Page 2 The Islamic Bulletin Issue 8 Page 3 The Islamic Bulletin Issue 8 Dear Editor: The South Africa Jamaat in Central Asia A South African Jamaat of four brothers left from Nizamudin, India to the USSR. The journey also took us to parts of Central Asia. This is a report of that part of our inspirational journey. Although the political situation in the USSR, including Central Asia, has changed since our visit, the spiritual needs of the people have not. After traveling through parts of the USSR, we went to Samarkand. It is a historical city which has been greatly influenced by Islam. It is the resting place of Kutham ibne Abbas (R.A.), the cousin of the Prophet (SAW) and brother of Abdullah Ibn Abbas (RA) who collected Ahadith from various Companions (RA). The family of the famous King Taimur (Tamerlane) is buried around Shah-e-Zindah (RA). Here also is the resting place of Abul Laith Samarkandi (RA) whose story appears in the Fazail Al Ahmal. The famous Registan Square complex is in the heart of the city. A Darul Uloom, the jaame masjid and a university was once housed in this complex. But today it is only a tourist attraction. Eid-ul-Adha Salat was performed here this year after many years. Masjid Namaaz, 25 km away from Samarkand is the resting place of Hazrat Imam Bukhari (RA). Muslims from all over USSR come here. The Imam of the masjid opened the room where Hazrat Imam Bukhari used to perform Itikaaf. The Imam served us tea under 4 large and high trees that were grown about 500 years ago. From Samarkand we went to Bukhara. We stayed in the Masjid Madressa complex of Imam Bukhari (R.A.). Salat in one section of the masjid had started only 2 months before. About 225 students from all over USSR are staying and studying here. It is said during the glorious days of Islam, nearly 10,000 people from all over the world used to listen to the discourses of Hazrat Imam Bukhari (R.A.) in this Masjid. This is the city from where emanated the most authentic Kitab (book), Sahih Bukhari. But alas, we cried when we saw tourists walking with their shoes inside the masjid and taking photos. Letters To The Editor The Imam of the masjid still remembers the first jamaat from India. He asked one of the brothers to perform the Jumha Khutba. He gave us a guide who took us to the tomb of Hazrat Bahauddin Nakhshbandi (R.A.), founder of the Nakhshbandi Sillsila. 30 km from here is the resting place of the famous mathematician, philosopher, doctor and astrologist, Ibn Sina, who is known to the Western world as Avicenna. In Samarkand and Bukhara the work of inviting was established in a few Masjids. Imams and local brothers told us that jamaats from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, U.K., and Arab countries have been coming since many years and have found their effect to be tremendous. When we returned to Tashkent, Sharif Bhai suggested very strongly we go to Mongolia. Unlike Russia, in Mongolia not the slightest trace of Islam was left. All Masjids and madressas were destroyed. Islam was totally wiped out. Only a few old people remember the broken words of Kalima Tayyiba. There are about 180,000 Muslims out of a total population of 2.2 million. They are mainly in a province on the Chinese border. Ulan Bator is the capital. 10,000 Muslims are known to live here. We went for local invitation efforts for two days but did not meet any Muslims. We then went to Bayan-Ulgi where there are about 80,000 Muslims. There are no Masjids or madressas; people know nothing about deen (religion). The only thing they know is that the South African Jamat was Muslim. Nobody knows when Ramadan starts or ends. No Islamic calendar. We went to a few houses and demonstrated how to pray Salat, perform wudu and Azaan. They have igloo type houses with wooden floors and coal stoves. They are very warm inside. About 50 people can perform salat in them when empty. We also visited some of the 15 Muslim villages around here. A jamaat from UK worked here. We taught many children Surah Fatiha, Surah Ikhlas, Attahiyaat, etc. The only thing we could do was to make the people repeat Kalima Tayyiba. We cried when we left Mongolia, knowing the condition of our Muslim brothers and sisters. We hope another jamaat could go there as soon as possible. The last town we went to was Ashkaba in the republic of Turkmenistan. We had a seven hour delay because we missed a flight when their taxi took them to the wrong airport. However, this gave us an opportunity to meet Muslims from many parts of the world at airport and to pray Zuhr and Asr with them. We arrived at Ashkbad at 11.pm. We had no addresses of Muslims or Masjid, but Urazmurad, a brother we met on the flight took us in. He awoke his entire family at midnight, cooked food and slept with us in one room. The next day the Sheikh and other people of his town were invited for lunch. About 40 years ago an earthquake destroyed this town. Three new Masjids are being built. Many old people have Sunna beards. Ladies wear veils to observe the Muslim custom of modesty and Muslim schools have started. This concluded our visit to Central Asia. From here, we returned to Tashkent in the USSR to complete our work. [To be continued] Need to contact us? Web Address: www.islamicbulletin.org E-Mail: info@islamicbulletin.org Editor, Islamic Bulletin P.O. Box 410186 San Francisco, CA 94141-0186, USA by C. Pedrick Twenty one years ago, Rosario Pasquini (Danilo) was a heavy smoker, drank more whisky than was good for him and led what he now describes as a nightmare existence, tormented by the stress of having to succeed in his job as a lawyer in the busy northern city of Milan. Pasquini, born in Fiume in 1934, graduated from the University of Milan in 1957 and became a Muslim in 1974. Now in his 50s, Pasquini calls himself Abdurrahman. He leads the Friday Prayer at the Mosque of Il Misericordioso and is a teacher of Arabic and Islamic culture. He is also the author of L’Islam Credo, Pilastri, Vertice e Perfezione and Muhammad, L’Inviato di Dio. Abdurrahman still lives in Milan, but he has traded his lawyer’s briefcase for something that gives him more satisfaction. He is now editor of a newspaper called “Il Messagero del Islam”, (The Messenger of Islam) an eight page tabloid written for the growing numbers of Italians who, like the former lawyer himself, decided to convert to the Muslim faith. In Italy the ranks of Christians who have converted to Islam are swelling daily. Just as in France and England whose most famous convert is the former pop singer Cat Stevens (Yusuf Islam), a growing number of Italians are turning to the Muslim faith for spiritual solace. “Every day, people come in wanting to know more about Islam and the conversion process,” said Abdurrahman, who edits his newspaper from an office at Milan’s Islamic Center. “Yesterday it was one, today there were two. They come from all over, from different classes and backgrounds, and they all have different reasons for doing it.” Italian Christians who have decided to embrace Islam include engineers, artists, intellectuals, students and even a nun. Some have taken the step because they married a Muslim, while for others it is a purely intellectual or religious choice. But whatever the initial reason, converts say their final decision has almost always been accompanied by a feeling of frustration with too much consumerism and stress, and a yearning for a spiritual dimension that has become lost in most of Western society. Some of the people who decide to become Muslims do so because, like me, they are going through a very difficult period in their life,” he says. “Others have family problems. There are even some who are high school students and have converted in secret because they are scared to tell their parents.” Abdurrahman himself received support and understanding from his own family. He says, “They took the view that I was old enough to make my mind up for myself, and let me get on with it. In fact, my mother, who is 85 years old and has remained a Catholic, recently said to me: “I Praise Allah, because if you had continued to live the way you did before you converted, you would be dead by now.” He continues, “At the time I was prey to a terrible mental stress, brought on by the competitiveness that is so prevalent in our type of society. After a long period of searching, I finally arrived at Islam which says that no one except God has the right to judge and dominate other men. This is what I was looking for. For me it represented a liberation from a society which believes itself to be free, but which instead forces its members to bow under the yoke of many, many different demands.” Like many converts, Abdurrahman embraced his new faith whole heartily. He learned Arabic so he could read the Quran and participate in mosque life without having to rely on translations. His command of the language has become so good that he now teaches it. The former lawyer’s interpretation of the Muslim faith is strict and unyielding. As well as announcements of births, marriages and conversions, his Muslim newspaper carries advice on how Italian converts should behave. For example, he advises that a woman who intends to drive her car beyond the boundaries of her own neighborhood should make sure she is accompanied by a relative. One of the factors that contributed to his conversion was a meeting that developed into a strong friendship with Jordanian born, Ali Abu Shwaima, then a medical student, now the director of the Milan Islamic Center. Shwaima’s wife is also Italian. Like Pasquini, she decided to convert to Islam and changed her name from Paola Moretti to Khadija, after the Prophet Muhammad’s first wife. Today, she recalls with some amusement the first time she ventured out into the streets wearing a veil. That was 15 years ago, when Italians were far less used to seeing Muslims than they are now. “I felt everyone’s eyes on me. It was rather embarrassing,” she said. “I could hear the other women in the supermarket whispering things like, “who is she, a nun?’ Or ‘Maybe she belongs to some sect.’ But that kind of attitude no longer bothers me, she said. I’m sure of the choice I made. It certainly wasn’t easy at the beginning, when I made my conversion. But wearing the veil is a duty for women. I couldn’t accept one part of the Quran and not the other.” Guiuseppina, now known as Fatima, was a Roman Catholic nun, studying theology and living in a convent in Modena in central Italy. She began reading the Quran, and as her interest grew she started having doubts about her own religion and vocation. She took to visiting the Islamic Center in Milan, and finally after a great deal of soul searching, she renounced her vows and converted to Islam. Today, she is married to a fellow Muslim. Daniela was born in Sicily and became a convert nine years ago, when she married an Egyptian. She willingly obeys all the rules of her new faith. “When I go out, I always wear a scarf over my head and I keep my legs and arms covered,” she said. “A woman should keep all parts of feminine beauty covered, because only her husband has the right to see them. It seems perfectly right to me.” In spite of her acceptance of what other Western Women might see as limitations, Daniela claims her relationship with her husband is one of absolute equality. Franco Leccesi, who prefers to be known as Omar, claims the precise rules laid down by Islam help a person gain greater self discipline, which in turn leads to physical and spiritual improvement. Looking back to the old days before he converted seven years ago, he said: “I always used to try to impose my own self discipline, but it never lasted very long,” added the 42 year Neapolitan artist, “but in the past six years I’ve noticed a dramatic improvement in myself. If you pray five times a day it also forces you to break off from the daily treadmill. It makes you stop and reflect and prevents you from becoming an automation, who lives his life mechanically. “One thing that strikes me very deeply is the dramatic difference between old people in many Muslim countries, and those in the West.” he added. There, the elderly are often far more lucid and energetic, right up until old age, they often have remarkable physical and mental powers in comparison with people of the same age over here. It’s largely due to the lifestyle they learn from childhood, which enables them to eliminate stress and to do without the kind of things that poison our systems. We westerns have lost so much of the spiritual dimension of our lives. It’s as though we’ve fallen into a deep sleep. We’re living in a world that is so empty- it’s very frightening to contemplate.” Italy Turns to Islam
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