Adeel Malik
Atheists claim they don’t need religion and they are happy to be without it. They also declare religion is in fact the source of problems in the world.
Shan, a Chinese Hong Konger who was an agnostic, till she became a Christian. After some time of being a non-practicing Christian, she studied Islam and embraced it. She spoke with Muslim Council of Hong Kong to shed light as to what made her embrace Islam.
Before Islam
Life before Islam was a continuous strive for my aspirations in different stages of my life. There were struggles but I had no complaint to my life.
I basically love myself and I love Hong Kong before and after I accepted Islam.
I was a sport champion competing at international level, a dog trainer from domestic dog to military dog, an air traffic control officer and a certified teacher. Currently, I’m a part-time air traffic control simulator operator.
Why Islam?
I heard an agnostic talked about the concept of Halal food and the concept of self-defence in Islam. It was through these two concepts that I discerned the truth in Islam.
The real truth must be able to solve all issues of mankind.
It is plain clear to me that Islam is the truth and Islam is the way.
Challenges as a New Muslim living in Hong Kong
I did face personal challenges after I accepted Islam, but none that I thought to be too much.
Local Hong Kong Chinese, in general, tend to switch to English automatically when they speak to foreigners, even when they know only a limited number of English expressions.
Becoming a Muslim enables me to experience the receiving side of this hospitality, I couldn’t help but appreciate and love Hong Kong people even more after I became a Muslim. It made me think of what Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said:
“People are like gold and silver; those who were best in Jahiliyyah (Pre-Islamic Period of Ignorance) are best in Islam, if they have religious understanding…”
There are many good people of integrity in Hong Kong, but the public, in general, does not have a clue to what Islam is about.
God put me in this city of ease and has shown me the truth, what good have I done to spread the message?
Hong Kong, my home city, its people, its everything, my heart is leaden. The feeling of urgency is getting more and more intense as time goes by.
Advice to non-Muslims and Muslims
I plea with a heavy heart that my fellow Chinese Hong Kong people would allow themselves to be informed about the true essence of Islam.
Take it as a piece of basic human knowledge, just that. There is a set of material about the basic understanding of Islam, available in 25 languages, there are 20 topics presented in Chinese here. Readers may pick a language and a topic that you would like to read.
Our local education has conditioned us to think inside a beautified frame. The truth has been blacked out from us by a colonial power that has ruled this city for over one hundred and fifty years.
We are way too backward and way too uncivilized if we allow ourselves to remain ignorant of what has been blacked out from us for so long.
We are benefiting from a civilization in so many ways of our living but we know nothing about that civilization.
And worst of all, we have been conditioned to think that modernized and advanced and good things mostly come from the west.
How can we see the truth without knowing the facts?
Here in Hong Kong, we have all the freedom that is needed for us to find out and learn the truth, it is up to us whether or not to open our mind and our heart to it.
Allowing ourselves to be embedded to those so-called “news” from corporate media will not lead us to the truth.
Be an informed person, get to know the truth, even if you are satisfied with your life right now.
