By Professor Yusuf Tetsuro Konishi
In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds.
I was born to Japanese parents in 1967. They were typical Japanese Buddhists in name only, so I was raised in a secular environment.
Since I was in high school, I have been seeking guidance in life. At that time there was no mosque in Kyoto where I lived and there were no Muslims around me. Because I was in such an environment, Allah first led me to Christianity. By the wondrous guidance of Allah, I was admitted to the faculty of theology in a Christian university, where I learned the Bible and Christianity.
As I studied the Bible, I was fascinated with the faith in Allah of Abraham and the life and teachings of Jesus. I wanted to follow them, so I was baptized into the Christian faith at a local Protestant church to be the first Christian in my family. That was when I was 23 years old. These two, Abraham and Jesus, remain my favorite characters in the Bible.
Even then, however, I could not accept all the doctrines of Christianity. I was uncomfortable especially with its central doctrine that Jesus is God, because Jesus himself denied it plainly in the New Testament:
As Jesus was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone.”(Mark 10:17-18)
After graduating from the university I worked as a staff member at a local YMCA, and I got married. After I worked for 5 years there, I completed a master’s programme at a graduate school of theology and became a pastor at another local church. I worked for 2 years there, while being enrolled in a doctoral course.
In 2001 I became a professor at a Christian university in Nagasaki, where I currently work. There I started teaching courses mainly on Christianity and the Bible, being responsible also for the campus ministry. Several years later I found myself having to teach comparative religion in addition to the courses on Christianity due to changes in the educational programme of the university. In the preparation for the class, I learned about Islam, Buddhism, and other religions. That was my first encounter with Islam. And it was under the guidance of Allah, I think.
As I learned about Islam, I came to know that it is a true religion, more sophisticated than Christianity, literally “the straight path.” Particularly I convinced myself of the truthfulness of the belief of Tawheed. The Qur’an clearly states that Jesus is not God but is one of the Prophets. And I was deeply impressed with the life and the fine character of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Ever since I realized that, I started reading the Qur’an (in translation) in addition to my daily Bible reading.
Not surprisingly, the Qur’an and the Bible actually say the same thing. The two holy books describe the same God and they share much the same prophets in common. So why does Christianity claim that Jesus is God? My guess is as follows: St. Paul, the early Christian evangelist, preached Jesus as someone equal to God in his missionary work to the non-Jewish people. I think he did so just to preach on the invisible God to those who only knew visible idols in the polytheistic world of Greece and Rome, where there was even worship of the Roman Emperor. If my guess is right, Paul’s teaching about the divine nature of Jesus was no more than a missionary tactic and a temporary means to preach on God in a polytheistic world. Regrettably however, Christianity built its doctrine of the incarnation (the act of God coming to earth in human form as Jesus) on the teachings of Paul afterwards.
Now, if things went well, I would have ended my life as a Christian who regards Jesus as one of the greatest prophets. But Allah drove me away from Christianity and led me to Islam in a mysterious way. How? He made me clearly acknowledge the weak point of Christianity, that is, separation of faith and action. This is the brief story of what had happened to me then.
My new boss, who was a Protestant, hated me and emotionally abused me to force me to resign. For example, even when I said hello to him, not only did he never return my greetings, but he glared back at me with a hateful expression. Every time he saw me, he would nag me a long time even in the weekly prayer meetings I had with him. I think now this would fall under the definition of power harassment, but I could take no countermeasures against it then but earnestly pleaded with God for help. The boss continued to make me suffer much and this mental abuse lasted for over a decade. My Christian faith was shaken when my Christian boss unfairly criticized me for my work at the university. Those days were really a trial for me.
Christianity emphasizes the importance of love for God and love for neighbors. The boss also said love is important, but it seemed obvious to me that he had no love, that is, no faith in God. I no longer think of him as a Christian. In his opinion our spiritual life and secular life should be separate, because “the real world does not work the way the Bible teaches,” according to him. It seemed to me that he thought faith was only a matter of one’s own mind. So, I wondered, if our faith was not showing itself in our actions in daily life, then where was our faith? Or what is his so-called “faith” without works? At last, I became disappointed with Protestantism, which emphasizes the justification by faith alone according to the teachings of St. Paul. I lost my way in my spiritual hardships. But thinking back about that now, it was also a mysterious plan of Allah which led me to Islam.
I happened to live in a Catholic neighborhood, which was once a village of hidden Christians, so I was drawn to Catholicism. Catholicism recognizes the value of good deeds and encourages the accumulation of merit, unlike Protestantism. The fact that Catholicism is a worldwide one church with the Pope at the head was also appealing to me. Even though I was a Protestant, I began attending Catholic Mass at a local cathedral. Also I began to pray Catholic prayers every day. Through the religious practices I learned the importance of having ritual prayers at the set times each day.
While I was learning about Catholicism, I kept learning about Islam through books and websites, being impressed by the right teachings of Islam. During my studying Islam I realized the important fact that Jesus was a true Muslim, and it was quite a shock to me. The Bible also acknowledges that Jesus was not a Christian but a Jew in fact. I came to consider myself a follower of Jesus, rather than a Christian.
I also visited some mosques in Tokyo, Osaka, and Kobe where the Muslim brothers hospitably received me. Through my Christian life over three decades I was convinced that our faith should not be kept only within our heart but be put into practice in our daily lives. I learned how to pray the Salat and recited a few chapters of the Qur’an through Islamic pamphlets and websites. For some years I have practiced both Catholic and Islamic prayers and even tried fasting as well according to both Catholic and Islamic ways. This kind of life with different religious practices at the same time may seem strange to others, but I did not know what to do, because I thought then that I had no choice to become a Catholic or a Muslim due to my position at work.
But such a double life could not last long. There are prayers addressed to God and the ones addressed to Jesus Christ in Christian prayers. One day, while I was praying to Jesus Christ, I suddenly realized what I was doing was very wrong and I stopped praying halfway through. I thought at that moment that Allah made me realize that I was praying in the wrong way. Since then, I gave up praying the Christian Prayer.
One day in May 2024 I heard the news that the first mosque had been built in Nagasaki. I already knew that praying with others brings more rewards from Allah than praying alone, so I went to the mosque to attend congregational prayer the next Friday. At the mosque, Muslim brothers hospitably received me once again. Since then, I have tried to attend Friday prayer at the mosque as much as possible.
A while later, I heard the news of the Islamic cultural exchange event which would be held next month to commemorate the mosque’s grand opening with Mr. Kyoichiro Sugimoto as the guest speaker. When I heard it, I offered to meet him at the airport and have dinner with him because I wanted to talk to him about Islam. Things went well with the help of Allah, and I really had a valuable opportunity to talk to him closely and have an enjoyable time. As I had seen Mr. Sugimoto in videos on the Internet, he was a kind and honorable Muslim. During the car rides and the enjoyable dinner with Mr. and Mrs. Sugimoto, he patiently answered my various questions about Islam.
I led Mr. and Mrs. Sugimoto to the mosque from the airport and we prayed salah there. When we were talking with another Muslim brother in the mosque, Mr. Sugimoto suggested that I take the Shahada. I had no hesitation about doing so and I immediately took the Shahada in the presence of Mr. and Mrs. Sugimoto and the other brother. It was on 28th June 2024, the day after my 57th birthday.
The next Friday after the congregational prayer I inform Muslim brothers gathering there of my taking Shahada which I took a week before. Needless to say, all of them were very delighted with their blessings for me and we gave thanks to Allah for his guidance.
By the way, I asked Mr. Sugimoto to give me a Muslim name to commemorate my reverting to Islam. After the successful event, in a car ride I drove Mr. and Mrs. Sugimoto to the airport. He gave me the name Yusuf in response to my request. I hope that just like the life of the Prophet Yusuf was in God’s plan, so too is mine, insha Allah.
This is the brief story of mysterious guidance of Allah that led me to Islam. And I thank Allah again for guiding me ever along the way to Islam. Alhamdulillah.
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