A Jewish boy asking about Islam

Question

Praise be to Allah.

You may be a young man for whom Allaah wills
good. We admire you because, although you live in a Jewish family, you have been reading
about Islam and the Quraan for some time, and you think that Islam is the true
religion. All of this is a great achievement and an important step, for which you deserve
to be encouraged. Your search for the truth at your age shows that your reasoning is
strong and that your thinking is correct. So we congratulate you for the way in which you
are thinking, and advise you to read more and to look at good Islamic sites on the
Internet. On this site you will find a lot of information and answers to questions from
people whose circumstances are similar to yours. Now let us look at the story of a Jewish
youth who lived at the time of the Prophet of Islam, Muhammad
(peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him):
From Anas (may Allâh be pleased with him): a young man from among the Jews used to serve
the Messenger of Allaah
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him). The boy became
sick, and the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) came to visit him
when he was on his death-bed. He called him to Islam, and the boy looked at his father,
who was standing by his head. His father said, Listen to Abul-Qaasim.
[Abul-Qaasim (Father of al-Qaasim) was the kunya or nickname of the
Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) it is an Arab custom to
address people as Father of and Mother of their oldest son
Translator]. So the boy became Muslim, then he died. The Messenger of Allaah
(peace
and blessings of Allaah be upon him) came away from him saying, Praise be to Allaah
Who has saved him from the Hell-Fire. (Reported by Imaam Ahmad, 12896; also narrated
in Saheeh al-Bukhaari, 1268). So go ahead and embrace Islam as your predecessor
did, so that you will be saved from Hell and will earn the victory of Paradise as great as
the heavens and the earth.
We also want to present you with the following story which contains an important lesson
and a moving account of a young man who looked for the truth, and was helped by Allaah to
find it:
Haddaab ibn Khaalid told us, Hammaad ibn Salamah told us, Thaabit told us from Abd
al-Rahmaan ibn Abi Layla from Suhayb that the Messenger of Allaah
(peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: There was a king among the people who came
before you who had a magician. When the magician grew old, he said to the king, I
have grown old, so send me a boy to whom I can teach magic. So the king sent him a
boy, and he taught him magic. On his way, the boy passed by a monk, so he sat with him and
listened to him, and he liked what he said. When he came to the magician, he passed by the
monk and sat with him, then when he came to the magician, he hit him because he was late.
The boy complained about that to the monk, who said, If you are afraid of the
magician, tell him, I was late because of my family and if you are afraid of
your family, tell them, I was late because of the magician. Whilst this was
going on, he came across a huge beast that was blocking the peoples way. He
said, Today I will know whether the monk is better or the magician. He picked
up a stone and said, O Allâh, if the monks way is dearer to you than the
magicians way, then kill this beast so that the people may go on their way.
Then he threw the stone and killed the beast, and the people went on their way. He came to
the monk and told him what had happened. The monk said to him, O my son, today you
are better than I, you have reached such a level and now you will be tested. If you are
put to the test, do not tell anyone about me. The young man began to heal the blind
and the lepers, and to cure people from all kinds of sickness. One of the kings
courtiers who had become blind heard about him, so he brought him many gifts and said,
Whatever I have piled up here is for you, if you heal me. The boy said,
I do not heal anyone, it is Allaah who heals. If you believe in Allaah and call on
Allaah, He will heal you. So he believed in Allaah and and Allaah healed him. Then
he came to the king and sat with him as he had always done. The king said to him,
Who gave you back your sight? He said, My Lord. The king said,
Do you have any lord other than me? He said, My Lord and your Lord is
Allaah. So the king took him and kept touring him until he told him about the boy.
So the boy was brought to the king, who said, O my son, I have heard about your
magic, that you heal the blind and the leper, and you do such and such. The boy
said, I do not heal anyone, it is Allaah Who heals. The took him and tortured
him until he told him about the monk. The monk was brought and was told, Give up
your religion, and he refused. So a saw was brought and placed on the top of his
head, and he was cut in two. Then the kings courtier was brought and was told,
Give up your religion, and he refused. So a saw was brought and placed on the
top of his head, and he was cut in two. Then the boy was brought and was told, Give
up your religion, and he refused. The king gave him to a group of his companions and
said, Take him to such and such a mountain, and take him up the mountain. When you
reach the top of the mountain, if he gives up his religion (then leave him alone),
otherwise throw him down. So they took him up the mountain, and the boy said, O
Allaah, protect me from them in whatever manner You wish. So the mountain was shaken
and they fell down, and the boy came walking back to the king. The king asked, What
happened to your companions? He said, Allaah protected me from them.
Then the king gave him to another group of his companions, and said, Take him and
put him on a ship, then take him to the middle of the sea. If he gives up his religion
(then leave him alone), otherwise throw him overboard. So they took him and he said,
O Allaah, protect me from them in whatever manner You wish. The boat was
turned upside down and they drowned, and the boy came walking back to the king. The king
asked, What happened to your companions? He said, Allaah protected me
from them. The boy said to the king: You will not be able to kill me unless
you do what I tell you. The king said, What is that then? He said,
Gather the people together in one place and crucify me on a tree-trunk, then take an
arrow from my quiver and put it in your bow. Then say, In the name of Allaah, the
Lord of the boy and shoot me. If you do that, you will kill me. So the king
gathered the people in one place, crucified the boy on a tree-trunk, took an arrow from
his quiver and placed it in his bow. Then he said, In the name of Allaah, the Lord
of the boy and shot him. The arrow hit his temple (the side of his head), and he put
his hand on the side of his head where he had been hit, and died. The people said,
We believe in the Lord of the boy, we believe in the Lord of the boy, we believe in
the Lord of the boy. Someone came to the king and said, Do you see what you
were afraid of? By Allâh, what you were afraid of has happened to you now. So he
ordered that ditches should be dug at the intersections of the streets, and they were dug
and fires were lit in them. Then he said, Whoever does not give up his religion,
throw him into them or it was said, Throw yourselves in. They did this
until they came to a woman who had a baby with her. She felt scared to throw herself in,
but the infant said to her, O mother, have patience, for you are on the right
path. (Reported by Muslim in his Saheeh, 5327).
After telling this moving story about a boy coming to know the truth and believe in it and
adhere to it, we would like to say to you if you think that your family will give you a
hard time if you become Muslim, then you can keep your Islam secret and do your prayers in
secret, until Allaah finds a way for you, for He will find the best way for you. We
welcome you as a reader and questioner, and as a future brother in Islam, in sha Allaah.