MashaAllah So touching… Allahu Akbar May my parents, siblings and their families also revert to Islam.
2 weeks ago
| 58
You made me begin crying because of this. I’m a revert, and my parents haven’t reverted yet, but I hope to be a father that can do these same things, who can have a son or daughter that has this faith from the beginning, too. Rabbanaa hablana min azwajina wa dhuriyaatinaa qurrata ‘ayuniyyun May Allah (ﷻ) guide our parents, forgive our sins, and have mercy upon us and our offspring.
2 weeks ago
| 27
Great piece of writing. You should consider writing. That went straight to the heart.
2 weeks ago
| 5
You know what’s so special about your writings brother? So American from a Japanese person’s mouth with an Islamic perspective!!!! And it’s interesting and refreshing at the same time to have the perfect combination! Subhan ALLAH !
2 weeks ago
| 10
Made me emotional n cry! Much love n respect from 🇧🇩✨ Blessings upon you all.. Keep me in your prayer
1 week ago
| 1
Mashallah as a muslim living in japan i am gald to see more japanese brothers and sisters join our faith may Allah bless you and your family!
2 weeks ago (edited)
| 4
I haven't read such a beautiful and real story in a while. This is the true beauty that is found in this dunya, Islam.
2 weeks ago
| 4
This is so touching mashallah. May Allah make him a beacon of light, who carries forward the message of Islam ❤️
2 weeks ago
| 4
masyaAllah. may Allahu subhanahu wa ta'ala make your son, your family, and all of us istiqamah in Islam. aamiin
2 weeks ago | 0
this brought me to tears. سُبْحَانَ ٱللَّٰهِ may Allah grant you all jannatul firdaus.
2 weeks ago
| 3
MashaAllah may your son grow up to be an imam and scholar, aameen! U sound so proud of him.Alhamdulillah happy for you that u have a brother with you on the journey. May you all grow in faith together 🤲
2 weeks ago
| 2
ما شاء الله الله أكبر You know I come from a Muslim nation and rarely RARELY do I ever meet parents who raise their children as well as you do with your son and really tries to do their best and do it Islamicly, by making their children embrace Islam by will rather than by force and without explanations whatsoever. I think the topic doesnt have to be kid friendly, you're child asked and you answered truthfully. That's exactly the way to do it. I wish I had that as a kid, it not only shows the child you're not gonna evade every time they ask "hard questions", but also shows them that you respect them enough and treat them like they're humans too. Even as a child I always felt like I needed more respect and to be less treated like I won't understand when all I wanted to do was understand. That's another thing, explanations are very important for the child's growth, better that they learn "hard" things, because later on those are the things that will shape their personality and help them mature faster. Better than being ignorant and growing up still feeling like a child. Anyway, I'm just so happy to see this. It's very refreshing. الله يسعدك وعائلتك ويحفظكم من كل سوء ويثبت قلوبكم على الإيمان يا رب.
2 weeks ago (edited)
| 7
MashaAllah Allahu Akbar May Allah preserve you and grant baraka in you both, and grant from this young sapling the tree of Islam in Japan! Allahuma Ameen
2 weeks ago
| 6
Salam my brother.. we are happy for you and your family.. keep it up and make doa for our ummah ❤
2 weeks ago
| 4
Subhanallah. What a beautiful story. May Allah bless and protect him and your family.
2 weeks ago
| 2
This made me teary eyed. May Allah bless you and your son with the best of both worlds.🤲
2 weeks ago | 0
May Allah make our children and offspring sholihiin and sholihaat 🤲 O Turner of Hearts, keep our hearts steadfast in Your deen 🤲 O Turner of Hearts renew eeman in our hearts 🤲 O Turner of Hearts make it easy for us to remember You and be grateful to You and do best deeds for You 🤲 aa
6 days ago | 0
The Muslim Minority of Japan
This is my son. But also, my brother.
I reverted to Islam alone. And pretty much everyone was against it.
But I had my baby boy, who was there literally since my Shahadah. I can't explain it but somehow he was Muslim from before he could speak.
As a baby he would put his head on the floor next to mine when I prayed. He would point at random flowers, rocks, pieces of grass, clouds and look at me,
"Subhnlaa" he would say in his cute baby talk.
His heart was always something special.
For some unknown reason he was really interested in Spanish and South America so he taught himself how to count and say some phrases (as a 4 year old). One day walking around the park he asks me, "Papa, why do they speak Spanish in South America?" I took out my phone and showed him England, Spain, France and Portugal and gave him a short kid-friendly explanation in which he learned three new words:
"Colonization"
"Genocide"
"Oppression"
He collapsed on the side of the road and was inconsolable. Through his tears he looked at me in the eyes and said,
"Papa, I don't want to learn the language of the Oppressors!"
In retrospect, maybe is wasn't as "kid-friendly" as I thought. . . Anyways, that was it for Spanish. . . It took me a long time to convince him that he needed to keep learning English so that he could speak with our American family members.
Bedtime stories were secretly about the Sahabah (at the time his mom wouldn't have wanted to hear them.)
"Papa tell me the one about Abu Dahdah again!"
"Papa, tell me the funny one, Nu'yman!"
We had our own secret world that only we understood.
A place in our imaginations somewhere in between Mecca and Madinah. A place that we had never visited, but it still felt like a secret hide-out only we had access to.
Everyone in the family had made me promise not to force my Religion on anyone; especially the kids. I had agreed - "There is no compulsion in Religion" - I told them.
One day my 5 year-old boy walks up to my wife's mother while she is standing in the kitchen getting ready to make breakfast and says, "Grandma, is it okay if I don't eat pork anymore?"
She stood in shock, and I was braced for the worst.
We had already had so many fights since the time that I gave up pork.
But it was her first grandchild asking her, not me. And Grandma knows that there is something special about this boy too.
Everyone in the family looked at me, I just raised my eyebrows and shook my head, "Nope. Not me." I said with a huge grin on my face.
To this day I don't know how or why. I never talked with him about why I stopped eating pork, and I made an effort to avoid the topic. Fighting over pork was pretty low on my list of priorities. If anything, fights about pork and alcohol were counter productive.
No, at that point I was just trying to get my family to the starting line.
"la ilaha illa Allah" was all I wanted.
And here was my boy. His fitrah speaking truth to Grandma. She paused before responding, "Okay, if that's what YOU want. Is that what YOU want?"
"No more please" he said. And that was it for pork.
We didn't connect to the Muslim community until he was already maybe 8 years old. I had a few Syrian friends that met maybe once a year, and my boy had never met another Muslim kid in his life.
Everything changed when his mother accepted Islam, and we dived headfirst into the Japanese Muslim Community. Alhamdulillah. (she is much more social than me, haha)
This is a picture that I believe Maeno Sensei took of my boy giving the Adhan at the Japan Muslim Association the first time that we met.
Up until this moment neither myself or my boy had ever given adhan for anyone other than ourselves and the Angels.
And also at this moment I realized how far we had come.
That's why I say:
This is my son. But also, my brother.
2 weeks ago (edited) | [YT] | 937