THE ROLE OF WOMEN

seen or met so far. He did not have an all-knowing air about him. He seemed approachable, spiritual and most importantly very humble. When he sat down with us, the first thing he asked me was, “Do you have any questions?” I was spellbound that an Islamic scholar of such renown, for that matter any Islamic scholar was allowing me to ask him questions. Hesitatingly I asked him the same question I had asked so many scholars: “Was the incident of 9/11 jihad?” His prompt reply was: “It is not jihad, it is fasad—terrorism. Islam does not sanction such acts.” He went on to define terrorism from the Islamic perspective: The use of arms by any individual or organization, except for an established state. Then he went on to clarify the position of Islam. I listened enthralled to finally receive the answers to questions I had been looking for so long. In my mind, I knew Islam was a religion of peace, but the information I had received before this was completely different. I wanted to know more. Maulana asked me to come to his Sunday lectures. I decided to go to Maulana’s lecture to seek further guidance. I realized that ClearLight had only been a stepping stone to get me here. I requested my other colleagues to also start coming to Maulana, which many did. How did Maulana influence your thinking? I went to Maulana’s room for his Sunday Class and I sat by the entrance of the door waiting for the lecture to start. Seeing me from afar he called me towards him where the other CPS members were sitting. That day Maulana gave a lecture on the Creation Plan of God, that God created eternal Paradise and then created man for Paradise. But as Paradise needed to be earned, God divided man’s life into two parts: a small portion to give a test on this earth so he could show that he was deserving of inhabiting Paradise and an eternal part in which he could live eternally in Paradise, if he proved himself deserving of it. This made complete sense to me. It completely addressed my mind. While listening to this lecture I was reminded of a dream I had had when I was in my early teens. Every night before sleeping I used to read some chapters of the Arabic Quran and prayed to God to guide me towards Him and what He expected from me. One night I had a dream which made me feel close to God. I felt that God was calling me towards some higher mission. I found the similarity between the dream and Maulana’s lecture. After the lecture, I approached Maulana and mentioned the dream.