What is the reality of life?
And where will we go after death?
And what is our duty in this life?
Questions that overwhelmed humanity..since the beginning of time..
Unfortunately, we are the first Arabic program that sheds light on the Japanese Muslim..
After more than a hundred years since Islam entered Japan..
My name after Islam is Abdulkareem
And my real name is Shimoyama Shigoru
I work as an Editor and Publisher
Currently, I work in the mosque of Tokyo
I’m 65 years old
I converted to Islam when I was 27 years old..so from a very long time ago..
Abdulkareem…is from the first people who converted to Islam in Japan..
He converted to Islam when he was 27 years old.
And he didn’t believe in any religion before Islam.
He was astonished by Muslims..
How do they stand in one line when they pray?
There’s no discrimination between whites or blacks..
And there’s no difference between rich or poor.
And he was affected by that and converted to Islam.
My Family wasn’t conservative so we didn’t believe in any religion or follow any religion.
At that time I believed that the best life to live is one that was free according to his mind and knowledge.
I had a lot of questions..
And the questions increased day by day..
But gaining faith in the heart and keeping it is a very difficult thing..
Then I learned that faith is not something to be given to me..
But I must work hard to gain it and keep it.
By increasing my prayers..
Which is something that we as Japanese are not good at.
Shaikh Abdulkareem, I’d like to know how you found Islam..
In university, I went to Sudan in Africa and I met Muslims for the first time..
And when I returned to Japan I started searching and learning about Islam
Then I met some foreign university students who were talking to people about Islam
They were from Iraq, Sudan and Pakistan
God willing, he stayed in Sudan for 3 or 4 months
One of the months was Ramadan
So he witnessed the month of Fasting there
And he was impressed by the lifestyle
and the people’s generosity
During Shaikh Abdulkareem’s search for Islam, he saw the beauty of monotheism in this religion
Therefore he was affected by the chapter of monotheism
Surat Al Ikhlas
What is the Aya that affected you from the first time you read it?
Surat Al Ikhlas!
Say: He is Allah, the One and Only;
Allah, the Eternal, Absolute;
He begetteth not, nor is He begotten;
And there is none like unto Him.
I read books by Dr Itakaji Shonoz from Tokyo University talking about the meaning of monotheism
And through him I learned the meaning of Surat Al Ikhlas and that God is the only creator and that all men are equal
And even though Surat Al Ikhlas is short but it carries a lot of meanings and it is my favorite and closest sura to my heart.
Surat Al Ikhlas
The Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) says
“No one is more patient with his people like Allah!
they give him a partner, and a son and he still forgives them and takes care of them.”
The scene of the people praying and how they stand in one line affects you very much!
Explain to me why this scene affects you so much and why it touches your heart so much..
The part that affects me is when the people stand in one line
and you see the African with his dark skin
and the Indian, Bangladeshi, Pakistani with there brown skin
the Indonesian and Japanese with their yellow skin
the Turkish with his white skin
all different colors from different cultures and different nationalities
And what’s more impressing is that the senator, president and the rich come and join the same line!
And that is what we can’t believe!
This is what came in Surat Al Ikhlas
That God is one and all men are equal!
Abdulkareem was influenced by his Sudanese friend Dr. Musa
Who taught him the morals and forgiveness of Islam
He’s going to a bar and asks me to come with him!
I tell him “no no just leave me alone” he replies “no I won’t leave you!”
He takes me there to introduce me to the people and says
“Do you see this African guy! He doesn’t drink alcohol!!”
“He’s a very powerful man!”
And he keeps bragging about me the whole time!!
You see when you become a role model you end up being an example!
He’s been my friend through many times and many occasions
But the bigger credit goes to Dr. Al Sabarraya
Dr. Al Sabarraya told him “why don’t you become a Muslim?” … gave him the first push
I dealt with him as a friend and was waiting for him to get convinced on his own
But our friend Al Sabarraya told him “Convert to Islam don’t wait! why the wait!”
And thank God he converted to Islam
Shaikh Abdulkareem, there’s an important story that happened in your life
and this situation that happened with you is important to everyone who converted to Islam
and it’s the moment you said the Shahada..
tell me about that moment and how it affected your life
In this mosque I announced my conversion to Islam, and it wasn’t the way it is today
When I said the Shahada, I felt like I’ve become a member of a nation that consists of 1.3 billion people
and I’ve become a brother to all those!
I felt very happy!
Shaikh Abdulkareem, can a Japanese person become a Muslim?
Can a Japanese man be convinced of Islam?
Thank you! that is a very important question!
Japanese people are very honest, organized and precise!
Like Muslims in their morals and characteristics
So it’s very easy for them to convert to Islam!
But!
Japanese religions are based on polytheism
And unfortunately!
The behaviours of some Muslims distort the image of Islam in Japan!
And that makes the acceptance of Islam very difficult
Shaikh Abdulkareem says that the idea of monotheism in Japan is very difficult to accept
Because in Japan they worship thousands of gods
Nonetheless, I found that Shaikh Abdulkareem is trying his best in da’wa not worrying about his age
Shaikh Abdulkareem, since we set foot in this mosque I saw how active you are in helping people and organizing everything around the mosque
I see that you’re very active in Da’wa
Do you have enough time for this?
I used to work in the publishing business then I started one of my own
And now I have all the time in my hands to work at the mosque of Tokyo
And I’m very happy with this work
I’m very happy because I can spend all my time and energy in Da’wa for Allah and Islam
I organize media events about Islam and I meet all the visitors who’d like to know more about this religion
Can you imagine that just by individual effort and minimal resources, 5 Japanese people convert to Islam in the mosque of Tokyo monthly
Muslim countries should use and invest in media with power!
We must strengthen it and open Islamic channels in Japanese!
And Muslims should invest their money in that
Shaikh Abdulkareem assisted in translating many Islamic books to Japanese
And also contributed in coining Islamic terms into Japanese
The Islamic center tranlated many books, like the book of Prayer, Fasting, Pilgrimage and Charity
And books about the Women in Islam and the prohibition of Pork in Islam
We started translating books!
There was only one book about Islam and now we have sixty books
and most of them were from the contribution of Abdulkareem
The phenomenon of Atheism is apparent in our Islamic countries
I would like to know your opinion in Atheism
The effect of Atheism on Japan
30 thousand people commit suicide and psychological patients are increasing every day
Psychological clinics are full in Tokyo to the maximum
And the main concern of the people is wealth and luxury..which puts them in great danger in my opinion!
The task we gave Shaikh Abdulkareem is to pass out some pens that we gave him
Written on them in English and Japanese a very simple sentence
“What is after death?”
This question written here “What is after death?” overwhelms many Japanese people
And the elders are the majority in our community now
And many of who come here I find them thinking of religion, death and what’s after death
So when I give them this pen as a gift I’m hoping that they’d think of this question to help spread Da’wa
We embraced Islam recently and we weren’t born with it!
And those born as Muslims learned Islam on the outside but not the real Islam
We must learn the Quran and Hadeeth and remain like this all our life
The way of knowledge is very long!
And a Muslim will not become great or reach the excellence of faith until heshe learns then applies what heshe has learned