*Source: Why I embraced Islam?, http://www.islamicbulletin.org
Khalid[Arthur] Millasantos*
Held the third position in the compound of the churches of Asia
(Before Islam, I worshiped me.......After Islam, I became the servant of God.)
A professor who had a Ph.D. in Theology. In 1983, during the course of his Evangelize work, he
decided to read the Qur'an to be able to answer Muslims, and asked a Muslim friend to lend him the
Qur'an. The Muslim accepted on condition of peforming wodoo[ablution] before each recieting.
That was his first experience with the Qur'an: 'I felt a fierce internal struggle, there was a voice
calling me and urging me to embrace this religion that makes man's relationship with his Lord
direct with no need to mediation by a priest, or indulgences for forgiveness.'
So one day he performed ablution and grabbed the Qur'an and read: “Then do they not reflect upon
the Qur'an, or are there locks upon [their] hearts?" (Holy Qur’an, 47:24)
Upon reading this, he felt a shiver! Then he read:"This day I have perfected for you your religion
and completed My favor upon you and have approved for you Islam as religion." (Holy Qur’an,
5:3)
He says:'It was then that peace came to my distracted Spirit, and I felt like a new-born.'
That night, he couldn't bear to wait till sunrise, to go to his Muslim friend and embrace Islam. And to
the confusion and astonishment of the Muslim man, Arthur pronounced Shahada [testimony].
*Source: (Lem aslam hawla alajanib, By: Mohamed Osman)
Yusuf Estes*
Former Christian, & Federal Prison Chaplain
(Only by His Mercy were we all guided to see the real truth of Islam, by removing the coverings
over our ears and the blinders on our eyes, no longer having seals over our hearts - He was
Guiding us now.)
(I consider that I have not left the teachings of Jesus Christ, peace be upon him. On the contrary,
I feel much closer to Jesus, peace be upon him, and I look forward to His return on earth more
than ever before.
Now I am worshiping the same God he worships and I serve the same Lord he serves )
He was born in Ohio, raised and educated in Texas and was a successful marketing entrepreneur and
preacher of Christianity. He grew up in a religious home, no drink alcohol, no gamble expect Bingo at
the church. Religion was a real part of their lives. His father was an ordained minister, who believed
that: 'The Bible is the Inspired Word of Man FROM GOD.'
Yusuf accepted the Lord and considered himself a true Christian, but could not resolve the idea of
'Trinity'. So he searched for 'God' elsewhere:'I checked out Buddhism, Hinduism, metaphysics,
Taoism, different forms of Christianity and Judaism. The one most attractive to me was a
combination of Gnosticism (Christian mysticism) and Cabalism (Jewish mysticism) and
metaphysics. This actually is a form of pantheism (God being throughout His creation) and is
similar to some of the 'Sufi' mystics of today. But this concept in its entirety repulsed me because
I did not want to imagine myself as being a 'part of God.'
He then decided to uphold the Commandments according to the Old Testament.'It seemed reasonable
to me, that there should only be One God.'
But when he was approaching 50 years old, he decided he wanted to do something for the Lord. So he
joined some evangelists and preachers. They traveled around, giving food, money, assistance to needy,
and at the same time calling to the message of Christianity. It was all fine, except the fact that the
message itself was vague!
'What is the message?!'....'I preached that message myself and thought I understood it as well as
anyone else did. The problem is that one time I heard another preacher say: Don't leave your
brain in the parking lot with your car.....Then it hit me to start thinking about the very serious
problems and real facts about my religion.'
He realized that [they were teaching concepts that are not from the Bible. That there is no word
[Trinity] in the Bible in any version of any language, that Jesus of the English Bible complains about
the [crucifixion] ' My God! Why have You forsaken me?' (Mk 15:34).....would a 'Just' God, a 'Fair'
God, a 'Loving' God -- punish Jesus for the sins of the people that he called to follow him? Can't God
just forgive us and not have to kill Jesus?...Also Jesus DID NOT claim to be God - or even equal to
God!]
His friend told him to read the story of Abraham in the Old Testament. Especially the part of sacrificing
his son for the sake of God, to get the whole concept of 'sacrifice and obedience' to God. But instead he
saw a totally different message there. 'That God did not really want to take the life of an innocent
boy for sins that Abraham committed', Abraham was asked by God to sacrifice his son to test the
loyalty of Abraham. He did not withhold his son from God, so God's angels ordered him to offer a ram
in place of his son. God was pleased with his total submission and as a result, God Blessed him and his
offspring.(Gen. 22:9-18)
'I asked questions and delved into (those kind of stories) the more I would like to facilitate the
truth. Many strange things began to happen. Very strange.'
In 1991, his father started doing business with a Muslim man from Egypt, named 'Mohamed'. Estus
idea about Muslims was horrible, [infidels, hijackers, terrorists] and that [they worship a black box in
the desert!] So the idea came to him to change the man to Christian.
But the man said that 'he was ready to come to my religion if my religion was better than his
religion. But there was a condition, he said he wanted proof. I told him religion is not about
proof. It is about faith'.....'He told me in his religion there was both faith and proof. Strange, I
thought. How could there be any proof about God or religion?'
He invited 'Mohamed' all along with a priest friend to come to live with the family. Where
conversations about 'Beliefs' took place every night, and they came to contact the facts about Islam;
[Qur'an is only in one version, which didn't change over 1400 years, whilst each of the family carried a
different version of the Bible! The Oneness of God in Islam. And the fact that Muslims believed in the
Bible and in Christ as a true messenger of God; and his miracle birth, and that Jesus will be coming
back in the Last Days to lead the believers against the 'Antichrist'.]
That led them all to believe in Islam, the visitor priest was the first to declare the testimony, then Yusuf,
his wife, his father, and his step mother. His children were placed in Muslim school, where they
memorized much of the Qur'an. Then priests friends started to convert in the same year.
'A whole entire household of people from varying backgrounds and ethnic groups coming
together in truth to learn how to know and worship the Creator and Sustainer of the Universe.
Think. A Catholic priest. A minister of music and preacher. An ordained minister and builder of
Christian schools. And they all come into Islam! Only by His Mercy were we all guided to see the
real truth of Islam without any blinders on their eyes any longer.'
'And since my own entrance into Islam and becoming a chaplain to the Muslims throughout the
country and around the world, I have encountered many more individuals who were leaders,
teachers and scholars in other religions who learned about Islam and entered into it. They came
from Hindus, Jews, Catholics, Protestants, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Greek and Russian Orthodox,
Coptic Christians from Egypt, non-denominational churches and even scientists who had been
atheists.'
*Source: www.IslamTomorrow.com
Lady Evelyn Zeinab Cobbold (1867 - 1963)
The first British-born Muslim woman to make the pilgrimage to Mecca.
(It seems that I have always been a Muslim. This is not so strange when one remembers that
Islam is the natural religion that a child**, left to itself, would develop. Indeed as a Western critic
once described it. 'Islam is the religion of common sense.')
The daughter of the 7th Earl of Dunmore, embraced Islam and in April 1933 performed the Pilgrimage
to Mecca at the age of 66. In 1934 she published her book 'Pilgrimage to Mecca' (Murray, London)
'The more I read and the more I studied, the more convinced I became that Islam was the most
practical religion, and the one most calculated to solve the world's many perplexing problems,
and to bring to humanity peace and happiness.'
'Since then I have never wavered in my belief that there is but one God; that Moses, Jesus,
Muhammad and others before (peace be on all of them) were prophets, divinely inspired, that to
every nation God has sent an apostle, that we are not born in sin, and that we do not need any
redemption, that we do not need anyone to intercede between us and God, Whom we can
approach at all times, and that no one can intercede for us, not even Muhammad or Jesus [unless
God permits it -ed.], and that our salvation depends entirely on ourselves and on our actions.'
'The word 'Islam' means surrender to God. It also means peace. A Muslim is one who is 'in
harmony with the decrees of the author of this world', one who has made his peace with God and
His creatures.'
'Islam is based on two fundamental truths: (a) the Oneness of God and (b) the Brotherhood of
Man, and is entirely free from any encumbrances of theological dogma. Above everything else it
is a positive faith.'
'The influence of the Hajj cannot be exaggerated. To be a member of that huge congregation
gathered together from the four corners of the earth, on this sacred occasion and on the sacred
spot, and to join with this mass of humanity, in all humility, in the glorification of God, is to have
one's consciousness impressed by the full significance of the Islamic ideal, is to be privileged to
participate in one of the most soul inspiring experiences that have ever been granted to human
beings.'
*Source: The Light: http://aaiil.org
** This is a sign to the Prophet speech (Every child is born with Fitrah [the instinct that guide to Allah] but then
it's parents divert it to Judaism, Christianity or Magian)
Maryam Jameelah [Margaret Marcus]
Author, Ex-Jew, USA
(What persuaded me that the Quran must be from God and not composed by Muhammad was
its satisfying and convincing answers to all the most important questions of life which I could not
find elsewhere.)
(I traced the beginning of my interest in Islam to the age of ten. While attending a reformed
Jewish Sunday school, I became fascinated with the historical relationship between the Jews and
the Arabs. From my Jewish textbooks, I learned that Abraham was the father of the Arabs as
well as the Jews. I read how centuries later when, in medieval Europe, Christian persecution
made their lives intolerable, the Jews were welcomed in Muslim Spain, and that it was the
magnanimity of this same Arabic Islamic civilization which stimulated Hebrew culture to reach
its highest peak of achievement.)
Born in 1943 in New york, at age of 11 till 15, She attended The Ethical Culture Movement which
regards all traditional, organized religions with scorn. Then at New York University, she studied
'Judaism in Islam'.which was not convincing to her, 'Although his real aim [the professor] was to
prove to his students the superiority of Judaism over Islam, he convinced me diametrically of the
opposite.'..... 'I soon discovered that Zionism was merely a combination of the racist, tribalistic
aspects of Judaism'....'I could no longer consider myself a Jew at heart.'
It was in this class, that she met a Russian Orthodox Jewish student who converted to Islam later after
sever kidney illness experience.
'I was comparing in my mind what I had read in the Old Testament and the Talmud with what
was taught in the Qur'an and Hadith and finding Judaism so defective, I was converted to Islam.'
Her family would argue her not to, until she-herself- had sever illness that made her quit college for
two years under private medical care, steadily growing worse. then in to hospitals, 'where I vowed
that if ever I recovered sufficiently to be discharged, I would embrace Islam.'
'When I embraced Islam, my parents, relatives and their friends regarded me almost as a fanatic,
because I could think and talk of nothing else. To them, religion is a purely private concern which
at the most perhaps could be cultivated like an amateur hobby among other hobbies. But as soon
as I read the Holy Quran, I knew that Islam was no hobby but life itself!'
'My first thought when reading the Holy Quran - this is the only true religion - absolutely sincere,
honest, not allowing cheap compromises or hypocrisy.'
She wrote over thirty books about Islamic culture and history, some of which are [Islam and
Modernism, Westernization and Human Welfare, Three Great Islamic Movements in the Arab World of
the Recent Past, The Generation Gap - Its Causes and Consequences]
'...the Qur'an tells us that those who are guided by no moral considerations other than
expediency or social conformity and crave the freedom to do as they please, no matter how much
worldly success and prosperity they attain or how keenly they are able to relish the short span of
their earthly life, will be doomed as the losers on Judgment Day. Islam teaches us that in order to
devote our exclusive attention to fulfilling our duties to God and to our fellow-beings, we must
abandon all vain and useless activities which distract us from this end.'
*Source: interview with Maryam Jameelah, http://maryam--jameelah.blogspot.com
Dr. Robert D. Crane*
Prominent scholar/activist and expert on international law, economics, international affairs,
and Islamic jurisprudence
(I did not choose to become a Muslim. I am and have always been a Muslim, but did not know it
self-consciously until I was 50 years old.)
(My answer to the one who asks me why I became Muslim is: Islam is the religion of monotheism,
happiness, peace of mind, and dignified living. If I adhere to it and apply its teachings, it is the
religion of Divine Justice.)
(The miracle of the Qur’an is that it has meaning only through the power of our rational intellect.
The more we examine it the more meaning it has. )
He is the former adviser to President Richard Nixon, and is former Deputy Director (for Planning) of
the United States National Security Council. He has authored or co-authored more than a dozen books
and over 50 professional articles on comparative legal systems, global strategy, and information
management.
His Conversion to Islam in Bahrain:
In 1977-78 he spent a year as Principal Economic and Budget Adviser to the Finance Minister in the
Emirate of Bahrain. His conversion to Islam was mainly influenced by the monotheistic and perfect
belief in Allah. 'Allah converted me to Islam when I was five years old, and again through a
religious experience when I was 21, but I did not know there were other persons in the world who
understood what Allah showed me until I met an old man in Bahrain who told me that there is a
word for what I worshiped, and this is "Allah." I figured that all Muslims could not be bad, as I
had thought before, if this man was so good and was an admitted Muslim. I did not choose to
become a Muslim. I am and have always been a Muslim, but did not know it self-consciously until
I was 50 years old.'
From 1982 to the present Dr. Crane has been a full-time Islamic scholar and activist. He was Principal
Da'ii (religious instructor) at the Islamic Center, Massachusetts Avenue, Washington, D.C., from 1983
to 1986, which included a year as Director of the Dialogue Commission of the Interfaith Conference of
Metropolitan Washington. He was Director of Publications at the International Institute of Islamic
Thought from 1986 to 1988.
Dr. Crane was a Founding Member of The American Muslim Council and from 1992 to 1994 served as
Director of its Legal Division. In 1993, he was elected president of the Muslim American Bar
Association, which he founded in order to organize Muslim participation in the American Bar
Association's work on issues of conscience. From 1994 until the present he has headed his own
research organizations focusing on paradigm management designed to shape the agendas of thinktanks,
which, in turn, direct public policy. He has authored or co-authored a dozen books and hundreds of
professional articles on comparative legal systems, global strategy, and information management. Since
September, 2001, he has been an ad hoc weekly columnist for the online journal, The American
Muslim.
*Sources: http://www.turntoislam.com , http://www.iiit.org
Yusha [joshua] Evans*
Former Christian Youth Minister
'I was raised by my grandparents in Greenville, South Carolina in a very strict Methodist home. In my
teenage years, I became very involved in the church and was studying at a small Bible college in my
hometown with the intention of eventually enrolling in Bob Jones University. I was learning to read the
Bible in Hebrew and Greek and was very interested in textual criticism of the Bible. It was during these
years of intense Bible study that I read the Bible cover to cover a half a dozen times. In doing so, I
realized there were many inconsistencies and contradictions. not only in the text, but in the
message preached by Jesus himself and what I had been taught all my life based on the writings
of Paul. I then realized the Bible was not the inerrant Word of God as I had always been taught. I
eventually left Christianity and searched for the truth about God elsewhere.'
'I studied every religion from Judaism to Buddhism, Wicca to Bushido. While many religions had
certain truths to them, they had major tenants or flaws I could not accept. And none gave me the
absolute tangible proof I was looking for. All praise is due to God, one day I found myself talking
with a young Muslim who invited me to jumua'h, the Friday service and congregational prayer.
When I saw the Muslims praying, bowing and prostrating with their heads on the floor, all the
verses of the Bible describing the prayer of the prophets came flooding back to me. I asked for a
copy of the Quran, read it from cover to cover in three days, found my tangeable proof, and the
rest (as they say) is history.'
Yusha currently works as a full time caller to islam and has traveled extensively conducting da'wah
workshops[calling people to Islam]. He has studied under numerous teachers in the U.S and Egypt.
*Source: thedeenshow.com
And see complete story in: how the bible led me to Islam: http://www.youtube.com
Dr. Laurence B. Brown*
American ophthalmologist & former atheist
'Perhaps other religions do not answer the big questions of life, such as "Who made us?" and
"Why are we here?" Perhaps other religions do not reconcile the injustices of life with a fair and
just Creator. Perhaps we find hypocrisy in the clergy, untenable tenets of faith in the canon, or
corruption in the scripture. Whatever the reason, we perceive shortcomings in the religions of our
exposure, and look elsewhere. And the ultimate "elsewhere" is Islam.' (Why Islam)
'In 1990, I was in the last year of my ophthalmology residency at George Washington University
hospital in Washington, DC. My second daughter was born October tenth. To my great dismay, she
was a dusky blue from the chest to the toes. Her body was not getting enough blood, and the
cause was found to be a coarctation of the aorta -- a critical narrowing in the major artery from
the heart....I was shattered. Being a doctor, I understood she needed emergency surgery, with a
poor chance of long-term survival. A consultant pediatric cardio-thoracic surgeon was called from
across town, and I left him in the neonatal intensive care unit to examine my daughter. With no
companion but my fears, I went to the hospital prayer room and fell to my knees.....this was the first
time that I even partially recognized God.... I prayed the prayer of a skeptic, “Oh, God, if you are
there . . .” I promised that if God existed, and if He saved my daughter and then guided me to the
religion most pleasing to Him, that I would follow. I returned to the neonatal ICU roughly fifteen
minutes later, and was shocked when the consultant told me that my daughter would be fine.
True to his assessment, within the next two days her condition resolved miraculously, without
medicine or surgery. She grew to be a perfectly normal child.'
'Now, as I said before, I am a doctor. And although the consultant provided a medical explanation for
my daughter’s miraculous recovery, I simply didn’t buy it. I remember him explaining about a patent
ductus arteriosis, low oxygenation and spontaneous resolution. But I also remember thinking, 'No,' my
daughter’s salvation was not a medical miracle, but a divine one...I could easily have assigned my
daughter’s recovery to the doctor’s explanation rather than to a miracle from God. But faith had
entered my heart, and it wouldn’t leave. We had cardiac ultrasounds taken before and after,
showing the stricture one day and gone the next, and all I could think was that God had made
good on His part of the deal, and I had to make good on mine. Even if there was a medical
explanation, that was nothing more than the pathway by which Almighty God chose to answer
my prayer and effect His decree. '
'For the next few years I tried to fulfill my side of the bargain, but failed. I studied Judaism and a large
number of Christian sects. I felt I was on the right track, close to the truth but not upon it. I never fully
embraced any specific Christian formula, for I could not reconcile the differences between Christian
canon and Jesus’ teachings. Eventually I was introduced to the Holy Qur’an and Martin Lings’s
biography, Muhammad, His Life Based on the Earliest Sources.'
'During my years of study, I had encountered the Jewish scriptures’ reference to three prophets
to follow Moses. I had concluded that John the Baptist and Jesus Christ were two, but that left
one. In the New Testament Jesus Christ spoke of a final prophet to follow. When I found the Holy
Qur’an teaching the oneness of God, as both Moses and Jesus Christ had taught, I become
convinced Muhammad was the predicted final prophet. Suddenly, everything made sense: The
continuity in the chain of prophethood and revelation, the Oneness of Almighty God, and the
completion of revelation in the Holy Qur’an. It was then that I became Muslim.'
'Pretty smart, hunh? No, I would err greatly if I believed that I figured it out for myself. One lesson I
have learned is that there are a lot of people more intelligent than I who have not learned the truth of
Islam. It is not a matter of intelligence but of enlightenment, for “…and whoever believes in Allah –
He will guide his heart” (Holy Qur’an, 64:11),
“Allah chooses for Himself whom He wills and guides to Himself whoever turns back [to Him]”
(Holy Qur’an, 42:13),
“And Allah guides whom He wills to a straight path.” (Holy Qur’an, 24:46)
So I thank Allah that He chose to guide me, and I attribute that guidance to one simple formula:
recognizing our Creator, praying to Him and to Him alone, and sincerely seeking His guidance. And
whom He guides, none can lead astray.'
*Source: Dr. Laurence B. Brown's Conversion Story, http://negativity-sucks.blogspot.com
Bogdan Ataullah Kopanski
Polish, now American. Ph.D in History & Politics
Embraced Islam in 1974. 'When I was 12 years old I rejected the illogical and contradictory faith
of the Church. Two years later in 1962 I was fascinated by the victorious struggle of the Algerian
Muslim Mujaahideen against French Colonialism.'
In high school and in the earliest days of University education she was a typical example of ‘rebel
generation’ Reds, and was imprisoned twice by the Polish Communist Regime (1968, 1981-82)
In 1974 she visited Turkey, to write her M.A. dissertation about Sultan and Caliph Suleiman Kanuni’s
policy towards the Polish Kingdom. And 'There I was hit by the most beautiful voice of mankind ;
ADHAAN, [the call to prayer] My hair stood up. An unknown powerful force led me to an old
masjid (mosque) in Istanbul. There, an old, smiling Turkish man taught me the WUDOO , or
ablution. I confessed to tears the SHAHAADAH (proclamation of faith) and I prayed my first
SALAAT-UL-MAGHRIB ( the Evening Prayer)..I swept out the rubbish ideologies…For the first
time in my life my mind was relaxed and I felt the pleasure of Allaah’s love in my heart. I was a
Muslim…'
*Source://islam100.wordpress.com
Muhammad Ali [Cassius Clay]
American Ex-boxer, Three times World Heavyweight Champion
Embraced Islam in 1965 'I have had many nice moments in my life. But the feelings I had while
standing on Mount Arafat [just outside Makka, Saudi Arabia] on the day of the Hajj [the Muslim
pilgrimage], was the most unique. I felt exalted by the indescribable spiritual atmosphere there as
over one and a half million pilgrims invoked God to forgive them for their sins and bestow on
them His choicest blessings.'
'It was an exhilarating experience [Pilgrimage] to see people belonging to different colors, races
and nationalities, kings, heads of state and ordinary men from very poor countries all clad in two
simple white sheets praying to God without any sense of either pride or inferiority.
It was a practical manifestation of the concept of equality in Islam.'
*Source: http://islam100.wordpress.com
Sara Bokker
Former Actress and Model, USA
She lived in Florida and South Beach of Miami, a hotspot for those seeking the “glamorous life”.
Naturally, she did what most average Western girls do. She focused on her appearance and appeal,
'basing my self-worth on how much attention I got from others.' she was an actress, a model, and
fitness instructor. Then she came to realize that 'my scale of self-fulfillment and happiness slid down
the more I progressed in my “feminine appeal”. I was a slave to fashion. I was a hostage to my
looks.'
She sought refuge in meditation, activism, and alternative religions, but eventually realized it all was
merely a pain killer rather than an effective remedy. She joined in the ongoing campaigns of election
reform and civil rights. And learned that ideals such as justice, freedom, and respect are meant to be
and are essentially universal, and that own good and common good are not in conflict. For the first
time, 'I knew what -all people are created equal- really meant. But most importantly, I learned
that it only takes faith to see the world as one and to see the unity in creation.'
'One day I came across a book that is negatively stereotyped in the West--The Holy Quran. Up
until that point, all I had associated with Islam was women covered in “tents”, wife beaters,
harems, and a world of terrorism. I was first attracted by the style and approach of the Quran,
and then intrigued by its outlook on existence, life, creation, and the relationship between
Creator and creation. I found the Quran to be a very insightful address to heart and soul without
the need for an interpreter or pastor.'...'Eventually I hit a moment of truth'...' I became
“functional” Muslim.'
'I bought a beautiful long gown and head cover resembling the Muslim woman’s dress code and I
walked down the same streets and neighborhoods where only days earlier I had walked in my shorts,
bikini, or “elegant” western business attire. Although the people, the faces, and the shops were all the
same, one thing was remarkably distinct: the peace at being a woman I experienced for the very first
time. I felt as if the chains had been broken and I was finally free. I was delighted with the new looks of
wonder on people’s faces in place of the looks of a hunter watching his prey I had once sought.
Suddenly a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I no longer spent all my time consumed with
shopping, makeup, getting my hair done, and working out. Finally, I was free.'
'I find it to be a blatant hypocrisy when some people and so-called human rights groups rush to
defend women’s rights when some governments impose a certain dress code on women, yet such
“freedom fighters” look the other way when women are being deprived of their rights, work, and
education just because they choose to exercise their right to wear the Hijab.'
'Yesterday, the bikini was the symbol of my liberty, when in actuality it only liberated me from
my spirituality and true value as a respectable human being. I couldn’t be happier to shed my
bikini in South Beach and the “glamorous” Western lifestyle to live in peace with my Creator and
enjoy living among fellow humans as a worthy person.'
'Today, Hijab is the new symbol of woman’s liberation to find who she is, what her purpose is,
and the type of relation she chooses to have with her Creator. To women who surrender to the
ugly stereotype against the Islamic modesty of Hijab, I say: You don’t know what you are
missing.'
*Source: Sara Bokker, Former Actress and Model, USA, http://maszuzu.blogspot.com/2009/07/sarah-bokker
Jermaine Jackson*
An Ex-Jehovah’s Witness, & brother of world-famous star Michael Jackson
(There are many things where there is consensus between Christianity and Islam, and Qur'an
presents Holy Christ as a virtuous Prophet. Then, I wondered, why Christian America levels
baseless allegations against Muslims?)
In a startling Interview-with Arabic "al-Mujallah" magazine- Jermaine Jackson, brother of worldfamous
star Michael Jackson, tells how he embraced Islam:
'It was way back in 1989 when I, along with my sister, conducted a tour to some of the countries
of Middle East. During our stay in Bahrain, we were accorded warm welcome. There I happened
to meet some children and had a light chitchat with them. I put certain questions to them and
they flung at me their innocent queries. During the course of this interaction, they inquired about
my religion. I told them, "I am a Christian." I asked them, as to what was their religion? A wave
of serenity took over them. They replied in one voice ? Islam. Their enthusiastic answer really
shook me from within. Then they started telling me about Islam. They were giving me
information, much in piece with their age. The pitch of their voice would reveal that they were
highly proud of Islam. This is how I paced toward Islam....led me to have long discourses about
Islam with Muslim scholars....I made failing attempt to console myself that nothing had
happened but I could not conceal this fact any longer from myself that at heart I had converted
to Islam.' then he performed Umrah [small pilgrimage] to mecca in Saudi Arabia, and there he
announced that he became Muslim.
'I found in Islam the answers to those queries which I had failed to find in Christianity.
Particularly, it was only Islam that provided satisfactory answer to the question relating to the
birth of Christ. For the first time I was convinced about the religion itself. '
'I has seven sons and two daughter who, like me, are fully Islamic-oriented. My wife is still
studying Islam. She insists on going over to Saudi Arabia. I trust InshaAllah, she would sooner
join Islam. May God Almighty give us the courage and perseverance to remain on this true
religion, Islam. (Ameen)
*Source: http://www.usislam.org
Martyr Sabora Uribe [Maria Olastra]
Born in Andalusia in 1949, got a degree in philosophy and psychology from the University of Madrid,
and converted to Islam in 1978.
She ran The documentation and publication in the Islamic Council. She was cited in Granada in 1998
by an ultranationalist Spanish, moments after the completion of her article [ Muslim in the global
village] in which she wrote:
'I believe in the oneness of God, and believe in Muhammad as a prophet and messenger, and in
his approach to peace and good ... In Islam Human beings are born pure and free, without
inherited sin, to accept the position, ability and role in the world'
'Some people [Muslims] belong to Arab nationality, but the Arabic language belongs to all of us
[the Muslims] It is held in a special position inside us, because the Holy Quran was revealed in
it's alfa bet, and it was the reporting tool that was used by the Prophet Muhammad 'peace be
upon him.'
'Education today is more than any other time, a necessary condition againt drowning in the
ocean of media. Our Press is infected with terrible news, because the terrified citizen is easier to
be handeled, and will humbly believe whatever been dictated!
God rest her soul and accept her in heaven.
* Source: Article (Muslima fi el qaria alalamia). Majalat Al-Faisal no.291
Prof. Abdul Ahad Dawud[David Benjamin Keldani](1867-c.1940)
Former Bishop of Uramiah- Persia
'My conversion to Islam cannot be attributed to any cause other than the gracious direction of
the Almighty Allah. Without this Divine guidance all learning, search and other efforts to find the
Truth may even lead one astray. The moment I believed in the Absolute Unity of God His Holy
Apostle Muhummed became the pattern of my conduct and behavior.'
'My writings are not intended to raise a bitter and therefore useless dispute with the Churches,
but only invite them to a pleasant and friendly investigation of this all-important question with a
spirit of love and impartiality. If the Christians desists from their vain attempt of defining the
essence of the Supreme Being, and confess His absolute Oneness, then a union between them and
the Muslims is not only probable but extremely possible. For once the unity of God is accepted
and acknowledged, the other points of difference between the two faiths can more easily be
settled.'
'It would be a mere waste of time here to refute those who ignorantly or maliciously suppose the
Allah of Islam to be different from the true God and only a fictitious deity of Muhammad's own
creation. If the Christian priests and theologians knew their Scriptures in the Original Hebrew
instead of in translations as the Muslims read their Qur'an in its Arabic text, they would clearly
see that Allah is the same ancient Semitic name of the Supreme Being who revealed and spoke to
Adam and all the prophets.'
'The essence, the person and nature of Allah are absolutely beyond human comprehension, and
therefore any attempt to define His essence is not only futile but even dangerous to our spiritual
welfare and faith; for it will certainly lead us into error.'
'The Trinidadian branch of the Christian Church, for about seventeen centuries, has exhausted all the
brains of her saints and philosophers to define the Essence and the Person of the Deity; and what have
they invented? All that which Athanasiuses, Augustines and Aquinases have imposed upon the
Christians “under the pain of eternal damnation” – to believe in a God who is "the third of three"!
Allah, in His Holy Quran, condemns this belief in these solemn words:-
"They are certainly unbelievers, who say God is the third of three, for there is no God but the one
God; and if they refrain not from what they say, a painful chastisement shall surely be inflicted
on such of them as are unbelievers" (Holy Qur'an, 5:73).
'The attributes of God are not to be considered as distinct and separate divine entities or personalities,
otherwise we shall have, not one trinity of persons in the Godhead, but several dozen of trinities. An
attribute until it actually emanates from its subject has no existence. We cannot qualify the subject by a
particular attribute before that attribute has actually proceeded from it and is seen. Hence we say "God
is Good" when we enjoy His good and kind action; but we cannot describe Him - properly speaking -
as "God is Goodness", because goodness is not God, but His action and work. It is for this reason that
the Quran always attributes to Allah the adjectival appellations, such as the Wise, the Knowing, the
Merciful, but never with such descriptions as "God is love, knowledge, word", and so forth; for love is
the action of the lover and not the lover himself, just as knowledge or word is the action of the knowing
person and not himself.'
'The Christian auspicious formula: "In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost",
does not even mention the name of God! And this is the Christian God! The Christian Trinity - in as
much as it admits a plurality of persons in the Deity, attributes distinct personal properties to each
person; and makes use of family names similar to those in the pagan mythology - cannot be accepted as
a true conception of the Deity. Allah is neither the father of a son nor the son of a father. He has no
mother, nor is He self-made. The belief in "God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy
Ghost" is a flagrant denial of the unity of God, and an audacious confession in three imperfect
beings who, unitedly or separately, cannot be the true God.'
'In conclusion, I must remind Christians that unless they believe in the absolute unity of God,
and renounce the belief in the three persons, they are certainly unbelievers in the true God,
Strictly speaking, Christians are polytheists, only with this exception, that the gods of the heathen
are false and imaginary, whereas the three gods of the Churches have a distinct character, of
whom the Father - as another epithet for Creator - is the One true God, but the son is only a
prophet and servant of God, and third person one of the innumerable holy spirits in the service of
the Almighty God.'
*Source: http://www.islam4all.com/prof.htm
Raphael Narbaez, Jr.
Comic & former Jehovah's Witness Minister
He is a Los Angeles-based comic and lecturer. He was born in Texas where he attended his first
Jehovah's Witness meeting at age six. He gave his first Bible sermon at eight, tended his own
congregation at twenty, and was headed for a position of leadership among the 904,000 Jehovah's
Witnesses in the United States.
At age twenty, he had become a pioneer minister....'Jehovah's Witnesses have a very sophisticated
training program, and they also have kind of a quota system. You have to devote ten to twelve
hours a month to door-to-door preaching. It's like sales management....
A few things no longer made sense to me. For example, the quota system. It seemed like every
time I wanted to turn a corner and get into another position of responsibility, I had to do these
secular material things to prove my godliness. It's like if you meet your quotas this month, God
loves you. If you don't meet your quotas next month, God doesn't love you. That didn't make
very much sense. One month God loves me and one month He doesn't?….
'The other thing I started noticing is tunnel vision. Jehovah's Witnesses are the only ones who are
going to be saved in God's new order, nobody else, because all of them are practicing false
religions.'
'We criticized the Catholic Church because they had a man, a priest, to whom they had to
confess. And we'd say, "You shouldn't have to go to a man to confess your sins! Your sin is against
God!....If the sin is against God, shouldn't I directly go to God and beg for mercy?
And 'Jehovah's Witnesses have books for everything that are put out by the Watchtower Bible
and Tract Society..... I appreciated the books. But if the Bible is the book of knowledge and if it's
God's instructions, well, shouldn't we get our answers out of the Bible? Paul himself said find out
for yourself what is a true and acceptable word of God. Don't let men tickle your ears.'
'Spiritually I no longer felt at ease. So in 1979, knowing that I could not make headway, I left,
disgruntled and with a bad taste in my mouth, because all my life I had put my soul, my heart, my
mind into the church. That was the problem. I didn't put it in God. I put it in a man-made
organization.'
'I can't go to other religions. As a Jehovah's Witness, I had been trained, through the Scriptures, to show
that they are all wrong. That idolatry is bad. Trinity doesn't exist.
I'm like a man without a religion. I was not a man without a God. But where could I go?
'So I just went to the Catholic church close to my house, and I tried it. I remember on Ash Wednesday I
had that ash cross on my forehead. I was trying anything I could. I went for about two or three months,
and I just couldn't do it anymore....'But it never passed through my mind that there is not a
Creator. I have His phone number, but the line's always busy.'
'I continued to pray, and asked why my prayers weren't being answered....O God, teach me to be
a Christian. Don't teach me the Jehovah's Witness way. Don't teach me the Catholic way. Teach
me Your way!'
Then he started reading the Qur'an, and found that it mentioned Noah, Lot and Abraham. 'I can't believe
it. I never knew Satan's name was Iblis...When you get that picture on your TV set and it's got a
little bit of static and you push that button [klop] - fine tune. That's exactly what happened with
the Qur'an.' Then to learn more, he attended Friday ceremony, and continued to read and read and
visit the mosque....
Then I started getting calls from different parts of the country to go and lecture as a Jehovah's Witness
minister who embraced Islam. People find me a novelty....Eventually somebody would come up to me
and say [Pakistani accent], "Oh, brother, your talk was so good. But you know, in the Shafi'i school
of thought.."
The only thing I could do was turn to them and say, "Gee, brother, I'm so sorry, I wish I knew about
that, but I don't know anything about Islam except what's in the Qur'an and Sunnah[Prophet
tradition]
Some of them are taken aback and say, "Ha-ha! Poor brother. He doesn't know anything. He only
knows the Qur'an'....Well, that's what I'm supposed to know. And it's been a very loving
protection. I think it's all in Allah's hands."
*Source: 'From the Watchtower to the Minaret', http://www.whymuhammad.com
Shaykh Abd Al Wahid Yahya* [René Guénon] (1886-1951)
French Scholar, writer, philosopher and mystic
'In any case, what Westerners call civilization, the others would call barbarity, because it is
precisely lacking in the essential, that is to say a principle of a higher order.' ( East And West)
He was born in 1886 to a well off Catholic family of France. From his childhood, he was an extraordinary
intelligent and made distinction amongst his classmates. He got his Bachelor's degree with
distinction and joined the University of Paris where he studied mathematics for about two years.
During his study, he did not restrict his activities to formal education only but started searching for the
'Ultimate Truth', because he was not satisfied with his ancestral religion; Christianity. He did not accept
the so called Christian dogmas and rituals. Consequently, he had not only a thorough and deep
comparative study of religions, but also he held discussions and had meetings with thinkers and
philosophers of fame. Due to this spiritual journey and mental chaos, he left the university even though
his education was incomplete. In 1909 he met two 'Reverts to Islam' who were not only well acquainted
with Islam, but also competent in sociology.
The first of these two scholars was Sheikh Abdul Haq, formerly Schamrino of French origin. He was a
scholar of repute and edited a magazine namely 'Al-Tareeq". The Christian name was Iavon Gustav.
After his reversion to Islam, he learned Arabic and had full command over it. He used to contribute
articles to 'Ansari' magazine which was being published from Egypt.
In 1909, Rene Guenon started a magazine entitled "Al-Maarifat" [Knowledge] with the collaboration of
these scholars. which covered Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. This journal remained active
for about four years and ceased publication in 1912, the year in which Rene Guenon entered the fold of
Islam. He took the Islamic name Abdul Wahid Yahya. His 'Reversion to Islam' was the result of his own
continuous search for Truth coupled with the cooperation and guidance of Sheikh Abdul Haq and
Sheikh Abdur Rahman Elish El-Kebir (El-Alim El-Maliki School of Thought in Egypt), a mystic and
competent in Islamic Jurisprudence. As a token of respect, Rene Guenon dedicated his book:
"Symbolism of the Cross" to the venerated memory of Sheikh Abudur Rahman who gave him the first
idea of the book. In February 1930, Rene Guenon went to Cairo and settled there permanently.
One of his main concerns was to produce an unsentimental analysis of Western ideological and
religious development since the Renaissance, focusing on the degradation - as he saw it - of
metaphysics, religion and philosophy and consequently of the mentality of the general populace.
He explained why the civilization of the West was built on false foundations, like a house built on sand:
its positivism, its denial of true tradition and in consequece its metaphysiscal blindness. He also
showed the way to reform this situation by gaining access - through initiation - to the
sacred and eternal treasure of timeless wisdom hidden beyond pseudo-sciences. His writings have
inspired many engaged readers to search for truth and meaning in an otherwise meaningless world.
*Resources: (How Rene Guenon Discovered Islam) http://www.islamweb.ne t
(who was Rene Guenon) http://www.abc.se/~m9783/trg.html
Conclusion:
Those mentioned, with so many others whom were not mentioned here, but God knows them...I pray
that God accepts them all- all along with those whom are still to come-and bless them with mercy, I
pray that God raises their grades in heaven, and gather us with them in his mercy on the day of account,
....Amen.
According to the Religious & Tolerance website (http://www.religioustolerance.org/worldrel.htm)
which provides a chart of basic information on various religions (latest update Dec.2009)
Basic information on various religions:
What we want to check on this schedule is the growth rate of different religions indicated in (column
no.6) which shows that Islam is the only GROWING religion nowadays with dropping in Christianity
and No-Religion.
(Islam is also the fastest-growing religion. In the United States, for example, nearly 80 percent of the
more than 1,200 mosques have been built in the past 12 years.) (CNN world news)
(MORE than 14,000 white Britons have converted to Islam after becoming disillusioned with western
values, according to the first authoritative study of the phenomenon.) (Times online)
We mentioned these statistics as incentive for the efforts and good deeds. Although this high prevalence
does not deny us a charge of default, do not absolve us of the enormous responsibility entrusted to us.
Dr. Muhammad Iqbal said: 'The Muslim will be trembling on day of judgment shamefully, when
the prophet reprimand: You have taken from me the word of Truth, So why do not you submit it
to the people?!'
I n her book (Allah’s sun over the Occident), Sigrid Hunke says 'Islam came to the whole world, not
only for Arabs, and Muslims should follow the path of the Holy Prophet, because the world is in a
vacuum that only the teachings of Islam can fill. Europeans have the opportunity to embrace
Islam, they Need the savior and no savior but Islam"
CHAPTER-3-
PROSPECTS FOR THE ISLAMIC TIDE IN THE WEST
"Pass away between me and the people"
Muhammad 'peace be upon him'
In a Village of palm trees, established in the desert, like security after fear, and hope after despair....
Whose is this blessed village?! And who are those disciples who listened to their teacher-at Al Arqam
house - and planned to break into difficulties, to break into the heart of the world? What vulnerable
poor people who were set to bring the TRUTH to the world! See them years after, with their flags
flutter in the East and West. And there, wrote a new book in the history of civilization that
overwhelmed the nations of the whole world!! How could such a small village expand to contain the
world?! How did those disciples manage to reach their goals?! What power in their hearts led them?
The answer simply is ISLAM.
And man nowadays is thirsty. Thirsty, but does not know the lable of the water, and where to find it,
there is no doubt that he had heard it's lable, but horrified simply to hear it's title, because the media
had imbued people's minds with rumors that this water is poisoned and should not be near it, connected
it's lable with terrorism!! However, whoever manage to reach it, was so amazed for the long deception.
Factors of the spread of Islam:
If we extrapolated the proclamations of those blessed people whome we accompanied in the previous
pages to unearth the reasons behind their conversion to Islam, we find that these reasons, almost
exclusively, and according to their importance and frequency are as follows:
1 - Islam is a religion of instinct and monotheism; This is the first factor in the spread of Islam, Islam
has come with true rational human perception of 'God', 'the universe', and 'humans', with quite
appropriate legislation that fits human nature. Islam is the religion of instinct and can be easily
applied in all the circumstances which facilitated it's spread.
2 – Holy Quran study; This is important to remove doubts and be assured of the divine source of the
Holy Quran, and that it is the pure revelation from God, and the fact that it was untouched by
corruption through ages of time.
3 - Good example; A Muslim behavier gives practical lessons to people, it's like reading in an open
book about the meaning of Islam. As said 'The effect of a single man's deed can be better than
thousand men's quotes effect on a single man.'
4 - The comprehensiveness and balance of Islamic architecture; Some were affected by Muslims
mosques and praying, the purity and chastity, the justice, the brotherhood between all Muslims [this
had a great meaning for Malcolm X], plus many women were fascinated by the true women status in
Islam.
5 - Studying the Scriptures; That leads to nowhere, this is mostly for the religious scholars and
priests, and for people when start searching for the truth.
6 – Islamic respect for the Apostles; Mostly for religious scholars who felt connected to Jesus, yet
could not accept trinity, found relief in Islam, like Yusuf Estus, & Ibrahim Khalil Ahmad.
7 - The fact that there's no mediation between the Creation and the Creator, or indulgences in
Islam.
8 – There is no world-renunciation in Islam; Islam contains no separation between faith and social
behaviour; no conflict between matter and spirit. Every form of life-denial and self-mortification had
been condemned by the Prophet.
9- Psychological reassurance and the achievement of human rights in Islam.
Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world:
Lots of Westerners rush to Islam, overcoming barriers of cultural and social environment, and anti-
Islamic propaganda campaigns which distort Islamic principles, history and civilization, disregarding
the bitter reality of Muslims world's tardiness, and despite the primitive and spontaneity of means used
by Muslims in the invitation to Islam, in spite of all that, Islam is still the most growing religion in the
world. as shown in the chart presented on (page 55).
If we know that Islam is spreading with the efforts of scattered individual, with so little efforts and
funds comparing to Evangelization campaigns for other religions, that will lead to know with certainty
that 'The religion in the sight of God is Islam'.
