Yahya George Maxwell Language: English | Format: PDF | Pages: 19 | Size: 1 MB
Many people have asked me, to tell them
how I became a Muslim, and the truth is, I really didn’t know. I know
now that Allah gave me mercy and let me become a Muslim.
About three years after I became Muslim, I
received a phone call from my father telling me my mother was dying
from cancer. I was told that if I wanted to see her before she dies, I
should hurry. Unfortunately, she died before I got there.
I made a decision not to tell my family
that I have become Muslim until I learn enough about Islam to explain it
to them. I have regretted ever since that my mother died before I could
talk to her. My father however is a different story.
When my father picked me up, I told him I
had become Muslim. He had a look on his face like he wasn’t happy;
then, he asked me: “Why?” I don’t know why I said what I said then; I
told him it was his fault. He looked at me and said: “My fault?!” I
said: ‘Yes, it’s your fault’, and he asked: ‘How is it my fault?’
I began to explain: ‘When I was a child,
you use to tell me not to listen to other people, and to make my own
choices; not to look at the color of peoples’ skin; not to care how much
money they have, to judge people for what they do, not for what they
say. So, that’s what I did. Nobody asked me to become a Muslim; nobody
gave me any books, I studied the religion on my own, and I found it to
be the Truth, and it’s your fault!’ He said: ‘Yes it’s my fault’.
Although my father has chosen not to
become a Muslim, he still respects my decision. He also made the comment
that I have improved; I’m not as shy and afraid to talk to people
anymore. I know since I have become a Muslim, I feel happier than I ever
did before. There were some really good examples of Muslims that I met
in my life before embracing Islam.
I have a Saudi friend who is paralyzed
from the neck down. This man is confined to an electric wheelchair. At
the time I met him, his wheelchair was broken and there was no one who
knew how to fix it. I tried and got it fixed, and fixed it many times
afterwards. He tried to pay me but I refused. One day, he gave me a gift
of a pen set. The next time I went on vacation, I brought him back a
gift which was a knife. We became good friends and he always called me
his brother and treated me as one of his family members. He invited me
to all of his daughters’ weddings and I always sat in the most honored
spot.
One day while I was fixing his
wheelchair, he told me he was going to Pilgrimage. He was going to use
the wheelchair I was fixing. I was very amazed that a man in his
condition would even try to make Pilgrimage but he did and came back in a
good condition. I always noticed this man prayed even though he was
confined to his wheelchair. He never missed a prayer that I saw.
Whenever he went to prayer, he left me alone in his house and this
showed me that he trusted me. The attitude and kindness that this man
showed towards me, though non-Muslim, was one of the reasons why I
became a Muslim; may Allah reward him. So you see all of us, Muslims,
are preaching Islam, even if they don’t mean to, or want to. Muslims
should think about what they are doing at all times, because the
non-Muslims are watching and listening.
I arrived in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in
1986. In 1991, I moved to Khamis Mushayt, Saudi Arabia. Before I became a
Muslim, no one ever asked me to become a Muslim, or told me something
about Islam, or even gave me a book.
One day, a Saudi, who worked with me,
owed me a favor and asked me if I needed anything, I asked him to buy me
a Qur’an in English and he did. It laid on my desk at work all the
time.
I used it to teach English to my
trainees. I made them read the English translation of the meaning of the
Holy Qur’an and when they didn’t understand, I made them read the
Arabic Holy Qur’an, next to it. I also read it alone in my spare time. I
actually waited for a long time for someone to ask me if I wanted to
become a Muslim.
Eventually, I decided to leave Saudi
Arabia for another job. I went to my Supervisor and said: “I want to go
to Makkah before I leave.” He was surprised but he said: “You have to be
a Muslim to go to Makkah.” I told him I was a Muslim, I believe in only
One God and that Muhammad (peace be upon him) is the Messenger of God.
He took me to the Da’wa Center to
announce the Two Testimonies (Shahada) formally on April 16, 2000. I
tell people I am a Y2K Muslim. When People ask me: ‘How old are you?’ My
immediate answer in 2007 was: ‘Seven years.’ I changed my mind and
stayed in Saudi Arabia. I wanted to learn more about Islam.
The following pages relates about the
experiences that led me to start making Da’wa or asking people to become
Muslims. It is my hope and reason for writing this book, to inspire
others to do the same.
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