My Way To Islam
By Bilal Philips | 2026-01-15T18:33:21.888657+00:00 | Topic: Iman
My Way To Islam
A Lecture by Dr. Bilal Philips
Opening
السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللَّهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ
بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ
Those who disbelieve from among the people of the scripture, and al-mushrikun, were not going to leave the disbelief until there came to them clear evidence. A messenger from Allah, reciting pure pages, wherein are books right and straight. And the people of the scripture differed not until after there came to them clear evidence. And they were commanded not, but that they should worship Allah, and worship none but Him alone, and offer prayers perfectly, and give zakah. And that is the right religion. Verily, those who disbelieve from among the people of the scripture, and al-mushrikun, will abide in the fire of hell. They are the worst of creatures. Verily, those who believe and do righteous good deeds, they are the best of creatures. Their reward with their Lord is gardens of eternity, underneath which rivers flow. They will abide therein forever. Allah well-pleased with them, and they with Him. That is for him who fears his Lord.
Introduction
As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. May Allah's peace and blessings be on each and every one of you.
This evening's presentation, which begins a series of lectures, is on my way to Islam. And I hope to share with you my personal experiences, which led me to the religion of Islam, not so much as a historical account of events, but more so from the point of view that there are lessons that may be learned from those in the audience who are Muslims, who may learn from my experience how Islam may be distorted and how it should be presented.
Early Life in Jamaica and Canada
I was born in Jamaica, which is an island, I'm sure most of you know about it. It seems to be most important for reggae in the world of music, and rum for those who are into drugs. It is also known as an area of tourism. At any rate, I was born in a Christian family. My mother was an Anglican, my father a Presbyterian, and my father's father was one of the leading church scholars there in Jamaica. He had learned Greek and Hebrew, and was quite a figure.
I didn't spend much time in Jamaica. My parents migrated to Canada when I was quite young, so I really don't have too many recollections of religion beyond as a child not wanting to put the penny in the plate. We all were given coins to take to church, and when the plate was passed around, you had to put the penny or whatever in the plate. I remember doing so because, of course, parents were there and you couldn't put it in your pocket, but doing so quite reluctantly and wondering to myself, why are we doing this? I would much prefer to use it to buy some candy or something else.
Growing Up in Canada
What I can recall of growing up in Canada, primary and secondary education, is having to go swimming naked. This is what has left the biggest impression on me. That all the way through junior high school and high school, all the boys had to go swimming naked. You weren't allowed to swim with swimming trunks unless you had a special permit, something from the doctor, the support of your family to get you out of it. So we all had to go swimming naked. And of course, showers after gym, it was just a big hall with shower heads and everybody showered naked.
I felt shy about it. I couldn't really understand why we had to do it, but this is what we had to do. Much later in life, I came to realize that there was a philosophy behind this. It was something being introduced as a means of breaking down the feelings of shyness that people naturally hold to exposing themselves in front of others. And it was a product of the Darwinian approach to sociology, psychology, wherein feelings of shyness are looked at as being sickness, a sign of some kind of mental problem. Since animals are not shy, we don't find dogs and cats, etc., being shy of being naked amongst their kind. Why should human beings be shy?
Early Exposure to Christianity and Islam
At any rate, with regards to Christianity, during my primary and secondary levels of education, Christianity was Sunday school. Sunday school was where you met girls and arranged parties. So, in terms of religious instruction, I guess it was going on, but most of us as children and young people were oblivious to it.
In terms of Islam, what I saw of Islam during that period, what I can remember, there was one song called Ahab the Arab. Later on, I came to find there was no Arabic name called Ahab. There's no Arabs by the name of Ahab, but this was the name of the song, Ahab the Arab, Sheik of the Burning Sands. This is what I remember. Cartoons, the image of that Arab riding on the camel with the sword in one hand and the Koran in the other. You either accept this Koran or you lose your head. This was the image. And in terms of reading, the only reading material I can remember really is the Thousand and One Nights, which was basically a book of pornography, you know, about the sexual lives of the Sultans and the Caliphs.
Moving to Malaysia
My family, after I completed high school, migrated to Malaysia. My parents were there with the Colombo Plan. Both of my parents were teachers, and they were there helping the Malaysian government in their educational program. There, my friends were mainly expats, and I can honestly say that there was no visible signs of Islam in the society.
Beyond, I guess, beyond the impression which was made very clear to us as expats that you don't mess with Malay girls, otherwise you'll get killed. You know, this is basically the... It was no connection with Islam. It was just Malay, really.
I must say that later on, years later, after becoming a Muslim and making Hajj, I remember seeing a number of people there in Mecca and in Medina, wearing these white coverings, and these women, they looked like the same people I saw in Malaysia, but I'd never seen anybody like that, dressed like that. And I remember asking some of my friends there, you know, who are these people? They said they're from Malaysia. I said, well, I never saw anybody like that.
Well, they explained to me that in Malaysia, you know, the women didn't dress like that. Just as I saw them, was how they dressed, you know, wearing the cultural garments that they wore. And they would carry their Islamic dress in a bag to the mosque, if they went to the mosque, and then they would put it on when they went inside the mosque. So I never saw that garb because people didn't wear it openly in the society.
My Adopted Brother - A Silent Muslim
During this period, my mother and father adopted an Indonesian boy whose name was Aus Suleiman. His name
was contracted to Westman. He was born in Malaysia, but was from Indonesian parentage. And because of the fact that the, at the time, may still be the same policy, I don't know, that Indonesians who were born in Malaysia would not be given an opportunity for higher education, you know, beyond high school A-levels. They wouldn't be given a chance to go to university colleges.
So my mother had taken a liking to this particular boy and was concerned about the fact that he didn't have any future and wanted to take him to Canada so that he would be able to continue his education. But the Canadian government insisted that the only way that he could be taken was if he was adopted. So my parents adopted him.
And myself, my brother and sister lived together with him for some years there in Malaysia before going to Canada. Now, here was a Muslim element in my family, but which had no real impression on me because of the fact that my adopted brother, and of course I should mention that according to Islamic law, adoption is not permissible. But at any rate, this is what happened.
His father was dead and my parents took him in and his name was changed. His family name was changed to our family name. But he was a quiet and shy Muslim. He never said anything to us about Islam. Sometimes we'd open his room door and if he happened to be praying near the door, the door would bounce him in the head whilst he was in prostration. We'd close back the door and speak to ourselves and say, you know, what's going on? What is he doing in there? We'd wander.
We'd see him on the ground with his head on the ground. But we were ourselves embarrassed to ask him about it and he never said anything to us. So though he was Muslim within the family, if my mother was preparing food and we all ate pork, well, she prepared fish for him. We understood that he was eating different things than we ate. And during the month of Ramadan, my mother would get up early and prepare suhoor for him. So he fasted.
He fasted, he prayed. He did his basic Islam in the family but he never said anything to us.
University Life and Revolutionary Politics
For myself, while going to school there, I got involved in music. I came to be known at that time as the Jimi Hendrix of Saba, emulating his style of dress and the type of music that he used to play. So I had my own rock group there. And this was basically the focus of my life until I finished off high school and decided to go back to Canada to further my education on a tertiary level, which is in university.
I was accepted in University of Simon Fraser and there I went to do a degree in biochemistry. Simon Fraser University at the time was one of the more experimental universities in the sense that they were introducing the credit hour system, which was not followed by the other universities across the country. They were following the British system of a single course throughout the year.
And at the same time, what you found there was there was really a great looseness in the whole structure of the university. And there were a number of American students in this university who had come up to the university and their ideas were influencing the students at the university. And what we found there is that in the liberal arts program, sociology, the humanities, sociology, psychology and anthropology, the professors were from the Timothy Leary School.
So I don't know if you know who Timothy Leary is, but he's an individual. He just died a few months back and had his remains shot out into space on a rocket. Timothy Leary was the discoverer of LSD, psychedelic drugs.
At any rate, these professors, following the same tradition of Timothy Leary, used to begin classes by passing out a bag of marijuana. And after everybody had smoked up, then discussion began. So as I said, Simon Fraser was quite different from most universities at the time.
And the situation there was quite fluid. At the same time, what was going on was there was a subtle introduction of ideas of communism in the minds of the students, you know, in these type of courses. I mean, though my major was biochemistry, we had to take these other courses as electives. And these ideas of communism were being introduced as they would guide and provide leadership for that student revolt. Eventually, the campus, Simon Fraser University campus, was shut down. Students took it over, took over the administration.
And of course, the protest at the time was against Canada's involvement with America in the Vietnam War. During this period, I was directly involved. And I began a conversion to what may be called revolutionary politics.
Conversion to Communism
I scrapped Christianity because it was really something which wasn't implemented in my life, so to speak. I mean, if somebody asked me, were you a Christian, I guess up to that point I would have said, yes, I was a Christian. But what it meant to be a Christian, that was left to the individual's interpretation. And I guess that's basically the way it is for most people today who are Christians.
During this period, I began to do a lot of reading in Marxist-Leninist literature. And I was exposed briefly to something of Islam through the autobiography of Malcolm X. However, it was read, his autobiography was read as a part of required reading. For you to be a solid revolutionary in those days, you had to read certain books. You just had to get through these books to be able to say, I read these books. So I read it amongst the books.
I mean, there was some interesting information probably regarding his early life in terms of the type of racial injustices which existed in America, which awoken me more along with other books of this type to the oppression which existed in Western society and made me more open to embrace the communist ideal of a just society, communist banners of equality, justice, and fair distribution of wealth, etc. It was very attractive at that time. So, I converted to communism.
Disillusionment with Communist Movement
I dropped out of school, finished off basically what was called an associate degree, two years in biochemistry. And from there, I left Canada and went down to the States because this was where revolutionary activities were taking place. I joined a group there in Los Angeles and San Francisco known as the Solidad Defense Committee, which was basically involved in gathering funds for a court case which was going on at the time for both the Solidad brothers as well as Angela Davis because she was imprisoned at the time.
What I noted, I had gone down there with a lot of ideals about communism and its implementation. What I noted was that there were a number of discrepancies in terms of the morality of the people involved. After one rally where we had marched with placards and everything through the city and there was a set of donations collected and taken back to the headquarters, I wanted to buy a pack of cigarettes. I didn't have any more money. And I said to the person who was there in the office, if they could lend me some money to buy a pack of cigarettes. They said, it's okay.
They pulled open the drawer and out of the donation box they gave me some money to buy cigarettes. I took it and went and bought the cigarettes but something struck me. How could this be that we were gathering this money to help these people's legal cause and then they so easily would take from this money to give me to buy cigarettes. They told me, it's okay. We all get our basic things out of it. I came to find out that in fact, everybody's rent was being paid out of these funds.
People were buying cars for transportation. Parties were organized with these funds. Drugs and alcohol was bought with these funds. It really bothered me. I continued with them but this thing really struck at me and just left me really disheartened.
The final straw was at the major rally which was held in Los Angeles where the leaders of the various organizations that were active at the time, the Black Panthers and others got together. Everybody was just drunk. It was done at a big park and people were just drunk out of their minds. After a lot of talk and then it was just a whole drunken scene.
To me, I won't say I wasn't involved in drugs at the time also like everybody else but it was something like you don't do this when you are involved in party activities and things like this. It is supposed to be controlled. That's what people said. But the fact of the matter is that there was this just wide open lack of discipline amongst these people and I felt inside myself that this was not going anywhere really. I could see there was nowhere, nothing, no real future in it.
Return to Toronto and Further Disillusionment
Probably one of the most popular books for standard reading at that time was a book called Soul on Ice. The
person who wrote it who was a member of the Black Panthers he wrote this book which was basically about raping white women. This was what the book was about how many different white women he raped and it was presented in such a way that people were looking at this as being his reaction to racism in America and it was all justified. But I couldn't get over when I was reading this this just seemed to be a book of a serial rapist. I couldn't see that other side of it but this was standard reading.
After the rally in the park in Los Angeles I decided to go back to Toronto and get involved there instead with the people who maybe I was more familiar with. I went back and joined an organization there called Black Youth Organization which worked with the Black Students Union and University of Toronto campus and being involved again this was still an extension of communist politics with some element of nationalistic teachings which is that we would focus on black Canadians and try to elevate their consciousness towards the oppression which existed but again I found myself in a situation where it was mainly students and young people talking to young people we weren't really affecting anything in the society.
And I could say probably my biggest exposure here was to reading, further reading to books of famous writers of the past probably the most striking thought that I can remember from that era was that of a writer, Frederick Douglass who back in the 1800s he was a black man who had been freed and was quite outspoken for the cause of black people in America he made a statement that the limits of oppressors are defined by those who they oppress where he put the responsibility on the oppressed that they are the ones ultimately that define how much they will be oppressed that left sort of an impression on myself in that it sort of indicated that the state of a people is determined by their own consciousness.
If they don't want to be free if they don't want to be liberated they don't want to be educated then they won't be you really can't make people free people have to want to be free.
First Contact with Islam Through Books
During this period I had some exposure to Islam we had a standard movie that everybody had to watch known as the Battle of Algiers which documented the Algerian struggle for independence and of course the battle cry during that struggle was Allahu Akbar there were women wearing hijab and hiding weapons under their outer garments so there was something of Islam there then I also came in contact with the black Muslims Elijah Muhammad's followers I went to the states again and visited some of their temples though I was impressed by the discipline that they had in terms of the personal discipline outwardly anyway this idea that God was a black man I had given up the idea of God anyway becoming a communist but then the idea that God was a black man who should be worshipped became even more ludicrous to me so I didn't find really anything attractive about Islam at that period and I just continued to to be involved in the activities of this organization.
I continued to play music at the time I used to play in nightclubs and for rallies to raise money also for the activities of the organization but slowly again I found myself in a state where I didn't see any future in what we
were doing we were not affecting any major change in the society it seemed really not to be going anywhere.
At this time what struck me was a movement in South America I think they were called the Tuparamos or Tupamaros or something like this in Argentina they were urban guerrillas they had taken the struggle to the streets fighting the government directly and there were movements in the states like the SDS students for democratic society who were taking that route also so I thought it seemed like that's the only thing that was left to be talking and rallying this didn't seem to be going anywhere the only thing left was now to take the battle to the streets.
So I decided to apply to go and study urban guerrilla warfare in China and I went to the Chinese embassy in Ottawa because Canada maintained relations with China during this period and I went to see the ambassador and the person in charge of education etc to make this application what struck me was the person who came to me was a chain smoker I mean he was smoking the whole time and these cigarettes without filters even you know very strong cigarettes but the whole time every cigarette was finished he started the next one and to me at that time the idea of control control of cigarettes and drugs and these type of things I thought it was important and this sort of struck me as something which wasn't very good because here was a person person who was supposed to be representative of the revolution and he had no personal discipline.
At any rate I filled out my application they told me you know we'll send you word as soon as the okay comes I went back to Toronto and waited this was over the Christmas holidays of 1971 and at this point what I found was that when I got back to Toronto that a good friend of mine was in the leadership committee of this organization which I belong to had accepted Islam she was the she became the wife of a known speaker today Dr. Abdullah Hakeem Quick who was involved in lecturing in different parts of the world I think he has come to Australia before at any case his wife was a good friend of mine had accepted Islam and this caused me to say well let me have a look because she was perhaps an even more fervent communist than I was she was a Maoist which is like the extreme wing at that time she had memorized virtually memorized Mao Zedong's red book and I would be able to make quotes anytime quotes were needed from Mao.
So for her to convert it struck me as something there's got to be something behind this so I asked her for some books and I began to read the first book I read was called Islam the Misunderstood Religion and this is written by Muhammad Qutub and this book basically was a comparison between Islam and all of the other systems that were out there Christianity Communism Capitalism Socialism from a social point of view a political point of view economics from all of the various aspects and after reading that book actually I was convinced that Islam really had the best program for human society for establishing justice etc. in human society.
I continued to read Towards Understanding Islam by Maududi and other books and I became more and more convinced of that reality that Islam really did have the best program but the concept of God the concept of God was something which just didn't reappear merely because you would like to believe you just start to believe having denied God for some years before it would take some time before belief in God was something which became a part of my life again.
The Dream That Changed Everything
And actually the turning point for myself having reflected and discussed etc. about God and belief in God it came for me at a time when in the commune in which I lived I had my own room and I had a lot of books and sometimes people would come in and borrow the books and read them in my room I didn't allow people to take them out of the room they would come in and read them sit at my desk and read and one occasion I was lying on my bed and some people had come in were sitting at the desk reading and I'd gone into a state which was sort of between waking and sleep I was aware of the people in the room but yet I was dreaming.
And I saw myself going into this warehouse with a bicycle of mine I was walking it into this warehouse and the further I went into the warehouse the darker it got and I started to get this feeling of fear because of the fact that I guess maybe I had a fear of darkness but the further I went in the more this feeling started to overcome me that perhaps I may not be able to get out of this place I would continue to turn back to make sure that the entrance through which I came was still there and each time I turned I could still see it though getting smaller and smaller eventually I turned around and there was no entrance I was in total blackness.
And I got this fear which basically was saying to me if you don't get out of this you will never get out it was I guess a fear of death or whatever but I was just overwhelmed by it and I wanted to get out so I started to scream I was aware of the people in the room I started to scream out to them, help me but words wouldn't come out they were stuck in my throat they couldn't hear me I wasn't able to get out of the situation I kept screaming until I reached the point I realized there was no way out I was lost totally and at the point when I realized this and I gave up I woke up.
And I sat and thought about this that to me it was like confirmation that there was a force beyond me confirmation of the existence of God in that I wasn't able to get myself out of that situation the people in the room were not able to help me that were it not for that which was beyond me getting me out of that situation I couldn't have so that had a marked effect on me.
Shortly after that I decided to accept Islam and when I was taught how to pray the sujood in particular I realized that my adopted brother was a Muslim at that point I was happy on one hand but I was shocked on the other hand that he had understood all of this and had all of this all these years and had never said anything I went out to Ottawa because my parents were there and he was there studying with my parents in university he was very happy to see me I was happy but upset you know I was upset with him because I thought why why all these years you're with us you never said anything you know he said that he felt embarrassed because for him to say anything to us that might influence us to become Muslims he felt it would be a disservice to my parents who had helped him he just felt shy about causing any problems in the family.
But I told him you know of course that he has an obligation to God you know that obligation is above all else if he had that knowledge he should have shared it with us given us the ability or the right to make the choice for
ourselves.
Beginning My Islamic Journey
At any rate after that I returned to Toronto and began to study Arabic and Islam I continued to play music for a little bit nobody told me it was haram or forbidden but I just at that point you know I found myself there in nightclubs playing with the other members of the group everybody else in the group is high on drugs and you know I'm playing into a club where everybody there is drunk and you know it's like I was in another world I was amongst them but I was not a part of it you know and the corruption that was there was so obvious to me I felt myself out of place you know I shouldn't be here so you know it wasn't too long after that that I decided to just pack it in I sold all my musical equipment records everything and just you know got out of it and started to focus on studying Islam.
At this point I traveled to England I joined the Jamaat Tabligh because they were the most active Islamic group at the time there was a particular individual known as Colonel Saab or Colonel Amiruddin from India who was very very vibrant personality you know and he took a group of us to England for the first major Ijtema there called the Sheffield Ijtema and I spent about three months in England with the Jamaat Tabligh I was going there for seven days this was initially what my commitment was seven days but you know they have a way that they make you make sacrifices that you don't necessarily want to make at the time so I ended up being there for almost three months.
And I was married actually I was married about three weeks before I went off on this seven day trip and you know they would in the gatherings they would you know point me out and say look at this brother look at the sacrifice that he made he just got married he's out with us and he's spending this time and he's going to spend even more time and of course after saying that I was obliged to spend another couple of weeks until eventually it became three months my wife was writing me frantic letters you know if you don't come back finally I managed to extricate myself and get back before my marriage was destroyed.
At any rate that was a learning experience for me you know I had gone there with the intention of of increasing my knowledge about Islam Alhamdulillah Colonel Amiruddin taught me Tajweed proper representation of the Quran and I had been told there that in England you know the many mosques that they had in England there were scholars in each mosque there who you could learn with so wherever I went whenever we stopped at any of the mosques I would sit under the scholar there and take my notes asking questions etc and I came back.
And when I came back to Canada I announced to my wife that we are now Hanafis she said what is a Hanafi? well I explained to her that you know we are Hanafis you know because the Jamaat was teaching that you know of course you had to follow a Madhab you had to follow one of these schools of Islamic law and though they were all the same you know somebody will come along and tell you well you know the greatest Imam was
Studying Arabic and Islamic Law
And after that we moved and were living next to the Masjid in the house of a brother we had rented an apartment his brother Mahmoud Khayal who was originally from Egypt his father had been a scholar in Egypt and was part of the Ikhwan movement one of the students of Hassan al-Banna and I started to learn Arabic from him and Fiqh we started to look at the books and he was explaining to me different things then I started to find these discrepancies between what I was now learning and what I had learned when I had gone on Jamaat Tabligh of course he was from the Shafi'i school of thought and he explained that this is the Shafi'i position and here is the evidence for it etc and I started to see these differences which led me to believe that I needed to go and learn Arabic thoroughly and study Islamic law from the sources myself.
So I applied to go and study in Saudi Arabia to University of Medina and I was accepted there and began to study I completed a BA in Usuluddin or Islamic Studies and following that I went to Riyadh and did a Masters in Islamic Theology.
When I went to Riyadh my parents actually were there before me they were there teaching because after having left Malaysia they came back after I left, came back to Canada from there they went to Nigeria to Northern Nigeria where they taught for some years, they went to Yemen after that and then they came out to Riyadh and began teaching there at a school called the Minaret Schools and I was invited whilst doing my Masters to start teaching their Islamic Studies so I took on this responsibility of teaching students mainly who were expatriates, this is in English medium, expatriates working there their parents had studied in America or England and wanted their children to continue in English medium most of the students were western, from western background.
So the previous Islamic Studies teacher was originally from Pakistan they brought him there to teach the students just wore him down they were thoroughly westernized and he just couldn't handle them because in Pakistan and India students are quiet, the teacher speaks the teacher comes in, everybody stands up and they're quiet until the class is over whereas people in America they've learned this sort of rebellious kind of attitude amongst the students they like to talk in class and if they find the teacher is weak and doesn't have a strong personality then they'll just chase them out of the classroom by throwing spitballs at them or whatever.
Work During the Gulf War
At any case this individual he didn't last more than half a term he just packed his bags and left so they asked me to step in and of course having come from a western background I really knew how to deal with the students so we developed a good rapport and I continued to teach there and in the course of teaching of course I came to realize that there was a major lack of materials in English to convey the type of basic information which I felt needed to be conveyed about Islam which was not from a particular madhab point of view but an open approach to the presentation of Islamic teachings.
So it required me to start to do a lot of writing preparing notes for the students and eventually I prepared some books and tried to publish them back in 1981 but I wasn't successful couldn't find a publisher and it wasn't until about 1985 that I published the first two books one was called Polygamy in Islam and the other one was called The Devil's Deception of the Shia.
I mean these two books were addressing particular problems which existed at that time in America polygamy from the point of view that when a person is a Muslim or a convert Muslim the first thing that non-Muslims like to ask is why do Muslim men have four wives? You know this was the first question so I felt it was important to write something on that topic and the other problem was that of Shiaism which was being promoted because this was after the revolution in Iran was being promoted very strongly in America amongst convert Muslims.
Now this was an unfortunate situation because the revolution on one hand was claiming that we're all the same, we're all Muslims, you know no difference between Sunni and Shia and so and so but at the same time the Shiites would focus on Muslims to convert them to Shiaism you know so it seemed to me to be definitely a devious approach because on one hand they were saying there was no difference but on the other hand they were trying to convert ignorant Muslims to Shiaism as opposed to going to non-Muslims and clarifying for them what Islam was.
During this period I also began to once I finished my Masters at Imam Ibn Saud University or King Saud University I began to a PhD in University of Wales and the focus of my PhD was that of exorcism in Islam a lot of people were asking me why exorcism you know couldn't you find anything else to write about you know what for me I began this study of exorcism which involved you know travelling to different parts of the Muslim world and investigating because it was something which was out there which though I had studied all the way up to a Masters level I really didn't get a clear picture as to what was involved what is the right and the wrong with regards to exorcism so I decided to make that my focus for the PhD.
And at the same time I felt I wanted to utilize it as a means to provide in the Orientalist circles material which was authentic on the spirit world of Islam you know the human spirit, the world of the jinn, the world of the angels because this would become a major part of the thesis because anybody researching today the spirit world in Islam what they find is the writings of Orientalist in which they have gathered the folk tales and myths of
Muslim peoples from all around the world and they have presented this as being the Islamic view of the spirit world but in fact it's a lot of confusion and anybody studying it would think that come out thinking that Islam has got a very confused concept of the spirit world so I felt that this thesis would also provide this foundation.
Now whilst doing the PhD the Gulf War came up and prior to the Gulf War I was invited out to the base in Dahran so it was the Saudi Arabian cultural information tent there we provided information about Saudi Arabian culture which of course much of which is from Islam so it meant explaining things about Islam and we took the troops into the city we helped them purchase things we showed them different aspects of Islamic society we took them into mosques etc and in the course of 6 months before they were all processed out of the country Alhamdulillah more than 3000 of them had accepted Islam.
And following that I joined the Saudi Arabian Air Force Headquarters in Riyadh in the Islamic Affairs Department and continued to work do work amongst the Americans military people who were in the country and I went to United States with the American military and helped them set up an organization known as the Muslim members of the military which established places of worship and little libraries in all of the major bases American bases across the world and the whole momentum for Islam within the military picked up to such a point that within 2 years after that the first Muslim chaplain was designated for the military the army and then a Muslim chaplain from the Navy and now they're looking for one from the Air Force and Islam has continued to grow in leaps and bounds within the military.
Current Work in the UAE
Following that I transferred I continued with them for 2 years and then I transferred to the UAE, United Arab Emirates where I joined up with a charitable organization there by the name of Darul Bir and set up for them a Da'wa center in Dubai where I have with me 4 other brothers and sisters who are involved in Da'wa and Alhamdulillah it has been quite successful we have an average of about a person daily accepting Islam most of which are from the Philippines but we have a large number also from India, from Hindu and Christian backgrounds as well as Americans because American ships, Navy ships come through there and we have a channel a network of people who are helping us.
We work with the taxi drivers many of the taxi drivers are from Pakistan, Patans and when they drive anybody who questions or asks them anything about Islam or anything related to Islam, they immediately bring them to our center so we can provide information for them a number of them also carry pamphlets inside of their taxis I've also been involved in giving lectures about Islam on television, on Sharjah television as well as Ajman television, two television stations there in the UAE.
And I set up a department of foreign literature in Sharjah for publication of Islamic materials which on one hand supports the Dawah Center pamphlets for distribution as well as continuing the publication process which I began in Saudi Arabia of trying to produce good material in English which conveys the body of Islamic
knowledge which is available in Arabic and at the same time I also began to teach at the American University in Dubai which is an American university very western students there are very westernized and I'm teaching a course called Introduction to Islam.
It is again an issue of Dawah or explaining Islam to students many in my class may be Muslims but the vast majority of them don't pray or fast these type of things so for them, many of them have taken this course as like an elective thinking that it would be an easy few credits only to find me there you know shaking them up Alhamdulillah, it's been a good experience, a number of them after the term has been over have come and told me well you know we started praying now, we appreciate what you have said to us.
So this is basically the activity that I'm involved in at present, you know not of course to mention lecturing in different parts of the world here as well as Philippines, Malaysia England, etc.
Lessons and Reflections
So from that path which I've outlined to you which is not only my way to Islam in the sense of my conversion but my way to understanding Islam because coming to Islam didn't end with conversion but has been a continual process after accepting Islam a continual process of education continually increasing my knowledge and also sharing that knowledge with others this process or this path we can see I began in a state of ignorance where the only images of Islam were very distorted images there were contacts during that path with Muslims but those Muslims had no effect on my life because either one they were not practicing Islam as it should be practiced or because they didn't feel a responsibility to carry the message of Islam to the non-Muslims around them.
As such it would be my advice then to those of you who are Muslims in the audience to know that it is a responsibility on yourselves to live Islam whether you may have enough knowledge to propagate it and explain it to others at least by living Islam by being examples of Islam you may give others who are non-Muslims an opportunity of being exposed to Islam whether it is in a work situation whether it is at school with your neighbors or whatever this is a continual responsibility that you should feel ashamed if you are not involved in you should feel sinful because in fact you are in sin if you do not share this information because to have knowledge of God's revelation and to not share it with others around you to the degree or to the level of your own ability this in fact is a crime this is a sin.
And for those of us who have sufficient knowledge to convey it and to propagate it it is very important for us to be actively involved in this matter to work together where others may help us because it is always difficult when one is on one's own when one is by oneself to have the courage to share but when we are with others when there are others who are supporting us encouraging us then it becomes a lot easier so I would hope that out of this you all would reflect on this responsibility.
And for those of you who are non-Muslims in the audience I hope you are not offended by anything I said if you are Christians I am just telling it like it was for me I am not saying that every Christian experienced what I experienced but I know even till today Christianity for most people tends to be very nominal we are Christians because our parents were Christians but what it means to be a Christian few people really know and as such I would invite you to look at the teachings of Islam and see what it has to offer because Islam in no uncertain terms represents the way of life which Prophet Jesus himself brought but which became distorted and diluted to the point where it has very little effect on the lives of Christians today.
Question and Answer Session
Question: What effects did Islam have upon your parents and family?
What happened with regards to my immediate family is that my parents accepted Islam in 1994 that is 3 years ago they accepted Islam and I accepted Islam in 1972 so what we're talking about is 22 years so this is like advice also to those who may have accepted Islam also and are trying with their parents and feel very frustrated you know that parents are not responding that one has to be patient you know when they are ready then they will accept Islam if it is that they want the truth for themselves to live according to that truth our duty is only to convey that message to them and to ask God to open their hearts and we have to be patient we have to show them not only in our words what Islam is but we also have to show them more importantly in our deeds.
The question with regards to my name you're called Abu Amina you know Abu Amina means the father of Amina meaning that my eldest child her name is Amina so I took the Kunya or pet name Abu Amina the name which I chose was Bilal and my family name Philips some people question well why are you keeping this family name Philips you know it's not an Islamic name well according to Islamic law when a person accepts Islam they may change their given name but the family name should not be changed because it represents one's family when a person becomes a Muslim it doesn't mean that they no longer are part of the family that they were born into they are no longer the son or daughter of their parents so it is not permissible that the family name be changed regardless of what that family name is.
We know when we speak of Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) we refer to his grandfather Abdul Muttalib which it means the slave or worshipper or servant of Al Muttalib an individual Al Muttalib which is as a Muslim an unacceptable name one may not choose this name to call oneself Abdul Muttalib is a forbidden name but if that's the name of one's parent then we are not allowed to change that name.
My name prior to Islam was Dennis and this name I could not keep there are some non-Islamic names or non-Arabic names which a person may have John for example it doesn't have any bad meaning so one can keep a name like this or Mary you know or other names from which may be found in the bible or whose meaning is not bad one is not required to change even the given name but where the name has a bad meaning for example for women the name Diana for example Diana is the goddess of love in Greek, Roman, mythology so for a Muslim
to have this name is not acceptable similarly Dennis comes from Dionysus Dionysus is one of the Greek gods of party so it's not an acceptable name so I change this name but you know I remain Bilal the son of Bradley Phillips my father's name is Bradley Phillips and so my name has remained as such.
Now with regards to the rest of members of my family my brother and sister who are non-Muslims neither have accepted Islam however the other two members of the group that I was in in Saba so many years back I came to find out last year when I went to Saba that both of them also accepted Islam they had accepted Islam on their own one of them had come to Australia and accepted Islam here in Australia and the other one had accepted Islam there in Saba so last year was quite a nice reunion for me with my old friends.
Actually what happened was I was giving lectures in Abu Dhabi in the UAE and one of the people who attended the lectures there had gotten some of my books and took them back to Saba he was from Saba and when his brothers and sisters saw these books and saw the name on it Phillips born in Jamaica from Canada so and so they said I wonder if it's the same you know Dennis Phillips who we used to know so I asked him to come back and ask me and of course when he asked me I told him yes I was and they were quite overjoyed to hear that I had become Muslim and they invited me to come down there for a series of lectures one of them had become the head of the Saba securities Islamic securities organ there in Saba and my old classmates we had quite a reunion all my old classmates and friends some of my non-Muslim friends I had a chance also to sit with and try to give them some encouragement to reflect on Islam with the idea of possibly accepting it.
Question: Why did you choose Islam and not seek answers in Christianity?
Well because I had left Christianity because of the fact that what I knew of Christianity didn't address social ills in terms of dealing with society from a governmental point of view etc there was no economic system or anything I mean it's just beliefs and issue of beliefs you know there may be nice moral beliefs etc but they don't address the world what it is leave on to God what is God's and on to Caesar what is Caesar's this is the approach which is not a practical approach in terms of changing society so I knew that the answers in terms of systems wasn't there in Christianity this is why I didn't go back to seek those answers.
Because having converted to communism I did have a look at Christianity at the time and in terms of what systems had developed out of it and really the conclusion which the Marxists had made that religion is the opiate of the masses or the people was drawn from the example of Christianity in Europe and how it was applied that it was a means of convincing the ignorant masses that their reward is in the next life don't worry about this life the rulers who are over you are by God's will they are in fact closer to God it's possible if you have more money to buy tickets to paradise known as the indulgences which the Pope used to sell during the middle ages.
I mean this whole tradition led these philosophers to conclude that religion was the opiate of the people and that tradition Christian tradition remains the same till today it doesn't address the ills of society in a solid and reliable way from my experience I see it modifying itself with the times so much so that we now have in
different parts of America you know homosexual priests you know homosexual congregations you know homosexuality which was an abomination in Christianity in earlier times has become acceptable in the eyes of many Christians today Christian leading religious people you know there is this backtracking this there is this stability of concepts or even questionable.
So I would say that I've understood more about Christ and Christianity having become a Muslim than I ever understood as a Christian and I have no in saying that the only way that a person may truly follow Jesus is to become a Muslim I've written a book called The True Message of Jesus Christ it is available in which I have gathered research to that effect to show from scriptures Islamic as well as from Christian scriptures that the message which Jesus brought was Islam submission to the will of God and that his way the way which he invited people to was the way of Islam and that he himself was in fact a prophet of God and not God.
Question: What do you like about Islam?
In simple terms the completeness that it is a total system it is a way of life which governs all aspects of my life it provides guidance for me in a world of darkness prior to Islam I know I was stumbling about not knowing which way I was going just whatever came up I check this out check that out you know stumbling bumbling back and forth Islam provided stability provided a clear picture with regards to what this world is about where I should be going and what my goals should be so it has given me inner contentment I don't feel at ease that I still have to go and find no I feel that I found the truth and I really have no doubt about it I try to study it as deeply as I could not merely accepting it and just going along with what everybody said but having studied it academically I really as I said have no doubt about the fact that Islam is the way of life which God has prescribed for human beings.
Question: Why did so many soldiers accept Islam?
A question regarding the soldiers as to why so many of them accepted Islam the fact is that there are many reasons some of it was that they were exposed to Islamic society or Muslim society which though it has its weaknesses no one is saying that Saudi Arabia is the ideal Muslim society it may be quite far from it but there are strong elements of Islam there in the society and this had an effect on a number of the soldiers.
Some of it may be from the very customs of the people I know a number of them told me that when they were out on the desert in maneuvers you know with their full battle gear and everything they would be out on the desert and they would come across a tent with a few camels an individual Bedouin out there on the desert and the first reaction they expected was that this person would run in horror from them you know they were all geared down with all their stuff but they found instead that the individual would beckon to them to come over come and sit down they would come up, sit down you couldn't distinguish the men from the women everybody was all geared down and he would strike up the fire and put on some tea, offer them some dates of course he couldn't speak any English, they couldn't speak any Arabic, he would just smile and offer them and so and so they were amazed you know you know it's just I know a number of them said this to me it just struck them you
know this this generosity and kindness that was there you know which they said that they never experienced having been in a number of other parts of the world in Korea, in Japan in Europe you know different places that they were stationed they never found this kind of friendliness and openness you know amongst the people so I know this really struck them a number of them.
Others had been exposed to Islam in one way or another in American society they had a lot of distortions and so we had open sessions where people could ask any questions they wanted to and so a lot of clarification was there which helped to let them understand what Islam really was.
There were some who were impressed by the security which was there in the society they used to come into town late at night when they're off duty one o'clock in the morning and they could walk around without a sense of fear that you know they're going to be attacked somebody's going to rob them whatever and this had an impression on a number of them back in America they know they could never do this, walk around at that type of night you know wearing any kind of jewelry or anything like this would be putting oneself in a life threatening circumstance.
For others there was the executions I know some people might say this is horrible you know because they were people were being executed the public executions that take place there, the crime is read out and you know people observe somebody's head being cut off for some people that was something which made them want to question want to understand more about Islam this sort of direct justice, you know where a person kills somebody and they're executed finished, they don't languish in jail for many many years, people's taxes having to pay for them provide them with television, comfortable living for you know 30, 40, 50 years but this idea of the eye for the eye made sense to them and it attracted them.
For a number it was the issues concerning women you know many coming there had the impression that women are you know so oppressed in Islam and also seeing the women wearing these abaya, the black abayas you know totally covered walking through the streets the troops had developed a title for them you have UFOs, Unidentified Flying Objects, they have they call them the UBOs Unidentified Black Objects you know so you know they were curious as to what was behind all of this so for a number of the women they were taken into Saudi homes and they got to meet Saudi women and discuss with them they were educated, could speak with them etc and they came to understand that Islam's position was one of protection as opposed to one of oppression.
For some it was the issues of prayer and how the prayer was that when the time for prayer came the stores all closed and people went to prayer a number of them had been told that the mosques were off limits they shouldn't you know go near them but you know we invited them to come to the mosque, we took them in, let them go and see what's inside the mosque you know because by telling them it was off limits it sort of left it as a big question mark in their minds what goes on inside there so it was quite impressive for a number of them to come in and see it was such a simple kind of atmosphere, there were not a whole bunch of pictures and statues
and things like this but just a carpet you know and they saw how the prayer was etc and this had an impression on a number of people who were there.
For some people it was an issue of religious discussion you know although in our main tent we didn't have we didn't really entertain that much in the way of direct religious discussion, if the topic was light we would give light clarifications but if it got really heavy people wanted to get into Bible verses and all this type of things we had a second tent which was next to our main tent the main tent was quite large, about 200 used to come in at a time and we'd have these open discussions.
We had this separate tent, when the people decided they wanted to get into this deep theological debates we'd tell them okay listen this is a light discussion if you really want to get into deep theology then we have the other tent, you can go over into this other tent well when they went into the other tent they were greeted by this Sri Lankan brother very tall imposing brother with a big beard and usually wears sunglasses, he looks like a holy man, you know he has that holy man look about him who was originally, he had originally come to Saudi Arabia you know as a Christian missionary, you know having studied you know and in the seminars in the seminar and having understood that the last frontier were the Muslims right and particularly the Arab Muslims, particularly in the Gulf in Saudi Arabia, this is the place where it's just absolutely no conversions so he was you know one of these kind of pioneering kind of souls he felt this is where I'm going so he got a job as an accountant because he trained accountant but his real role there was missionary work amongst the Arabs.
And when he got there of course he got himself a Quran because he felt he wanted to be fully versed, he had studied it when he was in doing his basic studies when he converted he decided to convert one of the organizations in Qasim which is involved in explaining Islam to non-Muslims took him out of his job provided a source of income for him and gave him a free hand to you know spread the word in different parts of Saudi Arabia, in the camps and various organizations that were available for conveying Islam to non-Muslims.
Now he was as I said from a Christian missionary training he had good thoughts thorough knowledge of the Bible and as such he had the kind of background to deal with the issues that these people were bringing he would wait for them there, he had two suitcases with him, he used to carry two suitcases around with him and these two suitcases had in them about 40 different versions of the Bible so when they would come in and sit down he would open up his suitcase and say well which Bible do you want to discuss about? Many of them would say what do you mean which Bible? There's only one Bible, so he'd bring out for them and stack them all up and say well you know we have this Bible and that Bible and the other Bible, you know that was usually quite intimidating for many you know.
At any case, either he convinced them, you know after some discussion or they said well listen okay we don't have answers but let's go get our chaplain, you know he'll have some answers for you questions or answers to your questions so they would go back and bring the chaplain and Alhamdulillah in the course of discussion, 11 of the chaplains converted to Islam.
So these were the basic circumstances under which Islam spread amongst the troops some of them actually there were other members of their families that were already Muslims now they had curiosity they were quite open and to be honest actually the vast majority of those who converted were were Americans from a variety of different backgrounds you know mixture of men, women, young, old black, white actually the percentage of white Americans who accepted was someplace around 35% which is much higher than those who would normally accept Islam in America itself which really shows that if Islam is exposed to American, the American population as a whole there would be a lot greater response to Islam in America.
And we had people who accepted Islam who were Chinese Americans Indian Americans we even had some devil worshippers who had come, who accepted Islam because actually the American military recognizes devil worship as a legitimate form of worship and wherever there are chapels for the Christian sects then there are chapels for devil worshippers on all American military bases.
The reaction in the military amongst the chaplains was quite strong because the tent came to be known as the conversion tent and they tried their darndest to get the military officials to stop or to make it off bounds to the American troops but the big officers etc wouldn't agree with their suggestion because of the fact that they had such a large number of troops and they didn't have for them the kind of R&R which they normally would have when they're in Japan or you know the other places where they could go to discos and you know all these kind of things these things were not available to them you know women just not available.
So if they didn't allow the troops some outlets you know the troops wanted outlets they wanted to find out about Islam meet the people and so on so if they didn't allow this they felt that the repercussions may be much greater you know that they may you know commit some crimes in the society which would create no major problems for themselves so though I'm sure they were not necessarily happy about you know conversion of American troops to Islam they really didn't have too many options given the circumstance because after they left you know the according to American military records this is the first place that Americans troops were stationed and they left the country without any quote unquote war babies.
You know war babies Americans when they came to the Asia for during the Vietnam War they left behind you know in Vietnam in Philippines in Korea in Japan in Thailand war babies I mean babies who are half American you know half of the locals in fact there's big cases going on in Philippines right now for the rights of these children for the first time they went into a country half a million of them and went out and there were no war babies in fact the only pregnancies which they found were amongst the American troops themselves you know many of the women that were there went back pregnant you know.
So the tent was functioning right up until they left and the American military continues to leave the door open for those military people who want to get information about Islam the British military on the other hand were very closed the officers would not allow us to go and speak with the troops at all so there were very very few British military people who accepted Islam.
What happened also is that Hajj and Umrah was arranged for those who came a number of troops were taken down to Mecca for Hajj and Umrah and a system whereby American military transportation is provided for American troops in different parts of the world they are flown in to Dahran and from there the Saudi military have arranged for them to go yearly for Hajj this is an ongoing process since that time.
Question: Do you follow any madhab?
Some questions concerning a school of thought because I mentioned during the course of the lecture that initially I announced that I was a Hanafi one person asked here are you still a Hanafi or do you follow any madhab I guess and what did you find in your research about the different schools of thought in Islam to which school of thought do you belong and why.
Well I consider myself a follower of all of the major schools of thought the major school of thought meaning the school of Abu Hanifa of Malik of Shafi and Ahmad Ibn Hanbal the major scholars after whom the schools were named I take benefit from the efforts that they have made and wherever the authentic evidence supports their positions that's what I follow and this was the position held by themselves both Abu Hanifa and Shafi were both quoted as saying if you find the authentic tradition from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) this in fact is their madhab or school of thought so I follow all of the schools without giving any precedence to one or the other except with regards to where the evidence is.
How do I look at them as I said I look at them as being the efforts of early Muslim scholars to apply Islamic law from its sources to daily life they were human beings as such they were errors in their judgments which even their own students rejected and corrected and as such we are obliged to take benefit from the efforts they made to follow the rulings that they made where they are correct but it's incorrect for us to blindly follow rulings especially where we know that evidence indicates otherwise.
Question: Is exorcism permissible in Islam?
Some questions concerning exorcism because I mentioned my thesis was about exorcism do you have any practical experience in exorcism that is fixing people well in the course of the study you know I did observe and practice myself within the bounds of what is Islamically acceptable my thesis has been published and it will be sent here should be available through your local organization brothers who have organized this lecture probably within the next few weeks copies will be available wherein I have identified the parameters of exorcism in Islam what is acceptable what is not acceptable because there is of course a huge tradition of practices which are found in different parts of the Muslim world which have been attributed to Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) attributed to scholars of Islam etc and portions of which are in fact not supported by the Quran and Sunnah and represent sort of innovative practices which are not acceptable Islamically so I have tried to identify the correct view with regards to exorcism.
Now the question which is also asked here is exorcism permissible in Islam yes as long as it stays within the bounds set by the Quran and the Sunnah or the way of Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him).
Question: How to share Islam with non-Muslim friends?
Some more general questions related to to Dawah I guess to explaining Islam to others I have got many non-Muslim friends and I am scared to tell them about Islam because they may not be interested at all so what should I do?
Well we don't know what is in people's hearts it's not our duty to convey Islam only to those who are interested those who have expressed interest of course then it is a direct requirement for us to convey that information to them but whether a person express interest or not it is still our duty to convey something of Islam to them if they are not interested then we have not lost anything they say they are not interested fine we shouldn't feel embarrassed we shouldn't feel we should present it in such a way that even the person we are trying to explain it to should also not feel embarrassed we may pass that information on to them by the way of video tapes by the way of audio tapes by the way of pamphlets etc if we find difficulty out of shyness to try to speak to people now we can give it to them in other ways or or and we should live Islam ourselves by practicing Islam as it should be practiced we will convey to them something of Islam because we will stand out the person who practices Islam in the 20th century will stand out from the rest of society and those who want the truth or who are concerned or want to know will raise questions.
Question: What knowledge is needed to share Islam?
Question to share Islam with non-Muslims would we need to have a certain degree of knowledge about Islam well of course one should have some basic knowledge I mean one doesn't have to be a scholar having studied so many years etc etc but one should have a clear understanding of the basics of Islam and whatever we have of that basic knowledge we can convey to others if questions are raised which we can't answer then we pause turn it over to other people we don't have to try to find answers we shouldn't feel that if we are going to convey Islam we must find an answer we must be able to answer every question that people raise we explain to them well you know our knowledge is limited we can find somebody hopefully who can give you further clarification so one should convey whatever knowledge one has.
Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 3461
As the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) had said: "Convey from me whatever you know of Islam even though it be only a single verse from the Quran."
Closing
And with that I've been given the tea sign which means time to close down and I hope inshallah that what we have shared this evening if there are some questions remaining which people didn't get answered and there are
you know questions about the Taliban movement and so on so on this is sort of far away from the topic inshallah you can contact the people who have organized the program and maybe you can call me by telephone and I can try to answer whatever I could over the next few days that I'm here.