Why did they become Muslims?

INTRODUCTION

The Islamic religion is the final religion and is therefore at the zenith of perfection. This fact is acknowledged even by (George) Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) [Shaw's clever plays, e.g. Pymalion, are based on faults in moral attitudes and in society.], the well-known Irish writer and critic, whose personal comments on Islam can be summarized as, "Were we to choose a common religion for the entire world, it would definitely be the Islamic religion." This conclusion is quite natural. For the Islamic religion is the sole religion that has preserved its intact purity owing to the promised protection against the interpolations suffered by all the religious systems previous to it. Judaism, one of the greatest monotheistic cults, had foretold about the advent of a Messiah. Issa a.s. (Jesus) was hailed as the promised Messiah, yet the Injil (Bible), the heavenly book of the religion he spread, was lost. Later, various gospels were written in the name of Injil, and these new gospels, which were no more than interpolations themselves, were interpolated again and again. All these facts, along with various other portents, announced the coming of a final prophet, the real Messiah s.a.s. As a matter of fact, the name of this Messiah is literally written in the Gospel of Barnabas. Then, the Islamic religion is the last, the most true, the most perfect religion wherein all the true religions converge and which, therefore, reflects the full approval of Allahu ta'ala. A friend of ours, [namely, Dr. Nuri Refet Korur], who had spent his entire youth among Christians in Europe, said to us: "I am a Muslim born from Muslim parents. I spent my life in Europe, where I had the chance and time to study all religions and to compare them with each other. If I had seen that another religion was superior to Islam, I would have given up Islam and accepted that religion. For there was no one to force me to remain a Muslim. Yet, all the research and the comparative studies I carried on, reinforced by the debates that I, in the meantime, indulged in with Christians, revealed the fact that Islam is by far superior to all the world's present religions and that it is the only intact true religion, so clearly that I became attached to Islam with all my heart."

Sad to say, today's western world still accommodates Christians who insist on the wrong and call Muslims "heretics", "idle-minded", "devil-worshipers", "irreligious". These misconceptions are inculcated in the minds of Christian children by priests, whose real purpose is to distract their young and inquisitive brains. These interceptive activities are fed with the slanderous propaganda that the Islamic religion embodies aspects disagreeable with modern civilization. The fact, on the other hand, is that Islam is the only religion suitable for today's civilized world. Our book Islam and Christianity deals with and refutes these misconceptions. In addition to English, we translated that book into French and German and sent the translated versions to countries all over the world. Thereby we tried to countermand the falsifications spread by priests and thus to state the actual facts. It did not take us long to see how appropriate and useful our work had been. No sooner had we distributed the books to the world than they gave their fruits. We received a letter from India, in which wrote an Indian Christian: "When I read your book Islam and Christianity, I realized that Islam is the true religion and I decided to become a Muslim." We have been receiving similar letters from young Africans. Anyone who has the opportunity to study the pure, clean, civilized and humane aspects of Islam will feel an irresistible attraction to this religion. The Islamic religion is spreading over the world without any such media as propagation and organization. On the other hand, the missionary organizations belonging to those countries whose primary objective is to spread Christianity are spending huge amounts of money and offering various types of social aid, and yet achieving very little success in comparison with their tremendous efforts.

Despite all this wrongful and inimical volley of vituperations carried on against Islam and all the stupendous efforts put forth for the spreading of Christianity, there has been an ever growing increase in the number of Muslims on the earth. Later ahead you will find more extensive information on this subject. Some of these Muslims remained Muslims because they had been born in Muslim families. However, besides these people there are also people who accepted Islam although their parents had been in other religions and they therefore had been given their family education in other religions. Among these people are universally renowned diplomats, statesmen, scientists, scholars, men of letters, writers, and even men of religion. These people studied Islam well, admired its greatness, and became Muslims willingly. In addition to these people, many other universally known celebrities met the Islamic religion with deep respect and admiration although they did not officially become Muslims; they even believed in the fact that Islam is the true religion and did not hesitate to express this belief of theirs. Scientists, philosophers, and politicians, admired by the entire world, first of all believe in the fact that Allahu ta'ala exists and is One and that He is the Creator of all beings. In this chapter you will find the statements and observations belonging to some of these celebrities.

Among the people who accepted Islam, there may be those who became Muslims of necessity, for the sake of some advantages, or for advertisement. For instance, a non-Muslim woman may have accepted Islam without studying and learning Islam well for the purpose of marrying a certain man who happened to be a Muslim, or an Indian pariah may have done so in order to regain his lost civic rights. However, the fact that well-known scholars, scientists and writers accept the Islamic religion only after a long observation bears a lofty import. Selections from the explanations given by these cultured people on why they abandoned their religions and embraced Islam have been compiled from various sources and books and listed in the following pages. As you read them you will hear from the very tongues of these respectable people why the Islamic religion is superior to other religions. Perhaps a person who was born a Muslim and has spent his life among Muslims is totally oblivious of these superiorities. Yet when a person belonging to another religion studies Islam, he will see the difference clearly and will admire Islam. In fact, reading these explanations will provide you with an opportunity to see and admire once again the high merits of our religion, and thus feel and offer gratitude to Allahu ta'ala for having been Muslims.

A conclusion drawn from all these explanations, in other words, a summary of the reasons why Islam is superior to the other religions, has been added in an independent chapter.

We hold the belief that this work will give you fresh information about the Islamic religion and will confirm once again that Islam is a great and true religion.

A FEW WORDS

Allahu ta'ala created mankind. All people are the born slaves of Allahu ta'ala. Allahu ta'ala is the creator, the Rabb, not only of a certain nation or race or only of the world, but also of the entire humanity as well as of all the worlds of existence. In the view of Allahu ta'ala, all people are the same, and no one is different from another. In addition to a body, He has given a soul to each one of them. He has sent them Prophets 'alaihimus-salawatu wattaslimat' to lead them to spiritual and physical perfection and to guide them on the right way. The greatest ones of these Prophets are Adam, Nuh (Noah), Ibrahim (Abraham), Musa (Moses), Issa (Jesus), and Muhammad s.a.s. The tenets of belief that they taught are the same. The final and the most perfect system is Islam, taught by Muhammad a.s.. No Prophet will come after Muhammad a.s.. For the religion he brought is at the uppermost point of perfection and has no deficiency to be made up; and Allahu ta'ala has declared that mankind will never be able to change or interpolate this religion. The well-known German Writer Lessing (1729-1781), in his book Nathan der Weise (Nathan the Wise), likens the three (heavenly) religions to three identical rings made of sapphire. Yet he feels uncertain as to "whether one of them is genuine and the other three false?" Yet the fact is that all three of them are genuine essentially.

However, as a result of various personal interests, advantages, sordid and biased considerations, jealousies, superstitions, misinformation and misconstructions, men failed to understand this reality, inserted numerous wrong beliefs and ideas into the Musawi and Nasrani religions, and thus changed, defiled these true religions, which were based on Tawhid (unity, oneness of Allahu ta'ala). Only Islam remained in its original purity. Consequently, adherents of these three religions became hostile to one another. This hostile attitude they have assumed means to oppose to the Will of Allahu ta'ala. For, as we have already stated, Allahu ta'ala invites all people to the true religion. In the view of Allahu ta'ala, all people, regardless of race, are equal. All people are Ummat-I-da'wat. And the true religion is Islam, which is the only continuation of the original forms of Judaism and Christianity.

The following passage, which we have paraphrased from Prof. Robinson, reflects the opinions formed in the minds of today's people who are stuck fast in materialism:

"I joined a tour of Israel organized for the teaching staff and students of the University of Orel Roberts. Orel Roberts, the founder of the university and one of the notables of the Catholic Church, was with us. During our scheduled visit to Ben Gurion, a former premier of Israel, Orel Roberts presented a copy of the Holy Bible to Mr. Gurion. The first portion of the Holy Bible was the Old Testament, that is, the Torah. Roberts requested Ben Gurion to read the passage he liked best of that holy book. Ben Gurion met his request with a smile. We sat under a tree in the small yard in front of his house. We were all quiet and ready to listen intently. Ben Gurion opened the Holy Bible, turned one or two pages, and read the following passage: "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them." [Gen: 1-27] I thought to myself, 'good Gracious! Is this the statement he has found after all?' I frowned because I had been expecting him to read a passage from one of the Pentateuchal parts with meanings of a higher level, such as a verse telling about creation or a passage from the Ten Commandments. I beckoned to the television cameraman shooting the event. This beckoning meant: 'Don't bother! These statements are not worth being televised the world over.'

"Sometime afterwards, however, Ben Gurion explained with enthusiasm verging on ecstasy why he had picked up this statement, as follows: 'Quite a long time before we became Americans, Russians, Israelis, Egyptians, or Christians, Muslims, Magians, Jews, etc., that is, before the formation of differences separating today's people from one another, such as nationality, state, religion, belief, and the like, we were all a man and a woman created by Allahu ta'ala. This is the greatest fact which all religious systems are primarily trying to teach us. Why don't we realize this and why are all these hostilities among us? Let us join hands and supplicate Allahu ta'ala to help us realize this fact.'

"We all hung our heads. Roberts, being a religious man, said, 'Amin,' on behalf of us all. The statement that Ben Gurion picked up really was the wisest choice.

"Throughout my way back from Israel this statement completely occupied my mind. We human beings are all the same. We are the born slaves of Allahu ta'ala. There is only one way leading to Him. This way is the way of belief guided by Abraham (Ibrahim), by Moses (Musa), by Jesus (Issa), and finally by Muhammad s.a.s. People who follow this way shall attain to salvation. By abandoning the way guided by Prophets, mankind has made the gravest error. It is for this reason that they have lost their way and their moral qualities and have even forgotten Allahu ta'ala. The earth's resuming its peace and salvation is dependent upon men's realizing that they have been on the wrong way and returning to the right way."

How right Prof. Robinson is in his statements paraphrased above! Today most people have left the way prescribed by the religions, and material values have become their only concern. These poor people do not know that material values are a mere nothing. They are doomed to destruction and extinction. What is immortal in man is his soul. And the soul, in its turn, will not feed on material nutritives. The soul's primary diet is a correct belief in Allahu ta'ala, who created all from nothing; next comes worshipping Him, observing the duties required from His born slaves. Today, all scholars, scientists and state presidents believe in the existence of Allahu ta'ala. Yet in matters pertaining to belief and worship they mostly get stuck in wrong and misguided thoughts and ideas and thus deviate from the right way. A beautiful description of this case is given by Prof. White, a brain surgeon who has won many scientific awards and has attained international fame for the various operational methods he has found, and who is presently a professor at the University of Cleveland and at the same time the director of the Clinic of Brain Surgery founded in the same city. See what he says, (as paraphrased):

"The child that was brought in for a surgical operation was a six-year-old lovely girl. She was very graceful, lively, intelligent, and cheerful. Yet after examination we spotted a big tumour in her brain. We took her in for operation. A cyst attached to the tumour had made It grow very big. I began to operate on the sac containing liquid. But, alas, the global cystic tumour suddenly contracted and the wide veins on its surface tore. blood was gushing out unto the operation bench. My friends and I were doing our utmost to stop the blood flowing as if from a water pump. It was of no avail. We saw in despair that we were losing the battle. The child was dying in our hands. We were under the hopeless oppression of profound sadness. I was trying to stop the bleeding by putting pieces of cotton on the torn veins. The bleeding seemed to come to an end. Yet I could not lift my hand off. For I knew that if I did so the bleeding would begin again and in that case nothing could be done any more. My assistants began to inject blood into the child's body. My fingers were still on the pieces of cotton. How incapable and powerless I felt! poor me, how did I dare to cut off a tumour formed in a small girl's brain? How on earth could I assume the responsibility of so tremendous a job? How could a pitiable human being even touch that stupendous work of art, which we call 'brain', which manages all the so many various functions, provides humankind with their personality and equips them with a variety of faculties such as intellect, memory, emotions, feelings, tastes, pains, thoughts and fancies, and which Allahu ta'ala, alone, could create? We term this tiny object 'brain'. Yet, in actual fact, it was this very child that lay helpless before us.

"Half an hour later. Utter silence reigned in the operation room. We were all extremely tense with anxiety. Everybody, and I myself, knew that were I to lift my hand the flood of blood would begin again, which meant the death of the child. At that moment I began to supplicate to Allahu ta'ala and trusted myself to His help. I begged, 'O my Allah, do give my fingers the strength I need so that I can prevent the bleeding!' Presently a strong feeling of relief suffused me. For I had now committed my trust to Allahu ta'ala. I had the belief that I could now lift my fingers off and there would be no bleeding any longer. I felt the existence of Allahu ta'ala with all my soul. Slowly, I lifted my fingers. The bleeding had stopped.

"It was now easy to perform the operation. The operation lasted for exactly four and a half hours. I did not leave the child for a whole week. I felt so happy as I observed that the child was gradually recovering. As of today, the child is ten years old, a perfectly healthful, cheerful and happy little dear.

"In 1974 I examined a child who had had a brain haemorrhage and I saw that there was a small tumour in the middle of its brain. Yet the tumour had begun to bleed and suppurate. The situation was dangerous and hopeless. We opened the skull, placed tubes on both sides of the brain, and began to wash the brain with antibiotics. This was quite a new method and I was the first to use it. Because the child was burning with fever, we placed it in a respirator and covered it with cold blankets. In the meantime we continued to wash the brain. This hopeless situation lasted for weeks. I kept praying and supplicating Allahu ta'ala to help me. In my supplications, I was begging Allahu ta'ala not only to have mercy on the child and its parents, but also to give energy and strength to those people who had undertaken this heavy responsibility and who had been working with me continuously for weeks.

"Eventually, the divine help reached us. This event, which had seemed to be a total hopelessness, ended in success. The child recovered. My friends were happy and they were saying that the new method we had used had 'yielded a very good result.' They thought that I did it and they prided on it. Yet I did not think so. I was of opinion that, no matter how hard we worked, no matter how new methods we found, no matter how new techniques we applied, success in operations of that sort depended only on the help of Allahu ta'ala. I have always felt this in my heart in the numerous operations I have performed up to now. However improved our technology may be, the result of a brain operation, like all other things, is within the power of Allahu ta'ala, and success is possible only with His help.

"During the brain operations I have performed for years, I have felt great excitement before the human brain. As I have dealt with the brain, and each time I have seen the brain, I have felt in my heart that it is impossible to solve the mystery of this tremendous work of art, that the power which created it is very great, and that it is necessary to believe in the existence of Allahu ta'ala. Even the most perfect computers made by people today can be only toys when compared to the tiniest brains.

"Now I believe that the brain is a case in which the human soul is preserved. As we perform an operation around this case we perform a religious rite. A brain operation, in my personal credo, is a religious rite, identical with performing an act of worship. The operator's technical knowledge and skill are not the only requirements. He should, at the same time, believe in the existence of Allahu ta'ala and beg Him for help and mercy for a successful operation.

"What happens to the soul kept in the case of the brain when a person dies? The soul is not in the body now, but definitely it is not dead. Where does it go, then? It is not for me as a doctor to speculate on where the soul goes or where it stays. For physical areas of knowledge cannot answer this question. The only guide that will help us in this respect is a religious book. I believe that inasmuch as their brains and souls possess the faculty for reasoning, the humankind should leave aside the material values, attach themselves to the religion with all their hearts and believe in the teachings written in religious books."

This comes to mean that even the world's famous and greatest surgeon sincerely expresses that he believes in the existence of Allahu ta'ala and that without His help nothing can be done.

Now let us lend an ear to a scientist:

You all know Edison,[Edison (Thomas Alva) died in 1350 [1931 A.D.]] the well-known American scientist. About this renowned inventor who, in addition to various discoveries, made the first electric bulb and thus illuminated the world, his closest colleague relates the following memory in a book published several years ago:

"One day, as I entered the room, I found Edison deeply plunged in thought, motionless, looking at some container which he was holding in his hand. An expression of utter astonishment tinted with deep signs of respect, admiration and adoration had suffused his face. He did not even notice me till I was quite near him. When he saw me he showed me the container in his hand. It was full of quicksilver. 'look at that,' he said. 'What a tremendous work of art! Do you believe that quicksilver is extraordinary?' I replied, 'Quicksilver is really wonderful substance.' Edison's voice quivered as he spoke. He murmured to me, 'As I look at quicksilver, I admire the greatness of its Creator. So many varying properties He has given to it! As I think of these I almost lose my mind.' Then he turned to me again, and said, 'People world over admire me. They presume that all these various inventions and discoveries I have managed are wonders and great accomplishments. They want to look on me as a superhuman. What a great error it is! I am a person who is not even worth a penny. My discoveries consist in uncovering only an infinitesimal part of the great wonders that actually exist in the universe but which people have not noticed so far. A person who says, "I made this," is the most abject liar, the most drivelling idiot. Man is an incapable creature who can do nothing by himself. Man is a creature who can talk a little and who can think a little. If he thinks well, he will, let alone being proud, see how void he is. So, as I think of these facts, I realize what a powerless, incompetent and weak creature I am. Me, an inventor? [He raised his hand and pointed to the sky.] The real inventor, the real genius, the real creator is He, Allah!' "

As is seen, scientists believe in the existence of Allahu ta'ala and hold fast to His religion with both hands. Materialists mostly cannot find solutions to their problems and give up hope. This is because their souls are empty. The human soul, like the body, needs food. And this, in its turn, is possible only when one has iman, and the only way leading to Allahu ta'ala is the religion. Even those who deny Allahu ta'ala will some day feel this need.

The famous Russian writer (Alexander) Solzhenitsyn (1918 - -), when he settled his home in the U.S., thought he would now be free from great troubles, mental depressions, and from the state of being only a mechanical tool. One day he summoned a group of American youth around himself in a university and said to them, "When I came here, I thought I would be very happy. Unfortunately, here, too, I feel myself in a vacuum. For we have become the slaves of material values. Yes, there is freedom here, and one can do whatever one wishes. But material values are the only important things. The souls are empty. However, what makes a human being a real human is its matured, refined soul. My piece of advice to you is this: Try to improve and beautify your soul! In that case only will those monstrosities that have infested your country and which have been worrying you begin to disappear. Pay the religion its due importance! The human soul is fed on religion. People adherent to their religion will be your greatest helpers in whatever you do. For the fear of Allah will keep them on the right way. On the other hand, your police forces, no matter how powerful, cannot establish a twenty-four-hour control over everybody. What deters people from iniquities is not the concept of police, but the fear that they feel in the permanent presence of Allah."

As we have stated above, religion is the only source of nutriment for the human soul. Of all the existent religions, Islam is the truest, the newest, and the most comprehensive so that it provides its adherents with an ever during adaptability to the world's changing conditions. In this booklet you will read selections from the autobiographical documents in which some cultured people, who, while formerly belonging to some other religion during their childhood, studied various religions and their books and finally embraced Islam on their own volition and without even any marginal outside influence, give their personal accounts on why they decided to change their religion and become a Muslim.

In addition to these highly cultured people, there are quite a number of celebrities who believe in the existence of Allahu ta'ala and who admire Islam for its greatness. There is mention of these people in the next chapter. In the so-called chapter, we shall paraphrase paragraphs from the reflections on the existence of Allahu ta'ala and the superiority of Islam selected from the statements of Emperor Napoleon (Bonaparte, 1769-1821), (Thomas) Carlyle (1796-1881), Prof. (Ernest) Renan (1823-1892), and the Indian hero (Mahatma) Ghandi (1869-1948), and the statements made by (Alphonso Marie de) Lamartine (1790-1869) about our darling Prophet Muhammad a.s..

As all these indicate, the religion is the most vital necessity for mankind. Those unfortunate people who do not believe in their own religion, and who have not had the chance to study Islam, either, will remain hollow-souled and will get hold of false credos fabricated by liars. For a person definitely needs to believe in the existence of a being superior to him and to attach himself to that being. Even those people living in the most improved and developed countries have sought ways to satisfy this need and finally attached themselves to aberrant ideas and fabricated beliefs. On November 17, 1978, nine hundred votaries of a heretical sect were taken to Guyana in North Africa by a miscreant priest named Jim Jones, the founder of the sect, which he called People's Religion, and thence to a camp which this eccentric priest, again, called Jonestown,[This event is widely known as the "Jonestown Massacre."] where he induced them to poison themselves (by drinking poison together). In Italy, a pair of parents who believed another similar priest killed their own child with their own hands because the heretic priest had told them to kill their child and the child would come back to life and would become even healthier than before upon his sending his prayers; it goes without saying how ruined the parents felt when they saw that the child would never return to this life. If these people, who had left their religion, had studied the Islamic religion like those people who embraced Islam, and whom you will get to know more closely further ahead, they would have found in it what they had been looking for, and the Islamic religion, whose lexical meaning also is 'peace and tranquillity, salvation, trusting oneself to Allah', would have given them the spiritual serenity they had been yearning for.

Very sad to say, we Muslims cannot propagate our brilliant religion to the world as efficiently as we wish to do. One of the deciding factors contributing to this failure is our own slackness in paying our religion due attachment and our contagious remission in carrying out its commandments. The Islamic religion enjoins, first of all, physical and spiritual cleanliness. Spiritual cleanliness is obtainable by believing first in the existence of Allahu ta'ala and then in the totality of His commandments and prohibitions which He sent to humankind through Muhammad a.s., His final Messenger. That the soul has been likewise cleansed is identifiable from the presence of certain characteristic signs, such as never lying, never deceiving anybody, habitual rectitude, not holding heretical dogmas, readiness to help others without discriminating among them, and full submission to the commandments of Allahu ta'ala. This is the sole behaviour expected from a Muslim. Then, if a person means to propagate the Islamic religion, first of all he himself has to be a model Muslim. If we exhibit this model and modest behaviour, people belonging to other religions will observe us with admiration, which in turn automatically prompt them to study the Islamic religion. Our newly converted Muslim brothers explained in their answers to the question, "Why did you become a Muslim?" that they decided to become a Muslim upon seeing true Muslims and their life-styles. These Muslims request us to try to spread and publicize the Islamic religion and to set an example, a model Muslim for others by holding fast with both hands to the commandments of our religion. For all our faults and our insufficient capacity of propaganda, the Islamic religion is growing piecemeal and spreading over the world. In 1954 the population of the world was 2.4 billion. By 1978 it reached 3.8 billion. Between 1954 and 1978 the number of Christians reached 150 million, while that of Muslims became 220 million. According to the statistics of the year 1978 written in the World Almanac, published by an international statistics center, there are 1.7 billion Buddhists and Magians, 950 million Christians (Catholics, Protestants and Orthodox Christians), 10 million Jews, 538 million Muslims 1,5 billions - 1996 - UNO statistics) on the earth. On the other hand, Time, (an American magazine), allotted its April 1979 issue to Islam. It was recorded in this issue that the real number of Muslims was 750 million and the existing statistics were incorrect. Christian statisticians make every endeavour to represent a lower number of Muslims on the earth.

- 2 - SELECTIONS FROM THE EXPLANATIONS MADE BY CELEBRITIES WHO WERE FORMERLY NON-MUSLIMS AND WHOSE ADMIRATION FOR ISLAM EVENTUALLY LED THEM TO BELIEVING IN Allahu TA'ALA

The following chapter contains a few paraphrased selections from the statements made by some of the many non-Muslim celebrities who believed in Allahu ta'ala and admired Islam; these statements reflect their views of Islam. So many are the people who share the same opinions that we have had to pick out only the famous ones. Among our selections are great commanders, statesmen and scientists whom you all know very well. Now let us read with attention to what they said:

NAPOLEON (BONAPARTE):

Napoleon I (1769-1821 [1237 A.H.]), who went into history as a military genius and statesman, when he entered Egypt in 1212 [C.E. 1798], admired Islam's greatness and genuineness, and even considered whether he should become a Muslim. The following excerpt was paraphrased from Cherfils's book (Bonapart et Islam):

"Napoleon said:

The existence and unity of Allahu ta'ala, which Musa a.s., had announced to his own people and Issa a.s. to his own Ummat, was announced by Muhammad s.a.s. to the entire world. Arabia had become totally a country of idolaters. Six centuries after Issa a.s., Muhammad a.s. initiated the Arabs into an awareness of Allahu ta'ala, whose existence prophets previous to him, such as Ibrahim (Abraham), Ismail, Musa (Moses) and Issa (Jesus) a.s. had announced. Peace in the east had been disturbed by the Arians, [i.e. Christians who followed Arius], who had somehow developed a degree of friendship with the Arabs, and by heretics, who had defiled the true religion of Issa a.s. and were striving to spread in the name of religion a totally unintelligible credo which is based on trinity, i.e. God, Son of God, and the Holy Ghost. Muhammad a.s. guided the Arabs to the right way, taught them that Allahu ta'ala is one, that He does not have a father or a son, and that worshipping several gods is an absurd custom which is the continuation of idolatry."

At another place in his book he quotes Napoleon as having said, "I hope that in the near future I will have the chance to gather together the wise and cultured people of the world and establish a government that I will operate [in accordance with the principles written in Qur'an al-karim.]"

Prof. (THOMAS) CARLYLE:

Thomas Carlyle of Scotland (1210 [C.E. 1795]-1298 [C.E. 1881]), one of the greatest men of knowledge known world over, entered the university when he was only fourteen years old, studied jurisprudence, literature and history, learned German and oriental languages, exchanged letters with, and even visited, the well-known German writer (Johann Wolf-gang von) Goethe (1749-1832), was awarded by the King of Prussia with the medal of honour called 'pour le mérite', and was elected president by the University of Edinburgh. Among Carlyle's works are Sartur Resartus, The French Revolution, On Heroes, Hero Worship And the Heroic in History, Past and Present, Latter-Day Pamphlets, The Life of Friedrich Schiller, and Critical and Miscellaneous Essays.

The following passage was selected from one of his works:

"The Arabs, Muhammad a.s., and his age: Before the advent of Muhammad a.s., (the Arabs were in such a state that) if a big piece of fire spurted out at the place where the Arabs lived, it would have dIssappeared on the dry sand without leaving any traces behind itself. But after the advent of Muhammad a.s. that desert of dry sand turned into, as it were, a barrel of gunpowder. From Delhi to Granada, everywhere became rapidly rising flames. This great person was, so to speak, lightning, and all the people around him became explosives catching fire from him."

From his conference:

"As you read the Qur'an al-karim, you will presently realize that it is not an ordinary tome of literature. The Qur'an al-karim is a work of art that springs from a heart and instantly penetrates all the other hearts. All the other works of art are quite dull when compared with this tremendous masterpiece. The most striking characteristic of the Qur'an al-karim is that it is a truthful and excellent guide. To me, this is the greatest merit of Qur'an al-karim. And it is this merit that begets other merits."

From his memoirs of a trip:

"In Germany I told my friend Goethe about the facts I had gathered concerning Islam and added my personal reflections on the subject. After listening to me with attention, he said, 'If that is Islam, we are all Muslims.' "

MAHATMA GANDHI (Mohandas Karam-chand):

Gandhi (1285 [C.E. 1869]-1367 [C.E. 1948]) descends from a West Indian Christian family. His father was the chief ecclesiastic of the city of Porbtandar, and he was very rich. Gandhi was born in the city of Porbtandar. He went to Britain for his high school education. After completing his education he went back to India. In 1893 he was sent to South Africa by an Indian firm. Upon seeing the heavy conditions under which the Indians working there were and the utterly inhumane treatment they were being subjected to, he decided to put up a struggle for the betterment of their political rights. He dedicated himself to the Indian people. As he was conducting a vigorous campaign against the South African government for the protection of the Indians' rights, he was arrested and imprisoned. Yet he was too undaunted to give up struggle. He stayed in Africa till 1914. Then, quitting his perfectly lucrative job there, he returned to India to carry on his struggle. He waged a struggle in co-operation with the Indian Muslims Unity, which Muslims had established in 1906 for the liberation of India. All his personal property and his father's property he spent for the promotion of this cause.

When he heard that the British were going to launch a second operation of violence and cruelty similar to the one they had perpetrated in the state of Pencap in 1274 [A.D. 1858], he co-operated with the Muslims, induced his friends to withdraw from the civil service, and waged a silent protest and a passive resistance. By wrapping a white piece of cloth around his naked body and contenting himself with the milk of a goat which he continuously kept with him, he carried over his passive resistance. The first reaction on the part of the British was to laugh at him. It did not take them long, however, to see with astonishment and dismay that this man, who believed his own ideals with all his heart and who was ready to sacrifice all his existence with alacrity for the sake of his country, was with the entire India in tow and resounding with his speechless struggle. Imprisoning him proved to no avail. Gandhi's efforts resulted in India's attaining its independence. The Hindus gave him the name 'Mahatma', which lexically means 'blessed'.

Gandhi studied the Islamic religion and Qur'an al-karim with meticulous attention and finally found himself a sincere admirer of Islam. The following is his observation concerning this subject:

"Muslims have never indulged themselves in bigotry even in times of greatest grandeur and victory. Islam enjoins an admiration for the Creator of the World and His works. As the West was in a dreadful darkness, the dazzling star of Islam shining in the East brought light, peace and relief to the suffering world. The Islamic religion is not a mendacious religion. When the Hindus study this religion with due respect, they, too, will feel the same sympathy as I do for Islam. I have read the books telling about the life-style of the Prophet of Islam and of those who were close to him. These books generated profound interest in me, so much so that when I finished reading them I regretted there being no more of them. I have arrived at the conclusion that Islam's spreading rapidly was not by the sword. On the contrary, it was primarily owing to its simplicity, logicality, its Prophet's great modesty, his trueness to his promises and his unlimited faithfulness towards every Muslim that many people willingly accepted Islam.

"Islam has abrogated monastic life. In Islam there is no one to intervene between Allahu ta'ala and His born slave. Islam is a religion that commands social justice from the outset. There is not an institution between the Creator and the created. Anyone who reads Qur'an al-karim, [i.e. its explanations and books written by Islamic scholars], will learn the commandments of Allahu ta'ala and will obey Him. There is no obstruction between Allahu ta'ala and him in this respect. Whereas many ineluctable changes were made in Christianity on account of its shortcomings, Islam has not undergone any alterations, and it preserves its pristine purity. Christianity lacks democratic spirit. The need to equip that religion with a democratic aspect has necessitated an increase in the Christians' national zeal and the concomitant reforms."

Prof. ERNEST RENAN:

Now let us make mention of a French man of ideas: Ernest Renan was born in 1239 [C.E. 1923] in the Treguier city of France. His father was a captain. He was five years old when he lost his father. He was raised by his mother and by his elder sister. Because his mother wanted him to be a man of religion, he was sent to the church college in his hometown. Here he was given an efficient religious education. His strong interest in the oriental languages won him a full command of the Arabic, Hebrew and Syrian languages. Later he entered the university, where he studied philosophy. As he made progress in educational areas and carried on very minute comparative studies on the German philosophy and the oriental literature, he observed some flaws in Christianity. By the time he was graduated from the university in 1848, at the age of twenty-five, he was entirely defiant towards the Christian religion, and he compiled his thoughts in his book titled 'The Future of Knowledge'. Yet, because the book was of a rebellious nature, no printhouse dared to print it, and it was only forty years later, in 1890, that the book was printed.

Renan's primary objection was against the belief that Issa a.s. was the 'Son of God'. When he was appointed as a professor of philosophy in the university of Versailles, he began to gradually explain his thoughts on this subject. However, it was not till after he was appointed as a professor of the Hebrew language for the university of College de France that he voiced his most vigorous protest. By the time he finished his first class he had had the courage to say, "Issa a.s. was a respectable human being superior to the other human beings. Yet he was never the son of Allahu ta'ala." This statement had the effect of a bomb. All the Catholics, and especially the Pope, rose up. The Pope officially excommunicated Renan before the entire world. The French government had to dismiss him from office. Yet the world was already resounding with Renan's statements. Great numbers of people sided with him. He wrote books, such as 'Essays on the History of Religions', 'Studies on Criticism and Morals', 'Discourses on Philosophy' and 'Life of Jesus', and his books sold like hot cakes. Upon this the French Academy accepted him as a member (in 1878). Also, the French government invited him back to office and appointed him as the director of college de France.

Renan observed Issa a.s. as a human being in his work 'Life of Jesus'. According to Renan, "Issa a.s. is a human being like us. His mother Maryam (Mary) was betrothed to a carpenter named Yusuf (Joseph). Issa a.s. was a superior human being, so much so that, the statements that he made when he was only a small child were a source of astonishment for many a scholar. Allahu ta'ala deemed him as worthy of prophethood and gave him this duty. Issa a.s. never said that he was the 'Son of God'. This is a slander fabricated by priests."

The contention between Catholic priests and Renan continued for a long time. While the Catholics accused him of blasphemy, he in his turn indicted them for their mendacity and hypocrisy. Renan was saying, "The real Nazarani religion is based on the belief that Allahu ta'ala is one and that Issa a.s. is only a human being and a prophet." Before Renan had died, he had prepared a written will enjoining from a religious ceremony in the church and prohibiting priests from attending his funeral procession. So, when he died in 1892, a crowded congregation containing only friends who loved him and people who admired him attended his funeral procession.

LAMARTINE (Alphonso Marie Louis de):

One of France's universally known poets and statesmen, Lamartine (1204 [C.E. 1790]-1285 [C.E. 1869]) made official journeys through Europe and America, which gave him the opportunity to have been to Turkey, in the time of Sultan Abd-ul-majid Khan. He was admitted in an utterly friendly manner by the Padishah (Ottoman Emperor), and was also presented with a farm within the state of Aydin, (which is in the western part of Turkey). See what he says about Muhammad a.s. in his book Histoire de Turquie (History of Turkey):

"Was Muhammad 's.a.s. a false prophet? We cannot think so after studying his works and history. For false prophethood means hypocrisy. As falsehood does not have the power of trueness, likewise hypocrisy does not have convincing capacity.

"In mechanics the range of something thrown depends on the power of the thrust. By the same token, the power of a certain source of spiritual inspiration is assessed with the work it accomplishes. A religion, (i.e. Islam), which has carried so heavy a burden, which has spread to such distances, and which has maintained its full power for such a long time, cannot be a lie. It has to be genuine and convincing. Muhammad's a.s. life; his efforts; his courage in attacking and destroying the superstitions and idols in his country; his bravery and valour in standing against the fury of a fire-worshipping nation; his thirteen year endurance to the various attacks, insults and persecutions inflicted on him in Mecca, among his own citizens; his migration to Medina; his incessant encouragements, preaches and admonitions; the holy wars he fought against overwhelmingly superior enemy forces; his spirit for victory; the superhuman confidence he felt at times of greatest afflictions; the patience and trust he displayed even in victory; the determination he showed in convincing others; his endless devotion in worships; his sacred communings with Allahu ta'ala; his death, and the continuation of his fame, honour and victories after his death; all these factual events (and many others untold) indicate that he was by no means a liar, but, on the contrary, an owner of great belief s.a.s.

"It was this belief and this trust in his Creator that made him put forward a two-staged credo: The first stage consisted of the belief that 'there is one eternal being, who is Allah;' and the second stage inculcated that 'idols are not gods.' In the first stage he informed the Arabs about the existence of Allahu ta'ala, who is one and whom they had not known until that time; and in the second stage he shook from their hands the idols which they had looked on as gods until that time. In short, at a single stroke with the sword he broke the false gods and idols and replaced them with the belief in 'One Allah'.

"This is Muhammad a.s., the philosopher, the orator, the Prophet, the law-giver, the warrior, the enchanter of human thoughts, the maker of new principles of belief, the great man who established twenty gigantic world empires and one great Islamic empire and civilization s.a.s.

"Let all the criteria used by humanity for the judgement and evaluation of greatness be applied. Will anyone be found superior to him? Impossible." s.a.s.

I wish to free myself from fancies and whims;
My eccentric nafs will not leave me alone.
I wish to free what is good from the bad;
My eccentric nafs [1] will not leave me alone.

I wish to discipline my essence;
I wish to know what's good for me, 'n what's bad;
I wish to come to my senses;
My eccentric nafs will not leave me alone.

FOOTNOTES

1. Nafs is a malignant force in human nature. It is recalcitrant, stupid, and evil. It always urges man to behave against the commandments of Allahu ta'ala. It is the only creature whose all wishes are against itself.

If we behave in a manner befitting a true Muslim, the number of Muslims will increase even more rapidly, which in its turn means that, as will be stated in the following explanations made by people who converted to Islam from other religions, wrong beliefs will gradually disappear from the earth and the human race will attain their long-awaited peace and happiness.

PEOPLE WHO CHOSE ISLAM

There are a number of people who abandoned their former religion and accepted Islam. These people belong to various races, countries, nationalities, colours and professional groups. Forty-two of these people were asked several questions, such as, "Why did you become a Muslim?" "What are the aspects of Islam that you like best?" by some magazines or societies, or by their own friends. Their answers were quite clear and sincere. These noble people decided to embrace Islam after thinking over the matter for a long time and studying the Islamic religion with meticulous attention. Each and every one of their answers, which we have compiled from various books and magazines and we will paraphrase in the following passages, is of documentary value. There are many lessons to be taken from these answers, and those who read them will once again feel in their hearts the sublime nature of our religion.

These documents have been arranged in an alphabetical order of the initial letters of the nationalities to which our new Muslim brothers belong. These countries are:

America, Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, Holland, Hungary, Ireland, Japan, Malaya, Poland, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Zanzibar.

1 - MUHAMMAD ALEXANDER RUSSEL WEBB (American)
Diplomat, Author & Journalist

(Muhammad Alexander Russel Webb was born in 1262 [1846 C.E.], in Hudson, United States of America. He studied in the university of New York. In a short time he was a very much loved and admired writer and columnist. He published magazines named 'St. Joseph Gazette' and 'Missouri Republican'. In 1887 he was posted as the American consul in the Philippines. After embracing Islam, he thoroughly dedicated himself to the promulgation of Islam and presided over the organization in the United States. He passed away in 1335 [1916 C.E.].)

I was asked by quite a number of people why I, as a person who was born in the United States, a country with an overwhelmingly numerous Christian population, and who listened to the preaches, or, rather, foolish talks, made by Christian priests throughout his growing years, changed my religion and became a Muslim. The brief account I gave them on why I had chosen Islam as my guide in life: I became a Muslim because the studies and observations I carried on indicated that men's spiritual needs could be filled only with the sound principles established by Islam. Even as a child I had never had a disposition to completely dedicate myself to Christianity. By the time I reached the adult age of twenty, I was completely defiant towards the mystical and annoying church culture which interdicted everything in the name of sin. Gradually I disengaged myself from the church, and finally abandoned it for good. I had an inquisitive and curious character. I would always search for causes and purposes for everything. I would anticipate logical explanations for them. On the other hand, the explanations provided by priests and other Christian men of religion did not satisfy me. Most of the time, instead of giving satisfactory answers to my questions, they would dismiss the matter with evasive prevarications such as, "We cannot understand these things. They are divine secrets," and "They are beyond the grasp of human mind." Upon this I decided to study, on the one hand, oriental religions, and on the other hand, books written by famous philosophers. I read various works on philosophy, such as those written by John Stuart Mill (1806-73), English thinker; On Liberty.], by John Locke (1632-1704), English Philosopher], by Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), German philosopher; Critique of Pure Reason], by George Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831), German thinker], by Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1762-1814), German philosopher], by Aldous Huxley (1894-1963), British writer; Brave New World.], and others. The books written by these philosophers always dealt with such subjects as protoplasms, atoms, molecules, and particles, and did not even touch on reflections such as "What becomes of the human soul?" "Where does the soul go after death?" "How should we discipline our souls in this world?" The Islamic religion, on the other hand, treated the human subject not only within the corporeal areas, but also along the spiritual extensions. Therefore, I chose Islam not because I had lost my way, or only because Christianity had incurred my displeasure, or as a result of sudden decision, but, on the contrary, after very minutely studying it and becoming thoroughly convinced about its greatness, singularity, solemnity and perfection.

Islam is based on belief in the existence and the unity of Allahu ta'ala, entire submission to Him, which spontaneously entails worshipping Him and thanking Him for His blessings. Islam enjoins fraternity, goodness, and friendliness upon all the human race, and advises them to be cleanly, spiritually, physically, verbally, and practically. Definitely, the Islamic religion is the most perfect, the most superior and the most conclusive of all the religions known to humanity so far.

2 - Colonel DONALD S. ROCKWELL (American)

Why did I accept Islam? For a long time I had been greatly impressed by Islam's clear logic and formal simplicity, by the magnetizing attraction felt towards its mosques, by the great solemnity and deep affection with which the adherents of that religion had devoted themselves to their faith, by the profound respect and pure sincerity in which Muslims all over the world had been prostrating themselves simultaneously five times daily. However, all these things were short of causing me to become a Muslim. Only after a thoroughgoing analysis of the Islamic religion, which resulted in my exploring a myriad of beautiful and useful aspects in it, did I become a Muslim. A solemn and, at the same time, sentimental, attachment to life, [which was Muhammad's a.s. personal approach]; a mutually consultative method in doing daily chores; a habitually soft behaviour flavoured with mercy and compassion in social lives, indiscriminately; charity for the poor; property rights, which women had been given for the first time; all these things, which were only a few of the many other revolutions that could only be evaluated as 'the most tremendous', and how aphoristical and concise a language it is through which Muhammad a.s. expresses these concepts! By cautioning, "Place your trust in Allahu ta'ala; yet do not forget to tie your camel!", Muhammad a.s. conveys also that Allahu ta'ala commands His born slaves to put their trust in Him only after taking all sorts of necessary precautions. Then, contrary to Europeans' assertions, the Islamic religion is not a religion for those idlers who expect everything from Allahu ta'ala without doing anything for their part. The Islamic religion commands everybody first to do their best and only then to put their trust in Allahu ta'ala.

The justice which Islam rendered to people of other religions was one of its aspects which had had a great impact on me. Muhammad a.s. commands Muslims to be benign towards Christians and Jews. Qur'an al-karim acknowledges the prophethoods of the other prophets as well, beginning with Adam a.s. and including Musa and Issa 'a.s. This is an exalted sense of faith and a great model of justice, which other religions do not possess. While the believers of other religions are casting inconceivable aspersions on Islam, Muslims are answering them favourably.

One of the most beautiful aspects of Islam is that it has completely purified itself of idols. Whereas pictures, icons and signs are still being worshipped in Christianity, things of this nature do not exist in Islam. This is an indication of how pure and unstained a religion Islam is.

The facts stated and taught by Muhammad a.s., the Messenger of Allahu ta'ala, have reached our time without any interpolation. And the Qur'an al-karim, which is the Word of Allah, has been preserved in its pristine purity, exactly as it was revealed, without losing anything from the limpidity it had in the time of Muhammad a.s.. The fabricated superstitions and legends with which Christians have defiled the religion of Issa a.s. are not the case with Islam.

Of the determinants that motivated me to become a Muslim, the last one was the fortitude and the will power that I observed in Islam. Islam induced an overall cleanliness, not only spiritually, but also physically. Examples of the features that make up this superior nature are not to overload the stomach when eating, to fast for one month every year, to be moderate in every respect, to be neither extravagant nor parsimonious in spending money, etc. In an exquisite style, facts that would guide humanity not only temporarily but also ever after were being inculcated into individuals. I visited almost all of the Muslim countries. I saw in person how all the Muslims in Istanbul, in Damascus, in Cairo, in Algeria, in Morocco, and in the other Muslim cities observed all these rules and thereby led a peaceful life. They did not need ornaments, pictures, icons, candles, music, or other trivialities of the same sort to initiate themselves into the life-style leading to the sympathy of Allahu ta'ala. The sense of awareness of the fact that they were the born slaves of Allahu ta'ala and their acts of supplication before Him afforded them the greatest source of spiritual peace, happiness and flavour.

The qualities of freedom and equity inherent in the Islamic religion have always magnetized me towards it. Among Muslims, a person occupying the highest rank position and the poorest member of the society are equal before Allahu ta'ala, and they are merely two individuals in the general recognition of fraternity. Muslims perform their acts of worship side by side in mosques. There are not any special places allotted for the leadership.

Muslims hold the belief that there is not a third person to act as an intermediary between Allahu ta'ala and His born slave. The Islamic acts of worship are performed between Allahu ta'ala and the slave. They do not appeal to men of religion for the forgiveness of their wrongdoings. Every Muslim is the only person responsible for his personal behaviour.

The mutual fraternity among Muslims has always been helpful in my personal life. This fraternity was one of the factors whereby I was charmed towards Islam. I know that, wherever I go, a Muslim brother of mine will help me and sympathize with me. All Muslims the world over, of different races, colours and political views as they may be, are brothers and they look on it as an obligation to help one another.

These are the causes for my becoming a Muslim. I wonder if it could be possible to conceive of causes more beautiful or more exalted than these?

3 - SALAHUDDIN BOART (American)

In 1338 [1920 C.E.], I was in the waiting-room of a doctor's office where I had gone for a medical examination, when I saw two magazines printed in London, namely 'Orient Review' and 'African Times'. As I was skimming through them I read a statement that said, "There is only one God," which impressed me deeply. Christianity dictated three gods, which we were compelled to believe although we could never explain it to our own minds. From that time on, that statement, "There is only one God," never left my mind. This holy and sublime belief, which Muslims bear in their hearts, is an invaluable treasure.

Now I grew more and more deeply interested in Islam. By and by, I decided to become a Muslim. After embracing Islam I assumed the name Salahuddin. I believed in the truth that Islam is the truest religion. For Islam is based on the fact that Allahu ta'ala does not have a partner and that Allah, alone, has the authority to forgive sins. How compatible this law is with the laws of nature! In a field, on a farm, in a village, in a city, in a school, in a government, in a state and, in short, everywhere, there is one single ruler. Dualism has always brought about separatism.

The second proof that showed me the fact that Islam is the truest religion was that the Arabs, who had been leading a completely barbarous life before Islam, had developed into the world's most civilized and the most powerful state in a very short time and carried the most ideal concepts of love of mankind from the Arabian deserts all the way up to Spain, and all this was owing to Islam. The Muslim Arabs had found Arabia as a wilderness. And they cultivated it into a rose-garden. John W. Draper (1226 [1811 C.E.]-1299 [1882 C.E.]), an honest historian, in his book 'The Intellectual Development of Europe', enlarges on the extremely great and important part that Islam played in the development of contemporary civilization, and adds, "Christian historians, on account of the grudge they have been nursing against Islam, try to cloak this truth and cannot seem to get themselves to acknowledge how indebted Europeans are to Muslims."

The following passage is (the paraphrase of) an excerpt from Draper's writings on how Muslims found Spain:

"Europeans of that time were completely barbarians. Christianity had proved short of delivering them from barbarism. They would still be looked on as wild people. They lived in filth. Their heads were full with superstitions. They did not even have the ability to think properly. They lived in roughly-made huts. A rush mat laid on the floor or hanging on the wall was the sign of great wealth. Their food consisted of vegetables like wild beans and carrots, some oats and, sometimes, even barks. In the name of garments, they wore untanned animal hides because they lasted longer, and therefore they stank awfully."

"Cleanliness was the very first thing that Muslims taught them. Muslims washed five times daily, which caused these people to wash at least once a day. Later on, they took the stinking, tattered, lice-infested animal hides off their backs, dumped them, and gave them their own garments, which had been made from textures woven with coloured threads. They taught them how to cook, and how to eat. They built houses, mansions and palaces in Spain. They established schools and hospitals. They instituted universities, which in the course of time became sources of light illuminating the entire world. They improved horticulture everywhere. The country was soon awash with rose and flower gardens. Gaping in astonishment and admiration, the uncivilized Europeans watched all these developments, and gradually began to keep pace with the new civilization."

Educating so wild a nation; imbuing them with sentiments of civilization; rescuing them from the depths of darkness, nascence and superstitions; all these inconceivably tremendous tasks were accomplished by the Arabs owing only and only to the Islamic religion. For the Islamic religion is the most genuine religion. Allahu ta'ala helped them for their success.

The Islamic religion, commanded by Allahu ta'ala and taught and publicized by Muhammad a.s., and the Qur'an al-karim, which is the Word of Allahu ta'ala, changed the course of the world's history and freed it from the fetters of darkness. Had it not been for the Islamic religion, humanity would not have attained the present heights of civilization, nor would knowledge and science be in such advanced levels today. Muhammad a.s. states, "Even if knowledge is in China, (go and) acquire it." This is the Islamic religion which I accepted willingly.

4 - THOMAS MUHAMMAD CLAYTON (American)

It was almost noon time. Dazed with the sweltering heat of the day, we were trudging along a dusty road, when, from afar, a singularly mellifluous voice began to caress our auditory senses. So rich a voice it was that the entire space seemed to be sated with it. As we walked past a cluster of trees, a bewildering scene came into sight. It was such a scene that we hardly believed what we saw. Mounted on a small, wooden tower, an elderly Arab in an extremely clean long robe and wearing a white turban was performing (calling) the adhan (or adhan). As he performed the adhan, he was in a trance, almost completely isolated from the world, and in the presence of his Creator, Owner. As if hypnotized by this noble sight, we halted, and then, slowly, sat down on the ground. We did not know what the sounds and words reaching our ears meant, yet they somehow moved us and instilled a mood of elation, relief into our souls. Afterwards, we learned that the sweet words uttered by the Arab meant, "Allahu ta'ala is the greatest. There is no god to be worshipped other than Allahu ta'ala." All of a sudden, many people appeared around us. Till hardly a moment before, however, we had seen no one around us. We did not know whence these people came, and there was an expression of great deference and love on their faces. There were people of all age-groups and classes among them. They were different in their clothing, in their manners of walking, and in their appearances. Yet they all had the same expression of earnestness, great dignity and, at the same time, geniality on their faces. The number of comers increased incessantly, so that we felt as if the process of their increasing would never come to an end. At last the comers assembled. They all took off their shoes and clogs and stood in rows. To our great amazement, no segregation of any sort was observed in the formation of the lines. White people, yellow people, black people, rich people, poor people, tradesmen, civil servants, workers stood side by side without any discrimination between their races or ranks, and performed their worship together.

I admired so many different people's brotherly coming together. It is three years now since I saw that sublime scene for the first time. In the meantime, I began to gather information about that lofty religion which brought people so closely together. The information that I collected about Islam brought me all the closer to this religion. Muslims believed in one Allah and professed that men were not sinful by birth, which was quite contrary to the Christian inculcation. They looked on them only as born slaves of Allahu ta'ala, displayed profound compassion towards them, and wished them to abide by the right path and thus lead a comfortable, peaceful and happy life. Whereas in Christianity even an evil thought was deemed as a sin, Muslims defined sin only as a result of disobeying Allahu ta'ala or violating the rights of born slaves, and acknowledged man free as to his thoughts. According to the Islamic religion, man was responsible "only for what he has done."

For the reasons I have cited above, I accepted Islam willingly. Despite the three years' time since, I sometimes dream of the Arab muezzin's touching and effective voice and multifarious people's running from all directions and standing in lines. It is a doubtless fact that these people, who prostrate themselves altogether and indiscriminately, are doing so sincerely to worship Allahu ta'ala.

Haqq ta'ala avenges Himself on the slave through the slave,
In the ignorant's eyes the avenger is the poor slave.
Everything belongs to the Creator, the slave's a mere tool,
Without the Creator's command you cannot move a leaf!

5 - DEVIS WARRINGTON (Austrian)

As the Spring's mellow, warm hand thaws out the earth after an awfully frigid winter, likewise Islam had a similar effect on me. It warmed my heart and clothed me with a new and lovely dress of knowledge. How beautiful, how true, and how logical Islam's teachings are! How clear, how genuine, and how charming a word it is to say that "Allahu ta'ala is one, and Muhammad a.s. is His Messenger." How could one ever compare it with the unbelievable, unintelligible Christian credo which imposes the absurdity of "Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit"? In contrast with these formidable, fearful and never satisfactory tenets of Christianity, this simple and logical belief draws you towards itself. Islam is an undefiled heavenly religion. Despite the centuries that have elapsed since its advent, it answers all the material and immaterial needs of humanity, not only today, but also forever. For instance, Islam clearly states that men are equal and that before Allahu ta'ala there is no difference of rank and position among men, and it enforces this equality in actual life. The Christian churches profess the same equality, yet there are various echelons among them, such as priests of different ranks, archdeacons, deacons, bishops, and many other ecclesiastics. These people intervene between Allahu ta'ala and the slave and use the name of Allahu ta'ala for their personal advantages. In Islam, on the other hand, no one can intervene between Allahu ta'ala and the slave. Allahu ta'ala communicates His commandments through the Qur'an al-karim to His slaves. In the following lines, I will quote a commandment of Allahu ta'ala. It is only an example. This example shows very explicitly how simple and clear the commandments are.

The two hundred and sixty-seventh ayat of Baqara sura purports: "O ye who believe! Give of the good things which ye have (honourably) earned, and of the fruits of the earth which We have produced for you, and do not even aim at getting anything which is bad, in order that out of it ye may give away something, when ye yourselves would not receive it except with closed eyes. And know that Allahu ta'ala is free of all wants, and worthy of all praise." (2-267) As I read and learned these profound and beautiful commandments of the Qur'an al-karim, my soul attained peace and I embraced Islam willingly.

6 - Mrs. CECILLA CANNOLY [Rashida] (Austrian)

Why did I become a Muslim?
Let me tell you sincerely that I became a Muslim without even noticing it myself. For, at a very young age I had already completely lost my confidence in Christianity and had begun to feel apathy towards the Christian religion. I was curious about many religious facts. I was disinclined to believe blindly the creed they were trying to teach me. Why were there three gods? Why had we all come to this world sinful, and why did we have to expiate it? Why could we invoke Allahu ta'ala only through a priest? And what were the meanings of all these various signs that we were being shown and the miracles that we were being told? Whenever I asked these questions to the teaching priests, they would become angry and answer, "You cannot inquire about the inner natures of the church's teachings. They are secret. All you have to do is to believe them." And this was another thing that I would never understand. How could one believe something whose essence one did not know? However, in those days I did not dare divulge these thoughts of mine. I am sure that many of today's so-called Christians are of the same opinion as I was; they do not believe most of the religious teachings imposed on them, yet they are afraid to disclose it.

The older I became the farther away did I feel from Christianity, finally breaking away from the church once and for all and beginning to wonder whether there was a religion that taught "to worship one single God." My entire conscience and heart told me that there was only one God. Then, when I looked around, the events showed me how meaningless the unintelligible miracles that priests had been trying to teach us, and the absurd stories of saints they had been telling us, were. Didn't everything on the earth, human beings, beasts, forests, mountains, seas, trees, flowers indicate that a great Creator had created them? Wasn't a newly born baby a miracle in itself? On the other hand, the church was striving to indoctrinate the people with the preposterous belief that every newly born baby was a wretched, sinful creature. No, this was impossible, a lie. Every newly born child was an innocent slave, a creature of Allahu ta'ala. It was a miracle, and I believed only in Allah and in the miracles He created.

Nothing in the world was inherently sinful, dirty, or ugly. I was of this opinion, when one day my daughter came home with a book written about Islam. My daughter and I sat together and read the book with great attention. O my Allah, the book said exactly as I had been thinking. Islam announced that there is one Allah and informed that people are born as innocent creatures. Until that time I had been entirely ignorant of Islam. In schools Islam was an object of derision. We had been taught that that religion was false and absurd and infused one with sloth, and that Muslims would go to Hell. Upon reading the book, I was plunged into thoughts. To acquire more detailed information about Islam, I visited Muslims living in my town. The Muslims I found opened my eyes. The answers they gave to my questions were so logical that I began to believe that Islam was not a concocted religion as our priests had been asserting, but a true religion of Allahu ta'ala. My daughter and I read many other books written about Islam, were fully convinced as to its sublimeness and veracity, and eventually embraced Islam, both of us. I adopted the name 'Rashida', and my daughter chose 'Mahmuda' as her new name.

As for the second question that you ask me: "What aspect of Islam do you like best?" Here is my answer:

What I like best about Islam is the nature of its prayers. In Christianity prayers are said in order to ask for worldly blessings such as wealth, position and honour from Allahu ta'ala through Issa a.s.. Muslims, in contrast, express their gratitude to Allahu ta'ala and they know that as long as they abide by their religion and obey the commandments of Allahu ta'ala, Allahu ta'ala will give them whatever they need without them asking for it.

7 - MUHAMMAD ASSAD LEOPOLD WEISS (Austrian)

This is a note from the webmaster - The file on Muhammad Assad /Leopold Weilss might contain errors. A brother has written with some facts that does not match these in this revert story. I'm not going to dig into this, but if anybody has any facts in either direction - please contact me!
/Ibrahim

(Weiss was born in 1318 [A.D. 1900] in the Livow city of Austria [in Poland today], visited Arabic countries as a newspaper correspondent when he was twenty-two years old, admired and professed the Islamic religion, then visited all the Islamic countries, including India and Afghanistan, and published his impressions in 'Frankfurter Zeitung', one of the greatest newspapers world over. Weiss worked as the publication director for Frankfurter Zeitung for some time, then, after Pakistan's winning its struggle for liberation, he went to Pakistan with a view to co-operating with that country's government in the establishment of a system of a religious education, and later he was sent to the United States Center to represent Pakistan. He has two books, one entitled 'Islam at Cross-Roads', and the other 'The Way Leading to Mecca'. Recently he has rendered the Qur'an al-karim into English. His attempt to write a tafsir (translation of Qur'an al-karim) without the indispensably required background in the basic Islamic sciences indicates that he is not in the Madhhab of Ahl as-sunnat and that, consequently, his tafsirs and other (religious) writings may be harmful. Wahhabis and other groups outside (the right way guided by the four) Madhhabs present this ignorant heretic as an Islamic scholar.)

The newspapers for which I worked as a correspondent and writer sent me to Asia and Africa in the capacity of 'special correspondent' in 1922. In the beginning, my relations with the Muslims were no more than ordinary relations between two parties of foreigners. However, my long stay in the Islamic countries enabled me to know the Muslims more closely, which in turn made me realize that they had been looking at the world and the events taking place in the world from angles quite dissimilar to those of Europeans. I must acknowledge that their extremely dignified and composed attitude towards the events, and their approach that was much more humanistic than our own, began to stir up my interest. I was from a fanatical Catholic family. Throughout my childhood I had been inculcated with the belief that Muslims were irreligious people worshipping the devil. When I came into contact with Muslims I realized that they had been lying to me and I decided to study the Islamic religion. I acquired a number of books written on this subject. When I began to read these books with close attention, I saw in amazement how pure and how valuable a religion it was. Yet the manners and behaviours of some Muslims I had been in contact with did not conform to the Islamic principles that I was reading about. First of all, Islam dictated cleanliness, open heartedness, brotherhood, compassion, faithfulness, peace and salvation and, rejecting the Christian doctrine that "men are ever sinful," it substituted it with quite an opposite belief which tolerated "all sorts of worldly pleasures with the proviso that they should not cost someone else's harm and that they should not overflow the free area defined by Islam." But I also met some dirty and mendacious Muslims. To understand the matter better, I began to run an experiment on it, putting myself in the place of a Muslim and adapting myself to the principles I had been reading in the books, and thus examining Islam from within. I came up with the conclusion that the main reason for the increasing degeneration and decline of the Islamic world, which was already on the brink of a collapse, was Muslims' becoming increasingly indifferent towards their religion. As long as Muslims preserved their perfection as true Muslims, they always made progress; and a downfall began the very moment they relaxed their grips of Islam. In actual fact, Islam possesses all the qualifications required for a country's or a nation's progress. It contains all the essentials of civilization. The Islamic religion is both extremely scientific and very practical. The principles it lays down are completely logical, intelligible to everybody, and do not contain one single element that would run counter to knowledge, to science, or to human nature. There is nothing unnecessary in it. The grotesque passages, the sophistries, and the superstitious mysticisms, which are the common properties of other religious books, do not exist in Islam. I discussed these subjects with most Muslims and castigated them, saying, "Why don't you adhere more tightly to this beautiful religion of yours? Why don't you hold fast to it with both hands?" Eventually, in 1344 [A.D. 1926], as I was discussing these matters with a governor in Afghanistan, he said to me, "You have already become a Muslim without you yourself noticing it. Only a true Muslim would defend Islam as earnestly as you are doing now." Upon these words of the governor's a lightning flashed in my brain. When I was back home I plunged into deep thoughts, finally saying to myself, "Yes, I am a Muslim now." Presently I pronounced the statement called Kalima-i-sahadat.[The statement called Kalima-i-shahadat is: "Ash-hadu an-la-ilaha il'l'Allah, wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadan abduhu wa Rasuluhu," which means, "I testify to the fact that there is no god but Allah, and I testify, again, that Muhammad a.s. is His born slave and Messenger." Every Muslim has to make this statement at least once in his lifetime and has to believe in its meaning.] I have been a Muslim ever since.

You ask me, "What aspect of Islam attracted you most?" I cannot answer this question, for Islam has penetrated and invaded my entire heart. There is not a specific aspect, therefore, which affected me more than the others did. Everything I had not found in Christianity I found in Islam. I cannot tell what principle of Islam I feel closer to me. I admire each and every one of its principles and essentials. Islam is a gorgeous monument. It is impossible to separate any of its parts from its entirety. All its parts are pivoted, clenched on one another in a certain order. There is a tremendous harmony among the parts. There is not a single part missing. Each and everyone of its parts is in its proper place. Perhaps it was this extremely admirable order which attached me to the Islamic religion. No. What attached me to the Islamic religion was the love I had for it. You know, love is composed of various things: Desire, loneliness, ambition, elevation, zeal for progress and improvement, our weaknesses mixed with our strength and power, the need for someone to help and protect us, and the like. So I embraced Islam with all my heart and love, and it settled in my heart so as to never leave there again.

8 - Dr. 'UMAR ROLF FREIHERR VON EHRENFELS (Austrian)

(Rolf Freiherr (baron) von Ehrenfels is the only son of Prof. Dr. Baron Christian Ehrenfels, who is known as the founder of Gestalt psychology all over the world. He belongs to a well-known family. He was only a small child when he felt a growing concern for the orient and began to study the Islamic religion. His sister Imma von Rodmesrhof writes about this inclination of her brother's in detail in a book of hers, which was published in Lahore in 1953. At a very young age, Rolf travelled in Turkey, in Albania, in Greece, and in Yugoslavia, and joined prayers in mosques although he was a Christian. Eventually, the warm feelings of closeness that he had been harbouring towards Islam resulted in his embracing Islam in 1927, from then on he chose the name 'Umar for himself. In 1932 he visited India, and published a book entitled 'The Place of Woman in Islam'. When the Germans invaded Austria during the Second World War, Rolf fled to India. Accepted and supported by Akbar Haydar, he carried on anthropological studies in Assam, was appointed as a professor of anthropology for the University of Madras in 1949, and was awarded with a gold medal by the 'Royal Asiatic Society', which was located in Bengal. His books were also published in the Urdu language.)

You ask me why I became a Muslim. In the following lines I shall give an account of the factors that formed the cause of my becoming a Muslim and realizing that Islam is a true religion:

1) Islam contains the good aspects of all the world's religions known to us. All religions are intended for men's living in peace and tranquillity. Yet no other religion has managed to teach it to people as explicitly as Islam does. No other religion has been successful in imbuing with such deep love towards our Creator and towards brothers of the same faith.

2) Islam enjoins a perfect submission to Allahu ta'ala in a mood of peace and tranquillity.

3) A retrospective look into history will automatically expose the fact that the Islamic religion is the final true, heavenly religion and that no other religion will appear.

4) Muhammad a.s., who communicated the Qur'an al-karim, is the final prophet.

5) It is doubtless that a person who enters the Islamic religion will automatically have separated himself from his former religion. Yet this separation is not so big as it may be anticipated. The tenets of belief are the same in all the heavenly religions. Qur'an al-karim acknowledges the heavenly religions before itself. Yet it rectifies the wrong beliefs inserted into these religions afterwards, exposes the religion of Issa a.s. in its essential form, and declares that Muhammad a.s. is the final prophet and that no prophet will come after him. In other words, Islam is the true and perfect form of other religions. Various clashes of interests and contrasting ambitions have made men inimical towards one another. And this animosity, in its turn, has been exploited by other people, who have tried to change religions into rival camps and thus to build their worldly advantages on religions, which, in actual fact, are essentially paths guiding to knowing Allahu ta'ala. In fact, it takes a little alertness to see that the Islamic religion acknowledges the other heavenly religions and that it purifies them of the human interpolations that they had been subjected to in the course of time. To accept Islam, therefore, means to render a spiritual and material service which is needed by all people, men and women alike.

6) In no other religion has the concept of brotherhood among people been stated so expressly as it has been in Islam. All Muslims, regardless of their race, nation, colour and language, are brothers of one another. Whatever their political views are, they are brothers of one another. No other religion possesses this beauty.

7) Islam is a religion which gives women great rights. The Islamic religion has allotted women the most proper place. Muhammad a.s. stated, "Paradise is beneath a mothers' feet."

The Islamic religion respected the works of art made by people of other religions, and did not demolish them like barbars. As they were building mosques like Fatih and Sultan Ahmad (Blue Mosque) in Istanbul, they did not feel averse to modelling some of their architecture after that of Saint Sophia. Throughout history, Muslims have displayed greatest justice and mercy towards people of other religions.

For reasons such as these, I chose Islam for my faith.

9 - THOMAS IRVING (Canadian)

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-sunnat 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 soul. However, as I grew older, I began to see a number of faults in Christianity. The stories told about the life of Issa a.s. and his being the son of God, -may Allahu ta'ala protect us against saying so,- sounded like superstitious tales 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 them 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 admiration 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 Issa a.s. 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 smothered 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 cruelty 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. The human race was moaning desperately under the talons of idolatry and irreligiousness, when, [according to historians], seven centuries after Issa a.s., in the oriental horizons, there rose Muhammad s.a.s. the final Prophet of Allahu ta'ala, 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 s.a.s. was the final true Messenger of Allahu ta'ala, because:

1) As I have said above, people needed a new prophet;

2) All my thoughts concerning Allahu ta'ala conformed with the religion spread by that great Prophet s.a.s.

3) As soon as I read the Qur'an al-karim, I sensed that it was the Word of Allahu ta'ala. The facts communicated by the Qur'an al-karim and the hadith ash-Sharifs [utterances] of Muhammad s.a.s. 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 had 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 Maulvi Muhammad Ali, and I liked it. In addition, I read some other books, and I did not neglect magazines publicizing 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 not 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 the fact that Islam is the true religion.

 
10 - Dr. BENOIST [ALI SALMAN] (French)

I am a doctor and I come from a fanatically Catholic family. Yet my vocational choice, medicine, provided me a career in positive, experimental, and natural sciences, which in turn caused me to develop a growing hatred against Christianity. With respect to religion, I was at complete loggerheads with the other members of my family. Yes, there was a great Creator, and I believed in Him, i.e. Allahu ta'ala. Yet the absurdities concocted by Christians, especially by Catholics, various mysterious gods, sons, holy ghosts, the preposterous fibs fabricated for the purpose of proving that Issa a.s. is the son of God, a myriad of other superstitions, ceremonies and rites pushed me away from Christianity, instead of attracting me towards it.

Because I held the belief in one God, I would never accept trinity, nor would I by any means recognize Issa a.s. as the son of God. That means to say that, long before knowing of Islam, I had already accepted the initial half of the Kalima-i-Shahadat, i.e. the part that says, "La ilaha il'l'Allah... (There is no God but Allah...)" When I began to study the Islamic religion and read the Ikhlas Sura of Qur'an al-karim, which purported, "Lo; Allahu ta'ala is One. He is not begotten, nor does He beget. There is no being bearing any likeness to Him," I said, "O my Allah. My belief is exactly the same." I felt immense relief. I realized that it was of paramount importance to study Islam more deeply. And as I studied Islam I saw with admiration that this religion was completely agreeable with my ideas. Islam looked on religious men, and even on prophets 'alaihim-us-salawat', as ordinary people like us; it did not divinize them. Giving a priest authority to forgive people's sins was something which Islam would never accept. The Islamic religion did not contain any superstitions, any irrational rules, or any unintelligible subjects. The Islamic religion was a logical one, exactly as I wanted. Contrary to the Catholics, it did not smudge human beings with the consequences of the so-called original sin. It enjoined physical and spiritual cleanliness on human beings. Cleanliness, which is an essential principle in medicine, was in Islam a commandment of Allahu ta'ala. Islam commanded to clean oneself before acts of worship, and that was a quality which I had never seen in any other religion.

In some Christian rites, such as Baptism and the Eucharist, people consume the bread and wine offered by the priest in the name of the flesh and blood of Issa a.s., which is intended, so to speak, as a simulated unity with Issa a.s., i.e. with God, [may Allahu ta'ala protect us from holding such bel