Ghulam Esposito Haydar from New Muslim Network describes his encounter with a devout follower of the Hindu holy scripture Vedas at a dawah stall in Manchester.
One Saturday afternoon, I got into a deep conversation with a gentleman called Roman. The conversation was an unexpected one. Why? Because he takes his faith from a very rare ancient religious order. His beliefs and practices originate from two ancient scriptures dating back four thousand years. These scriptures are in Sanskrit, an ancient language that dominated large areas of the Indian subcontinent, like Latin which dominated most of Europe many years ago and Aramaic in the Middle East. These languages have become extinct. These two scriptures are part of the Vedas series, the religious scriptures of Hinduism, although Roman wasn’t a Hindu.
I was astounded by the level of Tawheed (monotheism) Roman had. You see, his scriptures teach him that God is One, “mighty”, “outside of creation”, “unique” and unlike His creation. It teaches him the prohibition of idolatry. It encourages him to have high levels of love for humans and animals. It teaches him how to eradicate diseases of the heart and most importantly, it teaches him how to build a relationship with his Creator. I was really impressed with his beliefs as they mirrored that of our’s, Islam.
Invitation to Islam
By the Qadr of Allah, it just so happened to be that I’ve had a similar experience with a close friend of mine who reverted to Islam from Hinduism. He taught me about the many passages found in the Vedas discussing monotheism as well as the clear prophecy of the Prophet Muhammad (saw).
I went on to explain why Muslims follow the Qur’an, explaining the miraculous nature of its language and it’s inimitability, the challenge Allah (swt) has set forth to recreate a single verse like it if you claim to be able to, the science in the Qur’an, it’s historical accuracy, the numerous predictions that have gone on to become true exactly as predicted, the numerical accounts found in the Qur’an and finally both the oral and written preservation of the Qur’an.
I went on to enlighten Roman on the position of Islam in respect to everything he told us about his faith, taking the time to explain what the Qur’an teaches Muslims regarding the ancient Prophets and their scriptures. I explained that Allah (swt) informs us in the Qur’an that every nation from the start of creation was sent a Messenger as a glad tiding to recognise their Creator and to fulfil their purpose in life – to build a relationship with Him. That over one hundred and twenty thousand Prophets have been sent, but we have only been informed of a handful by name.
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These Prophets were sometimes given an accompanying scripture alongside their mission, and it could be that the Scriptures he is currently following were genuine Divine scriptures from God. I explained that if the scriptures are genuine like the Qur’an, then it would have to contain the prophecy of Muhammad (saw). Surprise surprise (or should we say lack of surprise), Roman testified that there was a mentioning of Prophet Muhammad (saw).
Animals
Roman went on to ask some very specific questions regarding ethics and spirituality. He was concerned regarding the killing of humans and animals. He is obviously affected by what he sees in the media. So I went on to explain that Islam teaches us the sanctity of life. The sanctity of life is protected by the principles of the religion. The gravity of taking a life is literally as if you have taken the life of the whole of humanity. Not humanity at the time of the crime, but humanity from the beginning of time until the end.
Roman is extremely principled against the killing of animals. These principles stem from his religious teachings. He argued that he is following a commandment from God found in his scriptures and it fits very well with his conscience. By the will of Allah (swt), I only had this conversation about religious vegetarianism a few weeks earlier. I was determined to shed a different perspective. I explained that although it may be his religious teachings and his personal preference, Allah (swt) allows us to slaughter certain animals to consume as long as they fulfil certain conditions, that there is a whole ethical system in Islam which gives rights to humans and animals.
The standard of rights is something which you can never find in any other religious teachings. These teachings were exemplified by Muhammad (saw). The way we are instructed to slaughter animals ensuring that the animal does not feel the pain. I went on to explain how the nerves which are severed reduce stimuli to the brain. Roman liked what he heard and acknowledged that the laws of vegetarianism may have been for those specific people, in a specific region for those specific times. I went on to highlight that as Muslims, although it is allowed to consume certain animals, the Prophetic example demonstrates that indulging in any type of meat should in fact be a rarity. As Muslims, we ought to take heed from this example.
Disease of the heart and human intention
Roman then enquired about the diseases of the heart. As humans, although we treat each other kindly, we often harbour ill feelings towards each other, for example – hate and envy. Roman wanted to know what Islam taught. So I explained in a very summarised, yet comprehensive way, that as humans, our Creator has created us all differently with a range of tendencies. As Muslims, we view these as opportunities to struggle against for the sake of loving our Creator, which is hugely rewarding in itself. And for those who wish to come even closer to Allah, He has provided to us Prophetic practices on how to overcome such feelings so that they are eventually eradicated from our hearts. Roman was impressed.
Roman’s final question was regarding intention for good. He didn’t like the idea that people are good to one and other for “the reward of Paradise”. He felt it was better to do this out of love for their Creator. I explained to Roman that Allah has created us all differently. Some people are created to be more spiritually inclined than the other. Out of Allah’s infinite mercy He created an eternal home for us – Paradise. And because we are all different, some people need different incentives.
For some people, the love they have for Allah, their grateful nature and their yearn to see Him in the next life is enough to drive them to want to do good. For others, they need the threat of punishment or the incentive of reward to drive their actions.
In conclusion, I left Roman with some homework. As human beings, we have a duty to ourselves to know the truth and submit to it when we find it. So if Roman believes that the Qur’an is from God, is divinely preserved, that the Muhammad (saw) is a Prophet (to be believed), and as a result Islam supersedes any previous scriptures and religions, and his research into his own scriptures reveals the prophecy Muhammad (saw) and does not have any clear instruction informing him that his religion is meant to be for all times, then he has to accept Islam as the way to get closer to God and attain true complete spirituality. Roman agreed and took the Qur’an and other literature.
You can follow Ghulam on Twitter @ghulestero
