Posted on 02/03/2017 9:58:51 PM PST by nickcarraway
Teaching about Islam taught me many things.
I enjoyed being a priest helping the people for some years. However, deep inside I was not happy and I felt that there was something not right. Fortunately, and it is God’s will, some events and coincidences in my life led me to Islam.
I used to think of Egypt as a country of Pyramids, camels, sand and palm trees. I actually took a charter flight to Hurghada.
Shocked to find it similar to some European beaches, I took the first bus to Cairo where I spent the most wonderful week in my life.
This was my first introduction to Muslims and Islam. I noticed how Egyptians are such gentle, sweet people, but also very strong.
Like all Britons, my knowledge about Muslims up to that time didn’t exceed what I heard from the TV about suicide bombers and fighters, which gave the impression that Islam is a religion of troubles. However, getting into Cairo I discovered how beautiful this religion is.
Very simple people selling goods on the street would abandon their trade and direct their face to Allah and pray the moment they heard the call to prayer from the mosque. They have a strong faith in the presence and will of Allah. They pray, fast, help the needy and dream to have a trip to Makkah with the hope of living in heaven in the hereafter.
On my return I resumed my old job of teaching religion. The only compulsory subject in British education is Religious Studies. I was teaching about Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism and others. So everyday I had to read about these religions to be able to teach my lessons to the students, many of whom were Arab Muslim refugees. In other words, teaching about Islam taught me many things.
Unlike many troublesome teenagers, these students set a good example of what a Muslim could be. They were polite and kind. So a friendship developed between us and they asked if they could use my classroom for prayers during the fasting month of Ramadan.
Luckily, my room was the only one with a carpet. So I got accustomed to sitting at the back, watching them praying for a month. I sought to encourage them by fasting during Ramadan with them, even though I wasn’t yet a Muslim.
Once while reciting a translation of the holy Quran in class I reached the verse:
{And when they hear what has been revealed to the Messenger, you see their eyes overflowing with tears because of what they have recognized of the truth.} (Quran 5:83)
To my surprise, I felt tears welling up in my eyes and I tried hard to hide it from the students.
The following day, I was taking the underground and noticed how terrified the people were. I was also afraid of the repetition of such acts in Britain. At the time, the Western people started fearing this religion they blamed for terrorism.
However, my previous experience with Muslims took me to a different direction. I started wondering ‘Why Islam? Why do we blame Islam as a religion for the action of terrorists who happened to be Muslims, when no-one accused Christianity of terrorism when some Christians have acted the same way?
One day I headed to the biggest Mosque in London, to hear more about this religion. Getting into London Central Mosque, there was Yusuf Islam, the former pop singer, sitting in a circle talking to some people about Islam. After a while, I found myself asking him” ‘What do you actually do to become a Muslim?’
He answered that a Muslim should believe in one God, pray five times a day and fast during Ramadan. I interrupted him saying that I believed all this and had even fasted during Ramadan. So he asked:
‘What are you waiting for? What is holding you back?’ I said: ‘No, I don’t intend to convert.’
At that moment the call to prayer was made and everyone got ready and stood in lines to pray.
I sat at the back, and I cried and cried. Then I said to myself: ‘Who am I trying to fool?’
After they ended their prayers, I headed to Yusuf Islam, asking him to teach me the words by which I announce my conversion.
After explaining its meanings to me in English, I recited after him in Arabic that there is no God but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, I couldn’t hold back my tears.
‘Gardens of Islam’
I decided to write this book “Gardens of Delight: a Simple Introduction to Islam” to give non-Muslims an idea about the basic principles of Islam. I tried to tell people how beautiful Islam is and that Islam has the most extraordinary treasures, the most important being Muslims’ love for each other.
The Prophet says:
‘Even a smile to your brother is a charity.’
May Allah have mercy on brother Idris Tawfiq.
Idris Tawfiq was a British writer, public speaker and consultant. He became a Muslim around 15 years ago.For many years, he was head of religious education in different schools in the United Kingdom. Before embracing Islam, he was a Roman Catholic priest. He passed away in peace in the UK in February 2016 after a period of illness. May Allah (SWT) have mercy on him, and accept his good deeds.
“Superficially, the rituals in the Catholic Church and the rituals and structure of Islam seem similar..”
Pure, unadulterated nonsense.
The sum, substance, and summit of Catholic belief is the Sacrifice of The Mass. There is nothing like it in any other religion, least of all among Islam.
I try to be kind.
Maybe he was a Muzzie in a previous life!
Hope you enjoy extreme heat Father
Denying Christ after acceptance
Bad as it gets
Complete apostate
Doesn’t apply here. This man turned his back on God and has chosen to worship Satan’s spawn. He has offended the Holy Spirit and has commuted the unpardonable sin
I doubt he knew very much about the Bible. I’ve known Catholics who said they asked their priest something about the Bible and the priest got upset at the person who asked the question. A friend, former Catholic, said he was told not to read the Bible. The church would tell what was in it when they decided he needed to know. I think this priest learned more about Islam by teaching it than he knew about Catholicism.
Since this cleric is essentially God-shopping, converting to Islam offers wonderful opportunities. In Islam, the cleric can rape young boys just like Mohammad without condemnation. Who needs that silly vow of celibacy, right? The Bible, though, has some harsh penalties to offer those who lead others astray so this fellow may want to rethink that pesky little afterlife thingy.
Well this is what an African missionary friend of mine tells me is true in Senegal. We are not talking substance here. We are talking superficial external appearances. Muslims have a hard time understanding Mere Christianity, but Catholicism seems easy to understand.
Yeah they really love each other.
Why do they flee their loving countries?
Why the muslims countries do not take in all the displaced fellow muslims?
Either way, he was doomed to go to Hell.
Nope...it was teenage boys; around 13, I bet.
Infidel.
I didn’t get it. Christianity and Judaism and probably a bunch of other religions have brotherly love for their fellows. They have places to pray together, times to pray, togetherness, belief in one Gd, etc. WHAT MAGIC did he see in Islam? This article did not capture the reason for his desire to convert. Not seein’ it.
Sorry, former Father, but it actually goes like this, "There is no god but the Moon God, and a child molester is his Prophet!"
Well, the Christmas Tree, Easter Bunny etc can be argued as residuals of pagan culture. But Islam has nothing in the form of Marian devotions, Eucharistic processions, Baptism, Confession, Confirmation or priestly ordinations. So I wonder where these “external appearances” come from.
You can be a Christian, but not consecrated. They are otherwise known as CINO’s.
He wants to be a suicide bomber?
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