Why Did They Become Muslims

In the meantime, Japan had joined the Second World War, being
on the losing side in the end. The one-time powerful Japanese
Empire was all gone. Buddhism, to which most Japanese people
had been so sincerely and so heartfully adherent until that time,
had been entirely stripped of its original essence and its logical
features, and was now a mere source of detriment to society.
A minor number of Japanese people had already been
Christianized. Despite the ninety long years wherein Christianity
had been forcing its spread in Japan, very few Japanese people had
become Christians. Yet, by the time I arrived in Japan, I saw that
their number had increased considerably. The Japanese people
had realized, after the heavy defeat they had suffered, that Buddha
would give them no help at times of disaster. Having thoroughly
lost their love for and trust in Buddha, they were now looking for
a new religion. The younger people, especially, had accepted
Christianity with the expectations that it would be the best possible
substitute for their lost faith. Yet it did not take them long to
realize that the Christian missionaries who had been trying to
Christianize them were in actual fact squalid mercenaries working
for American and British capitalists and that by Christianizing
them they would not only refill the vacuum vacated by the nolonger
wanted Buddhism, but also divest them of the deep-rooted
purity and integrity that had so far been associated with their
Japanese identity. During the process of Christianization, the
Christian missionaries were continuously inculcating into their
minds the superior qualities of American and British goods, which
in turn gradually infused into them a growing feeling of aversion to
their domestic goods, and which consequently resulted in an influx
of foreign materials into Japan. In more concise terms, the
capitalists were exploiting us to increase their wealth via
Christianity.
Japan is a country lying between Russia and America. Each of
these superpowers will normally try to bring Japan under its own
sway. The inculcations they have been practising on us must
therefore be intended for their own advantages, rather than
guiding our souls to salvation. On the other hand, especially in
those days, the Japanese people needed true tutorship.
As far as I am concerned, only the Islamic religion will satisfy
this requirement, guiding them to spiritual peace and salvation,
and showing them the truest way they should follow. One merit
that I admire best in Islam is the powerful feeling of brotherhood
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