OnIslam.net

I'm joined here with one of our brothers in Islam in Mission Viejo, California, brother John Sharsmith...

Q: Tell us a bit about yourself, and how you came to Islam

John: I've been seeking religion for a long time in my life.

I looked into Catholicism. I studied Daoism for a while...

I also looked into the Hindu religion ... I read Nietzsche, Marx, Kant.

I studied English, the honors English course, through that course I read a number of different points of views and visions of what the world should be about.

Q: Was there a particular catalyst or something going on in your life which motivated you to start searching through the different religions?

John: Yes, it was dysfunctional family life when I was a child, without me blaming anyone; just leaving it as that.

More importantly to me, was the catalyst that brought me to Islam. Because of the religious studies that I had undergone, I realized there were certain principles applied in religion and in politics and in socialism. One of those principles is called ‘Scapegoating’, a concept that’s very familiar to the Russians.

For those who don’t understand the concept scapegoat, it’s a person who is isolated for the benefit of the entire group. An example clarifying the concept is when 9/11 occurred, I realized that the United States of America for whatever reason had decided to scapegoat Islam.

Q: And were you a Muslim at that time?

John: No, I was not, but I was undecided, non-denominational, still seeking.

The fact that the United States was about to scapegoat Islam, maybe maybe not, it simply appeared to me that was what was going to happen. And so I thought to myself, well if we are going to scapegoat a race of people, and if we are going to go after them as the cause of problems to the Western nations, it would be nice to read some of their literature, hear a few of their songs and at least find out what it’s all about before we undergo the process of persecution and oppression for an entire race of people.

So, I purchased a Qur’an, not a translation; just the literal Arabic-to-English translation of the Quran. And I began to read it. And to me it seemed to me like poetry, but the meaning, because I don’t understand Arabic, was not really there. So, I decided to look into it a little bit further, as I assumed that that could not possibly be the whole of the religion.

So, I came here to this mosque that we are in right now, and I spoke with Sheikh Yasser who gave me what’s called the King Fahad version of the Qur’an which was translated in 1400 A.H. by a team of scholars with the intent of translating the intensities of the Arabic language for English-speaking people so that the full meaning of the word becomes apparent.

Watch Part 1 of the Interview

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A Stronger Version of the Bible

It was when I read that version of the Qur’an in my own mind I told myself this is the literal and real Word of God, as spoken through a man. I, by the way, didn’t know anything about the other books of Islam at the time, I didn’t know anything about Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. I only knew that what I was reading was a stronger version of the Bible, that it was not simply the inspired word of God, but it was the actual word of God, and not only the literal word of God.

In our Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, we have a record from his birth to his death, and this Book (the Qur’an) contains within it a way of life that includes politics, religion, how to handle a family, how to handle a disruptive son, how to handle your daughters when they are not behaving.

Q: Let me here ask you a question: as you studied a lot of other religions, did you find any other religion that offers such a complete way of life?

John: A complete philosophy in Daoism? Yes, but not a complete way of life. It is very difficult to compare an Eastern religion with other Eastern religions. Daoism is a very very complicated religion. Hinduism is also a very very complicated religion.  Islam is a very very complicated religion.

It’s not really for me to decide which one is right and which one is wrong.

Q: But when someone is searching, sometimes they come to a point when they know they have arrived. This is the point I’m trying to make: that’s because you became Muslim, that there must have been something that inclined you to accept Islam, to take the Shahadah.

John: Yes, it did. It was the actual reading of the Qur’an. It was my deep belief inside of myself that I had finally found the living word of God contained in the text. I wasn’t to do without it.

Q: So, when did you actually take Shahadah?

John: I took my testimony in Germany in 2002, July.

Q: And how did that take place?

John: It took place in a Sunni Turkish mosque at the request of a man called Aladin.

Q: How did your life change after taking the Shahadah? How did you feel after becoming Muslim?

John: It was a long time for me to come to terms with the decision that I had made.

I tried as hard as I could to follow the advice given by the people around me. I kept it in my heart as there were circumstances in my life at that time that kept me from practicing the religion to the fullest extent. So I kept it in my heart and in my mind until I was able to practice and become a Muslim, as it’s intended in the Qur’an. And this is recently that I have been able to do this.

I believe personally that there’s no point in converting to Islam if I am going to convert and become a bad Muslim. It’s my intention in my own conversion, and this is just personally for me in my own life, to become a good Muslim and to learn what that means.

It’s not just five prayers a day. It’s the supplications, and the du’as; it’s the state and the whole process of your mind; it’s a cleansing, like an onion, each time you perform the cleansing you see that there’s another layer that can be cleansed, and another layer underneath that that can be cleansed. In the way I look at it; it’s an onion like the size of the world.

And each time you come into the mosque and talk to a Muslim who has been practicing for thirty or forty years, you get a tiniest piece of the onion which you can eat and enjoy and remember. And every time you come back to the mosque and you show an additional effort you get another little tiny piece of the onion.

You can never hope to eat the entire onion. But each piece of Islam that you digest, and that you understand becomes a special moment in time when you can say to yourself: ‘I had a small piece of that reality in mind for that time in that moment.’ And it’s upon those moments that I’m beginning to build my faith in Islam. And to me it is intensely personal.

It’s not a journey that I’m undergoing because I'm trying to impress you, or because I’m trying to impress my friends. Most of the things that I do are behind closed doors where there are going to be no cameras and with other brothers who have studied Islam for their lifetimes.

The Clever Jeweler

This is my own journey to finding something I see as a diamond in the rough. You could have two stones which can be of equal size, equal weight and equal potential. You hand one to a jeweler who can cut the stone well, and you have a very valuable stone. You can hand the other to a jeweler who cannot cut the stone, and you have a worthless rock that might be a crystal.

What happens behind those doors in the teaching of Islam from those that have studied and learned and showed up for prayer, it is my life, my heart and my soul that are in the hands of a jeweler who knows how to cut a stone. My hope is one day my actions will reflect that expertise.

It’s not about being taught by any one individual. I mean that the whole of Islam that is taught by those who care enough to take me inside after prayer informing a human being’s heart, soul and mind into diamond that I myself, as a human being, can impress others well. And when they say: ‘Wow, well, you shine so brightly!’ as I’m proudly humbled.

Maybe, I can say, it can happen if I study hard and I learn about this great religion through the teachings of brothers that know it.

Q: Let me ask you: your family and friends do they ask you about your conversion to Islam? Have you been able to talk to them about Islam?

John: I’m a very open human being. Anyone who asks me about my conversion to Islam as much time as they like to take with me I take with them. And I consider it an opportunity...

Q: What kind of feedback do they give you about the changes they see in you; some of that diamond starting to shine in you?

John: People who really know me are amazed. They are absolutely forward by the changes they see in me.

Q: Masha’Allah. Before we conclude, I just would like to ask you from what you know about Islam and what you know about Muslims in America, what, from your position, how do you feel about the future of Islam in America?

John: Insha’Allah, the future will be whatever Allah has for it, and so the future is great.

Watch Part 2 of the Interview with brother John

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