By Sameer Mandhro
Deen Muhammad an ex-Hindu, reverted to Islam in 1989. He said when he read the Glorious Qur’an he realized that false gods were useless. Such are Deen Muhammad Sheikh’s powers of persuasion that he led 108,000 people to the light of Islam since 1989, the year he left his birth religion Hinduism behind.
Now he is the president of the Jami`ah Masjid Allah Wali and Madrassa `A’ishah T`aleem-ul Qur’an – an institute for the introduction of Islam.
His zeal for D`awah is ideal, as he says: “My heartfelt wish is that the entire world becomes Muslim.” He expressed his sublime and pure goal, when he was asked about his mission in a celebration of new Muslims who accepted Islam on his hands.
He added: “I always loved Islam; I read the Glorious Qur’an and realized that 360 gods were not of any use to me.”
At first, he had to study the Glorious Qur’an in secret. There was the risk of being misunderstood if a Muslim caught him with the holy book. He started fasting and in fact, he would begin a day before Ramadan started.
Sheikh’s mother grew alarmed at her son’s forays into another faith. She thought that if she married him off, he would leave. Thus, he was barely 15 when his wedding took place, followed by the blessings of four girls and eight boys.
Despite this, he was drawn back to his curiosity and managed to find a teacher, Sain Muhammad Jagsi, who instructed him in the Glorious Qur’an and Hadiths or sayings of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).
Fortunately, Sheikh’s uncle was of the same mind and the two men agreed that they would support each other.
After Deen Muhammad Sheikh accepted Islam, he made it his mission to call others to the message of Islam. He began preaching of Islam among his own family, before addressing others. Encounters with the rich and powerful Muslims helped pave the way and they offered Sheikh money and required funds in order to achieve his Da`wah goals. He urged concerned authorities to provide jobs for some new Muslims.
Now, Sheikh says, his fame has spread and people come to him from remote parts of the country from all religions and sects, who liked to accept Islam. A small mosque has sprung up in his residential compound along with a number of rooms where children – mostly girls – are taught how to say their prayers and recite the Glorious Qur’an.
Sheikh is aware of the difficulties new Muslims face when they came to follow a totally new system of life. He makes life easy for the first 40 days. “They only have to pray obligatory prayers!”
In addition, Sheikh says: “I tell them that I was a Hindu too.”
He alleges that he was kidnapped along with his daughter-in-law by influential Hindus who threatened him so that he would stop inviting people to Islam.
Despite 108,000 new Muslims on his call, the record of every one of those new Muslims has been kept in written form with detailed information about their names, families, identities, addresses. However, Sheikh still doesn’t feel that his work had been done or his duty has been fulfilled. He wants everyone to be a Muslim and learn from his example.
The image of this post belongs to a great man, who is not a governor nor an authority nor a rich, nor a Sultan, he is only a simple man who was guided by Allah to Islam and his heart have seen the light of Islam after he was a Hindu. Indeed, it is the effect of his words and deeds and the blessings of Allah the Almighty and His special support for his noble mission. That is why thousands of people have been guided on his hands to the light of Islam. It is not a history or forgotten past, it is in our time and it is present in our society. It is a true example of Islamic Da`wah that never encourages forceful conversion. It is ample evidence that Islam never was spread by the sword.
In my conclusion, it is the blessing of the message of Islam, the pure, clear and evident religion of Allah. The question is why people do not accept Hinduism despite their noticeable endeavors; as they tried their best to lure the people to their religion through the establishment of numerous organizations and movements such as the movement of Shudhdhi. This example makes very easy to understand the matchless success of Islamic Da`wah throughout the history that never trusted in money or power.
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Source: www.tribune.com.pk. with modifications.
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