Becoming Muslim
Thomas Irving
(Canada)
Social Worker
In approaching an account of my conversion to Islam, it would
be as well to relate my personal experience, both before and
after coming into contact with its ideals. This is not so much
to tell a story in itself as to show how the thought of
thousands of other young Canadians and Americans is evolving and
the opportunity that awaits an effective Islamic propaganda.
I can remember thrilling, as a very small child, to the
Christian interpretation of Jesus's life, but yet I cannot say
that I was ever truly Christian of my own conviction. Instead of
absorbing the pretty Biblical tales, I began wondering why so
many in the world were `heathen', why Jews and Christians
differed on the same Bible, why the unbelievers were damned when
the fault was not theirs, and also why they could practice
goodness as well as the self-called "higher nations".
I remember especially a missionary returned from India
stating how the `Mohometans' were so obdurate in adhering to
their religion; that was my first encounter with Islam, and it
roused an unconscious admiration in me for their steadfastness
to their faith and a desire to know more about these "wicked"
people.
In my first year course in Oriental literature, I had learned
of the progression of human thought in its attempt to perfect
its conception of God. Jesus had culminated the teaching of a
Loving God. This idea had been lost in a cloud of liturgical
doggerel and atavistic paganism; a beneficent, merciful deity
had been obscured by an implacable overlord who could only be
reached through an intercessor. Someone was needed to lead men
back to the fountain of truth with its limpid mainstream of the
One God.
Europe was still in the semi-barbarism induced by the
folk-wanderings and the extinction of classic culture by a
narrow ecclesiasticism. The East was the logical centre of
inspiration, and here Muhammad (God's blessings be on him) arose
seven centuries after Jesus, when Christo-paganism was firmly
entrenched in Europe and rational study, let alone inspiration,
still nine centuries distant.
At last I was able to accept Muhammad as an apostle of God;
firstly, he was needed; secondly, my own conclusions had been
independent and still coincided; and thirdly, apart from both
the former, the realization of the divine quality of the Holy
Qur'an and the Prophet's teachings flooded upon me clearly.
At the same time, I received and bought more and more
literature upon Islam. An Indian philanthropist from Bombay, the
late Mr. Q. A. Jairazbhoy, had sent me What is Islam!
by H. W. Lovegrove (this is perhaps the most practical
exposition that I have read, and merits wide distribution).
Later he sent me [...an...] annotated edition of the Holy
Qur'an, and various other books and tracts. At Montreal, I was
able to procure considerable French literature on Islam, both
for and against, and this helped broaden my vision.
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