My Reversion to Islam

By: Muhammad Yusuf ‘Abd al-Latif

 

 

I am a white American Muslim male. I see myself as a ‘revert’ to Islam in that, according to Muslim belief, all people are born in a state of Islam inasmuch as we are born in a natural state of submission to Allah. That is what ‘Islam’ means, after all.

Islam for me is natural in a way that Baha’ism never was–and never can be. No one is born a Baha’i, and to this the Baha’i writings bear witness.

How I became associated with the Baha’i faith

Though I was thus born a Muslim I was raised a Baha’i. All the same it was not until I was about fourteen that I became seriously interested in Baha’ism and began reading Baha’i writings. I come from a “mixed” family. My mother, you see, is Catholic and Baha’ism never played a very important role in my life until my father, a Baha’i, began taking me to Baha’i prayer-meetings and Baha’i Sunday school. By the time I was eighteen I was heavily involved in Baha’i activities, so much so that I was asked to serve as a camp counselor at Green Acre, a Baha’i summer camp in Maine. People judged that I was a devoted Baha’i and that I had much to share with other Baha’i youth.

My conflict with the idea of oneness of religion

Some things anyone reading this should know about Baha’ism. It teaches that all the religions are one. Yes, even cults like Hinduism, with its plethora of deities and its notorious obsession with sex; or Buddhism which holds that Allah doesn’t even exist! Krishna and the Buddha, say Baha’is, were prophets whose teachings are just as valid as those of Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad (peace be upon them). When still a Baha’i I realized I could not rationalize any of this. Hindus themselves admit that they follow no prophet, and this so-called Krishna character is nothing more than one of the thousands of gods they worship. In fact, Hindu scripture recounts Krishna’s numerous sexual exploits, and how he used to steal milk. Not exactly what I call prophetic behavior! If Baha’is admit him into their ring of Prophethood, then what’s to stop them from saying that other pagan deities like Zeus, Osiris, and Thor are also prophets?
In my opinion, anyone who says that all the religions are one is hopelessly confused, because they have no idea themselves what is right and wrong. It’s like when I show my mom two shirts. “Which one looks better, the red one or the one with the yellow and blue stripes?” I’d ask her. “Oh, I don’t know, they both look fine to me!” she’d reply. As I’ve said, my mother is not a Baha’i but this attitude sums up Baha’is perfectly: they simply do not KNOW which religion is the right way and, as a result of their ignorance, they assume that all religions are ‘okay’.

Concerns with the old and new testaments

Furthermore, they believe that such holy texts as the Bible and the Torah exist today in their original, unaltered form. Where’d that idea come from? You pick up a Catholic Bible, a Protestant Bible, and–if you can read it–an Ethiopian Orthodox Bible and you can see for yourself that there are whole sections which are missing in some versions while, in other versions, other sections are added. Furthermore, the Bible has been re-written in colloquial English and Ebonics; and recently some feminist has gone out and printed an edition of the Bible in which she has replaced ‘He’–referring to Allah–with ‘She’. So, contrary to what the Baha’is believe, the Bible has indeed been altered, and continues to be altered as I write these words.

When I was a Baha’i, I simply put these matters out of my head. It’s not like any other Baha’is knew the answers anyway. Of course, with no clergy or religious scholars to guide the way, that’s not surprising.

First time I read Quran

As I began studying Islam in college, though, I was able to read the Quran for the first time, and was deeply moved–and very impressed–by its uncompromising monotheism. You read the Quran–especially in its original Arabic text–and you KNOW it’s the word of Allah. And as Allah Himself tells us, it has never been changed–nor can it be changed. By contrast, the holiest book for the Baha’is, the ‘Kitáb-i-Aqdas’ is nothing but an enumeration of laws. No one recites it and there’s no beauty or poetry in its words. Furthermore, Baha’is always speak of their texts as being written by the self-styled Baha’i ‘prophet’ Bahá’u’lláh or his son `Abdu’l-Bahá. Even they admit that what they read is not created by Allah!

Baha’is view on Islam & Israel

I had taken this course in Islamic thought because I had this fascination with the Middle East, and I very much wanted to travel there. Nevertheless, I was under no illusion that, for Baha’is, this posed problems. Much though Baha’is might create the impression of respecting Islam, I was always taught to fear Muslims. A Muslim, I was told, was a fanatical bigot who would slit my throat for my Baha’i beliefs. What no Baha’is ever told me, however, was that Israel, which ALL Baha’is support, is guilty of some of the worst crimes against humanity since Hitler, most of them directed against Muslims. The Baha’i world center is in Haifa, Israel and Rúhiyyih Khanum–a prominent leader of the Baha’i community–once said that the fate of Baha’ism and Israel are forever intertwined. And at Baha’i Sunday school we were made to sing songs about Baha’i delusions, among them this one song called ‘Queen of Carmel’, a reference to the holy site on Mount Carmel in Haifa. The refrain goes ‘Cry out O Zion, cry out to your Lord!’ That should be enough to convince anyone that the Baha’is are Zionists to the core, and that they share in the blame for all the misery which Israelis have created for Palestinians.

My reversion to Islam

It wasn’t hard for me to lose interest in Baha’ism once this realization started to kick in. For me, reverting to Islam wasn’t difficult because the Bahá’is have taken many of their laws from Islam. Alcohol and gambling are banned in Baha’ism, for example, so it wasn’t like I had to give up much by becoming a Muslim. I figured that anything good in Baha’ism was already found in Islam, so you can easily imagine my excitement when, in February of 1999, I went to the mosque near the college where I study and took the shahadah, testifying that there is no God but Allah, and that Muhammad is His Messenger. And His LAST Messenger, too, I might add.

What Quran tells about Baha’ism

Allah tells us in the Quran that in this day he has perfected Islam and made it as a religion for all humanity. What room is there left for Baha’ism in Allah’s great plan? And as we read in the Quran Allah is the best of planners. Just think of the arrogance it must take for Baha’is to think that they can change what Allah has already perfected? Similarly Allah tells us in the Quran that Muhammad (blessings and peace be upon him and his family) was the ‘Seal of the Prophets’. The Bible and the Torah speak of Muhammad’s coming, and in fact the Song of Solomon (in the Old Testament) reports actually preserves the name ‘Muhammad-im’ in the original Hebrew in a reference to the coming of the Arab Messenger. Not all the Bible has been altered, of course! But nowhere in the Quran do I hear mention of any Bahaullah. Hmmm…

Baha’is favorite target:

I occasionally hear Muslims complain about the problems Christians and Jews create for the worldwide Islamic community, I feel strongly that the Bahá’is pose a threat to Muslims–indeed ALL people–which is far greater than any Jews or Christians ever could. Bahá’is combine the evangelical zeal of Christian missionaries with the uncompromising Zionism of ultra-orthodox Jews. They roam around the word, ‘Kitáb-i-Aqdas’ in hand, intent on spreading their false doctrines. Underprivileged people in the developing world are their favorite target, though they can strike anywhere at any unsuspecting person. If anything, I would advise Christians and Jews–and anyone else for that matter–to join Muslims in the fight to defeat the Satanic forces of Baha’ism. In the end, we will all benefit.

 

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