If one had told Abu Bakr earlier, that he would one day become a Muslim,
his reply would most probably have been, “Naah! No way!!!” for like many
Australians his perception of Muslims was that they were terrorists. However,
there is no accounting for the Mercy and Graciousness of Allah who leads to His
Path those whom He wills from all peoples upon the earth; and Abu Bakr was to
find this in due course.
When asked what had triggered his search to find the true meaning of life, for
that was the primary aim of his quest, his response was this: “There were a
couple of things. It was the year my parents said they were going to separate.
It was not the year they formally divorced, but it was the year my Dad moved out
of the house. I went a little off the rails. I (even) had trouble with the
police.. . . I was drinking a lot.” It may be seen that this was a painful time
for this young man. This was to be further compounded, for it was in this year
that one of his friends died. Of this event he said: “That led me to think,
‘There’s my mate. He just died, and he is only eighteen years old! Is he just
worm food?’ You know what I mean. That’s when I started relating it to my life,
thinking, ‘If I died tomorrow what would it matter? What would it matter except
to the few who know me among the billions on this Earth?’ So I started thinking,
‘No! There has to be more. There has to be more than just this!’”
It was with these questions in mind that Abu Bakr commenced his journey, looking
to religion for the meaning of existence. He describes his experiences in this
way:
“First, I mean, logically, I’m an Aussie, so I went straight to Christianity,
and I thought I’d have that fish sticker on the back of my car, and “I love
Jesus”. I was thinking I’d go buy them and see if they did something for my
parking fine!” his waggish sense of humour bubbling to the fore. Then seriously
he explains, “Honestly I went through all the (Christian) religions; well not
all the religions, but the ones I had access to I investigated. Christianity,
including Catholicism, I investigated quite a bit. But the problem was I just
couldn’t find the answer. While they were all nice, I couldn’t sit there and
say, ‘This is the religion for me!’ and ‘This sounds beautiful!’”
His search continued:
“I looked at Hinduism when I was working in a service station with some Hindu
friends. We had conversations all the time. We didn’t argue because we were
pretty good friends. One would say, ‘You have to believe in this god about this,
and this god of that.’ I would go, ‘Come on man! What if they argue?’ He was not
to know it, but his argument was one already mentioned in the Qur’an: “Allah
hath not chosen any son, nor is there any god along with Him; else would each
god have assuredly championed that which he created, and some of them would
assuredly have overcome others. Glorified be Allah above all that they allege.”
Surah 23:91
“Then I looked at Judaism. Again it didn’t get me in the way that I thought it
would!”
“However, what started to get me was Buddhism. I thought, ‘This is really nice
you know!’ But nowhere could I read or see that Buddha was actually talking
about himself. Not (other than) as a person that you follow - not as a deity!
And this was a religion. “So you know what I mean, it was just a nice way to be.
It’s not ‘This is the purpose of why you are here’. And while it was nice I
thought, ‘This can’t be it either.’
“My friend, a Christian who had earlier said to ‘vow to God’, said, ‘Why don’t
you try Islam?’
I said, ‘Naah man! They’re terrorists! I’m not going near a mosque. No way!’
“But I found myself near a mosque, Preston Mosque. I went in and started to ask
questions. And basically every question I asked, no-one would answer from their
minds, everyone was pulling out a Qur’an and saying, ‘Here it is.’ And that
really surprised me because (almost) every time I went to a priest, I did not
see the Bible once. They almost never pulled out the Bible, they were just,
‘Here’s your answer.’ This was the same with almost every religion. There were
some who did read from the Bible a couple of times. But in the mosque, every
single time - out came the Qur’an, and that got me. This is not about these
people, it’s about the Book, and that’s when I started reading the Qur’an. It
took months and months though, six to seven months. I had a lot of questions!”
At the end of these months how did this young man, now twenty years of age,
decide to become Muslim?
The crucial moment of his conversion came one night, as he explained:
“One night I had just been speaking to a couple of Australian brothers at the
mosque. They told me to take the Qur’an home and read it. I had already taken
one, but they gave me this one with big letters - the other one I had was little
and was harder to read. That night I sat in bed and lit a candle. I had the
window open. It was a nice summer’s night. It had this atmosphere, this
religious atmosphere. I was set, and I was sitting there thinking, ‘This is
beautiful and very sacred!’
“Everything was really good and I started reading Qur’an and thinking, ‘This is
very beautiful, it says exactly what I think it should say.’ It feels like it’s
right you know, but I’m not quite there, you know! I just need a bit of a hand.
And I sat back, Qur’an in hand, and said, ‘O God, give me a sign! But it has to
be pretty good - like lightning,’ - and it was a clear summer’s night. ‘If you
do lightning, I’m yours - I’m your servant. And maybe if you can’t do lightning
- something like a crack or something; or a flash of light; or the candle! I
would be pretty impressed if the candle just blew up to about two feet high, you
know, like in the movies!”
“And I’m sitting there waiting!”. . . . .
“Nothing at all happened! Like I couldn’t even say a creak in the wall was my
sign! So I’m sitting there pretty disappointed, and I’m angry . . Right? And I’m
like, ‘God, I’m asking you. You’re supposed to be All-Powerful! Alright - I’m
going to give you a second chance.’ Like that was a fair bit to ask - summer,
lightning! ‘Okay, maybe like, a car can just backfire that goes past - that’s
something that happens all the time, but at least I’ll know it’s for me.’ So I
lowered my levels . . Right?
“Subhan’Allah!” (Exalted is Allah) he exclaims, shaking his head at the very
thought of it. “And I’m sitting there thinking, ‘Alright!’ So I look around
again - Nothing! All is so silent . . I could have been in space. Not even an
ant made a noise, and by this time I was shattered, because this was the moment!
I had thought, ‘This is it!’ you know, ‘This is my time!’ . . . And nothing
happened!”
“So I’m sitting there, pretty disappointed, and I thought, ‘I may as well keep
on reading Qur’an”. So I looked down and turned the page, and the very next ayat
(verse) was something to the effect: For those of you who ask for signs, have I
not shown you enough already? Look around at the sky, the trees, the water,
these are your signs. These are the Signs for those who know!”
“Lo! In the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the difference of night
and day, and the ships which run upon the sea with that which is of use to men,
and the water which Allah sendeth down from the sky, thereby reviving the earth
after its death, and dispersing all kinds of beasts therein, and (in) the
ordinance of the winds, and the clouds obedient between heaven and earth: are
signs (of Allah's Sovereignty) for people who have sense.” Surah 2:162
“I was sitting down; I freaked out! I closed the Qur’an and chucked the quilt
over my head. I was freaking out because here it was! You know what I mean?”
“So the next morning I went straight to the mosque and told them I wanted to
become Muslim, because I had had my sign. I had it, even thought it was not my
sign. I shouldn’t be arrogant and think I have a sign.
Isn’t the water my sign and all these things around me are signs, you know, that
there is a Creator!”
With this in mind, one cannot help but wonder whether this young man had put
aside all his previous fears of terrorism and danger which he and countless
peoples perceive to be part of Islam and Muslims?
But let us continue:
“That evening at the mosque there were all these Muslims there - heaps of
people! And I’m thinking, ‘Look at this religion. So many people! They’re all so
strong!’ Then I realised that it was the first night of Ramadan, the fasting
month. They were all there to do their last prayer (for the day) you know. But I
really did think this was amazing. So you see, my first real experience there
was this. Quite honestly there must have been a thousand people at Preston
Mosque that night, maybe more!
“While I was waiting to give the Shahadah (the declaration of faith) there at
tarawih (the night prayer during Ramadan), I’m sitting there thinking, ‘If I get
these words wrong I’m a dead man! They’re going to kill me!’
“So now I’m standing up there, in front of all these people, and Sheikh Fehmi
says to me, ‘These are the words that you say,’ and so I started saying them.
And I’ve got to admit that I was nervous before - but as soon as I started
speaking the words, I felt like it was just me standing there by myself; like,
that there was no-one else, and I felt, honestly, the only way I can describe
this feeling is as if there is a shower on the inside of my head - a cold
shower, going straight through my body. I’m standing there, hair standing on end
. . . then all the brothers came and hugged me!”
One can only imagine the warmth and fellowship that this young brother
experienced; such that fear of terrorism and its accompanying horrors melted
away in the light of knowledge and the empathy of brotherhood which is peculiar
to Islam alone. Is it not said: “He it is that hath strengthened thee (Muhammad)
with His aid and with (the company of) the Believers. And (moreover) He hath put
affection between their hearts: Not if thou hadst spent all that is in the
earth, couldst thou have produced that affection, but Allah hath done it: for He
is Exalted in might, Wise.”(Qur’an 8:62,63).
However, this was not all he learned, his education was just beginning:
“But you know, I didn’t even know how to pray! I had to fast - and I was still
eating ham! I didn’t even know that you shouldn’t eat it - so I’m fasting and
then eating, like, a whopper burger with ham. I didn’t know it was haram
(forbidden) but I did know that you’re not supposed to eat from before sunrise
until after sunset. You know, I was fasting, but it was pretty hard!”
So did Abu Bakr, his chosen Islamic name, finally reach his goal?
“I (now) know why I am here; what I am here to do; and what it is all about.”
When asked if becoming Muslim had changed his personality and his life his reply
was:
“I feel like I am here for a different purpose, but I don’t think that if you
met me when I was fifteen years old and then you met me now that you’d say,
‘Man! You have changed so much! You’re not the same person I knew before.’ I
think I have carried through most of the person I always was. I just don’t do
some things I used to do. And I don’t think in some ways about things that I
used to think about. I think I’ve always been positive, but Islam has given me
that (extra) - like if the guy outside put his bobcat through the house, I’d
just go: ‘Subhan’Allah! I’ll have to fix that.’ It’s not like I’m going to go,
‘Oh why do you always do this to me?’ You know, it’s just a thing that is not so
important. Probably my priorities are completely different. Like, before, it was
all (about) me!”
Abu Bakr’s family received news of his reversion very positively: “My family was
happy for me but concerned as to how this would change our relationship.” Of
course friendships did not all stand the test: “I lost a few friends (so-called)
as I no longer wanted to drink, go out, etc.”
Of reversion generally he stated: “I use the word revert because, I mean,
everyone uses convert because that is just a Western ideal. You know (in the
Western context) that you have converted to something. But when you look into
Islam I guess you realise that the term Muslim just means it comes from Islam,
Right? It is a statement of what you are. So Islam means to submit your will to
God; to do what God asks you to
do; whereas a Muslim is someone who is doing it. So if you are not doing what
God has asked you, you are not a Muslim. So, in effect, Muslim is not a noun,
it’s a doing word (a verb). Therefore, my tree in the backyard is doing what God
asked it. The tree is Muslim to me, you know! It’s submitting its will to God.
Everything has energy. So when you’re born, you’re Muslim, you know! ‘I’m
hungry’ - you cry - that’s Islamic you know,” he says laughing. “You are acting
in accordance with your nature, and it’s only when you get a little bit older,
and people teach you stuff, that you go away from Islam because you take on
someone else’s ideals. Then when you want to come back, you revert, because you
were already Muslim when you were born.”
So it was that in 1996 in Preston Victoria a young Australian man found that for
which he was searching. His life has been quite eventful and it is noted that
Abu Bakr is now a Psychologist and a Film maker. May it please Almighty Allah to
continue to bless this young man.
