Yvonne Ridley – A Journey to Islam A Tale #3

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.