Fruits for the Week

Header Last edition English

To tell you why I became a Muslim, I have to explain what I felt before and after embracing Islam, My first contact with Islam and the faith that it inspired into me. First of all, let me tell you that thousands of Canadians and Americans think exactly as I used to think before becoming a Muslim; they have the same feeling of dissatisfaction; and they are awaiting the scholars of Ahl-as-Sunnah who will teach them the essence of Islam.

As I was a child, I held fast to my faith, Christianity, with both hands, for I needed a religion to feed my souls. However, as I grew older, I began to see a number of faults in Christianity. The stories told about the life of Isa (as) and his being the son of God – may Allah protect us against saying so – sounded like superstitious tale to me. My personal logic would never accept them. I began to ask myself questions, such as, “If Christianity is the true religion, why are there so many non-Christians in the world?” “Why do Jews and Christians share the same basic religious book and differ in other respects?” “Why are non-Christians doomed to perdition though they have no other apparent faults?” “Why do many nations choose not to become Christians?” 

It was in those days when I met a missionary who had been serving in India. He complained to me, “Muslims are very obstinate. They insist that the true religion is Islam, and not Christianity. So, all my efforts to Christianize then end up in failure.” These statements were at the same time the first definition I had heard of Islam. A sensation of curiosity towards Islam, seasoned with a high degree of administration for Muslims who had been so staunchly attached to their religion, began to blossom in my heart. I felt that I should observe Islam more closely, and began to attend lectures on ‘Oriental Literature’ in the university. I saw that what the oriental people had been rejecting in our belief was the doctrine of ‘trinity’, and that they accepted the belief of ‘One God’, which was perfectly agreeable with common sense. It was certain that Isa (as) had announced his religion as one based on belief in One God, and himself as a mere born slave and messenger of that One God. The God he had mentioned should be a merciful God. Nevertheless, that beautiful and true belief had been smother with meaningless legends, superstitions and heresies inserted into Christianity by idolaters, and the pure belief in the One Merciful, Compassionate God had been adulterated into a tripartite godhood, which was accessible only to priests and which, so to speak, created mankind with a share from the original sin. Then, a new religion with a new prophet was necessary to restore the humanity with that pure and intact belief in One God. Europe on the other hand, was awash in semi-barbaric cruelties in those days. As savage tribes were invading countries, on the one hand, a small minority was perpetrating all sorts of vices under the mask of religion, on the other hand. The human race was moaning desperately under the talons of idolatry and irreligiousness, when, according to historians, seven centuries after Isa (as), in the oriental horizons, there rose Muhammad (saw), the final Prophet of Allah, and he began to communicate to people the true religion of the true God, which was based on belief in One God.

When I read and learned all these facts, I believed in the fact that Muhammad (saw) was the final true Messenger of Allah because:

  1. As I have said, people needed a new prophet;
  2. All my thoughts concerning Allah (swt) conformed with the religion spread by that great Prophet (saw);
  3. As soon as I read the Qur’an, I sensed that it was the Word of Allah (swt). The facts communicated by the Qur’an and the Hadith of Muhammad (saw) satisfied me in every respect and infused a sense of peace into my soul. And this is the reason why I became a Muslim.

You can be sure that, as I have already said, thousands of Americans and Canadians sense the same deficiencies and errors in Christianity. Sad to say, though, they have not had the same chance I did to do a thorough research into the Islamic religion; they need a guide.

After attaining that belief in Islam, I embarked on a study of the books published about Islam. I would like to touch upon a few of the works that I could recommend in this connection. An Indian well-wisher sent me a book captioned ‘What is Islam?’ written by Q. A. Jairazby H. W. Lovlegrove. I would specially recommend the book. It is a book that describes Islam in the best way. Spreading the book world-over would be a useful service for the promulgation of Islam. I read an English version of Qur’an al-Karim rendered by Maulavi Muhammad Ali, and I liked it. In addition, I read some other books, and I did not neglect magazine publicizing about Islam. In Montreal, I found many works published in French about Islam. Some of them praised Islam, while others were intended against it. But Islam’s greatness could be buried even under books written for the purpose of reviling it. Instead, they were no more than other sources of evidence corroborating for me that that Islam is the true religion.

(To be continue)

by Dr. Ali Albarghouthi

e-Newsletter Subscription Form

Subscribe to our Newsletter

Anti-Spam: What color is the sky?
Loading...