Me, my father and our conversion story

 Since the age of 20, my father has been studying comparative religions such as Christianity, Buddhism and Hinduism. Due to this, he had an extensive collection of various books from different faiths.  I was shocked that my father kept a bible in our house, since it was a taboo for Muslim families to have a bible in their household then in Singapore. His readings about Islam led him into being a staunch Wahhabi.  He was attracted to their motto of having the “Quran and Sunnah” as their sole source of guidance.  Which true Muslim would oppose the Qur’an and Sunnah?

 His encounter with Shia Islam was like a rude awakening.  Since the Shia population in Singapore is small he has never encounter Shias, and he did not seriously look into the belief of the Shias.  One day in my father’s workplace he saw his friend Ishaq performing the zuhr (noon) prayers.  My father noticed that he was praying without his arms folded, and there was a small piece of clay (turba) on the prayer mat. He waited for Ishaq to complete his prayer and approached his friend and inquired about his practice.

 “Ishaq, my friend, I see that you pray with your hands down instead of folding. Is it not the sunnah of the Holy Prophet to pray with hands folded? We will get thawab if we follow the sunnah. And may I know why you are doing your sajdah on a stone? I have never seen anyone pray like this before.”

 Ishaq smiled and asked my father, “Do you believe in hadith?”

 “Yes, I believed in the Holy Quran and the hadith. Whatever I do, all are based from these two sources,” replied my father.

 Ishaq asked him to recite the salawat. “Allahumma solli ala Muhammad wa ale Muhammad,” recited my father.

 Ishaq asked him for the meaning of that phrase.  “Allah send blessings on Muhammad and his family,” replied my father dutifully.  He was curious of where this discussion was leading.

 “You know about Muhammad, our Holy Prophet.  However, do you know who is his family? Where is his family?” My father was flabbergasted. He has never seriously thought about who was implied by “his family” in the salawat.  His mind started to race, he did not know how to answer.

 Ishaq asked my father if he was aware of the Prophet Muhammad’s saying “Oh Ali you are to me like Harun was to Musa, except there will be no prophets after me.”

 My father nodded. “Then where is Ali?” Once again my father was silent. “If the salawat was important that we have to recite in our solat as well as in our duas, wouldn’t it be very important to know who exactly these family members were?” inquired Ishaq. My father  pondered again on the hadith and almost suddenly, it triggered him of the verse from the Holy Bible that says:

 “I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.

(Deutronomi 18:18)

 He saw somewhat of a connection and he wants to find out more. My father was in a deep thought and Ishaq continued…

 “You have to find out. Since you believed in hadith, you have to know which one is sahih, which one is hadith daef (weak) and so on. Because one false hadith can lead you astray.” 

 My father said that he would believe only if there is strong evidence. Ishaq gave him a book titled, “Saqifa Bani Saidah”.  Upon reading that book, my father was shocked to learn that those whom he thought were close companions of the Holy prophet are the very ones who oppressed and hurt his family. It didn’t take a long time for my father to convince of the beliefs of the Shia, and he converted and Alhamduli’llah he brought us all into the light of the Ahlubayt.

 At the time of my conversion, I was ten years old and I could see the minor and obvious differences between Sunni and Shia Islam.  I noticed some changes of the things my father did the whole family to a place called Imambaragh, a Shia worshipping place.  I was able to observe a lot, rather than understanding the reason behind the conversion.  I didn’t know who or what are the Ahlubayt.  I thought Ahlubayt was a title for us because people keep saying Ahlubayt out of admiration and I heard someone saying, “We are the followers of the Ahlubayt”. There was even a verse in sura al-ahzab (33:33) about it.

 “Allah's wish is but to remove uncleanness far from you, O Folk of the Household, and cleanse you with a thorough cleansing.”

 Witnessing the first majlis of Muharram was a new and emotional experience for me.  I saw people weeping and beating their chests in grief when the speaker was narrating the events of Karbala and the sufferings of Imam Hussain and his followers.  Most surprising for me was to see men cry, especially my dad.  I have never seen my father cry before, and grew up believing that real men don’t cry.

 Gradually I learn more about Shia by attending religious classes. I couldn’t eat my favorite barbeque crabs anymore because we can’t eat animals that lived in two worlds. (Crabs lived in water and land). I wasn’t really into religion until I reached the age of 16 where realization crept into my heart. I read the books from my father’s library and whenever I have doubts, I always asked my father who was ever so patient with me.  By the tie I was 18, I was more serious in studying religion. The lessons I attended during Muharram enlightened me so much that I was moved to tears. If for the past few years, my father has been spoon-feeding us, I want to ensure that I have not followed him blindly and that I am not just a Muslim by name. My heart was touched by a story I read in the book called “An enlightening commentary into the light of the Holy Quran” with the following verse:

 “Our Lord! Lo! we have heard a crier calling unto Faith: "Believe ye in your Lord!" So we believed. Our Lord! Therefore forgive us our sins, and remit from us our evil deeds, and make us die the death of the righteous.” (Holy Quran 3:193)

 I have never cried so much in my life as when I studied about the Ahlubayt and what happened to them. It makes me feel more close to Allah and knowing Him better. My heart aches when I discover the many sacrifices they did in the name of Islam.

 The Holy Prophet (SAW) lead his ummah for 23 years with love and patience seeking no rewards but love for his family, only to have people turn against him when he was on his deathbed and the cruel things they did to his family. Imam Ali (as), who was deprived of his caliphate for 25 years, chose not to rise up against the caliphs over seizing his rights back was martyred in such an honorable state which is prostration before Allah SWT in the holy month of Ramadhan. And Lady Fatima (as) who suffered a miscarriage of baby Mohsin whom she conceived, Imam Hasan who was poisoned and his blessed body was arrowed when the so-called Muslims prevented his body from being buried beside his grandfather and when Imam Husayn sacrificed his family and friends for the sake of Islam, the greatest sacrifice in history…

Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi rajion.

Verily everything is from Allah, and to him we shall return ..