Proud2BeHumble
Seek Truth, Be Happy
By Saifullah Islam
I started with little helpings of Islam. My plate started looking more colourful. The buffet started smelling much more aromatic.
It is not possible to fit my life up to now into an essay, but here are some pieces that will hopefully shape a picture.
As a young South African boy when I saw Muslims, even on T.V., I was attracted to them. Their appearance, the way they carried themselves in public and even the way they ate with their hands. I was in awe of the sheer humility of actually placing your face down on the ground when speaking to God. But that was just a file in the back shelves of my mental cabinet.
The government at the time, being one-dimensional as they were, had people believing that all religions apart from Christianity were misguided and wrong. That being manipulative as it was, made people—parents—frown on any other religion. Parents teaching their kids the same values and standards that they were taught kept Islam in the shadows... for now.
Although I grew up loving the Bible and what it meant to me, I started wanting a bit more as I grew older. Something was just lacking. That certain something that you cannot name, but on closing your eyes, you can clearly feel it. As a young boy I had a tremendous interest in life, humans and how humans apply what they know to life. That brought me to study religion.
After not very long at all, it became clear to me that ‘The Bible’ as we know it today, is not translated correctly from its original Hebrew scripture. The message was in fact turned into a complete custom suited version of its original script. Surely the Almighty God would not just leave mankind without the proper guidance? Surely He must have revealed Himself again? I was certain that God did not just turn away after man defaced His written word. I knew that evil men, no matter how many could not possibly keep God away from us. Needing to find God’s revelation to life made me search for that missing ‘something’. The search was difficult as the country was still mentally ‘fenced in.’
But time doing what it does specifically, which is change things and the perspective we view things from, turned the way life looked to South Africans. It opened up the doorway to that big ‘out there’. It put Islam right there in my buffet of facts. Still a bit molded by the old one-dimensional way of life, Islam was often overlooked on dishing up my spiritual food. My mental hunger not being stilled and getting more used to variety, I eventually started with little helpings of Islam. My plate started looking more colourful. The buffet started smelling much more aromatic.
Something took me by my heart and filled me with a magical sense of wonder.
Loving nature and its effect on the spirit, I have always spent time away in the mountains. During these outings I used the time to get closer to God and more in touch with His creation. I asked Him to please show me where to turn to. To please light the path that leads to a higher life. On my return back to the so called civilization, I became friends with a Muslim for the first time in my life. A sensitive and friendly man. He was an ordinary man living an ordinary life and speaking about ordinary things, but... when speaking about God something came over him. Something I did not see in the other ordinary people I knew. Something that took me by my heart and filled me with a magical sense of wonder.
After a while, our paths forked into separate directions. My life went on its normal course. Time went by and my emptiness remained. I kept asking for guidance. Then one day I bumped into my old friend again. It was wonderful to see his warm smile again. I had missed him. We exchanged phone numbers and stayed in touch. This time, I made it clear to Him that I want more insight into Islam. I started meeting him and learning more every time. He gave me literature and I took in like plant takes in water. I was growing. More and more it became clear to me that Islam is what I have always been searching for. That Islam was the frame around my picture of life.
It was not long before I contacted him and told him that I want Islam as my way of life, that I wanted Islam to be the robe covering me when looked upon by the eyes of God. The eyes of Allah. (I still get filled with a wholesome fear when saying His name. I always will inshallah.)
Since the day my friend, now my brother, sat down in front of me as I testified that Allah, swt, is the true deity and the only deity worthy of worship, and that Muhammad (Pbuh), was His Prophet and Messenger, I have grown stronger in Islam. I have been living the life I was longing for my whole life.
May Allah, swt, grant me the ability to be a living testimony of His glorious and supreme reign to all of mankind. Ameen.
I started with little helpings of Islam. My plate started looking more colourful. The buffet started smelling much more aromatic.
It is not possible to fit my life up to now into an essay, but here are some pieces that will hopefully shape a picture.
As a young South African boy when I saw Muslims, even on T.V., I was attracted to them. Their appearance, the way they carried themselves in public and even the way they ate with their hands. I was in awe of the sheer humility of actually placing your face down on the ground when speaking to God. But that was just a file in the back shelves of my mental cabinet.
The government at the time, being one-dimensional as they were, had people believing that all religions apart from Christianity were misguided and wrong. That being manipulative as it was, made people—parents—frown on any other religion. Parents teaching their kids the same values and standards that they were taught kept Islam in the shadows... for now.
Although I grew up loving the Bible and what it meant to me, I started wanting a bit more as I grew older. Something was just lacking. That certain something that you cannot name, but on closing your eyes, you can clearly feel it. As a young boy I had a tremendous interest in life, humans and how humans apply what they know to life. That brought me to study religion.
After not very long at all, it became clear to me that ‘The Bible’ as we know it today, is not translated correctly from its original Hebrew scripture. The message was in fact turned into a complete custom suited version of its original script. Surely the Almighty God would not just leave mankind without the proper guidance? Surely He must have revealed Himself again? I was certain that God did not just turn away after man defaced His written word. I knew that evil men, no matter how many could not possibly keep God away from us. Needing to find God’s revelation to life made me search for that missing ‘something’. The search was difficult as the country was still mentally ‘fenced in.’
But time doing what it does specifically, which is change things and the perspective we view things from, turned the way life looked to South Africans. It opened up the doorway to that big ‘out there’. It put Islam right there in my buffet of facts. Still a bit molded by the old one-dimensional way of life, Islam was often overlooked on dishing up my spiritual food. My mental hunger not being stilled and getting more used to variety, I eventually started with little helpings of Islam. My plate started looking more colourful. The buffet started smelling much more aromatic.
Something took me by my heart and filled me with a magical sense of wonder.
Loving nature and its effect on the spirit, I have always spent time away in the mountains. During these outings I used the time to get closer to God and more in touch with His creation. I asked Him to please show me where to turn to. To please light the path that leads to a higher life. On my return back to the so called civilization, I became friends with a Muslim for the first time in my life. A sensitive and friendly man. He was an ordinary man living an ordinary life and speaking about ordinary things, but... when speaking about God something came over him. Something I did not see in the other ordinary people I knew. Something that took me by my heart and filled me with a magical sense of wonder.
After a while, our paths forked into separate directions. My life went on its normal course. Time went by and my emptiness remained. I kept asking for guidance. Then one day I bumped into my old friend again. It was wonderful to see his warm smile again. I had missed him. We exchanged phone numbers and stayed in touch. This time, I made it clear to Him that I want more insight into Islam. I started meeting him and learning more every time. He gave me literature and I took in like plant takes in water. I was growing. More and more it became clear to me that Islam is what I have always been searching for. That Islam was the frame around my picture of life.
It was not long before I contacted him and told him that I want Islam as my way of life, that I wanted Islam to be the robe covering me when looked upon by the eyes of God. The eyes of Allah. (I still get filled with a wholesome fear when saying His name. I always will inshallah.)
Since the day my friend, now my brother, sat down in front of me as I testified that Allah, swt, is the true deity and the only deity worthy of worship, and that Muhammad (Pbuh), was His Prophet and Messenger, I have grown stronger in Islam. I have been living the life I was longing for my whole life.
May Allah, swt, grant me the ability to be a living testimony of His glorious and supreme reign to all of mankind. Ameen.
