How ‘Umar ibn Al Khattab became Muslim.

This is the story of how one of the greatest Muslim leaders of all time became a Muslim.  This is the conversion story of ‘Umar ibn Al Khattab (Radiallahu Anhu).

‘Umar ibn Al Khattab was a feared and well respected man from the Banu Adi clan from among the Quraish.  He came from a middle class family from Mecca.  Well known for his determination and fearless nature; he became one of the early opponents of the religion of Islam.

During the days prior to his acceptance to Islam; the religion was being taught in private.  There was fear of persecution from the Quraish.  The Muslims would meet in homes, and would learn the religion from Prophet Muhammad (Sallallahu alayhi wa alihi wassalam).

There were few men that had carried so much honor and fear in Quraish.  ‘Umar ibn al Khattab was one of them.  That is why, Prophet Muhammad SWS once made a Dua(invocation) to Allah:
“O Allah! Give Islam strength through one of the men you love more: ‘Umar ibn al Khattab or Amr ibn al Hisham(Abu Jahl)”

Umm Abdullah(Radiallahu Anhum)was running one day and had the plan to leave Mecca because of the persecutions.  She ran into, fellow tribesmen, ‘Umar ibn Al Khattab who asked her, “Why are you running around?” She responded, “You have caused us too much pain for worshiping Allah.”  To her shock ‘Umar ibn Al Khattab told her, “have peace on your journey.” Umm Abdullah told her brother that she ran into ‘Umar ibn Al Khattab, and her brother responded “He’s going to kill us.”  Islam began to soften the heart of ‘Umar ibn Al Khattab.

One day ‘Umar ibn Al Khattab went to visit the Haram.  Once there he saw the Prophet praying in front of his eyes. Prophet Muhammad (Sallallahu alayhi wa alihi wassalam)was reciting Surah Haqqah(the Reality).  Soon after listening to it he said “By Allah, this is poetry as the Quraish have said.”  Right when he said this; Prophet Muhammad (Sallallahu alayhi wa alihi wassalam) recited:
إِنَّهُ لَقَوْلُ رَسُولٍ كَرِيمٍ
وَمَا هُوَ بِقَوْلِ شَاعِرٍ قَلِيلًا مَا تُؤْمِنُونَ
“That this is verily the word of an honoured Messenger
It is not the word of a poet, little is that you believe!” (69:40-41)
Surprised by the verses, he said to himself “He must be a soothsayer.” Another accusation made by the Quraish.  As soon as he said that; the next verses were recited:
وَلَا بِقَوْلِ كَاهِنٍ قَلِيلًا مَا تَذَكَّرُونَ
تَنزِيلٌ مِّن رَّبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ
“Nor is it the word of a soothsayer , little is that you remember!
This is the Revelation sent down from the Lord of the ‘Alamin (mankind, jinns and all that exists)” (69: 42-43)
Later on in life, when speaking of this moment, ‘Umar ibn Al Khattab said “This is when Islam entered my heart.”

‘Umar ibn Al Khattab, a man known for determination and his anger, made a sudden decision of killing Prophet Muhammad (Sallallahu alayhi wa alihi wassalam).  Even though Islam was slowly entering his heart; the hatred he had for the new religion still existed.  So on that day that he just decided that he was going kill the Messenger of Allah.  On his way he ran into Na’im ibn Abdullah (Radiallahu Anhu)who began to talk to him.  When Na’im found out that ‘Umar wanted to kill the Prophet; he told ‘Umar that maybe he should speak with his sister first(inferring that she became Muslim).  When he came near his sister’s house he heard the recitation of the Qur’an.  Upon enteringhe asked his sister and her husband Said ibn Zaid (Radiallahu Anhu) “Have you صدها (left the faith of your forefathers)?”.  He then began to attack his sister and her husband.  Upon seeing blood of her sister; he had began feeling guilty.  He apologized to his sister and her husband, and requested to read the words of the Qur’an.  Upon the request his sister said “you are not clean go wash your self.”  Upon reading the verses of Surah Ta ha; Islam began to enter his heart again.

Now ‘Umar ibn Al Khattab returned on his plan to visit the Prophet.  While he made the stop at his sister’s house; Na’im ibn Abdullah went and warned the Prophet and his companions of ‘Umar’s intentions.  When ‘Umar got to the house-sword in hand. The warrior Hamza ibn AbdulMutallib (Radiallahu Anhu) said, “I will kill him with his own sword.”  The Prophet(Sallallahu alayhi wa alihi wassalam) told him, “No, go hide.”  When ‘Umar entered the Prophet (Sallallahu alayhi wa alihi wassalam) grabbed ‘Umar by the collar and shook him; then asked him, “O Ibn Al Khattab, Why have you not accepted Islam?” ‘Umar ibn Al Khattab (Radiallahu Anhu)responded:
أشهد أن لا إله إلاَّ الله و أشهد أن محمدا رسول الله
“I bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship but Allah, and I bear witness that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah.”

The Muslims that were hiding began yelling “الله أكبر”(God is the Greatest).  This became so loud that it could be heard through out Mecca.  Till this day, when a person accepts Islam, upon him finishing his deceleration the people say “الله أكبر”
After years of secretly spreading Islam, from that moment on, Islam began being preached in the open.  Outside for everyone to accept.

Immediately after becoming Muslim; ‘Umar asked Prophet Muhammad (Sallallahu alayhi wa alihi wassalam), “Who is the hardest on the Muslims?”  The Prophet (Sallallahu alayhi wa alihi wassalam) told him it was Abu Jahl ibn Hisham.  So ‘Umar immediately went to the house of Abu Jahl and knocked on his door.  Abu Jahl greeted his nephew, but then ‘Umar said to him “I am a Muslim now.”  Upon hearing that Abu Jahl slammed the door on his face.

The young Abdullah Ibn Umar (Radiallahu Anhu), the son of ‘Umar ibn Al Khattab, who secretly was already Muslim at a very young age could not be happier.  When he found out he began running through the streets yelling “‘Umar has left the religion of your forefathers.”

Within one hour of becoming Muslim; ‘Umar ibn Al Khattab began fighting with the Quraish.  Many of the Polytheist came out and began fighting with ‘Umar.  When ‘Umar began to fatigue, he would grab an honored son of Quraish and threatened everybody that he would poke his eyes out if they didn’t back off.  He continued to do this until he was completely tired.

This is what made ‘Umar ibn Al Khattab (Radiallahu Anhu) special.  He was a man of action.  He not only believed, but he did something.  We can all take a lesson from his life.  We sit around and we have been Muslim for days, weeks, months, years, and most of us our whole lives.  This man was Muslim for just an hour, and began fighting for his faith.  How can we be too lazy to do anything; when we had an example like ‘Umar ibn Al Khattab.

Guantanomo Bay Guard Finds Islam

Dan Ephron

NEWSWEEK

From the magazine issue dated Mar 30, 2009

Army specialist Terry Holdbrooks had been a guard at Guantánamo for about six months the night he had his life-altering conversation with detainee 590, a Moroccan also known as “the General.” This was early 2004, about halfway through Holdbrooks’s stint at Guantánamo with the 463rd Military Police Company. Until then, he’d spent most of his day shifts just doing his duty. He’d escort prisoners to interrogations or walk up and down the cellblock making sure they weren’t passing notes. But the midnight shifts were slow. “The only thing you really had to do was mop the center floor,” he says. So Holdbrooks began spending part of the night sitting cross-legged on the ground, talking to detainees through the metal mesh of their cell doors.

He developed a strong relationship with the General, whose real name is Ahmed Errachidi. Their late-night conversations led Holdbrooks to be more skeptical about the prison, he says, and made him think harder about his own life. Soon, Holdbrooks was ordering books on Arabic and Islam. During an evening talk with Errachidi in early 2004, the conversation turned to the shahada, the one-line statement of faith that marks the single requirement for converting to Islam (“There is no God but God and Muhammad is his prophet”). Holdbrooks pushed a pen and an index card through the mesh, and asked Errachidi to write out the shahada in English and transliterated Arabic. He then uttered the words aloud and, there on the floor of Guantánamo’s Camp Delta, became a Muslim.

When historians look back on Guantánamo, the harsh treatment of detainees and the trampling of due process will likely dominate the narrative. Holdbrooks, who left the military in 2005, saw his share. In interviews over recent weeks, he and another former guard told NEWSWEEK about degrading and sometimes sadistic acts against prisoners committed by soldiers, medics and interrogators who wanted revenge for the 9/11 attacks on America. But as the fog of secrecy slowly lifts from Guantánamo, other scenes are starting to emerge as well, including surprising interactions between guards and detainees on subjects like politics, religion and even music. The exchanges reveal curiosity on both sides—sometimes even empathy. “The detainees used to have conversations with the guards who showed some common respect toward them,” says Errachidi, who spent five years in Guantánamo and was released in 2007. “We talked about everything, normal things, and things [we had] in common,” he wrote to NEWSWEEK in an e-mail from his home in Morocco.

Holdbrooks’s level of identification with the other side was exceptional. No other guard has volunteered that he embraced Islam at the prison (though Errachidi says others expressed interest). His experience runs counter to academic studies, which show that guards and inmates at ordinary prisons tend to develop mutual hostility. But then, Holdbrooks is a contrarian by nature. He can also be conspiratorial. When his company visited the site of the 9/11 attacks in New York, Holdbrooks remembers thinking there had to be a broader explanation, and that the Bush administration must have colluded somehow in the plot.

But his misgivings about Guantánamo—including doubts that the detainees were the “worst of the worst”—were shared by other guards as early as 2002. A few such guards are coming forward for the first time. Specialist Brandon Neely, who was at Guantánamo when the first detainees arrived that year, says his enthusiasm for the mission soured quickly. “There were a couple of us guards who asked ourselves why these guys are being treated so badly and if they’re actually terrorists at all,” he told NEWSWEEK. Neely remembers having long conversations with detainee Ruhal Ahmed, who loved Eminem and James Bond and would often rap or sing to the other prisoners. Another former guard, Christopher Arendt, went on a speaking tour with former detainees in Europe earlier this year to talk critically about the prison.

Holdbrooks says growing up hard in Phoenix—his parents were junkies and he himself was a heavy drinker before joining the military in 2002—helps explain what he calls his “anti-everything views.” He has holes the size of quarters in both earlobes, stretched-out piercings that he plugs with wooden discs. At his Phoenix apartment, bedecked with horror-film memorabilia, he rolls up both sleeves to reveal wrist-to-shoulder tattoos. He describes the ink work as a narrative of his mistakes and addictions. They include religious symbols and Nazi SS bolts, track marks and, in large letters, the words BY DEMONS BE DRIVEN. He says the line, from a heavy-metal song, reminds him to be a better person.

Holdbrooks—TJ to his friends—says he joined the military to avoid winding up like his parents. He was an impulsive young man searching for stability. On his first home leave, he got engaged to a woman he’d known for just eight days and married her three months later. With little prior exposure to religion, Holdbrooks was struck at Gitmo by the devotion detainees showed to their faith. “A lot of Americans have abandoned God, but even in this place, [the detainees] were determined to pray,” he says.

Holdbrooks was also taken by the prisoners’ resourcefulness. He says detainees would pluck individual threads from their jumpsuits or prayer mats and spin them into long stretches of twine, which they would use to pass notes from cell to cell. He noticed that one detainee with a bad skin rash would smear peanut butter on his windowsill until the oil separated from the paste, then would use the oil on his rash.

Errachidi’s detention seemed particularly suspect to Holdbrooks. The Moroccan detainee had worked as a chef in Britain for almost 18 years and spoke fluent English. He told Holdbrooks he had traveled to Pakistan on a business venture in late September 2001 to help pay for his son’s surgery. When he crossed into Afghanistan, he said, he was picked up by the Northern Alliance and sold to American troops for $5,000. At Guantánamo, Errachidi was accused of attending a Qaeda training camp. But a 2007 investigation by the London Times newspaper appears to have corroborated his story; it eventually helped lead to his release.

In prison, Errachidi was an agitator. “Because I spoke English, I was always in the face of the soldiers,” he wrote NEWSWEEK in an e-mail. Errachidi said an American colonel at Guantánamo gave him his nickname, and warned him that generals “get hurt” if they don’t cooperate. He said his defiance cost him 23 days of abuse, including sleep deprivation, exposure to very cold temperatures and being shackled in stress positions. “I always believed the soldiers were doing illegal stuff and I was not ready to keep quiet.” (Navy Cmdr. Jeffrey Gordon, a Pentagon spokesman, said in response: “Detainees have often made claims of abuse that are simply not supported by the facts.”) The Moroccan spent four of his five years at Gitmo in the punishment block, where detainees were denied “comfort items” like paper and prayer beads along with access to the recreation yard and the library.

Errachidi says he does not remember details of the night Holdbrooks converted. Over the years, he says, he discussed a range of religious topics with guards: “I spoke to them about subjects like Father Christmas and Ishac and Ibrahim [Isaac and Abraham] and the sacrifice. About Jesus.” Holdbrooks recalls that when he announced he wanted to embrace Islam, Errachidi warned him that converting would be a serious undertaking and, at Guantánamo, a messy affair. “He wanted to make sure I knew what I was getting myself into.” Holdbrooks later told his two roommates about the conversion, and no one else.

But other guards noticed changes in him. They heard detainees calling him Mustapha, and saw that Holdbrooks was studying Arabic openly. (At his Phoenix apartment, he displays the books he had amassed. They include a leather-bound, six-volume set of Muslim sacred texts and “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Understanding Islam.”) One night his squad leader took him to a yard behind his living quarters, where five guards were waiting to stage a kind of intervention. “They started yelling at me,” he recalls, “asking if I was a traitor, if I was switching sides.” At one point a squad leader pulled back his fist and the two men traded blows, Holdbrooks says.

Holdbrooks spent the rest of his time at Guantánamo mainly keeping to himself, and nobody bothered him further. Another Muslim who served there around the same time had a different experience. Capt. James Yee, a Gitmo chaplain for much of 2003, was arrested in September of that year on suspicion of aiding the enemy and other crimes—charges that were eventually dropped. Yee had become a Muslim years earlier. He says the Muslims on staff at Gitmo—mainly translators—often felt beleaguered. “There was an overall atmosphere by the command to vilify Islam.” (Commander Gordon’s response: “We strongly disagree with the assertions made by Chaplain Yee”).

At Holdbrooks’s next station, in Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., he says things began to unravel. The only place to kill time within miles of the base was a Wal-Mart and two strip clubs—Big Daddy’s and Big Louie’s. “I’ve never been a fan of strip clubs, so I hung out at Wal-Mart,” he says. Within months, Holdbrooks was released from the military—two years before the end of his commitment. The Army gave him an honorable discharge with no explanation, but the events at Gitmo seemed to loom over the decision. The Army said it would not comment on the matter.

Back in Phoenix, Holdbrooks returned to drinking, in part to suppress what he describes as the anger that consumed him. (Neely, the other ex-guard who spoke to NEWSWEEK, said Guantánamo had made him so depressed he spent up to $60 a day on alcohol during a monthlong leave from the detention center in 2002.) Holdbrooks divorced his wife and spiraled further. Eventually his addictions landed him in the hospital. He suffered a series of seizures, as well as a fall that resulted in a bad skull fracture and the insertion of a titanium plate in his head.

Recently, Holdbrooks has been back in touch with Errachidi, who has suffered his own ordeal since leaving the detention center. Errachidi told NEWSWEEK he had trouble adjusting to his freedom, “trying to learn how to walk without shackles and trying to sleep at night with the lights off.” He signed each of the dozen e-mails he sent to NEWSWEEK with the impersonal ID that his captors had given him: Ahmed 590.

Holdbrooks, now 25, says he quit drinking three months ago and began attending regular prayers at the Tempe Islamic Center, a mosque near the University of Phoenix, where he works as an enrollment counselor. The long scar on his head is now mostly hidden under the lace of his Muslim kufi cap. When the imam at Tempe introduced Holdbrooks to the congregation and explained he’d converted at Guantánamo, a few dozen worshipers rushed over to shake his hand. “I would have thought they had the most savage soldiers serving there,” says the imam, Amr Elsamny, an Egyptian. “I never thought it would be someone like TJ.”

http://www.newsweek.com/id/190357

The Story of How Salman al-Farsi Found Islam

Ibn Abbass RA once asked Salman al-Farsi RA about his story and Salman narrated his story to him. He was a Persian man from village where is located in present day Iran. He said he was taking pain in the religion of fire worshiping. He became high in status and became the guardian of the fire. Salman al-Farsi RA said one day he was walking and saw a church and went in to investigate. He said he was impressed by their method of prayer. Salman al-Farsi RA told his father he thinks that Christianity was a better religion than fire worshiping, his father chained Salman al Farsi. Then Salman al-Farsi ran away all the way to Shaam(The greater area surrounding Damascus including Syria, Lebenon, Palestine, and Jordan). He arrived in Syria. Salman al-Farsi said he lived with the best bishop and the bishop used to collect money for charity but then keep it for himself. Salman al-Farsi RA hated this man, and told everyone he was evil. The next person who took leadership in place of the bishop after he died was a very pious man who was loved by Salman al-Farsi. Then Salman al-Farsi RA travels to Iraq for studying. He then traveled to Musabeen to learn. The then went to Amaria (today’s Turkey area) to study. The scholar he was studying under told him, that a new prophet shall come soon from the Arabs,his signs will be undeniable, he will take refuge in a place with date palms located between rocky tracks, he will eat food given to him as gifts but not from charity, he will have a seal of prophet hood between his shoulders. Salman al-Farsi RA offered everything he owned if people could take him to Arabia. A group of people agreed, but they betrayed him by selling him as a slave to a Jewish man. That Jewish man sold him to another Jewish man. His owner took him to Yathrib(Madinah) and when he saw Madinah, Salman al-Farsi RA immediately realized this is where the Prophet PBUH shall take refuge, he realized this is the city his teacher was speaking of. Madinah is a place of date palms, and is between two rocky tracks. Salman al-Farsi RA said one day his master had him climb to pick dates. While he was up there, his masters cousin came to his master angry and said there is someone coming from Makkah claiming to be a Prophet taking refuge here. Salman al-Farsi said when he heard this chills went down his spine and he almost fell out of the tree and onto his master. Salman al-Farsi RA said he left that night to visit Muhammad PBUH, and brought food for him and said it was from charity. The Prophet PBUH told his companions to eat but did not eat from the food of charity. That confirmed one of the signs told to Salman al-Farsi RA. He then went back. Then Salman brought food again and told the food that he gave last time was for charity this is now as a gift, this time the prophet ate the food with the companions. Then Salman al-Farsi RA went to Muhammad SAWS and went around him and the prophet noticed that Salman was looking for something so the Prophet took off the cloth to show him what is between his shoulder blades. When Salman saw the mark between his shoulders, he knew it was the Seal of Prophet hood, and Salman RA said when he saw it fell down in tears and began to kiss the prophets feet and made Sajood to him. Rasulullah SAWS immediately told him to stand up and asked Salman his story, and then told him to tell his companions the same story. Salman al-Farsi RA because of being a slave did not fight in battle of Uhud or Badr. The prophet and the sahabas (companions of Muhammad PBUH) helped free Salman al-Farsi RA.

Some lessons we can get from the life from Salman al-Farsi RA is:

• You have to put effort into searching for the truth. If you take one step towards Allah, Allah will take 10 steps near you. You have to take the first step.

• We should not be turned down, by seeing someone not doing the right thing. The truth is not always represented by its followers.  Like Salman and the first bishop he met.

• The Muslim community must be helpful to their new members. Dawaah is not just speaking, it is helping it could be financial help, they need social gatherings to attend.  Sometimes converts don’t just need an adviser, but they just need a friend.

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Priest and Preachers Entering Islam

Here are stories of Priest and Preachers entering Islam.