Kabul – Afganistan

New Muslims
the gretnes of islam in this
century

Abudul zaher Kabul university

 2006

Allah Guides to His Light Whom He Wills

By Amira Al-Shariff
Oct 27, 2005 - Vol.VIII Issue 43

SANA’A - The number of foreigners who come to Yemen to convert to Islam

is increasing, according to Abdul-Karim Al-Kohali, the Media Director of the
Cultural Center for Foreigners’ Call. He said that 120 foreigners have
converted to Islam from the center in the past two years alone.

He said increasing numbers of people decide to convert to Islam as they

believe being a Muslim results in a meaningful life. The center helps
prepare foreigners to convert to Islam, providing lessons on the Holy
Qur’an, Arabic and the Islamic way of life.

Mohammed Abdullah, an American at the center, says he decided to

convert after reading the Holy Qur’an.
“I converted to Islam, after I had completed studies of my own religion,
Christianity, and found many areas to be missing,” he said.

“So I began to ask a brother in Alaska about Islam, and became convinced
that Allah (Subhanhu wa Ta’ala) is the one guide. He gave me the Holy
Qur’an and I read it. Then I converted to Islam.” Haron, a convert also from
America, said he became interested in Islam after talking to a friend when
in prison.
“I got into trouble and was sent to jail, where I made a friend who was a
Muslim. He told me the positive things about Muslims, as well as telling me
that having a girlfriend was not allowed. I thought about Islam, making
comparisons between the Bible and the Qur’an and the differences
between Christians and Muslims. Slowly I came to believe that the
arguments I read in the Holy Qur’an were right.” Haron says that being a
Muslim has taught him exactly how he should conduct his life.
“It told me what to do to be a good person. I had read stories in the Bible
but it never taught me why I have to be good,” he said. “But the Qur’an
told me exactly what to do to be a good person. It also taught me about
how I should act towards my wife and in business.” Naeem Harry, also from
America, says he decided to convert to Islam while playing basketball. “I
embraced Islam when I was in college playing basketball. I used to
memorize the Bible, but sometimes I found I had difficulties in
understanding parts because I thought there were contradictions. I would
ask my preacher if it was a mistake, but he said I just had to believe. It
made me question many parts of my life.” It was then Naeem started to
turn Islam instead.
“I started studying the Holy Qur’an and converted to Islam. What amazed
me about Holy Qur’an is that any question a person has, the answer is in
the Holy Qur’an,” he says.
“That was the main reason that encouraged me to convert to Islam. One of
the other things that amazed me in my college was that Muslims didn’t
have mosque to pray in.
Instead they prayed in the snow. I asked why they did so, and one replied
that it was their duty to pray together. He gave me a book about
monotheism, and I read it three or four times in a month. After that I told
him I wanted to be a Muslim.”
“I remember watching a TV debate between Muslims and Christians,”
Naeem continues, “where a man called Ahmed called people to Allah
(Subhanhu wa Ta’ala) and said Islam had an answer to every question. One
member of the audience asked him what answer Islam gave to what God
was going to do with all the excess women in the world. He replied that
because in Islam men can marry more than one woman, that was is one
way to solve the problem.” His friend Waseem, from the United Kingdom,
converted to Islam four years ago. “When I was teenager I spent time in
prison, where I heard about Islam,” he said.
“It made me think, and I decided I needed to follow it. Now I thank God who
gave me this religion and changed my life, as I believe a life without Islam
is meaningless.”

Copyright (c) 2004 - 2005

Yemen Observer Newspaper

Many foreigners come to Yemen and convert

to Islam. YO Photo/Amira
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%3D%26sa%3DG

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How Dr. Hofmann - German Diplomat and NATO Officer - Became Muslim

Dr. Hofmann, who accepted Islam in 1980, was

born as a Catholic in Germany in 1931. He
graduated from Union College in New York and
completed his legal studies at Munich
University where he received a doctorate in
jurisprudence in 1957. He became a research
assistant for the reform of federal civil procedure, and in 1960
received an LL.M. degree from Harvard Law School. He was Director of
Information for NATO in Brussels from 1983 to 1987. He was posted as
German ambassador to Algeria in 1987 and then to Morocco in 1990
where he served for four years. He performed u`mrah (Lesser
Pilgrimage) in 1982 and Hajj (Pilgrimage) in 1992.

Several key experiences led Dr. Hofmann to Islam. The first of these
began in 1961 when he was posted to Algeria as Attaché in the
German Embassy and found himself in the middle of the bloody
guerilla warfare between French troops and Algerian National Front
which was fighting for Algerian independence for the past eight years.
There he witnessed the cruelty and massacre that the Algerian
population endured. Every day, nearly a dozen people were killed -
"close range, execution style" - only for being an Arab or for speaking
for the independence. "I witnessed the patience and resilience of the
Algerian people in the face of extreme suffering, their overwhelming
discipline during Ramadan, their confidence of victory, as well as their
humanity amidst misery." He felt it was their religion that made them
so, and therefore, he started studying their religious book - the Qur'an.
"I have never stopped reading it, to this very day."

Islamic art was the second experience for Dr. Hofmann in his journey
to Islam. From his early life he has been fond of art and beauty and
ballet dancing. All of these were overshadowed when he came to know
Islamic art which made an intimate appeal to him. Referring to Islamic
art, he says: "Its secret seems to lie in the intimate and universal
presence of Islam as a religion in all of its artistic manifestations,
calligraphy, space filling arabesque ornaments, carpet patterns,
mosque and housing architecture, as well as urban planning. I am
thinking of the brightness of the mosques which banishes any
mysticism, of the democratic spirit of their architectural layout."

"I am also thinking of the introspective quality of the Muslim palaces,

their anticipation of paradise in gardens full of shade, fountains, and
rivulet; of the intricate socially functional structure of old Islamic urban
centers (madinahs), which fosters community spirits and transparency
of the market, tempers heat and wind, and assures the integration of
the mosque and adjacent welfare center for the poor, schools and
hostels into the market and living quarters. What I experienced is so
blissfully Islamic in so many places … is the tangible effect which
Islamic harmony, the Islamic way of life, and the Islamic treatment of
space leave on both heart and mind."

Perhaps more than all of these what made a significant impact on his
quest for the truth was his thorough knowledge of Christian history
and doctrines. He realized that there was a significant difference
between what a faithful Christian believes and what a professor of
history teaches at the university. He was particularly troubled by the
Church's adoption of the doctrines established by St. Paul in
preference to that of historical Jesus. "He, who never met Jesus, with
his extreme Christology replaced the original and correct Judeo-
Christian view of Jesus."

He found it difficult for him to accept that the mankind is burdened

with the "original sin" and that God had to have his own son tortured
and murdered on the cross in order to save his own creations. "I began
to realize how monstrous, even blasphemous it is to imagine that God
could have been fallen short in his creation; that he could have been
unable to do anything about the disaster supposedly caused by Adam
and Eve without begetting a son, only to have him sacrificed in such a
bloody fashion; that God might suffer for mankind, His creation."

He went back to the very basic question of the existence of God. After
analyzing works done by philosophers, such as Wittgenstein, Pascal,
Swinburn, and Kant, he came to an intellectual conviction of the
existence of God. The next logical question he faced was how God
communicates to human beings so that they can be guided. This led
him to acknowledge the need for revelations. But what contains the
truth - Judeo-Christian scriptures or Islam?

He found the answer to this question in his third crucial experience

when he came across the following verse of the Qur'an: "… no bearer
of burdens shall bear the burdens of another." (Qur'an 53:38). This
verse opened up his eyes and provided the answer to his dilemma.
Clearly and unambiguously for him, it rejected the ideas of the burden
of "original sin" and the expectation of "intercession" by the saints. "A
Muslim lives in a world without clergy and without religious hierarchy;
when he prays he does not pray via Jesus, Mary, or other interceding
saints, but directly to God - as a fully emancipated believer - and this is
a religion free of mysteries." According to Hofmann, "A Muslim is the
emancipated believer par excellence".

"I began to see Islam with its own eyes, as the unadulterated, pristine
belief in the one and only, the true God, Who does not beget, and was
not begotten, Whom nothing and nobody resembles … In place of the
qualified deism of a tribal God and the constructions of a divine Trinity,
the Qur'an showed me the most lucid, most straightforward, the most
abstract - thus historically most advanced - and least anthropomorphic
concept of God."

"The Qur'an's ontological statements, as well as its ethical teachings,

impressed me as profoundly plausible, "as good as gold," so there was
no room for even the slightest doubt about the authenticity of
Muhammad's prophetic mission. People who understand human nature
cannot fail to appreciate the infinite wisdom of the "Dos and Don'ts"
handed down from God to man in the form of the Qur'an."

For his son's upcoming 18th birthday in 1980, he prepared a 12-page

manuscript containing the things that he considered unquestionably
true from a philosophical perspective. He asked a Muslim Imam of
Cologne named Muhammad Ahmad Rassoul to take a look at the work.
After reading it Rassoul remarked that if Dr. Hofmann believed in what
he had written, then he was a Muslim. That indeed became the case a
few days later when he declared "I bear witness that there is no
divinity besides Allah, and I bear witness that Muhammad is Allah's
messenger." That was September 25, 1980.

Dr. Hofmann continued his professional career as a German diplomat

and NATO officer for fifteen years after he became Muslim. "I did not
experience any discrimination in my professional life", he said. In
1984, three and half years after his conversion, then German President
Dr. Carl Carstens awarded him the Order of Merit of the Federal
Republic of Germany. The German government distributed his book
"Diary of a German Muslim" to all German foreign missions in the
Muslim countries as an analytical tool. Professional duties did not
prevent him from practicing his religion.

Once very artistic about red wine, he would now politely refuse offers
of alcohol. As a Foreign Service officer, he occasionally had to arrange
working lunch for foreign guests. He would be participating in those
luncheons with an empty plate in front of him during Ramadan. In
1995, he voluntarily resigned from the Foreign Service to dedicate
himself to Islamic causes.

While discussing the evils caused by alcohol in individual and social

life, Dr. Hofmann mentioned an incident about his own life caused by
alcohol. During his college years in New York in 1951, he was once
traveling from Atlanta to Mississippi. When he was in Holy Spring,
Mississippi all on a sudden a vehicle, apparently driven by a drunken
driver, appeared in front of his car. A serious accident followed, taking
away nineteen of his teeth and disfiguring his mouth.

After doing surgery on his chin and lower hip, the hospital surgeon
comforted him saying: "Under normal circumstances, no one survives
an accident like that. God has something special in mind for you, my
friend." As he limped in Holy Spring after release from the hospital
with his "arm in a sling, a bandaged knee, an iodine-discolored,
stitched-up lower face", he wondered what could be the meaning of
the surgeon's remark.

He came to know it one day, but much later. "Finally, thirty years later,
on the very day I professed my faith in Islam, the true meaning of my
survival became clear to me."

Sunday : 01/02/2004
 Becoming Muslim
Mrs. Cecilia Mahmuda Cannolly (Australia)

Why I embraced Islam ?

First and foremost I would say it was because fundamentally I had always been a Muslim without
being aware of it.

Very early in my life I had lost faith in Christianity for many reasons, the major one being that
whenever I questioned any Christian, whether it was a person belonging to the so called Holy
Orders or a layman, regarding any point that puzzled me in regard to the Church teachings, I
invariably received the monotonous answer : `You must not question the teachings of the Church;
you must have faith.' I did not have the courage in those days to say : `I cannot have faith in
something that I do not understand', and, from my experience, neither do most of the people who
call themselves Christians. What I did do was to leave the Church (Roman Catholic) and its
teaching and to place my faith in the one true god in whom it was much easier to believe, than in
the three gods of the Church. By contrast with the mysteries and miracles of the Christian teaching,
life took on a new and wider meaning, no longer cramped with dogma and ritual. Everywhere I
looked I could see God's work. And although, in common with greater minds than my own, I could
not understand the miracles that happened before my eyes, I could stand and marvel at the
wonder of it all --- the trees, flowers, birds and animals. Even a new born babe became a beautiful
miracle, not the same thing that the Church had taught me to believe at all. I remembered how,
when a child, I gazed at newborn babies and thought, 'It's all covered in black sin', I no longer
believed in ugliness; everything became beautiful.

Then one day my daughter brought home a book about Islam. We became so interested in it that
we followed it up with many other books on Islam. We soon realized that this was really what we
believed. During the time I had believed in Christianity I had been led to believe that Islam was only
something to joke about. Thus all that I then read was a revelation to me. After a while I looked up
some Muslims and questioned them on some of the points that were not quite clear to me. Here
again there was yet another revelation. My questions were all answered promptly and concisely, so
different from the frustration I had experienced when questioning Christianity. After much reading
and studying of the religion of Islam both my daughter and myself decided to become Muslims,
taking the names of Rashida and Mahmuda respectively.

If I were asked what impressed me most in the religion of Islam, I would probably say the prayers,
because prayers in Christianity are used wholly in begging God (through Jesus Christ) to grant
worldly favours, whereas in Islam they ar used to give praise and thanks to Almighty God for all His
blessings since He knows what is necessary for our welfare and grants us what we need without
our asking it.

From "Islam, Our Choice"

http://www.islamicweb.com/being/newMuslims/cannolly.htm
Experience of a Canadian Woman

Many may ask why a young, Canadian-born, Caucasian woman would embrace a
religion that not only supposedly oppresses women, but takes all her freedom and
independence and treats her as a second class citizen.
I reject such accusations and pose to them the following question. "Why is it that so
many women who have been born and brought up in the so-called 'civilized' societies of
Canada, USA, and Europe are willing to reject their liberty, and independence, to
embrace a religion that supposedly oppresses them and is widely assumed to be
prejudicial to them?"
As a Canadian revert to Islam, I can only present my personal experience and reasons for
rejecting the freedom, that women claim to have in this society, in favor of the only
religion that truly liberates women by giving us a status and position which is completely
unique when compared to non-Muslim counterparts.

As a child growing up in a non-religious home, I often asked my parents if there was a

God, who is He, and where did He come from? Their response was always, believe in
what you want to believe. This confused me, because many of my friends had religions,
and I never understood why I didn't.

I remember when I was six or seven years old, I attended Sunday School, at a Church
with a friend a couple of times. I found it very boring. I didn't feel comfortable around
the other children, and felt pressured by the instructor and other children because I didn't
know anything about Jesus Christ, may Allaah exalt his mention. Feeling this way I
stopped going to the Sunday school, and continued growing up without a religion, with
no knowledge of God, which made me feel very lonely.

It wasn't until I was in high school when I learned about religion in my social studies
class, and remember vividly how my teacher told us women in Islam have no rights,
women are denied education, must be circumcised, and how women must obey men,
otherwise, the men can beat them.

This made me think

No matter what this teacher said, something in my mind kept telling me this couldn't be
true. Ironically, around the same time I was learning this, I met a Muslim, named Khaled
(who is now my husband) at the place where I worked and asked him about what my
teacher said. He was shocked to hear the school boards were teaching this about Islam
and told me they were all untrue. When discussing this with my teacher in front of my
fellow students, the teacher told me that my source is wrong, and he has the information
in his books, otherwise he wouldn't be teaching us this stuff.

My teacher pretty much made me look stupid; however some of my friends believed me.
I continued talking to Khaled at work about Muslim women and was very curious about
the role of Muslim women. I have to admit that I never agreed all the time with what
Khaled said, but I was also a non-believer at that time, and never understood fully what
Islam was. I was (and still I am) always fascinated with how the Muslim women would
cover themselves, they always seemed to have the look of peace on their faces. I would
never have guessed that I would one day be one of those ladies who is fully covered.

Two years later, Khaled and I were married and had our first child, Al-Hamdulillah. It
wasn't until one year after my second child was born, Al-Hamdulillah, when I began to
feel depressed and adrift, feeling a large spirituality void. I felt there was a big chunk of
my life still missing. This was when I began to read about various religions, and it wasn't
until I bought a translation of the Holy Quran when I finally understood the true meaning
of life, and that there is none has the right to be worshipped but Allaah). The Quran
answered all the questions I was looking for, and some that I never even thought of.

One week before the holy month of Ramadan, I taught myself to pray, memorized two
suras (Quranic Chapters), and said my Shahadah (Testimony of faith). I no longer felt
adrift and I believed in Allaah. It was like having the feeling and guidance from Allaah.

Wearing the scarf for the first time made me feel as though I had more peace, I was
someone, not only a someone, but a Muslim. I was (and am) protecting myself from all
evil. I felt a lot more close to Allaah, because He has ordained women in the Noble
Quran to cover themselves.

I know in my heart that it bothered my husband a lot to have a wife who did not only
embrace Islam, but to see her practicing it when he wasn't. My husband and I have no
differences anymore in terms of raising our children (as Muslims), and have never been
so happy since he and I started practicing Islam.

My life has changed a lot since I embraced Islam (all for the best), and
I'm loving every minute of it! I recommend it to everyone out there,
whether a Muslim, Christian, Jew, Hindu, to pick up a copy of the Noble
Quran and to read not just some of it, but all of it. May Allaah give
everyone the strength and courage that He has given me during the past
year.
Tuesday : 09/08/2005
A Catholic Priest's Journey to Islam 100 Years Ago

When Professor Abdul Ahad Dawud, the former Reverend

David Benjamin Keldani, was asked how he came to Islam
he wrote: "My conversion to Islam cannot be attributed to
any cause other than the gracious direction of the
Almighty Allah. Without this Divine guidance, all learning,
searching and other efforts to find the Truth may even
lead one astray. The moment I believed in the Absolute
Unity of God, His Apostle Muhammad became the pattern
of my conduct and behavior."

Abdul Ahad Dawud is a Roman Catholic priest of the

Uniate-Chaldean sect. He was born in 1867 in Urmia in
Persia; educated from his early infancy in that town. From
1886-89 (three years) he was on the teaching staff of the Archbishop of Canterbury's Mission
to the Assyrian (Nestorian) Christians in Urmia.

In 1892 he was sent by Cardinal Vaughan to Rome where he underwent a course of

philosophical and theological studies at the Propaganda Fide College, and in 1895 was
ordained Priest. During that time he contributed a series of articles to "The Tablet on Assyria,
Rome and Canterbury"; and also to the Irish Record on the "Authenticity of the Pentateuch."

He had several translations of the Ave Maria in different languages, published in the Illustrated
Catholic Missions. While in Constantinople on his way to Persia in 1895, he contributed a long
series of articles in English and French to the daily paper, published there under the name of
"The Levant Herald on Eastern Churches". In 1895 he joined the French Lazarist Mission in
Urmia, and published for the first time in the history of that Mission a periodical in vernacular
Syrian called Qala-La Sh ‫ل‬r ‫ل‬, i.e. "The Voice of Truth".

In 1897 he was delegated by two Uniate-Chaldean Archbishops of Urmia and of Salmas to

represent the Eastern Catholics at the Eucharistic Congress held at Paray-le-Monial in France
under the presidency of Cardinal Perraud. This was, of course, by official invitation. The paper
read at the Congress by "Father Benjamin" was published in the Annals of the Eucharistic
Congress, called "Le Pelirin" of that year. In this paper, the Chaldean Arch-Priest (that being
his official title) deplored the Catholic system of education among the Nestorians, and foretold
the imminent appearance of the Russian priests in Urmia.

In 1898 Father Benjamin was back again in Persia. In his native village, Digala, about a mile
from the town, he opened a school gratis. The next year he was sent by the Ecclesiastical
authorities to take charge of the diocese of Salmas, where a sharp and scandalous conflict
between the Uniate Archbishop, Khudab ‫ل‬sh, and the Lazarist Fathers for a long time had been
menacing a schism.

On the day of New Year 1900, Father Benjamin preached his last and memorable sermon to a
large congregation, including many non-Catholic Armenians and others in the Cathedral of St.
George´s Khorov ‫ل‬b ‫ل‬d, Salmas. The preacher's subject was "New Century and New Men".
He recalled the fact that the Nestorian Missionaries, before the appearance of Islam, had
preached the Gospel in all Asia; that they had numerous establishments in India (especially at
the Malbar Coast), in Tartary, China and Mongolia; and that they translated the Gospel to the
Turkish Uighurs and into other languages; that the Catholic, American and Anglican Missions,
in spite of the little good they had done to the Assyro-Chaldean nation in the way of
preliminary education, had split the nation - already a handful - in Persia, Kurdistan and
Mesopotamia into numerous hostile sects; and that their efforts were destined to bring about
the final collapse. Consequently he advised the natives to make some sacrifices in order to
stand upon their own legs like men, and not to depend upon the foreign missions, etc.

Five big and ostentatious missions - Americans, Anglicans, French, Germans and Russians -
with their colleges, backed up by rich religious societies, Consuls and Ambassadors, were
endeavoring to convert about one hundred thousand Assyro-Chaldeans from Nestorian heresy
into one or another of the five heresies. But the Russian Mission soon outstripped the others,
and it was this mission which in 1915 pushed or forced the Assyrians of Persia, as well as the
mountaineer tribes of Kurdistan, who had then immigrated into the plains of Salmas and
Urmia, to take up arms against their respective Governments. The result was that half of his
people perished in the war and the rest were expelled from their native lands.

The great question, which for a long time had been working its solution in the mind of this
priest, was now approaching its climax. Was Christianity, with all its multitudinous shapes and
colors, and with its unauthentic, spurious and corrupted Scriptures, the true Religion of God?

In the summer of 1900 he retired to his small villa in the middle of vineyards near the
celebrated fountain of Ch ‫ل‬li-Boulaghi in Digala, and there for a month spent his time in prayer
and meditation, reading over and over the Scriptures in their original texts. The crisis ended in
a formal resignation sent in to the Uniate Archbishop of Urmia, in which he frankly explained
to Mar (Mgr.) Touma Audu the reasons for abandoning his sacerdotal functions.

All attempts made by the ecclesiastical authorities to withdraw his decision were of no avail.
There was no personal quarrel or dispute between Father Benjamin and his superiors; it was
all question of conscience.

For several months Mr. D ‫ل‬wْd - as he was now called - was employed in Tabriz as Inspector in
the Persian Service of Posts and Customs under the Belgian experts. Then he was taken into
the service of the Crown Prince Muhammed 'Al ‫ ي‬Mirs ‫ ل‬as teacher and translator.

It was in 1903 that he again visited England and there joined the Unitarian Community. And in
1904 he was sent by the British and Foreign Unitarian Association to carry on an educational
and enlightening work among his country people.

On his way to Persia he visited Constantinople; and after several interviews with Sheikhul-Isl
‫ل‬m Jem ‫ل‬lud-D ‫ي‬n Effendi and other scholars, he embraced Islam.

Summarized: IPCI (Islamic Propagation Center International)

Monday : 12/01/2004
After Seeing Deedat-Swaggart Debate, Mr Kenneth L. Jenkins, a US Former
Minister, Became Muslim

As a young boy I was raised with a deep fear of God. Having been partially raised by a
grandmother who was a Pentecostal fundamentalist, the church became an integral part of my
life at a very early age. By the time I had reached the age of six, I knew all too well the
benefits awaiting me in Heaven for being a good little boy and the punishment awaiting in Hell
for little boys who are naughty. I was taught by my grandmother that all liars were doomed to
go to the Hellfire, where they would burn forever and ever.

My mother worked two full-time jobs and continued to remind me of the teachings given to me
by her mother. My younger brother and older sister did not seem to take our grandmother's
warnings of the Hereafter as seriously as I did. I recall seeing the full moon when it would take
on a deep reddish hue, and I would begin to weep because I was taught that one of the signs
of the end of the world would be that the moon would become red like blood. As an eight-year
old child I began to develop such a fear at what I thought were signs in the heavens and on
earth of Doomsday that I actually had nightmares of what the Day of Judgement would be like.

Every Sunday we would go to church dressed in all of our finery. My grandfather was our
means of transportation. Church would last for what seemed to me like hours. We would arrive
at around eleven in the morning and not leave until sometimes three in the afternoon. I
remember falling asleep in my grandmother's lap on many occasions. For a time my brother
and I were permitted to leave church in between the conclusion of Sunday school and morning
worship service to sit with our grandfather at the railway yard and watch the trains pass.

At age sixteen I began attending the church of a friend whose father was the pastor. This went
on for only several months before the church closed down. After graduating from high school
and entering the university I rediscovered my religious commitment and became fully
immersed in Pentecostal teachings. I was baptized and "filled with the Holy Ghost," as the
experience was then called. As a college student, I quickly became the pride of the church.
Everyone had high hopes for me, and I was happy to once again be "on the road to salvation. "
I attended church every time its doors would open. I studied the Bible for days and weeks at a
time. I attended lectures given by the Christian scholars of my day, and I acknowledged my
call to the ministry at the age of 20. I began preaching and became well known very quickly. I
was extremely dogmatic and believed that no one could receive salvation unless they were of
my church group. I categorically condemned everyone who had not come to know God the
way I had come to know Him.

Welcome to the Real Church World

I soon discovered that there was a great deal of jealousy prevalent in the ministerial hierarchy.
Things had changed from that to which I was accustomed. Women wore clothing that I thought
was shameful. People dressed in order to attract attention, usually from the opposite sex. I
discovered just how great a part money and greed play in the operation of church activities.
There were many small churches struggling, and they called upon us to hold meetings to help
raise money for them.

I was told that if a church did not have a certain number of members, then I was not to waste
my time preaching there because I would not receive ample financial compensation. I then
explained that I was not in it for the money and that I would preach even if there was only one
member present... and I'd do it for free! This caused a disturbance. I started questioning those
whom I thought had wisdom, only to find that they had been putting on a show. I learned that
money, power and position were more important than teaching the truth about the Bible.

Cases of adultery and fornication went unpunished. Some preachers were hooked on drugs
and had destroyed their lives and the lives of their families. Leaders of some churches were
found to be homosexuals. There were pastors even guilty of committing adultery with the
young daughters of other church members. All of this coupled with a failure to receive answers
to what I thought were valid questions was enough to make me seek a change. That change
came when I accepted a job in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

A New Beginning

It was not long after arriving in Saudi Arabia that I saw an immediate difference in the life style
of the Muslim people. They were different from the followers of Elijah Muhammad and Minister
Louis Farrakhan in that they were of all nationalities, colors and languages. I immediately
expressed a desire to learn more about this peculiar brand of religion. I was amazed with the
life of Prophet Muhammad and wanted to know more. I requested books from one of the
brothers who was active in calling people to Islam.

I was supplied with all of the books that I could possibly want. I read each and every one. I was
then given the Holy Qur'an and read it completely several times within four months. I asked
question after question and received satisfactory answers. What appealed to me was that the
brothers were not keen on impressing me with their knowledge. If a brother did not know how
to answer a question, he would tell me that he simply did not know and would have to check
with someone who did. The next day he would always bring the answer. I noticed how humility
played such a great role in the lives of these mysterious people of the Middle East.

I was amazed to see the women covering themselves from face to foot. I did not see any
religious hierarchy. No one was competing for any religious position. All of this was wonderful,
but how could I entertain the thought of abandoning a teaching that had followed me since
childhood? What about the Bible? I knew that there is some truth in it even though it had been
changed and revised countless numbers of times. I was then given a videocassette of a debate
between Shaykh Ahmed Deedat and Reverend Jimmy Swaggart. After seeing the debate I
immediately became a Muslim.

I was taken to the office of Shaykh 'Abdullah bin 'Abdul-'Azeez bin Baz to officially declare my
acceptance of Islam. It was there that I was given sound advice on how to prepare myself for
the long journey ahead. It was truly a birth from darkness into light. I wondered what my peers
from the Church would think when they heard that I had embraced Islam.
It was not long before I found out. I went back to the United States for vacation and was
severely criticized for my "lack of faith." I was stamped with many labels - from renegade to
reprobate. People were told by so-called church leaders not to even remember me in prayer.
As strange as it may seem, I was not bothered in the least. I was so happy that Almighty God,
Allah, had chosen to guide me aright that nothing else mattered.

Now I only wanted to become as dedicated a Muslim as I was a Christian. This, of course,
meant study. I realized that a person could grow as much as they wanted to in Islam. There is
no monopoly of knowledge - it is free to all who wish to avail themselves of the opportunities
to learn. I was given a set of Saheeh Muslim as a gift from my Qur'an teacher. It was then that
I realized the need to learn about the life, sayings and practices of Prophet Muhammad.

I read and studied as many of the hadith collections available in English as possible. I realized
that my knowledge of the Bible was an asset that is now quite useful in dealing with those of
Christian backgrounds. Life for me has taken on an entirely new meaning. One of the most
profound attitude changes is a result of knowing that this life must actually be spent in
preparation for life in the Hereafter.

[Summarized from Mr Kenneth L. Jenkins' (Former Minister and Elder of the Church - Indiana)
Story of embracing Islam]

Thursday : 23/10/2003

American Singer, Rodger Collins, Became Hajj Sabrie

 Haji Sabrie has operated an appliance repair business in
Oakland for years. The devoted family man and his loving
wife of 21 years have two children on the cusp of
adulthood. A self-described "very religious" Muslim born in
Texas and raised in San Francisco, he is a humble, happy
man whose face falls naturally into a deep, radiant smile.
He is understandably leery about bringing up the past.

"Haji Sabrie can move around anywhere he wants," he

says. "But with Rodger Collins, things can be difficult."
Rodger Collins is a name from Sabrie's past. During the
golden age of soul, Oakland never produced a bigger star
than Rodger Collins. When he headlined the Showcase on
Telegraph Avenue, he tore up the crowds as much as the
other big-name acts that came through the room -- Marvin
Gaye, the Temptations, Ike and Tina Turner.

And he cut a record that, if the country had heard it, would have made Rodger Collins an
authentic contender. "She's Looking Good" was not just another half-baked soul side that
never got any further than No. 101, "bubbling under" Billboard's Hot 100. The track was a
certified, stone-in-the- groove, drop-dead classic that never got a fair hearing. Where it was
played -- including in the Bay Area -- the record was a smash. It vied for the top of playlists on
local Top 40 stations with the Rolling Stones, the Monkees and Buffalo Springfield in the early
weeks of 1967, a heady time for pop music on the radio.
Sabrie, 64, doesn't like to do interviews. His last one, with Britain's Melody Maker magazine
more than 20 years ago, did not prove satisfactory. He was news at the time because another
one of his old records was experiencing a comeback. While speaking with a reporter, he sips a
homemade brew of chopped ginger and picks at fresh fruit from a platter on the living room
coffee table in his West Oakland home. The scent of spice and flowers wafts through the sunny
rooms.

"I liked performing," Sabrie says. "But I didn't like all these problems with bands, hassling with
musicians all the time. By this time, my career was fading. So I retired from show business."
He remembers harmonizing doo-wop in the tiled bathrooms at the Hamilton Recreation
Center, where Bobby Freeman, San Francisco's first rock 'n' roll star, would work out with his
first vocal group, the Romancers.

As Rodger Collins, he won a talent contest pantomiming a Chuck Berry record and did a
wicked Elvis impersonation. Brook Benton, an older songwriter and recording star ("It's Just a
Matter of Time"), counseled the young Collins backstage at Oakland's Paramount Theatre to
work up his own act and sing the songs himself, promising to send him some material. Sabrie
still has the acetates Benton sent.

He studied drama at the Actor's Laboratory in San Francisco and moved to Los Angeles, where
he thought his star would rise, but wound up in a Wilshire Boulevard car wash polishing Rock
Hudson's silver Chrysler Imperial. Back in San Francisco, singing at local clubs, Collins came to
the attention of Fantasy Records, which was having some success in the R&B field on its
Galaxy subsidiary with blues singer Little Johnny Taylor.

"Fantasy sold Mexican music and jazz," Sabrie says. "They weren't set up to handle a soul
record or soul-pop…" Collins began to develop an interest in Islam. He toured with soul singer
Joe Tex, himself a Black Muslim minister, and together they visited mosques all over the
country. "For a while, that white-man-is-the-devil stuff worked for me," he says. "But while I
was saying that, I never gave up my white friends."

Sabrie followed the lead of Imam W. Deen Mohammed, of Black Muslim founder Elijah
Muhammad, who took over the sect after his father's death in 1975 and immediately set a
more conciliatory course. "Mohammed (PBUH) taught that everybody was equal," Sabrie says.
"You may come with a male or female body, but the person inside is a human. The creature
inside doesn't have a race."

The more he studied the Koran, the more he grew disenchanted with the music business. His
last nightclub engagement was opening for Ike and Tina Turner and Redd Foxx at Las Vegas'
Hilton International, playing the lounge while Elvis played the big room, hardly hard-luck,
bottom-rung show business. But he was not happy with his career in records and found himself
the victim of company politics.

"It discouraged me thinking I would get a fair shake with the record industry," Sabrie says.
"But it didn't discourage me to improve myself as a human being. I knew happiness was
available."

So, 30 years ago, Rodger Collins retired from show business and changed his name to Haji
Sabrie. With a couple of scarcely noticed exceptions -- a nightclub appearance here, a one-off
single there -- Rodger Collins disappeared as if he'd gone into the witness protection program.
"People say, 'Didn't you miss out on a lot?' " Sabrie says. "Everything that happened was
supposed to happen. You can't change it. No one can change it."

Sabrie learned the appliance business. He has run his company, Trustworthy Appliance Repair,
longer than he was in show business. His youngest child entered UC Riverside last fall. Sabrie
has made two pilgrimages to Mecca to pray at the holy Mosque. He leads a full, happy life with
immense dignity. "I'm successful when I wake up in the morning and see my wife and know
she's a decent human being and know she lived up to a vow we made when we got married:
not to criticize but to improve the other one."

"I do a lot of things that might not be what some other people like to do, " Sabrie says. "But it
works for me. If I see someone on a path I'm not on, I respect that. I love a lot of people who
disagree with me. But there is nothing worthy of worship except the Creator -- not the
creation, only the Creator."

Thursday : 11/03/2004
Calling to Islam: The Duty of Every Muslim

While all the messengers appointed by Allah were

charged by Him with the responsibility to disseminate
the revealed guidance with which they were
entrusted, their respective nations too, were called
upon to share in the fulfillment of Allah’s orders. Allah
reminds in the Holy Qur’an:

And remember Allah took a covenant form the people of “

(the Book to make it known and clear to mankind, and not to hide it…” (Qur’an 3:187

:The position of the Muslim 'Ummah' (community), in this respect is clear in the Qur’an

You are the best ‘Ummah’ evolved for mankind; you enjoin what is right and forbid what is“
(wrong…” (Qur’an 3:110

Thus Allah Almighty has honoured this Muslim Ummah by appointing it to share in the noble cause of its
:prophet by inviting people to follow the straight path. The Qur’an further stresses that

The believing men and women are each other’s protectors; they enjoin what is right and forbid“
what is wrong.” While, “the hypocrite men and women are each other’s protectors, they enjoin
(what is wrong and forbid what is right.” (9:71
Hence the truth emerges clearly that “to enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong” constitutes a
fundamental difference between a believer and a hypocrite who pretends to be a believer when he is quite
the reverse. Consequently, all members of the Muslim Ummah, men and women alike, are individually
responsible to further the cause of Islam with the zeal, determination and sense of sacrifice of the Prophet
.(PBUH) and his companions
That the companions did their utmost, individually and collectively, to convey the light of Islam to all
people even outside the Arabian Peninsula is demonstrated by the lengthy and dangerous journeys they
took reaching the Atlantic Ocean in the west and the Wall of China in the East. Countless distinguished
companions breathed their last in faraway and foreign lands preaching Islam, for which their sacrifices
.knew no bounds

At this point some commonplace misconceptions ought to be cleared. To call all peoples of the world to
Allah is the duty of every responsible and conscientious Muslim. Since there is no priesthood in Islam or
sacerdotal class among Muslims, the duty of the call to Allah cannot be transferred to an ill-conceived and
imaginary group called “men of religion.” In Islam everyone is a man of religion and every man will be
accountable to Allah as to whether he fulfilled his obligations sincerely and to the best of his abilities or
 :not. The following verse of the Qur’an should be very enlightening in this respect

Say (O Muhammad) this is my way I do invite unto Allah, on evidence clear as the seeing with“
one’s eyes, - I and whoever follows me. Glory to Allah! And never will I be of those who associate
(partners to Allah.” (Al-Qur’an 12:108

Thus, anyone who rightly claims to be a follower of the Prophet (PBUH), peace be upon him, cannot evade
.his duty to call people to Allah

:The following prophetic traditions amply elucidate this point

(Let those who witness inform those who are absent.” (Bukhari“

The word “witness” here is taken to mean anyone who possesses some Islamic knowledge. The Prophet
:(PBUH) is reported to have said

(Preach on my behalf even with just one verse.” (verse here is referring to a verse from the Qur'an“

Therefore, one does not have to be a profound scholar or a great jurist to call people to Islam. No doubt a
person well-versed in Islamic sciences would be able to speak more authoritatively and he would be in a
position to explain matters of religion to the minutest details. However, a high level of scholarship is not a
prerequisite to call others to Islam. Everyone’s effort has a definite gap to fill. A Muslim scholar will
address his counterpart with a refined style and scholarly content while a Muslim layman will have to
.reason out with his equals in practical terms, each having a role complementary to the other’s
Every individual of the Muslim Ummah is obliged to be actively engaged in whatever way he can to guide
people to the right path and support, morally as well as materially, those who labor to discharge this
responsibility. A common misconception that found appeal even among earlier Muslim generations and
which still lingers on to this day stems from failure to comprehend the meaning of the following Qur’anic
:verse in the proper context

O you who believe! You are responsible for your own souls. The misguided one will not harm“
(you if you are guided on the right path.” (5:105

In all fairness to oneself, the above verse does not connote, by any stretch of imagination, that a so-called
pious or saintly person may absolve himself of the responsibility to call mankind to truth simply by
thinking that evil would not knock at his door, on account of his being pure and peaceful. Regardless of
how pious one may appear to be, he can never equal the Prophet (PBUH) or excel his companions in their
.moral perfection, sincerity of worship and religious devotion
None of the Prophet's companions ever dreamt of resigning from the noble task of inviting nations of the
east and the west to eternal bliss and salvation offered by Allah through Islam. It was precisely to correct
this wrong notion about the verse that Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) issued the following
:warning
O people, verily you read this exalted verse and put it in a place other than its own. Whereas I heard the “
Apostle of Allah saying: ‘Verily if people see a cruel person and they do not prevent him, Allah may punish
'”.all of them
So fulfill your obligation to Allah and His Messenger. Learn what you are able and convey the Truth –
.Islam – to those whom you come in contact with. Because calling to Islam is truly the Duty of all Muslims

----------------------------------
:Source

Dr. Talib Ali

[Excerpts from: Proceeding of the Fifth International Conference of WAMY on “Islamic Da'wa”.

Held at Nairobi, Kenya 20-24 April 1982]

Monday : 24/01/2005

Experience of a Canadian Woman

Many may ask why a young, Canadian-born, Caucasian woman would embrace a
religion that not only supposedly oppresses women, but takes all her freedom and
independence and treats her as a second class citizen.
I reject such accusations and pose to them the following question. "Why is it that so
many women who have been born and brought up in the so-called 'civilized' societies of
Canada, USA, and Europe are willing to reject their liberty, and independence, to
embrace a religion that supposedly oppresses them and is widely assumed to be
prejudicial to them?"
As a Canadian revert to Islam, I can only present my personal experience and reasons for
rejecting the freedom, that women claim to have in this society, in favor of the only
religion that truly liberates women by giving us a status and position which is completely
unique when compared to non-Muslim counterparts.

As a child growing up in a non-religious home, I often asked my parents if there was a

God, who is He, and where did He come from? Their response was always, believe in
what you want to believe. This confused me, because many of my friends had religions,
and I never understood why I didn't.

I remember when I was six or seven years old, I attended Sunday School, at a Church
with a friend a couple of times. I found it very boring. I didn't feel comfortable around
the other children, and felt pressured by the instructor and other children because I didn't
know anything about Jesus Christ, may Allaah exalt his mention. Feeling this way I
stopped going to the Sunday school, and continued growing up without a religion, with
no knowledge of God, which made me feel very lonely.

It wasn't until I was in high school when I learned about religion in my social studies
class, and remember vividly how my teacher told us women in Islam have no rights,
women are denied education, must be circumcised, and how women must obey men,
otherwise, the men can beat them.

This made me think

No matter what this teacher said, something in my mind kept telling me this couldn't be
true. Ironically, around the same time I was learning this, I met a Muslim, named Khaled
(who is now my husband) at the place where I worked and asked him about what my
teacher said. He was shocked to hear the school boards were teaching this about Islam
and told me they were all untrue. When discussing this with my teacher in front of my
fellow students, the teacher told me that my source is wrong, and he has the information
in his books, otherwise he wouldn't be teaching us this stuff.

My teacher pretty much made me look stupid; however some of my friends believed me.
I continued talking to Khaled at work about Muslim women and was very curious about
the role of Muslim women. I have to admit that I never agreed all the time with what
Khaled said, but I was also a non-believer at that time, and never understood fully what
Islam was. I was (and still I am) always fascinated with how the Muslim women would
cover themselves, they always seemed to have the look of peace on their faces. I would
never have guessed that I would one day be one of those ladies who is fully covered.

Two years later, Khaled and I were married and had our first child, Al-Hamdulillah. It
wasn't until one year after my second child was born, Al-Hamdulillah, when I began to
feel depressed and adrift, feeling a large spirituality void. I felt there was a big chunk of
my life still missing. This was when I began to read about various religions, and it wasn't
until I bought a translation of the Holy Quran when I finally understood the true meaning
of life, and that there is none has the right to be worshipped but Allaah). The Quran
answered all the questions I was looking for, and some that I never even thought of.

One week before the holy month of Ramadan, I taught myself to pray, memorized two
suras (Quranic Chapters), and said my Shahadah (Testimony of faith). I no longer felt
adrift and I believed in Allaah. It was like having the feeling and guidance from Allaah.

Wearing the scarf for the first time made me feel as though I had more peace, I was
someone, not only a someone, but a Muslim. I was (and am) protecting myself from all
evil. I felt a lot more close to Allaah, because He has ordained women in the Noble
Quran to cover themselves.

I know in my heart that it bothered my husband a lot to have a wife who did not only
embrace Islam, but to see her practicing it when he wasn't. My husband and I have no
differences anymore in terms of raising our children (as Muslims), and have never been
so happy since he and I started practicing Islam.

My life has changed a lot since I embraced Islam (all for the best), and I'm loving every minute of it! I recommend it to
everyone out there, whether a Muslim, Christian, Jew, Hindu, to pick up a copy of the Noble Quran and to read not just
some of it, but all of it. May Allaah give everyone the strength and courage that He has given me during the past year.
Tuesday : 09/08/2005

Father Viacheslav from Church to Mosque

Viacheslav Polosin, a former priest of the Russian Orthodox church and chairman of the
Committee of the Supreme Soviet on Freedom of Conscience, recently announced his
conversion from Orthodoxy to Islam. This unprecedented event of the adoption of the religion
of the Prophet by a prominent Orthodox clergyman was a surprise for many.
The former archpriest is suspected of psychological illness or of subtle political calculation. But
he himself speaks of his own free, spiritual, philosophical choice: “As far as I know, this is the
second time in your life when you have officially announced a change in your worldview. From
childhood I believed in God, in my spirit.

Later, when I was in the university, I came across Orthodox literature and went to the church
and found there something that I had not seen in philosophy classes. I do not regret that; I
learned a lot there. I submitted my documents to the ecclesiastical seminary in 1979 and have
now, after twenty years, given an interview to the journal "Musulmane;" these are two stages
in the development of my life.”

Interview with Musulmane:

"Several years of intense work have brought me to the conclusion that the Koran does not
contain an assimilation of the Creator God to his creation, humanity, which is
anthropomorphism, the essence of paganism. There is no basis for the ritual practice of
appeasing God like some kind of human ruler. . . .

I have decided to bring my social status into conformity with my convictions and to bear public
testimony that I consider myself a follower of the great tradition of the correct belief and of the
prophets of monotheism, beginning with Abraham, and thus I do not consider myself any
longer either a clergyman or a member of any Orthodox church. . . . As regards possible
penalties, we all are mortal and all sooner or later will depart from this life, so it is better to
depart from it abiding in the Truth and not in spiritual ambivalence or in the delusions of
human fantasy.

With regard to the practical difficulties, including the Arabic language, I must place my hopes
in help and cooperation from my new brethren. My will fully shares this worldview choice."

How did your clerical path evolve?

Within the church circles of Moscow I was not "my own person." There also were family
circumstances which forced me to request ministry in Central Asia. I served briefly in Frunze
and somewhat longer in Dushanbe. There I dealt with Islamic culture and the eastern
mentality for the first time, which made a deep impression on my soul.

After half a year I was ignominiously deprived of my registration for disobedience to secular
authorities, that is, to the commissioner for religious affairs. For three years I was not
accepted anywhere and was in complete disgrace. In 1988, when perestroika began, I was
offered a half-destroyed church near Obninsk. From there I was elected in 1990 as a member
of the soviet of the RSFSR.

The position of the Moscow patriarchate

For the Moscow patriarchate, the announcement by Archpriest Viacheslav Polosin of his
conversion to another faith came as a complete surprise.

In the Department of External Church Relations his move is explained as instability of

character and convictions and a quick "subsequent change" of religious views is predicted. In
the patriarchate there is an inclination to let the matter drop, relying on the decision of Fr
Viacheslav's ruling bishop, Archbishop Kliment of Kaluga and Borovsk.

Were you suspected of conversion to Protestantism?

American Protestants, who in 1991 arrived in Russia in abundance and whom I received,
proposed that we begin our meeting with prayer.

But I categorically objected, saying that this was a secular institution and that I protected
freedom of conscience and thus there must not be any prayer here.
I was cordial with Protestants, but where this rumor that I wanted to adopt Protestantism came
from, I don't know.

For many it is a puzzle what your real position on the new law on freedom of conscience of
1997 is? Some consider you its author and some recall that you have frequently criticized the
law itself.

As long as I am a state employee I cannot discuss the whole truth about this law. I participated
in the writing of this law as one of fifteen members of the working group and I had very little
influence.

Then the law was presented to the Duma where work on it went forward.

I can consider myself a coauthor of what resulted from this work. But the demonization of the
law was necessary to those circles and forces who figured on being able to make a name and
money for themselves on the basis of the negative events that arose around the country.

Actually the law upheld the principles of a secular state and maintained the situation.

Was your religious quest provoked by your displeasure with formal Orthodoxy?

While I was working in the state apparatus I began to see more clearly how various activities
within the church or politics affect the life of the people.

Some people try to interpret Christianity so as to justify the irresponsibility of the government,
giving it an image of divine ordination. There are similar examples in the history of the Islamic
world: khans, Turkish sultans, palace intrigues of the Sublime Porte. In the Koran viewing the
government as "God's anointed" is strictly forbidden. It is said that if someone usurps power
and a Muslim tolerates this, then he is an accessory to this sin.

In the Ottoman empire there was a stagnation of Muslim culture-the cult of the military,
violence, slavery. Islam degenerated there. The Revelation itself is a different matter.

What has been the reaction of your new Muslim brethren to your decision?

My interview with the journal Musulmane provoked lively interest, so much so that it was
necessary to put out another printing.

What has been the reaction on the part of your leadership in the Duma?

Some naturally will be unhappy, but I don't care to please everyone. I think that nothing will
change in my work in the duma. I do not intend to criticize Christianity. When I was within
Orthodoxy, I criticized it rather harshly. Now I don't. Islam, as it is presented in the Koran, is
the most democratic religion because it contains a prohibition of tyranny. There are no
mediators of a priestly caste or anointed monarchs in the Koran.

Viacheslav Polosin's office:

In the State Duma he occupies one office along with Murad Zaprishiev, a former deputy and
now an employee of the staff of the duma Committee for Relations with Public Associations
and Religious Organizations. In a prominent place in the office there is the Koran and the walls
are decorated with Arabic inscriptions. In this office Polosin and his colleague sometimes
perform their prayers, for which they use a special rug. At the same time, Viacheslav
Sergeevich opposes making a demonstrative profession of Islam in his secular work and
especially in governmental service.

Do you have plans to return to a more political life?

For the time being, no. I would prefer to use my profession and knowledge for socially useful
activity within the bounds of Islam. I see myself as a public and academic Islamic leader, but
not a politician. But what the future will bring, only God knows. In 1990 my election as a
deputy also was unexpected.

Information:

Viacheslav Sergeevich Polosin was born in 1956. In 1979 he graduated from the Philosophy
Faculty of MGU and in 1984 from the Moscow Ecclesiastical Seminary. He was ordained a
priest and served in parishes in the dioceses of Central Asia and Kaluga of RPTs.

In 1990 he was elevated to the rank of archpriest. In the same year he was elected a people's
deputy of RSFSR from Kaluga region and headed the committee of the Supreme Soviet on
freedom of conscience. While working in the Supreme Soviet, he graduated from the
diplomatic academy of the ministry of foreign affairs and defended his dissertation on the
subject: "The Russian Orthodox church and the state in USSR, 1971-1991."

From 1993 he has been an employee of the staff of the State Duma on relations with public
associations and religious organizations. He was a member of the Russian Christian
Democratic Movement and a member of the Council of Christian Organizations. In 1991 he
went on leave from the Kaluga diocese and since 1995 he has not officiated in liturgies.

In his interview with the Musulmane journal, he officially called himself a Muslim: "I consider
that the Koran is the final Revelation on earth, sent down to the Prophet Muhammad. There is
no god but the One God, Allah, and Muhammad is His Messenger."

Viacheslav Polosin is the author of many scholarly works on historical, political, religious, and
philosophical subjects. In February of this year he defended another dissertation on the
subject: "The dialectics of myth and political myth-making." His basic philosophical ideas are
presented in his book "Myth, Religion, and the State" (Moscow, 1999).

From the point of view of Islamic theologians, to convert to the religion of the Prophet it is
sufficient to recite the famous formula containing the profession of faith in the one God Allah
and his prophet Muhammad. In doing so it is not important which language is used for reciting
the formula. It is important that the recitation be made before two witnesses who are Muslim
and can give written confirmation of the fact of the profession of Islam. (Note - this is not true.
Once could be in the desert and make shahadah and it would be accepted.)

Tuesday : 10/02/2004

Finding a Home in Islam

Shaheed "Damian" Williams grew up Christian and pursued fame as a rapper before becoming
a Muslim. The days of Damian Williams running with his fellow rappers, pursuing fame, women
and a hip-hop image are over. The 26-year-old turned in baggy jeans for long robes around the
house. He sports a curly beard and is studying Arabic with his wife so they can read the Qur'an
together.

Williams, who now goes by Shaheed, is a convert to Islam, a religion that has brought a sense
of truth and direction the Christianity of his youth and reviews of other religions didn't provide,
he said.

Now, he speaks periodically at the Muslim Community Center in north Wichita as one of an
estimated 5,000 Muslims in the Wichita area.

His discovery of Islam started with his childhood comic book collection, he said.

A fan of the "X-Men," Williams learned of the character "Thor," the god of thunder from Norse
mythology.

It expanded his view of the world and religions beyond his Sunday school and youth group
upbringing at St. Paul AME Church in Wichita.

When he was in high school, a member told him about an Old Testament verse that prohibited
eating pork. It surprised Williams and made him more curious about the Bible. Later, he found
verses about honoring the Sabbath, which he also didn't think Christians observed.

By mid-high school, he told his father he would no longer go to church. He was an agnostic.

His passion became the Flatland Brigade, a local group of about eight rappers, who performed
at parties.

There was drinking, carousing and talk of pimping. The lifestyle smacked of arrogance, he
said.

"I despise that behavior," he said. "That's not being a man. They think it's being in a gang or
having a gun or going to prison or mistreating a woman."

Williams' older brother told him about the Nation of Islam, a controversial movement of some
African-American Muslims. Williams never joined.

A fellow rapper who had converted to orthodox Islam talked to Williams about the faith.

Williams began to study Islam seriously and was soon persuaded by its teaching that there is
one God to whom he could pray without a mediator.

He admired the closeness among brothers and sisters of Islam despite their national and
cultural differences.

It was a religion of structure that he knew he needed. It taught obedience and submission to
God, Almighty, and His law.

And he was persuaded by Islam's teaching that people ought to be accountable to God,
Almighty, for their actions. The Christian idea of Christ bearing sins on people's behalf, he said,
weakened personal accountability.

"There's no free ride," he said of Islam, unlike Christianity's teachings on grace and sin.

For weeks, Williams' friend would ask if he was ready to accept Islam. Finally, in 1996, at age
19, Williams met with an imam, a Muslim leader.

After speaking with him, Williams recited the "shahada," a statement of faith that is the first
step in accepting Islam:

"I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, and I bear witness that Muhammad is the
messenger of Allah."

The room full of men now became a room of brothers who came up one by one to hug and
congratulate him.
He took a bath when he returned home as is customary for new converts. Still, it would take
another three years, he said, before his new faith took hold of his life.

"I just got fed up with feeling regret with the way my life was going," he said. "You never know
which day is going to be your last."

He listened to more sermons on tape, read books and attended services at the mosque,
sometimes staying there overnight to pray and meditate.

As a Muslim, he knew promiscuity was wrong and wanted to marry and start a family. He
followed traditional Islamic customs in seeking out a wife.

He spoke with several women about marriage, including a former co-worker, Nicole Childers,
who was often at parties where he rapped.

She had also converted to Islam from Christianity the year after he had.

He proposed to her on a Tuesday and on Saturday they were married. She had accepted his
dowry of 200 dollars, a silver necklace that said "Allah" on it and fragrant oil, among other
gifts.

During the five-minute ceremony, no rings were exchanged. She stood in a room nearby
within earshot of the imam and her future husband.

Today, they have three children, ages 3, 2 and six months. Williams works as a water meter
reader for the city of Wichita.

The hip-hop life is gone. A bookcase full of Islamic teachings and the Qur'an are his focus
these days.

"To me, Islam has the answer to racism, discrimination, feminism, abortion, high murder rates
and drug selling," he said, "because it's trying to show human beings how to live their lives
right."-- The Wichita Eagle

Tuesday : 01/07/2003

Finding a Home in Islam

Shaheed "Damian" Williams grew up Christian and pursued fame as a rapper before becoming
a Muslim. The days of Damian Williams running with his fellow rappers, pursuing fame, women
and a hip-hop image are over. The 26-year-old turned in baggy jeans for long robes around the
house. He sports a curly beard and is studying Arabic with his wife so they can read the Qur'an
together.

Williams, who now goes by Shaheed, is a convert to Islam, a religion that has brought a sense
of truth and direction the Christianity of his youth and reviews of other religions didn't provide,
he said.

Now, he speaks periodically at the Muslim Community Center in north Wichita as one of an
estimated 5,000 Muslims in the Wichita area.

His discovery of Islam started with his childhood comic book collection, he said.

A fan of the "X-Men," Williams learned of the character "Thor," the god of thunder from Norse
mythology.
It expanded his view of the world and religions beyond his Sunday school and youth group
upbringing at St. Paul AME Church in Wichita.

When he was in high school, a member told him about an Old Testament verse that prohibited
eating pork. It surprised Williams and made him more curious about the Bible. Later, he found
verses about honoring the Sabbath, which he also didn't think Christians observed.

By mid-high school, he told his father he would no longer go to church. He was an agnostic.

His passion became the Flatland Brigade, a local group of about eight rappers, who performed
at parties.

There was drinking, carousing and talk of pimping. The lifestyle smacked of arrogance, he
said.

"I despise that behavior," he said. "That's not being a man. They think it's being in a gang or
having a gun or going to prison or mistreating a woman."

Williams' older brother told him about the Nation of Islam, a controversial movement of some
African-American Muslims. Williams never joined.

A fellow rapper who had converted to orthodox Islam talked to Williams about the faith.

Williams began to study Islam seriously and was soon persuaded by its teaching that there is
one God to whom he could pray without a mediator.

He admired the closeness among brothers and sisters of Islam despite their national and
cultural differences.

It was a religion of structure that he knew he needed. It taught obedience and submission to
God, Almighty, and His law.

And he was persuaded by Islam's teaching that people ought to be accountable to God,
Almighty, for their actions. The Christian idea of Christ bearing sins on people's behalf, he said,
weakened personal accountability.

"There's no free ride," he said of Islam, unlike Christianity's teachings on grace and sin.

For weeks, Williams' friend would ask if he was ready to accept Islam. Finally, in 1996, at age
19, Williams met with an imam, a Muslim leader.

After speaking with him, Williams recited the "shahada," a statement of faith that is the first
step in accepting Islam:

"I bear witness that there is no god but Allah, and I bear witness that Muhammad is the
messenger of Allah."

The room full of men now became a room of brothers who came up one by one to hug and
congratulate him.

He took a bath when he returned home as is customary for new converts. Still, it would take
another three years, he said, before his new faith took hold of his life.

"I just got fed up with feeling regret with the way my life was going," he said. "You never know
which day is going to be your last."

He listened to more sermons on tape, read books and attended services at the mosque,
sometimes staying there overnight to pray and meditate.

As a Muslim, he knew promiscuity was wrong and wanted to marry and start a family. He
followed traditional Islamic customs in seeking out a wife.

He spoke with several women about marriage, including a former co-worker, Nicole Childers,
who was often at parties where he rapped.

She had also converted to Islam from Christianity the year after he had.

He proposed to her on a Tuesday and on Saturday they were married. She had accepted his
dowry of 200 dollars, a silver necklace that said "Allah" on it and fragrant oil, among other
gifts.

During the five-minute ceremony, no rings were exchanged. She stood in a room nearby
within earshot of the imam and her future husband.

Today, they have three children, ages 3, 2 and six months. Williams works as a water meter
reader for the city of Wichita.

The hip-hop life is gone. A bookcase full of Islamic teachings and the Qur'an are his focus
these days.

"To me, Islam has the answer to racism, discrimination, feminism, abortion, high murder rates
and drug selling," he said, "because it's trying to show human beings how to live their lives
right."-- The Wichita Eagle

Tuesday : 01/07/2003

He Reverted to Islam then Died

A Muslim scholar, Sheikh Muhammad Farraj, continuously

invited an Indian Sikh (who used to live in Saudi Arabia) to
Islam. He (the Sikh) neither refused nor accepted the idea
because of his family.

Then one day Allah opened his heart to Islam, he came to

the sheikh in his mosque to embrace Islam. The sheikh was
busy with his students and some Du'ah (Muslim
missionaries who invite people to the worship of Allah).

Sheikh Muhammad did not know that the man wanted to enter Islam so he did not give him
any attention and he left the mosque with his students.

The man, who wanted to enter Allah's religion, remained standing at the door of the mosque
watching the sheikh and his students driving their cars and moving away. On that sight he
could not prevent himself from crying and burst into tears. While he was standing weeping at
the door of the mosque, a young man who lived in the same quarter passed by him.

He asked him about the reason of his crying and the Indian replied that he wanted to be a
Muslim.

The young man (May Allah reward him the best) took him to his house. He made him perform
ablution (wudoo) and say the two testimonies (None deserves to be worshipped but Allah and
Muhammad is His Messenger). The Indian left after he said the testimony and it was about the
dusk prayer (Al-Maghrib). Then he went to his room and suffered from a severe stomachache.

The young man came to sheikh Muhammad and told him the whole story. The sheikh regreted
what he had done though he was ignorant of the matter. He went to the Indian's room, but his
colleagues told him that he had died last night and he was then in the morgue of the Central
Hospital. The sheikh went with some Du'ah to the hospital to receive his corpse, but the
hospital refused stating that the embassy had sent to his family in India and they would
receive his corpse to be burnt there. The sheikh objected saying that the man became a
Muslim and there were witnesses to that, but still the hospital refused.

Sheik Muhammad went to Sheikh Abd Al-Aziz Bin Baz (May Allah have mercy upon him) and
told him the whole story. Sheikh Abd Al-Aziz said that the Indian should not be given to his
family as he became their brother in Islam; they should pray on his corpse and bury him there.
He should not be given to the unbelievers. Sheik Abd Al-Aziz sent a copy of the subject to the
emirate and requested an order to give the corpse to sheikh Muhammad Farraj.

The emirate ordered the hospital to give the corpse to Sheikh Muhammad and he received it.
Some Du'ah washed the man and put him in his coffin. The funeral prayer coincided with Al-
Jumu'ah (the Friday congregational prayer). Sheikh Muhammad gave a wonderful oration on
the one who embraced Islam then died without making one prostration to Allah. He stated in
the first oration some similar examples from history, then he stated in the second one the
story of the Indian man upon whom they would pray after Al-Jumu'ah. The Muslims prayed
upon him, then they carried him upon their shoulders and they all went to the graveyard led
by many Du'ah and scholars.

It was a moving scene, May Allah accept him and have mercy upon him.

Sunday : 29/06/2003

How a Former Egyptian Coptic Priest Came to Islam

Ibrahim Khalil Ahmad, formerly Ibrahim Khalil Philobus, was an Egyptian Coptic priest who studied theology
and earned a masters degree from Princeton University. He studied Islam to find gaps to attack it; instead
he embraced Islam with his four children, one of whom is now a professor at the Sorbonne, Paris. Now let
.Mr. Khalil tell his story

"I was born in Alexandria on the 13th of January 1919 and was sent to the American
Mission schools until I got my secondary education certificate there. In 1942 I got my
diploma from Asiut University and then I specialized in religious studies as a prelude to
join the Faculty of Theology. It was no easy task to join the faculty, as no candidate
could join it unless he got a special recommendation from the church, and also, after he
should pass a number of difficult exams. I got a recommendation from Al-Attareen
Church in Alexandria and another from the Church Assembly of Lower Egypt after
passing many tests to know my qualifications to become a man of religion. Then I got a
third recommendation from Snodus Church Assembly which included priests from
Sudan and Egypt.

The Snodus sanctioned my entrance into the Faculty of Theology in 1944 as a boarding
student. There I studied at the hands of American and Egyptian teachers until my
graduation in 1948.

I was supposed to be appointed in Jerusalem had it not been for the war that broke out in
Palestine that same year, so I was sent to Asna in Upper Egypt. That same year I
registered for a thesis at the American University in Cairo. It was about the missionary
activities among Muslims. My acquaintance with Islam started in the Faculty of
Theology where I studied Islam and all the methods through which we could shake the
faith of Muslims and raise misconceptions in their understanding of their own religion.

In 1952 I got my M.A. from Princeton University in U.S.A. and was appointed as a
teacher in the Faculty of Theology in Asiut. I used to teach Islam in the faculty as well as
the faulty misconceptions spread by its enemies and the missionaries against it. During
that period I decided to enlarge my study of Islam, so that I should not read the
missionaries books on it only. I had so much faith in myself that I was confirmed to read
the other point of view.

Thus I began to read books written by Muslim authors. I also decided to read the Qur'an
and understand its meanings. This was implied by my love of knowledge and moved by
my desire to add more proofs against Islam. The result was, however, exactly the reverse.
My position began to shake and I started to feel an internal strong struggle and I
discovered the falsehood of everything I had studied and preached to the people. But I
could not face myself bravely and tried instead to overcome this internal crisis and
continue my work.

In 1954 I was sent to Aswan as secretary general of the German Swiss Mission. That was
only my apparent position for my real mission was to preach against Islam in Upper
Egypt especially among Muslims. A missionary conference was held at that time at
Cataract Hotel in Aswan and I was given the floor to speak. That day I spoke too much,
reiterating all the repeated misconceptions against Islam; and at the end of my speech,
the internal crisis came to me again and I started to revise my position.

I began to ask myself: Why should I say and do all these things which I know for sure I
am a liar, as this is not the truth? I took my leave before the end of the conference and
went out alone to my house. I was completely shaken. As I walked through Firyal public
garden, I heard a verse of the Qur'an on the radio. It said: "Say: It has been revealed to me that
a company of Jinns listened (to the Qur'an). They said: We have really heard a wonderful recital! It gives
guidance to the Right, and we have believed therein: We shall not join (in worship) any gods with our
Lord." (Qur'an 72:1-2) "And as for us, since we have listened to the Guidance, we have accepted it: and
any one who believes in His Lord, has no fear of either a short (account) or of any injustice." (Qur'an
72:13)

I felt a deep comfort that night and when I returned home I spent the whole night all by
myself in my library reading the Qur'an. My wife inquired from me about the reason of
my sitting up all night and I pleaded from her to leave me alone. I stopped for a long time
thinking and meditating on the verse: "Had We sent down this Qur'an on a mountain, verily thou
wouldst have seen it humble itself and cleave asunder for fear of Allah." (59:21)

And the verses: "Strongest among men in enmity to the believers wilt thou find the Jews and the
Pagans, and nearest among them in love to the believers wilt thou find those who say, 'We are Christians';
because amongst these are men devoted to learning and men who have renounced the world, and they are
not arrogant. And when they listen to the revelation received by the Messenger, thou wilt see their eyes
overflowing with tears, for they recognize the truth: They pray: 'Our Lord! We believe, write us down
among the witnesses. What cause can we have not to believe in Allah and the truth which has come to us,
seeing that we long for our Lord to admit us to the company of the righteous?'" (Qur'an 5:82-84)

And also the verses: "Those who follow the Messenger, the unlettered Prophet, whom they find
mentioned in their own (Scriptures), in the Taurat and in the Gospel; for he commands them what is just
and forbids them what is evil; he allows them as lawful what is good (and pure) and prohibits them what is
bad (and impure). He releases them from their heavy burdens and from the yokes that are upon them. So it
is those who believe in him, honor him, help him and follow the light which is sent down with him, it is
they who will prosper. Say: 'O men! I am sent unto you all, as the Messenger of Allah, to Whom belongs
the dominion of the heavens and the earth: there is no god but He: It is He that giveth both life and death.
So believe in Allah and His Messenger. The unlettered Prophet, who believeth in Allah and His Words:
follow Him that (so) you may be guided." (Qur'an 7:157-158)

Now that same night, I took my final decision. In the morning I spoke with my wife from
whom I have three sons and one daughter. But no sooner than she felt that I was inclined
to embrace Islam than she cried and asked for help from the head of the mission. His
name was Monsieur Shavits from Switzerland. He was a very cunning man. When he
asked me about my true attitude, I told him frankly what I really wanted and then he said:
Regard yourself out of job until we discover what has befallen you. Then I said: This is
my resignation from my job. He tried to convince me to postpone it, but I insisted. So he
made a rumor among the people that I became mad! Thus I suffered a very severe test
and oppression until I left Aswan for good and returned to Cairo.

The Circumstances to my Conversion:

In Cairo I was introduced to a respectable professor who helped me overcome my severe

trial and this he did without knowing anything about my story. He treated me as a
Muslim for I introduced myself to him as such although until then I did not embrace
Islam officially. That was Dr. Muhammad Abdul Moneim Al Jammal, the then
undersecretary of treasury. He was highly interested in Islamic studies and wanted to
make a translation of the Holy Qur'an to be published in America. He asked me to help
him because I was fluent in English since I had got my M.A. from an American
University. He also knew that I was preparing a comparative study of the Qur'an, the
Torah and the Bible. We cooperated in this comparative study and in the translation of
the Qur'an.

When Dr. Jammal knew that I had resigned from my job in Aswan and that I was then
unemployed, he helped me with a job in Standard Stationery Company in Cairo. So I was
well established after a short while. I did not tell my wife about my intention to embrace
Islam thus she thought that I had forgotten the whole affair and that it was nothing but a
transitory crisis that no more existed. But I knew quite well that my official conversion to
Islam needs long complicated measures and it was in fact a battle which I preferred to
postpone for some time until I became well off and after I completed my comparative
study.

In 1955 I did complete my study and my material and living affairs became well
established. I resigned from the company and set up a training office for importing
stationery and school articles. It was a successful business from which I gained much
more money than I needed. Thus I decided to declare my official conversion to Islam. On
the 25th of December 1959, I sent a telegram to Dr. Thompson, head of the American
Mission in Egypt informing him that I had embraced Islam.

When I told my true story to Dr. Jammal, he was completely astonished. When I declared
my conversion to Islam, new troubles began. Seven of my former colleagues in the
mission had tried their best to persuade me to cancel my declaration, but I refused. They
threatened to separate me from my wife and I said: She is free to do as she wishes. They
threatened to kill me!

When they found me to be stubborn they left me alone and sent to me an old friend of
mine who was also a colleague of mine in the mission. He wept very much in front of
me. So I recited before him the following verses from the Qur'an: "And when they listen to
the revelation received by the Messenger, thou wilt see their eyes overflowing with tears, for
they recognize the truth: They pray: 'Our Lord! We believe, write us down among the witnesses. What
cause can we have not to believe in Allah and the truth which has come to us, seeing that we long for our
Lord to admit us to the company of the righteous?'" (Qur'an 5:84)

I said to him, "You should have wept in humiliation to God on hearing the Qur'an and
believe in the truth which you know but you refuse. He stood up and left me as he saw no
use. My official conversion to Islam was in January 1960.

The Attitude of my Wife and Children:

My wife left me at that time and took with her all the furniture of our house. But all my
children joined me and embraced Islam. The most enthusiastic among them was my
eldest son Isaac who changed his name to Osman, then my second son Joseph and my
son Samuel whose name is Jamal and daughter Majida who is now called Najwa. Osman
is now a doctor of philosophy working as a professor in Sorbonne University in Paris
teaching oriental studies and psychology. He also writes in "Le Monde" Magazine.

As in regards to my wife, she left the house for six years and agreed to come back in
1966 provided that she keeps her religion. I accepted this because in Islam there is no
compulsion in religion. I said to her: I do not want you to became a Muslim for my sake
but only after you are convinced. She feels now that she believes in Islam but she cannot
declare this for fear of her family but we treat her as a Muslim woman and she fasts in
Ramadan because all my children pray and fast. My daughter Najwa is a student in the
Faculty of Commerce, Joseph is a doctor pharmacologist and Jamal is an engineer.

During this period, that is since 1961 until the present time I have been able to publish a
number of books on Islam and the methods of the missionaries and the orientalist against
it. I am now preparing a comparative study about women in the three Divine religions
with the object of highlighting the status of women in Islam. In 1973 I performed Hajj
(pilgrimage to Mecca) and I am doing activities preaching Islam. I hold seminars in the
universities and charitable societies. I received an invitation from Sudan in 1974 where I
held many seminars. My time is fully used in the service of Islam.

The Most Attractive Features of Islam:

My faith in Islam has been brought about through reading the Holy Qur'an and the
biography of Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings of God be upon him. I no longer
believed in the misconceptions against Islam and I am especially attracted by the concept
of unity of God, which is the most important feature of Islam. God is only One. Nothing
is like Him. This belief makes me the servant of God only and of no one else. Oneness of
God liberates man from servitude to any human being and that is true freedom.

I also like very much the rule of forgiveness in Islam and the direct relationship between God and His servants. Allah
says, "Say: O my servants who have transgressed against their souls!, despair not of the Mercy of Allah: for
Allah forgives all sins: for He is Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful. Turn ye to your Lord (in repentance) and
submit to Him before the Chastisement comes on you: After that ye shall not be helped." (39:53)
Monday : 22/08/2005

How an American Poet, Critic and Author Embraced Islam

The simplicity of Islam, the powerful appeal and the

compelling atmosphere of its mosques, the earnestness of
its faithful adherents, the confidence inspiring realization of
the millions throughout the world who answer the five daily
calls to prayer --- these factors attracted me from the first.
But after I had determined to become a follower of Islam, I
found many deeper reasons for confirming my decision.

The mellow concept of life -- fruit of the Prophet's combined

course of action and contemplation --- the wise counsel, the
admonitions to charity and mercy, the broad
humanitarianism, the pioneer declaration of woman's
property rights - these and other factors of the teachings of
the man of Mecca were to me among the most obvious
evidence of a practical religion so tersely and so aptly epitomized in the cryptic words of
Muhammad, "Trust in God and tie your camel". He gave us a religious system of normal
action, not blind faith in the protection of an unseen force in spite of our own neglect, but
confidence that if we do all things rightly and to the best of our ability, we may trust in what
comes as the Will of God.

The broadminded tolerance of Islam for other religions recommends it to all lovers of liberty.
Muhammad admonished his followers to treat well the believers in the Old and New
Testaments; and Abraham, Moses and Jesus are acknowledged as co-prophets of the One God.
Surely this is generous and far in advance of the attitude of other religions. The total freedom
from idolatory ... is a sign of the salubrious strength and purity of the Muslim faith.

The original teachings of the Prophet of God have not been engulfed in the maze of changes
and additions of doctrinarians. The Qur'an remains as it came to the corrupt polytheistic
people of Muhammad's time, changeless as the holy heart of Islam itself.
Moderation and temperance in all things, the keynotes of Islam, won my unqualified
approbation. The health of his people was cherished by the Prophet, who enjoined them to
observe strict cleanliness and specified fasts and to subordinate carnal appetites ... when I
stood in the inspiring mosques of Istanbul, Damascus, Jerusalem, Cairo, Algiers, Tangier, Fez
and other cities, I was conscious of a powerful reaction [to] the potent uplift of Islam's simple
appeal to the sense of higher things, unaided by elaborate trappings, ornamentations, figures,
pictures, music and ceremonial ritual. The mosque is a place of quiet contemplation and self-
effacement in the greater reality of the One God.

The democracy of Islam has always appealed to me. Potentate and pauper have the same
rights on the floor of the mosque, on their knees in humble worship. There are no rented pews
or special reserved seats.

The Muslim accepts no man as a mediator between himself and his God. He goes direct to the
invisible source of creation and life, God, without reliance on saving formula of repentance of
sins and belief in the power of a teacher to afford him salvation.

The universal brotherhood of Islam, regardless of race, politics, colour or country, has been
brought home to me most keenly many times in my life and this is another feature which drew
me towards the Faith.

[From "Islam, Our Choice"]

Monday : 08/03/2004

How Dr. Germanus (Hungarian Professor of Oriental Studies) Came to Islam

It was on a rainy afternoon in my adolescence that I was

perusing an old illustrated review. Current events mingled
with fiction, and descriptions of far-off countries, varied in
its pages. I turned the leaves indifferently for a while when
suddenly a wood-cut arrested my eyes. The picture
represented flat-roofed houses from among which here and
there round cupolas rose gently into the dark sky enlivened
by the crescent.

The shadow of men squatting on the roof clad in fantastic

robes stretched out in mysterious lines. The picture caught
my imagination. It was so different from the usual European landscapes: it was an Oriental
scene, somewhere in the Arabian East, where a story-teller told his gaudy tales to a burnoused
audience. It was so realistic that I fancied I could hear his melodious voice as he entertained
us, his Arab listeners on the roof and me, a sixteen-year-old student sitting in a soft arm-chair
in Hungary.

I felt an irresistible yearning to know that light which fought with the darkness in the picture. I
began to learn Turkish. It soon dawned upon me that the literary Turkish language contains
only a small amount of Turkish words. The poetry is enriched by Persian, the prose by Arabic
elements. I sought to master all the three, in order to enter that spiritual world which spread
such a brilliant light on humanity.

During a summer vacation, I was lucky to travel to Bosnia, the nearest Oriental country
adjacent to ours. As soon as I settled in a hotel I dashed forth to see living Muslims, whose
Turkish language had only beckoned to me through its intricate Arabic script from the pages of
grammar books. It was night, and in the dimly-lit streets I soon discovered a humble cafe in
which on low straw stools a couple of Bosnians enjoyed their kayf. They wore the traditional
bulging trousers kept straight at the waist by a broad belt bristling with daggers. Their
headgear and the unfamiliar costume lent them an air of truculence. It was with a throbbing
heart that I entered the kahwekhame and timidly sat down in a distant corner.

The Bosnians looked with curious eyes upon me and I suddenly remembered all the
bloodcurdling stories read in fanatical books about Muslim intolerance. I noticed that they
were whispering among themselves and their topic was my unexpected presence. My childish
imagination flared up in horror; they surely intended to draw their daggers on the intruding
`infidel'. I wished I could safely get out of this threatening environment, but I dared not budge.

In a few seconds the waiter brought me a cup of fragrant coffee and pointed to the frightening
group of men. I turned a fearful face towards them when one made a gentle salaam towards
me accompanied with a friendly smile. I hesitatingly forced a smile on my trembling lips. The
imagined `foes' slowly rose and approached my little table. What now? ---- my throbbing heart
inquired --- will they oust me?

A second salaam followed and they sat around me. One of them offered me a cigarette and at
its flickering light I noticed that their martial attire hid a hospitable soul. I gathered strength
and addressed them in my primitive Turkish. It acted like a magic wand. Their faces lit up in
friendliness akin to affection --- instead of hostility they invited me to their homes; instead of
the falsely anticipated daggers they showered benevolence upon me. This was my first
personal meeting with Muslims.

Years had come and passed in a rich variety of events, travels and study. Each opened new
vistas before my curious eyes. I crossed all the countries of Europe, studied at the University
of Constantinople, admired the historic beauties of Asia Minor and Syria. I had learnt Turkish,
Persian and Arabic, and gained the chair of Islamic studies at the University of Budapest.

In spite of all the dry and tangible knowledge that was hoarded up through centuries, all the
thousands pages of learned books I had read with eager eyes --- my soul remained thirsty. I
found Ariadne's thread in the books of learning, but I yearned for the evergreen garden of
religious experience.

My brain was satiated but my soul remained thirsty. I had to divest myself of much of that
learning I had gathered, in order to regain it through inner experience, ennobled in the fire of
suffering, as the crude iron which the pain of sudden cold tempers into elastic steel.

One night Prophet Muhammad appeared before me. His long beard was reddened with henna,
his robes were simple but very exquisite, and an agreeable scent emanated from them. His
eyes glittered with a noble fire and he addressed me with a manly voice, "Why do you worry?
The straight path is before you, safely spread out like the face of the earth; walk on it with
trusty treads, with the strength of Faith."

"O Messenger of God", I exclaimed in my feverish dream in Arabic, "it is easy for you, who are
beyond, who have conquered all foes when heavenly admonition has started you on your path
and your efforts have been crowned with glory. But I have yet to suffer, and who knows when I
shall find rest?"

He looked sternly at me and then sank into thought, but after a while he again spoke. His
Arabic was so clear that every word rang like silver bells. This prophetic tongue which
incorporated God's commands now weighed upon my breast with a crushing load; `A lam
naj'all'l-Arda mihadan --- "Have We not set the earth as a couch, and the mountains as stakes,
and created you in pairs, and made your sleep for rest ?"

"I cannot sleep." I groaned with pain. "I cannot solve the mysteries which are covered by
impenetrable veils. Help me, Muhammad, O Prophet of God! Help me!"

A fierce interrupted cry broke forth from my throat. I tossed chokingly under the burden of the
nightmare --- I feared the wrath of the Prophet. Then I felt as if I had dropped into the deep ---
and suddenly I awoke. The blood knocked in my temples, my body was bathed in sweat, and
my every limb ached. A deadly silence enveloped me, and I felt very sad and lonely.

The next Friday witnessed a curious scene in the huge Jum'a Masjid of Delhi. A fair-haired pale-
faced stranger elbowed his way, accompanied by some elders, through the thronging crowd of
believers. I wore an Indian dress, on my head a small Rampuri cap, I put on my breast the
Turkish orders, presented to me by previous sultans. The believers gazed at me in
astonishment and surprise.

Our small party paced straight on to the pulpit, which had been surrounded by the learned,
respectable elders, who received me kindly with a loud salaam. I sat down near the mimbar
(pulpit) and let my eyes gaze on the beautifully ornamented front of the mosque. In its middle
arcade wild bees had built their nests and swarmed undisturbed around it.

Suddenly, the adhan (call to prayers) was sounded and the mukabbirs (those who repeat the
sound to forward it to other people in other far places), standing on different spots of the
courtyard, forwarded the cry to the farthest nook of the mosque. Some four thousand men
rose like soldiers at this heavenly command, rallied in close rows and said the prayer in deep
devotion - I one among them. It was an exalting moment.

After the Khutba (sermon) had been preached, `Abdul Hayy took me by my hand and
conducted me to the mimbar, I had to walk warily so as not to step on someone squatting on
the ground. The great event had arrived. I stood at the steps of the mimbar. The huge mass of
men began to stir. Thousands of turbaned heads turned into a flowery meadow, curiously
murmuring towards me. Grey-bearded `ulama (Savants) encircled me and stroked me with
their encouraging looks. They inspired an unusual steadfastness into me, and without any
fever or fear I slowly ascended to the seventh step of the mimbar.

From above I surveyed the interminable crowd, which waved below me like a living sea. Those
who stood after stretched their necks towards me, and this seemed to set the whole courtyard
in motion. `Ma'sha Allah` exclaimed some nearby, and warm, affectionate looks radiated from
their eyes'.

"Ayyuh al-Saadaat al-Kiram", I started in Arabic --- `I came from a distant land to acquire
knowledge which I could not gain at home. I came to you for inspiration and you responded to
the call'. I then proceeded and spoke of the task Islam had played in the world's history, of the
miracle God has wrought with His Prophet. I explained on the decline of present-day Muslims
and of the means whereby they could gain ascendancy anew. It is a Muslim saying that all
depends on God's will, but the Holy Qur'an says that `God betters not the condition of people
unless they improve themselves'. I built my speech on this Qur'anic sentence and wound up
with the praise of pious life, and the fight against wickedness.

Then I sat down. I was aroused from the magnetic trance of my speech by a loud `Allahu
Akbar', shouted from every nook and corner of the place. The thrill was overwhelming, and I
hardly remember anything but that Aslam called me from the mimbar, took me by the arm
and dragged me out of the mosque.

"Why this hurry ?" I asked.

Men stood before me and embraced me. Many a poor suffering fellow looked with imploring
eyes on me. They asked for my blessing and wanted to kiss my head. "O God!" I exclaimed,
"Don't allow innocent souls to lift me above them! I am a worm from among the worms of the
earth, a wanderer towards the light, just as powerless as the other miserable creatures. The
sighs and hopes of those innocent people ashamed me as if I had stolen or cheated. What a
terrible burden it must be for a statesman, in whom people confide, from whom they hope for
assistance and whom they consider to be better than themselves!"

Islam liberated me from the embraces of my new brethren, put me in a Tonga and drove me
home.
The next day and the following ones people flocked to congratulate me and I gathered so
much warmth and spirit from their affection as will suffice me for a lifetime.

* Dr. Abdul Karim Germanus is a well-known Orientalist of Hungary and is a scholar of world
repute. He visited India between the wars and for sometime was also associated with Tagore's
University Shanti Naketen. Later on he came to Jamia Millie Delhi. It was here that he
embraced Islam. Dr. Germanus is a linguist and an authority on Turkish language and
literature and it was through oriental studies that he came to Islam. Dr. Abdul Karim Germanus
worked as Professor and Head of the Department of Oriental and Islamic Studies at the
Budapest University, Hungary. He died in 1979.

[From "Islam, Our Choice"]

Wednesday : 16/02/2005

How Leopold Weiss, Austrian Statesman, Journalist, and Author, Became

Muslim

Muhammad Asad, Leopold Weiss, was born in Livow, Austria (later Poland) in 1900, and at the
age of 22 made his visit to the Middle East. He later became an outstanding foreign
correspondent for the Franfurtur Zeitung, and after his conversion to Islam travelled and
worked throughout the Muslim world, from North Africa to as far East as Afghanistan.

After years of devoted study he became one of the leading Muslim scholars of our age. After
the establishment of Pakistan, he was appointed the Director of the Department of Islamic
Reconstruction, West Punjab and later on became Pakistan's Alternate Representative at the
United Nations. Muhammad Asad's two important books are: Islam at the Crossroads and Road
to Mecca. He also produced a monthly journal Arafat. At present he is working upon an English
translation of the Holy Qur'an. [Asad completed his translation and has passed away. -MSA-
USC]

In 1922 I left my native country, Austria, to travel through Africa and Asia as a Special
Correspondent to some of the leading Continental newspapers, and spent from that year
onward nearly the whole of my time in the Islamic East. My interest in the nations with which I
came into contact was in the beginning that of an outsider only. I saw before me a social order
and an outlook on life fundamentally different from the European; and from the very first there
grew in me a sympathy for the more tranquil -- I should rather say: more mechanised mode of
living in Europe.

This sympathy gradually led me to an investigation of the reasons for such a difference, and I
became interested in the religious teachings of the Muslims. At the time in question, that
interest was not strong enough to draw me into the fold of Islam, but it opened to me a new
vista of a progressive human society, of real brotherly feeling. The reality, however, of
presentday Muslim life appeared to be very far from the ideal possibilities given in the
religious teachings of Islam.

Whatever, in Islam, had been progress and movement, had turned, among the Muslims, into
indolence and stagnation; whatever there had been of generosity and readiness for self-
sacrifice, had become, among the present-day Muslims, perverted into narrow-mindedness
and love of an easy life.

Prompted by this discovery and puzzled by the obvious incongruency between Once and Now,
I tried to approach the problem before me from a more intimate point of view: that is, I tried to
imagine myself as being within the circle of Islam. It was a purely intellectual experiment; and
it revealed to me, within a very short time, the right solution. I realised that the one and only
reason for the social and cultural decay of the Muslims consisted in the fact that they had
gradually ceased to follow the teachings of Islam in spirit.

Islam was still there; but it was a body without soul. The very element which once had stood
for the strength of the Muslim world was now responsible for its weakness: Islamic society had
been built, from the very outset, on religious foundations alone, and the weakening of the
foundations has necessarily weakened the cultural structure -- and possibly might cause its
ultimate disappearance.

The more I understood how concrete and how immensely practical the teachings of Islam are,
the more eager became my questioning as to why the Muslims had abandoned their full
application to real life. I discussed this problem with many thinking Mulsims in almost all the
countries between the Libyan Desert and the Pamirs, between the Bosphorus and the Arabian
Sea. It almost became an obsession which ultimately overshadowed all my other intellectual
interests in the world of Islam.

The questioning steadily grew in emphasis -- until I, a non-Muslim, talked to Muslims as if I

were to defend Islam from their negligence and indolence. The progress was imperceptible to
me, until one day -- it was in autumn 1925, in the mountains of Afghanistan -- a young
provincial Governor said to me: "But you are a Muslim, only you don't know it yourself." I was
struck by these words and remained silent. But when I came back to Europe once again, in
1926, I saw that the only logical consequence of my attitude was to embrace Islam.

So much about the circumstances of my becoming a Muslim. Since then I was asked, time and
again: "Why did you embrace Islam ? What was it that attracted you particularly ?" -- and I
must confess: I don't know of any satisfactory answer. It was not any particular teaching that
attracted me, but the whole wonderful, inexplicably coherent structure of moral teaching and
practical life programme. I could not say, even now, which aspect of it appeals to me more
than any other. Islam appears to me like a perfect work of architecture.

All its parts are harmoniously conceived to complement and support each other: nothing is
superfluous and nothing lacking, with the result of an absolute balance and solid composure.
Probably this feeling that everything in the teachings and postulates of Islam is "in its proper
place," has created the strongest impression on me. There might have been, along with it,
other impressions also which today it is difficult for me to analyse. After all, it was a matter of
love; and love is composed of many things; of our desires and our loneliness, of our high aims
and our shortcomings, of our strength and our weakness. So it was in my case. Islam came
over me like a robber who enters a house by night; but, unlike a robber, it entered to remain
for good.

Ever since then I endeavoured to learn as much as I could about Islam. I studied the Qur'an
and the Traditions of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him); I studied the language of
Islam and its history, and a good deal of what has been written about it and against it. I spent
over five years in the Hijaz and Najd, mostly in al-Madinah, so that I might experience
something of the original surroundings in which this religion was preached by the Arabian
Prophet.

As the Hijaz is the meeting centre of Muslims from many countries, I was able to compare
most of the different religious and social views prevalent in the Islamic world in our days.
Those studies and comparisons created in me the firm conviction that Islam, as a spiritual and
social phenomenon, is still in spite of all the drawbacks caused by the deficiencies of the
Muslims, by far the greatest driving force mankind has ever experienced; and all my interest
became, since then, centred around the problem of its regeneration.

From "Islam, Our Choice

Tuesday : 14/10/2003
I Had Not Gone Shopping for a New Religion

After twenty-five years as a writer in America, I wanted

something to soften my cynicism. I was searching for new terms
by which to see. The way one is raised establishes certain
needs in this department. From a pluralist background, I
naturally placed great stress on the matters of racism and
freedom.

en, in my early twenties, I had gone to live in Africa for three years. Th
ring this time, which was formative for me, I did rubbed shoulders Du
h blacks of many different tribes, with Arabs, Berbers, and even wit
ropeans, who were Muslims. By and large these people did not Eu
are the Western obsession with race as a social category. In our sh
counters being oddly coloured rarely mattered. I was welcomed en
st and judged on merit later. By contrast, Europeans and fir
mericans, including many who are free of racist notions, A
automatically class people racially. Muslims classified people by their faith and their actions. I found this
transcendent and refreshing. Malcolm X saw his nation's salvation in it. "America needs to understand
."Islam," he wrote, "because this is the one religion that erases from its society the race problem

I was looking for an escape route, too, from the isolating terms of a materialistic culture.
I wanted access to a spiritual dimension, but the conventional paths I had known as a boy
were closed. My father had been a Jew; my mother Christian. Because of my mongrel
background, I had a foot in two religious camps. Both faiths were undoubtedly profound.
Yet the one that emphasizes a chosen people I found insupportable; while the other,
based in a mystery, repelled me. A century before, my maternal great--grandmother's
name had been set in stained glass at the high street Church of Christ in Hamilton, Ohio.
By the time I was twenty, this meant nothing to me.

These were the terms my early life provided. The more I thought about it now, the more I
returned to my experiences in Muslim Africa. After two return trips to Morocco, in 1981
and 1985, I came to feel that Africa, the continent, had little to do with the balanced life I
found there. It was not, that is, a continent I was after, nor an institution, either. I was
looking for a framework I could live with, a vocabulary of spiritual concepts applicable
to the life I was living now. I did not want to "trade in" my culture. I wanted access to
new meanings.
After a mid-Atlantic dinner I went to wash up in the bathroom. During my absence a
quorum of Hasidim lined up to pray outside the door. By the time I had finished, they
were too immersed to notice me. Emerging from the bathroom, I could barely work the
handle. Stepping into the aisle was out of the question.

I could only stand with my head thrust into the hallway, staring at the congregation's
backs. Holding palm-size prayer books, they cut an impressive figure, tapping the texts
on their breastbones as they divined. Little by little the movements grew erratic, like a
mild, bobbing form of rock and roll. I watched from the bathroom door until they were
finished, then slipped back down the aisle to my seat.We landed together later that night
in Brussels. Reboarding, I found a discarded Yiddish newspaper on a food tray. When
the plane took off for Morocco, they were gone.

I do not mean to imply here that my life during this period conformed to any grand
design. In the beginning, around 1981, I was driven by curiosity and an appetite for
travel. My favourite place to go, when I had the money, was Morocco. When I could not
travel, there were books. This fascination brought me into contact with a handful of
writers driven to the exotic, authors capable of sentences like this, by Freya Stark:

The perpetual charm of Arabia is that the traveler finds his level there simply as a human
being; the people's directness, deadly to the sentimental or the pedantic, like the less
complicated virtues; and the pleasantness of being liked for oneself might, I think, be
added to the five reasons for travel given me by Sayyid Abdulla, the watchmaker; "to
leave one's troubles behind one; to earn a living; to acquire learning; to practise good
manners; and to meet honourable men".

I could not have drawn up a list of demands, but I had a fair idea of what I was after. The
religion I wanted should be to metaphysics as metaphysics is to science. It would not be
confined by a narrow rationalism or traffic in mystery to please its priests. There would
be no priests, no separation between nature and things sacred. There would be no war
with the flesh, if I could help it. Sex would be natural, not the seat of a curse upon the
species. Finally, I did want a ritual component, daily routine to sharpen the senses and
discipline my mind. Above all, I wanted clarity and freedom. I did not want to trade
away reason simply to be saddled with a dogma.

The more I learned about Islam, the more it appeared to conform to what I was after.
Most of the educated Westerners I knew around this time regarded any strong religious
climate with suspicion. They classified religion as political manipulation, or they
dismissed it as a medieval concept, projecting upon it notions from their European past.

It was not hard to find a source for their opinions. A thousand years of Western history
had left us plenty of fine reasons to regret a path that led through so much ignorance and
slaughter. From the Children's Crusade and the Inquisition to the transmogrified faiths of
nazism and communism during our century, whole countries have been exhausted by
belief. Nietzsche's fear, that the modern nation-state would become a substitute religion,
have proved tragically accurate. Our century, it seemed to me, was ending in an age
beyond belief, which believers inhabited as much as agnostics.

Regardless of church affiliation, secular humanism is the air westerners breathe, the lens
we gaze through. Like any world view, this outlook is pervasive and transparent. It forms
the basis of our broad identification with democracy and with the pursuit of freedom in
all its countless and beguiling forms. Immersed in our shared preoccupations, one may
easily forget that other ways of life exist on the same planet.

At the time of my trip, for instance, 650 million Muslims with a majority representation
in forty-four countries adhered to the formal teachings of Islam. In addition, about 400
million more were living as minorities in Europe, Asia and the Americas. Assisted by
postcolonial economics, Islam has become in a matter of thirty years a major faith in
Western Europe. Of the world's great religions, Islam alone was adding to its fold.

My politicized friends were dismayed by my new interest. They all but universally
confused Islam with the machinations of half a dozen middle eastern tyrants. The books
they read, the new broadcasts they viewed depicted the faith as a set of political
functions. Almost nothing was said of its spiritual practice. I liked to quote Mae West to
them: "Anytime you take religion for a joke, the laugh's on you".

Historically a Muslim sees Islam as the final, matured expression of an original religion
reaching back to Adam. It is as resolutely monotheistic as Judaism, whose major
Prophets Islam reveres as links in a progressive chain, culminating in Jesus and
Muhammad. Essentially a message of renewal, Islam has done its part on the world stage
to return the forgotten taste of life's lost sweetness to millions of people. Its book, the
Quran, caused Goethe to remark, "You see, this teaching never fails; with all our
systems, we cannot go, and generally speaking no man can go, further".

Traditional Islam is expressed through the practice of five pillars. Declaring one's faith,
prayer, charity, and fasting are activities pursued repeatedly throughout one's life.
Conditions permitting, each Muslim is additionally charged with undertaking a
pilgrimage to Mecca once in a lifetime. The Arabic term for this fifth rite is Hadj.
Scholars relate the wto the concept of kasd, "aspiration," and to the notion of men and
women as travelers on earth. In Western religions pilgrimage is a vestigial tradition, a
quaint, folkloric concept commonly reduced to metaphor. Among Muslims, on the other
hand, the hadj embodies a vital experience for millions of new pilgrims every year. In
spite of the modern content of their lives, it remains an act of obedience, a profession of
belief, and the visible expression of a spiritual community. For a majority of Muslims the
hadj is an ultimate goal, the trip of a lifetime.

As a convert I felt obliged to go to Makkah. As an addict to travel I could not imagine a

more compelling goal.The annual, month-long fast of Ramadan precedes the hadj by
about one hundred days. These two rites form a period of intensified awareness in
Muslim society. I wanted to put this period to use. I had read about Islam; I had joined a
Mosque near my home in California; I had started a practice. Now I hoped to deepen
what I was learning by submerging myself in a religion where Islam infuses every aspect
of existence.

I planned to begin in Morocco, because I knew that country well and because it followed
traditional Islam and was fairly stable. The last place I wanted to start was in a backwater
full of uproarious sectarians. I wanted to paddle the mainstream, the broad, calm water.

Sunday : 08/05/2005

Qur’an as a Miracle

The Qur’an is truly a living miracle. The very fact of its form and existence is
miraculous. Going deeper into it, however, one finds amazing characteristics
from every vantage point.

In Language

The Arabs of the 6th and 7th centuries C.E. were masters of language.
Eloquence and rhetoric were their lifeblood. The liveliness that marked their
gatherings, the gaiety of their fairs, and the virtues of which they boasted all found their expression through poetry and
literature. They were so proud of their literary accomplishments that they contemptuously dubbed all the other peoples
of the world as “’Ajam” or “Dumb.” It was in this atmosphere that there appeared on the scene an unlettered person,
Muhammad (peace be upon him/PBUH). He presented before them an oration, and declared it to be the Word of Allâh,
because,

“If mankind and the jinn were to gather together to produce the like of this Qur’an, they could never produce
the like thereof, even if they backed up one another.” (Qur’an 17:88)

Such a proclamation was no ordinary thing. It came from a person who had never learned anything from the renowned
poets and scholars of the time, had never recited even a single piece of poetry in their congregations, and never
attended the company of soothsayers. And far from composing any poetry himself, he did not even remember the
verses of other poets. This proclamation, repeated several times in the Qur’an, was therefore the greatest challenge to
their literary prowess, and at the same time also a fatal stab at their polytheist creed and beliefs. Yet, a hush fell over
the whole galaxy of these stirring orators and fiery poets. Not a soul stepped forward to accept this challenge of
producing the like of the Qur’an. They persecuted the Prophet (PBUH), called him insane, sorcerer, poet and
soothsayer, but failed utterly in composing even a few sentences the like of the Qur’anic verses. To this day, as well,
the challenge has remained unmet, although many throughout history, even in the modern day, have made feeble
attempts to do so.

In Prophecies

Among other things, the Qur’an contains prophecies of future events, many of which have come to pass. We reproduce
here a discussion of one such prophecy which was fulfilled within the lifetime of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

While the Prophet (PBUH) was still in Mecca, after having been commissioned to prophethood, being subjected to all
sorts of persecutions by the idolaters of Mecca, exactly at the same time the two great powers of Rome and Persia were
repeatedly beaten and vanquished and suffering a horrible loss in men and material. At last the Romans were so utterly
exhausted that, far from being in a position to launch a counter-attack, they could not even take a firm stand anywhere.
This situation was a matter of jubilation for the pagans of Arabia, as they identified the Persians, for there being fire-
worshippers, with themselves and the Romans, as the “people of the Book,” with the Muslims. The dominance of the
Persians, in their eyes, presaged their own victory and defeat of the Muslims. It was under these circumstances that
these initial verses of the chapter called ar-Rûm (“The Romans”) were revealed:

“…The Romans have been defeated, in the land close by. And after (this) defeat of theirs, they will soon be
victorious within a few years. To Allâh belongs the command before and after and on that day the Believers
will rejoice in Allâh’s help…” (Qur’an 30:2-4)

For those who were aware of the military situation concerning the Romans and Persians this prediction was absolutely
incredible. In fact, the Persians kept marching forward until they reached the city walls of the Roman capital,
Constantinople. The renowned historian Edward Gibbon has commented on this prediction thus:

“When this prophecy was made, no prediction could be more unbelievable because the initial twelve years of Heraclius
were evidently declaring an end to the Roman Empire.” [Fall of the Roman Empire, v.5, p.73-74]

But exactly seven years after his first defeat, the Roman emperor sallied forth from the capital and inflicted crushing
defeats on the Persians at several places, and after that the Roman armies were victorious everywhere.

Meanwhile, a large number of Muslims had migrated to Madînah and their wars with the idolaters of Mecca had
already begun. And the day on which 313 ill-equipped Muslims were decisively beating their enemy- one thousand
heavily-armed warriors of the Meccans- at battlefield of Badr, came the news that the Romans had defeated the
Persians, and it was then realized that the Qur’anic verse, “on that day the Believers will rejoice in Allâh’s help” was
meant to denote the twin happiness of the Romans’ victory as well as their own victory at Badr.

In Science and History

Apart from prophecies, the Qur’an has pointed out many scientific and historical facts which were not only unknown at
that time, but could not even be imagined given the development of civilization. Entire books have been written (by
both Muslims and non-Muslims) confirming the correspondence of scientific discoveries to the truths expressed in the
Qur’an. Again, we suffice here with two examples:

The Qur’an has stated that as Fir’awn (Pharaoh) was drowning in the sea he confessed faith orally just to save his life.
In response, Allâh said:

“What! Now? And indeed before this you did rebel and were of the corrupt. So this day We shall rescue you
with your body that you may be a sign to those who come after you.” (Qur’an 10:91-92.)

At the time of revelation of this verse, and even centuries afterwards, nobody knew that the body of Fir’awn is still
preserved, but it has been discovered only recently and is preserved in the museum of Cairo.

The Qur’an has stated, “And of everything We have created pairs that you may take heed.” (Qur’an
51:49). When this verse was revealed the general conception was that male and female pairs existed only among
human beings and animals or in some vegetation. But with the advancement of science the Qur’anic reality is
becoming manifest that male and female pairs exist in everything. In some instances they are termed as male and
female, and somewhere as positive and negative, as electron and proton, or neutron and positron. In another verse, the
Qur’an has also clarified that the occurrence in pairs in many other things is still not known to people. It says,

Glorified be He Who created pairs of all things which the earth grows, and of themselves (humans), and of
that which they know not.” (Qur’an 36:36)

A Miracle For Us

Looking back through history, it has been observed that prophets were sent with miracles that reflected the society and
knowledge of the people they were sent to. Thus, Mûsa (Moses - PBUH) was sent with a staff that truly turned into a
snake, baffling the trickster magicians of the Pharaoh. ‘Îsa (Jesus - PBUH) was given the power to cure disease and
give life to the dead, stupefying the Jewish doctors who felt proud of their limited knowledge of healing and who had
begun to disregard and deny the supernatural powers of God.

Similarly the Qur’an was an immediate miracle for the Arabs so many years ago in that it challenged and far surpassed
their limits of their literary expression. Unlike the miracles of previous prophets, however, which only had
applicability to a limited time, to this day the Qur’an, the Final Testament given to the Last and Final Prophet, is still a
relevant miracle for humanity and will remain so as long as the world exists. We live in an age of science and
technology, of knowledge, logic, and reason. Yet, with all the human advancement in every sphere of life, the
principles of the Qur’an are neither proven wrong nor have they become “out-of-date.” This is really the great miracle
of Qur’an, that despite so much effort by those sympathetic to the Book and otherwise, it has proven itself a timeless,
universal message for mankind, relevant to every facet of our life?be it politics, economics, ethics, science, literature,
arts or entertainment. In fact, (non-Muslim) scholars have gone so far as to admit that the entire “Western” civilization
today, thriving from the “rebirth of humanity” (i.e. the “Renaissance”), would not have been so had it not been for the
message brought by Muhammad (PBUH). As the celebrated English writer, Robert Briffault, says in “The Making of
Humanity”:

“The ideas of freedom for all human beings, of human brotherhood, of the equality of all men
before the law of democratic government, by consultation and universal suffrage, the ideas that
inspired the French Revolution and the Declaration of Rights, that guided the framing of the
American Constitution and inflamed the struggle for independence in the Latin-American
countries were not inventions of the West. They find their ultimate inspiration and source in the
Holy Qur’an. They are the quintessence of what the intelligentsia of medieval Europe acquired
from Islam over a period of centuries through the various societies that developed in Europe in
the wake of the Crusades in imitation of the brotherhood associations of Islam. It is highly
probable that but for the Arabs modern European civilization would never have arisen at all, it is
absolutely certain that but for them it would never have assumed that character which has
enabled it to transcend all previous phases of evolution.”

Monday : 24/01/2005

Qur'an Wins Heart of US Professor

Dr. Jeffrey Lang is an Associate Professor of Mathematics at the University of Kansas, one of
the biggest universities in the United States. He started his religious journey on Jan 30, 1954,
when he was born in a Roman Catholic family in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

The first 18 years of his life were spent in Catholic schools, which left him with many
unanswered questions about God and the Christian religion, Lang said, as he narrated his
story of Islam.

"Like most kids back in the late 60s and early 70s, I started questioning all the values that we
had at those times, political, social and religious," Lang said. "I rebelled against all the
institutions that society held sacred including the Catholic Church," he said.

By the time he reached the age of 18, Lang had become a full-fledged atheist. "If there is a
God, and he is all merciful and all loving, then why is there suffering on this earth? Why does
not He just take us to heaven? Why create all these people to suffer?" Such were the
questions that came up in his mind in those days.

As a young lecturer in mathematics at San Francisco University, Lang found his religion where
God is finally a reality. That was shown to him by a few of the Muslim friends he had met at
the university. "We talked about religion. I asked them my questions, and I was really
surprised by how carefully they had thought out their answers," Lang said.

Dr. Lang met Mahmoud Qandeel, a regal looking Saudi student who attracted the attention of
the entire class the moment he walked in. When Lang asked a question about medical
research, Qandeel answered the question in perfect English and with great self assurance.
Everyone knew Qandeel-the mayor, the police chief and the common people. Together the
professor and the student went to all the glittering places where "there was no joy or
happiness, only laughter."

Yet at the end Qandeel surprisingly gave him a copy of the Qur'an and some books on Islam.
Lang read the Qur'an on his own, found his way to the student-run prayer hall at the
university, and basically surrendered without much struggle.

He was conquered by the Qur'an. The first two chapters are an account of that encounter and
it is a fascinating one.

"Painters can make the eyes of a portrait appear to be following you from one place to
another, but which author can write a scripture that anticipates your daily vicissitudes?... Each
night I would formulate questions and objections and somehow discover the answer the next
day. It seemed that the author was reading my ideas and writing in the appropriate lines in
time for my next reading. I have met myself in its pages..."

Lang performs the daily five-time prayers regularly and finds much spiritual satisfaction. He
finds the Fajr (pre-dawn) prayer as one of the most beautiful and moving rituals in Islam. "It is
as if you temporarily leave this world and communicate with the angels in singing God's
praises before dawn."

To the question how he finds it so captivating when the recitation of the Qur'an is in Arabic,
which is totally foreign to him, he responds; "Why is a baby comforted by his mother's voice?"
He said reading the Qur'an gave him a great deal of comfort and strength in difficult times.
From there on, faith was a matter of practice for Lang's spiritual growth.

On the other hand, Lang pursued a career in mathematics. He received his master's and
doctoral degrees from Purdue University. Lang said that he had always been fascinated by
mathematics. "Maths is logical. It consists of using facts and figures to find concrete answers,"
Lang said. "That is the way my mind works, and it is frustrating when I deal with things that do
not have concrete answerers."

Having a mind that accepts ideas on their factual merit makes believing in a religion difficult
because most religions require acceptance by faith, he said. Islam appeals to man's reasoning,
he said.

As faculty advisor for the Muslim Student Association, Lang said he viewed himself as the
liaison between the student and their universities. He gets approval from university authorities
to hold Islamic lectures. "The object of being their faculty advisor is to help them get their
needs met as far as adjusting to the American culture and to procedures of the university.
They appreciate the opportunity to have misconceptions corrected," he said.

Lang married a Saudi Muslim woman, Raika, 12 years ago. Lang has written several Islamic
books which are best sellers among the Muslim community in the US. One of his important
books is "Even Angels ask; A journey to Islam in America". In this book, Dr. Lang shares with
his readers the many insights that have unfolded for him through his self discovery and
progress within the religion of Islam.

Monday : 18/08/2003
Qur'an Wins Heart of US Professor

Dr. Jeffrey Lang is an Associate Professor of Mathematics at the University of Kansas, one of
the biggest universities in the United States. He started his religious journey on Jan 30, 1954,
when he was born in a Roman Catholic family in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

The first 18 years of his life were spent in Catholic schools, which left him with many
unanswered questions about God and the Christian religion, Lang said, as he narrated his
story of Islam.

"Like most kids back in the late 60s and early 70s, I started questioning all the values that we
had at those times, political, social and religious," Lang said. "I rebelled against all the
institutions that society held sacred including the Catholic Church," he said.

By the time he reached the age of 18, Lang had become a full-fledged atheist. "If there is a
God, and he is all merciful and all loving, then why is there suffering on this earth? Why does
not He just take us to heaven? Why create all these people to suffer?" Such were the
questions that came up in his mind in those days.

As a young lecturer in mathematics at San Francisco University, Lang found his religion where
God is finally a reality. That was shown to him by a few of the Muslim friends he had met at
the university. "We talked about religion. I asked them my questions, and I was really
surprised by how carefully they had thought out their answers," Lang said.

Dr. Lang met Mahmoud Qandeel, a regal looking Saudi student who attracted the attention of
the entire class the moment he walked in. When Lang asked a question about medical
research, Qandeel answered the question in perfect English and with great self assurance.

Everyone knew Qandeel-the mayor, the police chief and the common people. Together the
professor and the student went to all the glittering places where "there was no joy or
happiness, only laughter."

Yet at the end Qandeel surprisingly gave him a copy of the Qur'an and some books on Islam.
Lang read the Qur'an on his own, found his way to the student-run prayer hall at the
university, and basically surrendered without much struggle.

He was conquered by the Qur'an. The first two chapters are an account of that encounter and
it is a fascinating one.

"Painters can make the eyes of a portrait appear to be following you from one place to
another, but which author can write a scripture that anticipates your daily vicissitudes?... Each
night I would formulate questions and objections and somehow discover the answer the next
day. It seemed that the author was reading my ideas and writing in the appropriate lines in
time for my next reading. I have met myself in its pages..."

Lang performs the daily five-time prayers regularly and finds much spiritual satisfaction. He
finds the Fajr (pre-dawn) prayer as one of the most beautiful and moving rituals in Islam. "It is
as if you temporarily leave this world and communicate with the angels in singing God's
praises before dawn."

To the question how he finds it so captivating when the recitation of the Qur'an is in Arabic,
which is totally foreign to him, he responds; "Why is a baby comforted by his mother's voice?"
He said reading the Qur'an gave him a great deal of comfort and strength in difficult times.
From there on, faith was a matter of practice for Lang's spiritual growth.

On the other hand, Lang pursued a career in mathematics. He received his master's and
doctoral degrees from Purdue University. Lang said that he had always been fascinated by
mathematics. "Maths is logical. It consists of using facts and figures to find concrete answers,"
Lang said. "That is the way my mind works, and it is frustrating when I deal with things that do
not have concrete answerers."

Having a mind that accepts ideas on their factual merit makes believing in a religion difficult
because most religions require acceptance by faith, he said. Islam appeals to man's reasoning,
he said.

As faculty advisor for the Muslim Student Association, Lang said he viewed himself as the
liaison between the student and their universities. He gets approval from university authorities
to hold Islamic lectures. "The object of being their faculty advisor is to help them get their
needs met as far as adjusting to the American culture and to procedures of the university.
They appreciate the opportunity to have misconceptions corrected," he said.

Lang married a Saudi Muslim woman, Raika, 12 years ago. Lang has written several Islamic
books which are best sellers among the Muslim community in the US. One of his important
books is "Even Angels ask; A journey to Islam in America". In this book, Dr. Lang shares with
his readers the many insights that have unfolded for him through his self discovery and
progress within the religion of Islam.

Monday : 18/08/2003

Raising New Muslim Generations

The greatest concern of the conversant Muslim reformer is to

raise a new Muslim generation that deserves to be named- the
generation of victory. This is the first priority of our nation.

A generation that brings Islam to its pure springs, understands

it rightly and completely, free from redundancy and blemishes.
It is not an Islam of myths in its doctrines; of 'Bid’a'
(innovation/heresy) in devotions, negativity in morals, inactivity, imitation and fanaticism to
one school of 'Fiqh' (jurisprudence) over another. But it is the Islam, revealed in the Holy
Qur’an, propagated by the Noble Messenger (peace be upon him/ PBUH), in which the
Companions believed; by which the rightly guided Caliphs of the Prophet (PBUH) ruled; upon
which a sound lofty civilization was erected. A civilization that linked the earth to the heaven,
led the world by religion and brought knowledge and assuredness together.

It is the Islam of the Qur’an and 'Sunnah' (Prophet Muhammad's Tradition), of truth and
strength, learning and acting, 'Jihad' and Ijtihad (juristic reasoning), and of comprehensiveness
and balance.

It is the Islam of individual dignity, family ties, social solidarity, Shura (ruling by
counsel), productivity, and fairness in distribution of duties and rights.

Islam redirects the entire individual’s life for the sake of Allah, the Most High, namely, no
ulterior motives, no conflict; as the purpose is united, the direction is fixed, and the path is
clear:

Say: ‘My prayer, my service of sacrifice, my living and my dying, [all] belong to Allah, the Lord of “
(the Universe.’” (Qur’an 6:162

It is Islam that makes the whole life of the society for the sake of Allah, the Most High. It cannot o be
divided into two conflicting powers: one portion, called “the state,” for Caesar; and the other, called
.“religion” for God, because Caesar and his state both belong to Allah, the One and the Alone

Islam invites to justice even if it is for the interest of its deadliest enemies:

and let not the enmity and hatred of others make you avoid justice. Be just, that is nearer to…“
(piety; and fear Allah. Verily, Allah is All-Acquainted with what you do.” (5:8

:It also forbids aggression even if it was on its most hostile adversaries

and let not ill-will towards any folk lead you to transgression, just because they blocked your …“
way to the Sacred Mosque (the Ka'bah in Mecca), so that you act aggressively; and cooperate
with one another for virtue and heedfulness, and do not cooperate with one another for the
(purpose of vice and aggression. And heed Allah [Alone].” (5:2

Islam fights the atheist Communists and the Capitalists, and rejects class struggle and oppressive sects. It
.calls for religiosity that instills love; not for sectarianism that inculcates grudge

Islam also fights oppressive rulers and the oppressors’ rule. It is Islam that says to the ruler: “Do not
:(oppress” and to the people: “Do not cringe.” It teaches the Muslim to supplicate in his 'Salah' (prayer
 ”.O Allah! We do thank You and refuse to be ungrateful; we cast and abandon whoever disobeys You“

”.Islam makes the best type of 'Jihad (struggle)'; i.e. “Speaking the truth before a tyrant ruler

It aids the weak till they get their rights from the strong and fights the rich, should they abstain from paying
:'Zakah' (poor-due) to the poor. It urges believers to fight

for Allah’s sake, and for those weak, ill-treated and oppressed among men, women and…“
(children.” (4:75

This is Islam (of the Qur’an and 'Sunnah') as understood, believed in and invited to by such a desired
generation. It is Islam that has illuminated the minds and hearts of past generations. With its guidance they
realized their goal, made their way to glory, knew themselves and their Lord, their religion, world,
heritage, age, life, friends and foes. With Islam one would know who shows him the way and who wants to
.mislead and derail him off the right track

Translated by Amin E. Shahata

:Source

'The Desired Muslim Generation

Monday : 24/01/2005

The Caliphate of Abu Bakr 1

 u Bakr became the Caliph on the 8th of June 632 C.E. and he died on Ab
rd August 634 C.E. The period of his caliphate covers two years, two 23
onths and fifteen days only. Judged by the usual standards, this m
riod was too short to make an impact on history. Surprisingly pe
ough, the caliphate of Abu Bakr did not merely make an impact on en
tory; it changed the very course of history. The suppression of his
ostasy, the unification of Arabia, and the conquests of greater parts of ap
q and Syria within the space of two years are the extraordinary Ira
arvels of history. The speed, the magnitude, the extent and the m
rmanence of these campaigns excite our wonder and evoke our pe
miration. For these achievements, Abu Bakr holds a unique position ad
the history of the world in general and the history of Islam in in
.rticular pa

Abu Bakr came to power in the midst of a crisis-loaded

situation. The crises which he was called upon to encounter
were multi-dimensional in character, being psychological,
religious, political and international. Islam stood at the brink of a precipice, and any wrong
step on the part of Abu Bakr at that stage would have led to the disintegration of Islam. He not
only averted the process of disintegration, but also made Islam a world force which could
successfully contend against the giant empires of Byzantium and Persia. The historic role of
Abu Bakr comprises the following achievements:

The war of apostasy

Compilation of the Glorious Qur’an

The conquest of Iraq

The conquest of Syria

The War of Apostasy

There were four main causes for this war:

First, because of the dispute about the caliphate between the Makkan emigrants ‘Muhajireen’
and the Prophet's Madinan helpers ‘Ansar’, various tribes favored separatism. "Why should the
caliph be from Makka or Madina and not from among ourselves?" they asked.

Second, the Zakat which they used to send to Madina was collected by the Prophet! As the
Prophet (PBUH) had died there was no reason for them to send it there. Besides, the Prophet
(PBUH) had often agreed to local alms distribution; so why should they send their
contributions away?

Third, as the wars indicated, some of the uncivilized Bedouins had not been genuinely
 converted to Islam; they had adopted it because they admired a man who could challenge
the two greatest empires of their time. As soon as he died his effect died too and they turned
away from Islam.

Fourth, the influence of the Romans from the north and the Persians and Abyssinians from the
east and the south encouraged the distant tribes to adopt their own religions and beliefs.

Abu Bakr faced the crisis with strong determination that knew no wavering. He summoned all
his combat forces to Thi Al- Qassah (the name of a place), where he arranged them into
eleven different armies, each headed by an appointed commander. The number and command
of each army was well-chosen for the exact commission of each particular army, and the
enemy to be confronted.

The first army was commanded by Khalid ibn Al-Waleed to meet and subdue Tulayhah ibn
Khuwaylid of Bani Assad; then to march to Malik ibn Nuwayrah of Bani Tamim; both situated
east of Al-Madinah at Al- Bitah, and Al-Bazakhah. Bani Assad and Bani Tamim were the nearest
of the renegade tribes to Al- Madinah. The second army was commanded by Ikrimah ibn Abi
Jahl, and was commissioned to fight Mussaylamah of Bani Hanifah at Al-Yamamah. The third
army was commanded by Shurahbeel bin Hasnah with orders to assist the second army under
lkrima in the battle against Bani Hanifah. When victorious, Sherahbil and his army should
move north to assist Amre ibn Al –Aas against Bani Quda’aha. The fourth army was
commanded by Al- Muhajir ibn Ummayah Al –Makhzumi to fight the Al-Aswad Al-Ansi and his
followers in Yemen, and after that to march to Kindah and Hadramaout in the south to fight Al-
Ash’aas ibn Qays and his tribes of apostates. The fifth army was commanded by Suwayd ibn
Maqrin Al-Awsi to fight the reversionary groups in Tuhamah on the East coast of the Red Sea
neighbouring Yemen. The sixth army was commanded by Al-Ala’a ibn Al-Hadrami to subdue
the recreant tribes in Bahrain on the Persian Gulf. The seventh army was commanded by
Huthayfah ibn Muhsin Al-Galfani to fight Thi Al-Taj Laquit ibn Malik Al-Azdii the impostor in
Oman. The Eighth Army was commanded by Arfagah ibn Harthah who was to march to Mahrah
on the south coast of the Peninsula between Oman and Hadramaout.

The remaining three armies were commissioned to march north. The first under the command
of Amr Ibn Al-Aas was ordered to confront Bani Qudaah. The second commanded by Ma’an ibn
Hagiz Al-Salmii to fight Bani Salim and their followers from Bani Hawazen. The third was
commanded by Khalid ibn Said ibn Al-‘Aas to safeguard the northern frontiers with Syria. The
Apostasy campaigns began in August 632 C.E. and by February 633 C.E., apostasy was totally
suppressed; Arabia stood unified, and all people in Arabia joined the fold of Islam. That was a
remarkable achievement which changed the course of history. Abu Bakr was adamant, intent
with purpose, wise in action, and uncompromising regarding the terms of Allah.
Compilation of the Glorious Qur’an

A large number of Muslims were killed in the war of apostasy, among whom were many of
those known for memorizing the Qur’an. `Omar bin al Khattab, whose brother Zayd was
among the dead, thought deeply of what might happen if more such people were killed in
further confrontations. He reached the conclusion that if the Qur'an was to be preserved, it
ought to be compiled into one volume. At that time it was scattered among the companions of
the Prophet, with each preserving part of it. Methods of preservation differed. Some had it
written on parchment; others on palm branches stripped of leaves; a third group on shoulder
bones of animals; and a fourth on stone tablets; a large number also learnt it by heart. If many
of those who had memorized it were killed, then a part of the Holy Book might disappear. So
Omar went to the caliph, who was then sitting in the Prophet's grand Mosque. He discussed his
idea with him, but Abu Bakr rejected it because it had not been approved by the Prophet
(PBUH). A lengthy debate followed, after which Abu Bakr was convinced that Omar was right.

He called for Zayd bin Thabit, a youth of perfect character, and commissioned him to compile
the Qur'an into one volume. At first Zayd objected for the same reason which had made Abu
Bakr protest. Then he acquiesced, but felt that the commission was an extremely difficult task.
He had to collect every verse and every chapter from those who owned them, and then
classify them in the order which was prescribed by the Prophet.

After Zayd accomplished the tedious task and had organized the Qur'an into one book, he
submitted the precious collection to Abu Bakr, who kept it in his possession until the end of his
life. During Omar's caliphate it was placed in the custody of Abu Bakr's daughter, Hafsah, the
Prophet's wife. Finally, in Othman's days, when different readers began to recite it differently,
the caliph had several copies of it made and distributed them to the various countries which
comprised the Islamic world. The modern edition of the Qur'an is the Othman copy, which is
considered the standard to which every other copy should conform.

Abu Bakr's compilation of the Qur'an is regarded by many people as his most significant feat,
more significant even than the war of apostasy and the conquests of 'Iraq and Syria. `Ali bin
Abi Talib used to say: "May God have mercy upon Abu Bakr! He is worthy of being superbly
rewarded, because he was unique in compiling the Qur'an."

To Be Concluded

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sources:

The History of Islam, by: Akbar Shah Najeebadi

Al-Azhar magazine Vol. 60 part 9
The Muslim Conquest of Syria, by: David Nicole
Abu Bakr As-Siddeeq, by Muhammad Rajih Jad'an

Monday : 24/01/2005

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