Why did she become Muslim? Mrs. FATMA KAZUE - (Japanese)

After the Second World War I observed a growing indifference towards our religion. The Japanese people were gradually taking to the American life style. This life style lessens people's religious consciousness and turns them into machinery. And people who have been turned into machines, in turn, suffer from profound dissatisfaction. I felt the same dissatisfaction. There was a vacuum in my soul. I was not pleased about that life style. Yet, what was missing I did not know.
 

I visited a Muslim who was in Tokyo for a short stay. I very much admired his religious ideas and the way he prayed. I began to ask him various questions. The answers he gave not only pleased me, but also filled the vacuum in my soul. He said that there was one Creator, that that Creator had prescribed the modes of life we had to lead to attain peace and salvation, and that he was leading a life compatible with the commandments of that Creator. His words impressed me so deeply that I told him that I wanted to accept his religion, and thus I became a Muslim under his guide. After becoming a Muslim I began to feel in my heart how great a happiness it was to live in a spiritual mood so close to the Creator. My life style changed and I attained peace.
 

An attentive look at the way Muslims greet one another would suffice to realize the fact that Islam is a true religion. We only say 'good morning' or 'good night' to one another and just walk by. Instead of these dull and materialistic greetings, Muslims say to one another, "As-salamu 'alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu," which means, "May peace and salvation and the rahmat [Compassion, mercy] and barakat [Abundance, blessing.] of Allahu ta'ala be on you." Could a more beautiful way of well-wishing or greeting be conceived? My Muslim friend gave me plenty of valuable information about Muslims' credal tenets, about the essentials of Islam, and about the ways of worship. These things were extremely logical and humanistic. I saw and believed that Islam is a religion whereby a cleanly, simple, logical and peaceful life is possible. Living in peace and happiness, both individually and socially, requires a full adaptation to this religion. For this reason, having attained peace and salvation myself, I have been doing my best to persuade all the members of my family, my friends and acquaintances to become blessed with Islam.

from the book: WHY DID THEY BECOME MUSLIMS?

Why did she become Muslim? LADY ZAYNAB EVELYN COMBOLD - (G.B.)

I am frequently asked why I became a Muslim. I am the daughter of a renowned family, and my husband also is well-known and rich. To those who ask me why I became a Muslim, I reply that I do not know for certain when the light of Islam rose in my soul. It seems to me as if I have been a Muslim forever. This is not something strange at all. For Islam is a natural and true religion. Every child is born as a Muslim. If it is left to itself, it will choose Islam, none else. As a European writer observes, "Islam is the religion of people with common sense."
 
If you made a comparative study of all religions, you would immediately see that Islam is the most perfect, the most natural, and the most logical. Owing to Islam, many complicated problems of the world are solved easily and mankind attains peace and tranquility. Islam always rejects the dogma that human beings are born sinful and that they have to expiate for it in the world. Muslims believe in Allah, who is one. In their eyes, Musa (Moses), Isa (Jesus), and Muhammad Mustafa 'salawatullahi ta'ala 'alaihim ajmain' are human beings like us. Allahu ta'ala has chosen them as Prophets to guide people to the right way. For doing penance, for asking for forgiveness, or for praying, there is no one between Allahu ta'ala and the born slave. We can supplicate Allahu ta'ala on our own any time, and we are responsible only for what we have done.

The word 'Islam' means both 'to surrender oneself to Allahu ta'ala' and 'to have belief in Muhammad 'alaihis-salam'. 'Muslim' means 'a person who lives in peace and happiness with all beings.' Islam is based on two fundamental facts:
 

1) That Allahu ta'ala is one, and that Muhammad 'alaihis-salam' is the final Prophet He has sent.
 

2) That humanity should be entirely freed from superstitions and unfounded dogmas. The Hajj, one of the (five) tenets of Islam, has a great impact on people. What other religion contains a form of worship as sublime as Islam's pilgrimage, which brings together hundreds of thousands of Muslims from all four corners of the world regardless of their classes, races, countries, colors and rank positions, and makes them put on the (uniformal garb called) Ihram and prostrate themselves with one accord before Allahu ta'ala? It is a certain fact that Muslims' worshiping together at these blessed places where the great Prophet 'sall-Allahu ta'ala 'alaihi wa sallam' announced Islam, struggled against Islam's enemies, exerted himself with great determination and firmness, will attach them to one another with stronger affections, whereby they will try to find solutions for one another's problems, and they will once again take an oath to cooperate along the way shown by Allahu ta'ala. Another use of the Hajj is that thereby Muslims all over the world meet one another, know one another's problems, and teach their personal experiences to one another. All Muslims assemble at the place whereto they turn their faces during their worships at home, and, all in one mass, one body in the presence of Allahu ta'ala, they surrender themselves to Him.

Seeing the Hajj once would suffice as an evidence to prove the greatness of Islam. Here is Islam, and I have been enjoying the pleasure and satisfaction of having entered this great religion. 


from the book: WHY DID THEY BECOME MUSLIMS?

The philomel of soul is ever-desirous of the rose;
Don't you ever presume fighting others is its real cause!

Ceaselessly it hovers round it, like a moth,
looking for a shelter where they could enjoy some repose.

 

I now know that the lovely rose has told none of its secret,
It always yearns for the philomel, like a budding rose.

 

From strangers that nymph has hidden her cheeks;

Unrequited love puts up with the thorn, never gets the rose.

Infatuated, the poor lover paces the road to his beloved;
Craving for the sweetheart, the lover himself dissolves.