Mumbai to Mecca by Ilija Trojanow

Author:Ilija Trojanow
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Haus Publishing
Published: 2017-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

‘Brother Ilias, wait!’ someone called. ‘I have heard about you. I really wanted to meet you. Someone from my own continent at last!’

A bony man about my age stood in front of me and introduced himself, in English, as Arif.

‘And which continent might that be?’ I asked.

He looked uncertain. ‘You’re from Germany, aren’t you?’

‘Yes,’ I said, ‘sort of.’

‘Well, then, Europe, I meant. I’m from England, born and grew up there.’

Before he had finished this sentence his accent gave him away.

‘How is life in Blackpool?’ I asked.

‘Lots of fitna, brother, lots of fitna’ (fitna being dissention; it describes a lack of morals which caused the Prophet (pbuh) to reproach the believers.)

‘What precisely?’ I asked.

‘Well, you know: women in short skirts and see-through tops. It is not easy being Muslim there.’

Arif was obviously frustrated and it seemed that the concentrated and omnipresent faith on the Hajj had rather intensified his frustration. At home he spent the whole day behind the counter of the family shop; beyond work, he barricaded himself behind an idea of a righteous life that was hard to achieve in reality. It was difficult following all the commandments of Islam in Blackpool – a dose of self-discipline cannot replace the communal experience. There are Islamic scholars of law who have refused a life among a Christian majority for this reason. Ibn Jubayr wallowed in compassion, anger and grief for the fate of his brothers and sisters in the Levant who in his day had suffered under the dominance of the Crusaders.

‘We must look within ourselves for where the blame for the weakness of Muslims at home lies,’ Arif continued. ‘We are not living properly as Muslims, brother, we are not strong enough in our convictions of faith. If we set an example we could make Islam strong again and bring it to Europe. The West has a lot, but it is lacking inner strength. But we are weak unfortunately, far too weak. When the Sahabah came to China, they did nothing more than live Islam. They were the most honest traders in the market, they sold their clean rice for the same price that others sold soiled rice. Those in competition complained to the king and Muslims were forbidden to trade at the bazaar. But then the people protested, and the prohibition was rescinded. Today there are how many Muslims in China … 20 million? Those are the descendants, the fruit of that example.’

Arif dreamed of returning home to India (he said ‘returning home’ even though he’d been born in England), as soon as his children had grown up, and could stand on their own two feet. But he had no answer to my question of whether it was easier to lead a pure Islamic life in Gujurat where his family was from. Sure, there would be more like-minded people around, and the distance to the mosque would be shorter, the call of the muezzin louder, shopping less tricky, but would his longing be fulfilled by this alone?

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