Yvonne Ridley – A Journey to Islam A Tale #3
AI: Summary ©
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AI: Summary ©
So I unlocked the door and there standing
in front of me was a man who
made my blood run cold.
She was held on spying charges and fully
expected to be stoned.
But instead of ending her life, her experiences
in that Afghan cell were to change her
life forever.
On the sixth day, the translator, a young
guy called Hamid said to me, you have
a very important visitor today and you must
be respectful.
Please don't shout, please don't throw things.
This is a very high person who is
coming to visit you today.
And I said, who is it?
And he said, I can't say.
And I said, you know, is it Mullah
Omar?
And or is it Osama bin Laden?
You know, who is it?
And he said, I can't say, I can't
say.
So off he went and about 15 minutes
later, there was a knock on the door.
Although I was the prisoner, I had the
key.
Because they they gave me the key.
So I unlocked the door and there standing
in front of me was a man who
made my blood run cold.
He was wearing an ivory gown that went
right down to the floor, an ivory turban.
He had a light brown beard and brown
eyes.
And his complexion was something that I'm looking
at him and I'm thinking, is he wearing
makeup?
Because his face was shining, but the light
wasn't shining on him.
It was shining out of him.
And I've never seen anything like this before.
And I learned later that what I was
seeing was the nur on this person's face.
So I'm looking at this man.
It was obvious that he was a religious
cleric.
And I just thought, I have avoided talking
about religion for six days.
And now this is it.
You know, this must be the final hurdle
before I get put up against the wall
and shot.
So he came in and we sat down.
He sat opposite me.
The translator was next to me.
And he asked me what my religion was.
And I thought, oh, here we go.
And I said, I'm a Christian.
And he said, yes, but are you a
Roman Catholic?
Are you a Protestant?
I said, I'm a Protestant from the Church
of England.
And he said, and what do you think
of Islam?
Well, you know, in truth, I knew nothing
about Islam.
The little bit of knowledge that I had
gleaned was holy and correct as it would
transpire later.
So I knew nothing about Islam.
And he said, what do you think of
Islam?
Oh, I said, it's wonderful.
It's absolutely amazing.
You know, and went off in praise of
this faith that I knew nothing about.
And he sat and he smiled.
And then I stopped and he said, Islam
is a beautiful religion.
And I looked at him and I said,
I couldn't agree more.
I said, do you know, the people around
here love their faith so much.
I said, you'll never believe how many times
a day they pray.
And this is where I showed my ignorance.
I said, they pray five times a day.
Because when you're in prison and there's nothing
to do, you count things.
I counted the prayers.
I had no idea that Muslims pray five
times a day.
He must have thought you stupid woman, but
he was far too polite to say that.
And then he said, so you would like
to convert?
And he invited me to embrace Islam.
And I just thought, oh, what am I
going to say now?
If I say yes, he'll say, you insincere
fickle woman, take her away and have her
stoned.
Or if I say no, he'll say, how
dare you insult Islam, take her away and
have her.
So I'm thinking, what am I going to
say?
And then I just said, look, I can't
make such a life changing decision while I'm
in prison.
But I will, if you release me, I
will read your holy book and I will
study Islam.
And he just smiled.
He didn't say yes or no or anything.
And he got up and left.
When I got back to London, it would
have been easy for me to think, well,
I'm not keeping my promise.
But I also thought as a journalist, it
was quite clear that I knew nothing about
Islam.
And if I was to write with any
authority about people from Asia, from the Arab
world, from the Muslim world, if I was
to write with any authority, I needed to
know about Islam.
Because the one thing that I came to
understand very quickly through the Taliban was that
Islam is not just something you pick up
and put down on Friday prayers.
It is a way of life.
It is the way you eat, the way
you sleep, the way you think, the way
you pray, the way you dress, everything.
It's a whole life support system.
And so as a duty to myself as
a journalist to be informed, as well as
giving a promise to the Taliban, I started
reading Islam.
It was a very slow process.
I didn't tell my colleagues that I was
reading about Islam.
It took about two years.
But the journey very quickly turned from being
an educational one into a spiritual one.
Because when I started reading the Quran, it
was easy.
The English translation I was given was by
a Yusuf Ali.
And there was supplementary notes to all of
the ayats.
I also started to read about this man,
Muhammad, the founder of Islam.
And I was amazed by what I read,
you know.
And back in 2001, I had never heard
of him.
And of course, now, our beloved Prophet Muhammad,
Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, is a role model
as contemporary, you know, he's a man of
the 21st century, as he was back in
the 7th century, an incredible person.
At the end of two years, I ended
up embracing Islam.
And it wasn't a great leap of faith.
I'm still praying to the same God.
I just do it in a more disciplined
way.