5. Would you like to meet him outside the institution? (cont.)

I stood closer to him and Allah was insistent on making me hear some of his speech. I really liked what I heard and said to myself, "May my mother lose me! By Allah, I am an intelligent person. I am well able to distinguish between the good and bad. What is then preventing me from listening to what this man has to say? If he says something good, I will accept it. If he says something bad, I will reject it. I stayed until he finished his prayer.When he rose to Supplications leave for his house, I followed him until he entered his house and I entered with him. I said, 'O Muhammad, your people have told me such and such. By Allah, they continued to warn me about you until I stuffed my ears with cotton so that I would not get to hear your words. I then managed to hear some of the good you have to say anyway, so please, present to me more of what you have to say.'" The Prophet became overjoyed, presented Islam to atTufayl and recited some Qur'anic verses. At-Tufayl contemplated on his life and realised that with every passing day, he was becoming further away from Allah by worshipping stones, stones which neither responded to his prayers nor his calls. This much had become clear to him. At-Tufayl then began to think about the aftermath of his acceptance of Islam: How could he leave his religion and that of his forefathers? What would the people say? What about the life he used to live? The wealth he gathered? His family? His son? His neighbours? His friends? There would be chaos! At-Tufayl remained silent as he thought about it, weighing up between his worldly life and the Hereafter. He decided at once to let go of the worldly life and remain steadfast on the religion, regardless of who would be pleased or displeased, for who cares about the people of this world if the One in the heavens is pleased? Why should he care about his provision when it was in the Hands of the One above the heavens? His health was in the Hands of the One above the heavens. His honour and status were in the Hands of the One above the heavens. In fact, even his life and death were in the Hands of the One above the heavens! Supplications Hence, if the inhabitants of the heavens were pleased with him, then what he lost of this world should not have worried him. If Allah loved him then it did not matter who was angry with him. Therefore, let whoever wished to mock or censure him do so! Yes, at-Tufayl accepted Islam there and then and bore witness to Allah's oneness. He then demonstrated his lofty ambitions and said to the Prophet , "O Prophet of Allah, I am obeyed among my people. I will return to them and call them to Islam." At-Tufayl then left Makkah and hurried back to his people, riding over mountains and through valleys until he finally reached his people. When he entered the city, his father approached him. His father was an old man very close to his death and still worshipping idols. At-Tufayl wanted to call him to Islam with firm resolution. Al-Tufayl said to him, "Listen to me, dear father. I have nothing to do with you and you have nothing to do with me!" His father was stunned and said, "Why so, dear son?" He replied, "I have accepted Islam and decided to follow Muhammad ." The father replied, "Dear son, your religion is my religion!" He said, "In that case, go and take a bath and purify yourself. Then come to me and I will teach you what I have been taught." His father then went away, took a bath, purified himself, and then returned to at-Tufayl and accepted Islam. At-Tufayl then went to his house where his wife welcomed him in. Supplications He said to her, "Listen to me! I have nothing to do with you and you have nothing to do with me!" She said, "Why so?" He replied, "Islam has separated the two of us. I have decided to follow the religion of Muhammad ." She said, "In that case, your religion is my religion." He said, 'Then go and purify yourself and return to me." She turned around to do as she was told, but then thought about the idol she worshipped. What if the idol was to harm her children if she forsook it? She returned to him and said, "Don't you fear for the children from Dhu ash-Sharah?" Dhu ash-Sharah was the idol they would worship. They used to believe that this idol would harm whoever forsakes the worship of it, or his children. He said, "Go and do what I said, for I guarantee that Dhu ash-Shara won't be able to harm them." She went away, took a bath, returned and accepted Islam. At-Tufayl then began to visit all the houses, calling people to Islam.