I became a Muslim when it seemed I had already accepted Islam in my bones, as if beyond choice, and I only had to make a leap to embrace it formally. Outwardly I was content; inwardly I was coasting. My three-year-old theatre company was disbanded after a hilariously chaotic production for a Tim Leary Benefit at the Family Dog in San Francisco, circa '68 -- naturally the orange juice everyone had passed around was spiked, so that chorus members were doing the final scene in the first ten minutes -- and for six months I had been methodically typing out poetry manuscripts in my attic in Berkeley preparatory to a big publishing peak.
I considered myself a Zen Buddhist. But I was other things as well. My normal routine was to get up, sit zazen, smoke a joint, do half an hour of yoga, then read the "Mathnawi" of Rumi, the long mystical poem of that great Persian Sufi of the thirteenth century.
Then I met the man who was to be my guide to our teacher in Morocco, Shaykh Muhammad ibn al-Habib, may Allah be pleased with him. At first the meeting was simply remarkable, and my guide simply a remarkable man. But soon our encounter was to become extraordinary, leading to a revolution in my life from which I have never recovered and never hope to.
The man looked like an eccentric Englishman. He too had only recently come out of the English version of the Hippie Wave. He was older, refined in his manners, spectacularly witty and intellectual, but of that kind prevalent then who had hobnobbed with the Beatles and knew the Tantric Art collection of Brian Jones firsthand. He had been on all the classic drug quests -- peyote in the Yucatan, mescaline with Laura Huxley -- but with the kif quest in Morocco he had stumbled on Islam and then the Sufis, and the game was up. A profound change had taken place in his life that went far beyond the psychedelic experience.
For the three days following our meeting, two other Americans and I listened in awe as this magnificent storyteller unfolded the picture of Islam, of the perfection of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, of the Sufis of Morocco, and of the 100-year-old plus Shaykh, sitting under a great fig tree in a garden with his disciples singing praises of Allah. It was everything I'd always dreamed of. It was poetry come alive. It was the visionary experience made part of daily life, with the Prophet a perfectly balanced master of wisdom and simplicity, an historically accessible Buddha, with a mixture of the earthiness of Moses, the otherworldliness of Jesus, and a light all his own.
The prophetic knowledge our guide talked about was a kind of spiritual existentialism. It was a matter of how you enter a room, which foot you entered with, that you sipped water but gulped milk, that you said, "Bismillah" (In the Name of Allah) before eating or drinking, and "Al-hamdulillah" (Praise be to Allah) afterwards, and so on. But rather than seeing this as a burden of hundreds of "how-to's," it was more like what the LSD experience taught us, that there is a "right" way to do things that has, if you will, a cosmic resonance. It is a constant awareness of courtesy to the Creator and His creation that itself ensures and almost visionary intensity.
It is hard to put forward any kind of explanation of Islam, to try to suggest the beauty of its totality, through the medium of words. The light of Islam, since it is transformational and alchemical in nature, almost always comes via a human messenger who is a transmitter of the picture by his very being.
Face to face with our guide, what struck us most was his impeccable, noble behavior. He seemed to be living what he was saying. Finally the moment came, as a surprise, when he confronted me with my life. "Well," he said one morning after three full days of rapturous agreement that what he was bringing to us was the best thing we'd ever heard, "What do you think? Do you want to become a Muslim?"
I hedged. "It's the most beautiful thing I've heard about so far. After all my Zen Buddhism, all my yoga, Tibetan Buddhism and Hindu gurus, this is certainly it! But I think I would like to travel a little, see the world, go to Afghanistan (then unoccupied), maybe meet my Shaykh in a mountain village far off somewhere."
"That's not good enough. You have to decide now. Yes or no. If it's yes, then we start on a great adventure. If it's no, then no blame, I've done my duty. I'll just say goodbye and go on my way. But you have to decide now. I'll go downstairs and read a magazine and wait. Take your time."
When he had left the room I saw there was no choice. My whole being had already acquiesced. All my years up to that moment simply rolled away. I was face-to-face with worship of Allah, wholly and purely, with the Path before me well-trodden, heavily signposted, with a guide to a Master plunk in front of me. Or I could reject all of this for a totally self-invented and uncertain future.
It was the day of my birthday, just to make it that much more dramatic. I chose Islam.
Mr. Abd al-Hayy Moore has two books of poetry published by City Lights under the name Daniel Moore. He's traveled extensively, living in England, Morocco, Algeria, Nigeria and Spain. Mr. Moore is a talented writer and poet, and has turned his talents in writing for Islam. He is a contributor to "The Minaret" and other publications. His more recent publications are "The Chronicles of Akhira," "Halley's Comet" and Holograms.
Two Japanese Women Journey To Islam from Masako San Diary of 2006
One : Monica's Story "I was guided to Islam by my heart and emotions"
I was raised in the technologically-advanced atmosphere of
“ Speech is like blossom. One hopes for fruit, and because of that, it is accepted and not rejected as the poem said: The secret of Allah is in the sincerity of the quest. How many a one is thrown into wonder by its compnions”.
My family was religiously Buddhist like many Japanese people, however my connection to Buddhism had been poor since my early childhood, and my parents were unconcerned with my devotion. Nevertheless, since my earliest days, many questions regarding the universe, existence, and life circled in my mind. They would remain with me until I reached the age of twenty when I finished my collegiate studies and began to work amongst the clouds as a flight attendant for a Japanese airline. I hoped to find peace and meaning through work but rather a great emptiness in my life persisted. There was something missing from my life and I desperately hoped to find out what it was.
Allah, the Controller of all affairs, willed that in 1988 I would work as a translator for a Japanese delegation to a tourism agency in
The information that I had previously gathered about Islam from school and television was not only extremely limited but also severely distorted. Such is the same with most Japanese people who read and hear about nothing but violence coming from the Muslim word.
When I returned to
I was impressed by the status of women in Islam. The Muslim woman is protected and honored, and her feelings, mind, and decency are respected much more so than I had previously imagined. I began to seclude myself and ask Allah to guide me to the Truth and educate me about it. I began to meditate upon the created world in order to see the Hand of Allah behind it. I would meditate upon the trees, flowers, birds, animals and the carefully crafted design and balance that ruled them. I felt that Allah had in fact two books: the spoken book in the form of the Holy Qur'an and the silent book in the form of the universe and all its miracles and majesties.
Thus, I saw Allah in His creation and I was guided to Islam by my heart and emotions. I felt the Light of Allah fill my heart. An overwhelming happiness overcame me as my imaan (faith) grew and I felt as if Allah was with me at every moment.
Allah, the Controller of all affairs, willed that I would work as a flight attendant on a particular flight to and from
I faced several difficulties with my family but I had resolved that I must be a Muslim despite all hurdles that lay before me. I began to perform the five prayers in their correct times, and I exerted great effort in memorizing verses of the Qur'an to enable me to do this correctly.
In 1991, I traveled to
al-Hamdu lilah (all praises be to Allah), I currently live a happy life with my new religion and my new Muslim family. I am spending a lot of time and effort memorizing the Qur'an, and whenever time permits, my husband and I study the Qur'an together and read certain Islamic texts together. I hope to one day guide my family to Islam, in shah Allah (God willing) soon. Generally speaking, the Japanese people are missing a major component of a happy life, despite their technologically-advanced civilization. I believe that great numbers of them would enter Islam in if they had the proper understanding. They are looking for such answers, and there is no doubt that they are in great need of them.
Two : Sunaku's Discovery :
"The more I read about Islam, the more I increased in faith and understanding"
I lived a calm, secure life and was nurtured by my mother who took to raising me alone after the death of my father. All means of happiness and security were made available to me. However, since my childhood, I was never truly happy, and I was often overwhelmed by a sense of anxiety. I tried to overcome these feelings by working hard at my studies and traveling around the world as a tourist, but my anxieties persisted until I finished my secondary education and traveled to England to study English.
“ A goal which you seek by your Lord does not hesitate, and a desire which you seek by yourself is not easy”
During a school holiday, I traveled with one of my Japanese friends to Jordan. My friend had visited the country before, and she arranged for us to stay with a Jordanian Muslim family. I found their lives very practical and organized, while their house was very clean. I was impressed by the strong family bonds that joined them and their sense of civil responsibility. There was sincerity and mutual trust between them that I had not noticed elsewhere. The husband of the family worked to earn the family's income while the wife maintained the house and appeared content and happy with her job. I sensed that this was the happiness that I was missing, and I realized that my image of Islam was inherently wrong.
I had no idea of the reality of Islam as I had never known Muslims before. My image of them was based merely on what I saw on the news, and thus I ignorantly felt that they were a violent people concerned only with money and oil. I judged Muslim women to be victims of gender persecution at the hands of their husbands.
After my trip to Jordan, I decided to study Islam to learn its true message. When I returned to Japan, I visited the Islamic Center of Tokyo and requested a Japanese translation of the Qur'an and a book on the life of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). I continued to visit the center and study Islam with scholars of Japanese, Pakistani, and Arab nationalities until I realized that Islam was in fact the Truth.
My belief that Allah is the sole Creator and Sustainer of the universe had become unflinching, and the more I read about Islam, the more I increased in faith and understanding. I discovered that Islam in fact improved the status of women and freed her intellectually from objectification. I soon realized that my previous image of Muslim women was distorted, while in fact Islam offered a lifestyle that I had previously only dreamt of living. After six months of study, I decided that I must become Muslim, thus I declared my conversion and soon became content and resolute in my new faith.
I began to pray the daily prayers and fast the month of Ramadan. Allah gave me the ability to memorize some of the smaller chapters of the last part of the Qur'an. I was attracted by the Arabic language when I first heard it, and so I decided to learn this beautiful language. I spent some time learning Arabic in the Islamic Center of Tokyo, and later I would move to Egypt to continue my Islamic studies at an institution affiliated with al-Azhar University and specifically my Arabic studies at a language institute for non-native speakers.
I pray that Allah uses me and my story to guide others to the Light of Islam, the greatest gift that one can ever receive.
Endnote :
We recall with many thanks to Allah Taala that in early 1980s that we met by accident with Prof.Abu Huraira San of Japan who was seconded to University Pertanian Serdang that time when he wanted to register the Malaysia Japan Friendship Society with Raja Nong Chik as its founder president. He also teach karate to UIA students and build a japanese cultural center somewhere in Bangi. Since then, many japanese muslims in Malaysia were regroup and refreshed by his untiring service and wisdom.
We dedicated part of our Dailin Nur Institute programmes to the study of comparative japan/zen philosophy and islam. My sister in law Normah Ahmad San who was graduated from Hiroshima Univerisity and now teach japanese language in University Technology Mara of Shah Alam add more colors to our strange cross cultural insights. Shinkantazan. Satori tea cups. Hekigan roku Shoken. Moon in a dew drop by Master Dogen available at Kinokuniya KLCC US16.00. Hope you can discover Shichi Kakusi soon at our west lake tatami teahut.
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