Why Did They Become Muslims

and leg were entirely out of service. What would become of me
now? How would I earn my living? These thoughts drove me to
infinite despair. As I was in this mood of utter hopelessness, I
somehow remembered the consolatory Koranic statements that I
had read in a book which I had bought in Uganda. In those days I
had read them again and again with deep interest and adoration; I
had even memorized them. I began to pass these statements
through my heart and to repeat them a number of times daily. It
gave my heart a sense of relief and opened the gates of hope. And
my hopes came true, too. The Swiss doctors operated on my leg
once again, and my leg began to feel better. I owed this to the
Qur’ân al-kerîm. As soon as I began to walk, the first thing I did
was to go to a bookstore and buy a translation of Qur’ân al-kerîm
by Savary. [This book is still my most cherished companion.] This
time I began to read the entire Qur’ân al-kerîm. The more I read,
the more relief did my heart feel, the higher did my soul ascend,
the deeper into my essence did a tremendous mass of light
penetrate. My leg was completely well now. Yet my right arm was
still motionless. Upon this, I obeyed the command of the Qur’ân
al-kerîm, surrendered myself to the Will of Allâhu ta’âlâ, and
drilled myself in writing with my left hand. The first thing I did
after learning to write with my left hand was to embark on writing
a copy of Qur’ân al-kerîm with my left hand. At one time, I had
been deeply impressed by an episode in an Islamic book that I had
been reading. The episode was about a young man who was
reading the Qur’ân al-kerîm quite oblivious of his surroundings
and without even knowing that he was in a graveyard where he
had come accidentally. I put myself in his place, delievered my
essence to the Grace of Allâhu ta’âlâ, and carried on my reading
the Qur’ân al-kerîm. In other words, I was a Muslim now.
In 1918 I went back to London. In 1921 I began to attend
Arabic lessons in the University of London. One day my Arabic
teacher, Mr. Belshah of Iraq, told us about the Qur’ân al-kerîm.
He said, “You are free to believe or not. Yet you will find that it is
a very interesting book and that it is worth studying.” When I said,
“I know the Qur’ân al-kerîm. I have read it, and many times, too.
I believe in it,” he was bewildered. A couple of days later he took
me to the London mosque at Notting Hill Gate. I joined the daily
prayers in that mosque for about a year. In 1922 I became a
Muslim officially.
We are in 1950 now. So far, I have held fast to all the
commandments of Qur’ân al-kerîm with both hands, and this has
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