All I have to say is all what
you know already, to confirm what you already know, the message of the Prophet (Sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam) as given by God - the Religion of Truth. As human beings we
are given a consciousness and a duty that has placed us at the top of creation.
Man is created to be God's deputy on earth, and it is important to realize the
obligation to rid ourselves of all illusions and to make our lives a preparation
for the next life. Anybody who misses this chance is not likely to be given
another, to be brought back again and again, because it says in Qur'an Majeed
that when man is brought to account, he will say, {O Lord,
send us back and give us another chance} The Lord will say, {If
I send you back you will do the same}
I was brought up in the modern
world of all the luxury and the high life of show business. I was born in a
Christian home, but we know that every child is born in his original nature - it
is only his parents that turn him to this or that religion. I was given this
religion (Christianity) and thought this way. I was taught that God exists, but
there was no direct contact with God, so we had to make contact with Him through
Jesus - he was in fact the door to God. This was more or less accepted by me,
but I did not swallow it all.
I looked at some of the statues
of Jesus; they were just stones with no life. And when they said that God is
three, I was puzzled even more but could not argue. I more or less believed it,
because I had to have respect for the faith of my parents.
Gradually I became alienated
from this religious upbringing. I started making music. I wanted to be a big
star. All those things I saw in the films and on the media took hold of me, and
perhaps I thought this was my God, the goal of making money. I had an uncle who
had a beautiful car. "Well," I said, "he has it made. He has a lot of money."
The people around me influenced me to think that this was it; this world was
their God.
I decided then that this was
the life for me; to make a lot of money, have a 'great life.' Now my examples
were the pop stars. I started making songs, but deep down I had a feeling for
humanity, a feeling that if I became rich I would help the needy. (It says in
the Qur'an, we make a promise, but when we make something, we want to hold onto
it and become greedy.)
So what happened was that I
became very famous. I was still a teenager, my name and photo were splashed in
all the media. They made me larger than life, so I wanted to live larger than
life and the only way to do that was to be intoxicated (with liquor and drugs).
After a year of financial
success and 'high' living, I became very ill, contracted TB and had to be
hospitalized. It was then that I started to think: What was to happen to me? Was
I just a body, and my goal in life was merely to satisfy this body? I realized
now that this calamity was a blessing given to me by Allah, a chance to open my
eyes - "Why am I here? Why am I in bed?" - and I started looking for some of the
answers. At that time there was great interest in the Eastern mysticism. I began
reading, and the first thing I began to become aware of was death, and that the
soul moves on; it does not stop. I felt I was taking the road to bliss and high
accomplishment. I started meditating and even became a vegetarian. I now
believed in 'peace and flower power,' and this was the general trend. But what I
did believe in particular was that I was not just a body. This awareness came to
me at the hospital.
One day when I was walking and
I was caught in the rain, I began running to the shelter and then I realized,
'Wait a minute, my body is getting wet, my body is telling me I am getting wet.'
This made me think of a saying that the body is like a donkey, and it has to be
trained where it has to go. Otherwise, the donkey will lead you where it wants
to go.
Then I realized I had a will, a
God-given gift: follow the will of God. I was fascinated by the new termino-
logy I was learning in the Eastern religion. By now I was fed up with
Christianity. I started making music again and this time I started reflecting my
own thoughts. I remember the lyric of one of my songs. It goes like this: "I
wish I knew, I wish I knew what makes the Heaven, what makes the Hell. Do I get
to know You in my bed or some dusty cell while others reach the big hotel?" and
I knew I was on the Path.
I also wrote another song, "The
Way to Find God Out." I became even more famous in the world of music. I really
had a difficult time because I was getting rich and famous, and at the same
time, I was sincerely searching for the Truth. Then I came to a stage where I
decided that Buddhism is all right and noble, but I was not ready to leave the
world. I was too attached to the world and was not prepared to become a monk and
to isolate myself from society.
I tried Zen and Ching,
numerology, tarot cards and astrology. I tried to look back into the Bible and
could not find anything. At this time I did not know anything about Islam, and
then, what I regarded as a miracle occurred. My brother had visited the mosque
in Jerusalem and was greatly impressed that while on the one hand it throbbed
with life (unlike the churches and synagogues which were empty), on the other
hand, an atmosphere of peace and tranquillity prevailed.
When he came to London he
brought back a translation of the Qur'an, which he gave to me. He did not become
a Muslim, but he felt something in this religion, and thought I might find
something in it also.
And when I received the book, a
guidance that would explain everything to me - who I was; what was the purpose
of life; what was the reality and what would be the reality; and where I came
from - I realized that this was the true religion; religion not in the sense the
West understands it, not the type for only your old age. In the West, whoever
wishes to embrace a religion and make it his only way of life is deemed a
fanatic. I was not a fanatic, I was at first confused between the body and the
soul. Then I realized that the body and soul are not apart and you don't have to
go to the mountain to be religious. We must follow the will of God. Then we can
rise higher than the angels. The first thing I wanted to do now was to be a
Muslim.
I realized that everything
belongs to God, that slumber does not overtake Him. He created everything. At
this point I began to lose the pride in me, because hereto I had thought the
reason I was here was because of my own greatness. But I realized that I did not
create myself, and the whole purpose of my being here was to submit to the
teaching that has been perfected by the religion we know as Al-Islam. At this
point I started discovering my faith. I felt I was a Muslim. On reading the
Qur'an, I now realized that all the Prophets sent by God brought the same
message. Why then were the Jews and Christians different? I know now how the
Jews did not accept Jesus as the Messiah and that they had changed His Word.
Even the Christians misunderstand God's Word and called Jesus the son of God.
Everything made so much sense. This is the beauty of the Qur'an; it asks you to
reflect and reason, and not to worship the sun or moon but the One Who has
created everything. The Qur'an asks man to reflect upon the sun and moon and
God's creation in general. Do you realize how different the sun is from the
moon? They are at varying distances from the earth, yet appear the same size to
us; at times one seems to overlap the other.
Even when many of the
astronauts go to space, they see the insignificant size of the earth and
vastness of space. They become very religious, because they have seen the Signs
of Allah.
When I read the Qur'an further,
it talked about prayer, kindness and charity. I was not a Muslim yet, but I felt
that the only answer for me was the Qur'an, and God had sent it to me, and I
kept it a secret. But the Qur'an also speaks on different l I began to
understand it on anothlevel, where the Qur'an says, {Those
who believe do not take disbelievers for friends and the believers are brothers}
Thus at this point I wished to meet my Muslim brothers.
Then I decided to journey to
Jerusalem (as my brother had done). At Jerusalem, I went to the mosque and sat
down. A man asked me what I wanted. I told him I was a Muslim. He asked what was
my name. I told him, "Stevens." He was confused. I then joined the prayer,
though not so successfully. Back in London, I met a sister called Nafisa. I told
her I wanted to embrace Islam and she directed me to the New Regent Mosque. This
was in 1977, about one and a half years after I received the Qur'an.
Now I realized that I must get
rid of my pride, get rid of Iblis, and face one direction. So on a Friday, after
Jumma' I went to the Imam and declared my faith (the Kalima) at this hands. You
have before you someone who had achieved fame and fortune. But guidance was
something that eluded me, no matter how hard I tried, until I was shown the
Qur'an. Now I realize I can get in direct contact with God, unlike Christianity
or any other religion. As one Hindu lady told me, "You don't understand the
Hindus. We believe in one God; we use these objects (idols) to merely
concentrate." What she was saying was that in order to reach God, one has to
create associates, that are idols for the purpose. But Islam removes all these
barriers. The only thing that moves the believers from the disbelievers is the
salat. This is the process of purification.
Finally I wish to say that
everything I do is for the pleasure of Allah and pray that you gain some
inspirations from my experiences. Furthermore, I would like to stress that I did
not come into contact with any
Muslim before I embraced Islam.
I read the Qur'an first and realized that no person is perfect. Islam is
perfect, and if we imitate the conduct of the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam) we will be successful. May Allah give us guidance to follow the path of
the ummah of Muhammad (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam). Ameen!
