لا اکراہ فی الدین”

There is no compulsion in deen

Abida Rahmani  , Peoria, AZ

 لَآ إِكۡرَاهَ فِى ٱلدِّينِ‌ۖ قَد تَّبَيَّنَ ٱلرُّشۡدُ مِنَ ٱلۡغَىِّ‌ۚ فَمَن يَكۡفُرۡ بِٱلطَّـٰغُوتِ وَيُؤۡمِنۢ بِٱللَّهِ

فَقَدِ ٱسۡتَمۡسَكَ بِٱلۡعُرۡوَةِ ٱلۡوُثۡقَىٰ لَا ٱنفِصَامَ

لَهَا‌ۗ وَٱللَّهُ سَمِيعٌ عَلِيمٌ (٢٥٦

There is no compulsion in religion. The right direction is henceforth distinct from error. And he who rejected false deities and believeth in Allah hath grasped a firm handhold which will never break. Allah is Hearer, Knower. (256)Albaqara

I would like to narrate a story related to this topic.

It was a stormy night the winds blowing at 60, 70 miles per hour. The howling sound of wind and the gushing sound of falling leaves were coming inside the closed doors and windows. It was a severe storm the predictions were coming through all the news channels. Allah knows his ways these leaves were in so many pretty colors around red, yellow and brown, showing their ultimate beauty before falling down. I am a naturalist, mesmerized by nature but these changing colors of leaves are so enchanting. It is the season of fall, in this season the leaves change in red, purple, brown, yellow and show a lot of beauty. It seems like every leaf has turned into a flower. In the end when the winter sets in, these leaves turned yellow and then brown. This show of colors comes to an end with a powerful storm and rests of the leaves are dropped off.

At noon when the winds died and it became quiet. I put on my jacket, wore a scarf, cap, joggers, put the phone in my pocket and set out for a walk. Ever since I have started living in these countries, walking is a passion for me. There are so many benefits to it. That keeps me fit, healthy, invigorating health wise and psychologically. Freshened up with fresh air, beautiful surroundings, and clean paths ,saying hello hi to the walkers and people outside. There were leaves all around. Some of the kids were busy racking them. From a distance I could see an old lady quite a frail one, sucking the leaves with a vacuum cleaner hose and then putting those in a trash bag. She barely could gather a few leaves with her trembling hands and there were heaps of leaves all around. May be her home was in the direction that the leaves gathered there abundantly. Watching this, my volunteer spirit got alive and decided to help her.” May I help you with picking up?” Yes, of course it’d be my pleasure” She gladly replied.” “Fetch me your gardening gloves. “She brought me gloves and after putting it on, I started picking up leaved with my both hands and put in the bags. She too helped me with that. She told me that she had a back surgery and can not bend down. We tied up the bags and put it near the side walk. She was so over whelmed that she hugged me and asked me to come in. I was in a bit hurry, it was almost evening. The winter days are so short. I promised her that I’ll come to meet her again.” you may come any time; I’m at home most of the time. “She was enthusiastic.

After a few days, it was Sunday; I decided to check on her. Rang the bell and she came out soon after. She was looking so pretty, fully made up wearing a red full sleeves high neck shimmering sweater with knee length black skirt and high heels. Are you going some where Aalen”? “No, just got back from church.” Which church do you follow, Was my next question? I’m Mormon we follow Mormon Church and which one is your church? She asked simultaneously.” I am Muslim and we go to Mosque.” I replied calmly. I was looking at her face about her reaction.” Oh Moslem, there are good people every where. Her comments were not unexpected. After 09/11 how the Muslims are portrayed in the media and stories coming one after another and so much turmoil going on in the Muslim world. She started telling me about Mormon faith. We are Christians, believe in Father and son, and believe in resurrection. We stay chaste, get married soon and believe in a big family. Chastity was very important for me. In this society, where every thing is so well organized, so well calculated, the sex issue is just left loose or solely free at doldrums. There is no such a word or practice as chastity, no virginity just living together and keeping the relations like animals. I was so grateful to Allah swt that at least there are some people who believe in this purity. She was mother of three, grand mother of 16 and great grand mother of 36 children.

Wow you have a big family, I told her about myself and my belief. We believe in all the Prophets of God, we believe in Jesus his miraculous birth but not that he was the son of God. She was astonished because the Jews don’t believe in Jesus, the Christian and Jews do not believe in our Prophet Muhammad Saws. We pray five times a day; we go to mosque and even do it at home. “Mitt Romney is Mormon.” I asked her. Yes he is a wonderful administrator and organizer. Do you know that he was in charge for the Olympics in Salt Lake City? If he became president of the United States that would be a wonderful era for us. She was quite optimistic and hopes full.( Those were the days of US presidential  election  and Romney was contesting in primaries)You know that Tim Berners Lee the inventor of Internet was also a Mormon. We have a very interactive community. Mormons are quite active in North America, Europe and Africa. Aalen’s family members were preaching at Africa. She was so proud to be Mormon.

She lived all alone in her house. Her husband has died 10 year back. She missed him a lot.’ I did not look for another partner, just living with his memories.” It was Christmas time. The Charismas tree was glittering in a corner. Her poodle would come after a while; she would pat him and hold him up. “This is my baby, its name is joy and for me it is a bundle of joy.”

I said good bye to her with the promise to meet her in a few days. Packed a Christmas gift for her, it was the translation of Quran by Yousaf Ali and an embroidered bag from Pakistan. She baked me some nice cookies and gave me a beautiful picture frame. One of her son was visiting her along with his kid on Christmas. She was quite excited about it. She asked me to come over on Christmas day for a lunch with them. We were going out of town in holidays, therefore I apologized. We exchanged our phone numbers to stay in touch with each other more frequently. I checked with her about e-mail, she gave me the address but told me that she seldom goes on it. I play games on computer most of the time.

I called her on New Year to congratulate her. She told me that she is in Utah right now, visiting her other family members. She was quite enthralled about my call and told me that she has read some of my bible.” Many of the stories are like our bible. I’ll call you after I get back.”

The seniors here in North America are self confident, self sufficient and have a lot of self esteem. She was 79 years old and managed to do all her work by her self. Driving, doing groceries, cooking, and laundry were regular chores. A maid would come to clean up the house after every two weeks and a gardener would take care of the yards. I was a passionate gardener but now I can not bend and sit down. Pray for me that I do not end up in a nursing home.”

She called me after a week,” Abida, I’m back and would like to meet you tomorrow at noon.” “Sure come along, we will have lunch together.” No. I’ll just share coffee. People living here are out of formalities and straight forward. As usual I made some sandwiches because it was lunch time and some fruit mix. She brought me a nice snow globe, with light music snow falling on a house. It was enchanting.

She had a big family in Utah. “You know we Mormon women live a secured life. My own life was very protected.” “It is the same on our side, culturally and religiously. We Muslim woman are safe guarded by husbands, fathers, brothers and sons.

She liked the chicken sandwiches,” you are a good cook. You know I read your bible; most of the stories are similar to our bible, except a few. I brought a Quran from the room and showed her the Arabic. This is actually Quran in Arabic; the one I gave you is its translation. It was revealed on our Prophet Muhammad may peace be upon him 1400 years ago. It is safe and intact the way it was revealed .She was listening attentively.  I have heard Muhammad’s name the one whose cartoons were drawn in Denmark and Moslems protested a lot. She was aware of many issues.”I do not believe in making fun of any one’s religion or belief. But Moslems don’t believe in his depictions or statues, am I right?” She added.”  Yes it was prohibited by the holy prophet himself. You know this kind of acts end up in idol worship and statue worship. Islam believes in the oneness of Allah (God) and no deity with him.” I did not want to overload her. Therefore I changed the topic to politics. What is the prospectus of Mitt Romney winning the primaries? “Oh yes I am sure he is going to win it this time and he will be the presidential candidate from GOP. He is a bright, genius and smart. She was all praises for him. If he won as a president all the woes of USA would be gone. (Some of the Christians do not consider Mormons as Christians, as still the prophets are coming to them, they believe in polygamy and some other differences.) She looked at the clock,”I have to see my doctor at 3:00 pm; it is already 2:00.” I bid her farewell.  We started meeting each other quiet frequently and keeping in touch through phone. She was not an ardent internet user and seldom went to check e-mails on the laptop. Now the phones have made it so easy. She was getting used to her new iPhone.

Next time, I took the famous book of Dr. Mustafa Abu Sway” Jesus Christ the Prophet of Islam” for her. It was given as a gift to me by a friend. I considered it a best option, to give it to her. “Aalen read this book; it has many answers to your questions. You know we believe in Jesus Christ as a great Prophet, in his miraculous birth and in his miracles. Yet we deny that he was son of God or God has a son or a wife. God is only one and he has no son or wife.”  In doing Dawah we have to take care of many aspects. The main is لا اکراہ فی الدین there is no compulsion in deen. We have to motivate and influence the person of interest softly, diligently and giving him or her enough time to conceive it. She used to tell me a lot about Mormons too. We were trying to impress each other with our beliefs but I realized that I had an upper hand.

She promised me to read the book and will let me know. After a couple of days she called me,”  I finished that book, its very good, really inspired me. I will read it again to understand it more.” She was a prolific reader. I was a bit too busy in some of my tasks that got a call from her,” Could we meet tomorrow.” Yes, InshaAllah! What does this mean she repeated inshaAllah? It means, if Allah wills or God wills. Now she had come to the conclusion that there is no Muslim or Christian God. The God is one and Muslims call him Allah. I promised her to meet in the afternoon. The weather was good, therefore we decided to sit in a near by park. I was so grateful to almighty that she was getting inspired and interested so soon with out any resentment. She was a bit concerned about praying five times a day. How do you manage it? , she’d ask. You know it has become such a part of my life and routine that it is not difficult at all. If we are busy or in hurry we can only pray Fard( Obligatory). She was trying to absorb. Next time I performed my prayers ( Salaah) in front of her, did loud tilawat to get  her into Quran. She watched with great interest.’ It is a great work out and meditation and this recitation is amazing   ”. The main purpose is to please and thank Allah SWT.” You guys try to keep a great bondage with God; here the people do not care about it.”” You are right; we look forward to the life after death more enthusiastically and emotionally and believe that Allah will do reward us with paradise.” “We believe in the hereafter too but are quite careless about it.”  I did not want to tell her that most of the Muslims are like this; just not caring about the here after…... It seemed if Allah is opening her heart towards Islam.

I brought her many pamphlets and brochures about Islam from Masjid. Most of these were from Why Islam and Gain Peace. Those were quite interesting and many of the questions were answered. Finally the day came when she asked me that she would like to pray with me. I was so excited about it and thanked Allah (SWT) for opening her heart. I told her how to get cleaned  and did Wado (Ablution) together, telling her all the specific rules. She got ready put on her silk scarf on her head,” you know I can not bend because of my bad back.” Yes, sit on this chair. You can pray sitting, even lying if unable to prostrate and bent. There are many relaxations even if you do not get water or getting wet is not good for you, then you can do Tayammum.It all depends on our intention and sincerity.” I was doing it loudly and niyyah( intention) in English; she was just reciting Allah and Allahu akbar for which I have told her the translation. She was over whelmed,” I can not tell my fellow Mormons about it. They will kick me out of their folds and my family might resent.” You may keep it with you. Her mind was getting clear about Muslims, the stereo typed islamo phobia shown in Media. I told her a little bit about my trials and sufferings that all those happened by the hands of my country men and the followers of my religion. Crime and violence is all over in different countries. There are good and bad people every where. Most of the Muslims living here are peaceful and law abiding citizens, minding their own businesses. In fact they are back bone to the structure of this country.

Allah swt is the best guide. One day she finally gave me the good news that she wants to embrace Islam and offer Shadah. She was a bit shaky and excited at the same. I went to her home with a nice cake to celebrate. She had shower, came out fully dressed up. We offered Salaah because it was Asr time. After that I did dua mostly in English for her well being, this turning into the folds of Islam, her strength to stay on this path firmly. Then we started reciting Shahadaah ,و اشھد ان محمد الرسول اللہ اشھد ان لا الہ الا اللہ ( I bear witness that there is no God except Allah and I bear witness that Muhammad is the prophet of Allah) she was  repeating after me. We did it three times. I hugged and kissed her congratulated her. She was overwhelmed and started crying, shaking badly. I wrapped her in her shawl. ,” Would I be able to meet David, we were husband and wife for 52 years and had a wonderful life together. He was a very good husband loving and caring.”” Yes, Allah will bless you a lot; he will forgive all your past sins and fulfill all your desires inshaAllah.” I tried to console her. We will have a formal Shahadah ceremony in Masjid with Br. Abdul Hakim the local imam and scholar. It was scheduled for next Friday. I told my friends about this too and all of them were looking forward to join in Masjid. They arranged a dinner that night to celebrate. They had a lot of gifts for her too. I got busy over the weekend doing shopping for her. Generally she wore long sleeves shirts but her skirts were short. I bought her long skirts, some scarves, prayer rug and books.

There was a bad accident at highway. It was constantly coming in local news; an old woman took a wrong turn. Her car got smashed; many cars were involved in that accident. There was no further information or details about the names. I waited for her call, and then called her but it went on the voice mail. Ultimately I decided to go to her home. On ringing the bell a young teenage boy opened the door.” May I help you?” “I am Aalen‘s friend, is she home?”The boy gave me a blank stern look and said,” she has died in yesterday’s highway’s accident.اناللہ وانا الیہ راجعون I was just taken aback, badly shaken. “Right now the body is in the hospital, it will come to funeral home on Thursday and the funeral service is on Thursday’s afternoon at 3:00pm. If you wish to join then come there. He gave me details and directions; he could realize through my gestures that I am a close friend. I was feeling quite a bit lost and devastated.

I got sympathy roses bouquet and went to the service. It was a Mormon’s church. Most of her kids and family members were present. The lights were dim, perfumed candles blowing a light gloomy music tune was played. Every body looked at me; they were surprised to see a colored woman with a head scarf there. Every one wearing black, I too was in a black suit. How can I tell them that she was a Muslim, she has taken Shahadah, offered salaah with me, studying Islam in depth. Her family started to euogolise her, every one narrating her contributions to her family. Her kids and grand kids told that she was such a good mother, a grand mother and a great grand mother. She gave them a lot of gifts on their birthdays, on Christmas and on different occasions. She was always very loving and caring. In the end her oldest son came to and announced that Mom’s lawyer is here and he has to announce some thing important about her will. I greatly appreciate the people here that they are so much concerned about their final rights and furnish will to be taken care of their assets and every thing after their death. While we as a Muslim, just ignore this part. It is ordered to us from Allah swt in Quran.

The lawyer started, “two days before her death Aalen called me that she would like to meet me as soon as possible. I met her the same evening; she told me that she needs to make changes about her religion.  She told me that she has converted to be a Muslim and it is all according to her own will and wishes because she was so inspired by a friend. If some thing happens to me, my final rites should be performed as a Muslim. Abida is my witness that I am a Muslim” I was so over whelmed that tears started rolling down my cheeks.ال حمد للہ رب العٰلمین I thanked Allah swt for this great blessings. Every one turned their faces towards me; they were sure about me that I am the same person.

The same boy Jeff brought a woman with her towards me. She shook hands,”Hi I’m Rebecca, Aalen’s daughter. Now you have to guide us what to do next.” She took me to the coffin, which was on a side. Aalen was wearing the same bred blouse, which she did when I met her from her return from the Church. She was fully made up. “The body is badly injured from back side.” She told me.

I called Br. Abdul Hakim and told him about the whole situation. Then called Salima my friend, who was in charge of throwing a party for her in masjid . Now she is incharge of taking care of her shroud and ghusl (bath). We moved the body to masjid’s mortuary and the Janazah was after Friday’s prayer. The same time she was supposed to take Shahaddah. We gave her Ghusl and shroud her in white coffin. She was looking like an angle, surrounded by angles. Her face was glowing bright, so much in peace like a beautiful doll sleeping in tranquility.I felt as if she is telling me ,” look Abida how much serious I was in this whole matter? We were reciting duas all along. Her family was all there. Ladies were on ladies’ side and gents on gent’s side. There was a small partition in between. After Friday prayer Sheikh Abdul Hakim gave a speech that she was supposed to take Shahadah here at the same time. Every one was startled with that announcement. Allah knows his ways and how the matters take shape.

Her family joined us in Janazah . She was laid to rest in Islamic grave yard. You were a fighter and a Martyr in the path of Allah and Islam, me and my whole ummah salutes you. May Allah bless you with eternal blessings and give you high status in paradise. I will miss you badly; you will be cherished in my memories….. 

Brief Introduction of the writer: I, Abida Rahmani am a freelance writer. While in Karachi Pakistan, I contributed many articles to Daily Dawn, Jang and Jasaarat. I write on different relevant and current topics. Last year published a book of memoirs and different write ups from Pakistan. The name is زندگی ایک سفر". This book has been added to Urdu collection at Library of Congress at Washington DC.

I am a member of ICNA sisters for the last 11 years and right now in Multi Media team with Robina Ali. At the same time a member of Media team ICNA sisters Canada. Due to my certain conditions, I move on to different locations and therefore it is easy for me to stay in touch through online programs.

الحمدللہ I have completed FemulQuran course and Online line Women University Courses of ICNA sisters and have been certified for all of them.

Earlier  I was a member of Jamaat I Islami in Karachi for many years and worked with them for many years.

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