Why Islam is my choice — Page 77
77 at my request. I ran towards the desert wishing to leave behind the world and all that it contained. I had thrown away the clothes I was wearing as the only symbol of that world that I also wanted to leave behind. Only this hidden desire for something called God must have lived in my soul as I did not tear off my rosary. But then it happened. All of a sudden I stopped running, nay, I was halted as if some external force had grabbed hold of me. I stood still for a moment or two and then slowly lifted my face up towards the sky above me. I heard a nonhuman voice escaping my tortured throat in great agony, saying: O All ā h, please purify me. I did not know who All ā h was and knew nothing about Isl ā m, other than some flimsy description my school teachers had given me. That too seemed to have escaped my memory. I did not know any Muslims and had not as yet disclosed the state of my mind to anyone. Yet it happened, as if I had received a revelation: O All ā h, please purify me. The actual words were, of course, in German language, my mother tongue. Immediately after I had uttered these words, this prayer of utmost helplessness, I heard a soft tune of a flute coming from the nearby mountains. I felt consoled, and returned to the car. This event was my real initiation into the fold of the Holy Prophet Mu ḥ ammad, peace and blessings of All ā h be upon