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Protected_Diamond
02-24-2006, 10:56 PM
Sometimes the visions granted us in sleep can be life-changing. An American Muslim who came to Islam many years ago tells the following story:


"As a young man, I was lost in Kufr- drinking, chasing women, and despising religion. One day, I found myself entertaining my friends with a lengthy satirical diatribe against the religions of the book. My theme was that the Jews had a bad idea, the Christians made it worse, and the Muslims were the worst of all. Though my barbed jokes against the Muslims were even more vehement than those against the Jews and Christians, I realized as I was uttering them that I was being unjust, since I knew next to nothing about Islam. Unfortunately, this nagging knowledge did not stop the words pouring from my mouth. But it did give them a hallow sound and a slightly bitter taste.

"Almost immediately after finishing my diatribe, I encountered a young woman for the first time, and instantly fell in love. It turned out that she was a Muslim."

"I resisted the intuition that this woman and I were meant for each other. Accepting it would be too inconvenient; I sensed that she posed a threat to the kind of life I was living. I made no effort to find out who she was, where she lived, or how to get in touch with her again.

"I assumed that we would go our separate ways, but with the uneasy feeling that I was turning my back on something important.

"Then I had a strange and wonderful dream-vision. It came to me when I was half asleep and half awake, in what scientists call the hypnagogic state. I saw myself climbing a dry, rocky mountain like the ones I knew from the deserts of California. When I arrived at the top of the mountain, I saw spread out below me an amazing scene: The most beautiful city imaginable! There were lovely towers, and glorious, exotic buildings, all shining and luminous as if light was pouring from within the stone itself. Some of the buildings had massive courtyards, embracing an amazing aura of holiness, while one in particular had an exquisite golden dome. Behind the city, an evocative backdrop of pastel mountains arose, illumined by an inner glow reflected by the holy city. It looked like something from another planet – obviously a planet far more advanced than mine. I remained there, awed, gazing in wonder for a very long time. I did not want to leave.

"When I finally emerged from that hypnagogic state, I knew intuitively that my vision had something to do with Islam. Later, after looking at photographs, I realized that this dream-city seemed to have contained features of all three holy cities – Makkah al-Mukarramah , Medina al-Munawwarah, and al-Quds. It was as if those three cities were superimposed on top of each other, as if they had become one shining, eternal city.

"This vision gave me the powerful nudge in the right direction that I so desperately needed. I realized that my ego had grown monstrous, that I had been resisting Allah with every ounce of my strength. But Allah, for some reason known only to Him, had chosen to send me a sign so powerful that even such a lost Kafir as I had been could not deny his Reality. The words I had spoken against religion had blown up in my face – but instead of giving me the bitter punishment I deserved, Allah the All-Merciful had given me another chance. My only punishment was a sudden awareness of how badly I had been living my life. I had been treating all kinds of precious gifts with uncomprehending scorn. I turned toward surrender, with amazement and gratitude at the way Allah had eased my path.

"I reverted to Islam, and later married the woman I had fallen in love with"

Alhamdulilah!

Lakhdar O'Barrett
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