Why Did They Become Muslims

and the savageries that they perpetrated in the name of inquisition.
The Sephardis who escaped from their cruelties were provided
sanctuary only by the Muslim Turks, who treated them as human
beings.
Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’ asked his umma to obey the Ten
Commandments which Allâhu ta’âlâ had given to Mûsâ ‘alaihissalâm’
on Mount Sinai. The first of these commandments is this: “I
am the Lord thy God, ...” “Thou shalt have no other gods before
me.” [1]
On the other hand, Christians have disobeyed this
commandment by increasing the number of gods to three. I did not
believe in three gods before converting to a Muslim, either. I
always accepted Allâhu ta’âlâ as only one compassionate,
forgiving and guiding being. That was the only reason which led
me to Islam. For Muslims’ belief in Allâhu ta’âlâ was identical with
my thoughts.
The manner of life you are to lead is totally in your own hands.
If you are, say, an accountant and embezzle money from the
employer’s safe, one day you will be caught and wind up in prison.
If you drive carelessly on a slippery road, your car will topple over
and you will end up in a hospital with one or two broken bones. If
you drive too fast and have an accident for this reason, you, again,
will be responsible for it. It would be a grave act of immorality to
lay the blame for all these faults on someone else. I do not believe
in the hypothesis that people are bad tempered by birth. It is a
definite fact that human beings are born with a good moral
quality. A group of theorists assume that some people are evilspirited
by creation, which I reject. In my opinion, what makes a
person’s soul evil is, first of all, his parents, next his environment,
next the subversive publications, and next evil company. Another
factor that should be added is harmful tutorship. Children are
inclined to idealize the behaviours and thoughts of their parents,
school teachers and writers and try to follow their examples.
Sometimes, without any apparent reason, children exhibit
rebellious and mischievous behaviour. At such times they must be
toned down with gentle, but at the same time serious, exhortation.
But if we ourselves exhibit inconsiderate behaviour and thereby
set a bad example for them, we cannot convince them of their
wrong behaviour. How could we dissuade our children from doing
the vices that have become our daily practices? That means to say
that first of all we have to exhibit a perfect example for our
[1] Old Testament, Exodus: 20-2,3.
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