Foreword
It looked as if there would be no escaping the rain last summer. Some of us managed a week or two away, but got more of the same from a room with a different view—mine was on the beautiful south coast of Ireland. I had received fewer manuscripts to read than normal, so rather than saving them for a train journey to London, I did the next best thing and took them on holiday with me. I was being rather hopeful that, in spite of trying to entertain two teenage daughters and keep my young niece and nephew happy, I would somehow be able to steal away the time to read them.
Under a windbreak bought hurriedly from Aldi—cheap and cheerful and just the thing to keep the sand from sheering our faces off—I took out my first manuscript and settled down. Captivated by its title—To Honour God—I reflected on the notion that there is a book in all of us. Few manage to accomplish writing it and, even among those who do, fewer manage to capture the essence and depth of its contents with a title as comprehensive and thought-provoking as this. The title represents a young man’s struggle to live up to the very honourable name given to him at birth by his proud parents. As he grows out of ‘the innocent faith of childhood’ and into adulthood he has the compelling realisation that ‘between my soul and God stand my heart and my deeds.’ Pure intentions, the author resolutely points out—while ensuring that all actions and, more importantly, ‘acts of worship are done exclusively for God’s pleasure’—lie at the very heart of this profound truth.
In his accompanying email, the author suggested that the book was a collection of thoughts on his journey to Islam compiled primarily to bring consolation to members of his family who found the whole experience challenging, to say the least. This I could relate to. I imagine that most converts to Islam feel the need to explain comprehensively how it was that they embarked on the journey of faith and spirituality, and by doing so ease any tensions that have been aroused on both sides of the family divide. Some are wary of addressing the subject for fear of demolishing the fragile bridges that have been built, often painstakingly, but threaten to disintegrate every time there is an event which brings shame or disrepute on this great faith. Others have noble intentions of writing later in life for fear that issues of such magnitude are, for the time-being, just a little too close to the bone. The preferable alternative might be to wait until a certain maturity, perhaps lacking in the earlier stages of conversion, brings an ease that allows all that might have been aired then to now be expressed to an audience that has mellowed over the years. Others, for reasons known only to themselves, take the whole episode to their graves and, were it not for a book such as this, we would have little appreciation of how it was for them.
For those who have lived similar experiences—the anguish of the searching soul, the pain of setting oneself outside the family norms, the loneliness of that well-travelled yet eerily quiet road—reading this book will stir poignant memories that many might wish to forget. For others who have been attracted by the title, it will open the largely unexplored world of conversion and the inner search for faith—a search that is neither trifling nor for the faint hearted. It is not a typical story detailing why I came to Islam, interspersed with a few well-chosen verses from the Qur’an or hadith. It is a moving account of a young man’s search for God set in the English and Scottish countryside, so full of manifestations of His Glory and Majesty, as well as on the well-trodden streets of London, making the account resonate with the concept of a British Islam.
Events that have taken place in the Muslim world and the United Kingdom and how they affected relationships with friends and family are explored, as are the effects of these events on the author’s understanding of Islam as they frame the ‘phases of realisation and renewal’ which have been the ‘central theme’ of his profound religious experience and that of the community of Muslims with whom he is linked. How could his reading of a religion, which brought only peace and contentment to his heart, be interpreted in such a bizarre and warped manner by others? While seeking the middle ground, it sometimes feels as if one is going against those you love and who raised you to seek truth and justice wherever it is seen to be lacking; finding that ‘belief in Islam is a continuation of upbringing and not a rejection of it’ is a most valuable asset in that process.
The definitions of Britishness and the author’s understanding of himself as being multi-cultural in lineage and in taking with him a part of the many places around the United Kingdom where he has worked, studied and holidayed are most insightful. And while examining the conflict of defining who we are in the game of us versus them, the bigger picture of gratitude to God is articulately expressed: from the loving parents who nurtured and, with the help of that most stalwart of agencies, the Sunday school, provided the moral compass necessary to navigate through life, to gratitude to God that ‘blessing after blessing has been bestowed’ in spite of himself and his ‘moments of sadness and ingratitude’.
When we choose to do things in secret—and let’s face it, most converts have pursued the path of Islam in relative secrecy for a variety of reasons—it can be both frightening and fascinating. Frightening perhaps, for those around us who understand little of the journey we have embarked upon, much less the faith of Islam itself. It can also, however, be a fascinating experience and one that can enrich the lives of those who have the privilege of reading a well-documented account of the soul-searching experience that is finding one’s path to God.
I felt fortunate, in spite of my damp holiday, for having been given the privilege of reading and drawing strength and comfort from another’s story and, in doing so, reflecting on and drawing strength from my own.
Batool Al-Toma, Spring 2008
The New Muslims’ Project
The Islamic Foundation
Leicester, UK
