"In my dream, I saw a man doing sujud."

The other day, I listened to an interview with Imam Muhammad Abdul Latif Finch (of Canada) in Radio IKIM. One of the questions asked was how he came to embrace Islam. I love listening to stories of hidayah. He said that when he was young, he wanted to be devoted to something and looked everywhere, from skateboarding, music and partying to religions. He studied and bought religious items from all religions he could find until one day he threw all the items away because they cluttered his room too much. At that moment, he had an epiphany. He thought, “I’ve been looking for god but haven’t found him. Why not ask god? I’m sure he can listen to me.” So he asked (prayed?), “Oh god, I know you exist. But I don’t know who you are. Can you please show me who you are?” That night, (or maybe a few nights after, I couldn’t remember), he had a dream. He dreamt that he saw a man doing the sujud, and he recognized that this was an act in Islam. He himself then sujud, and felt an overwhelming tranquillity. The dream him moved him so much, that he embraced Islam the following week, at age 20 in 1995.

When asked about family acceptance, he spoke about his mother. She was open about it and told him, “Stay Muslim because you have been at your best since you became a Muslim.” She then read the Quran, and was really amazed at the verses which decribes the formation of embryo in the womb. There is no way a man in the Arabian desert 1400 years ago could know this. She embraced Islam one year after his son, followed by her husband. And Abdul Latif’s comment on what convinced her mother really made an impression on me. He said, “Allah shows what the person needs to see.”

When asked about his impressions on Muslims prior to his becoming a Muslim, he said he saw Islam as a religion full of rules and rituals, and he never saw the spiritual side of it, which was what he was really looking for to fill the emptiness in his heart.