Dr. Vladimír Sáňka: Why I converted to Islam

 

Prague, 22.11.2001

 

RNDr. Vladimír Sáňka explains in a interview with Majid Majed, why he accepted the Muslim faith, what he believes in and what is the situation of Muslims in the Czech Republic, where state does not recognize officially as religion. "But isn’t atheism a religion of its own, after all?

 

Atheists believe in nature, in the random, but mainly in their own power over the world, don’t feel the need of humbleness, they are often led by the greed for power or greed for life spent in material wealth and comfort. I abandoned exactly such ‘faith’ while decided to become a Muslim."

 

RNDr. Vladimír Sáňka was born on 30. 3. 1959 in Brno, Czech Republic. In 1983 he graduated in the field of geo-chemistry, at the Faculty of sciences, Charles University in Prague. In the period 1983-1999, he worked as researcher at the Czech geological institute in Prague.

 

He converted to Islam at the end of 1994. Since 1999, he works at the Islamic centre in Prague as its director. He is also a member of the board of administration of Islamic Foundation in Prague, as well as vice-president of the Center of Muslim organizations and communities in the Czech Republic. 

My path toward Islam, started as a process of finding answers to following questions - how was the universe created; what is the meaning of our life; does God, certain higher justice, life after death exist? I missed the spiritual dimension in my life, those days. Suddenly, faith seemed very natural and logical to me, something that responded to the majority of my questions. I looked without prejudices at all monotheistic religions - Judaism, Christianity and Islam that have many things in common and originated from the same region, and where I saw continuity moving from one to another. Islam, as the last one, completes all previous divine revelations from the only God. Islam seemed to me clear and understandable, logical and practical. It motivates individuals showing   maximal responsibility for everything they do, as well as shows them to the smallest detail the way of behavior. It determines how should be the moral and relations between people, while it gives them sufficient freedom regarding the way of their political and economic organization, their own culture and opinion. It was clear to me that one can't judge Islam based on experiences with certain Muslims, who don't practice at all or exaggerate with their religion, neither (identify it) with different regimes in countries with predominant Muslim population. Another thing that convinced me was Koran, where I found the last and the only authentic word of God, dedicated to all mankind. In Christianity, to the contrary I couldn't understand certain things like the Trinity of God, son of God, divinity of Jesus and that he took all the sins of the others, the infallibility of the Church, its hierarchy and wealth, confession, etc. I didn't choose religion because it is exotic, nice or comfortable, because this way I would never choose Islam. I was looking for the truth and felt Islam is the truth and this made it attractive to me.  

I was educated as atheist, at school, as well as in the family. At the time I grew up, this was common in my country, but I already noticed that the majority of people in our planet are believers believing in different religions and that the high share of atheists is common only in my country. But, isn't atheism somehow a religion of its own? The atheists believes in the nature, in the random, but mainly on their own power over the whole world, they don't feel the need for humility, often are led by their greed for power or the need to live their life in material prosperity and comfortability. I abandoned exactly this kind of religion when I became a Muslim. Islam under no circumstances leads to ascetics, individuals can own any property as long as it is acquired honestly, but that might be a test to him. He has to share it with the needy.  

Such question is asked often these days. Some verses in Koran don't deal with issues of religion or moral, but mention pure scientific facts, amazing facts, regarding our endless universe; deep and convincing geological, oceanographic, biological, embryological and other facts. These facts were very clearly mentioned in Koran, and became topics for discussion between scientists and specialists from different fields. While realizing that Koran is a book revealed 1400 ago, many scientists agreed that such information couldn't originate from Muhammad, or from any of his people. Some facts mentioned in Koran have been explained only in the last decades by modern science. Such information originate from the one who created them and knew why (created the). There are many scientists that agree with this opinion like Keith L. Moore, professor of embryology at the university of Toronto; J. Y. Cousteau, the famous French researcher and oceanographer; prof. T. Tagason, dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the university Shying May in Thailand; J. Sumson, professor of gynecology at the university of Chicago and i could continue with many other famous names. However, we can't say that Koran is neither a scientific, nor a religious book, as it is understood here in Europe; it is neither a book about morale nor a social book, even though it writes about morale and relations between people, groups, states, about relations in the family etc. As I have known and studied its content, I don't want to add anything else to this saint Book but just say that it is the word of God or a book from God.  

As certain circles in the last period brought accusations against Islam, this was neither new, nor a big surprise to me, because it was not the first and sure will not be the last one.  However, in my opinion there is no reason for this. Even if we accept that Muslims executed acts of violence, we can't blame Islam in general for what happened. It would be the same as if we may blame Christianity or other religions for terrorist acts in Ireland, Spain, Switzerland, Corsica, ethnic cleansing in Bosnia, bombing in Oklahoma City and so on. By the way, for the bombing in Oklahoma at first Muslims were suspected but as it was proved later, it was organized by an American who belonged to a sect that separated from the Church of Adventists and is inspired by the Bible. It wouldn't be right to use in this case terms like Christian terrorism, because everybody knows that Christianity doesn't teach such things. In the same way, Islam rejects terrorism of any kind and killing an innocent in Koran, is considered as an act of killing toward all mankind. We try to explain such things. Terrorism doesn't belong to any religion and it appears among atheists as well as among believers from other religions.  

A person becomes a Muslim at the moment when he believes that there is just One God and Muhammad is His Messenger. The meaning of the word 'Muslim' is somebody 'submitting to' God's will, i.e. being led by it and trying to live according to the teachings of the messengers of God, respectively the last of them, whose teachings completes all the others and is dedicated especially for our times.  The meaning of life for a Muslim is worshiping God. Because in Islam there is no division between religion and secular, as it is in European concept of religion, worshiping God means not only praying, fasting and charitable but a devoted Muslim also doesn't steal, doesn't cheat on his /her husband / wife, work or study honestly, cares about his parents, especially when they get old, doesn't use drugs and doesn't drink alcohol etc. Faith should be confirmed by deeds and the other way around. One without the other is not complete. A Muslim must believe in all prophets, in Mohammed, as well as in Jesus, Moses, Abraham and others, and don't make differences between them.  

Islam is in our country still a young religion, because we were relatively more closed to it in the past, compared  to the majority of other western as well as eastern  European countries. It is difficult to speak about the exact number of Muslims because we don't have statistics and don't keep evidence on them. The number is estimated approximately at 10000 Muslims, mainly foreigners from different countries, from Europe, North Africa till Indonesia. Among them, we count around 500 native Czech Muslims and this number is increasing.   

The Muslim community is relatively small, including mainly students. We don't have over here, people who have studied Islamic theology, nor we have specialists for the management and direction of Islamic center, we don't have assistance from any state and are operating due to contributions of individuals from our community. As a result, our activities recently are limited, and often are not sufficient to meet the interest of the public opinion on Islam.  For the moment, there are just 2 Islamic centers in Prague and Brno that serve Muslims and non-Muslims. We are trying to organize lectures, Arabic courses, publish magazines and brochures on Islam and launched internet information sites (www.islamcz.cz, www.muslim.cz). Anyway, we're trying other options and possibilities on how to extend our activities.  

It is known that each minority has certain problems in respect to the majority, especially if it's not in its power to change them alone. In our country, one of the main problems is that the Muslim community is not yet recognized by the state. The current legislation is made in such a way that it does not allow our full legal registration even in the long-term. Muslims in non-Muslim societies also have to deal with some phenomenon that are common in western civilization but are alien to Islamic environment. According to my experience, Muslims in our country don't have serious problems with the majority of population and feel here good. Islam is a religion for everybody, without discrimination based on race or nationality and may be practiced everywhere in the world. Sure, in predominantly Muslim countries, Muslims have in many aspects an easier life. On the other hand, this is not related to Islam because regimes in most Muslim countries are not Islamic and many Muslims miss freedom in their countries. This is one of the reasons why some of them come to Europe and settle here, beside problems they might face.  

If you look at history, than we will see that in the name of Islam it has been abused by many organizations, parties and states that tried to pursue their interests and all this in the name of Islam. Also, there are some governments in Muslim countries these days, that are a way too long from Islam but still claim to be Islamic and that they care about Islam. Prone to abuse for different purposes is any religion or ideology and this happens often, all the time.

In our country, there are two worship places, but they work as Islamic cultural centers. On is in region Prague 9 and the second is in the city of Brno at the road of Vienna (Vídeňské ulici). Their main part includes the prayer hall, and then library, lecture room, etc. Here we organize Friday prayers (imam's speech is held in Arabic, Czech and English) and other activities, different programs during the month of Ramadan, holiday celebrations, etc. They e opened daily and accessible to non-Muslims as well, who come for a visit or to ask about Islam.   

"Holy war" – as a terminology expressed this way is not part of any Islamic literature – either in Koran or in the words of the Prophet, etc. This is unknown terminology to Muslims. The word 'Jihad' means to try or to fight in order to do something good, it means also patience or internal struggle of individuals against their own bad    habits. In our thoughts, words and actions we have to try to be as good and as clean as we can. This is the principal meaning of 'jihad' in everyday life. There is also the conception of jihad with a gun in hand, that can be declared only by a recognized authority, under specific conditions and it should never be organized as aggression against innocents. Generally, this means defensive war, where certain rules should be respected - it is forbidden to kill women, children, old people, and monks in the monasteries, animals or burn trees. Under no circumstances, is war in Islam considered either holy, or preferable. This is confirmed also by one of the most well-known thoughts of the Prophet of Islam : "Don't wish to meet the enemy, but if it is necessary, then be resolute ."  

The direction (of the prayer) toward Qaba in Mecca is the same for all Muslims. Muslims have one direction and one path and feel that belong to each-other, that nobody feels lone, all has to be done in group, that nobody is dominant over the other, and that man can not worship God as he wishes. Respecting the prayer direction is part of Koran teachings and it is obligatory for those who can determine where this direction lies.  There are a lot of methods how to determine this, we can use a compass, we can use a map, according to the position of sun or stars, we can calculate from the geographic data, etc.  

According to my experience and to the opinion of other Muslims from our community, Muslims are well received and the attitude of Czech people toward Muslims is in general, friendly. However, I think, that the opinion of some Czechs on Islam is often influenced by superficial information that may be biased because it is seen in connection with many events that have nothing in common with its spirit and principles. Sometime they see it in connection with certain regimes in countries with predominant Muslim population, or they judge it according to local traditions and vices that vary from country to country, or according to the behavior of individual Muslims.  In the media we read often that acts of violence are often connected with Muslims and Islam, where the authors of respective articles don't look for the cause and factors that stand behind the violence, don't clarify if they are speaking about defense against the aggressor, resistance against occupation, or against other form of oppression or that they talk about real and inexcusable act of extremism. In the last period however, people started to be more interested in Islam, they ask for more information, look for books on Islam and translations of Koran.   

On this issue people in Europe are very biased, but I am sure that after carefully studying Islam many of them will change their opinion. A crucial part of Koran deals with issues of society and morale. The founding stone of a society is the family. I see one of the main differences between western and Islamic civilization on their conception about the family. Family in an Islamic society is very interrelated and in close solidarity and everybody knows his relatives and broader up to generations before.  In the family, woman is the main figure. That is why in Islam, woman is protected and should be well taken care of. The Prophet said: "Paradise is beneath mother’s feet", because they take care of children, carry them, give birth to them, feed and educate them. Woman in Islam is not just the second half of the society but they are indeed the educative second half of society. In such a society the most important contract between individuals is the one about marriage. It must be registered in a court and people around should know about it. In order to avoid immoral relationships between man and woman, Islam emphasizes the issue of morale, because like family, like society. 

 

While analyzing the position of woman in Islam we have to differentiate between Islamic society and local traditions and habits. The opinion that Muslim women are oppressed sometimes comes from two principles that are really Islamic - from the way they dress and from the fact that Islam allows for limited polygamy. Regarding the dress, I would like to compare that to nurses who are not considered as discriminated but to the contrary respected. We can say the same about woman in an Islamic society. They know themselves that they should dress like that and they should show their body only to their husbands. This ensures also the protection of the family against infidelity. If somebody thinks that woman in Islam is oppressed and discriminated, let him explain how it is possible that among new Muslim converts in Europe, 4/5 are women. Regarding the polygamy, it is allowed in Islam only if the husband can take care of all of them and doesn't prefer one to another. The woman has the right to include in the marital contract her disagreement over the possibility that her husband might marry in the future a second wife. In general, the second marriage happens as a solution to certain problems. In the history we can find many situations, where after destructive wars there more women than men in a society. Women themselves, preferred to marry an already married man and have a family, be affectively and materially safe rather than staying alone for the rest of their life.  It is a solution also, in the case where woman infertility or permanent illness does not allow her to have children, but the couple doesn't want to divorce and the man wants to have children. However, recently polygamy is very rare. I think that polygamy in our country and in Europe is more practiced than reported but it's not registered, and for the worse does not ensure legal and material protection of women. Woman in Islam has to acquire sufficient education, work, posses property and her main obligation is to take care of children' education. Regarding the other domestic issues around household she shares the responsibility with her husband which depends upon their mutual agreement. The obligation of man in the family is to take care of its (material) wellbeing.

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