Truth is not as much difficult to understand as it has to be embraced. Sticking to it is, again, a further demanding task. Those who understood it, and embraced it, and stuck to it, have been the real torch-bearers of the Truth. The saviors of humanity, in other words. And there is no dearth of such noble souls in the history of mankind, who sought to embrace the Truth and underwent an untold trail of misery, trials and tribulations. Some became bearers of the glad tidings of Allah to humanity and yet there were many who did not hesitate to lay down their lives for the sake of truth. There were still others, who were caught up on the gray side of history, as to whether they landed up right or wrong. When Gautam Buddha searched for Truth, he sacrificed his palace and family and wandered place to receive ‘enlightenment'. And, when Shyam Prasad Singh Gautam, of the late 20th century India, wished to embrace Truth, he quit his palatial home, relatives, and his “fake faith” (Hinduism) to look toward the Message of Hijaz to become Muhammad Umar Gautam. Currently in Jeddah to perform Umrah, he was accorded warm welcome by the Maulana Hifzur Rahman Seoharvi Academy, Jeddah, which organized a meeting in his honor Thursday night, and which was attended by many expatriates from India and Pakistan that included intellectuals and journalists. The meeting soon became moments for self introspection for many of the Muslims gathered there, as Gautam began going deep into the meaning of Truth and his adherence to it. “When I became Muslim, some Hindus kidnapped me and took me to a far distant secluded place where they put two pistols, each on both sides of my temples, and gave a choice: revert or get killed,” said Umar Gautam, while detailing about how he embraced Islam. “I told them ‘if you kill me, it would be the choicest death for me, for I would get martyrdom' ”, he said, reminding instantly of similar hardships of the Companions of the Prophet when the idolators of Makkah would test their nerves by inflicting unbearable hardship on them. The problem with people like Gautam is that they don't have a Prophet amongst them to stir them to Truth. And, unfortunately Muslims with their behavior and character don't send out any message to trigger the enthusism of non-Muslims toward Islam. And, hence they have to set out on their own to seek the truth; and hence, according to Bahjat Najmi, the Academy President, “they achieve the kind of spiritual height in a very short span of time that eludes us for the whole of our life.” Umar Gautam, who had no formal contact with Muslims too, was quite restive about certain common queries like what's life, what after death etc, to which Hinduism offered no immediate answers. Even the Hindu scholars and the books of Hindu philosophers had no appropriate answers to his questions like the concept of 3300 million gods in Hinduism, the transmigration of one's soul through 8.6 million rebirths (yonis), attainment of moksha, etc. “I began reading Hindu scriptures myself to find these answers, which too however did not satiate my queries,” said Gautam, who however found the books filled with mention of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Since he was not aware of Islam and prophethood, he could not immediately relate them to the true Message. It was only because of a chance meeting with a Muslim, Nisar Khan, that he began to understand Islam, and reading voraciously books provided by Mr. Khan. “After six months I asked for a Hindi version of the Qur'an, and after reading it I realized that I have found all the answers,” he said. Shyam Prasad Singh Gautam, who had a kinship with former Prime Minister V.P. Singh, did not take much time to take a decision; and, at a very young age of only 20, while doing his M. Sc. in agriculture in 1986, he embraced Islam. What followed after is a common story of torture, inducements to revert, community meetings, government inquiries, boycott threats by family members, and the acid test of facing death. He endured it all; rather, his patience and perseverance paid in the form of his mother and wife all becoming Muslims; his angry father opening his heart for him and is now studying Islam too; his brothers remove calendars with gods' images whenever Umar makes a visit to his house; and the whole village, in the largest Indian province of Uttar Pradesh, which had earlier no place for Islam and Muslim, has become lenient. “Alhamdulillah, more than hundred people, in all, have embraced Islam at my hands,” he said, with more an expression of satisfaction than any trace of proud feeling, knowing well that hidayat is in the hands of Allah the Almighty. About Hinduism, he said that there is no such religion. “There was only Sanatan dharma.” It could be that the messengers sent to this community were all turned into gods, he said, giving the latest instance of Christianity, which too had reduced Prophet Isa, or Jesus Christ (peace be upon him) to a son of God. Even Muslims, he said, carry many deities in their hearts – the deities of fame and wealth, for instance. If not checked, this may lead to disrespecting of, or relegating God to the back seat, something which will be to their own peril, he reminded. Bahjat Najmi who is credited with organizing such important soul-stirring meetings, later said: “If there is any stumbling block before the world in understanding Islam, it is unfortunately the Muslim conduct itself, and those who accept Islam, do it by reading the Prophet's Seerah, not by observing Muslims.” Mr. Umar Gautam, who later got his formal religious Dar-Ulloom training in the Deoband, Saharanpur, near Delhi, said: “India today is not as much averse to Islam as it had been some years back.” “There is a 75 percent transformation in the Indian perception of Islam,” he said. Muslims, he advised, will do well to keep remembering death, which is “the only reality.” He cited a Hadith that those who remember death are intelligent. Umar Gautam is presently working in tandem with Syed Ajmal Badruddin, who has been engaged in dawah work in his own way, and is currently credited with forming a political party in Assam, a north eastern state of India, where it successfully contested several state elections. The age of the Companions is over, but the foundation that they had provided under the direct leadership of Prophet (peace be upon him) will keep producing Umar Gautams in millions, Insha Allah.
