Becoming Muslim
Mr. R. L. Mellema
(Holland)
Anthropologist, writer and scholar.
What is for me the Beauty of Islam? What hs Attracted me
to this faith?
I began with my study of eastern languages at the University
of Leiden in 1919 and attended the lectures of Prof. C. Snouck
Hurgronje, the well-known Arabist. I learned Arabic, read and
translated al-Baidawi's commentary on the Qur'an and al-Ghazali's
reflexions on the Law. I studied the history and institutions of
Islam from European handbooks as was usual in that time. In 1921
I stayed in Cairo for one month and visited the Al-Azhar.
Besides Arabic I studied other languages such as Sanskrit, Malay
and Javanese. In 1927 I left for the then Netherlands Indies to
teach Javanese language and Indian cultural history at a special
secondary school for advanced studies in Jogyakarta. For 15
years I specialised myself in Javanese language and culture
(modern and old) and had little contact with Islam and no
contact at all with Arabic. After a difficult period which I
spent as a japanese prisoner of war, I went back to the
Netherlands in 1946 and found a new task at the Royal Tropical
Institute in Amsterdam. Here I had the opportunity to take up
again my study of Islam, being instructed to write a short guide
on Islam in Java.
I started to study the new Islamic State of Pakistan which
was culminated in a journey to Pakistan in the winter of
1954/55. Having come to know Islam till now from European
writers only, in Lahore I was confronted with quite another
aspect of Islam. I asked my Muslim friends to be allowed to take
part with them in the Friday prayers in the mosques and from now
on I began to discover the great values of Islam.
I have felt myself a Muslim from the moment that I had to
address the people in one of the Lahore mosques and had to shake
hands with the innumerable new friends and brothers. I wrote
about this event in an article, published in Pakistan Quarterly,
Vol. V. no. 4, 1955, the following lines:
We were now to visit a much smaller mosque, where the sermon
was delivered by a scholar who spoke English fluently and had a
position of eminence at the University of the Punjab. He
informed the congregation that he had deliberately interspersed
more English words than usual in his sermon, as he thought that
their brother who had come from a far country, the Netherlands,
would then understand the Urdu discourse more easily. The sermon
was followed by the usual recitation of two rak'ahs under the
leadership of the Imam. This done a few more rak'ahs were
performed in silence by those who felt the need to do so.
I was about to leave when Allamah Sahib, turning to me,
observed that the assembly expected me to say a few words. He
himself would translate them into Urdu. I went and stood before
the microphone and quietly started to speak. I said how I had
come from a far away country where only a few Muslims live,
whose greetings I conveyed to the brothers present in the
Mosque, who for the last seven years were so fortunate as to
have their own Muslim State. In these few years the new State
had succeeded in consolidating its position. After a difficult
beginning they could undoubtedly look forward to a prosperous
future. I promised them that, back in my country, I should bear
witness to the great kindness and hospitality it had been my
privilege to receive from all sections of the Muslim population
in Pakistan. These words having been translated into Urdu had a
wonderful effect, for, to my intense surprise, without even
realizing at first what was happening, I saw hundreds of
worshippers hasten forward to press my hands and to congratulate
me. Old hands and young clasped mine with the most affectionate
cordiality. But what struck and touched me most was the great
warmth all these eyes radiated. At that moment I felt myself
taken up in the great Brotherhood of Islam which extends
throughout the world, and I was indescribably happy.
So the people of Pakistan made me understand that Islam was
more than just acquaintance with many details of the Law, that
belief in the moral values of Islam had to come first and that
knowledge should be conditional to reaching faith.
What is now for me the beauty of Islam and what in particular
has attracted me to this faith!
I will try to give a short answer to these questions in 6
points.
- The acknowledgement of One Supreme Being, uncomplicated
and easy to accept by every reasonable thinking creature:
Allah, He on Whom all depend. He begets not, nor is He
begotten and none is like Him. He represents the highest
wisdom, the highest strength and the highest beauty. His
Charity and Mercy are boundless.
- The relation between the Creator of the Universe and His
creatures, of whom man has been entrusted with the supreme
direction, is a direct one. The believer
does not need any mediation; Islam does not need priesthood.
In Islam contact with God depends on man himself. Man has to
prepare himself in this life for the next. He is responsible
for his deeds, which cannot be compensated by a substituting
sacrifice of an innocent person. No soul shall be burdened
beyond its capacity.
- The doctrine of tolerance of Islam, so clearly
manifested in the well-known words: There is no
compulsion in religion. A Muslim is recommended to
search for the truth where he may find it; also he is
enjoined to estimate the good properties of other religions.
- The doctrine of brotherhood of Islam, which extends to
all human beings, no matter what colour, race or creed.
Islam is the only religion which has been able to realise
this doctrine in practice. Muslims wherever on the world
they are, will recognise each other as brothers. The
equality of the whole mankind before God is symbolised
significantly in the Ihram dress during the Hajj.
- The fact that Islam accepts matter and mind both as
existing values. The mental growth of man is connected
inseparable with the needs of the body, whereas man has to
behave in such a way that mind prevails over matter and
matter is controlled by mind.
- The prohibition of alcoholic drinks and narcotic drugs.
This is in particular a point in respect of which it may be
said that Islam is far ahead of its time.
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