Shyam Pratap Singh Gautam with some Muslim scholars after his conversion to Islam.
English translation
By the editorial staff
The interviewer: Thank you very much. My first question to you for our listeners or audience who watches our channel is about your background. Please, can you inform us about your beginning, and where were you born and where have you spent your childhood and where have you got your education?
Muhammad `Umar Singh: As you have mentioned; my name is Muhammad `Umar Gautam, I got this name when I was 20 years old. My previous name is Shyam Pratap Singh Gautam, my father’s name was Dhanraj Singh Gautam. I was born in a Hindu family, in Rajput caste, in Fatehpur a district between Kanpure and Allahabad in U.P.. I was born in 1964 and I grew up there then I completed my high school in Fatehpur, after that I finished 12th in Allahabad which is called secondary. Afterwards, I got admission in G.B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, Nainital, that was in U.P. but now it is in Uttarakhand, where I got the degree of BSc. in the agricultural sciences and animal husbandry.
Shyam Pratap Singh Gautam after he converted to Islam.
In addition, I joined MSc. in animal husbandry in 1995 in the same faculty, but due to some personal reasons I could not be able to complete. In the same period, Allah (Glory be to Him) guided me to Islam in 1994 when I was 20 years old, as I got the wealth of Islam, and I was blessed with the treasure of Iman and I was given the favor of conviction. In fact, I felt a revolution in my life, and my dream came true and my wish was fulfilled by the grace of Allah the Almighty. Since my childhood, I was in the search of the following questions: Where did we come from? Why did we come here? Where are we going? I searched for the answers of these questions for a long time. Furthermore, I studied the scriptures of Hinduism, such as; Vedas, Puranas, Ramcharitmanas, Geeta, Mahabharat and whatever Hindu scriptures I could be able to get and read, alongside other books on the subject of comparative studies. I studied those books over and over again until I came to know about Islam. There was a friend of mine or class-mate whose name was Nasir Khan, Allah made him an assistant for me, I got from him a translation of the Glorious Qur’an, and other books on Islamic literature. I realized through those books that Islam is not for Muslims only, rather, it is for the entire humanity, and it is for me before any other person. I came to this world, and there is someone who caused me come here and I would be made accountable for my deeds after the death.
Shyam Pratap Singh Gautam
Thus, Allah (Glory be to Him) guided me. In fact, Allah (Glory be to Him) has promised of guidance for the pious people and those who are thirsty and in search of the guidance. Some of us think that a person is a Muslim because of his birth in a Muslim family, or someone is a Hindu because of his birth in a Hindu family, or someone is a Christian because of his birth in a Christian family, and so forth. But we should realize that everyone comes to this world according to the system of Allah, it is the family, community or society that changes the nature of the child, and every family makes his child on its own custom. Every person needs guidance and Allah gave me a golden chance, as by the grace of Allah, after 1984 I left MSc. in Pantnagar University and traveled to Delhi to join Jamia Milliah Islamiah where I got M.A. in Islamic studies and registered for my Ph.D. in the same university, as well as I served as a lecturer there. After that in 1994 I joined Markaz Al-Ma`arif a big Islamic center and worked there 16 years, I was director of the education department. Additionally, since 1910 a center of Islamic Da`wah for Da`wah activities was established where I am a humble servant of it.
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