais.[One of the heretical sects founded for the purpose of demolishing Islam from within. For further information, please see Endless Bliss, Second Fascicle, 36th chapter.] But none of them seemed satisfactory to me.
Eventually, I somehow found a book entitled 'Islamo Esperantiste Regardata', written in the Esperanto language. The book had been published by a British Muslim named Ismail Collin Evans. That book was the guide that led me to Islam, in 1949. I read it. I consulted the Islamic organization called 'Dar-ul-tabligh-ul-Islam'[Please see the fifty-eight paragraph in the "The Religion Reformers in Islam", for the Tabligh-i-Jama'at.] in Cairo, and requested them to give me information about Islam. They sent me a book entitled 'Islamo Chies Religio', which, again, was in the Esperanto language. That book completed my iman, and I became a Muslim.
Islam fully answers all my thoughts, aspirations and wishes that I have had since my childhood. Islam comprehends both freedom and discipline. Islam, while listing our duties towards Allahu ta'ala on the one hand, prescribes the ways of leading a comfortable and peaceful worldly life on the other. Islam recognizes rights not only for the entire humanity, but also for each and every living creature. Islam has brought the most correct solutions to the most critical problems. As a sociologist, I have admired the greatness and the perfection inherent in the Islamic precepts 'Zakat' [Endless Bliss, fifth fascicle, seventh chapter.] and 'Hajj'.[Endless Bliss, fifth fascicle, seventh chapter.] [Zakat], which means for a person who has been given a larger share from worldly goods to mete out a certain percentage of his property to the poor, and [Namaz in jamaat (congregational prayer) and Hajj], which mean all Muslims' coming together, worshipping Allahu ta'ala and knowing one another, the rich and the poor, the seniors and the juniors, the old and the young, merchants, artisans and, in short, the rank and file, indicate that Islam attained long ago the elevations that today's social sciences have not reached so far despite all the painstaking endeavours. Owing to this accomplished character, Islam has shown the most perfect medium way between capitalism and communism and provided the conveniences coveted by all people. Islam is a tremendous religion which brings together all the people in the world regardless of their race, nation, social status, colour and language, which gives them equal rights, which balances their economical discrepancies by means of a well-calculated social-aid system, and which provides a material and spiritual discipline by infusing the fear of Allah. Even the Islamic polygamy, Islam's most criticized aspect, bears some biological considerations and is a principle more honest than the hypocritical monogamy of the Catholics, who never live with one woman.
In conclusion, I pay hamd-u-thena to Allahu ta'ala, who has guided me to the right path and blessed me with the path that will lead me to His approval.
Formerly, I was an arch enemy of Islam. For, all the members of my family and all my friends were telling me that Islam was an absurd and concocted religion that would lead man to Hell, and they were even preventing me from talking with Muslims. As soon as I saw a Muslim I would turn and walk away, and I would curse them behind their back. In those days, if I had dreamt of myself examining that religion closely, admiring it, and finally embracing Islam, I would not have interpreted it optimistically.
Why did I become a Muslim? I shall give a short answer to this question. The greatest Islamic virtue that attracted me towards it was that Islam is an extremely pure, very logical, and easily intelligible religion which contains very profound pieces of advice and divine wisdom. As soon as I began to examine the Islamic religion, it impressed me very strongly and I felt that I was going to accept it.
I received a Christian education. I thought that there was not another religious book more valuable than the Bible, which had been handed to me. Yet, when I began reading the Qur'an al-karim, I saw with amazement that that book was far an away superior to the Bible in my hand, and that it taught me so many beautiful facts that the Bible had not taught me. There were many preposterous legends and grotesque credal tenets in the Christian religion. The Qur'an al-karim rejected all such things and taught men facts that they would understand and accept. I gradually took a dislike to the Bible, and held fast to the Qur'an al-karim with both hands. Whatsoever I read in it, I understood it, liked it, and admired it. So Islam was the true religion. When I realized this fact, I decided to accept Islam, thus attaining iman and the religion of peace and love.
What I like best in Islam, and what attracted me to it most strongly, is the fact that Muslims look on one another as brothers. Without any discrimination with respect to colour, race, vocation, nationality, or country, Muslims all over the world know one another as brothers, love one another, and consider it as a sacred duty to do favours to one another and to help one another. The rule, "... Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." (Matt: 22-39) which remains in theory in the pages of the Bible, has been put into practice only by Muslims. And no other religion contains it even on the theoretical level. The Islamic brotherhood is not only in words. Always and everywhere, Muslims throughout the world co-operate and run to help one another, no matter whether they know one another or not.
The second feature of Islam that I admire is that that religion does not contain a superstition or an unintelligible principle. Islam's tenets are logical, practical, reasonable, and up-to-date. The Islamic religion recognizes one Creator. The expression Ruh-ul-Quds (the Holy Spirit) exists in the Qur'an al-karim. Yet its meaning is 'the divinity of Allahu ta'ala', or 'the angel named Jabrail'. It does not mean 'another godhead'. Islam's principles, i.e. its commandments and prohibitions, are extremely simple, logical, and adaptable to modern life in every respect. Islam is the only true religion that the entire world could accept.
EXPLANATION: The expression 'Ruh-ul-Quds' exists in a few different suras (chapters) of the Qur'an al-karim. It is written in books of tafsir (explanations of the Qur'an al-karim) that it has varying meanings, depending on the context in which it appears. In short, it has meanings such as 'The angel named Jabrail', 'the life-giving and protecting attributes of Allahu ta'ala', 'the soul of Issa a.s., and 'The Injil (the original, unchanged Bible)'. Its lexical meaning is: 'The Pure Soul'.
Paying hamd-u-thena (gratitude and praise) to Allahu ta'ala, I begin my explanation. If testify to that there is no mabud (god, being worthy of worship) but Allahu ta'ala, and that Muhammad a.s. is His slave and Messenger.
I met Muslims five years ago. One day, one of my friends said that he had taken an interest in the Qur'an al-karim and had been reading it. I knew nothing about the Qur'an al-karim then. Upon learning that my friend had begun to read the Qur'an al-karim, I decided to study the Qur'an al-karim, too, lest I should be outclassed by my friend, and went to the public library in my hometown to try and find a Swedish version of the Qur'an al-karim. I did find one, and presently began reading it. A book borrowed from the library could be kept for only fifteen days. Yet I was so deeply impressed by the Qur'an al-karim that fifteen days would be too short. So, a couple of days after returning the book to the library, I would go back to the library and borrow it again. Thus, returning the book after each fifteen-day period and borrowing it again a few days later, I read the translation of the Qur'an al-karim again and again. Each time I read the Qur'an al-karim, I felt deeper admiration for it, so much so that I began to believe that Islam was a true religion. I had already decided to become a Muslim by the November of 1950. Yet I wanted to postpone my conversion until I have penetrated deeper into Islam and learned its inner essence well by examining it more closely. To this end, I went to the public library in Stockholm and studied the books written about the Islamic religion. Among those books, I came across the translation of the Qur'an al-karim rendered by MuhammadAli. Although later I came to know that MuhammadAli belonged to a heretical group called Qadiyani, or Ahmadi,[Please see chapter 36, Corrupt Religions, in Endless Bliss, Second Fascicle, for heretical groups.] I reaped many benefits even from the version translated by that incompetent person. I no longer had any hesitations as to that I should become a Muslim. It was that time when I first began to talk with Muslims. From 1952 on I joined them in their acts of worship. I had the good luck to find a society founded by Muslims in Stockholm. I met them, and I learned many facts from them, too. During the (holy month of) Ramadan in the Hijri year 1972, I went to England, where I officially became a Muslim on the first day of 'Iyd in the mosque of 'Woking'.
Islam's logic was what attracted me to it most. Islam does not contain anything that common sense would reject. Islam enjoins belief in the unity of Allahu ta'ala. Allahu ta'ala is Ghafur and Rahim (forgiving and extremely compassionate). He continuously bestows blessings and gifts upon the human race so that they should live in comfort and peace.
Another aspect of Islam that I like best is that Islam is a religion that belongs not only to the Arabs but also to the entire humanity. Allahu ta'ala is the Rabb of all classes of beings. This universal quality presents a sharp contrast with the Judaic religion, whose holy book always refers to the 'God of Israel'.
One more thing that I love in Islam is that this religion recognizes all the prophets 'alaihim-us-salawatu wattaslimat' that have come up to today, pays respect to them, and treats the believers of other religions with great compassion. A Muslim can pray anywhere that is clean, in a field and in a church alike. A Christian, on the other hand, will not even stay at a place close to a mosque.
The Qur'an al-karim explains in the most beautiful style that Islam is the most true and the final religion, and that Muhammad a.s. is the last Prophet:
The third ayat of Maida Sura purports, "Today I have made your religion perfect. I have completed My blessings upon you, and I have chosen Islam as your religion."
The nineteenth ayat of Al-I-'Imran Sura purports, "Know this for certain: Islam is the (only) religion in the view of Allahu ta'ala."
42 - FARUQ B. KARAI (Zanzibar)
I accepted Islam because I admired the great ProphetMuhammad a.s.. I had quite a number of Muslim friends in Zanzibar. They told me very beautiful facts about Islam. They gave me Islamic books, which I read in secrecy from my family. Eventually, in 1940, I decided to become a Muslim at all costs. So I became a Muslim despite the remonstrances of my family and the oppressions of the priests of Parsee religion, which had been my religion until that time. I will not enlarge on the consequentevents that I experienced or the retaliatory difficulties that I encountered. My family had recourse to inconceivable measures to deprive me of iman (belief in Islam). They persecuted me very bitterly. Yet I had attained the guidance to the right way, and therefore I held fast to my true religion and resisted against all sorts of threat. Now I love one Allah and His last ProphetMuhammad a.s. more than my life.
Like the Rock of Gibraltar I stood against all the hardships that my family heaped before me. As I struggled against those hardships, I was encouraged and invigorated by my own belief, "I am on the path dictated by Allahu ta'ala. Allahu ta'ala knows the truth in everything, and He will help me."
I had the chance to read and study the Qur'an al-karim in Gujerati. The further I went on reading the Qur'an al-karim, the more strongly did I feel attached to it, so much so that I finally believed with all my heart that no other religion on the earth had the capacity to guide humanity to the right path. The Qur'an al-karim is a holy book that teaches men the ways of leading a simple life, brotherhood, equality, and humanity, and which bestows on them a peaceful and comfortable life in this world and the next. The Islamic religion, which Allahu ta'ala revealed through this greatest guide for humanity, shall survive till the termination of the world's existence.
- 3 - CONCLUSIONS DRAWN FROM THE STATEMENTS OF THE PEOPLE WHO EMBRACED ISLAM
The clear, sincere and concordant statements made by people belonging to various races, countries and professions on why they had accepted Islam reflect their personal convictions concerning Islam's difference from and superiority to the other religions. They can be summed up as follows:
- The Islamic religion recognizes one creator, one being worthy of being worshipped. The name of this mabud (being worthy of being worshipped) is Allahu ta'ala. Men's common sense inspires into them that there is one Allah. A reasonable person cannot accept the concept of polytheism, which is a common basis for many other religions.
- The Islamic religion not only equips them with spiritual knowledge, but also teaches them what they should do for their lives in this world and in the Hereafter, and guides them.
- Whereas Christians propound that man is born sinful and that his stay in the world is intended to expiate and to suffer, the Islamic religion states that human beings are innocent creatures when they are born, that they are beloved born slaves of Allahu ta'ala, that they are responsible for their behaviour by the time they reach the age of puberty and discretion, and that they shall enjoy the infinite blessings of the Hereafter if they manage to abide by the right way.
- Islam does not allow a third person between the born slave and Allahu ta'ala in matters pertaining to worship, praying and penance. These practices do not require a priestly intermediation.
- Islam states that all Muslims are brothers, wherein differences of race, colour, language or country have no place. The Islamic religion holds everybody equal in the view of Allahu ta'ala. During the performance of namaz, a person of the highest rank stands beside another, who may be of the lowest rank, a richest one beside another who, perhaps, is the poorest member of the society, and a white Muslim next to a black one, and with one accord they prostrate themselves before Allahu ta'ala.
- According to Islam, Prophets 'alaihim-us-salam' are human beings like us. They are the most superior human beings in all respects. Their duty is to convey to us the commandments of Allahu ta'ala. On account of their noble moral qualities and high natures, Allahu ta'ala has chosen them and given them this duty. The Islamic religion acknowledges all the past Prophets 'alaihim-us-salawatu wattaslimat' and pays them due respect.
- Islam is a perfectly logical religion. The Qur'an al-karim does not contain a single principle that cannot be understood or which is contradictory to living conditions or scientific knowledge. All the commandments it dictates are extremely useful. The Islamic religion does not embody any superstitions. Preposterous tenets like worshipping idols, images, icons, which can be accepted only by primitive tribes and idolaters and which still exist in Christianity, cannot have access into Islam.
- Christianity represents Allahu ta'ala only as a source of fear. Islam, in contrast, makes one love Allahu ta'ala. What a Muslim fears for is lest he should incur the hatred of Allahu ta'ala.
- No one can force another person to become a Muslim. The two hundred and fifty-sixth ayat of Baqara Sura of the Qur'an al-karim purports the injunction, "Conversion to Islam should not be done through compulsion." On the other hand, Christian missionaries are trying to Christianize people by coercion or by promising advantages.
- The Islamic acts of worship are intended only to express gratitude to Allahu ta'ala and to attain His love. The prescribed prayer times drill people in orderliness and punctuality, and the yearly one-month fasting trains them to have command of their corporeal tendencies.
-Islam puts a special emphasis on cleanliness. Islam is the only religion which commands to do a certain type of physical cleaning before an act of worship. This strictness is totally missing from the other religions. The brevity of daily prayers rules out the possibility of their being a handicap to the daily chores.
- Formation of good habits such as tenderness, charity, and compassion, which are the dominant topics of the sermons given by Christian clergymen, but which are never put into practice by their preachers, let alone by the preached, are peculiar to Muslims.
- On the economic platform, Islam jettisons both the capitalistic materialism and the communistic utopia. It protects the poor, without censuring the rich. It commands the rich to pay zakat to the poor. Furthermore, bringing together Muslims belonging to the sundry nations and races of the world, it establishes the most perfect social system of the world [Hajj].
- Islam prohibits consumption of alcohol, gambling, and drugs. The most disastrous vices of the world originate from these three pestilences.
- No Christian clergyman can explain what will become of people after death, or life and situations in the Hereafter. Islam provides the best and most detailed explanation on this subject.
- Islam is the only religion that commands to help the poor, the destitute and the forlorn travellers, no matter what their religion is.
- Islam does not force any person to believe in something he cannot understand. Unlike other religions, it does not comprehend any mysterious abstractions in the name of credo.
- In Islam, the procedure to be followed for the solution of a canonical problem is first to consult the Qur'an al-karim, then, if a clear answer cannot be found there, to look the matter up in the Sunnat of the Messenger of Allah a.s., and finally, concerning matters of which clear solutions cannot be found in the Sunnat, for the common-sensed experts of the matter to employ ijtihad, [to explain the matter after painstaking lucubrations.][1]
- Islam is the newest religion. From its first day up to our time, the Qur'an al-karim has preserved its pristine purity without undergoing an infinitesimal diacritical interpolation. Its regulation system is comprehensive enough to meet all sorts of needs. This fact is palpable enough to reveal that no other religion will come, that all sorts of religious matters have been solved, and that Islam is the true religion of Allah.
- The Islamic acts of worship can be performed anywhere. It is not compulsory to go to a mosque for worship. A Muslim does not intrude into others' temples, and it is permissible to perform namaz in a church when it is inevitable.
- Islam cherishes women highly and gives them the greatest rights. The Islamic religion does not enjoin to marry more than one women. Islam's polygamy is a permission which is limited with a certain number and regulated with certain stipulations. By the time Islam appeared, it had been an Arabic custom that a man could cohabit with as many women as he liked and with no degree of responsibility as to their rights. Islam rescued womankind from this horrible situation and protected their rights. By stating, "Paradise is beneath the mother's feet," Muhammad a.s. granted a distinguished status to women. This privilege does not exist in any other religion.
- Islam invites people to work, to study and learn useful knowledge, and to ask for help from Allahu ta'ala after putting his mental and physical capacity to work. No other religion has the maxim, "One hour spent meditating or doing something useful is equal to one year spent doing supererogatoryworship."
- Islam is spiritual and physical cleanliness. It holds these two kinds of cleanliness equal. Islam comprises only love, sweet smiles, soft words, integrity, and charity.
- Islam expresses Allahu ta'ala as the Rabb-ul-'alamin, i.e. Allah of all classes of beings. Unlike in other religions, He is not considered as Allah for the votaries of the religion concerned.
- The Qur'an al-karim is the only source where a wretched person can find consolation. The Qur'an al-karim contains numerous pieces of consolatory, soothing, and instructive advice, depending on the kind of the need.
When you read these lovely, open-hearted and cordial statements made about the Islamic religion by people of various nationalities, countries, professions and classes who accepted Islam willingly, not under coercion of any sort, but in consequence of their own decisions and comparative study of religions, you feel so happy and so proud about having been a Muslim! When you see that things that are quite familiar and matter-of-fact to you are admired by others, you feel a certain amazement. Owing to its pulchritudinous habit-injections, such as belief in one Allah, brotherhood, geniality, honesty, compassion, hospitality, charity, an unflinching sense of self-sacrifice for the good of one's homeland, and a readiness to protect one's religion, iman and chastity at the sacrifice of one's life, Islam is preferred to the other religions without any propagation or handfuls of monetary expenditures, which are routine practices of the wealthy organizations buttressing the Christian missionaries.
Islam does not allow any evil thoughts or bad behaviours. There are hypocrites and heretics who try to exploitIslam for their personal advantages, subversive policies, and blunting ideologies. A true Muslim belonging to the group called Ahl-as-sunnat, which is the only group with the correct belief, will never serve as their tool. Nor will he fall for their deceits and let his belief be corrupted. A Muslim will not infringe on someone else's rights, whatsoever the latter's religious belief. A person belonging to one of the seventy-two groups, which our Prophet a.s. stated to be wrong, is a heretic. A true Muslim holding the belief of Ahl-as-sunnat is an extremely pure person who does his five daily prayers of namaz regularly. Islam has prohibited to point a gun toward your Muslim brother, even for a jocular purpose.
Our country, Turkey, which enjoys all the blessings of Allahu ta'ala and which is peerless in the world owing to its good climate, abundant water and rich metal resources, needs true Muslims holding the belief of Ahl-as-sunnat. Only these true Muslims can improve this sacred country to the level worthy of it, by co-operating with one another, by respecting, loving and protecting one another, by rejecting the asinine and aberrant publications of the people of bidat carrying Muslim names and of the enemies of Islam, by working incessantly, by catching up with, and even excelling, the science and technology of the twentieth century. This country, (or any other Muslim country on the earth), will reap no benefit from people who do not know Allahu ta'ala as He is described by the scholars of Ahl-as-sunnat, who flout Islam's commandments and prohibitions, and who feel enmity towards their Muslim brothers with the effect of foreign ideas they have been indoctrinated with. Their souls are unhealthy. Like machines or beasts, they give service to anyone who gets possession of them. They are the most harmful viruses of society. May Allahu ta'ala protect us against the vices of these pestilential people! Scientists and politicians who have chosen Islam, state that "If a man's soul is vacant, it is good for nothing. This vacuum can be filled only with a true religion." A person who has purified his soul with Islam and who avoids Islam's prohibitions, will not fall for any subversive propaganda; but he will follow the right path written in the books of Ahl-as-sunnat, establish a hand-in-hand co-operation with his Muslim brothers, and thus serve his religion and country. Thereby, he will attain the blessing and grace of Allahu ta'ala in both worlds.
Of old, the unilaterally opinionated people would take any occasion to vituperate Islam, and to attempt to defile the essentials of this true religion; in short, doing injustice was their favourite occupation. Most of the books written by such miscreants were published by Christians and by heretical groups lurking behind Muslim names. In Europe there are subversive books that were written without any actual study of Islam. These books represent cruel and lying heathens who worship the devil, who legitimize all sorts of iniquity, and who consider women as mere possessions. Books of the same sort were published with mischievous motives in the orient as well. Today, as people understand one another better and read one another's books, correct books spread widely, and thus the old hatred gradually leaves its place to admiration. The divisive and subversive ideas that at one time instigated wars between Christians and Muslims, and between the aberrant groups of Muslims and true Muslims holding the belief of Ahl-as-sunnat, are on the decrease.
Today Christians realize the shortcomings of their religion and try to ameliorate them. As we were preparing this book we received a letter from India. Enclosed was a message headlined 'Explanation' and distributed by the Christians living there. It said: "Because Allah created us, we are all Allah's sons and daughters. You, too, are a son or daughter of Allah. The expression 'the son of God', which you read in the Bible, means, 'the born slave (creature) of God'. In other words, to say that Issa (Jesus) a.s. is the son of Allah means to say that Allah created him, as He created you and me. He does not have any other relation to Allah. As for the Holy Spirit; it means the great power endowed on Issa a.s.. It would be a mistake to take it as another godhead. The Bible does not contain something in the name of Trinity. Allah is one. It is wrong to believe in three gods. The dogma that men are born sinful, which you have been taught until now, is wrong, too. Everybody is responsible before Allahu ta'ala only for his or her own actions."
As is seen, even Christian priests realize that trinity is something quite wrong, and they attempt to correct it. And this, in its turn, shows that people are gathering around the belief in one mabud (Allah). This reversal means a closer proximity to Islam. We hope that one day Islam will cover the entire world. Otherwise, humanity will become altogether irreligious, which in turn means doom for humanity.
We terminate this part of our book with a quotation of the Nasr Sura of Qur'an al-karim, which purports: "When comes the Help of Allahu ta'ala, and victory, and thou dost see the people enter Allahu ta'ala's religion in crowds, celebrate the praises of thy Lord, and pray for His forgiveness: for He is Oft-Returning (in Grace and Mercy).
Come, O man, who is captivated in forlorn lands,
Come, O man, who is snoozing in earthly ruins!
Open your eyes'n look around, so many lords passed by,
So mad it is to give your heart to this fleeting lie!
Cage is not for the philomel, be it fed with candy,
Alas! Why should one prefer this dungeon so gloomy?
How disconsolate it would be from sleep so sound,
To wake up, when death came to end your earthly round!
So darkened is your heart that advice would do you no good;
To a heart as hard as rocks counsels would be dry food!
Come to your senses, before it is too late; Eternal torment awaits those who flout this fate!
O my ego, it is you who needs this advice most;
That day, obedience, alone, shall bear a cost!
FOOTNOTES
1. Please see The Sunni Path; Endless Bliss, first fascicle, 5th,6th,26th and 27th chapters; and Endless Bliss, second fascicle, 33rd chapter.
Publisher's Note: Copyleft c Waqf Ikhlas, Istanbul, 1995.
Permission to reprint & distribute is granted only if this heading included, and the text is not modified in any way, shape or form to alter the intended meaning.
WAQF IKHLAS - Tel: (90.212) 513 99 00
More Converts
ïMs. Jemima Goldsmith ïMs. Afrah Diane ïMs. C. Huda Dodge ïMs. Jewellee ïMs. KarimaRazi ïMs. Lara ïMs. Malaak ïMr. Christopher Shelton ïMr. Ibrahim Karlsson ïMr. Malik Hassan ïMr. Nuh Keller ïMr. Rob Wicks ïMr. Samir ïMr. Yahiye Gadahn ïMr. YusufIslam ïProfessor Abdul AhadDawud ïAsia al Zahir ïAfrah Alshaibani
THE media present me as a naive, besotted 21-year-old who has made a hasty decision without really considering the consequences - thus effectively condemning herself to a life of interminable subservience, misery and isolation. Although I must confess I have rather enjoyed the various depictions of a veiled and miserable "Haiqa Khan" incarcerated in chains, the reality is somewhat different. Contrary to current opinion, my decision to convert to Islam was entirely my own choice and in no way hurried. Whilst the act of conversion itself is surprisingly quick - entailing the simple assertion that "there is only one God and Mohammed is His Prophet" - the preparation is not necessarily so speedy a process. In my case, this began last July, whilst the actual conversion took place in early February - three months before the Nikkah in Paris. During that time, I studied in depth both the Quran and the works of various Islamic scholars (Gai Eaton, the Bosnian president Alia Izetbegovic, MuhammadAsad) , thus giving me ample time to reflect before making my decision. What began as intellectual curiosity slowly ripened into a dawning realisation of the universal and eternal truth that is Islam. In the statement given out a week ago, I particularly stressed that I had converted to Islam entirely "through my own convictions". The significance of this has been largely ignored by the press. The point is that my conversion was not, as so many have assumed, a pre-requisite to my marriage. It was entirely my own choice.
Religiously speaking, there was absolutely no compulsion for me to t prior to my marriage. As it explicitly states in the Quran, a Muslim is permitted to marry from "the People of the Book" - in other words, either a Christian or a Jew. Indeed, the Sunnah - which describes the life of the Prophet - shows that the messenger of Islam himself married both a Christian and a Jew during his lifetime. I believe that much of this hostility towards my marriage and conversion stems from wide-spread misconceptions about an alien culture and religion. Not only is there a huge gulf between the Western view of Islam and the reality, but there is in some cases also a significant distinction between Islam based directly on the Quran and the Sunnah and that practised by some Islamic societies. During the last year I have had the opportunity to visit Pakistan on three separate occasions and have observed Islamic family life in practice. Thus, to some extent I now feel qualified to judge for myself the true role and position of women in the religion. At the risk of sounding defensive, I would like to point out that Islam is not a religion which subjugates women whilst elevating men to the status of mini-dictators in their own homes. I was able to see this first-hand when I met Imran's sisters in Lahore: they are all highly educated professional women. His oldest sister, Robina, is an alumnus of LSE and holds a senior position in the United Nations in New York. Another sister, Alima, has a master's degree in business administration and runs a successful business; Uzma is a highly qualified surgeon working in a Lahore hospital, whilst Rani is a university graduate who co-ordinates charity work.
They can hardly be seen as "women in chains" dominated by tyrannical husbands.
On the contrary, they are strong-minded independent women - yet at the same time they remain deeply committed both to their families and their religion. Thus, I as able to see - in theory and in practice - how Islam promotes the essential notion of the family unit without subjugating its female members. I am nevertheless fully aware that women are sometimes exploited and oppressed in Islamic societies, as in other parts of the world. Judging by some of articles which have appeared in the press, it would seem that a Western woman's happiness hinges largely upon her access to night-clubs, alcohol and revealing clothes; and the absence of such apparent freedom and luxuries in Islamic societies is seen as an infringement of her basic rights. However, as we all know, such superficialities have very little to do with true happiness. Besides, without in any way wishing to disparage the culture of the Western world, into which I was born, I am more than willing to forego the transient pleasures derived from alcohol and night-clubs; and as for the clothes I will be wearing, I find the traditional shalwar kamiz (tunic and trousers) worn by most Pakistani women far more elegant and feminine than anything in my wardrobe.
Finally, it seems futile to speculate on my chances of marital success. Marriage, as Imran's father has been quoted as saying, is indeed "a gamble". However, when I see that in a society based on family life the divorce rate is just a fraction of that in European or Americansociety, I cannot see that my chances of success are any less than if I had chosen to marry a Westerner. I am all too aware of the enormous task of adapting to a new and radically different culture.
But with the love of my husband and the support of his family I look forward to the challenge wholeheartedly, and would like to feel that people wish me well.
Whilst I do appreciate the genuine concerns of many, I must confess to feeling somewhat bewildered by all of the commotion. / The Sunday Telegraph
I was raised in a moderately Christian home in Colorado. Religion was never much of an issue in my house. My father was raised as a Mormon, my mother as a Protestant. As I grew into adolescence, I became curious about God, wondering whether He existed, and if so, what did that mean to humans. I studied the Bible and other Christianliterature earnestly. Even when I was in high school, I noticed that there were apparent discrepancies in the Bible, particularly concerning the nature of Jesus (s.a.s.). In some places, it seemed to say he was God, in others, the son of God, and in others, only human. However, I thought that these discrepancies existed only because I did not truly understand what I was reading. I first turned to the Church of God after receiving literature from them in the mail. I was impressed because they approached religion in a more logical and scientific manner than I had seen before. They followed such practices as not eating pork, keeping the same holidays as Jesus, etc. I attended their services once, but for some reason, I did not keep going.
When I went to college, I became involved in Bible studies through Campus Crusade for Christ. I wanted to really understand God's truth, but I just couldn't see what it was, and I thought the Bible studies would help me. They did. Around the same time, I met a Muslim man. I became curious as to why he prayed the way he did, so I started to read the Qur'an. I soon realized that there was an aspect to Islam which I had really missed in Christianity: worship. All the prayers I had ever heard consisted mostly of "I want this, I need this, please give it to me," with the only real worship being "thank you Jesus for dying for my sins." I wondered, what about God? I was convinced that the God of Islam was the same as the God I believed in, but I was still unsure about who Jesus was. I was afraid to believe that he was the son of God, because all my life I had been taught that such a belief meant eternal punishment in hellfire.
The leader of my Bible study had done missionary work to Muslims in Algeria, so I decided to ask him some questions, because at the time I was quite confused. I asked him what would happen to my Muslim friend, and he told me he would go to hell, without a doubt. I asked him how the Qur'an, which was so similar to the Bible, could be false. He said it was an instrument of the devil to persuade people to unbelief. Finally, I asked him if he had read the Qur'an, intending to next ask him a specific question about something I had read in it. He answered, "No. I tried, but it makes me sick to my stomach." I was astounded and quickly left. This man, whom I respected as a knowledgeable leader, who had worked with Muslims several times, did not know as much about Islam as I had learned in a few months. And yet, he was not questioning or curious. He was sure that my friend was going to hell and that the Qur'an was the work of the devil. I suddenly realized that there was no way he could be sure unless he had studied and he clearly had not. This was my biggest clue that Islam was the path of God's truth. Al-hamdulillah (praise be to Allah) that I had that conversation.
I began to study Qur'an more, and in several months I saidShahada [i.e. stated and accepted the creed of Islam -ed.]. That was less than a year ago. I am still learning, striving to find God's truth. I am so grateful that God has guided me so. Here is a religion of truth, which can stand up to any test of logic and reason! Just as I always ought religion should be. It should make sense, it should be logical.
This is how I came to Islam. However, I think it should be said that I am grateful I did not meet many Muslims before I became Muslim. At the university I attend, the majority of Muslims are cold and distant.
They seem to be judgmental of anyone who is, or appears to be, non-Muslim. If I had known these people, I would have been turned off from Islam because its representatives seem so cold. Muslims have an incredible message to share -- the message of truth! I had no idea what Islam was before I met my friend, if Americans just understood what it was, they would be more open to it, because it is TRUTH. Also, I think it should be said that this was one of the hardest things I have ever done. Converting to Islam has forced me to be disobedient to my parents, because they do not agree with such things as fasting, wearing the veil, or avoiding forbidden foods. They think it is nonsense, and I have had to struggle all the way to do what I believe and at the same time try not to lose my family. I have not begun wearing the veil yet, but I very much want to shortly. I fear at in doing so, I may be disowned (at least temporarily), but I am still eager to do it, because I long to be modest before God in the manner ordained for women.
I would be happy to receive e-mail from anyone curious about Islam, particularly women (I might be more helpful then a male).
Since I have started reading and posting on this newsgroup a few months ago, I have noticed a great interest in converts (reverts) to Islam: how are people introduced to it, what attracts people to this faith, how their life changes when they embrace Islam, etc. I have received a of e-mail from people asking me these questions. In this post, I hopeinsha'Allah to address how, when and why an Americanlike myself came to embrace Islam. It's long, and I'm sorry for that, but I don't think you can fully understand this process from a few paragraphs. I tried not to ramble on or get off on tangents. At times the story is detailed, because I think it helps to truly understand how my path to Islam developed. Of course, there's a lot I left out (I'm not trying to tell you my whole life story - just the pertinent stuff).
It's interesting for me to look back on my life and see how it all fits together - how Allah planned this for me all along. When I think about it, I can't help saying `Subhanallah,' and thank Allah for bringing me to where I am today. At other times, I feel sad that I was not born into Islam and been a Muslim all my life. While I admire those who were, I at times pity them because sometimes they don't really appreciate this blessing. insh'Allah, reading this can help you understand how I, at least, came to be a Muslim. Whether it gives you ideas for da'wah, or just gives you some inspiration in your own faith, I hope it is worth your time to read it, insha'Allah. It is my story, but I think a lot of others might see themselves in it.
I was born in San Francisco, California, and raised in a Bay Area suburb. My small town (San Anselmo, pop. about 14,000 last I checked) was a mostly white, upper-middle-class, Christian community. It is a beautiful area - just north of San Francisco (across the Golden Gate Bridge), nestled in a valley near the hillsides (Mount Tamalpais) and the Pacific Ocean. I knew all of my neighbours, played baseball in the street, caught frogs in the creeks, rode horses in the hills, and climbed trees in my front yard.
My father is Presbyterian, and my mother is Catholic. My father was never really active in any church, but my mother tried to raise us as Catholics. She took us to church sometimes, but we didn't know what was going on. People stand up, sit down, kneel, sit again, stand up, and recite things after the priest. Each pew had a booklet - a kind of `direction book' -and we had to follow along in order to know what to do next (if we didn't fall asleep first). I was baptized in this church, and received my First Communion at about the age of 8 (I have pictures, but I don't remember it much). After that, we only went about once a year.
I lived on a dead-end street of about 15 houses. My grammar school was at the end of the street (4 houses down), next to a small Presbyterian church. When I was about 10, the people of this church invited me to participate in their children's Christmas play. Every Sunday morning from then on, I walked down to church alone (no one else in my family was interested in coming). The whole congregation was only about 30 older people (past their 50's), but they were nice and never made me feel out of place. There were about 3 younger couples with children younger than me.
I became a very active member of this church down the street. When I was in 6th grade, I started baby-sitting the younger kids during the service. By 9th grade, I was helping the minister's wife teach Sunday school. In high school, I started a church youth group by recruiting 4 of my friends to join me. It was a small group: me, my friends, and a young couple with kids, but we liked it that way. The big Presbyterian in town had about 100 kids in their youth group and took trips to Mexico, etc. But our group was content to get together to study the bible, talk about God, and raise money for charities.
These friends and I would sit together and talk about spiritual issues. We debated about questions in our minds: what happens to the people who lived before Jesus came (go to heaven or hell); why do some very righteous people automatically go to hell just because they don't believe in Jesus (we thought about Gandhi); on the other hand, why do some pretty horrible people (like my friend's abusive father) get rewarded with heaven just because they're Christian; why does a loving and merciful God require a blood sacrifice (Jesus) to forgive people's sins; why are we guilty of Adam's original sin; why does the Word of God (Bible) disagree with scientific facts; how can Jesus be God; how can One God be 3 different things; etc. We debated about these things, but never came up with good answers. The church couldn't give us good answers either; they only told us to "have faith."
The people at church told me about a Presbyterian summer camp in Northern California. I went for the first time when I was 10. For the next 7 years, I went every summer. While I was happy with the little church I went to, this is where I really felt in touch with God, without confusion. It was here that I developed my very deep faith in God. We spent much of our time outdoors, playing games, doing crafts, swimming, etc. It was fun, but every day we would also take time out to pray, study the bible, sing spiritual songs, and have `quiet time.' It is this quiet time that really meant a lot to me, and of which I have the best memories. The rule was that you had to sit anywhere on the camp's 200 beautiful acres. I would often go to a meadow, or sit on a bridge overlooking the creek, and just THINK. I looked around me, at the creek, the trees, the clouds, the bugs - listened to the water, the birds' songs, the crickets' chirps. This place really let me feel at peace, and I admired and thanked God for His beautiful creation. At the end of each summer, when I returned back home, this feeling stayed with me. I loved to spend time outdoors, alone, to just think about God, life, and my place in it. I developed my personal understanding of Jesus' role as a teacher and example, and left all the confusing church teachings behind.
I believed (and still do) in the teaching "Love your neighbour as yourself," fully giving to others without expecting anything in return, treating others as you would like to be treated. I strived to help everyone I could. When I was fourteen, I got my first job, at a ice cream store. When I got my paycheque each month (it wasn't much), I sent the first $25 to a program called `Foster Parents Plan' (they've changed the name now). This was a charity that hooked up needy children overseas with American sponsors. During my 4 years of high school, I was a sponsor for a young Egyptian boy named Sherif. I sent him part of my paycheque each month, and we exchanged letters. (His letters were in Arabic, and looking at them now, it appears that he believed he was writing to an adult man, not a girl 5 years older than him.) He was 9 years old, his father was dead, and his mother was ill and couldn't work. He had 2 younger brothers and a sister my age. I remember getting a letter from him when I was 16 - he was excited because his sister had gotten engaged. I thought, "She's the same age as me, and she's getting engaged!!!" It seemed so foreign to me. These were the first Muslims I had contact with.
Aside from this, I was also involved with other activities in high school. I tutored Central American students at my school in English. In a group called "Students for Social Responsibility," I helped charities for Nicaraguan school children and Kenyan villagers. We campaigned against nuclear arms (the biggest fear we all had at that time was of a nuclear war).
I invited exchange students from France into my home, and I had penpals from all over the world (France, Germany, Sweden, etc.). My junior year of high school, we hosted a group called `Children of War' - a group of young people from South Africa, Gaza Strip, Guatemala, and other war-torn lands, who toured the country telling their stories and their wishes for peace. Two of them stayed at my house - the group's chaperone from Nicaragua, and a young black South African man. The summer after my junior year of high school, I took a volunteer job in San Francisco (the Tenderloin district), teaching English to refugee women. In my class were Fatimah and Maysun, 2 ChineseMuslim widows from Vietnam. These were the next Muslims I met, although we couldn't talk much (their English was too minimal). All they did was laugh.
All of these experiences put me in touch with the outside world, and led me to value people of all kinds. Throughout my youth and high school, I had developed two very deep interests: faith in God, and interacting with people from other countries. When I left home to attend college in Portland, Oregon, I brought these interests with me.
At Lewis & Clark College, I started out as a Foreign Language (French & Spanish) major, with a thought to one day work with refugee populations, or teach English as a Second Language. When I arrived at school, I moved into a dorm room with two others - a girl from California (who grew up only 10 minutes from where I did), and a 29-year-old Japanese woman (exchange student). I was 17.
I didn't know anyone else at school, so I tried to get involved in activities to meet people. In line with my interests, I chose to get involved with 2 groups: Campus Crusade for Christ (obviously, a Christian group), and Conversation Groups (where they match Americans up with a group of international students to practice English).
I met with the Campus Crusade students during my first term of school. A few of the people that I met were very nice, pure-hearted people, but the majority were very ostentatious. We got together every week to listen to "personal testimonies," sing songs, etc. Every week we visited a different church in the Portland area. Most of the churches were unlike anything I'd ever been exposed to before. One final visit to a church in the Southeast area freaked me out so much that I quit going to the Crusade meetings. At this church, there was a rock band with electric guitars, and people were waving their hands in the air (above their heads, with their eyes closed) and singing "hallelujah."
I had never seen anything like it! I see things like this now on TV, but coming from a very small Presbyterian church, I was disturbed.
Others in Campus Crusade loved this church, and they continued to go.
The atmosphere seemed so far removed from the worship of God, and I didn't feel comfortable returning.
I always felt closest to God when I was in a quiet setting and/or outdoors. I started taking walks around campus (Lewis & Clark College has a beautiful campus!), sitting on benches, looking at the view of Mount Hood, watching the trees change colours. One day I wandered into the campus chapel - a small, round building nestled in the trees. It was beautifully simple. The pews formed a circle around the center of the room, and a huge pipe organ hung from the ceiling in the middle. No altar, no crosses, no statues - nothing. Just some simple wood benches and a pipe organ. During the rest of the year, I spent a lot of time in this building, listening to the organist practice, or just sitting alone in the quiet to think. I felt more comfortable and close to God there than at any church I had ever been to.
During this time, I was also meeting with a group of international students as part of the Conversation Group program. We had 5 people in our group: me, a Japanese man and woman, an Italian man and a Palestinian man. We met twice a week over lunch, to practice English conversation skills. We talked about our families, our studies, our childhood, cultural differences, etc. As I listened to the Palestinian man (Faris) talk about his life, his family, his faith, etc., it struck a nerve in me. I remembered Sherif, Fatima and Maysun, the only other Muslims I had ever known. Previously, I had seen their beliefs and way of life as foreign, something that was alien to my culture. I never bothered to learn about their faith because of this cultural barrier. But the more I learned about Islam, the more I became interested in it as a possibility for my own life.
During my second term of school, the conversation group disbanded and the international students transferred to other schools. The discussions we had, however, stayed at the front of my thoughts. The following term, I registered for a class in the religious studies department: Introduction to Islam. This class brought back all of the concerns that I had about Christianity. As I learned about Islam, all of my questions were answered. All of us are not punished for Adam's original sin. Adam asked God for forgiveness and our Merciful and Loving God forgave him. God doesn't require a blood sacrifice in payment for sins, we must sincerely ask for forgiveness and amend our ways. Jesus wasn't God, he was a prophet, like all of the other prophets, who all taught the same message: Believe in the One true God; worship and submit to Him alone; and live a righteous life according to the guidance He has sent. This answered all of my questions about the trinity and the nature of Jesus (all God, all human, or a combination). God is a Perfect and Fair Judge, who will reward or punish us based on our faith and righteousness. I found a teaching that put everything in its proper perspective, and appealed to my heart and my intellect. It seemed natural. It wasn't confusing. I had been searching, and I had found a place to rest my faith.
That summer, I returned home to the Bay Area and continued my studies of Islam. I checked books out of the library and talked with my friends. They were as deeply spiritual as I was, and had also been searching (most of them were looking into eastern religions, Buddhism in particular). They understood my search, and were happy I could find something to believe in. They raised questions, though, about how Islam would affect my life: as a woman, as a liberal Californian, with my family, etc. I continued to study, pray and soul-search to see how comfortable I really was with it. I sought out Islamic centers in my area, but the closest one was in San Francisco, and I never got there to visit (no car, and bus schedules didn't fit with my work schedule). So I continued to search on my own. When it came up in conversation, I talked to my family about it. I remember one time in particular, when we were all watching a public television program about the Eskimos. They said that the Eskimos have over 200 words for `snow,' because snow is such a big part of their life. Later that night, we were talking about how different languages have many words for things that are important to them. My father commented about all the different words Americans use for "money" (money, dough, bread, etc.). I commented, "You know, the Muslims have 99 names for God - I guess that's what is important to them."
At the end of the summer, I returned to Lewis & Clark. The first thing I did was contact the mosque in south-west Portland. I asked for the name of a woman I could talk to, and they gave me the number of a MuslimAmericansister. That week, I visited her at home. After talking for a while, she realized that I was already a believer. I told her I was just looking for some women who could help guide me in the practicalities of what it meant to be a Muslim. For example, how to pray. I had read it in books, but I couldn't figure out how to do it just from books. I made attempts, and prayed in English, but I knew I wasn't doing it right. The sister invited me that night to an aqiqa.
(dinner after the birth of a new baby). She picked me up that night and we went. I felt so comfortable with the Muslim sisters there, and they were very friendly to me that night. I said my shahada, witnessed by a few sisters. They taught me how to pray. They talked to me about their own faith (many of them were alsoAmerican). I left that night feeling like I had just started a new life.
I was still living in a campus dorm, and was prettyisolated from the Muslim community. I had to take 2 buses to get to the area where the mosque was (and where most of the women lived). I quickly lost touch with the women I met, and was left to pursue my faith on my own at school. I made a few attempts to go to the mosque, but was confused by the meeting times. Sometimes I'd show up to borrow some books from the library, and the whole building would be full of men. Another time I decided to go to my first Jumah prayer, and I couldn't go in for the same reason. Later, I was told that women only meet at a certain time (Saturday afternoon), and that I couldn't go at other times. I was discouraged and confused, but I continued to have faith and learn on my own.
Six months after my shahada, I observed my first Ramadan. I had been contemplating the issue of hijab, but was too scared to take that step before. I had already begun to dress more modestly, and usually wore a scarf over my shoulders (when I visited the sister, she told me "all you have to do is move that scarf from your shoulders to your head, and you'll be Islamically dressed."). At first I didn't feel ready to wearhijab, because I didn't feel strong enough in my faith. I understood the reason for it, agreed with it, and admired the women who did wear it. They looked so pious and noble. But I knew that if I wore it, people would ask me a lot of questions, and I didn't feel ready or strong enough to deal with that.
This changed as Ramadan approached, and on the first day of Ramadan, I woke up and went to class in hijab. Alhamdulillah, I haven't taken it off since. Something about Ramadan helped me to feel strong, and proud to be a Muslim. I felt ready to answer anybody's questions.
However, I also felt isolated and lonely during that first Ramadan. No one from the Muslim community even called me. I was on a meal plan at school, so I had to arrange to get special meals (the dining hall wasn't open during the hours I could eat). The school agreed to give me my meals in bag lunches. So every night as sundown approached, I'd walk across the street to the kitchen, go in the back to the huge refrigerators, and take my 2 bag lunches (one for fitur, one for suhur). I'd bring the bags back to my dorm room and eat alone. They always had the same thing: yoghurt, a piece of fruit, cookies, and either a tuna or egg salad sandwich. The same thing, for both meals, for the whole month. I was lonely, but at the same time I had never felt more at peace with myself.
When I embraced Islam, I told my family. They were not surprised. They kind of saw it coming, from my actions and what I said when I was home that summer. They accepted my decision, and knew that I was sincere. Even before, my family always accepted my activities and my deep faith, even if they didn't share it. They were not as open-minded, however, when I started to wearhijab. They worried that I was cutting myself off from society, that I would be discriminated against, that it would discourage me from reaching my goals, and they were embarrassed to be seen with me. They thought it was too radical. They didn't mind if I had a different faith, but they didn't like it to affect my life in an outward way.
They were more upset when I decided to get married. During this time, I had gotten back in touch with Faris, the Muslim Palestinian brother of my conversation group, the one who first prompted my interest in Islam. He was still in the Portland area, attending the community college. We started meeting again, over lunch, in the library, at his brother's house, etc. We were married the following summer (after my sophomore year, a year after my shahada). My family freaked out. They weren't quite yet over my hijab, and they felt like I had thrown something else at them. They argued that I was too young, and worried that I would abandon my goals, drop out of school, become a youngmother, and destroy my life. They liked my husband, but didn't trust him at first (they were thinking `green card scam'). My family and I thought over this for several months, and I feared that our relationship would never be repaired.
That was 3 years ago, and a lot has changed. Faris and I moved to Corvallis, Oregon, home of Oregon StateUniversity. We live in a very strong and close-knit Muslim community. I graduated magna cum laude last year, with a degree in child development. I have had several jobs, from secretary to pre-school teacher, with no problems about my hijab. I'm active in the community, and still do volunteer work. My husband, insha'Allah, will finish his Electrical Engineering degree this year. We visit my family a couple of times a year. I met Faris' parents for the first time this summer, and we get along great. I'm slowly but surely adding Arabic to the list of languages I speak.
My family has seen all of this, and has recognized that I didn't destroy my life. They see that Islam has brought me happiness, not pain and sorrow. They are proud of my accomplishments, and can see I am truly happy and at peace. Our relationship is back to normal they are looking forward to our visit next month, insha'Allah.
Looking back on all of this, I feel truly grateful that Allah has guided me to where I am today. I truly feel blessed. It seems that all of the pieces of my life fit together in a pattern - a path to Islam.
Alhamdulillahi rabi al'amin.
"...Say: Allah's guidance is the only guidance, and we have been directed to submit ourselves to the Lord of the Worlds..." Qur'an 6:71
Lara - DISCOVERING ISLAM: A CANADIAN MUSLIMA'S STORY April 25, 1996
As-Salamu Alaikum wa Rahmahtullahi wa Barakatu (May the peace, the mercy, and the blessings of Allah be upon you).
I am a Canadian of Scandinavian and other ancestry who was born and raised in Canada. I have been a Muslima since February 1993 when I was 23. While growing up, I was never affiliated with any religion nor was I an atheist. When I was in my mid-teens I started to think somewhat about religion and at that time I did believe in the Oneness of God (Tawhid). Christianity never interested me.
My first contact with Muslims occurred when I was introduced to some Muslim international students in 1988. Through them I learned a bit about Islam, such as Ramadanfasting. But it was really not until 1992 that I became interested in Islam. In the summer of that year a Canadian newspaper published a series of articles attacking Islam by using examples of anti-Islamic behaviour of some Muslims in an attempt to vilify Islam itself. Non-Muslims tend to judge Islam on the basis of the behaviour (which is not necessarily Islamic) of Muslims. I was not yet a Muslima but the articles were so outrageous that I sent a letter to the editor in defence of Islam. Now I was curious about Islam. I re-read some articles I had picked up several months earlier from the MSA Islam Awareness Week display at my university. One was about 'Isa (alaihi Salam) [Jesus] as a Prophet of Islam. Also, I asked a Muslim to get me some books about Islam; they were about the overall ideology of Islam and were written by two famousMuslim authors. Impressed, I thought, "This is Islam? It seems so right." Over the next few months in my free time while attending university I continued to learn about Islam from authentic Islamic books, for example The Life of Muhammad (s.a.s) by Dr. Muhammad Haykal. One certainly does not learn the truth about Islam from the mass media! Also, newcomers to Islam especially must be careful to avoid the writings of deviant groups which claim ties to Islam so as not to be misled. And just because the author has an Arabic name does not necessarily mean that he or she is a knowledgeable Muslim or even Muslim at all. Also, I learned about Islam from some kind, knowledgeable Muslims and Muslimas who did not pressure me. Meanwhile, I had begun to Islamize my behaviour which did not require huge change. I already avoided consuming alcohol and pig meat. Also, I always preferred to dress conservatively/modestly and not wear makeup, perfume, or jewellery outside my home. I started to eat only islamically slaughtered meat. Also during this time I visited a masjid (mosque) in my city for the first time.
Until I discoveredIslam, I knew almost nothing about it. I say discovered because the "Islam" that I had always heard about through the mass media is not true Islam. I had always assumed that Islam is just another man-made religion, not knowing that it is the Truth. I had also assumed that a person had to be raised as a Muslim to be one. I was not aware of the fact that all humans are born Muslim (in a state of Islam - submitted to the Creator). Like many "Westerners" I associated Islam with the "East" and did not know that Islam is universal in both time and place. However, I never had negative feelings about Islam, al-Hamdulillah. The more knowledge that I acquired about Islam, the more I felt that I too can actually be I found that many of the beliefs that I already had were actually Islamic not merely "common sense."
So after familiarizing myself with what Islam is basically about and what are the duties and proper conduct of a Muslim person, as well as thinking and reflecting, I felt ready to accept Islam and live as a Muslima. One day while at home I said the Shahada (declaration of faith) and began to perform the five daily salawat (prayers), al-Hamdulillah. That was in February 1993, several days before the fasting month of Ramadan began. I did not want to miss the fasting this time! I found the fasting to be much easier than I had anticipated; before I fasted I had worried that I might faint. At first there was a bit of an adjustment period getting used to the new routine of performing Salah and fasting, and I made some mistakes, but it was exciting and not difficult. I started to read the Qur'an (AbdullahYusufAli's translation) when I was given one soon after accepting Islam. Before that I had read only excerpts of it in other books. Also in the beginning, I found The Lawful and the Prohibited in Islam by Dr. Yusuf al-Qaradawi to be a useful guide.
In January 1996 (during Ramadan) I started to wear the Islamic headscarf (hijab). I realized that I could not fully submit to Allah (s.w.t.), which is what being Muslim is about, without wearing it. Islammust be accepted and practised in its entirety; it is not an "alter-to-suit-yourself" religion. Since becoming a Muslima I was aware that the headscarf is required of Muslim women and I had intended to wear it eventually. I should have worn it immediately upon accepting Islam but for many Muslimas (even some from Muslim families) it is not easy to take that step and put it on in a non-Muslimsociety. It is silly how so many persons get upset over a piece of fabric! Also, it is interesting to note that Christian nuns are never criticized for covering their heads. Never in my life did I have negative feelings toward muhajjabas (women who wearhijab) when I saw them. What made me hesitate to put it on was fearing receiving bad treatment from others, especially family. But we must fear Allah ((s.w.t.) ) only, not others. In the few months before I permanently put on hijab I started "practising" wearing it. I wore it when I travelled between my home and the local masjid on Fridays when I started attending the Djuma Salah (Friday congregational prayer). (Of course, since I always wore it during every Salah). A couple of weeks prior, in Du'a I began asking Allah ((s.w.t.) ) to make it easy for me to wear it.
The day I finally put it on permanently I had reached the point where I felt that I could no longer go out with a bare head, and I thought tough bananas" if others do not like me wearing it since I alone am accountable for my actions and am required to perform my Islamic duties, and I could never please everyone anyway. Sometimes opposite to hijab is a control issue: some persons just plainly do not like those who are determined and independent especially if it is their child.
Upon wearing it I immediately felt protected and was finally able to go out and not be the target of stares/leers from men. At first I felt a bit self-conscious but after several weeks I felt completely used to wearing hijab. Sometimes other persons look puzzled/confused, I think because they are not used to seeing pale-faced, blue-eyed Muslimas! By the way, wearing hijab is da'wah in a way as it draws attention to Islam.
Since accepting Islam I continue to seek knowledge about the Din (religion) which is a lifelong duty for all Muslims--male and female Currently, I am learning Arabic and hope to be able to read the Qur'an in Arabic soon, insha'Allah. Reading, discussing Islam with other Muslims, and the Friday Djuma khutba are all educational. Striving to be as pious as one can be and fighting against one's own evil traits (jihad al-nafs) takes effort and is continuous and never ending for Muslims.
I findIslam ever-more fascinating, and I enjoy living as a Muslima.
Is Pilgrimage a Pagan Rite? By: Abdus-Samad Sharafuddin
Let us examine closely the square-structured Ka’bah (The Holy House) at Makkah, in Arabia, wherein in its Eastern corner lies the Black Stone set up chest-high. Every pilgrim in Makkah tries to kiss and caress it fondly, the first thing upon arrival there. This action marks the start of the act of Tawaf. The word "Tawaf" is an arabic infinitive noun which means to circle, compass or move around something. A pilgrim has to circle the Ka’bah seven times, to complete Tawaf. Each one of the seven rounds begins by kissing or caressing if possible, or by simply pointing at the Black Stone. The Black Stone thus, serves to mark the start of each round. Tawaf is one of the integral parts of Pilgrimage (Hajj), which is also performed, as a separate act of worship at any time. Thus we find the Ka’bah continually being circled by people day and night.
THE REAL IMPORTANCE OF TAWAF
Circumumbulating the Ka’bah and kissing the stone are in fact considered the Tawaf’s outer aspects, apart from its inner significance. They resemble something like the standing, bowing, prostrating and sitting postures observed in the daily Islamic prayers. Yet, the prayer postures, as well as the circling around the Ka’bah coupled with kissing, both form the outward shell of the chaff, which preserves the grain. The grain of the Tawaf lies in the lofty meanings of the Pilgrim’s recitation and prayers, in the soul-stirring emotions surging in his heart - such as his extreme love for Allah, his awe of Him, and his high hopes in Him. Examine, for instance, the words brimful of God's oneness, which the pilgrim utters. It is his regular formula, at the start of each round of the Tawaf, as he kisses, caresses, or points at the Black Stone, declaring: "(I begin) in the Name of Allah who is Most Great. O Allah! (I perform) believing in thee, confirming Thy Book, fulfilling Thy Pledge, and following the Way of Thy Prophet, Muhammad - Blessing and peace upon him!" As such, the Tawaf around the Ka’bah is done solely in the Name of the One Supreme Allah, and that it is never done in the name of any other deity, nor for the Black Stone itself, as others allege. The operation of Tawaf is in compliance with the Holy promise the pilgrim has committed with His Lord. He does it as a believer in the One God, not as an idolater, but as a conformer of Allah’s revealed Books, and as a follower of His Prophet (Peace be upon him). Far from worshipping the Stone, the Pilgrim is kissing it, or pointing at it, just as was done by the Prophet (Peace be upon him) in his time.
GLORIFYING THE ONE GOD
Find out, how the pilgrim goes on glorifying Allah the most High, while performing the rounds, with these noble hymns: "Glory be to Allah! All Praise be to Allah! There is no deity save God. Allah is Most Great! There is no handling, nor power, save by Allah's Help." A Monotheist (One-God worshipper) holds these sublime prayers far more valuable than the earth's entire riches. With these, he praises his One and Only Lord, as he circles a spot made Holy by the presence of His House. Is there any remotest trace of Polytheism (multi-god worship) or Idolatry in such an act?
A SELECT PRAYER
As he has left all his worldly affairs behind, the pilgrim, besides praising Allah, also goes on praying for his worldly betterment, in between. Here is his all-embracing prayer to Allah, the Benevolent: "O Allah! make me content with my appointed lot, and bless me therein. And make good to me all, my losses and needs."
THE TWO-WORLD PRAYER
Unlike unbelievers, the pilgrim has a living faith in the coming, eternal hereafter. He does not fail here, therefore, to say the best possible prayer man could ever ask. It is from the Qur'an itself, and combines both the good of this world and the world to come in his supplication as follows: " O Lord! Bestow upon us the good in this world and the good in the hereafter. And save us from the torment of the fire" Holy Qur’an 12:201.
COULD A STONE BE GOD?
Although so reverently kissed and caressed during the Tawaf, the Black stone, in one of the corners of the Ka’bah, is no graven image for the pilgrims to worship. That is the last thing any One-God worshipper could ever imagine. For a stone is just a mere stone after all. It has no power whatsoever to do good or inflict harm to any one, apart from Allah, the Sole Deity of mankind. That is a thing cherished either knowingly, ignorantly or figuratively - by those who take to stone-worship instead of God-worship, a belief and practice as unholy as it is senseless. This is why the Black Stone becomes a mystery to such people, and so, some out of ignorance openly charge that Muhammad (Peace be upon him) did break every Idol in Islam except one - meaning the Ka’bah, or the Black Stone. Why, even unwitting Muslims get easily confused about the Black Stone. It was hence that 'Umar the second Caliph, did well to remove this hidden doubt from the mind. So when he came to kiss the Stone, he cried out publicly to it: Narrated ‘Abis bin Rabi’a: ‘Umar (MayAllah be pleased with him) came near the Black Stone and kissed it and said, "No doubt, I know that you are a stone and can either harm anyone nor benefit anyone. Had I not seen Allah’s Messenger (Peace be upon him) kissing you, I would not have kissed you. Summarized Sahi Al-Bukhari, Al-Hajj, page 396 No. 808 on the Black Stone..
TRUE STORY OF THE BLACK STONE
More than five thousand years ago today, the father of the prophets, prophet Ibraham (Peace be upon him) the Upright (Haneef), had built the present structure of the Ka’bah under Allah’s own orders. He (Peace be upon him) had built it along with his youthful son, Ishmael (Peace be upon him), forefather of the Arabs. This is how the Qur'an describes their building it together: "And (remember) when Ibrahim (Abraham) and (his son) Isma'il (Ishmael) were raising the foundations of the House (the Ka'bah) at Makkah, ( saying), ‘Our Lord! Accept (this service) from us. Verily! You are the All-Hearer, all Knower.’" ( Qur’an 2:127). The father and the son, true Monotheists (Muslims), were thus raising the foundations with trembling hearts, for the Muslims are Allah’s most devoted servants, ever fearful of his displeasure. While building the Ka'bah, therefore, both of them were afraid that Allahmay not accept their humble service, hence that prayer of theirs. How touching of such fidelity, how moving of such humility towards Allah the Great! It is the essence of Monotheism, the ideal pattern of Faith and Actions great and small for all Muslims to follow. When raised to a certain height, Ibraham (Peace be upon him) ordered his son to choose a piece of stone to mark the main cornerpoint. Even as the lad was searching for it, the Archangel Gabriel appeared with the Black Stone from Heaven. ProphetMuhammad (Peace be upon him) said: "The Black stone descended from heaven, when it was whiter than Milk, but people’s sins have blackened it". Tirmidhi, Kitab Al-Hajj, the Black stone,
Abraham (Peace be upon him) took it up and fitted it in, and there it stands up to this day. It is a heavenly stone, then, and not an earthly one. It was selected by Allah for His Holy House (the Ka'bah).
TEACHING THE PILGRIMAGE RITES
The building thus finished, this is how Ibraham and Ihmail (Peace be upon them) went on further praying to Allah, in the next Verse; "Our Lord! And make us submissive unto you and of our offspring a nation submissive unto You, and show us our Manasik (all the ceremonies of Pilgrimage - Hajj and Umrah etc.) and accept our repentance. Truly, You are the One Who accepts repentance, the Most Merciful." ( Qur’an 2:128). Thereupon Allah taught them through revelation the pilgrimage rites, which includes the Tawaf.
IS KISSING ESSENTIAL?
We have known the working procedure of the Tawaf, it consists of circling around the Ka’bah seven times. Each circle begins by kissing the Black Stone, or by caressing it, which is its normal procedure. But Tawaf is not a one-man business, hundreds, even thousands, are circling the Ka’bah at one and the same time. How could each person kiss the Black Stone separately? Naturally, when so over-crowded, the kissing will have to be dispensed with by some or many of them. At such times it is quite enough therefore, to face the Black Stone from any distance, and only point at it by one's right hand, at the start of each round. The pilgrim then recites his formula and proceeds on.
Assuming that the Black Stone is missing for one reason or another, does it render the Tawaf and Pilgrimage invalid and void on such account? Absolutely not. This is exactly what has already happened in the history of Islam. The Karamathians (Arabic: al-Qaramitah), the most un-islamic sect in Islam, had removed the Black Stone during their mad merrymaking in the year 317 AH/980 AD. They carried it away with them to their territory in Al-Ahsa (in the Arabian Gulf). After keeping it there for twenty years, they had returned it back to Makkah in the year 339 AH (see shorter Encyclopedia Leiden 1953, P. 219). In such an event, the Shariah (Law) maintains that the pilgrim shall perform his Tawaf without the Black stone. Instead of the Black Stone, the pilgrim shall touch its place at the corner of the Ka’bah, or point at its spot, and continue his Tawaf. Thus the total absence of the Stone itself makes no difference in the validity of the Tawaf and the Pilgrimage. This shows how tiny a part is being played by this stone. How ignorant of others and how childish, therefore, sounds the charge that it is the "most Precious Idol preserved by Islam"!
DOES KISSING MEAN WORSHIPPING?
Kissing a stone is not a sign of its worship at all. Kissing the Black Stone cannot be twisted into an idol worship, for the stone is no image, just as mere kissing is not worshipping by a mere imagination. Anyone might allege that Muslims do worship a certain ‘idol’. But the fact remains that they do not worship anything save God, the One. The idol and its worship simply do not exist. The Bible is kissed in lawcourts; does that mean then that it is worshipped? Moreover, parents kiss their children lovingly, without any trace of worship in it at all. A big question-mark that should come to one’s mind are the pre-Islamic Arab idolaters who had held the Ka’bah. With all their polytheism and idolatry, they too used to circle the Ka’bah and kiss the Black Stone. Had their kissing been an act of idol- worship, why then was there still a need for them-despite the presence of the "almighty" Black Stone-to install three hundred and sixty idols therein? This proves beyond a shadow of doubt that it is one thing to kiss the Black Stone under Divine Orders, and quite another to worship a stone or an idol. Most notable, perhaps, is the fact that One-God worshippers do nothing beyond simply kissing the Black Stone. They neither venerate it with folded hands, nor kneel down, nor prostrate themselves, nor squat before it. For all these is done only by idol-worshippers before their idols.
IS THE PILGRIMAGE A PAGAN RITE?
Some non-Muslims think or are made to believe that the Pilgrimage to Ka’bah is purely a pagan rite or one form of idol-worship. That it was being practiced by the Arab idolaters before Islam, and that Islam borrowed it from them. This assumption is further aided by the fact that the Ka’bah itself had been a temple housing no less than three hundred and sixty idols. Nevertheless, this is a pure conjecture belying facts and figures. For it was not the idolaters of Makkah, but prophetAbraham (Peace be upon him), who had initiated and established the holy Pilgrimage thereof, ages ago. On the contrary, it was these very idolaters, the degenerate descendants of Abraham and Ishmael (Peace be upon them), who had defiled Allah’s Holy Ka'bah into a huge pantheon. It was these rank idolaters who had injected pagan rites into the purely Islamic Pilgrimage laid down by prophetAbraham (Peace be upon him), one of the greatest worshippers of God. All honour is due to prophetMuhammad (Peace be upon him), the seal of the prophets and the last of Abraham's (Peace be upon him) line of Prophethood, who first swept clean the Holy Ka'bah from its heathen idols. It was he again who restored the original pilgrimage to its pristine purity. The Muslims, are in fact the true followers of the Religion of prophetAbraham (Peace be upon him), the grand-father of prophetMuhammad(Peace be upon him), where pilgrimage to Makkah is a notable heritage as well as an important fixture of the religion. How different could these facts be from the Non-muslims' random conjecture?
This is how Allah declared to prophetAbraham (Peace be upon him) regarding his Sacred House after showing him the site thereof: " And Remember when We showed Ibrahim (Abraham) the site of the Holy House (the Ka’bah) at Makkah saying : Associate not anything in worship with Me, [La Ilaha ill-Allah (none has the right to be worshipped but Allah - Islamic Monotheism], and sanctify My House for those who circumambulate it, and those who stand up for prayer, and those who bow and submit themselves with humility and obedience to Allah), and make prostration in prayer." Qur’an 22:26. Abraham (Peace be upon him) is being himself ordained in this verse to keep perfectly away from idolatry. He is being told, as well, to sanctify the House of God from all kinds of impurities, especially from that of idol-worship. Then follows the two-fold purpose for which that House was being built. First, is its being the center of Tawaf for those who compass it round, and its being the prayer-place for those who pray therein their daily Prayers second. This is as much as to say that the Tawaf and the Pilgrimage do depend upon the house of God, as much as do the prayers. For this reason all those who pray all the world over do turn in the one direction of the Ka’bah at Makkah. After being ordained to build and sanctify God's Ka’bah, prophetAbraham (Peace be upon him) receives in the next verse the command to proclaim the Pilgrimage to the Ka’bah, in this manner: "And proclaim to mankind the Hajj. They will come to you on foot and on every lean camel, they will come from every deep and distant widemountain highway to perform Hajj." Qur’an 22:27. That definitely proves that it was Abraham (Peace be upon him) who built the Ka’bah, and that it was also he who proclaimed the Pilgrimage, facts that should equally refute the oft-repeated allegation put forth that pilgrimage was some pagan rite invented by the heathen idolaters, and retained by Islam.
HIGHLIGHT OF PILGRIMAGE
Initiated by Abraham (Peace be upon him), and reflected by the Seal of the Prophets, Pilgrimage to the House of God is a unique experience to every true Muslim. For a "Muslim" is essentially the one who shifts from the false to the true Religion - from disbelief to Belief in God, and from multi-god to One-God worship. This trait made Abraham (Peace be upon him) a "Perfect" Muslim when he entered the Pantheon at Babylon, and smashed the idols therein to pieces. Allah entrusted him with building His House at Makkah, and tasked him to proclaim the Pilgrimage to it. Henceforth, Pilgrimage to the House of God becomes the most predominant trait of being a Muslim. A haven of absolute freedom, and a sanctuary of perfect peace and security, this HolyMosque is the only spot on earth set up by Allah for one and all the people alike, without any distinction. It is the House of God wherein all men are equal, none being entitled to own it exclusively. This is told in these words of Allah: "...and from Al-Masjid-al-Haram at Makkah which We have made open to all men, the dweller in it and the visitor from the country.... "(Qur’an 22:25) The message of this Surah 22, verses 26-27 named "The Pilgrimage" itself, is describing the construction of the Ka’bah and its sanctification, it being the focal point of Tawaf as well as the center of Prayers. Thus, the incumbency of Pilgrimage to this "first house of One-God worship", etc. Verses 28-37, do contain the basic elements of the Monotheistic religion of prophetAbraham (Peace be upon him), wherein one of the main objectives emphasized is the need to celebrate the Name of Allah Alone over the animal-whether ordinarily slaughtered, or offered as sacrifices to Allah, as against those offered to the idolaters' idols, as evidenced particularly by verses 28, 30, 34, 36 and 37. "Avoiding the abomination of idols", and "neglecting the word that is false" (telling and witnessing falsehood), these two cardinal sins, have been specially prohibited in Verse 30. But the crowning message of unparalleled importance is the commandment: "Hunafa' Lillah (i.e. to worship none but Allah), not associating partners (in worship, etc.) unto Him...", which is the soul and the heart of Monotheism (one-God worship), and the annihilator of all Polytheism (multi-god worship). This last, but not the least message, is the essence of Pilgrimage, as also the topmost concern and happiness of every Muslim. The Makkahn idolaters too, used to perform the Pilgrimage, calling themselves thereby as "Haneefs" (followers of Abraham). And therefore, Muslims are being told to perform the Pilgrimage, and call themselves as "Haneefs" but with this difference: "Being true in faith to Allah, and never assigning partners to Him". Thus the sublime Truths, the essence of the creed: "There is no deity save God", seem to be beyond the comprehension of idol-worshippers, all over the world, and in all ages. THE FIVE-TIME PRAYERS
This performance of the Pilgrimage --- a colossal feat of Monotheism, is closely knit around the Ka’bah and its surrounding environment. It occurs only once a year, but far more important and surpassing is the performance of prayers in Islam, which are equally connected with the Ka’bah. Prayers are an obligatory duty upon every Muslim. This is why every Muslim anywhere around the world turns towards Allah, facing in the direction of the Ka’bah five times daily. Of course, the Ka’bah is for outward direction to face in one's prayers, though inwardly, one faces his entire heart, to the Lord of the Worlds Himself. In this manner, Muslims are so intimately related to the Ka’bah through their Pilgrimage and Prayers, till the last moment of their lives. Not only this, but every Muslim is made to face the direction of the Ka'bah when breathing his last. Nay, even after death he is buried in his last resting place, i.e. in the grave, so that he faces the same direction of the Ka’bah.
Both the Pilgrimage and the Prayers are equally connected with the Ka'bah. And offering an animal and the Prayers are major Hajj ceremonies, where both the Prayer and sacrifice are special tokens of the single worship of Allah, with both being jointly dedicated to Him. It is a most sublime dedication the ProphetMuhammad (Peace be upon him) was asked to offer in the following words: " Say [O Muhammad (Peace be Upon Him)]: ‘Verily, my Salat (prayer), my sacrifice, my living, and my dying are for Allah, the Lord of the 'Alamin (mankind, jinns and all that exists), He has no partner, And of this I have been commanded, and I am the first of the Muslims.)" (Qur’an 162-163). And this forms the only straight path, that is the religion of our fatherAbraham (Peace be upon him), which is referred to in the preceding verse: "Say [O Muhammad (Peace be upon him)] "Truly, my Lord has guided me to a Straight path, a right religion, the religion of Ibrahim (Abraham). Qur’an 6:161.
INTERNATIONAL GATHERING
On the whole, the Hajj is a unique annual gathering of its own kind. Herein, true Muslims from all over the world come together on the basis of one-God worship, that is pure Monotheism and true Islam. Forgetting their mutual differences of caste, color and social status, they assemble in this international city of Makkah to glorify the One Lord of all creation. Incidentally, they get a rare opportunity here to discuss together all sorts of communal, religious, economic, social and political problems on an all-world scale, after which no better or more beneficial gathering could be imagined. Such a high, all-embracing congregation has been held every year in the House of Allah for thousands of years now. All these manifold benefits are hinted at in the words: "......That they maywitness things that are of benefit to them.." Qur’an 22:28. Pilgrimage, therefore, is never a pagan rite, but rather the fulfillment of an incumbent duty concerning One-God worship!
INVITATION TO NON-MUSLIMS
This is the legacy left behind by prophet Ibraham (Peace be upon him) for all posterity to accept and follow, and no people of any country or nation, are an exception to that posterity. Instead of regarding the Pilgrimage duty as a pagan rite, people ought to reflect upon their own age-old idolatry, and accept and follow the religion of our fatherAbraham (Peace be upon him). The hour has come for these very people to proclaim of their own accord: "There is no God Worthy of worship except Allah!" May they perform the Pilgrimage to the House of God at Makkah! And may they offer their Prayers regularly facing towards that same House! Ameen…
- listened to the water, the birds' songs, the crickets' chirps. This place really let me feel at peace, and I admired and thanked God for His 
