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13. THE STRANGE CONVERSION OF A PRIEST This is another strange story of conversion of a priest and a missionary. His name was Sily. He was a close friend of the late Nelson Mandela of South Africa. This incident happened in the Winter of 1996 in the office of the Muslim World League in Johannesburg. Accompanied by Sulayman, a Muslim convert who had just challenged the famous boxer Muhammad Ali in boxing, Sily came and met the Director of the office, and related to him what he called an important event, namely, his conversion to Islam, as follows: Sily was formerly a very militant priest. He served the Church earnestly. He was also a senior activist of Christianisation in South Africa. For this enormous activity the Vatican appointed him to run a Christianisation program with subsidy. The fund from Vatican was given to him for the project, and he used all means he could to reach his target, converting people to Christianity. He visited regularly madrasahs (Islamic schools) and public schools located in villages and in the hinterland, and distributed funds as contribution, gifts, charity to attract people to Christianity. At the same time, he became very rich, had a luxurious house, a car and big salary, and his position suddenly ascended among other priest. One day Sily the priest went to the market to buy gifts, wearing a white priest robe. It was there where a sudden change started taking place within him. He met a tradesman selling gifts, who had a cap on his head, indicating that he was a Muslim. Islam in South Africa was used to be called “the religion of the Arabs.” It was difficult to convert Muslims who sticked to their religion, unlike poor Muslims who were easily converted to Christianity. Then a conversation between the seller and the priest ran as follows: “You are a priest, aren’t you?” asked the seller.
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“That is true,” said the priest. “Who is your God?”, asked the seller. “Jesus Christ,” answered the priest. “I am challenging you to produce one verse in the Bible stating that the Christ said, ‘I am God’ or ‘I am the Son of God, so worship me!’” said the seller.1 This statement of the Muslim seller was like a lightning striking the priest’s head. He could not answer that question. He did the best he could to find the answer in his notes, in the Bible, and in other Christian books, but to no avail. He could not find any verse in the Bible stating that Jesus had said that he was God or the son God. This statement of the seller broke down Sily’s mentality and caused problem to him. It was a disaster which annoyed him. How such a question had never occurred to his mind? He left the seller with lower head walking away without fixed direction. He would try hard to find such verse, no matter how difficult. Yet, he could not find it, and he admitted that he had been defeated. Sily the priest went to the Church Council to hold a meeting. When the whole members of the council met he told them what he had happened to him in the market, that there was not a single verse in the Bible stating that Jesus had said that he was God or the Son of God. Instead of trying to find a verse, they attacked him, saying, 1
This statement has been made by the late Ahmed Deedat and his successor Dr. Zakir Naik. They were very sure of the absence of it in the Bible that they said that they would convert to Christianity if the Christians found any verse in the Bible stating that Jesus claimed to be God or Son of God. Allah in the Qur’an had told the Prophet to do the same, when he said, ان لِلرَّ ح َم ِن َولَد َفأ َ َنا أَ َّو ُل َ قُل إِن َك )18:ِين (الزخرف َ ال َع ِابد, Say [O Prophet]: “If the Most Gracious [truly] had a son, I would be the first to worship him.”(Q. 43:81) (Muhammad Asad’s translation)
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“The Arab has cheated you. He only wanted to mislead you and to convert you to the religion of the Arabs,” they said. “If it is so, then give me the answer,” said Sily. They rejected such question, and nobody was able to give the answer. Sily the priest has to give a sermon and Christian advice in the church every Sunday. But that Sunday while he was standing in front of the congregation he was unable to say a single word, which was strange for them. He retreated, back to the church and asked his friend to replace him. He told him that he was being sick, but actually, his heart had been broken into pieces. Sily the priest went home in confusion and restless. He sat in a small room weeping, looking up into the sky and prayed. But to whom he had to pray? He then prayed to whom he believed to be God the Creator. He said: O my God Who created me, all doors have really been closed before me except Your door. Do not stop me from finding the truth, what is the truth and what is falsehood. O my God, do not let me doubtful; show me the right way, and guide me to the right path. Sily fell asleep and dreamed being in a very wide room where nobody else in it except himself. Suddenly a man appeared. His face was not clear because of the glittering of the light from him and from his surroundings. He was sure that the light came from him. He signal me and called me, “O Ibrahim!” He looked around, but nobody was there. He then said to him: “You are Ibrahim. Are not you the one who prayed for guidance to Allah?” “Correct,” answer Sily. “Look at your right side!” he said. Sily did, and he saw a group of people carrying their goods on their shoulders wearing white clothes and white turbans.
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“Follow them, and you will find the truth,” said the man. Filly woke up feeling relief, but he was still wondered how and where he could find the people he had seen in his dream. He decided to continue wandering in his quest for the truth as characterized in his dream. He was certain that it was really guidance from God. He asked an official leave and started his long journey visiting several cities to find the people with white dress and turbans. Whenever he found Muslims they were wearing pants and caps. Eventually he reached Johannesburg. In this city Sily came to the vistors’ office belonging to the Organisation of African Muslims. He asked the officer where he could find the people he was looking for. Thinking that Sily was a beggar he gave him some money. He said, “This is not what I am looking for. Haven’t you any place of worship somewhere here? Please show me the nearest mosque.” The man showed him the direction to the nearest mosque which he followed. When Sily reached the mosque he was surprised and happy to see a man with a white dress and turban like the one he had seen in his dream standing at the door of the mosque and he approached him. “Welcome, Ibrahim!,” he said. Sily wondered how the man had known his name before he introduced himself to him. The man said: “I saw you in my dream that you were looking for us. Are you looking for the truth? The truth is in the religion pleased by Allah for His slaves, and that is Islam.” “That is true,” said Sily. “I am looking for the truth shown by the shining man I have seen in my dream that I should follow a group of man with a dress like you are wearing. Do you know the man whom I saw in my dream?” “He is our prophet Muhammad, the prophet of Islam the true religion, the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him,” said the man.
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It was difficult for Sily to believe in what was happening to him. He embraced the man and said to him, “Is it true that the man was a messenger and your prophet who came to me to show me the true religion?” “It is true,” he answered. The man welcomed Sily and congratulated him for accepting Allah’s guidance. As it was the time for ẓuhr (afternoon) prayer, he asked Sily to sit at the back in the mosque, and went to perform the prayer with others. Sily noticed that many of them were wearing the same kind of dress as the man was wearing. They were bowing and prostrating in their prayer. Sily thought, “By God, this is the true religion. I have read in many books that prophets and messengers put their foreheads on the ground worshipping God.” After the prayer Sily felt calm with what he had just seen, and said to himself, “By God, He had really guided me to the true religion.” A man called him to announce his conversion to Islam. He then pronounce the shahāhah, that there is no god but Allah and Muhammad is His Messenger. He uncontrollably burst into tears out of happiness for receiving Allah’s guidance. Sily then stayed with this group studying Islam and making journeys visiting various places propagating Islam. He learned how to pray, how to fast, how to pray tahajjud (night prayer), how to be make du‘ā (auppliction), how to be honest and trustworthy, how to call people to Islam with wisdom, piety, calmness, cheerful face and sacrifice. After several months Sily returned home. His family and friends were looking for him. When they saw him wearing the Islamic dress, they denied me, and the Church Council asked him to hold an extraordinary meeting. In that meeting they criticized him for abandoning the religion of their family and ancestors. They told him that he had become lost and misguided by following the religion of the Arabs. He told them
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that, as a matter of fact, nobody had misguided him. It was Prophet Muhammad who came to him in his dream to show him the true religion which is Islam, not the religion of the Arabs as they claimed. He invited them to Islam, and they were silent. Then they persuaded him with wealth, power and position. They told him that the Vatican had asked him to stay there for six month to give him cash advance as down payment for buying a house and a new car, apart from an increase in salary, and highest position in the church. All these offers were rejected by Sily. He said, “Are you going to mislead me after Allah has guided me? By Allah, I will never do it, even if you cut my neck.” He asked them to embrace Islam, and two of these priests accepted Islam. Realizing Sily’s insistence, they withdrew all of his positions. He was happy with this decision, returned all the wealth he had received, and left them for good. This story of Sily was related by him to the Head of the Muslim World League there, witness by Abdul Khaliq, the secretary of the League and two others. Sily the priest was then called the Dā‘ī (Islamic caller) Ibrahim Sily. He was from Kuza tribe in South Africa. When the seminar on the science of the sharī‘ah was held in Cape Town the Da’ī Ibrahim Sily came and visited the Head of the Muslim League who asked him what was the purpose of his visit. He said that he came to call people to Islam, to save his people from the Hellfire and to guide them to Islam. This is one of many diverse examples how Allah guides people to the right path. (CIVIC, 15 April, 2016) Source: Muhammad Asad, The Message of the Qur’ān. The Model Story, by Muḥammad Ṣāliḥ al-Qhaḥṭānī, quoted from the work of Dr. ‘Abd al-‘Azīz Aḥmad Sarḥān, Dean of the Faculty of Education, at Makkah al-Mukarramah with a slight edition, published by Dār al-Ḥaqq, telp. no. 0214701616.