By Manzar Imam,
New Delhi: For those accusing that money and other lucrative offers are given in order to allure non-Muslims to convert to Islam, it was an eye-opener of sorts. Around one hundred people both men and women gathered at two separate locations for male and female participants. The occasion was the second annual “Reverts Get Together” organized by Islamic Da’wah Centre (IDC) on 25 December 2011.
The meeting was convened to learn about the experiences and difficulties of the reverts who had accepted Islam on their volition without any conversion programme being run overtly or covertly by any Muslim organization.
L-R: Mufti Obaidullah Qasmi,Yaseen Zaman with his son, Dr. Harun Khan, Arshad Sirajuddin Makki and IDC chairman Mohammad Umar Gautam
As against the charge of those who claim that people of poor families and lower castes are offered some incentives to denounce their old belief system and accept Islam or Christianity, these people came from well-off families and were well-educated and settled in life, many of them doctors, engineers, chartered accountants, and so on so forth.
Speaking on this occasion, Mohammad Umar Gautam, chairman of IDC, who himself accepted Islam back in 1984 and had to face great difficulties, said that the meeting was organized to know and share each others’ experiences and forge a new relation in order to lessen the burden of social ostracism that many had to face. It was an informal meeting and participants coming from different family backgrounds and different parts of the county, some even foreign nationals informed how they had boldly faced the challenges after their conviction that what they had understood of Islam was based on their study of it.
One of the participants, a PhD scholar at a central university in Delhi with a bachelor and master’s degree in aeronautical engineering from Ukraine, said that in Ukraine he used to enjoy with friends every evil that is available for free but after sometime everything looked tasteless. I reached the conclusion that everything is nonsense, said he. I then started studying many religions and concluded that Islam offered best way of life. My heart witnessed it, but courage failed me to declare it. But one day I made it known to my family.
I used to hate Muslims and did not want to meet any person practicing any religion other than Hinduism as I served at temples and studied at Gurukul, my maternal grandfather being an Acharya with a Doctorate in Sanskrit from Banaras Hindu University, said Abbas Chaudhary of Nepal.
The only thing I liked about Islam or Muslims was the “beard”. Later, I started studying some other religions. Finally I accepted Islam. I was not taught Kalimah by any Muslim initially. By my own had I professed the Kalimah of Islam declaring my faith in Allah being my Lord and Muhammad (SAW) His messenger.
Mohammad Yaseen Zaman of the United Kingdom sat quiet with his five-year-old son. When asked to share his experiences, Zaman requested the audience to ask questions rather than giving a speech. He was asked, “What prompted you to Islam?” to which he said that there was no one definite answer to the question. He further said, “I cannot find an easy answer to it”. I was an atheist and my family was also atheist but there was something inside me searching for some answers. Why was the universe created? I would think and look towards the sky and think about the sun, the moon, the stars, etc.
According to Zaman even atheists follow some religion. They follow the religion of their nafs, the religion of duniya (world). Zaman accepted Islam six years ago after travelling the East and meeting scholars with the questions that always looked for answers.
An inquiry into the benefit of khatna (circumcision) led Mommad Ibrahim (Devender) to study the life of Prophet Ibrahim resulting into his declaration of Islam on 10 October 2010.
Justice many a times is not done in this world. Some culprits die before they are brought to book, said Dr. Mohammad Noor of Bihar who declared his faith on 29 October 2006. Islam’s idea of justice after death caught my imagination. Things like Muslims are terrorists, they are dirty, they do not encourage education, are common notions found in non-Muslim households. Some of these could be true to some extent but inwardly Muslims are very good.They need to pay attention to education and outer cleanliness, said Dr. Noor.
Trials are part of life, believed Dr. Ibrahim. Muslims should rather fear if they are not put through trials because Prophets were put through them, he said.
Cardiologist, Dr. Ayesha Shibli, Research Scholar Ayashaa Jenna and Post-graduate management student Samreen suggested to arrange training and education programmes for the reverts in order to enhance and strengthen their knowledge of Islam.
These are educated people who have embraced Islam without any greed, said Dr. Mohammad Harun Khan, Principal of Bharati Vidyapeeth God’s Valley International School, Panchgani, Satara. They have accepted Islam by choice. The important thing in whatever one does is to seek Allah’s pleasure in that, said he. Jobs will come not by touching the feet of the management but by seeking pleasure of one’s Creator.
People are running after food of which the Creator has taken the responsibility while they are keeping themselves away from the responsibility given by the Creator i.e. to take the message of the Creator to His creatures, said Abdul Hadi, section officer with a guest house.
The programme that started with the recitation of the Quran ended with dua for social goodness by an Imam.
(Manzar Imam is a journalist and editor of monthly IDC Newsletter published by Islamic Da’wah Cenre, New Delhi. He can be reached at [email protected])