With the guidance of Allâhu ta’âlâ I became a Muslim.
I decided to become a Muslim for
the following reasons:
1) Islam infuses a very powerful
spirit of fraternity.
2) Islam prearranges a solution
for any sort of difficulty that a person is likely to encounter throughout his
life. It has not separated religious matters from worldly events. Islam
embodies not only spiritual values, but also social efficacies that would
perfectly harmonize with today’s systems, such as uniting people together and
encouraging them to perform their acts of worship in lines made up of people
from all races and classes, to help the poor, and to cooperate for the solution
of one another’s problems.
3) The Islamic religion trains
both the soul and the body. In short, Islam is an immaculate embodiment of all
spiritual and corporeal matters.
Islam’s fraternity rejects all sorts of
discrimination, race, class, and else. Muslims throughout the world are one
another’s brothers. There are many Muslims on the earth. Islam is the religion
of common-sensed people. All the Muslims living on the earth, be they Indians,
Pakistanis, Arabs, Afghans, Turks, Japanese, or Chinese, look on one another as
brothers. For this reason, Islam is an international religion. Islam is the
only means that could rectify the present time’s degenerated societies and
correct their mistakes. Because it is a religion bestowed by Allâhu ta’âlâ, the variety of its Madhhabs makes it a
religion to which people from all races and classes can adapt themselves. The
Islamic religion has played a very important role in the history of
civilization, and has guided many a semi-barbarian nation to civilization. The
Islamic religion aims at a peaceful and tranquil life for humanity. It has
prescribed the rules whereby to attain happiness and peace. The rule-making policy
followed by the other religions, such as Christianity and Buddhism, is quite
the other way round. The commandments of these two religions are of a quality
to, let alone unite, completely separate people from one another by infusing
into them a feeling of a total isolation from the world. Most Buddhist temples
are situated on the peaks
of
mountains that would defy an average climber to scale frequently. It is the
outcome of a ‘fewer visitors the better’ policy. A close examination of the
Japanese religious credal systems will reveal a similar approach wherein the
most excessive forms of isolation are essential. As for Christians; it would
take no extra attention to observe that the more devoted Christians established
their churches at remoter places. Inside them are as dark as possible. It dates
only from some recent years that churches have been able to make their ways
into urban areas. Predisposed with the belief that mankind is already sinful
from birth, Christians consider the world only as a place where they should
always suffer. As it is seen, the main purport commonly shared by all religions
is that religion is something that should be completely insulated from the
normal proceedings of human life and that life in the world consists in suffering.
The happy contrast comes with
Islam, which cherishes mankind as a born slave beloved to Allâhu ta’âlâ. Small mosques are built in the
middle of villages, on cites most accessible to all the villagers. Their
interiors are bright and airy. People feel pleasure in going there and
performing their acts of worship there. They come together and perform their
congregational prayers. After the prayers they invoke blessings on one another.
They show friendly interest towards one another, and help one another if
necessary. In Islam, helping people in need or, if helping is not possible,
pleasing the concerned Muslims with a cordial smile and soft words, produces
many blessings.
A person has a soul and a body. Allâhu ta’âlâ has given us both a soul and a
body each. As long as we live, we have to train both the soul and the body,
with different systems but without discriminating between them. Islam has taken
into consideration not only man’s spiritual needs, but also his body,
formulating extremely logical and heavenly principles for both of them.
I am a new Muslim. I accepted Islam two
years ago. I am sure that Islam satisfies all my spiritual and physical needs.
Japan’s technology is extremely advanced today. It has been coping with the
entire world successfully. Owing to this scientific progress and material
well-being, the Japanese people have changed entirely. Japan is devoid of
natural resources. All the raw materials are imported from abroad. But we can
make more perfect and cheaper products than other countries. This success is
due to continuous work and contentment with little. In the meantime,
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the
Japanese people, who have had to work and exert themselves ceaselessly, have
not had time for spiritual interests and activities, and consequently they have
become like machines. The Japanese are now imitators of Europeans in their
sheer materialistic pursuits. They have completely stripped themselves of all
sorts of religious belief, and they are thoroughly devoid of spirituality.
Today’s Japanese people are entirely satiated materialistically. Their pockets
are full of money. Yet their souls are becoming poorer and poorer, emptier and
emptier. What could be the value of materialistic richness despite spiritual
poverty? What benefit could the world reap from people clad in decorated
garments but emptied of spiritual values?
In my opinion, this is the most
propitious time for Islamic propaganda. For the Japanese, having reached
perfection with respect to material well-being, are very much aware of the excrutiating
abyss in their soul and are therefore urgently questing for a guide. There is
only the Islamic religion to rescue them from this spiritual bankruptcy. For
Islam will be their guide in this life as well. I am sure that a qualified
Islamic propagation carried on by a serious and orderly organization in Japan
would take no more than a couple of generations for the entire Japanese nation
to become Muslims. And this, in turn, means an honorable far-east source
wherefrom the entire humanity will benefit.
Exactly eighteen years ago,[1] in 1929 that is, I was in Manchuria. Japan had reached one of the
apices of its history.
During one of the journeys I
took around Manchuria, I met a Muslim in a desert in the vicinity of Pieching.
They were leading a very plain and pious life. I admire their life-styles,
their trust in Allâhu ta’âlâ, the hospitality they showed to strangers, and their sense of
faith. As I moved further inland in Manchuria, I met many other Muslims,
observed the same pure and beautiful quality in all of them, and consequently
began to feel growing sympathy for them.
It was no earlier than 1946 that
I managed to go back to Japan.
---------------------------------
[1] Sixty- eight years ago, as of today
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In the meantime, Japan had joined the Second World War, being on
the losing side in the end. The one-time powerful
Japanese Empire was all gone.
Buddhism, to which most Japanese people had been so sincerely and so heartfully
adherent until that time, had been entirely stripped of its original essence
and its logical features, and was now a mere source of detriment to society.
A minor number of Japanese
people had already been Christianized. Despite the ninety long years wherein
Christianity had been forcing its spread in Japan, very few Japanese people had
become Christians. Yet, by the time I arrived in Japan, I saw that their number
had increased considerably. The Japanese people had realized, after the heavy
defeat they had suffered, that Buddha would give them no help at times of
disaster. Having thoroughly lost their love for and trust in Buddha, they were
now looking for a new religion. The younger people, especially, had accepted
Christianity with the expectations that it would be the best possible
substitute for their lost faith. Yet it did not take them long to realize that
the Christian missionaries who had been trying to Christianize them were in
actual fact squalid mercenaries working for American and British capitalists
and that by Christianizing them they would not only refill the vacuum vacated
by the no-longer wanted Buddhism, but also divest them of the deep-rooted
purity and integrity that had so far been associated with their Japanese
identity. During the process of Christianization, the Christian missionaries
were continuously inculcating into their minds the superior qualities of
American and British goods, which in turn gradually infused into them a growing
feeling of aversion to their domestic goods, and which consequently resulted in
an influx of foreign materials into Japan. In more concise terms, the capitalists
were exploiting us to increase their wealth via Christianity.
Japan is a country lying between
Russia and America. Each of these superpowers will normally try to bring Japan
under its own sway. The inculcations they have been practising on us must therefore
be intended for their own advantages, rather than guiding our souls to
salvation. On the other hand, especially in those days, the Japanese people
needed true tutorship.
As far as I am concerned, only the Islamic
religion will satisfy this requirement, guiding them to spiritual peace and
salvation, and showing them the truest way they should follow. One merit that I
admire best in Islam is the powerful feeling of brotherhood
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with
which it equips Muslims. Islam emphasizes that Muslims are brothers beyond
their cutaneous and racial identities, and Allâhu
ta’âlâ commands the human race to live in brotherly peace and safety
without fostering any feelings of harm towards one another. Could another
commandment more perfect and more true be conceived on the face of today’s
miserable world? Who on earth could doubt that the great being who gives such a
command should certainly be Allah Himself? Last year two Muslims came to
Tokoshima. They were from Pakistan. I paid them a visit immediately. They gave
me very beautiful and very profound information about Islam. Later I talked
with some Japanese Muslims. Two of them, Mr. Molivala and Mr. Mita of Tokyo,
enlightened me and recommended that I should convert to Islam. Upon this I
embraced Islam.
I wish with all my heart that
Islam, the most logical and the purest religion, should spread all over the
world and rescue humanity from this disastrous situation. If the entire
humanity become Muslims, this miserable world will become a Garden of Paradise.
Then, the Grace and Grandeur of Allâhu ta’âlâ will illuminate the human souls and guide them on the right way,
which will lead them to eternal salvation. Only through Islam will humankind
attain happiness, both spiritually and physically, and be blessed with the
divine favour of being beloved born slaves of Allâhu
ta’âlâ.
(’Umar Mita is a Japanese economist and thinker. Formerly, he
conducted some research in social areas, entered on a career as a Buddhist
priest and preachedBuddhism for some time, and finally became a Muslim,
dedicating all the rest of his life to Islamic publications.)
Hamd (thanks and praise) be to Allâhu ta’âlâ, I have been a Muslim for three
years. I have attained a happy life. My Pakistani Muslim brothers taught me how
a true and honest life should be. I met those Pakistani brothers of mine during
their visit to Japan. They told me about Islam, and thus caused me to become a
Muslim. I owe them very much gratitude.
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Most of the Japanese people are
Buddhists. Yet they are so only in name, for they have little with Buddhism in
practice. They no longer attend the Buddhist rites, and they have forgotten
their religious teachings almost entirely. The main reason lies in the fact
that Buddhism is a conglomeration of very ambiguous and complicated
philosophical abstractions and that it is of no worldly benefit to its
votaries. Indeed, Buddhism would provide no help to an average-minded person
against the various perplexing problems and new situations he would encounter
daily. A person of medium mental capacity could not understand that religion,
nor could he derive any benefit from it. Not so is the case with Islam. Islam
is a simple, humanitarian and heavenly religion intelligible to everybody. This
religion penetrates all the phases of human life and teaches Muslims how they
should act in each of the so many various situations of life. Cleanliness is
essential in Islam. Islam is the most perfect guide for people with pure souls.
Islam is so logical that the most ignorant person would understand its
language. Unlike other religions, Islam does not contain a privileged priestly
caste or a prototype of ecclesiastical monopoly.
In my opinion, Islam’s spread in
Japan would be a very easy job. There could be some difficulties in the
beginning. Yet these difficulties could be eliminated and the Japanese people
would gradually embrace Islam. The first step is to introduce real Islam to the
Japanese people. Day by day the Japanese people are becoming more and more
materialistic. Yet they are not pleased about this, and they are aware of the
vacuum in their souls. They should be taught that the Islamic religion is not
only a source of spiritual information, but also a complete and perfect guide
that will equip the human race with all the teachings they need in this worldly
life.
As the second step, deeply learned true
Muslims powerful enough to realize this Islamic publication are requisite in
Japan. Unfortunately, the students coming to Japan from various Muslim
countries do not have the potency to carry out this important task. When I made
contact with them, I saw with deep distress that they were not knowledgeable
about their own religion and that they did not obey their own religion. These
people could not be our guides. They were people who admired the western world,
who had been given European education, and who had graduated from western
colleges and church schools. They knew nothing of Islam.
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All Muslims should give serious
consideration to the matter of spreading the Islamic religion in Japan and, as
I have stated earlier, true scholars should be sent to our country. These
people coming in should be exemplary Muslims, not only in words, but also in
manners and behaviours. We Japanese people are pining for peace, truth,
honesty, sincerity and virtue. Day by day we are losing these beautiful
qualities of ours. Islam is the only saviour to rescue us from the impending
destruction.
Muslims have belief in Allâhu ta’âlâ, who is great and one. Japanese
people need this sort of belief.
Islam means ‘peace’. There is not another nation who long for
peace as strongly as the Japanese people do. Attaining peace and tranquillity
requires accepting Islam, which is ‘peace’ itself. Islam means living in peace
and happiness with people and submission to the commandments of Allâhu ta’âlâ. Humanity will attain
salvation from disasters and savageries only via Islam.
After the Second World War I
observed a growing indifference towards our religion. The Japanese people were
gradually taking to the American life style. This life style lessens people’s
religious consciousness and turns them into machinery. And people who have been
turned into machines, in turn, suffer from profound dissatisfaction. I felt the
same dissatisfaction. There was a vacuum in my soul. I was not pleased about
that life style. Yet, what was missing I did not know.
I visited a Muslim who was in Tokyo for a
short stay. I very much admired his religious ideas and the way he prayed. I
began to ask him various questions. The answers he gave not only pleased me,
but also filled the vacuum in my soul. He said that there was one Creator, that
that Creator had prescribed the modes of life we had to lead to attain peace
and salvation, and that he was leading a life compatible with the commandments
of that Creator. His words impressed me so deeply that I told him that I wanted
to accept his religion, and thus I became a Muslim under his guide. After
becoming a Muslim I began to feel in my heart how great a happiness it was to
live in a spiritual mood so
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close
to the Creator. My life style changed and I attained peace.
An attentive look at the way
Muslims greet one another would suffice to realize the fact that Islam is a
true religion. We only say ‘Good morning’ or ‘Good night’ to one another and just walk by. Instead of these dull and
materialistic greetings, Muslims say to one another, “As-salâmu ’alaikum wa
rahmatullâhi wa barakâtuhu,” which
means, “May peace and salvation and the rahmat[1] and barakat[2] of Allâhu ta’âlâ be on you.” Could a more beautiful way of well-wishing or
greeting be conceived? My Muslim friend gave me plenty of valuable information
about Muslims’ credal tenets, about the essentials of Islam, and about the ways
of worship. These things were extremely logical and humanistic. I saw and
believed that Islam is a religion whereby a cleanly, simple, logical and
peaceful life is possible. Living in peace and happiness, both individually and
socially, requires a full adaptation to this religion. For this reason, having
attained peace and salvation myself, I have been doing my best to persuade all
the members of my family, my friends and acquaintances to become blessed with
Islam.
Before becoming a Muslim, I was
a Catholic Christian. I had been Christianized by Catholic missionaries. Yet I
had never warmed to that religion. For the priests asked me to believe in three
gods and commanded me to worship the Eucharist, [the ceremony where Îsâ’s
‘alaihis-salâm’ flesh is represented with bread and his blood is represented
with wine.] They tried to impose a number of irrational teachings such as that
the Pope was sinless and that it was necessary to obey all his commandments,
and threatened that denial of those tenets would lead one to perdition.
Whenever I asked the priests to explain their teachings more clearly so that I
could get a clearer picture to convince my mind, none of them could explicate
the tenets, but they only dismissed the matter by saying, “These things are
heavenly secrets beyond the mind’s grasp.” How could a person accept something
---------------------------------
[1] Compassion, mercy.
[2] Abundance, blessing.
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beyond his mental grasp?
Gradually, I began to sense that there was something wrong, that Christianity
was not a true religion, and to feel a bitter resentment against it. Any
mention of other religions, such as Islam, would be enough to exasperate the
priests; they would shout themselves hoarse, saying, “Muhammad is —may Allâhu ta’âlâ protect us from saying— a liar.
Islam is a concoction.” When I asked why that religion was a mendacious one,
they would falter, fumbling for an answer. This detestable state they caused
themselves into motivated me to examine the Islamic religion more closely. I
made contact with Muslims living in Malaya, and requested them to enlighten me
about their religion. These people were quite dissimilar to the priests. They
gave me very beautiful information about Islam. Let me add that in the
beginning I had heated discussions with them. Yet, so convincing were their
answers to my questions, and so infinite was the patience and the firmness they
showed to me, that I began to feel as if a curtain was being raised from before
my eyes, and a great feeling of peace and satisfaction began to stir in me. In
contrast with Christianity fraught with superstitions, everything in this new
religion was rational, logical and reasonable. Muslims believed in one Creator.
That great Creator did not say that mankind was sinful, but, on the contrary,
He bestowed plenty of blessings on human beings. Among His commandments, there
was not a single dot that I would not understand. Muslims’ acts of worship were
intended only to pay hamd (thanks and praise) to Allâhu
ta’âlâ. They did not worship a number of images or shapes.
Deep in my soul I felt the flavour of each and every âyat (verse) of the Qur’ân al-kerîm, their holy book. One
did not have to go to a temple for worship. A person could do his acts of
worship in his home as well as in any other place. All these things were so
lovely, so true, and so humanistic that I accepted the fact that Islam is the
true religion of Allah, and I embraced Islam willingly.
I was born in the Krokov city of
Poland in 1900. I am from a famous family recorded in Polish history. My father
was a compulsive atheist. Yet he allowed his children to be given Catholic
education. There were many Catholics in Poland. Being
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a devoted Catholic, my mother wished that we be raised with a
Catholic education. I had very deep respect for religion. I believed in the
fact that religion was the most important guide both in individual life and in
social life.
My family had frequent foreign
relations. My father had made many journeys in his youth, and therefore he had
numerous foreign friends. Consequently, we had respect for other races,
civilizations and religions. Without discriminating one person from another, we
respected every nation, every race and, in short, every individual. I
considered myself not as a Polish citizen, but also as a citizen of the entire
world.
My family held moderate views concerning
temporal matters. Although my father was a born aristocrat and therefore must
have been a person without any practical skills, he hated laziness and
inactivity, and recommended that everybody should have a job. He was totally
against dictatorship. Yet he would never approve a social revolution that would
demolish the world’s order. He had deep respect for traditions coming from
earlier times. He was against their being degenerated. In short, my father was
a modernized and moderate prototype of the knights of the Middle Ages. The
liberal education that my father had given me had made me a researcher and I
had embarked on a research into social matters. The world had quite a number of
social, political and economical problems that awaited solution. What had to be
done to solve them and to find the right path? I saw that humanity had been
parted into two polar opposites in those matters. Capitalism on the one side,
and communism on the other. In other words oppression and terror on the one
side, and a thoroughly uncontrolled society on the other. These two opposites
would have to be brought together and integrated into a moderate system so that
the entire humanity could attain peace and happiness. In my opinion, the human
society would have to be based on essentials that were liberal, but at the same
time disciplined, in conformity with today’s conditions, but at the same time
respectful of the old customs. As a person who had been educated with the principles
of ‘walking exactly on the intermediate path’, it was natural for me to think
so. We were nicknamed ‘Progressive Traditionalists’.
By the time I became sixteen
years old, I had already begun to wonder whether the Catholic religion could
establish those essentials. Subsequently I examined the Catholic religion more
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closely. Then I realized that my mind could never accept some of
the credal tenets with which they had tried to indoctrinate me in the church.
Ahead of all those tenets was trinity. Then came the Eucharist [where bread and
wine are supposed to havechanged into Îsâ’s ‘alaihis-salâm’ flesh and blood,
respectively]; the compulsory intermediation of a priest between Allâhu ta’âlâ and the born slave, which had
been made a stipulation for the acceptance of one’s prayers; attributing
innocence and divinity to the Pope, who was a mere human being like us;
worshipping some shapes, images and icons; making some strange signs; all these
absurdities gradually made me take an aversion to Christianity. I began to
think that that religion was, let alone a saviour to rescue humanity from
disasters, a groundless and worthless heretical belief. I was now completely
indifferent about religion.
After the Second World War, I
began to feel a need for a religious belief again. I realized that humanity
could never be without a religion. The human soul needs religion. Religion is
the greatest guide and the most profound source of consolation. An irreligious
person is doomed to perdition. The worst evils come to humanity from
irreligiousness. Leading a perfect social life requires people’s being attached
to one another, which in turn is dependent upon religion. I realized that
today’s progressive man could not accept a religion that could not cope with
today’s living conditions or scientific improvements, which consisted of some
grotesque ideas, and which ran counter to common sense. Such was the Christian
religion. To know how the other religions were, I decided to examine all the
world’s religions. I studied the American Quakers,[1] the Unitarians,[2] and even the
Bahâîs.[3] But
none of them seemed satisfactory to me.
Eventually, I somehow found a
book entitled ‘Islamo Esperantiste Regardata’, written in the Esperanto
language. The book had been published by a British Muslim named Ismâ’îl
Collin Evans. That book was the
guide that led me to Islam, in
---------------------------------
[1] A group of Christians called Society of Friends. They are known for their opposition to violence and war. They perform their religious services in silence, and call them Meetings.
[2] A Christian religious group, who
believe in the unity of Allah.
[3] One of the heretical sects founded
for the purpose of demolishing Islam from within. For further information,
please see Endless Bliss, Second Fascicle, 36th chapter.
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1949. I read it. I consulted
the Islamic organization called ‘Dâr-ul-tablîgh-ul-Islâm’[1] in Cairo, and
requested them to give me
information about Islam. They sent me a book entitled
‘Islâmo Chies Religio’, which, again, was in the
Esperanto language. That book completed my îmân, and I became a Muslim.
Islam fully answers
all my thoughts,
aspirations and wishes that I have
had since my childhood. Islam comprehends both freedom and
discipline. Islam, while listing our
duties towards Allâhu ta’âlâ on the
one hand, prescribes the ways of leading a comfortable and peaceful worldly life on the other. Islam
recognizes rights not only for the
entire humanity, but also for each
and every living creature. Islam has brought the most correct
solutions to the most critical
problems. As a sociologist,
I have admired the greatness and
the perfection inherent in the Islamic precepts ‘Zakât’[2] and ‘Hajj’.[3] [Zakât],
which means for a person who
has been given a larger share from
worldly goods to mete out
a certain percentage of his
property to the poor, and
[Namâz in jamâ’at (congregational
prayer) and Hajj], which mean
all Muslims’ coming together, worshipping Allâhu ta’âlâ and knowing one another, the
rich and the poor, the
seniors and the juniors, the
old and the
young, merchants, artisans and, in short, the rank
and file, indicate that Islam attained
long ago the elevations that today’s social
sciences have not reached so far despite all the
painstaking endeavours. Owing to this
accomplished character, Islam has shown the most perfect
medium way between capitalism and communism and
provided the conveniences coveted by all people.
Islam is a tremendous religion which brings together all the people
in the world regardless of their race, nation, social
status, colour and language, which
gives them equal rights, which
balances their economical discrepancies by means of a well-calculated social-aid system, and
which provides a material and spiritual
discipline by infusing the fear
of Allah. Even the Islamic polygamy, Islam’s most criticized
aspect, bears some biological considerations and is a principle more honest than the
hypocritical monogamy of the Catholics, who never live
with one woman.
---------------------------------
[1] Please see the fifty-eighth paragraph in The Religion Reformers in Islam, for the Tablîgh-i-jamâ’at.
[2] Endless Bliss, fifth fascicle, first chapter.
[3] Endless Bliss, fifth fascicle, seventh chapter.
-116-
In conclusion, I pay
hamd-u-thenâ to Allâhu ta’âlâ, who has guided me to the right path and blessed me with the path
that will lead me to His approval.
Formerly, I was an arch enemy of
Islam. For, all the members of my family and all my friends were telling me
that Islam was an absurd and concocted religion that would lead man to Hell,
and they were even preventing me from talking with Muslims. As soon as I saw a
Muslim I would turn and walk away, and I would curse them behind their back. In
those days, if I had dreamt of myself examining that religion closely, admiring
it, and finally embracing Islam, I would not have interpreted it
optimistically.
Why did I become a Muslim? I
shall give a short answer to this question. The greatest Islamic virtue that
attracted me towards it was that Islam is an extremely pure, very logical, and
easily intelligible religion which contains very profound pieces of advice and
divine wisdom. As soon as I began to examine the Islamic religion, it impressed
me very strongly and I felt that I was going to accept it.
I received a Christian education. I thought
that there was not another religious book more valuable than the Bible, which
had been handed to me. Yet, when I began reading the Qur’ân
al-kerîm, I saw with amazement that that book was far an away superior
to the Bible in my hand, and that it taught me so many beautiful facts that the
Bible had not taught me. There were many preposterous legends and grotesque
credal tenets in the Christian religion. The Qur’ân
al-kerîm rejected all such things and taught men facts that they would
understand and accept. I gradually took a dislike to the Bible, and held fast
to the Qur’ân al-kerîm with both hands.
Whatsoever I read in it, I understood it, liked it, and admired it. So Islam
was the true religion. When I realized this fact, I decided to accept Islam,
thus attaining îmân and the religion of peace and love.
What I like best in Islam, and
what attracted me to it most strongly, is the fact that Muslims look on one
another as brothers. Without any discrimination with respect to colour, race,
vocation,
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nationality, or country, Muslims all over the world know one
another as brothers, love one another, and consider it as a sacred duty to do
favours to one another and to help one another. The rule, “... Thou shalt love
thy neighbour as thyself.” (Matt: 22-39) which remains in theory in the pages
of the Bible, has been put into practice only by Muslims. And no other religion
contains it even on the theoretical level. The Islamic brotherhood is not only
in words. Always and everywhere, Muslims throughout the world cooperate and run
to help one another, no matter whether they know one another or not.
The second feature of Islam that
I admire is that that religion does not contain a superstition or an
unintelligible principle. Islam’s tenets are logical, practical, reasonable,
and up-to-date. The Islamic religion recognizes one Creator. The expression
Rűh-ul-quds (the Holy Spirit) exists in the Qur’ân
al-kerîm. Yet its meaning is ‘the divinity of Allâhu ta’âlâ’, or ‘the angel named Jebrâîl’.
It does not mean ‘another godhead’. Islam’s principles, i.e. its commandments
and prohibitions, are extremely simple, logical, and adaptable to modern life
in every respect. Islam is the only true religion that the entire world could
accept.
EXPLANATION: The expression
‘Rűh-ul-quds’ exists in a few different sűras (chapters) of the Qur’ân al-kerîm. It is written in books
of tafsîr (explanations of the Qur’ân al-kerîm) that it has varying meanings, depending on the context in which
it appears. In short, it has meanings such as ‘The angel named Jebrâîl’, ‘the
life-giving and protecting attributes of Allâhu ta’âlâ’, ‘the soul of Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’, and ‘The Injîl (the original,
unchanged Bible)’. Its lexical meaning is: ‘The Pure Soul’.
Paying hamd-u-thenâ (gratitude
and praise) to Allâhu ta’âlâ, I begin my explanation. I testify to that there is no ma’bűd
(god, being worthy of worship) but Allâhu ta’âlâ, and that Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’ is His slave and Messenger.
I met Muslims five years ago.
One day, one of my friends said that he had taken an interest in the Qur’ân al-kerîm and had been reading
it. I knew nothing about the Qur’ân al-kerîm then. Upon
learning that my friend had begun to read the Qur’ân al-kerîm, I decided to study the
Qur’ân al-kerîm, too, lest
I should be outclassed by my friend, and went
to the public library in my hometown to try and find a Swedish version
of the Qur’ân al-kerîm. I did find
one, and presently began reading it. A book borrowed from the library could be
kept for only fifteen days. Yet I was so deeply impressed by the Qur’ân al-kerîm that fifteen days would
be too short. So, a couple of days after returning the book to the library, I
would go back to the library and borrow it again. Thus, returning the book
after each fifteen-day period and borrowing it again a few days later, I read
the translation of the Qur’ân al-kerîm again and again. Each time I read the Qur’ân al-kerîm, I felt deeper
admiration for it, so much so that I began to believe that Islam was a true
religion. I had already decided to become a Muslim by the November of 1950. Yet
I wanted to postpone my conversion until I had penetrated deeper into Islam and
learned its inner essence well by examining it more closely. To this end, I
went to the public library in Stockholm and studied the books written about the
Islamic religion. Among those books, I came across the translation of the Qur’ân al-kerîm rendered by Muhammad
Alî. Although later I came to know that Muhammad Alî belonged to a heretical
group called Qâdiyânî, or Ahmadî,[1] I reaped many benefits even from the version translated by that
incompetent person. I no longer had any hesitations as to that I should become
a Muslim. It was at that time when I first began to talk with Muslims. From
1952 on I joined them in their acts of worship. I had the good luck to find a
society founded by Muslims in Stockholm. I met them, and I learned many facts
from them, too. During the (holy month of) Ramadân in the hijrî year 1972, I
went to England, where I officially became a Muslim on the first day of ’Iyd in
the mosque of ‘Woking’.
Islam’s logicality was what
attracted me to it most. Islam does not contain anything that common sense
would reject. Islam enjoins belief in the unity of Allâhu ta’âlâ. Allâhu
ta’âlâ is Ghafűr and Rahîm (forgiving and extremely
compassionate). He continuously bestows blessings and gifts upon the human race
so that they should live in comfort and peace.
Another aspect of Islam that I
like best is that Islam is a
---------------------------------
[1] Please see chapter 36, Corrupt
Religions, in Endless
Bliss, Second Fascicle, for
heretical groups.
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religion that belongs not only to the Arabs but also to the entire
humanity. Allâhu ta’âlâ is the Rabb
of all classes of beings. This universal quality presents a sharp contrast with
the Judaic religion, whose holy book always refers to the ‘God of Israel’.
One more thing that I love in
Islam is that this religion recognizes all the prophets ‘alaihim-us-salawâtu
wa-t-taslîmât’ that have come up to today, pays respect to them, and treats the
believers of other religions with great compassion. A Muslim can pray anywhere
that is clean, in a field and in a church alike. A Christian, on the other
hand, will not even stay at a place close to a mosque.
The Qur’ân al-kerîm explains in the most
beautiful style that Islam is the most true and the final religion, and that
Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’ is the last Prophet:
The third âyat of Mâida Sűra
purports, “Today I have made your religion perfect. I have completed My
blessings uponyou, and I have chosen Islam as your religion.”
The nineteenth âyat of
Âl-i-’Imrân Sűra purports, “Know this for certain: Islam is the (only) religion in the view of Allâhu ta’âlâ.”
I accepted
Islam because I admired the great Prophet
Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’. I had quite a number of Muslim friends in Zanzibar.
They told me very beautiful facts about Islam. They gave me Islamic books,
which I read in secrecy from my family. Eventually, in 1940, I decided to
become a Muslim at all costs. So I became a Muslim despite the remonstrances of
my family and the oppressions of the priests of Parsee[1] religion,
which had been my religion until that time. I will not enlarge on the
consequent events that I experienced or the retaliatory difficulties that I
encountered. My family had recourse to inconceivable measures to deprive me of
îmân (belief in Islam).
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[1] A corrupt religious cult, which is seen chiefly among Indian people, and which is believed to be a sub-continuation of the Zoroastrian sect. It is also transcribed as Parsi.
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They persecuted me very bitterly.
Yet I had attained the guidance to the right way, and therefore I held fast to
my true religion and resisted against all sorts of threat. Now I love one Allah
and His last Prophet Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’
more than my life.
Like the Rock of Gibraltar I
stood against all the hardships that my family heaped before me. As I struggled
against those hardships, I was encouraged and invigorated by my own belief, “I
am on the path dictated by Allâhu ta’âlâ. Allâhu ta’âlâ knows the truth in everything, and He will help me.”
I had the chance to read and
study the Qur’ân al-kerîm in Gujerati[1]. The further I went on
reading the Qur’ân al-kerîm, the more strongly did I feel attached to it, so much so that I
finally believed with all my heart that no other religion on the earth had the
capacity to guide humanity to the right path. The Qur’ân al-kerîm is a holy book that
teaches men the ways of leading a simple life, brotherhood, equality, and
humanity, and which bestows on them a peaceful and comfortable life in this
world and the next. The Islamic religion, which Allâhu
ta’âlâ revealed through this greatest guide for humanity,
shall survive till the termination of the world’s existence.
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[1] Also Gujarati, an Indo-Iranian language of the Indo-European family, spoken in Gujarat, a northerly-west coastal state in India. Quite a number of people living in today’s Britain are the descendants of people from this region, and they still speak Gujerati.
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