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How an American computer
programmer found peace in practicing the religion of Islam and finally
became Muslim.
As a child, I always had access
to a short-wave radio. I used to listen to the BBC World Service about the
Middle East. I also loved the music from that part of the world, and I
probably was listening to the Quran being recited, but did not know it at
the time.
As I grew older, I continued to
listen to the BBC World Service. Back then, they had a program called Words
of Faith in which they had a five- to eight-minute talk given by a
different religious speaker each day of the week representing all the major
religions in the United Kingdom. Out of all the speakers, the Muslims were
the ones I loved listening to most.
Every time the Muslim
representative spoke, I wanted to find out more about Islam. My impression
of the religion was that the person who practices Islam is a happy person,
not like the mean people portrayed by the American media. I just refused to
believe people that loved Allah so much could be like the people portrayed
by the media. Because I come from a Jewish background, the thing that
united me with Islam was the belief that Allah had no partners.
Work
in the United Kingdom
An important time in my life came
when I met a real Muslim, but did not know it yet. I was doing contracting
computer programming work in New York State when I had a strong urge to
visit the United Kingdom.
I visited London and loved it.
During my visit, I went to several employment agencies without luck. One of
the agencies gave me several trade magazines. When I arrived back in the
States, I started to send more CV’s to companies and other agencies listed
in the magazines. I returned to the United Kingdom because one of the
companies wanted to interview me. Then I started to visit more companies
and agencies until I landed a position even though I was on a visitor’s
visa.
The company that hired me applied
for a work permit for me and the Department of Employment told me that I
had to leave the country in order for the paperwork to be processed. Again,
I went back to the States. Another agency obtained a temporary work permit
and employed me for a company called LogoTech, which, at that time, was
located in Egham, Surrey.
Meeting
a Real Muslim for the First Time
Some time after I started working
at LogoTech, I found out that my supervisor, Anis Karim, was Muslim. I
asked him if he knew how I could get a copy of the Quran. To my surprise,
he obtained a copy of the Quran for me within a few days. He also asked me
to pledge that I would have a bath before I read from the Quran and that I
would never show it to anyone who might make blasphemous remarks about it.
The next day, I took my morning
bath and made breakfast. Then, while eating breakfast, I started to read.
Later I found out that “read” is what Allah had the Angel Gabriel instruct
our beloved Prophet to do, even though he could not read or write!
Well, words can’t describe how I
felt when I read just that small portion of the world’s most holy book. It
took only 10 pages, when, at that point, I told myself that this religion
was for me. This occurred around 1990. The more I read, the more I wanted
to know, and I loved what I was reading.
At the time, I did not know
anything about how to pray or any of the details of Islam. If Anis had
invited me to go the masjid in London, I would have gone with him. The only
thing I knew about praying to Allah was the prostration position. At the
time, I knew that Muslims prayed several times a day, and so I started to
do so at night before I went to bed and in the morning when I woke up.
Back
to the States Again
When the work permit ran out, I
had to return to the States and was unemployed for several years. I visited
my father in Huntsville, Alabama, and created a database application for
him. I saw that Huntsville was a high-tech cosmopolitan city and decided to
try to land a programming position there. My father told me that if I did
not get a position, I would have to go back to New Jersey to my mother, who
had moved from New York to New Jersey. About a fortnight before I was going
to go back to New Jersey, I landed a programming position at a company in
Huntsville.
My
First Trip to a Masjid
My sister and I were planning a
trip to Indonesia because we had a pen pal on the Internet. My sister asked
me if I could help her find Islamic jewelry as a gift. At that time I had
no idea that there were Muslims in Huntsville.
Then Allah put things into place
for me. I remembered that there was a shop called Crescent Imports, which I
thought was run by Muslims. It was not. It was run by the group called
Nation of Islam. Now here is the strange part that only Allah could have
arranged. We spoke to the owner of the shop and told him that we wanted to
find Islamic jewelry. He directed us to the Huntsville Islamic Center.
I do thank Allah for having them
direct me to the masjid. We went to the building, but there was only one
car parked there. I spoke to a man in the car, and he told us that we
should speak to the imam about where to find the jewelry. I was still
afraid to go into the building because for me, it was such a sacred place.
At the moment, I remembered one
day when I saw a lady at work wearing a hijab. I told her about accepting
Islam personally and she said, “Why don’t you visit the masjid in
Huntsville?” I eventually went back to the masjid after I summed up enough
courage to go into that sacred place.
I spoke to the imam, and he
invited me to perform salah with the Muslim brothers. This was a turning
point in my life. I loved it and started to visit the masjid once a week at
night. Then I started to visit it several times a week at night. The urge
to come more times was stronger and I now perform most of my prayers at the
masjid, except `Asr and Maghrib prayers when I am at work.
I
Officially Accepted Islam
In November of 1996, I publicly
made Shahadah. At work, I pray Zhuhr and Asr by myself or with other Muslim
brothers in a small mosque in my work place. I proudly carry my prayer rug
in the hallways at my work in an attempt to get people to ask me what they
are. When they do ask me about it, I tell them that I am Muslim and the
mats are what I use to pray on. Also, my work area, including my computer,
is decorated with Islamic artwork. My background on my computer is usually
the Ka`bah or our masjid.
Now that I am a Muslim, there is
no turning back to disbelief!
By
Richard Leiman
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