Shifa

A Miraculous Journey to Islam
Recounted in a letter
by
Shifa
“And say not of those who are slain in the way of Allah: ‘They are dead.’ Nay, they are living, though ye perceive (it) not.” Qur’an 2:154
Dear Robert,
Your family and mine have been friends for many years, and I know that it disturbs you that I have become a Muslim. In particular you are very anti-Islam because of the teachings related to the Martyrs. You have said it is an insidious and evil teaching - the belief that martyrs do not really die. Of course I have to tell you that I believe it absolutely, and there have been some remarkable instances which have strengthened my belief in the Qur’anic text totally.

Let me tell you what I mean:

There was an interesting case about ten years back when an Imam phoned me and asked would I interview an Australian man who had become Muslim and claimed to have come through a very strange circumstance.

When I made contact with this man I discovered that he was about fifty years of age. He was married to a Spanish Catholic woman and had two sons. He had recently come to Queensland from another state.

Anyhow, as he put it, he went to bed one night nominally Christian, and awoke, the next day, a Muslim!

On questioning him I discovered that he had lost his father during World War 11 when he was five years of age. When told of this he had sat quietly and spoken to God, saying, “My father is dead, will you be my father now?”

At first this was a comfort to him and he shared his news and feelings with God. But over the years his life altered and he had almost forgotten his earlier request to God - to take the place of his Father. There was nothing unusual about his life. He went through his schooling and eventually took up a trade. He married and had children.

Nothing spectacular at all had happened in the intervening time, and on the night in question, years later, he went to bed as usual.

During the night he had a dream that he was in the desert. As he looked about him he saw a man wearing Arab clothing and sitting cross-legged on the sand. He recognised this man’s great anguish and saw him look to heaven, raise his arms and cry out, “Ya Allah!” He said that there was so much pain that the man wept and as he did so his tears fell onto the sand. Suddenly where they fell a pond appeared. Then from heaven a tear- drop blood red fell into the water and beautiful plants appeared.

Suddenly the dream changed and he found himself looking upon Arab/Muslim dead - he said that as far as the eye could see there were mountains of dead Muslims. It was so real that he felt he could almost have smelled the odour of death.

Then a veil was drawn across. Just as he was standing wondering what was to happen next, it was drawn back. This time he saw all of the dead alive - they were greeting each other and were happy and laughing, and he was relieved and amazed.

Suddenly his dream changed and he found himself outside an enormous doorway. He knocked and asked to be let in but a voice told him that this was a doorway through which only Muslims could enter and he
must return. At this he awoke. The next day he was walking with his wife and felt a great urgency to discover more of Islam. In the shopping Centre he saw two men whom he took to be Italians. Suddenly he decided that he would ask them. “Are you Italians?” he asked. “No,” they replied, “we are Arabs.” With this he asked if they were Muslim, to which they assented, and he begged them to take him to a mosque so that he may learn further.

The eventual upshot of it was that this man became a practising Muslim. In a short time he applied and was accepted to go to Saudi Arabia to study Arabic and Religion. So what can one say to such an event!

Indeed, it seems that the prayer of his childhood was heard and accepted and we are told:

“When my servants ask thee concerning Me, I am indeed close (to them): I listen to the prayer of every supplicant when he calleth on Me: Let them also, with a will, listen to My call, and believe in Me: that they may walk in the right way.” Qur’an 2:186.

Truly the Love and Mercy of Allah is beyond anything which we may imagine, and His Guidance something of which we can only marvel:

“….Say: Allah’s guidance is the (only) guidance, and we have been directed to submit ourselves to the Lord of the Worlds!”

In truth Robert, I am so very happy that I am among those who are Muslim, who have been very blessed. May it please Allah, upon Whom our very beings depend, to grant you His similar Guidance.

Sincerely,

Shifa