| [I say that consciousness among Muslims about Dawah work is very necessary. If Muslims realize their responsibility in this field, this work would become very easy because the climate is very congenial. People are in search of getting the call and are eager to learn about Islam. But we are lethargic to show them the right path. Therefore our Maulana is worried and all the time calls the attention of Muslims towards this important work which is the only solution of all problems of the world.] |
Q: Khalid Saheb Alsalam Alaikum may I
give you some trouble. From Phulat an Urdu magazine ARMUGHAN is
published and on its behalf I want to talk to you. Please introduce
yourself and give an interview.
A: Ahmad I know ARMUGHAN very well. It
will give me good publicity. My name is now Mohammad Khalid. Earlier it
was Vinod Kumar Khanna. I was born on 2nd August 1956 in
Jalandhar. We originally belonged to Patiala. My father's name is Dr.
Anil Kumar Khanna and five years ago he retired from the post of
Executive Engineer Hydel Department. After becoming an electrical
engineer, I joined my father's department and remained posted at
Jalandhar for 15 years accidently and discussed with him. Three years
ago I was promoted and transferred. I came to Delhi on some official
work and met Maulana Saheb and consulted him about certain issues.
Q:
Please tell us the story of your conversion to Islam.
A: About 13 years
ago on 19th April 1992 I was returning from Delhi by a super
fast express train after an official tour. At Muzaffar Nagar railway
station a pious person, an embodiment of Islamic traits boarded my
compartment and occupied my adjacent berth. He was your father, my
greatest benefactor and teacher. After the train whistled off from
Muzafar Nagar, a Jat passenger sitting by my side asked him when the
train would reach Muzaffar Nagar. Maulana Muhammad Kaleem told him that
the train had already left Muzaffar Nagar. This bewildered him as he was
to get down there. He took out his bundle and rushed towards the door.
Actually he wanted to jump from the running train. The Maulana stopped
him and said "Now uncle you cannot get down. You should travel up to
next station Deoband and then come back on another train to Muzzafar
Nagar." But he was adamant to get down and told Maulana that he had to
reach Muzaffar Nagar at once to take part in arrangements for wedding of
his daughter and some people were coming for Mangani. But Maulana
dragged him to his seat and said "Uncle if you jump from a running train
you are sure to die. Then how will you be able to settle the marriage
of your daughter. I shall not allow you to get down before Deoband." The
Jat remained seated because of his insistence. I was seeing all this. I
belonged to a religious household and considered myself a social
worker. My conscience was pricked to think that in these days of
communal frenzy a religious Muslim person saved the life of a non-Muslim
fellow. In those days there was great tension in the country because of
the Babri Masjid movement. When Deoband came Maulana helped the Jat to
get down along with his luggage. I came to Maulana and said "You have
punished me in such a way that I intend to commit suicide." It made
Maulana very surprised and he enquired me the reason. I said "Maulana
Saheb in these days of Hindu Muslim enmity you saved a Hindu's life and I
did not care for a single moment to help him. Now I am feeling guilty
and think it is better for me to die than to lead such a lethargic life.
Your behavior has touched my heart." The Maulana kissed my hands and
appreciated my feelings. He told me that as a Muslim it was his duty to
help and save other fellow beings and observe certain rules of humanity.
Then he told me about Prophet Mohammad, his teachings and stories of
certain saints and pious persons. Many other passengers heard the
Maulana's talks and were moved by his sincerity and devotion. I asked
Maulana about himself and his address. He told me that he lived in the
historic town of Phulat where the famous Muslim divine Shah Wali Ullah
was born. We exchanged addresses and phone numbers. At Jalandhar I met
two disciples of Maulana who gave me two books written by him 'Aap ki
Amanat Aap ki seva mein' and 'Islam kiya hai'. I studied both the books
and under their influence and what I had seen in the train, I recited
Kalma and became a Muslim. For about one year I kept my conversion as a
secret. Then I plucked courage to declare it and completed the legal
formalities. All my family members became furious except my father who
said that I was justified to change faith as per my choice. He advised
the family not to quarrel on this issue and asked me to think over the
matter seriously. I told him that I had decided after thorough
consideration of two years. Then I contacted an Imam of a local mosque
Maulana Ishtiaq to learn prayers and other Islamic rules. He informed me
that after embracing Islam my marriage with my Hindu wife had become
null and void. I told my wife and moved to a rented room because I
wanted to follow every command of Islam. I had two small children and
had to face stiff opposition from my family. I heard about Maulana
Kaleem's visit to Samrala and met him there after taking leave from my
office. The Maulana was pleased to hear about my Islam and said he
prayed for me continuously to embrace Islam. Then I consulted him about
the separation of my wife and other issues. He congratulated me on
obeying the Islamic injunctions and asked me to remain in constant touch
with a Daee to understand the instructions of Dawah. He informed me
that in case of two options one should prefer to take up more profitable
and less harmful proposition. He said in my case, since there is a
possibility that my wife and children would accept Islam after some
time, he would advise me to live with them otherwise they would never
come to the fold of Islam. Though living with a na-mehram woman is
undesirable and a sin in Islam but it could be permitted for better
results. But I should observe care and not keep marital relations with
the wife and should also pray for forgiveness from Allah. He gave me his
phone number and asked me to keep regular contact with him. This
meeting gave me much solace and on my return I narrated all this to my
wife. I told her that the Maulana told me that a good Muslim always
treated his wife well as instructed by Islam. I used to recite Quran and
preach Islam to my wife regularly. I explained to her the merits of
Islam and virtual defects of Hindu religion. After four years my wife
agreed to embrace Islam and I became proficient in Quran and Urdu. In
January 1999 I took my wife to Maulana at Phulat and he was very happy
at her Islam. Then he advised me to perform Hajj and next year I
performed Hajj and stayed in Medina for ten days. On return I devoted
myself fully to the work of Dawah which I regarded as a responsibility
given to the Muslims by the Prophet. I targetted some backward families
of Jalandhar and in a few years more than 200 persons embraced Islam. A
mosque along with a Madarsa was constructed there. Granthi (Sikh
priests) of three Gurdwaras also became Muslims. In Medina I visited the
Prophet's mosque and grave of Prophet Muhammad with great devotion and
love. I felt that he had embraced me and endorsed my Dawah work through
which I saved so many persons from hell fire. Q: Did you feel all this
when you were awake? A: This I did not know but even today I remember
the ecstasy and delicious taste of my visit to Medina. I saw the Prophet
21 times in my dreams and I grew beard and pledged to lead a life of
piety. I recollected my liabilities and paid off dues which I owed to
others. Q: What happened to education of your children? A: Brother, I
had three sons Abdullah, Abdul Rahman & Abdul Raheem and two
daughters Fatima and Ayesha. I named my wife Amna and engaged a Maulvi
to teach my children. Before accepting Islam I was totally in favour of
family planning and practiced it. In eleven years I got a son and after a
gap of 6 years a daughter. But after coming to Islamic, I decided to
follow all commands of Islam and have now six children. Now I can very
well convince the supporters of family planning that they should not
follow the silly westerners. I hope to educate all my children on
Islamic pattern. They are going to school and also getting proper
religious training.
Q: Did you preach Islam to you parents?
A: My father
was leading a retired life at Patiala. I prayed for the guidance of my
father, mother and younger sister during my Hajj at Multazim and in
field of Arafat. My father was himself inclined towards Islam under the
influence of a Hindu Sufi named Sanwali Shah Chisti, a disciple of a
Pakistani Sufi. He was a resident of Gurdaspur and an ardent believer in
the unity of God and had done many religious exercises and lived for
125 years. His poems on mysticism were published in Punjabi. When I went
to meet my father after Hajj, he asked me to give him Zam-Zam and dates
and took them with great devotion. He congratulated me on my good luck
and asked me to tell him about Prophet and Medina I narrated to him all
details and invited him to become a Muslim. He told me that he was
waiting for me because in dreams Sanwali Baba had exhorted him to
embrace Islam. Then I taught him Kalma and gave him the name of Mohammad
Umar. After that I pleaded with mother for three days and she along
with my widowed sister also became Muslims. Thus Allah blessed my family
with ISLAM and I am very grateful to Him.
Q: Khalid Saheb let us share
with your experiences about difficulties faced by you in Dawah work.
A:
Brother Ahmed actually your father Maulana Kaleem is an ideal Muslim and
true follower of Prophet Muhammad. I still remember one of his speeches
in which he said that every Muslim being a part of light of Islam was a
Daee since birth and had to bring illumination in the world. I treat
and consider Dawah as my mission of life. I spend half of my earning on
Dawah work and my wife and children also work with me. I think that the
whole world is badly in need of this but unfortunately Muslims are not
responding properly. The greatest problem of a Daee is to make Muslims
realizes their duty because they do not pay attention towards Dawah. Man
being a social animal needs at every stage a society embedded with
Islam these days. Here I want to tell you a pathetic story. At
Jalandhar, many Muslim converts engaged in leather dyeing, one active
and truly religious person known as Pahalwan has performed Hajj and
taken an active role in evacuating of 6 mosques and is running an
Islamic Madarsa. His eldest daughter became Hafiz-e-Qur'an and recited
Quran in Tarawih. But despite continuous efforts for 4 years nobody came
forward to marry her. Every one refused to accept her by calling her a
chamar. Being too sentimental he was forced to marry her Hafiz daughter
to a non Muslim dalit who reared pigs and ate pork. Since then he became
very anti-Muslim and abused them. Actually he tried his level best to
marry her to an illiterate Muslim worker of his factory but he refused
to marry a chamar girl. Then out of frustration he married her to a
non-Muslim. This was very painful to me and to the girl also who took
poison many times but her life was saved every time. By chance your
father came there and I told him this story. He went to Jalandhar and
met Pahalwan. Then he deputed his two disciples who persuaded her
husband to embrace Islam and thus the problem was solved. All of us are
very grateful to Maulana. But the main problem is that Muslims should
devote themselves to Dawah work. This is very necessary to solve
problems all over the world.
Q: Thank you much Khalid Saheb. Your
interview has moved me and I would like to work with you. A: Ahmad Bhai I
am really sorry that as the followers of Prophet, we do not discharge
our responsibility despite such a congenial atmosphere for expansion of
Islam. Maulana Saheb refers to his sympathetic act of saving life of a
Jat who embraced Islam and says that such things attract people to
Islam. Thank you Ahmad Bhai, I think my interview will be liked by
readers of ARMUGHAN.
