Converts...new and old..

(all of the quotable and prose pages are equipped with this table to help choose the correct colors that personally fit the reader's mood)

A Traveler's Tale of Africa
--Buzurg ibn Shariyar

This Muslim traveler's tale from the tenth century describes the contacts between the center of the Islamic world and the east coast of Africa (modern Kenya).

Ismailuya and several sailors told me that he had sailed from `Uman on board a ship bound for Qanbaluh in the year 310 [922-923], but the ship was carried off course by a violent wind and taken to Sufala in the land of Zanj. "When I had examined the place," said the ship's captain, "I realized that we had come to the eland of the man-eating Zanj and that to land in this place was certain death. We therefore made our ablution, repenting of our sin to Almighty Allah, and recited the prayer for the dead for one another. Canoes surrounded us and led us to an anchorage where we entered, cast anchor, and went ashore with these people. They took us to their king. We found a young man, handsome for a Zanji and well-built. He asked us about ourselves, and we told him that our destination was his country. 'You lie,' he said, 'you were bound for Qanbaluh and not here. The storm caught you an carried you to our country.' 'It is so,' we said, 'but we spoke as we did only to please you.' 'Unload you goods,' he said, 'and carry on your trade. You have nothing to fear.' We therefore opened our bales and did very good business. He imposed no tax on us, in kind or in cash, and when we gave him some presents, he gave us presents of equal or greater value.

"We stayed in his country for several months, and when it was time to go, we asked for his permission, which he gave us. We therefore loaded our goods and wound up our business, and when we decided to leave, we informed him. Rising from his throne, he walked with us as far as the shore with a group of his companions and his slaves, embarked on a canoe, and came aboard our ship with us. He came on board with seven of his chief slaves. When they were on board ship I said to myself, 'This king would be worth 30 dinars at auction of `Uman and his sever slaves 160 dinars. They are wearing clothes worth 20 dinars, which would bring us at least 3,000 dirhams-and this would do us no harm at all.' So I shouted to the sailors, and they hoisted the sail and raised the anchors while he was still expressing his friendship and goodwill and inviting us to return and promising to treat us well when we did so.
"When the sails were hoisted and he saw we were on our way, his face changed. 'You are leaving,' he said. 'I bid you farewell,' and he rose to go back to his canoe. But we cut the cable joining us to the canoe, and we said to him, 'You will stay with us and we will take you to our country and reward you for your kindness to us and repay you for what you have done for us.' 'Good people,' he cried. 'When you came to me I could, as my people desired, have let them eat you and take your goods, as they did to others. But I treated you well; I took nothing from you and even came to bid you farewell on you ship as a mark of esteem from me to you. Therefore give me my due and take me home.' We paid no attention to what he said and took no notice of him. The wind was strong, and before very long his country disappeared from sight, and by nightfall we were in the open sea. The king and his companions were put with the other salves, about 200 head, and we treated him in the same way as the other salves. He kept aloof and neither answered nor spoke to us. He ignored us as if he did not know us, nor we him. When we got to `Uman, we sold him and his companions along with the other slaves.

"In the year 31, we again left `Uman bound for Qanbaluh, and the wind carried us away to Sugala in the land of the Zanj, and without telling any lies, we arrived at the very same place. As soon as the people saw us, they came out and their canoes surrounded us. This time we were convinced we were lost, and we none of us said a word to one another, so great was our fear. We made our ablution, recited the prayer for the dead, and bade each other farewell.

"They came, seized us, brought us to the dwelling of their king and le us in-and there was the very same king, seated on his throne as if we had left him but a moment before. When we saw him, we fell prostrate and our strength left us, so that we could not move ourselves to stand up. 'You are my friends,' he said, 'no doubt about it.' None of us could speak, and all our limbs trembled. 'Look up,' he said. 'I give you my pledge of safety for you persons and your property.' Some of us looked up; others could not, through weakness and shame. But he spoke to us in a friendly way until we all raised our heads. We did not look at him, in our shame and fear.
"When, thanks to his promise of safety, we had recovered our composure he said to us, 'Betrayers! I treated you as I did, and you repaid me by treating me as you did!' 'Despise us, O King,' we cried, 'and forgive us.' 'I have already forgiven you,' he replied. 'Carry on you trade as you do that time; there is nothing to stop you.'

"Our joy was such that we could not believe what we heard, and we thought that this was a trick to get our goods ashore. We brought them ashore, and we offered him a present of great value, but he refused it, and said, 'I have not enough regard for you to accept a present fro you, nor do I wish to render my own possessions unlawful by taking anything from you, for all that you possess is tainted.'

"We therefore carried on our trade, and when it was time to go, we asked his permission to load the ship, which he gave us. When we had decided to set sail I said, 'O King, we have decided to set sail.' And he replied, 'Go under the protection of God.' 'O King,' I said. 'You have treated us better than we could ever repay, and we betrayed and wronged you. But how did you manage to escape and return home?'

" 'When you had sold me in `Uman' he said, 'the man who bought me took me to town called Basra' (Which he described). 'There I learned prayer, fasting, and also a little of the Quran. Then my master sold me to another who took me to the city of the king of Arabs which is called Baghdad' (then he described Baghdad). 'where I learned to speak correct Arabic, learned the Quran, and prayed with everybody on the Masjids. I saw the Caliph who is called al Muqtadir. I stayed in Baghdad for a whole year and part of the next year. Then some people came from Khurasan, mounted on camels. Seeing their great number, I asked who they were and why they had come, and they said they were on their way to Mecca. I then asked, "What is Mecca?" And they said, "In it is the holy house of God, to which people go on pilgrimage," and they told me about this house. I said to myself, "I must follow these people to this house" and I told my master what I had heard, but I saw that he wised neither to go himself nor to let me go. I therefore pretend o think no more of it until the people had left, and when they did so I followed them and accompanied a group of travelers whim I served all the way. I ate with them, and they gave me two garments which I wore as the ritual dress of a pilgrim. They instructed me in the rites of the pilgrimage, and Almighty God helped me to complete my pilgrimage.

" 'Fearing to return to Baghdad, where my master would catch me and out me to death, I left with another caravan bound for Egypt. On the way I served some people, who took me with them and gave me a share in their provisions as far as Egypt.
" 'When I reached Egypt and saw this sea of sweet water which they call the Nile, I asked whence it came and they told me that its source in the land of Zanj. "And in what part?" I asked. "in a part of Egypt," they said, "which is called Aswan, on the border of the land of the black people." So I followed the bank of the Nile, going from place to place, begging from people and they fed me. Such was my way.

" 'Then I came among some black people who turned against me. They put me in chains and burdened me, along with other slaves, with more than I had the strength to bear. So I fled and fell into the hands of others who seized me and sold me. I fled again, and so I went on, from the time I left Egypt until I reached a certain place in the land of Zanj.

" 'There I disguised and hid myself, for from the time when I left Egypt, in spite of all my terrifying experiences, I was never so much afraid as when I found myself now near to my own country. In my own country, I thought, another king would have gained the kingship and would be sitting in my place. The soldiers would obey him, and it would be hard to wrest the kingship from him. If I showed myself or if anyone got to know of me, I would be taken to him and he would put me to death or else some loyal supporter would make bold to cut off my head and use it to show his loyalty.

" 'I was frightened beyond endurance. I began to hide by day and hurry by night in the direction of my country, until I reached the seashore. There I took passage in disguise on a ship to such and such place. Then I embarked again for another place, and the ship landed me at night on the shore of my own country. I made enquiries of an old woman, "Is your present reigning king just?" I asked. "By God, my son," she answered, "we have no king other than Almighty God." And she told me everything that had happened to their king. I expressed my astonishment as if I knew nothing about it and as if I were not myself that king. Then she said, "The people of the kingdom agreed among themselves that they would not have any king after him until they knew what had happened to him and until they despaired of his life, for their diviners had informed them that he was alive and well in the land of the Arabs."

" 'The next morning I came to this my town and entered this my palace and found my family just a I had left them, except they were full of sadness, as were also my subjects. I told them my story, and they marveled and rejoiced and joined with me in entering the religion of Islam. I became the king again one month before you arrival and am now full of joy and happiness that God has blessed me and my subjects with Islam and true faith and with knowledge of prayer, fasting, and pilgrimage, of what is permitted and what is forbidden. I have thus attained what was never before attained by anyone in the land of Zanj. Therefore, I forgive you, since you were the cause of my coming to the true religion. There is only one matter which weighs on me, and I ask God to release me from the sin.' I asked him what it was, and he said, 'My master. I left Baghdad for the pilgrimage without his permission or his consent, and I did not return to him. If I could find a reliable man I would send him the price which he paid for me and ask him to accord me my liberty. If you had been honest and trustworthy men, I would have paid you my purchase price which and asked you to remit it to him, and I would have given him ten times more as a gift in return for the patience which he showed me. But you are men of treachery and cunning.'

"We bade him farewell, and he said, 'Go. And if you come again, I will treat you in the same way and even more generously. Tell the Muslims to come to us, for now we are their brothers, Muslims as they are. As for companying you on board, I prefer not.' We bade him farewell and left."

An Old man and a wish.

In Germany, an old man used to watch the Muslims play football (soccer) in the field. They would always stop when Prayer time came and do the prayer on the field. He told them that he saw a light coming from their face. After years of doing this, he fell ill and was in hospital (on his deathbed so to speak). He asked his son, to bring two of the players to him and told him where to find them. The son obliged and went to the field and two players obliged. When they were brought to his room he asked them how can I become Muslim. They told him to say, "I bear witness that there is no God, and Muhammad is the Messenger of God." While he was saying this he gave his final breath.

A Woman on a Mission

[Sidra Khan reports on Aisha Bhutta's bid to convert the world to Islam - The Guardian, Thursday 8th May 1997]

Aisha Bhutta, nee Debbie Rogers, is serene. She sits on the sofa in big front room of her tenement flat in Cowcaddens, Glasgow. The
walls are hung with quotations from the Koran, a special clock to remind the family of prayer times and posters of the Holy City of
Mecca. Aisha's piercing blue eyes sparkle with evangelical zeal, she smiles with a radiance only true believers possess. Her face is that
of a strong Scots lass - no nonsense, good-humoured - but it is carefully covered with a hijab.

For a good Christian girl to convert to Islam and marry a Muslim is extraordinary enough. But more than that, she has also converted her parents, most of the rest of her family and at least 30 friends and neighbours.

Her family were austere Christians with whom Rogers regularly attended Salvation Army meetings. When all the other teenagers in Britain were kissing their George Michael posters goodnight, Rogers had pictures of Jesus up on her wall. And yet she found that Christianity was not enough; there were too many unanswered questions and she felt dissatisfied with the lack of disciplined structure for her beliefs. "There had to be more for me to obey than just doing prayers when I felt like it."

For a good Christian girl to convert to Islam and marry a Muslim is extraordinary enough. But more than that, she has also converted her parents, most of the rest of her family and at least 30 friends and neighbours.

Aisha had first seen her future husband, Mohammad Bhutta, when she was 10 and regular customer at the shop, run by his family. She would see him in the back, praying. "There was contentment and peace in what he was doing. He said he was a Muslim. I said: "What's a Muslim?".

Later with his help she began looking deeper into Islam. By the age of 17, she had read the entire Koran in Arabic. "Everything I read",
she says, "was making sense."

She made the decision to convert at16. "When I said the words, it was like a big burden I had been carrying on my shoulders had been thrown off. I felt like a new-born baby."

Despite her conversion however, Mohammed's parents were against their marrying. They saw her as a Western woman who would lead their eldest son astray and give the family a bad name; she was, Mohammed's father believed, "the biggest enemy."

Nevertheless, the couple married in the local mosque. Aisha wore a dress hand-sewn by Mohammed's mother and sisters who sneaked into the ceremony against the wishes of his father who refused to attend. It was his elderly grandmother who paved the way f! or a bond between the women. She arrived from Pakistan where mixed-race marriages were even more taboo, and insisted on meeting Aisha. She was so impressed by the fact that she had learned the Koran and Punjabi that she convinced the others; slowly, Aisha, now 32, became one of the family.

Aisha's parents, Michael and Marjory Rogers, though did attend the wedding, were more concerned with the clothes their daughter was now wearing (the traditional shalwaar kameez) and what the neighbours would think. Six years later, Aisha embarked on a mission to convert them and the rest of her family, bar her sister ("I'm still working on her). "My husband and I worked on my mum and dad, telling them about Islam and they saw the changes in me, like I stopped answering back!"

Her mother soon followed in her footsteps. Marjory Rogers changed her name to Sumayyah and became a devout Muslim. "She wore the hijab and did he! r prayers on time and nothing ever mattered to her except her connections with God."

Aisha's father proved a more difficult recruit, so she enlisted the help of her newly converted mother (who has since died of
cancer). "My mum and I used to talk to my father about Islam and we were sitting in the sofa in the kitchen one day and he said: "What are the words you say when you become a Muslim?" "Me and my mum just jumped on top of him." Three years later, Aisha's brother converted "over the telephone - thanks to BT", then his wife and children followed, followed by her sister's son.

It didn't stop there. Her family converted, Aisha turned her attention to Cowcaddens, with its tightly packed rows of crumbling,
grey tenement flats. Every Monday for the past 13 years, Aisha has held classes in Islam for Scottish women. So far she has helped to convert over 30.

The women come from a bewildering array of backgrou! nds. Trudy, a lecturer at the University of Glasgow and a former Catholic,
attended Aisha's classes purely because she was commissioned to carry out some research. But after six months of classes she
converted, deciding that Christianity was riddled with "logical inconsistencies". Unlike Aisha, Trudy has chosen not to wear the
hijab, believing it to be a masculine interpretation of the Koran. Her family don't know that she has converted.

"I could tell she was beginning to be affected by the talks", Aisha says. How could she tell? "I don't know, it was just a feeling."
The classes include Muslim girls tempted by Western ideals and needing salvation, practising Muslim women who want an open forum for discussion denied them at the local male-dominated mosque, and those simply interested in Islam. Aisha welcomes questions. "We cannot expect people blindly to believe."

Her husband, Mohammad Bhutta, now 41, does n! ot seem so driven to convert Scottish lads to Muslim brothers. He occasionally helps out in the family restaurant, but his main aim in life is to ensure the couple's five children grow up as Muslims. The eldest, Safia, "nearly 14, Alhamdulillah (Praise be to God!)", is not averse to a spot of recruiting herself. One day she met a woman in the street and carried her shopping, the woman attended Aisha's classes and is now
a Muslim.

"I can honestly say I have never regretted it", Aisha says of her conversion to Islam. "Every marriage has its ups and downs and
sometimes you need something to pull you out of any hardship. But the Prophet Peace by upon him, said: 'Every hardship has an ease.' So when you're going through a difficult stage, you work for that ease to come."

Mohammed is more romantic: "I feel we have known each other for centuries and must never part from one another. According to Islam, you are n! ot just partners for life, you can be partners in heaven as well, for ever. Its a beautiful thing, you know."

A scholar visiting China

A Muslim scholar (sheikh) was on a visit to China to give a series of lectures to the local Muslim community. One day, he was
Scheduled. To give a lecture at a local hall and was about to take a taxi along with his companions to that location. They got into the taxi and the Sheikh asked about the length of time it would take to get to the lecture hall. The taxi driver, through the interpreter, answered "Two hours."

The Sheikh immediately turned to his companions and said: "well, we can't sit in this taxi with the driver for two hours and not tell him about our religion. If we did that then we would be no different than any other non-Muslim or kaffir who uses this taxi. We are the people that Allah(SWT)chose to carry His message and honoured us to be Muslims. It is our duty to tell this person about Islam." However, the driver was a native Chinese and didn't have a common language with the Sheikh. They
had to communicate through an interpreter.

Sheikh to interpreter: "Ask the man if he believes in any religion?"
Driver: "No, I don't believe in religion. I just get up in the morning, go to work and earn money. At the end of the day, I collect my money, go buy some food and drink for my family. What do I need religion for?"
Sheikh (thru interpreter): "Ask this man if he has ever heard anything about Islam."
Driver: "Not much. I've seen a tape once and showed Muslims as violent people. I don't know much else."
Sheikh (thru interpreter): "Ask him about computers.What does he think of computer?"
Driver: "I think the computer is an excellent invention. It is very useful and very sophisticated."
Sheikh: "Does he think that the computer could have invented itself or does he think that a human being invented it?"
Driver: "A human invented it, of course. It is not capable of inventing itself."
Sheikh: "Which one is more complicated the computer or the human being?"
Driver: "The human being is more complicated, of course."
Sheikh: "O.K., if the computer must have been invented by a human being, then it follows that a human being (which is more complicated) must also have a creator."
Driver: "O.K."
Sheikh: "In Islam, we believe that Allah is the creator of human beings and all other beings. Fine, now let's move on. Assume that you have never seen a computer before and never heard of it. If I brought a computer to you and gave it to you, would you know what to do with it? Would you be able to use to its full potential?"
Driver: "No, I wouldn't."
Sheikh: "Now, if I gave you a catalogue for the computer, then you will be able to better use it? Correct?"
Driver: "Correct!"
Sheikh: "In Islam, we view Quran as the catalogue used by human beings to manage their lives. Without this catalogue, they will ruin themselves! Now, if this inventor of the computer assembled the machine and printed the catalogue, what would be the next step? He would need to train some engineers and others on how to spread the message about this machine. These people would, in turn, train others and others until everyone knows about the machine. In the example of Allah and Quran, the prophets of Allah play the role of the engineers. They learn the message and teach it to others so that the message will spread. Prophet Muhammad (saw) is the final messenger of Allah and he was ordered to take the message to all human
beings."

By this time, the trip was coming to an end and they almost reached the lecture hall. But the Sheikh can see that there were tears coming out of the driver's eyes. The words of the Sheikh were having a significant effect on this driver.

Driver: "These ideas are very interesting to me. Do you mind spending 15 more minutes with me to tell me about this religion?"

The Sheikh agreed to spend those few minutes with this person and did. The man asked many questions and seemed genuine in his desire to learn more about this religion. At the end of these few minutes, the driver said: "I want to join this religion of yours. How do I do that?" He was told that all he needs to do is say: "I bear witness that there is no God but Allah and I bear witness that Muhammad (saw) is his servant and messenger."

Allahu Akbar!! Sounds simple, doesn't it? A taxi trip in the crowded streets of a Chinese city brings the light of Islam into the heart of a Chinese man. A man who started his day as an atheist never suspected that he will end his day as a Muslim. There are many people out there who are thirsty for the message of Islam. Gaining them as Muslim brothers and sisters could be as simple as this TRUE story.

The above story was posted by Sagal on Islamcan.com Forum who in turn received it from Nada.

The Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) taught me

Once a famous Muslim Scholar of India was travelling by train. His seat was beside a Hindu man. Due to the extreme hatred for Muslims, the Hindu man moved away a little from the scholar. The scholar smiled at him and didn't get offended. After a while, the Hindu man took out a blanket and covered his body so that even the breath of the scholar doesn't touch his body. Later, the Hindu man had to go to the restroom. Upon seeing the dirty condition of the toilet, the Hindu man ran back saying "Raam Raam."

The scholar asked about what happened and the Hindu man said that the condition of the toilet is very disgusting. At that, the scholar got up and with some water went inside the toilet and cleaned the toilet completely. Then he came back to the Hindu man and told him to go in because it's now clean. The Hindu man didn't know what to do. But anyway, he went in and relieved himself. He is now thinking that no ordinary man could do what the Muslim scholar did.

So, he came to the scholar and asked "Who taught you how to behave like this?" The scholar replied "Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him)." Then the Hindu man wanted to know more about Islam and the Prophet (PBUH). When they reached their destination, the Hindu man looked back to the scholar and said "I will never forget what you've taught me today."

Read more such stories to refresh Iman on islamcan.com

Islam is wonderful, but I can't stand the Muslims

"Why should I try to convert my non-Muslim friends when I often prefer them to the Muslims that I know? How will being Muslim change their lives for the better if they already display more of the Islamic virtues than most of the Muslims they are likely to meet?"

By British convert to Islam, Michael A. Malik.

There was a white face in the mosque. You don't see very many, so I went over and asked if he was a Muslim, "I used to be, but not any more." he said, "I thought Islam was wonderful, but I couldn't stand the Muslims". What could I say except "I know how you feel";. Most converts do.

Of course one meets some special individuals in encounters with the ummah, but how is it possible that in the Muslim world they seem so few and far between? Does my being a cultural alien mean that I am inherently less capable of understanding Islam, or is it just that I don't understand my fellow Muslims? Why is it that a trip to the mosque so often leaves me closer to despair than hope? Why do I so rarely feel enlightened and uplifted after conversation with my fellow Muslims, yet so often offended by their behaviour, frustrated by their mindless approach to truth, and enraged by the inadequacy of the Islam they expect me to accept? How often I have felt like giving it all up.

Fortunately I was a Muslim for four years before going to the Muslim world and meeting those who feel that Islam belongs to them by birthright, so I early on formed a relationship with God which served to armour me against the ummah. The first time I went into a mosque in a Muslim country, the first thing to happen was that someone tried to throw me out. Now they weren't to know that I was a Muslim but they didn't even ask. When I told them, in fact, the first thing they did ask was "Sunni or Shi'a?", so if I'd picked the wrong one they would probably have thrown me out anyway. I thoroughly confused them when I said I didn't care, however, and eventually they let me stop and pray.

First impressions last a long time, they say, but many years after having learned by experience the best way to get in, pray, and get out without harassment, it still seems that in a strange mosque a strange face is more likely to be greeted with hostility than welcome.
The man in the editor's office was obviously a Muslim, so the brusque arrogance of his manner should not have come as a surprise. It did little, however, to incline me towards composing a careful answer, too much effort was required to remain courteous, and it seemed more like a challenge than a question. "And how many of your people have you converted?" he said, but I suspect the answer was more complex than he really wanted to hear.

"Converted to what?" is the first response. Islam presumably, yet here we have a huge assumption that we both agree on what that is. Why should I try to convert my non-Muslim friends when I often prefer them to the Muslims that I know? How will being Muslim change their lives for the better if they already display more of the Islamic virtues than most of the Muslims they are likely to meet? I share what I have found when they show Interest, but like me they often look at the Muslim world and wonder what we have in common. They find it hard to see living examples of the principles of which I speak.

I came to Islam through a search for Truth, but I found that in practice most Muslims give the truth a very low priority, and I can still be shocked by their facility for saying whatever they think suits the conversation best. Along with truth goes trustworthiness, surely an Islamic virtue, yet travelling through the Muslim world I met Muslims eager to sit down and discuss breaking an agreement not two minutes after sealing it with a pious recitation of Al Fatiha [first chapter of the Quran]. And closer to home how distasteful it is to belong to a community so notorious with regard to paying bills.

How about Mercy and Compassion - those words now repeatedly on my Muslim lips. In three years of travelling through the Muslim world, hardly a day passed without some stranger feeling he ought to instruct me in the principles of Islam. In all that time, in all these casual encounters, not only was mercy never given pride of place, but I actually don't recall it ever having been given a place at all. It is not necessary for my friends to look to the Muslim heartlands, when at home the Muslim example can be confused with "My Beautiful Launderette".

But they see the Muslim heartlands every evening an TV, with their dictators and demagogues thick on the ground, oppressive and unjust societies, poverty and ignorance. There is no point in telling friends that Islam is a complete way of life. That it is a way to achieve joy and fulfillment in this life, hope and trust when approaching the next, and the perfect basis for a tolerant and peaceful society for all humanity. What can I answer when someone says "Show me!" - "Point to a Muslim country you can use as an example."

My Islam sees in the prophet endless examples of forgiveness and tolerance, yet my friends see the mindless enforcement of rigid laws and eccentric punishments. I sometimes explain, but could just as well tell tales of Shari'a court corruption and injustice. My Islam insists on individual freedom, there is no compulsion, no priests are needed, and except for piety all men are equal. I kneel before no man, though I will kneel in prayer beside any, and my wealth and privilege is permitted, though charity is to be preferred, and the prophet chose to die a pauper.

My friends can understand and be drawn to such principles, but unless they can see this utopia in a more tangible form than my theories they are surely destined to remain cynical about their possible fulfillment. As long as I can't show them examples of Muslims living in a way they consider preferable to their own, I won't worry too much about their conversion. They see my Islam as a pipe dream, and who knows, perhaps they are right. The task is of course even harder when the friends concerned are women, as the clich�d platitudes of Islamic freedom and equality mean nothing when such highly visible inequities and oppression are impossible to hide.

Since I came back to this country there has been much talk in the Muslim community about an "identity crisis". But the business successes of their family networks show that Muslims have no problem in identifying themselves with other Muslims, they just have trouble in identifying themselves with anything recognisable as Islam. In fact it seems that most Muslims would rather have as little to do with Islam as possible from the moment they are old enough to avoid it.

"Brother, let me tell you the most important thing in Islam", said the stranger who had cornered me in a Lahore coffee bar. Far from agog, I waited to hear what it might be, though experience had taught me that it was unlikely to include any of the five pillars, truth or tolerance, or the like. "The most important thing in Islam" he said "is that your wife covers her head", a view of Islam which I had heard often from many Muslim men. In other words the most important thing in the practice of Islam is to get your wife to do it, or your children, or your grandfather, or anybody but yourself!

Back in Britain I listened to the Muslim wails. "We are losing our children! By the time they leave school they are strangers, lost to us and to Islam! What can we do?" My usual response was often faced with dismay - "I can say what I think you should do, but it's unlikely that you will do it, because it involves changing yourselves. It involves changing the way you understand your Islam". This is not suggesting wholesale innovation, as it might seem to imply, but quite the reverse. "It is necessary to revive that Muslim community which is buried under the debris of the manmade traditions of several generations, and which is crushed under the weight of those false laws and customs which are not remotely related to Islamic teachings, and which, in spite of all this, calls itself the 'world of Islam'" (Qutb - Milestones). It's time to get back to the real thing - and I don't mean coca cola.

As I waited to begin my talk to the gathering of young Muslims I engaged in conversation with the group. A nice, quiet, attentive, well-mannered lot I thought. Then time to begin, but the mike wasn't working, and they waited "Testing! Testing! 123..." for while. Rather than just read numbers, it seemed more appropriate to read some Qur'an - after all, I was going to be talking about prayer. To my amazement, the first words of Fatihah seemed to fall in the room like a grenade, turning the group into a rabble. Punches flew, people rolled on the floor, conversations were attempted back and forth across the room, and Fatihah was generally taken as Time Out. If these were the ones at a Muslim conference, what on earth would the Muslim youth who weren't there have been like?
Now it's not that I'm a one for excessive displays of reverence, I see my religion more in a practical kind of way, but this was , which the Prophet called the best of the chapters of the Qur'an, and which Al-Ghazali called the key to Paradise. These words are not recited in every Rakat of prayer without good reason. The outward displays of reverence, such as venerating a Qur'an, placing it high up and wrapped away, cannot do justice to the awe and wonder this Surah deserves. But if a Muslim does not have a reason for this reverence which satisfies his understanding, the outward displays become hollow and easy to discard.

At the exhibition, the school kids of all ages were milling around looking at the World of Islam. As they tried to find the answers for their question sheets it was clear that Muslim kids knew little more than all the rest. No wonder our young people are losing their Islam. They have received so little to start off with. From out of the crowd around the Qur'an, one boy said to the teacher "I can read that!", and proceeded to do so - more fluently than I could have done myself. The teacher was obviously highly impressed, but then asked the obvious question, "What does it mean?", and the boys satisfaction turned to wry embarrassment. "I don't know", he shrugged, and that was the end of that.

Now our young people are not stupid. Muslims have a better academic record than most groupings, as a glance at the honours board of your local school will show. The teacher's response was a common sense question, one that anyone might have expected in the situation. The embarrassment came from the common sense questions that remained unspoken, "Then why did you learn it?", "What use is it to you?", "Is this a skill without a purpose?" The teacher implicitly understood that these are questions you do not ask, and neither it seems do Muslims. It is as though Muslims are afraid that Islam can't stand up to common sense questions, yet Fatihah alone can satisfy whatever intellectual demands are put upon it and still remain inexhaustible. Are we passing on the key to the door of paradise, and forgetting to explain how you use it to open the lock.

If young Muslims are not shown the full richness of Islamic knowledge, we must not be surprised if they show more interest in fields where there seems further to explore. It will take some time before mosques are again centres of learning in all its aspects, places of research, experimentation and debate concerning our understanding of God and Creation. But when western educated young Muslim adults begin to search for their spiritual roots, God willing, they will uncover the means of reinvigorating the ummah, and leading them in the example of the Companions. If our Islam is not like theirs, filled with a sense of awe, wonder and excitement, can we really be doing justice to the service of Allah.

In such a situation, we will find new Muslims drawn towards the mosque. At the moment, amidst the ummah they are more likely to find Islam expressed as a cultural adjunct, where even the five pillars are avoided. But if the pillars are treated as unnecessary then what is needed to be Muslim, and if they are necessary how many Muslims are there in the ummah?

This goes to the heart of the conversation question, as we need to know what is essential for a person to be considered Muslim. Do Muslims in fact expect more from a convert than they do from those born in their cultures? How little does a westerner have to do before Muslims accept him as Muslim, and how far can he stray from their cultural norm before they consider him a disturbing intrusion and would rather that he stayed away? Is the reason there are not more converts because they would disturb the status quo?
But our effect on our surrounding society is a mirror to our behaviour and how well we represent Islam. We must live in a way that seems preferable and then at least partially satisfy the expectations of the inquisitive. Once upon a time, Islam spread like wildfire. In a few short years the Message spread to Morocco and to China. Millions welcomed the good news, and quickly shaped their lives around it.

Now Islam may be fast growing in the third world regions, but here in the West Muslims face a peculiar reaction to their invitations to join them in their faith, as almost nobody wants anything to do with it. If the message we are passing on no longer seems to have the same effect, is it not time to consider if we just have a communications problem, or whether we ourselves are abusing the message? Fortunately we still have the original - all we have to do is understand it!