How I Accepted the Din of Islam

"When the evidences have decisively defeated all doubts, it is no longer befitting to deceive oneself."

How I Accepted the Din of Islam

by Suhaib Jobst

When recounting the story of my conversion to Islam, I would like to first recognize that none guides or leads astray except Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta'ala). Everything happens according to a Divine Plan, which is beyond our limited human comprehension. We can only look at certain instances to describe how we came to Islam, but ultimately these are mere causal manifestations of a Divine Plan.

Allah describes in the Qur'an (7:172) how all human souls were gathered in Paradise and all acknowledged that He is our One Lord. We all said we would worship and obey only Him, so the proof has already been established upon every soul. It is upon us to either deny these proofs or to submit to Him.

In this regard Islam is the birthright of every single human individual. The Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam) said that everyone is born upon the Fitra, or the pure natural disposition. Yet some of us succumb to either our harmful environments or oppressive self or lowly desires, and allow ourselves to become guided away from our Fitra.

With this backdrop I would like to now mention a few details about myself. I was born to a father who had immigrated from Europe, being of mixed German and Spanish ancestry, and an American mother from Missouri, whose grandparents had immigrated from Belgium. This provided me with a cultural background which first nurtured my free and open mind.

My entire family is Catholic, although I was raised in a tradition where the teachings of the Church had more of an emotional influence. My only experiences with attending Church were limited to family functions such as weddings and funeral masses. However, I did consider myself a Catholic and tried to attain spiritual sustenance from the Bible. However, my doubts persisted and I remember once kneeling towards an alleged statue of Mary (peace be upon her) and asking God for guidance to whatever the true religion was.

I was a child who always sought to fulfill his intellectual curiosity, something which was nurtured by my family. This environment encouraged me to keep an honest mind and seek knowledge on my own accord. I found that such teachings as the Trinity or Original Sin were unable to be reconciled with logic. How can one consist of three co-existing entities which by their very nature are mutually exclusive? How can sin be hereditary and carried by other than the original sinner? It simply makes no sense.

So I began researching the various world religions and seeing which one had a concept of God that was compatible with logic. I visited some Protestant churches, but soon found they also subscribed to the Trinitarian creed and even claimed that one only needed this faith without acts. Judaism was out of the question for me, since it is ****d on a people not my own. Hinduism repelled me due to the absurd stories about thousands of deities. The Eastern religions had no real concept of God or the Afterlife and failed to answer such questions as the meaning of life.

Islam was the only religion that appealed to me. Here was a religion ****d upon the worship of the One Creator. There were a long line of prophets who called the people to this worship, including many prophets of whom I was familiar from the Bible. One of the first Islamic books I possessed was a biography of the Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam), whose remarkable character amazed me. Surely here was the Paraclete (Comforter) whom Jesus (peace be upon him) prophesied, the natural culmination of the message of the earlier prophets. As a former Catholic, I also read the Qur'anic accounts of Jesus and his mother, which brought me to tears. These accounts were fully logical and filled up the missing gaps I had from reading the Bible.

Islam is a Living Reality, an entire Way of Life (Din). The considerations of a Muslim are centered around implementing Islam in their own lives, they live the experience of a Muslim. The Muslim feels the presence of Allah, as demonstrated by Ihsan (perfection) - to worship Allah as though you see Him, although He sees you. This is unlike the other religions, which are lacking in this self-realization because they reduced God to a systematic body of theoretical principles, whereas He is far removed from what human beings have ascribed to Him!

I was also very political-minded and for this reason Islam further appealed to me. I was an anti-Zionist and pro-Palestinian activist even before becoming Muslim. I also opposed the U.S. foreign policy, which strayed from its non-interventionist roots. I saw the profound ability of Islam to provide sustenance to a people living under oppression. Islam calls for saying a true word to the tyrant and fighting injustice and oppression. On the other hand, I knew that Christianity was largely a spent force which failed to have any social relevance.

Islam is the logical solution for all the social ills which plague the West. These include rampant materialism, alcohol and drug abuse, usury and other forms of financial servitude, low-birthrates, the breakdown in social relations, decline in ethical and courteous behavior, and the general hopelessness that leads to suicide. It would also reverse the general decline of the Western societies, returning it to a more honorable way of living.

My ethnic and cultural heritage also influenced me, for it was something of which I continued to be proud. I read that prophets were sent to every nation and tribe, calling them to the worship of the One God. This was the fundamental message of all the prophets. But with time the peoples' consciousness of the Divine became distorted. However, remnants of the true religion continued to survive in every cultural tradition.

The Indo-European tribes largely held this concept of a Supreme Being, the other deities being viewed primarily as models for righteous behavior and guidance before going into battle. I was also fascinated to learn that, unlike the Roman empire which had a hedonistic lifestyle and then adopted the Trinitarian creed, the Germanic, Celtic and Iberian tribes from which I am descended adopted the pure message of Jesus (peace be upon him), through the various sects which were ultimately suppressed by the Church for political reasons. The Trinitarian creed was literally forced upon these tribes by the sword.

I was also proud that the anti-Trinitarian movement within Europe gained its impetus from the works of German poets and philosophers, those who best expressed the German psyche. Goethe and Nietzsche ridiculed Christianity while praising Islam in the most glowing terms. Rather than claiming that "God was dead", Nietzsche was actually saying that the Christian conception of the Divine was dead, that it was no longer relevant and that a people needed God to provide them sustenance.

The philosopher Martin Heidegger clarified two forms of refuge for those Europeans disillusioned with Trinitarian Christianity: ontology and ****physics. Rather than providing answers, these two doctrines further blurred the concept of God due to the manner in which they had been adopted. He said that these actually led to the "forgetfulness of Being". The German national movement had similarities with Islamic struggle, since it also fought against usury and the rule of financiers. There were many parallels between the history of Germany and Muslim countries, such as the fact both had been occupied by the same imperialist powers.

Likewise from the angle of the other aspect of my heritage, I admired the remarkable achievements of the Islamic society in Andalusia. Here was a true Islamic society which nurtured an environment that was fully superior to the contemporary Europe on every level. The subsequent achievements of Spain had much to do with the environment created by the Muslims.

Islam is the perfect and natural culmination of all these aspects. Islam can't be dismissed as a foreign religion, since its values of Tawhid and the social-ethical values are truly universal. It has achieved something which no other religious tradition has been able to do: transcend human barriers such as race, social status or nationality.

For about three years before accepting Islam, I came to believe as Muslims believe and even practiced some Islamic practices, such as fasting Ramadan. I really felt like a Muslim and knew that it was the true religion, however a number of factors prevented me from taking that final step. So it was that I continued to read anything I could about Islam, Muslims and the history and culture of the Middle East.

Then came the events of September 11th. I was as shocked and horrified as everyone else, although I knew that Islam was not responsible. It came as a result of political factors that had nothing to do with Islam. So I found myself defending the Muslims from the misconceptions which had been made against their religion, as surely as if it was a personal assault upon me.

This brought me back to the spiritual reflections I had been making these few years. All of these matters had been weighing upon me and there was no longer anything I could deny. For when the evidences have decisively defeated all doubts, it is no longer befitting to deceive oneself. So it was that I decided to take that logical step, the timing was solely due to the Will of Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta'ala).

On the afternoon of September 22, 2001, I walked into the local masjid and told the brothers my intention to take Shahada. It was truly a blessing that at this time when Muslims came under attack from the backlash and the Islamophobia cultivated by the media, I was one of the thousands of people who accepted Islam within the immediate weeks and months following the events. Surely there were still uncorrupted people who were able to rise themselves above the fray.

I felt a spark of inspiration which overtook me, which surged through my entire being. We as human beings may do things of which we aren't entirely certain. But I knew in my heart and soul that accepting Islam was the one decision of which I could be completely certain. So then I affirmed by belief in Islam and said those most beautiful of words:

'Ashhadu an la ilaha il-Allah. Wa Ashhadu ana Muhammad ar-Rasulullah.'

(I bear witness that there is none worthy of worship except Allah. And I bear witness that Muhammad is His Messenger).

This was the public confession of what had already become my private conclusions. I was now accepted into the broader community of Muslims, as a brother and one who has also submitted to Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta'ala). Al-hamdulillah! Since that time I have always aspired to the best of my ability to live according to Islam. I never once have wavered in my belief as a Muslim. I was truly guided to the True Din, masha'Allah!