When Sheikh Muhammad `Abdullah, Ziya Ar-Rahman started off, if someone told him as a 20-year old new convert that one day he would be the dean of the faculty of the college of Hadith at Madinah Al-Munawwarah and hundreds of scholars would sit at his feet, he would have laughed. This is what happens when you have persistence and determination; when you don’t set any barriers and when you let Allah (Glory be to Him) take you as far as your determination allows you to go. Slowly but surely, this is exactly what happened with Dr. Ziyar Ar-Rahman.
One of the stories that affected many
people was the story of the professor at the University of Madinah
Al-Munawwarah, the most courageous teacher Sheikh Muhammad Ziya
Ar-Rahman Al-A`azami. He was the dean of the College of Hadith Sciences
in Saudi Arabia.
He and his Hindu Family
What was really impressive about the sheikh was that he was born into a Hindu family, and he was raised as a practicing, fervent and devoted Hindu and by the time he became Dean of the Faculty of Hadith at one of the top Islamic university. Hadith is one of the most advanced sciences of Islam.
When he was young he was taught to hate Muslims and he never had a Muslim friend. Brahmans weren’t supposed to touch someone who was not a Brahman. He was taught to separate and isolate himself from the people of other faiths and live only in his Brahman caste. He was accepted in university in India and was assigned to live with a Muslim roommate.
His Inclination to Islam
He didn’t know what to do between hatred, revulsion, and loathing. He decided to give him Da’wah and convert him to Hinduism and so he needed to study this man’s religion. He began reading the Glorious Qur’an and the life of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). He was immensely fascinated by the life of the Prophet Muhammad and asked how he could find out more about him (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and was told to read the books of Hadith. This was in the 1950s in India. He asked: “What is Hadith?” They told him Hadith is what the Prophet Muhammad said. He asked for the books and they said they are all in Arabic. He asked where he could study Arabic and they told him that he needed to go abroad and study in university. His study brought him to the blessed shade of Islam and became able to study Arabic and Islamic sciences.
“So is one whose breast Allah has expanded to [accept] Islam and he is upon a light from his Lord [like one whose heart rejects it]?” (Az-Zumar39:22) |
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