From Bahai to Islam: Adam Fong's Journey

(I had permission to share Adam Fong's journey) Assalamualaikum Asma, Insyallah, here I’ll share my conversion story with you. I was born a Baha'i, and Baha’ism rotten roots lies in Iran, the centre point of Shia Islam. While i was growing up as a Baha’i, we were taught that there's a prophet after Muhammad (saw) has come to reveal scriptures after the Quran, and that we as Baha’is are the chosen ones of God. How cliché? Chosen ones... There's no prophet after Muhammad (saw) and Allah doesn't make mistakes. In any case, we were always taught from a Shia perspective towards Islam, that Islam had degraded and hence the down fall of the Ottoman Empire in Turkey. Since there's degradation of Islam, hence there need to be a new religion, which was Baha'ism, my ex-religion. Not too much on its way ward religion, but that's my history. We believed in a man, who posses’s Godly powers and that accepting him is our salvation. Very similar to Christianity, however ironically, this man, whose name is Hussain Ali claims to be the second coming of Jesus Christ. That's totally false and absurd, hence its being a way ward religion. Little did I know about this when i was a Baha'i, going on my life on my life oblivious to Islam. During my time as a Bahai, i never really took religion seriously. It was more of a part time thing, as i grew up, studied in college and got myself into business when I was in my teens. So “God” was always put a side, like a lucky coin, needing it "as and when" i like. Ao zubillah, Ya Allah forgive me. In the midst of all this, my brother, now Farihin was about to get married to his girlfriend who is now my sister in law, from Kelantan. This was very saddening towards my mom and dad as their son is about to accept Islam. The Islam we've been learning, that it has degraded, and that we "bahais" are having a better religion. So my brother converting to Islam is going against my family's beliefs. However my mom and dad did eventually gave in as my Farihin was the eldest in the family. At the same time my brother was also of the opinion that he's acceptance to Islam is only surface level and his intention is just to get married with my sister in law. My father advised him to be honest in his religion and be faithful to Islam and that if he converted, he must adhere to Islam 100%, and do not be a half pass six Muslim. This was the advice of my late father to my brother. My mother was still reluctant to accept my brother had converted. Eventually my brother got married and they moved out of the house. However my brother start to realize that Islam is not just a ticket to get married, he studied further and start to realize that Islam is true religion from Allah, the Creator. So he started to come by the house and talk to us about Islam, showing us videos of Dr.Zakir Naik, "Science in the Quran", "Miracles of the Quran", "Muhammad in the Holy Scriptures". I was reluctant at first but i started to watch and learn slow, with my mother. My dad at the time was not bothered about my brother talking about Islam to us. I always had this issue with Islam and Muslims being terrorist and cold blooded murderers. However my brother started to share with me the other side of Islam that no one talks about, that is about the prophet Muhammad peace and blessing be upon him, and started to show me ahadith and how was our prophet really was as a man, a person whom we'd learn how to live our lives. Then he showed me how his companions (sahabas), lived along side our prophet, protecting him, loving him, and obeying him as a prophet from Allah. Allah say’s that Muhammad is the best of creation and is a mercy to all the worlds. So its must be that Allah has sent him as a guide to us, and we should look to him for reference. Because in our previous religion, the bahais took most of its teaching from Islam, then I discovered that what was taught to us as bahais, was infact taken from Islam and its way of life. A total rip off I’d say. And I was deeply angered at this fact, because 23 years of my life was just gone without knowing this fact. I started to learn and read books from Dr.Zakir Naik, Ahmad Deedat, Gary Millar (Omar, his Muslim name), and many scholars of comparative religion. However I was still skeptical about Islam because I was also in a relationship with my girlfriend, who is now my wife. So didn’t want to convert because it was cause a dent in my relationship with my girlfriend who's a Christian, a Sunday church going Christian and Catholic I might add. Allah in His absolute mercy and compassion, showed me the way into accepting Islam no matter what. I was driving to fetch Melissa to catch a movie, and i got myself into an accident. I smashed the front of my car into the rear of a Renault. I wasn't hurt however, wallahi, when i slam the breaks of my Wira, and felt the front of the car hit the other car, and it was as though I woke up from a dream. I didn't realize what had happen and i was so awe struck at what just happened. I couldn't believe it, because I’ve never been a in a wreck such as that, maybe minor dents and knocks, but not to the extend that my car would be totally damaged. I was of the impression before i was a Muslim that what happens to me is due to my own actions and there's no one that can do anything about it, even God. Astaghfirallah. Farihin helped me and manage to settle my insurance claims and drove me back home. In the journey back, while I was pondering and just starring at the window of his car, my brother just blurted out "Didn't it felt like a dream?" I was stunned because i didn't mention to anyone. Then he started to tell me, that it was ignorant to think that everything was under my control, and that it was Allah who protected me from a worse accident. And that I was an ungrateful human being, because Allah has given me everything I needed, a house, a car, a girlfriend, loving parents, a good paying job and a good physical body, with no defects. Alhamdulilah, I wish I had said that when he told me this. I was at the lowest of low, when he said that, because i always had my ego with me. Ego didn't do me any good. I felt very bad the next day and had walked to his house, which was a couple of blocks away and told him, "Ko (brother), can you teach me how to be grateful to Allah?". He said come in and take a shower, we'll pray together. That’s when I started to pray to Allah and the first time I placed my forehead on the ground in humility is when i started to realize what was my position in this life and it just brought me to tears that I’ve been so lost without guidance. Because of you realize, only a slave would place his forehead on the ground in humiliation towards his master. I started to pray 5 times a day, in secrecy. At work, at home. I didn't want to voice out my beliefs, because I was still learning and studying about Islam. Melissa was with me all the way from the time of the accident and until i started to pray, however she didn't know I was praying as a Muslim. I didn't want to tell her about my beliefs. I was scared that she would dump me because of Islam. I started to learn about Islam from English speaking scholars, from PeaceTv, from videos which i downloaded from Youtube, from books translated into English, and i started to learn how to read Quran. I read a lot about Islam, and I started to learn about Christianity and its similarities with Islam. Because I wanted Melissa also to know about this “gold” I just found. One fine day I broke the news to Melissa that I was a Muslim, that I’ve accepted Islam as my way of life. She was devastated, because she didn't anticipate my accepting Islam. Because she was a Christian she knew about Islam only from the tv, the newspaper, the community, and how many families broke up due to Islam. She was scared. And her mother had a lot to do with her belief. And her mother was a person with little tolerance towards Islam and she had a bad misconception of Islam by looking at our community and its black sheeps. I started to share with her about Islam, its beauty, its way of life, it’s always having Allah in the mind, and not only on Sundays. Shared with her many things in the bible that shows that Islam is not the religion of Arabs, it was the way of life since Adam alaihisalam. That they were only sent as prophets to give the message of Islam, which is to submit to Allah with sincerity and peace. That is to worship Allah without any partners. Worship Allah alone, not a stick, a stone, money, a man, or a concept. I told her that Jesus in the bible never said to his follower "I am God, worship me". I questioned her, however she wasn't able to answer as I think she was a very obedient Christian not learned, in a sense that the knowledge is left to the preachers and the fathers in the church. I was still with Melissa even though i was already a Muslim. Many people had told me to leave her and find for someone else who is a Muslim and that really angered me. I told me self, that if I ever go fishing I would catch the most difficult fish, easy fishes are not my cup of tea. I was being metaphoric as to tell them that I'm trying to share Islam with Melissa and I’ll wait for her until she is ready to learn and accept Islam. I showed her videos like "Who wrote the bible" by Dr.Robert Bedfort. I showed her videos from Dr.Zakir Naik, "Crucifiction or Crucifixted", Ahmad Deedat's talk about Islam and Christianity, and Yusuf Estes story about his conversion to Islam. Brother Yusus is a Christian minister, converted to Islam and now has his own Da'wah channel called GuideUS TV. After seeing all these videos and she started to realize that Islam was the truth, and that her parents hold no status in telling her that she cannot convert to Islam and to accept the truth. I showed her how to pray, I taught her Al-Fatiha, and other short surah, all with Allah permission. I see a change in her, and Alhamdulilah she converted to Islam. Her parents never knew about her conversion as she was staying outside her house for a year before we got married. Allah had given her an avenue of accepting Islam without any problems, because she wasn't staying at home. No resistance from her parents because it wasn't to their knowledge. Her parents soon got to know when we wanted to get married and we've made arrangement for them to come for our wedding. It was her mother who was against our marriage, however her father was not bothered if she was a Muslim or not, for him it was a matter of telling him our plans earlier. We've been married for 2 years now and Allah has given us a gift, a daughter, Sofia. After we got married we never seize to visit her parents every weekend, to show that even being Muslims, Allah has commanded us to be dutiful to our parents, and that we cannot even say a word "ouff" to them. So as Muslims we strive to show silaturrahim towards our non muslims parents the best we can. Maybe if you like, you can ask for her story, I think she'd be more than willing to share this story with you, and how she accepted Islam. I'm ever grateful to Allah that my family including my mother has accepted Islam. My father unfortunately passed away 2 years ago. That in a way, made the way for my mother to accept Islam, as my mother was married to my father, even though she had accepted Islam in her heart and she was already a practicing Muslim. Allah's promise is the truth indeed, and we should never be afraid when Allah is by our side. When Allah is our Rab, and our sustainer, who other than Allah can provide for everything in this world? Indeed Allah alone is the Provisioner. Accepting Islam from a non Muslim background is definitely challenging. Because of obstacles in our path, such as our parents, friends, and love ones. Some times its difficult to please everyone. However, if we please our Creator, Allah, He will make our difficulty easy and manageable. I thank Allah that he showed me the way into a way of life, that is more reserved and more easily understandable. Yes, we there are things which we cannot do after accepting Islam, however these are the things that keep us reserved and check at all times. Do ask me if you’ve any question, and I do hope that my story is worth the read . Assalamualaikum. Wa alaikumusalam Sure, please share this with anyone its no issue what so ever. Insyallah, its a beneficial story for those who are perhaps on the same boat. I think to me, it was the point where i saw this one talk from Dr.Zakir Naik about "Terrorism in Islam". He was mentioning about the atrocities done by former leader such as Mousalini, Hitler and others alike. And when it come to Islam and Muslims, its very rare cases you see them committing such acts of terror. Basically out of defending one selfs. He said there's a fine line between freedom fighter and terrorist. Because one might look similar to the other, when people start to have pre-condition mind sets. So while he was talking it was suggesting to view a video made by some American, who were not satisfied with the 9/11 Commission Report. So they actually investigate and found out that 9/11 was not perpetrated by Muslim Terrorist and that Islam has nothing to do with 9/11. 9/11 was a hype of the Western media drawing an image of Muslim terrorist just blood thirsty to kill infidels. However i was also preconditioned at the time too. Alhamdulilah, this was the point that i said, "I want to be a Muslim", it cant wait. My brother taught me how to read Arabic first, then i went for Arabic classes for 2 years and also i read the Quran during my free time at night. I have the Syamil Quran which is the word by word translation in Malay (Indonesian). Most of my learning avenue was through youtube and tubeislam. Videos from Br.Yusuf Estes, Dr.Bilal Philips, Dr.Zakir Naik, Br.Sheik Ahmad Deedat, their books and their audio clips. These days i listen to Br.Shuib Webb, he also can be heard in Legacy Radio, and Ikim Fm, every weekends 6.30pm - 7.00 pm, interesting he's talks. I'm still learning and as a Muslim knowledge is very important. Ilm is something that feeds us to strive to know more, more hadith, more sunnah, more Quran. We one day will become mother and father to our children. If scholars are too far to reach and not accessible, we must be their scholars and impart knowledge to them. Of course knowledge from Quran and Sunnah, and from the understanding of the Ulama that are along the Quran and Sunnah. These are the 2 most important things to hold on too. Author's note: I cried reading his story. Spurs me to reform myself even more.

Purple Toes

After returning from Bario, I noticed 3 of my toes were in total pain and couldn't bend properly. Then a few days later I realized it turned purple. Dark purple. After much persuasion from my friends, I consulted the Dr. I was told that my toes suffered internal bleeding from intense walking in intense road conditions. He advised that it should return to its normal color. If it hasn't in 1 week, then I should return. The Dr also advised not to do much walking. Well, the only advice I heeded was...none of the above. Not walking would be very alien to me. To make matters worse, I started playing futsal. To limit my movement, I was given the ''goal keeper'' role. Boy, did I get smacked by balls. Little did I realize that my first test game I walked away with bruises and cuts on my arms and hands. Toes...still purple but improving. I have 3 days left to see it turn to PINK!! Author's note: If walking 40 km turned my toes purple, I can't imagine walking barefoot like the Penan or Kelabit used to (some still do).

The Simple Life: The Bario Awakening

The Sarawak experience would be incomplete if you did not visit Bario.

Bario is a highland populated by mainly Kelabit, Lun Bawang and Bario Penan tribes. It is accessible mainly by plane, a 50 min journey from Miri. Alternatively, the trip will consume 22 hours by land, and 4 weeks by foot. Most Bario locals have travelled by all 3 means.



Our first twin otter flight experience:

• 18 seater plane (as big as a mini bus!)
• No air-conditioning. 2 mini fans stood in its place
• No lavatory
• No steward or stewardess
• No inflight meals or entertainment (obviously la since there isn't any steward/stewardess)
• No emergency briefing
• No life jacket under the seat
• You can see the pilot and co-pilot
  

When we arrived at the Bario airport, naturally we had to retrieve our own bags from the twin otter luggage pit.

Bario has a population of an estimated 800 people. Seriously. The people of Bario are mainly Evangelical Christians. They grow bario hill paddy, pineapples, and produces hill salt. Other items have to either be flown from Miri, or transported by 4WD or by foot. There is no bank or ATM. There is no cinema, mall or karaoke bars. The Celcom telco tower was just constructed...2 years ago.

They have a primary school, high school up to 9th grade, churches, clinics, immigration, a police station manned by 3 personnel, library, museum, a few shops and a few home-stay longhouses.

Guess what this is?

Answer: Correct. A gas station!

Bario does not have access to electricity or commercialized water treating system. Everything is done manually by the Bario folk. They use generators to power electricity. They hardly use electricity during the day time, and switches it on for a few hours at night. Some longhouses may be powered by solar. Hence, at night their lights use solar energy instead of electricity.

Understanding their limited access to daylight, I deduced that this is one of the main factors contributing to the high success rate of Kelabits. When daylight hours are limited coupled with 0 distraction from sms, 3G, phones, TV and pubs/cyber cafe/video games/etc, the Kelabits maximize their time during the day either working or studying. At night they get proper rest. Hence, many Kelabit become successful. One very successful Kelabit is Idris Jala.

In addition, the fact that most Kelabit had to walk a great distance to school (easily 5 to more than 20km one way) to school in bad road conditions, they know the definition of perseverance.

My friends and I walked almost 20km to the salt spring in muddy roads and had to venture into virgin jungles, and our feet felt like falling off. Salt is produced manually i.e. taken from mountain well, using firewood to heat the pot to get the salt, then transport the salt on foot to town (20km). That's why Bario salt is expensive.

Let's just say there were no rest areas and my friend and I had toI had to answer nature's call...the natural way. Don't worry, I took clean water from the mountains *smiles*

On our way back from the salt spring, after walking another 10 km, we were exhausted. Our feet were numb and we had to take 1 step at a time. When we saw a truck...we decided to hitchhike. *don't do this at home kids* We had a guide who spoke Kelabit. All 5 of us got onto the back of the truck and rode the remaining km to town.

Signing the Guest Wood at our favorite homestay: Jungle Blues Dream
With Tine from Jungle Blues Dream.

Posing with the drawings: Rumors

Our homestay host is an artist. He puts his paintings for sale in his longhouse. He is very talented. He has sold over 70 paintings. His paintings will be exhibited at the Oxford Gallery some time in 2o11.


We paid RM 70/night per pax for 3 meals daily. The lavatory is modern (sitting down) and bathroom is clean.

At night, our lights are solar powered.


What I Like about Bario

1. The productive people
2. The friendly people. People come up, shake your hand and talk to you
3. The fact that there is no crime in Bario
4. The people oppose negative influences and work hard to prevent discos, pubs, drugs and crime from entering Bario
5. The people are very family oriented. They take care of each other. Imagine walking for 20 km and breaking your foot without owning a handphone (before Celcom came), if your family and friends don't search for you if you didn't return home, you're a goner
6. The economic activity is mainly bario paddy, pineapples, bario salt, arts and craft and tourism
7. The hardworking and persevering attitude
8. They are humble
9. Bario is still physically uncorrupted. Let's hope it remains that way.
10. I met the infamous Penan folk. They are nomads. They own no assets. There are evangelists who are trying to educate them and provide them basic education to lead a better life. They are also taught Christianity. These kids walk miles just to go to school.

What I Want to Do

1. Bario folk should not be made to pay for road tax when there isn't any roads!
2. Muslims need to visit Bario. We were basically the few Muslims that travelled here. Most of them thought we were tabligh.
3. West Malaysians need to know of the plight of the Kelabit and Penan. The ''government budget'' should be spent to improve the lives of the marginalized and not build unnecessary palaces and direct entrances to the palace.
4. Muslims should help individuals and communities regardless of their faith

Will you help me?

Sarawak Layered Cake

Wikipedia Bintulu and you will learn that it was originally just a fishing village. With the discovery of liquefied natural gas and the founding of MLNG, Bintulu became the next oil and gas town after Miri.

Bintulu is growing and expanding. At one glance, you can see plush green backdrop. Take a closer look you will see construction mushrooming in many areas.

Population

The majority in the following order are Iban, Chinese and Malays.

I've learned what it means to be a minority in Malaysia. It teaches me humility and respect. For once I see more dogs than cats, and they are my friends. They protect me and my neighborhood. They do not chase or bark at me because I treat animals with respect.

I learn from my Christian, Bhuddist and Iban colleagues what it means to practice their religion and enjoy holidays such as Gawai and Good Friday.

Being Muslim here is also exciting. People give salaam out of respect. I love giving salaam and returning salaam. Men say salaam really to wish you peace, and not to ...court.

The few practising Muslims are very close. We band together and do charity together.

Geography

Bintulu is akin to some areas of Shah Alam, but 20 years ago. The biggest mosque also has a blue dome, and it has many roundabouts.

Economy

There is very little Government body presence here. Hence, employment is mainly private sector driven i.e. Petronas, Shell, Murphy Oil, Sime Darby, SESCO (TNB equivalent), and in-coming Japanese companies. If you don't work for these companies, you either work with the Bintulu Port, Bintulu Development Authority or you are self-employed.

Most are self-employed. What I admire most is that Bintulu-wakians are generally self-sufficient. They do not depend on the Government as much as the West Malaysians do (for obvious reasons). They operate their own businesses. If we don't have McDonalds, they come up with The Munchies (local burger fast food).

I know a family who took my friend and I in as step daughters (anak angkat). They are very welcoming, warm and loving. They treat complete strangers like us as their children. The feeling is genuine and sincere. They operate a growing layered cake business, a catering service, and a bridal shop to make ends meet. They won the Best Belacan in Bintulu and Sarawak award.

We get invited for dinner almost every other day.

I have offered to manage their business and my expansion plans, but I do understand that they need manpower and resources to expand. You know me, I have all these ideas ;-)

Ever since I have been in Bintulu, I have only eaten at KFC twice, Marrybrown once, Pizza Hut twice and Sushi King once. My friends and I prefer to patronize local eateries. We support the local economy.

Having said this, there is still many in Bintulu and Sarawak who are poor. You can see from the side of the main road that they still live in long houses without access clean water and electricity.

Cycling through out some parts of Bintulu has really taught me that all the resources that Sarawak has i.e. crude oil, natural gas, timber, sago, pepper, etc has not been equitably disbursed to its population. Shame.

Social

In Bintulu, you will tend to do outdoor activities such as the following:

• fishing, prawning or deep sea fishing


• cave exploration


• diving


• jungle trekking


• running, cycling, swimming or general sports

Apart from the above, my friends and I play kites, watch the sun set at the beach, have picnics, cook-overs, boardgames, Chenga (China Jenga), DVD nights...the usual.

When a friend of mine was hospitalized for appendicitis and had to remove a cyst in her ovaries, I took turns with a friend to care for her. She told me she was lonely in the hospital. I can relate since I was hospitalized a few times, and I hate staying in the hospital. I smuggled in a dvd player and we would watch movies.

She couldn't laugh because laughing hurts (post operation). Imagine having to suppress all the jokes in my mind. I suppressed them for a while until she recovered :-)

When our friends do not have cars, we send them every day to office and pick them up. What would take 20 min to the office, now would take 1 hour. Our office is in a rural location in Bintulu. It is not in Google Earth because it is a national security location.

My friend volunteered to be my back-up just so I could go on leave. She made sure I got the much deserved rest. I can't thank her enough for her selfless-ness.

We take good care of each other because nobody will. Our families are all in West Malaysia.

We're all a layer in the cake. One layer wouldn't taste good. With all the layers, we're finger licking goooood. Hehehehe.