Why I embraced Islam
Al-Risala (English), August-September 1992, p. 24
By Maulana Wahiduddin Khan
Maulana Wahiduddin Khan is named as the default author of the periodical; a piece that carries another writer’s byline is credited to that writer.
Why I embraced Islam
1992 8-9 August-September 24-26 Why I embraced Islam (945) By Ali Ahmad Knud Holmboe Mr. Holmboe is a Dane, and a journalist of established repute in his country. He is the author of a number of books.
It was in al-Kuds (Jerusalem) that I received my first impression of the beauty of Islam. What I had known before about this religion was only what is being taught in schools nearly all over Europe that Muhammad was but a plagiarist of Christianity and Judaism, and that the faith he founded was a wild and barbarous faith which had as its aim the massacre of poor Christians, especially those in Armenia.
No sincere human being, indeed, no human being, can exist indefinitely without religion, without an ethical foundation for his conduct. I sought the Truth, and was impressed by the musical beauty and the art which I found in the Roman Catholic Church.
Very soon, I understood that Christianity in all the aspects in which I knew it had very little in common with true religion; that spirit which like a red streak goes through all religions; and that the man ‘Christ,’ whom they have made a gold-bedecked deity would not have been a Christian if he had lived today.
I visited the Mosque of Umar, which stands where once stood the Temple of Solomon. In the Mosque of ‘Umar there was absolute quietude: no priests celebrating the mass, or preaching, or changing bread and wine into God, no music to hypnotize and lead the heart away from clear understanding.
I placed myself in a corner and saw how Muslim after Muslim quietly came in, left his shoes near the entrance, knelt with his face turned towards Makkah and said his prayer: Here was no artistically sculptured Christ; here, man was alone with Almighty God, from whom a little light is reflected in the hearts of all.
Later, I borrowed an English translation of the Holy Qur’an from my Muslim friend. I began to study Arabic, and this led me to Islam.
One day I visited the mosque of Xauen, in Spanish Morocco. There was only a carpet of strap on the floor and at first I was alone. Then an old man came in. He looked at me for a moment, then he came to where I was sitting, gave me his hand and said, ‘You are not from here? Why do you come to the Mosque?’
‘Do you know what God is?’ he asked.
I shook my head.
‘If you imagined,’ he said, ‘That all the ethical ideals of humanity had reached perfection, this would only form a small part of God. The sight of God has crushed the hearts of the prophets and the angels, even with their understanding of only a small part of His might. What is your religion?
I replied, ‘I have none.’
He looked at me very seriously, took my hand and continued: ‘Very few foreigners understand Islam – especially those of you who come from Europe, with your ideas of civilization and material progress as the only things worth living for.
‘The straight road to God is Islam.’
‘But why not Christianity or Hinduism or Theosophy, or any of all the many other religions of the world? I asked.
The old man smiled. ‘All religions contain something of the truth – something of Islam. But Christianity is going farther and farther from God, because it has made the Prophet Jesus God. And it has placed the priest between man and God. The Prophet Muhammad, may peace be upon him, does not teach, as is said, too, in the Qur’an, any new religion, Muhammad is only taking the essentials from already existing religions, which are leading man far from God. In Islam the road to God is our only dogma. We have no priests; we have no pictures in our Mosques. How can you express God by a picture? We can but pray to Him and Him alone.’
‘Who, then, was Muhammad?’ I asked.
‘Only a prophet like Jesus, Moses, Abraham and a thousand others; one of the elect, who saw the greatness of God and had to proclaim it to the whole world. Christianity is leading men away from God; it takes from men all responsibility by teaching that Christ is the saviour and that he died for our sake. Muhammad does not teach any such thing, and says that Jesus, too, never claimed for himself that he was God. Often in the Qur’an Muhammad is recorded as saying, ‘I am only a man like you.’ Islam tells us that each man, for himself, has the duty of developing his soul. He must pray five times a day, so that the picture of God and of the road to God may remain with full clearness in his soul. Therefore, intoxicants are prohibited; therefore, he must fast one month of the year to keep his body a healthy place for his soul. The difference between Islam and all other religions is that the latter say that through faith you may act; Islam says, rather, that through action faith must be born.’
A few months later I was converted to Islam, the religion which I shall follow, God willing, until I die.
It is my hope and belief that Islam has a future, especially where people today are yearning for a religion which will give them more than Christianity, – a failure in every respect – and that the religion of the future will be Islam and no other. Notwithstanding the advent of Bolshevism, Socialism and all other modern ideas for the happiness of mankind. Islam alone can make every individual completely happy, and for this reason, society, though today more corrupt than ever, is still worth living in.
