THE POWER OF FAITH: A MAN’S JOURNEY TO ALLAH-PART 4
(Note: – The true identity and name of person and places have been kept confidential for the welfare and safety of the person’s family)
A New Trial…
According to the ruling of Shariah, Mohammad had to renew his marriage contract, since one year had passed before his wife accepted Islam. He took his wife to the Juma Masjid and a marriage contract was swiftly solemnized.
The local Hindus of the area became enraged with this new conversion. “First Agarwal abandoned the religion of his forefathers and now he has convinced his wife and children too.” They could not bear it and vowed to teach him a painful lesson.
When he accepted Islam alone they were already fuming and created various problems for him. Just to have a glimpse of the scale of problems that were created for him, after he accepted Islam he met different personalities, including the state governor and the chief minister of the state, the prime minister of India, and most of the ambassadors of the Muslim countries in Delhi due to the troubles created by the people around him. Now his case had reached the apex court of India.
It became unbearable for the local Hindus to see that not only has he accepted Islam but his wife and children seemed to have joined him too. This issue could not be left unaddressed especially due to the fact that he was a prominent figure among them. A plan was devised carefully by local non-Muslims to force Mohammad into abandoning Islam.
At the end of March 1969, Mohammad was arrested by the local police without any charge. A fleet of 15-20 police cars with about 70-80 people were waiting for him. He was immediately jailed without any explanation. These cars and the large number of people immediately returned to his house and entered it. They boldly said to his wife that when Mohammad accepted Islam they were against him and fought him. Now if that she become Muslim, this would be completely unbearable for them. They told her that she had to give up her new faith. They advised her to provide a written testimony that her husband had forcefully made her accept Islam. This was planned to frame a legal charge against Mohammad.
Moreover, they threatened her that if she did not give in to their demands then they would have her husband killed in police custody. The police inspector, in order to scare her, said “In fact this big crowd had initially come to kill your husband and so I arrested him as a precautionary measure; you should understand the gravity of the situation.”
Mohammad’s wife replied boldly that “I am not going to write that as it is not true. I have accepted Islam by my own choice”. Eventually after much coercion she was led into signing a blank paper given to her by the inspector, on which they later wrote false statements so that they could fabricate charges against Mohammad. This was later apparent in court as the writing of the statements was completely different from that of the signature.
Mohammad’s house and store were looted and his wife and children were forcefully abducted and kept under house arrest at an unknown location with armed police vigilance so that no Muslim could contact them or know what was going on.
Mohammad was sentenced to jail based on the false statements fabricated on behalf of his wife. The next day all the big personalities of the town including the city police and administration arranged a meeting to discuss the issue and plan the next steps.
At the end of the meeting they invited two respectable Muslim men from the town telling them to inform the Muslim population that no one should bail Mohammad otherwise the city might be engulfed in communal violence. The Muslim population agreed not to bail him after being threatened. The plan was to languish Mohammad in jail for 4-5 years and thus forcing him to abandon Islam.
But they plan, and Allah plans. And Allah is the best of planners. After just eight days:
Allah SWT sent two Christians from tribal area 28 miles from the city, who provided Mohammad’s bail. These Christians were accompanied by eight more tribal men (who had no apparent connection to Mohammad). They were armed with bows and arrows to defend Mohammed in case the local anti-Muslims attacked him after getting bail. This was witnessed by the local Muslim population who gathered outside the court to watch that episode. The tribal men were beaten up so badly outside the court to the point that their bodies were bleeding from almost every inch. But they didn’t retaliate. When later enquired by the Muslims about why they did not retaliate although they were armed, they replied, “We didn’t retaliate deliberately, lest the court would have rejected Mohammad’s bail on the pretext of communal disharmony on the occasion of Mohammad’s bail. So our priority was to take him out of the jail and we will take our compensation from God.”
After his release from jail Mohammad, searched for them in order to thank them. But they were nowhere to be found. He asked people around the court and even in different parts of the town from where they might have crossed but no one could recall seeing anyone of them! Mohammad left no stone unturned in searching them, but it seemed as if they never existed.
He went to the court to collect the name and addresses and all the relevant details of the people who provided bail so that he could meet them personally. He took the details and went to the biggest Bishop of the town and asked him about their details. The Bishop replied that he could not find any entry in the register based on the information provided (the Christians of the city use to keep an official register for every Christian man and woman of the town and the local tribal areas with all the necessary details).
Mohammad persisted. He personally travelled to the tribal area. A bus took him to a village closest to the provided address. Mohammad enquired with the local villagers about the village name as mentioned in the address and about these tribal men who bailed him out. All of them replied that there was no village with such name and no one knew about such persons! Their identity is left to the reader’s discretion!!
“And will provide for him from where he does not expect …” [65:3].
The Muslims of the town were jubilant. They saw this as a victory from Allah. Mohammad came to know after his release that his house and store had been plundered and that his family has been taken into custody and cut off from communication with the outside world. Mohammad now realized that everything he once owned, in terms of material wealth and family, had been lost except a pair of garments he was wearing. If Allah SWT had not given him inner strength and patience he might have committed suicide.
Having nowhere to go, he went to the Jum’a Masjid of the town. People knowing that he was there came in huge crowd to meet and greet him. Their number even exceeded the crowd in ‘Eid festivals. Next day he met one Muslim shop-keeper outside Jum’a Masjid, who was happy to receive him and invited him for some food and sweets. Later Mohammad came to know that the shop-keeper was beaten close to death by the local police. This was a warning to all the local Muslim population to boycott Mohammad, or to face dire consequences!!
