Believe It or Not: You were Born

!Muslim
What would you call a religion whose beliefs, practices and
followers are being bashed and bad-mouthed in practically
every sphere of activity, in almost every corner of the globe,
?yet it attracts ever-increasing numbers of people

.A Paradox? A Miracle ? Or simply, The Truth: Islaam

The fact that Islaam is the fastest growing religion in the

world today, is proof that our Creator has taken it upon
Himself to perfect the Truth that He sent all His prophets and
.[messengers with -- from Aadam [AS] to Muhammad [SAW

Studies conducted in the West show that the sheer number of

new Muslims is changing the demographic profile of countries
all over the world, and not all of them are born into Muslim
families. With some 6 million adherents in the United States,
Islam is said to be the nation’s fastest-growing religion. One
expert estimates that 25,000 people a year become Muslims in
this country; some clerics say they have seen conversion rates
.quadruple since Sept 11

Ironically for a religion that is routinely bashed for

“subjugating” and “oppressing” its female followers, the
!number of female reverts to Islaam outnumber the males 4:1

The fact that more and more people are finding their way to
Islaam, notwithstanding the relentless propaganda, deliberate
misinformation and outright prejudice against it, never ceases
.to amaze me

How do these people navigate in the darkness to find the light

?of Islaam in spite of all the obstacles in the way
 The answer is that our Creator has granted each one of us a
guiding light -- a pure, undefiled innate nature called the
fitrah. Unlike Christians who believe in the doctrine of
Original Sin and assert that each baby is born tainted with the
sin of Adam’s disobedience to God, Muslims believe that
every child is born into a state of purity where it recognizes its
.Creator and is naturally subservient to His laws

In his book The Fundamentals of Islaamic Monotheism, Abu

Ameenah Bilaal Philips writes: Just as a child’s body submits
to the physical laws which Allaah has put in nature, its soul
also submits naturally to the fact that Allaah is its Lord and
Creator. But its parents try to make it follow their own way
and the child is not strong enough in the early stages of its life
to resist or oppose its parents. The religion which the child
follows at this stage is one of custom and upbringing and
.Allaah does not hold it to account for this religion

When the child matures in youth and clear proofs of the

falsehood of its religion are brought to it, the adult must now
follow the religion of knowledge and reason. At this point the
devils try their best to encourage him to stay as he is or to go
further astray. Evils are made pleasing to him and he must
now live in the midst of a struggle between his innate pure
.nature and his desires in order to find the right road

If he chooses to follow his innate nature, his fitrah, Allaah will

help him overcome his desires even though it may take most
of his life to escape, for many people enter Islaam in their old
.age

The Qur’aan also points to this phenomenon, where every soul

that has been created is asked Who their Lord is, and they
testify that it is none other than Allaah before they are born
.into the world
 When your Lord drew forth from the loins of the children of
Aadam their descendants and made them testify concerning
themselves. Saying: Am I not your Lord? They said: “Yes, we
testify to it.” (This) in case you say on the Day of Judgement,
“We were unaware of this.” Or in case you say: It was our
ancestors who made partners (with Allaah) and we are only
[their descendants…[Surah Al-A’raaf 7:172-173

Explaining this verse, the Prophet [SAW] said: When Allaah

created Aadam [AS] , He took a covenant from him …then He
extracted from him all of his descendants who would be born
until the end of the world, generation after generation and
spread them out in front of Him in order to take a covenant
.from them

He spoke to them face to face saying: Am I not your Lord?

.And they all replied: Yes, we testify to it

Allaah then explained why He had all of mankind bear witness

that He was their Creator and the only true God worthy of
worship. He said: That was in case you (mankind) should say
on the Day of Resurrection, “Surely we were unaware of all
this. We had no idea that You were our God.” [Silsilah al
ahadeeth as Saheehah, Narrated by ibn Abbaas, collected by
[Imaam Ahmad

This is the reason why people who adopt Islaam are said to
revert instead of convert, because they are going back to their
original nature -- the one they were naturally created with --
which is automatically aligned with the Universe, its Creator
and His Laws; as opposed to simply exchanging one set of
.beliefs for another

Reverts to Islaam testify that this inner inclination to search

for the Truth, to know and follow it is a major factor in their
 adopting the faith. It is interesting to see some of the reasons
:cited by reverts for adopting Islaam

Islaamic Monotheism
The Christian sect of Athanasians insistently inculcates the“
tenet that Christianity is based on a belief in three gods
(Trinity), that a slightest doubt as to this belief will lead one to
immediate perdition; and that a person who wishes to attain
salvation in this world and the next should definitely hold a
belief in the three gods: God, the Son of God, and the Holy
.Ghost

When I became a Muslim, I received a letter, which said: “By

becoming a Muslim you have damned yourself to perdition.
No one can save you. For you deny the divinity of God.” The
poor man [who wrote that letter] thought that I no longer
believed in God, not knowing that when Jesus had begun to
preach, he stated the unity of God and he never claimed to be
.His son

[Lord Headley al-Farooq; British diplomat, engineer]

:An answer for every question

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 the human mind

Upon this I decided to study, on the one hand, Oriental

religions, and on the other hand, books written by famous
philosophers. 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

Muhammad Alexander Russell Webb; American diplomat,]

[author

:Direct relationship with one’s Creator

Now I realize I can get in direct contact with God, unlike
Christianity or any other religion. As one Hindu lady told me,
“You don't understand the Hindus. We believe in one God; we
use these objects (idols) to merely concentrate.” What she was
saying was that in order to reach God, one has to create
associates, that are idols for the purpose. But Islam removes
.all these barriers

[Yusuf Islaam, formerly Cat Stevens]

:Universality
Islam is a religion that belongs not only to the Arabs but to the
entire humanity. This universal quality presents a sharp
contrast with the Judaic religion, whose holy book always
.refers to the God of Israel

One more thing that I love in Islam is that this religion

recognizes all the prophets, makes no distinction between
them and treats the believers of other religions with
 .compassion

[Mahmud Gunnar Ahmad, Swedish Muslim]

:Absolute equality before God, extended brotherhood

There were tens of thousands of pilgrims, from all over the
world. They were of all colors, from blue-eyed blondes to
black-skinned Africans. But we were all participating in the
same ritual, displaying a spirit of unity and brotherhood that
my experiences in America had led me to believe never could
.exist between the white and non-white

America needs to understand Islam, because this is the one

religion that erases from its society the race problem.
Throughout my travels in the Muslim world, I have met,
talked to, and even eaten with people who in America would
have been considered white - but the white attitude was
removed from their minds by the religion of Islam. I have
never before seen sincere and true brotherhood practiced by
.all colors together, irrespective of their color

You may be shocked by these words coming from me. But on

this pilgrimage, what I have seen, and experienced, has forced
me to rearrange much of my thought-patterns previously held,
and to toss aside some of my previous conclusions. This was
not too difficult for me. Despite my firm convictions, I have
always been a man who tries to face facts, and to accept the
reality of life as new experience and new knowledge unfolds
it. I have always kept an open mind, which is necessary to the
flexibility that must go hand in hand with every form of
.intelligent search for truth

During the past eleven days here in the Muslim world, I have
eaten from the same plate, drunk from the same glass, and
slept on the same rug - while praying to the same God - with
fellow Muslims, whose eyes were the bluest of blue, whose
hair was the blondest of blond, and whose skin was the whitest
of white. And in the words and in the deeds of the white
Muslims, I felt the same sincerity that I felt among the black
African Muslims of Nigeria, Sudan and Ghana. We were truly
all the same (brothers) - because their belief in one God had
removed the white from their minds, the white from their
.behavior, and the white from their attitude

[Letter written from Makkah, by Malcolm X]

:Purity of prayer
If I were asked what impressed me most in the religion of
Islam, I would probably say the prayers, because prayers in
Christianity are used wholly in begging God (through Jesus
Christ) to grant worldly favours, whereas in Islam they ar used
to give praise and thanks to Almighty God for all His
blessings since He knows what is necessary for our welfare
.and grants us what we need without our asking it

[Cecilia Mahmuda Cannolly, Australian Muslim]

:Women’s rights and status

No doubt, influenced by the usual condemnation of Islam
from Christian pulpits on the subject, I picked on polygamy.
At last I thought I had something; obviously Western
monogamy was an improvement on this old system. I talked
of it to my Muslim friend. He illustrated with the aid of
newspaper articles how much true monogamy there was in
England, and convinced me that a limited polygamy was the
answer to the secret unions that are becoming so distressingly
common in the West. My own common sense could see that,
particularly after a war, when women of a certain age group
far outnumber men, a percentage of them are destined to
remain spinsters. Did God give them life for that? I recollect
that on the radio programme known as `Dear Sir' an unmarried
English girl had called for lawful polygamy, saying she would
prefer a shared married life rather than the loneliness to which
she seemed to be destined. In Islam no one is forced into a
polygamous marriage, but in a perfect religion, the
opportunity must be there to meet those cases where it is
.necessary

[Mavis B Jolly, UK]

:Belief in the Qur’aan as Divine Revelation

I read as much of the Qur’aan as I could. I was immersed in it.
As I read the verses in English, I repeated to myself over and
over again, this is what I have always thought and believed.
What kind of book was this? Before long I was reading the
book and crying, and reading and crying... it was as if
something had overtaken me... I forgot what I was looking for
in particular, however when I came upon the verses in Surah
Baqarah 122-141 regarding Prophet Ibrahim (AS) I had found
.my answer

I had been searching for Isma'il (as), son of Prophet Ibrahim

and his wife Hajarah, who had been missing from the Hebrew
brothers story. In those verses I found the truth of religion...
They say: Become Jews or Christians if ye would be guided
(to salvation). Say thou: Nay! (I would rather) the religion of
Abraham the True, and he joined not gods with Allah. Say ye:
We believe in Allah, and the revelation given to us, and to
Abraham, Isma'il, Isaac, Jacob and the Tribes, and that given
to Moses and Jesus, and that given to (all) the Prophets from
their Lord; We make no difference between one another of
them: and we submit to Allah." (2:135-136) As I continued to
read and cry, I became intent upon finding someone who
!could connect me with others who believed in this book

[K H Abdul Lateef, USA]

:[The personal example of the Prophet Muhammad [SAW

 I accepted Islam because I admired the Prophet Muhammad.
[SAW]. I had quite a number of Muslim friends in Zanzibar,
who gave me Islamic books, which I read in secrecy from my
family. I became a Muslim despite the remonstrances of my
family and the oppressions of the priests of Parsee religion,
which had been my religion until that time. I held fast to my
religion and resisted against all sorts of threats. Now I love
Allaah and His last Prophet Muhammad [SAW] more than my
life

[Faruq B Karai, Zanzibar]

:Islaam withstands scrutiny and encourages reasoning

Instead of asking a follower to believe in its precepts just
”because” or someone asks them to, Islaam encourages people
to think for themselves, reflect on the signs of God in Creation
and within their own selves. Little wonder then that a sizable
number of reverts are thinking people: scientists, astronomers,
.philosophers, doctors

As created beings who can neither grant life nor ward off
death, we owe it to ourselves and The One Who Created Us to
discover the Truth, to follow it and to facilitate others to do
.the same