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US Professor Dr. Jeffrey Lang How I embraced Islam?

Quran wins the heart of US Professor Dr. Jeffrey Lang

Dr. Jeffrey Lang is a Professor of Mathematics at the University of Kansas, one of the biggestuniversities in the United States. He started his religious journey on Jan 30, 1954, when he was bornin a Roman Catholic family in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

The first 18 years of his life were spent in Catholic schools, which left him with many unansweredquestions about God and the Christian religion, Lang said, as he narrated his story of Islam.

Like most kids back in the late 60s and early 70s, I started questioning all the values that we had atthose times, political, social and religious, Lang said. I rebelled against all the institutions that societyheld sacred including the Catholic Church, he said.

By the time he reached the age of 18, Lang had become a full-fledged atheist. If there is a God, andhe is all merciful and all loving, then why is there suffering on this earth? Why does not He just take usto heaven? Why create all these people to suffer? Such were the questions that came up in his mindin those days.

As a young lecturer in mathematics at San Francisco University, Lang found his religion where God isfinally a reality. That was shown to him by a few of the Muslim friends he had met at the university.We talked about religion. I asked them my questions, and I was really surprised by how carefully theyhad thought out their answers, Lang said.

Dr. Lang met Mahmoud Qandeel, a regal looking Saudi student who attracted the attention of theentire class the moment he walked in. When Lang asked a question about medical research, Qandeelanswered the question in perfect English and with great self assurance.

Everyone knew Qandeel-the mayor, the police chief and the common people. Together the professorand the student went to all the glittering places where there was no joy or happiness, only laughter.

Yet at the end Qandeel surprisingly gave him a copy of the Quran and some books on Islam. Langread the Quran on his own, found his way to the student-run prayer hall at the university, and basicallysurrendered without much struggle.

He was conquered by the Quran. The first two chapters are an account of that encounter and it is a

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fascinating one.

Painters can make the eyes of a portrait appear to be following you from one place to another, butwhich author can write a scripture that anticipates your daily vicissitudes? Each night I would formulatequestions and objections and somehow discover the answer the next day. It seemed that the authorwas reading my ideas and writing in the appropriate lines in time for my next reading. I have metmyself in its pages

Lang performs the daily five-time prayers regularly and finds much spiritual satisfaction. He finds theFajr (pre-dawn) prayer as one of the most beautiful and moving rituals in Islam. It is as if youtemporarily leave this world and communicate with the angels in singing Gods praises before dawn.

To the question how he finds it so captivating when the recitation of the Quran is in Arabic, which istotally foreign to him, he responds; Why is a baby comforted by his mothers voice? He said readingthe Quran gave him a great deal of comfort and strength in difficult times. From there on, faith was amatter of practice for Langs spiritual growth.

On the other hand, Lang pursued a career in mathematics. He received his masters and doctoraldegrees from Purdue University. Lang said that he had always been fascinated by mathematics.Maths is logical. It consists of using facts and figures to find concrete answers, Lang said. That is theway my mind works, and it is frustrating when I deal with things that do not have concrete answerers.

Having a mind that accepts ideas on their factual merit makes believing in a religion difficult becausemost religions require acceptance by faith, he said. Islam appeals to mans reasoning, he said.

As faculty advisor for the Muslim Student Association, Lang said he viewed himself as the liaisonbetween the student and their universities. He gets approval from university authorities to hold Islamiclectures. The object of being their faculty advisor is to help them get their needs met as far asadjusting to the American culture and to procedures of the university. They appreciate the opportunityto have misconceptions corrected, he said.

Lang married a Saudi Muslim woman, Raika, 14 years ago. Lang has written several Islamic bookswhich are best sellers among the Muslim community in the US. One of his important books is EvenAngels ask; A journey to Islam in America. In this book, Dr. Lang shares with his readers the manyinsights that have unfolded for him through his self discovery and progress within the religion of Islam.

Story: First Salah of Jeffery Laing

I would like to read out an extract from Jeffery Laings book, Even Angels Ask in which he describeshis first prayer.

On the day I converted to Islam the Imam of the Masjid gave me a manual on how to perform Salah.How hard could it be pray I wondered?

That night I decided to start perfroming the 5 prayers at their appointed time. Much of what I wassaying was in Arabic so I had to memorize the Arabic transliteration and English interpretations. Ipoured over the manual of salah for a couple of hours before I felt confident enough to attempt my firstprayer. I walked into the bathroom and opened to the section describing how to perform Wudhu, Like acook trying a recipe for the first time, I followed the step-by-step instructions slowly and meticulously.

Standing in the center of the room I aimed myself in what I hoped was the direction of Makkah. Iglanced back over my shoulder to make sure that I had locked the door to my apartment. Finding thatit was locked, I looked straight ahead straightened my stance, took a deep breath and in a hushedvoice I pronounced Allah-o-Akbar I felt a little anxious, I couldnt rid myself of the feeling thatsomeone might be spying on me so I stopped what I was doing and went to the window, I glancedaround outside to make sure no one was there.

Then, I carefully pulled the curtains closed and returned to the middle of the room. Once again, I stoodstraight and whispered Allah-u-Akbar in a barely audible tone I slowly and clumsily recited the first

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