The truth must be told-21 September

Mohammad Yousuf (formerly known as Yousuf Youhana), one of the best batsman in Pakistan cricket team has announced recently that he has converted to Islam. The conversion took place at the holy city of Makkah, Saudia Arabia.

He is facing a tough time. At the moment, he is trying to balance things and get them(his family) through this tough period.". Said one of Yousuf's team mate.

After reading about what he had to go through it reminded me of how it was for me when I started questioning Islam and Allah. It was back in 1999 that I first started thinking about the truth in Islam. I wanted to find God. I was not sure if Quran and Sunnah were not tempered. I had no way to find out. And I didn't had these doubts only about Islam but in fact for me any religion on this earth could have been just man made. I tried to study different religions but all had their basis on books and books alone. No book or no sayings or no believes were enough to make me believe in Allah. I was looking for a proof that attested the existence of God and about which I could be sure that it was not possible for any human to have control over it. And so I kept searching on the Internet, in the books and among people from different faiths.

"I have embraced Islam because of my love for the religion, God Almighty and Prophet Mohammad. There are no other intentions and if people think that there is some sinister motive behind my conversion, then I pray to God Almighty to give them wisdom," Yousuf said from Lahore.

When I started to discuss my doubts with others in order to find answers to my questions, all I got back were replies like "You have gone mad", "What do you know about Islam, you haven't spent as much time as those clerics", "Probably some one is misleading you", "The only way for you to understand our religion is to practice it", "I hate Islam". They all thought that I was wrong but no one had answers for me. All they had were their thoughts and believes.

"I don't want to give Yousuf my name after what he has done," Yousuf's mother was quoted as saying by the Daily Times newspaper.

I didn't cared much about what others thought of my believes, but I was worried about my family, especially my parents. They just couldn't understand my reasons no matter how many convincing arguments I provided them. For them I was their little boy who had to be saved from evil. I was 25 years old but for them I was too young to understand whats good for me and whats not.

I might have saved myself from a lot of trouble if I had kept quite about my believes but at the time I was way too much confused about all that I saw and just couldn't stop myself from asking others. The main reason that made me to question my believes as a Muslim and as a human being created by God, was the fact that Muslims and non-Muslims alike didn't seemed to believe in their book. Almost every one is practicing the religion of their elders or clerics explanations of their holy book and not the book itself. I found that sometime these explanations twisted the real obvious meaning.

"I have kept it secret for two years due to pressure from my relatives. I now feel the revolutionary changes in myself. Islam has turned my life completely", he stated this while talking to press at Qadafi Stadium, Lahore.

I kept searching for Allah till It found me. Through dreams. It has been almost six years since I first read about 'Istakharas' and started practicing them. All I do is that I first try to discuss my problems and possible solutions/decisions with people I trust. If I get a suitable answer that I feel is right, I start acting on it. But if I cant find an answer or if some hurdle comes my way in trying to implement my selected solution I pray to God and go to sleep, hoping that I would get my answer in my dream.

You might ask why do I think that these dreams are from God. They could be only my subconscious mind playing games with me.

For the last six years I have been seeing events in my dreams that have come true.

"I cannot tell you what a great feeling it is," said Yousuf.

Welcome to the true religion of God, Mohammad Yousuf.