Why Did They Become Muslims

accomplishment of a more peaceful and more comfortable life.
Then, for the first time in my life, I came to the realization that my
religion, Christianity, was too insufficient and too short for that
purpose. For Christianity defined the world as a place of torture
whose mere contents are evils and vices, and men as creatures
sinful from birth. Let alone showing people how to lead a peaceful
life in the world, it imposed on them a concept of life like an area
mined with sins, left them on the horns of dilemma by saying that
there was nothing they could do on their own to get out of this
state of sinfulness, and then degenerated them by saying that on
behalf of them priests could invoke Allâhu ta’âlâ. Christianity left
people entirely to themselves, and confined their worships to
unsatisfactory Sunday masses, which they perform in the
perfunctory air of the church service. In those years Britain was in
a great economic depression and poverty. People were very
unhappy and therefore totally displeased with the government.
Christianity gave them no help in those days of destitution, nor did
they find any sort of heartening quality in it to help them endure.
This shortcoming had a considerably ruinous impact on me.
Indulging in the rationalizing relaxation of my emotions instead of
judging things with the impersonal justice of reason, I reached the
conclusion that religion was something meaningless. Rejecting
Christianity, I, like many other young people, took to atheism and
communism.
From a certain distance, Communism appealed to the young
people. Depressed under economic straits and totally hopeless of
their future life, the younger generation looked on Communism as
a savior because it was being propagated with the promise that it
would extirpate differences of wealth and rank. It did not take me
long to realize, however, that the communist claims consisted of
sheer propaganda and hollow words. Communism was the very
abode of segregation, both of rank and of wealth. Everything was
the same in every country. Upon this I gave up Communism and
dived into philosophy. Thus I began to specialize as a pantheist in
the creed of Wahdat-i wujûd.
It is very difficult to get in touch with Muslims in Western
countries. For in those countries there is a deep-seated rancour
against Islam, which dates back to the crusading expeditions.
Europeans reject Islam with hatred, though they know nothing of
it. They raise their children with an education dressed with a
strong feeling of animus towards Islam. So much so that talking
about Islam means a violation of the established rules of decorum
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