Q: Al Salam Alaikum Tauhid Bhai I have to take your interview for Armughan. Please first introduce yourself.
A:
Yes your father had told me about it. I hope Allah will be pleased with
my talks. Twenty two years ago I was born in a Verma family of Sehore
district in Madhya Pradesh. My father is a very staunch Hindu. He named
me Dharmendra. My whole family is attached to Bajrang Dal, Shiv Sena and
Sanatan Dharam Akhara. I have three brothers and a sister. I got
education in a local school and then was employed in Mandi Deep Factory,
Bhopal. I liked exercises and yoga and due to persuasion of my friends I
joined Shiv Sena Bhopal and took active part in anti-Muslim
programmes.
Q: How did you embrace Islam?
A:
My change of faith is in conformity with a Hadith of Prophet MUHAMMAD
in which he has said 'Every day at a particular time Allah grants every
person's desire which is fulfilled. In school I developed a friendship
with two Muslim boys named Shahzad and Azad. I used to play with them
and used to visit their house where I took non vegetarian food in the
same plate with them. Their fields were adjacent to our fields. One day
Shahzad’s father cut the boundary of our field and that led to exchange
of hot words between my father and Shahzad’s father. When the dispute
became heated, Shahzad’s mother, in order to pacify my father told him
that his son used to eat with her sons in the same plate and was their
good friend. When my father returned home he beat me severely and said
that because of eating beef and meat I had become impure and faithless.
He threatened to burn my mouth to purify it. I also lost my temper and
told him that I would not leave my Muslim friends. Then be beat me more
severely. I declared that I would run away from the house and would turn
a Muslim. My father did not like my association with Islam. He tried to
poison me against Islam and Muslims by telling false stories of
atrocities of Muslim rulers including Mahmud Ghaznavi and Mughal Kings.
He tried to intensify feelings of hatred and enmity against Muslims in
me. I felt somewhat attached to the Muslim way of life because of my
close friendship with Muslims. In the Bhopal factory, a boy named Waseem
became my friend. I joined him in IFTAR during the month of Ramzan.
Sometimes I attended the meetings of Jamaat people with him and heard
the narrations about Paradise, Hell and events after death and to some
extent I believed them to be true. After some time, I joined another
factory and there I developed friendship with a youth named Javed. He
also used to invite me to IFTAR and I used to see him offering prayers
after fasting. One day he asked me to embrace Islam and say prayers to
get a life of content. After some time due to illness I had to take long
leave and my service was terminated. Then I got a job in another
factory where I met girl named Geeta and I made her my elder sister.
After some time, on invitation from former supervisior mine, I went to
his factory at Noida and started working there. I invited Geeta for a
holiday trip to Noida. But seeing her in the factory, the owner became
angry and terminated my job thinking I was a man of loose morals. I told
Geeta about Javed's invitation to Islam. She spoke highly of Islam and
told me that it was a true religion. She told me about her talks with
the daughters of her Muslim neighbours. They told her about Islam and
read to her some articles and interviews of converts to Islam published
in an Urdu magazine ARMUGHAN. Before going back, Geeta Deedi urged me to
embrace Islam and inform her about it. This kindled a desire of being a
Muslim in my heart; I joined another factory where I met a Muslim boy
named Saif. One day I told him about my desire to come under the folds
of Islam. He asked me to go to a nearby mosque and meet its Imam. I went
to the mosque for two days, saw Muslims offering prayers but could not
dare enter it and meet the Imam. But this made me more impatient to
embrace Islam. Next evening I again went there and met the Imam Saheb
who asked me to come on Friday. But on Friday when I went to him, I had
to come back disappointed because of his indifferent attitude. Certain
members of a Tablighi Jamaat present there also took my request casually
and discouraged me. Then I went to Okhla and recited Kalma. Then at the
insistence of Saif I went with a Tablighi Jamaat to Panipat &
Sonipat after selling my watch and my gold ring. I used to phone to
Bhopal, Sehore and Noida and talked to my friends. Some members of the
group became suspicious and took me as an agent of C.I.D. They
complained to Maulana Kaleem but he told them to take me with the Jamaat
for 40 days on his surety and asked them to send me to him after wards.
Then I went back to Noida and one day met Maulana Saheb in Delhi. He
again taught me the Kalma and on my request named me Tauhid. He made me
his disciple and gave me his book Aap Ki Amanat for reading. The other
day some people from Bhopal came to Maulana Saheb and, after getting his
permission I went to Bhopal with them. But after some time I returned
to Phulat and got myself circumcised as per the Sunnat of Prophet. I
fell with fever but recovered soon and served Maulana Saheb.
Q: What happened to your Geeta Deedi?
A:
Her family wanted to marry her in a Hindu house hold. She approached
many Muslims and asked for their help to marry her with a Muslim and
avoid her proposed marriage to an alcohol addict and gambler. But out of
fear nobody helped her. Then she phoned me and I promised to come to
her on Sunday. Since she was to be married on Saturday, she swallowed
sulphide tablets and died. She preferred death over her marriage to a
Hindu and continuance in the Hindu religion. When I reached Bhopal on
Sunday, I learned about her tragic death and repented for my negligence
and lethargy. Then I was sent to Ambala in Haryana by Maulana Saheb.
There a factory owner agreed to employ me provided I shaved my beard. I
refused out right and joined another factory and on lesser wages. There
I became supervisor but at the instigation of some colleagues, I lost
my job. The reason was that one day I found Rs. 5 in the factory
unclaimed by any one. I pasted a notice about it in the factory and the
manager was displeased with me and dismissed me.
Q: How do you feel after becoming Muslim and what was your contribution to Dawah work? Have you any message for Muslims?
A:
I love everything about Islam, specially the traditions of our Prophet.
Even I did not put a pocket in my shirt because I could not get any
information about its position in Prophet Dress. So I decided not to get
more dresses stitched. I am doing Dawah work and hope to get some
people of Jhinjhana converted. I request my Muslim brothers to observe
the Sunnahs of the Holy Prophet and like me engage themselves in Dawah
work with zeal. They can do it very well when I belong to an
anti-Islamic family get success in this work.
