Brussels

No fancy title today.

For most of today I was avoiding the details of today's explosions in Brussels. I read about it on a few WhatsApp groups early this morning when it was just hitting the news and my immediate thought was "Oh no, not again". It is definitely sad news whenever anything like this happens and being closer to home it obviously got a lot more press attention than the Istanbul bombings only a few days earlier.

As the day wore on I did glance at headlines every now and again and on each occasion the death toll rose. Initial reports came out as 13 dead which was later revised to 23 and now stands at 30+ with a significant number more with injuries.

However, alongside the death toll, the level of rhetoric appearing in headlines was also rising. As the news spread across the world I saw reports about US Presidential nomination candidates making misguided and uninformed claims and comments from media personalities known for their hate-mongering. A lot of it was very predictable as each sought to milk the horror for their own benefit.

It did take a while for the facts to settle down and very early on I remember seeing a comment on a WhatsApp group lamenting reports that "Arabic had been heard". The obvious connection, though not stated explicitly, was that Arabic was heard therefore it must be Islamist terrorism. The question that gave pause to my mind was that while it may well be true, whoever witnessed it must have recognised Arabic and for that to happen they had to have understood what was being said? But if that were the case they'd have been able to say what was being said. No one seemed to know what had been said - just that Arabic had been heard. Or was it simply a case of a witness heard something shouted in a language he/she didn't recognise and felt that it sounded like Arabic and put that out to journalists?

Be that as it may, the terrible events have now been claimed by IS, another in a series of attacks they've made on the world.

Beyond the immediate pain of the victims and their loved ones, the saddest part is that we'll all end up suffering. While walking up a stairwell at work I overheard a group of women discussing how they felt unsafe being in London and later on a company-wide email was sent out stating that additional security protocols had been implemented given our location in the centre of London between two very busy train stations.

As time wore on and no new blasts were reported, life carried on though with a detectable increase in anxiousness in the everyday person as those who seek to divide us pushed hard to break our wall of human unity. The only solace and sliver of hope to take from today is that for the most part the wall held strong and people came together to help the immediate victims but also to condemn those who would exploit the situation.


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Bearing Witness

I was fortunate enough today to witness a man accept Islam. I turned up as usual to my regular Wednesday Qur'an study circle to find three strange men sitting at the back of the room. I smiled, mouthed hello and then promptly forgot about them. I continued to forget about them until the imam, Ajmal Masroor, called them over and explained to the rest of us that the middle of the three men was actually here to convert/revert to Islam.

Immediately I was excited. I'd seen recordings of declarations of faith and heard about them and have friends who've done it but in 27 years of hanging around Muslims I hadn't seen one myself! I took out my phone to make notes on the proceedings. In hindsight, the soon-to-be Muslim probably thought it was the height of rudeness for me to be texting on my phone during such a huge moment in his life. But that didn't occur to me and I wanted to remember what happened and prepared to note down extensive detail. I knew the procedure was quite straightforward but I was still surprised to see how simple it was in practice. My notes were as follows:

• State name.
• Confirm no coercion.
• Say the shahada* - repeated after imam.
• Welcome to Islam.

*This is the Islamic declaration of faith "ašhadu ʾan lā ʾilāha ʾilla (A)llāh, wa ʾašhadu ʾanna Muḥammada(n) rasūlu (A)llāh", which means: "I testify that there is no god except Allah, and I testify that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah."

And just like that, in the space of 20 seconds, the man had gone from an agnostic to a Muslim, from a stranger to a brother. We all gave him a hearty hug, congratulated him and welcomed a new believer to the fold. Shortly after which, the three men took their leave and departed. And that was that. (In the fullness of time, the man will receive a Certificate Of Conversion from the mosque as "proof" but that's something to hang on the wall, not an official or necessary document.)

Amazing to experience and amazing to be a part of and something I'll not forget soon. However, it did make me think about the profound nature of declaring faith. Words are easy to say but to internalise the meaning of declaring belief in God is a whole different ballgame and something that needs serious work and effort.

After the man had declared his faith, the imam pointed out that Islam and the Qur'an took 23 years to be revealed and perfected so while he should make an effort, he shouldn't rush to make changes to his life that would be immediately burdensome. A gradual approach, one step at a time will be more productive, have far more longevity and help to make the belief more concrete and will, in the fullness of time, save his soul.

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