By Ayman Toh

My dear respected brothers and sisters, I would first like to start by thanking Allah for giving me the opportunity to share this story. Before I start, I would like to make a disclaimer that any good that I am about to share comes from Allah and any shortcoming comes from myself. I am limited in knowledge and wisdom. May Allah forgive us and grant us beneficial knowledge that will bring us success in this world and the hereafter.

My name is Toh Kok Siang @ Ayman Toh and I am a Singapore-born Chinese. Alhamdulillah, I am very grateful to Allah for showering His countless mercy towards me, a worthless servant. For all the things that He has unquestionably blessed me with in my life, I am most thankful for the gift of Islam – this gift He has given to me and both my parents. Alhamdulillah! All the acts of worship and good deeds that He has allowed me to perform are not enough to thank Him, He is far above us, the creation, and He is truly the Most Merciful. I pray that Allah opens up the hearts of all of my family and everyone to be guided to Islam.

I had a teacher, Habib Abdurrahman Bin Ridho Shahab, who passed away on 26 June 2021. May Allah forgive his shortcomings, accept all his acts of worship and place him in the highest of Paradise, amongst His martyrs, His faithful servants, His Messenger ﷺ and Prophets. Aamin Aamin Aamin Ya Rabbal Alamin.

He lived in Surabaya, Indonesia and whenever he would come to Singapore, my best friend and I would try our best to visit him and benefit from his company. I brought my parents to meet this teacher for a cupping session. Alhamdulillah, they had a good interaction and experience with him. This made them yearn to see him whenever he came to Singapore. The first thing he taught my parents was to recite “Alif Lam Lam Ha” (the Arabic letters that spell out the most Supreme and Perfect name, Allah الله) and he would ask them to practise as much as they can in their free time. Alhamdulillah for the teachers sent by Allah and the lessons and goodness that they bring with them.

My relationship with my parents has always been good, Alhamdulillah. Even though I moved out after marriage, I would make it a point to call them everyday and visit them every weekend. Islam teaches us to treat our parents and family members well. Allah commands us to uphold familial ties, even if they are non-Muslims. By Allah’s mercy, He allowed me to love them even more after converting to Islam. Whenever we met, we would have regular family meals but I would not broach the topic of Islam unless they brought it up first. I once bought an English translation of the Quran and quietly left it at their house. I later found out, to my surprise, that they read the Quran whenever they were free.

7 January 2021

By Allah’s tremendous mercy and generosity, on 7 January 2021, I received a text from my mom telling me that she dreamt about how my dad and I accompanied her to the masjid to take her shahadah. MashaAllah, SubhanAllah. Truly, Allah is most worthy of all praises and glory. I told them this is guidance from Allah . “Allah and His Prophet ﷺ loves the both of you very much and wants the both of you to become Muslim.” After that my mom kept having this recurring dream about going to the masjid to accept Islam.

My dad, on the other hand, had a different perspective. He felt bring morally good was sufficient and there wasn’t any need to worship God. By Allah’s guidance, I tried to explain why there was indeed a need to worship The Creator.

I asked my dad to imagine himself a farmer going on a holiday and entrusted the duties of his farm to his worker. All of the farming equipment and machinery were provided to solely take care of his farm. And he promised a large sum of money if the worker was dutiful in his duties. But if the farmer were to return only to realise that his own farm was not being maintained but found out that all his equipment and machinery were being used to work on maintaining the neighbour’s farm instead. I asked my dad if he felt that was fair.

SUCH IS THIS LIFE – ALLAH HAS GENEROUSLY PROVIDED US EVERYTHING IN THIS WORLD THAT MONEY CAN’T BUY – GOOD HEALTH, SAFE SHELTER, FAMILY, ABILITIES – BUT NEVER ONCE HAVE WE PROPERLY THANKED HIM, TRIED TO GET TO KNOW HIM, PROPERLY WORSHIP HIM IN A WAY THAT HE IS DESERVING OF. SO HOW CAN WE ASK HIM FOR PARADISE AT THE END OF THE DAY? HOW IS THAT FAIR?

They kept quiet.

By Allah’s grace, I gave them another analogy about what it means to be grateful. I asked them to imagine a benefactor who has been consistent in giving us large sums of money to support our daily needs and this individual requests us to drive a beloved one to the hospital because they don’t have a vehicle. Our natural instinct would be to fulfill that request and to do our best to go the extra mile for them out of gratitude for that individual’s continued generosity towards us.

Then what more the One who has given us priceless gifts of life and all the beauty that comes with it. Allah does not ask for anything in return, except to fully submit to Him. We do this by constantly defaulting back to the truth that there is none worthy of worship except Him, that Prophet Muhammad ﷺ is His final messenger. Even His commands, what has been ordained for us to fulfil, is not for Him but for our own good. This obedience is gratitude.

18 February 2021

A little over a month later after the first recurring dream, my mom texted me about another round of recurring dreams of she and my dad going to Masjid al-Muttaqin to accept Islam. This dream actually came into reality when they tried to explore Masjid al-Muttaqin (near my parents’ house) by themselves out of curiosity. But due to covid-19 pandemic, the masjids were only open during prayer time and they could not enter yet. Therefore I contacted Ustaz Muslim, the Masjid’s Imam to facilitate a Masjid visit for my parents.

26th February 2021

Ustaz Muslim kindly arranged a visit for them a few days later. My parents managed to observe us performing the maghrib prayer and thereafter, was given a tour around the masjid by Ust Muslim. May Allah elevate his rank for his service.

We went for dinner afterwards, and Mashaallah, they both related that they felt a great sense of ease and peace in their hearts. The calmness at the masjid and the Quranic recitation felt very different from the atmosphere of temples which they frequented previously. They wanted to return to the masjid to feel this peace again. By Allah’s generosity, my parents started reading more Quran and even started to watch videos on YouTube to learn how to perform the Solat. As much as I wanted my parents to become Muslims, I never pressured them to take the Shahadah.

3rd June 2021

I taught my parents to mention “La illaha ill Allah” frequently and shared with the virtues of this blessed statement. By Allah’s loving guidance, they started practising it often. My dad narrated that he would make this dzikr while riding his bike or driving his bus and before sleeping. Two days later, my mom told me about the changes she saw in my dad and how he picked up the translated Quran more often in his free time. Alhamdulillah, I would also like to express my gratitude to my in-laws at this juncture for their unwavering and continuous support. Whenever my mom had any questions in relation to what she read in the translated Quran, I would approach my brother-in-law for his explanation before sharing it with my parents.

26th June 2021

On 26th June 2021, we received news that my teacher, Habib Abdurrahman Bin Ridho Shahab, had returned back to Allah. May Allah forgive him, accept his deeds and enter him to the highest of paradise, and truly Allah is the Most Forgiving, Most Merciful, Most Loving.

I shared this sad news with my parents, and it made them realise the frailty of life, and death, as inevitable as it was, comes without signs nor signals.

The passing of my teacher, by Allah’s infinite wisdom and perfect timing, allowed us to broach the topic of death and paradise. I shared with them that if we loved one another for the sake of Allah, He will reunite all of us again in His paradise with His Mercy. My parents told me that they wanted to enter paradise and be reunited there. I informed them about its possibility with the condition that we believed in Islam with full conviction that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Prophet Muhammad ﷺ is His final messenger. I shared with them the love that Rasullullah ﷺ has for us, the love he ﷺ has for his ﷺ Ummah and the sacrifices and pleas that he ﷺ made to Allah for all mankind.

6th July 2021

Alhamdulillah, at this point, it was easier to talk about Islam to my parents. So I shared this hadith with them

Angels (of Mercy) do not enter a house wherein there is a dog or a picture of a living creature (a human being or an animal).
Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim

Imam al-Nawawi said: According to scholars, among the reasons that prevented angels from entering home with pictures or statues (of animate objects) are due to the danger of idolatry. Thus, such homes are devoid of the angels of mercy and blessings. The next day, I received a text from my mom that that my dad wanted to stop worshipping the statue at home and wanted to hand over the idol back to the temple. My parents also started consuming halal food only. My dad went on to inform our family about his intention to become Muslim and some of his siblings decided to cut ties with him due to this. Alhamdulillah my dad narrated that it did not matter if all his siblings wanted to cut ties with him because he is already old and wanted to focus on preparing for his afterlife.

When my relatives heard about my parents decision to become Muslim, some of them even accused me of performing black magic on my parents and avoided entering my house. They isolated me and would not consume any food or drinks that I brought to family functions, afraid that I would cast spells on them. May Allah protect us from all evil.

My dad’s relatives also tried to dissuade my parents from accepting Islam. My mom’s sister broke down after hearing the news, and because of her misconceptions about Islam, she couldn’t understand why my mom wanted to be Muslim. My mom almost reconsidered delaying the conversion to diffuse the situation but my father was firm and convinced. And Allah is Most Wise, the Best Protector. I told both my parents that they shouldn’t worry because Allah will take care of all their affairs. And indeed He did, my mom’s sister eventually supported my mom’s decision to accept the religion. Alhamdulillah.

24th July 2021

It was on 24 July 2021 that I asked my parents if they wanted to become Muslim officially. I told them that the Islamic New Year was coming soon on 10th August 2021 and that it would be good if they became Muslims on that day because it signified new beginnings as a New born New Muslim. My parents said that they were only free on 8th August and I joked that it was auspicious to do it on the 8th as the number 8 is a special number for the Chinese.

All praises belong to Allah, all glory belongs to Allah , He is the Most Merciful, Most Generous, Most Loving. He is the Lord of the Worlds and truly, there is none worthy of worship except Allah . “Indeed, the guidance of Allah is the [only] guidance.”

And on 8 August 2021, my parents took their Shahadah. Alhamdulillah. All Praise is to due to Him who has facilitated our hearts to be Muslims

My dear respected brothers and sisters, we pray that the above inspires everyone especially the Converts who are yearning for their parents to accept their decision in becoming a Muslim and we pray that their parents also benefit from the light of Islam. May Allah continue to give us guidance in every aspect of our lives and may He allow us to return to Him in the best way, the way that pleases Him the most. May He grant us beneficial knowledge and wisdom so that we can practise Islam the way He has ordained, the way that pleases Him the most. I pray that Allah answers all your silent du’as and may He make us amongst those who will receive His mercy until the end of time. May He make us amongst those who will drink from the hand of Rasulullah ﷺ, and amongst those who will receive intercession from Rasulullah ﷺ on the Day of Reckoning, and I pray that Allah Most Merciful allows us to reunite again in the highest of Jannah.

Finally, I ask that you forgive my shortcomings and to kindly keep me and my family in your prayers. Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. Jazakamullah khairan kathiran.