- Told anyone my convert story,
it's been such a long time. - [Man] Well actually
this could be the last one for Youtube. - I'll cook up a nice one. (laughs) My name is Yusuf Cha,
I'm about 38 years old, I was born in a Hindu brahmin family. Born in England, raised up
between England and India. I embraced Islam about 23 years ago. I was 15 at the time, 15, 16. My uncle had died in
very tragic circumstances round about the age of 15, and in the Hindu tradition the eldest son has to perform the final funeral rites. And so he only had three
daughters, I was the son of his elder brother and
I counted as his sort of eldest son, I was very close to him. So I ended up going to Banaras,
which is a place in India sometimes pronounced as
Vanaras, which is a place where they perform the
final rites and where usually the body is taken,
burnt, and turned into ashes, and flowed into the Ganges. So I went there and I had
to do a series of rites for my uncle and at the
final point I even you know, saw the ashes of his body. And I saw this along the
cart, along the area where a lot of bodies are being burned regularly and they're turned into ashes and they're literally flowed into the water, it kind of struck me that
life is, at least the way we think of it, is very impermanent. And the whole idea of
death as being so close was something that
really, really struck me. And so from the age of about 15 I started looking into what
death means in other traditions and the afterlife. And being a Hindu I looked
into my own tradition first, and you know, the whole
idea of rebirth and karma, and so on was something
that I was looking into. And then I started looking
to other religions, Judaism, Christianity, and
one of the things that I always held on to was that
there's lots of different paths. All these religions are
fine as long as anyone takes a religion and they're all
reaching to god at the end. Until I came across Islam, and I wasn't, Islam was probably last
possible religion I would have been looking at, partly
because in those days, now it's probably ten times worse, but in those days they
had a bit of bad publicity and I remember reading a
couple of Reader's Digest articles which was a kind
of, the book that often used to have a few things
about real life events. And you'd have, it'd have
these real life stories and they'd often have
a bad story of somebody being forced to wear the hijab or, anyway, to cut a long story short,
when I started looking at Islam what struck
me was it didn't appear what it should have appeared to be. So it wasn't you know, an Arabian religion fourteen centuries ago. One of many other religions. So there's, you know, there's Hinduism, that wonderful combination
of different faiths and you know, from the
Indian subcontinent, different ways of thinking cuz the term Hindu itself is kind a catch term for lots of different
ways of looking at things within the Hindu subcontinent. And then you had Judaism
which is kind of the people of Judea, the people of
Israel, the tribe, and so on. And Christianity generally
centering on the person of Christ and what happened, and
you know, the idea of his redemptive sacrifice. But Islam was kind of giving
a more broader message. For starters, the prophet Muhammad who's at least to my mind seen
the founder of Islam, is not mentioned in the
Quran, apart from three times. And the Quran's got a
whole chapter on Mary, well she's not Arab,
technically, in my mind. And then there's Abraham
popping up and Noah popping up and Jesus popping up and,
what's that got to do with, you know, Arabia at that time? And then a different
narrative started emerging. So the first narrative I
had was there's lots of different parts, everyone's going to god. And then a different narrative emerged. Which is, god is one, and
the essence of his path of submitting to that oneness is one. And he has been sending different messages to each and every nation from the beginning of time until now. And that was, Adam was the first. And that religion for
all intents and purposes, in Arabic could be
called Islam, or that way could be called Islam,
but that is the one path, that is the path of god. And it's broad enough to
accommodate these various things. And when I struck that
it was kind of whoa. Now this is a challenge,
because I could sit back in my comfort zone and say
there's lots of different ways and we're all one big happy family, and all you need is love, do do do do do, and all of that stuff, and you know, Bob Marley's one love, one
life, and all that stuff, but then I've got this message saying this is it, this is the truth,
and this is just the final embodiment, but that truth has been coming from the beginning of time
and it will keep coming because that truth is the
message of the cosmos. That message that's been shown
to you over and over again. And so then it was a bit of a thing, that doesn't fit the
Islam that I'm reading in Reader's Digest or, you
know, today they could just say the Islam that you see on television, or Islam that you know is
constantly being bombarded. It's a deeper Islam. It's the Islam of the
soul, it's the Islam that you know, at some point
it's like, you know, I think I know this. And so that process
initially was a kind of a you know, how do I debate with this. And I had a couple of friends
at school who started, started to get more into
their practice of Islam. And so I used to often debate with them women's rights, and you
know, violence in Islam, and all my little things. And I was quite good with
words so I found that I would win the arguments
but when I left them and I went home I would lose the debate. Because at some point I knew that I was winning with points but there's
a deeper level of conviction that had started to rise in my heart about what's being said. And so the whole process just
kept going on, going, and I feel looking back
now, God sort of created a conflation of events that
were happening at that time. And I was being exposed
to Islam in different, you know, people close
to me so my schoolteacher one of, she actually embraced Islam and it was just my life
changed after that. But, you know, later on I
had that you know, there's a, whomsoever allow ones to
guide, he gives them expansion, and he expands his chest in Islam for, he expands his chest for
god and sometimes there's a term, I think called (speaking Arabic) to literally turn a person,
and that was my sensation, I literally felt that I
was turned and I was span and it was like this sense
of expansion, so, yeah. And then what was really
interesting is the next day when I told people I
wanted to become Muslim and I said what I did,
the way we become Muslim, it was just a coming home. It's like, oh this is, this is me. This is a part of me, this
is what I've always known somehow, somewhere, I should be doing. Well during that seven
month period I think the first part of it was
sort of just opening up to, because it wasn't conscious,
I don't think looking back I could say that I was, you
know, deliberately thinking about something it was
just, subconsciously or at that time I was
realizing that I'm starting to believe. And then I think the biggest
reason why there was a delay which in hindsight I
think was partly because I just didn't think it was possible. I didn't think someone born
in a Hindu brahmin family could actually become Muslim. It didn't seem possible to me. It was not something I
could have entertained because I didn't actually,
I don't think I knew of any converts from Hinduism. So I couldn't imagine
someone from Hinduism could become Muslim. And at least not in the
background that I had. So it was a very relaxed,
you know, not very strong you know Hindu type,
but as is common to many at least that kind of
Hindu, upper class, brahmin, sort of environment, was it's sort of like a very relaxed identity
shrouded on, you know, like festivals and you know,
just tight-knit family, very close, you know, well
off not many problems, and then you know, why would you do that? Why would I convert? It was not something, it never came to me. And then even as the faith was
emerging it was sort of like yeah but, you know, it's kind
of like growing as a seed. It sprouted and when
it was I believe this, now what does that entail? And when that thing happened
then it was always like this is a bridge and can I ever cross it? Can I ever actually take that step? I mean, you know, what
would my family say, what would anyone say,
and then I think what finally pushed it over was that you know, god actually created an
environment around me where I saw other people convert. And someone who I really looked up to who had converted a year or two before and his life in the tree
changed, I was walking with him, and he literally looked at me and he said, you don't know how long you're gonna live. You don't know how much time you've got. And he said, don't you
want to live your life at least profess say what it
is you believe in to yourself? There were a lot of challenges
that came afterwards that, you know, had I sat and
thought about probably would have prolonged it a
lot more than seven months. But the fact that I took that
step from that point onwards I found there is no way that
God's support does not come. God's support in the most amazing ways. I think for a lot of
converts the real, real proof becomes their post conversion stories, especially when there's
so much family pressure against them you think there's no way, just when you think it's
all I've got no way out there's some you know support coming, the most amazing ways. Post-conversion in the
beginning, I mean there, my family obviously had
a hard time with it. I was a 16 year old,
they could not understand why I would do something like that, and it took them a while to actually think there was a genuineness
involved and it wasn't a lady somewhere. (laughs) Or some kind of drug,
you know, fueled project behind my reason for becoming Muslim. But to cut a long story short,
there were a lot of trials, there were tribulations, but I, you know, I did go find, I went,
ended up going from England to India where my parents were residing, I was there for a couple of years. But I found within that
a sweetness and god always providing support
just when it got difficult. And then through time and
I think this is something if I had the chance to give
advice to myself looking back and also to someone in
that situation was to take things easy, to try and embody things through their character
and the core of Islam, and not feel that they always
need to get their point across cuz I did feel very strongly that I really wanted to convey what it was that I knew without realizing that
sometimes your actions and your state speaks
louder than your words. And so there was that
kind of initial tussle, but I think as my family
got to know me better, in my immediate family, and you know, time itself has a healing,
is that now I mean, it's my immediate family
really, really, you know, there's a real closeness when I go there when I visit my parents, you know, it's like you know, everything is a norm. It's a norm for me to pray
there, it's my identity. You know my mother, you
know, the first time she said my Muslim name, I go Friday
prayers and you know, but there is an element of respect, and my dad is always
really keen on you know, Islamic speakers and you know and what, and there is an element of that. And I think a lot of that is kind of just through trying to, just also reassurance, from
just a very human level you are their son, you
are, you know, you are the person that they've
known and to the degree at your core you're still who you were. And you're just trying to
be more genuine in that and what Islam's calling us to so, that's that, yeah. But there are challenges,
there are social challenges. And I think the biggest thing is that each of us will probably be challenged in some way to live up,
that's part of life. But there is always support
of god in those challenges. Islam I wouldn't say changed
me but is continually calling me to change and is changing me. Because Islam is truth and I
think looking back at the age of 16 when I did decide
to become Muslim was that, the first thing was it was just liberating to know that there is a truth out there, that there is a point to life. It was so liberating and I
think most of the converts I've spoken to always say
that those first few months are just exhilarating because it's like, oh how come no one else knows about this? You know, this is like a treasure, right? But then you know as
time goes on it's like the challenge to live up to our lives and that greatest truth and
this is part of faith, right? Being called to what
is your greatest truth, what do you really ascribe to? But just having that, you
know, like that guidance, just knowing that there is guidance, just knowing that there is
a point, knowing was really, really, really peaceful. And I remember just it was so overpowering and it was so comforting
that somewhere in my naivete, as a 16 year old was just like, you know, wow, it should be easy,
I just tell everyone and they'll see it exactly the way I do. Especially the family. And it wasn't the case because you know, a lot of these things
are not in our own hands. I ask you to ask yourself
what is the deepest form of acceptance? The deepest form of
acceptance is the acceptance of the truth you know from your core. And that's what embracing Islam is. It's about being true to
the core of what's asking for us to be accepted. Once you accept that, you'll
find god comes in your life and makes things easier,
and everything you thought that was impossible or
otherwise something to be worried about, will become possible and you'll find a way out. That's my hope. Thanks.
Of course they can. Pakistan is living proof. So are the the muslims of the rest of the subcontinent.
This is important, Muslims should increase Dawah efforts to the Hindu community.