Islam flourishing around the world

[sonz]

Islam is becoming the most popular religion in the world, according to Hashem al-Attas, a Yemeni researcher at the Dar al-Mustafa for Traditional Islamic Education.

“Many mass media show that Islam is spreading faster than all other religions,” Mr al-Attas said at a conference about the rapid spread of Islam in the West.

The cultural symposium, organized by the al-Ibda Cultural Center for Studies and Heritage Services, as well as Sana’a University and the al-Mustafa Center for Islamic Studies, was held last week in the Yemeni capital, Sana’a.

It was attended by many Muslim converts who came from the West to Yemen to learn the Arabic language to know more about the noble religion.

One British Muslim convert, who changed his name to Mos’ab after embracing Islam, explained why many people in the West admired Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). “One of the striking things is that even when there was no television or internet, there was knowledge of Prophet Muhammed (PBUH) in the west,” he said.

For example, the famous French poet Alphonse de La Martaine said in his “Historie de La Turquie, Paris, 1954: “If greatness of purpose, smallness of means, and astonishing results are the three criteria of a human genius, who could dare compare any great man in history with Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)?...Philosopher, Orator, Apostle, Legislator, Conqueror of ideas, Restorer of Rational beliefs and the founder of twenty terrestrial empires and one of the spiritual empires that is Muhammad (PBUH)”.

A Christian Anglican author, Barnaby Rogerson (in his “Prophet Muhammad: A Biography”) enthusiastically said about the noble prophet (PBUH): “Even when viewed in an entirely secular respective, he remains a super hero… only by marrying the best qualities of certain characters from European civilization- a combination, say, of Alexander the Great, and Aristotle, or the Emperor Constantine, St. Paul and St. Francis- can you begin to understand the measure of the man.”

Another convert, Mr. Herman, a Namibian man who is now known as Abdullah after embracing Islam, narrated the story of his journey toward Islam, or from darkness to light as he calls it.

Before converting to Islam, Mr Abdullah said he was only concerned about money. “I found myself in a situation where I was looking at my clothes, mobile phone, and shoes and whether they were expensive enough and the latest fashion. I was exhausted and through this exhaustion I escaped to stop one day and questioned myself what is the reason of my existence?

“At that time I was a Christian and I learned that one plus one plus one does not equal one. This trinity was not only confusing me, but was confusing other people around me as well… Another thing that was confusing me is the prophet Lot in Christianity. The prophet supposes to be the beloved of God, but Lot was said to have been drinking alcohol and having unlawful integrate with his daughters.”

Mr Abdullah also said that Islam encourages the continuous connection with Allah (SWT).

“Prayer in Christianity is only on Sunday, once a week, while in Islam. We pray every single day of the week and for five times a day. Keeping up this practice continues connection, so that there is no way that you may be forgotten by your creator.”

When he first decided to convert to Islam, Mr Abdullah said he’d say the Shahadah, (to proclaim that there is no God but Allah and Mohammed is his messenger), and try being a Muslim for a month. But he later found that Islam is the truth. “Now I want to call people and encourage them to be Muslims,” Mr Abdullah said.

There are thousands of Westerners with stories like those of Abdullah and Mos’ab, who became fed up with the materialism prevalent in their countries, and sought refuge with Allah (SWT) and Islam, where their lives have a deeper spiritual element.

The second-largest religion in the world after Christianity, Islam is also the fastest-growing religion. The peaceful faith has drawn people from all walks of life, with some Islamic scholars in the West predicting a Muslim renaissance as Islam takes root in many traditionally Christian communities.

Most Muslim converts say they embraced the Islamic religion because of the disciplines of its prayers, its emphasis on worshippers’ submission to Allah (SWT) and its affinity with people who are oppressed.

“In societies where you have minorities that are discriminated against, I think they may find an appeal in Islam," said Waleed Kazziha of American University in Cairo.

Islam’s rising popularity worries many in the Western secular world, who have negative views of the noble religion, wrongfully associating it with violence.

But Muslim scholars argue that the majority of Muslims adhere to the principles in the holy Qur’an that teach peace, tolerance and justice. In fact, the word “Islam” itself, which means “surrender or submit” to Allah (SWT) in Arabic, is originally derived from the world “Selm”, or peace. Thus, it’s no wonder that the traditional Islamic greeting is "As-Salamu 'alaikum," or "peace be with you."

-- AJP and Agencies

[Count DeSheep]

Islam’s rising popularity worries many in the Western secular world, who have negative views of the noble religion, wrongfully associating it with violence.

Bleh. Painful truth. Funny that on the news here, there's roughly an equal number of stories on Muslim violence and Christian violence, and about 80% of people ignore the latter.

[guyabano]

Islam is becoming the most popular religion in the world

Well true, the question is just, from what point of view !?

[Pk_#2]

Hmm...

:)

Peace!

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[Darkseid]

Bahai'i Faith, Sikhism, Druze, and Sufism is destined to replace mainstream Islam in the future.

[Uthman]

:sl:

Great Article! :)

But looks remarkably similar to one I have already posted: http://www.islamicboard.com/world-af...slam-west.html

:rollseyes

:w:

[Khan-Ghalgha]

Bahai'i Faith, Sikhism, Druze, and Sufism is destined to replace mainstream Islam in the future.

Have to dissapoint you, most converts I know of and heard of following the right path. We are waking up, Alhamdu Llilah. Suffi, Druze communities generally shrinking in compare with rightbelievers, Same happening in my homeland, being 100% suffis for centuries, we are increasingly more aware of the true Islam, a lot more muslims getting education and jahiliya(ignorance) is slowly replaced with
reasonable thinking.

['Abd al-Baari]

:sl:

Alhamdulillah a great article, Jazakallah Khair for sharing :)