أحمد محمد لبن Ahmad.M.Lbn مؤسس ومدير المنتدى
عدد المساهمات : 48350 العمر : 71
| موضوع: Tanago Sami Qasdullah, (Ahmad Sami Abdullah) السبت 24 سبتمبر 2016, 8:33 am | |
| Tanago Sami Qasdullah, (Ahmad Sami Abdullah) It’s a Cheap Price to Pay for Allah’s Paradise. In the mid-twentieth century, and in one of the villages of southern Egypt, Tanago Sami Qasdullah saw the light. It has been predestined that this young man’s life will never exceed more than thirty years on this earth. He has been assassinated treacherously. He has become -God willing- a martyr for the sake of his chosen religion.
Since the child’s mind has started to blossom, he refused intuitively the stories he has heard echoing in the church. He has come in contact with ambiguous teachings similar to intractable puzzles. The matter has become so difficult to fathom for a young mind.
These have been called “the secrets of the Church.” In contrast, the adolescent Tanago saw in the religion of his Muslim peers the clarity of the faith and splendor of worship. No sooner, his young head started to compare the Church rituals to the Muslims worship. He also compared the church mass to the recitation of the verses of the Qur’an.
Every day, Tanago and the village boys, Christians and Muslims used to take the trek to the next village where they frequent the intermediate school there. They spend the journey talking about religion and creed as much as their young minds allow them to understand. Tanago will keep silent, listening to their talk, recording notes in his mind and drawing conclusions.
Tanago has got rid of some of his (religious illiteracy); he has joined Sunday school. However, he has been shocked of what he has heard from the school supervisor telling them the story of the guests of Abraham (PBUH).
He has already heard the story from his Muslim friends. Conversely, the supervisor was narrating it from the Bible point of view, in a manner strange to him. His heart has rejected the story outright. He has remembered the story in Genesis, that the guests of Abraham, peace and blessing of Allah be with him, were God himself and two of his angels. They have eaten, drank and rested at Abraham’s.
Tanago’s instinct denied, and his mind refused this assumption; he asked himself: is this possible? Would Allah come down from the lofty heavens to eat at Abraham’s?
Would Allah- the Exalted - embody himself into the image of a weak human being?
What’s the matter with the school supervisor?! What is babbling about? Is it possible that the Bible is saying this?
Tanago wanted to remove doubts with certainty. He bought a copy of the Holy Bible and rushed to read it. His readings caused hi deeper wounds and further pains. The pages of the Bible have sprung many surprises he has never imagined existed in his holy scriptures.
The Bible claims that Christ is the son of God.
Furthermore, it surprises its readers by bestowing two earthly lineages on Christ. One starts with Joseph the carpenter, the alleged fiancé of the Virgin Mary.
Tanago has been flabbergasted; he has asked incredulously: What has Joseph the carpenter to do with the Virgin Mary? At the opening of Mathew and Luke, the Bible has included a list of Christ’s fathers. It’s also strange that Luke’s Gospel attributes to the Virgin Mary that she has said to her son: “Son, behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.”[Luke 2/48]; when was Joseph the carpenter, Christ’s father? How?
The life story of Christ (PBUH) in the Bible added insult to injuries to Tanago. The church says: he is the son of God, yet the Bible relates the story of Christ fleeing to Egypt in fear of King Herod. It also tells that the devil was harming Christ and trying to beguile him.
If Christ was god-as, they claim- he wouldn’t have fled from Herod. Furthermore, the devil wouldn’t have dared to tempt him!
In contrast, Tanago noticed that the Bible speaks about the Messiah as a human being.
He was a mere messenger sent by God no more. In his gospel, John tells about Jesus that he has informed the Jews about his humanity. In John (8/40), Jesus said: “But now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth, which I have heard of God.”
In another chapter, he called to believe in his message: “Then Jesus, still teaching in the temple courts, cried out, "Yes, you know me, and you know where I am from. I am not here on my own, but he who sent me is true. You do not know him, but I know him because I am from him, and he sent me” (John7/28-29).
Christ, the messenger man, according to the Holy Gospels, has never claimed divinity.
Following a fierce struggle between pure instinct and the teachings of the church, Tanago reached a compromise. He will distance himself of any matters his mind rejects. He will get rid of all polytheistic words that stained the liturgy and hymns he used to chant during mass.
By coming to this conclusion; Tanago thought he would make peace with his mind. However, no sooner has this idea settled in his mind, that it was met with outright rejection. He rejected half-solutions. His conscience prodded him to re-think his decision. It encouraged him to do more study and apply more seriousness in the search for truth That Allah loves and accepts for His servants.
Throughout his studies of religions, the boy embarked on a mission to seek the truth. The boy recorded a number of observations on his faith comparing it to Islam. Among these, the difference between the congregational prayers the Muslims perform in their mosques, and that of the Christians in a church. Christians listen only to hymnals read in the Coptic language.
Tanago doesn’t understand the language. It was similar to a person speaking in hieroglyphic or Sanskrit.
There are no men of religion in Islam. This is another advantage that made Tanago prefer Islam to Christianity. He despises the idea of a mediator between Allah and his servants. He asked himself: would Allah appoint these pastors sinners as His agents to forgive people’s sins? Where are those of the morality and humility of Christ?
He felt disgusted and shocked at the scenes of the people of the church bowing to the monks and priests. These wouldn’t be called except with the highest and fanciest titles. They have been called His Eminence the Prelate or His Holiness the Pope. According to many Biblical texts, however, the most common and well known title of the Christ (PBUH) among his disciples has been “teacher."
In 1968, Tanago Sami Qasdullah decided to embrace Islam secretly, and choose the name Ahmad Sami Abdullah. He wasn’t yet fourteen years of age. He has been drawn to Islam through the accuracy of its followers in performing their faith. These have been restricted by time, space and manners.
Hence, each act of worship has its proper time, the way it should be performed, and sometime the place where it should be performed. Such detailed accuracy covers all aspects of human life. Christianity, however, lacks such an order. Neither prayers nor fasting are regulated within the Church. Furthermore, its edicts have lost religious commitment. Here, Tanago was faced with an inescapable question: “If Mohammad (PBUH) was a liar the way they claim he is, then, from where has this illiterate man brought such detailed and accurate rulings, that those doubters themselves lack?!
Tanago has been drawn to Islam’s lofty principles and its great structure. To this he has said: “Islam has won me over because of its recognition of the oneness of the Almighty Creator. Allah will not be compared to anything else, and full praise is due only to Him.
This pure monotheism has been characterized by its clarity and convenience. It’s far away from complexity and ambiguity and no effort is needed to substantiate it. Islam is for the Lord of the worlds means: docile obedience and submission to Allah alone. It’s the surrender of the mind, the heart the soul, the existence, the senses and feelings, the wealth and actions are to the Almighty Allah.”
Accepting Islam has been a new starting point in the life of the young Ahmad Sami.
He started reading the Qur’an during his high school and university years. He would stop long at the verses speaking of the messiah (PBUH), that mention his humanity and his devotion to Allah. “And behold! Allah will say: "O Jesus the son of Mary!
Did you say unto men, worship me and my mother as gods in derogation of Allah'?"
He will say: "Glory to You! Never could I say what I had no right (to say). Had I said such a thing, you would indeed have known it. You know what is in my heart, though I know not what is in Yours. For You know in full all that is hidden. "Never said I to them aught except what You did command me to say, to wit, 'worship Allah, my Lord and your Lord'; and I was a witness over them, whilst I had dwelt among them; when You did take me up You were the Watcher over them, and You are a witness to all things”. Sura Al-Maida, verses 116/117.
Ahmad Sami has also studied different Christian denominations and reflected their responses to each other. He realized that when “you ask any of these sects: Where is the evidence? None of them will utter a word the way they always do.” He has been surprised at the protesters who support their beliefs and sayings with testimonies of monks and fathers.
However, they do not attribute the texts to God or Christ. Furthermore, the sayings of these priests shouldn’t be used as evidence, but must be subjected to scrutiny.
Ahmad never spared any effort to hide his reversion to Islam in fear of his family’s retribution. He kept his prayer and fasting secret from his brothers’ preying eyes.
Indeed, he used to accompany them to the church to dispel their doubts. Ahmad’s certainty about his good choice increases with every passing day. He has abandoned Christianity and its churches that are filled with pictures, images and icons. People jostle each other to kneel and prostrate to them. They seek the blessing of these stone and wooden idols, and fearing their curse. Watching this sight, Ahmad murmurs to himself: woes are unto to you, are there any harm to be feared or gains to be had from these deaf statues or paper images? In Sura Al-Anbiya, verses 66 and 67, the Qur’an states the following: “(Abraham) said, "Do ye then worship, besides Allah, things that can neither be of any good to you nor do you harm?"Fie upon you, and upon the things that ye worship besides Allah! Have ye no sense?”
With each passing day, Ahmad Sami’s conviction about his religion grew stronger. He said, “The Qur’an has been the main factor in keeping steadfast on the faith. It organizes human life in such a unique way unlike any other in all the books and all other religions.”
Ahmad received a Bachelor from the faculty of commerce, at Asyut University. Now, he longed to know more about the advantages of Islamic law. He went back to school and received a degree from the faculty of law.
He was fed up hiding his conversion to Islam; he wanted to announce it openly. However, he knew that such step will cost him his life.
Listen to what he has once said, as if he was reading the unseen of his destiny: “I wish they’ll get from me what they are after; the most they could achieve will be my assassination. It won’t be a killing, but martyrdom for the sake of Allah. Only patient fighters will ever be granted such a wish. As much as I firmly believe in Allah, I know there is no power on earth that would shorten my predestined life one single moment.”
In 1984, and in the Al-Azhar mosque, Ahmad declared his conversion to Islam. Later, in February 1986, he announced it to his family.
He tried to escape his folks abroad. However, a treacherous hand was faster. Eight months later, while going to work to Souhage, his brother shot him dead.
We ask Allah to grant him abode in paradise. We implore Him to count him among the martyrs, like Yasser and Sumaya, who have died for the sake of their religion. We supplicate Allah to please them and others among the Muslim believers’ martyrs. Allah granted the martyrs in his sake the highest ranks. The verses 169 and 170 –among many others- are clear testimonies to such an honor.
“Think not of those who are slain in Allah's way as dead. Nay, they live, finding their sustenance in the presence of their Lord. They rejoice in the bounty provided by Allah: And with regard to those left behind, who have not yet joined them (in their bliss), the (Martyrs) glory in the fact that on them is no fear, nor have they (cause to) grieve. They glory in the Grace and the bounty from Allah, and in the fact that Allah suffered not the reward of the Faithful to be lost (in the least).” |
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