Struggling To Surrender: A Journey to Islam [Dr Jeffrey Lang]

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SINGAPORE Dr Jeffrey Lang was recently in Singapore as part of Darul Arqam’s series of lectures to talk about his experience in discovering Islam. He shared his moments of unexpected encounters with faith and how the holy Qur’an drew him into passionate conversations between the lines of verses which led him towards discovering the One Most High.

A common theme that I find with most converts to Islam is the essence of ‘Discovery’, of how they discovered the faith. It has left me reflecting on what it then means to be born into a Muslim family and culture, and whether ‘discovery’ may be stifled when the object of discovery, in this case true faith, is a ‘given’. Here are my thoughts:

• It is in the essence of every human being to question the world around him. Not doing so, is almost unnatural in itself.
• With that in mind, so too should we question ourselves and our place even though we are already born into Muslim families. The faith cannot be locked in when we do not convince ourselves that that which is supported is true.
• There is a call of courtesy, a way of questioning, the adab of questioning. Transgressing that method, and not the act of questioning itself, is what leads some astray.
• It takes a certain amount of humbleness in order to begin a journey of discovery. One cannot begin to try and discover if one is certain there is nothing there worth discovering in the first place. With that said, the road to discovery draws parallel with self-discovery, of knowing who you are and your place in the cosmos vis-a-vis Allah s.w.t.
• Discovery requires patience and steadfastness, and more often comes in moments when we least expect.

How good it is to know God, and yet how sweet it can be to discover God always. Like a young boy who is amazed at his first sight of the stars in the sky, so too we all hope for moments of magic with Him, Most High, always.

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