Dr. Jeffrey Lang - from atheism to Islam

[Zainab_M]

Dr. Jeffrey Lang, currently a Professor of Mathemetics in the University of Kansas, discusses in the following wonderful video how he came to Islam from atheism.  He also discusses the Pillars of Islam and his reflections of the beauty of salaah is particularly inspiring.    Dr. Lang delivered this lecture in 1995.

It's a 46-minute video.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2372167008517233657

To learn more about Jeffrey Lang, check his biography at Wikipedia - JEFFREY LANG

Please forward to family and friends

[N. Truth Seeker]

A very inspiring and entertaining lecture.  This brother is a good example of how Allah guides whomsoever He wishes.  And that decision of Allah depends upon how hard every person works to achieve His guidance.  Br. Jeffrey Lang indeed worked hard, and his first step was to get rid of all pride and ego.  This is surely the first step one needs to acquire while seeking guidance.  Every believer should be proud of Br. Jeffrey.

Thanks for the posting sister Zeynab.

[Zainab_M]

The four part video of Dr. Jeffrey Lang

[Zainab_M]

He is one amazing brother!  As mentioned, Dr. Jeffrey Lang is currently an Associate Professor of Mathemetics in the University of Kansas, one of the largest universities in the U.S.  He reverted to Islam in 1982 at age 28.  He has discussed in depth how he came to Islam from atheism, the pillars of Islam and his reflections on the beauty of salaah.  Dr. Jeffrey Lang is one of the few genuine believers - a Quraan alone Muslim.  He's one of those very few who reads the Quraan not merely as a ritual, but to live it. 

The Glorious Quraan is NO ordinary Book.  It consists of the original Words of the Divine Power immersed in wisdom with remarkable prophecies - the most versatile Book of Laws concerning every sphere of life and for all times to come. 
 
Here's Dr. Lang's truthful and beautiful description of the Glorious Quraan's tremendous power to inspire the heart of a true believer who has grasped the cable of Divine Guidance .. the most gorgeous gift one can hope to receive. 
 
"For those whom Islam has embraced, the greatest witness to God’s unremitting, pursuing, sustaining, and guiding love is the Qur’an. Like a vast magnificent ocean, it lures you deeper and deeper into its dazzling waves until you are swept into it. But instead of drowning in a sea of darkness, as described above, you find yourself immersed in an ocean of divine light and mercy. … as I read the Qur’an and prayed the Islamic prayers, a door to my heart was unsealed and I was immersed in an overwhelming tenderness. Love became more permanent and real than the earth beneath my feet; its power restored me and made it so that even I could feel love … I was happy enough to have found faith in a sensible religion. But I never expected to be touched by such intoxicating mercy."   Source - Welcome Back To Islam

Also please check the following brief review on one of Dr. Lang's widely read books
"Struggling to Surrender" as appeared in Middle-East Qurarterly.
 
'Lang, a white professor of mathematics at the University of Kansas, explains his reasons for converting to Islam at the age of twenty-eight in 1982, his subsequent experiences, and his views on reforming Islam. It may sound routine, but his is probably the only such account yet published. Like many other American converts, Lang felt disaffected from American life and refers in an off-hand way to "our society's unrelenting greed and neglect." He found himself inching toward Islam through warm personal relations, then finally making the leap. It began easily: he tells of the "jubilation and relief" his conversion brought to his Muslim friends, followed by their hugs. But things quickly became more challening; he characterizes the transition as "a journey from individualism to traditionalism, from learning to illumination, from the sensible to the unseen, from reason to intuition."
 
Lang made a serious study of Islam and reflects in an informed way on such issues as the validity of the hadith and the position of women. He argues that Islam's special quality lies in its rationality; and that it can only aspire to being more than "just another religion" if Muslims make a "rationally compelling case."
 
More original, however, are his musings on converts like himself. On the one hand, he acknowledges that "converts can be the most severe and rigid in their ideas and practices," and that they are "often among the least tolerant" of Muslims. At the same time, not being grounded in traditions, they are "likely to bring with them radical, alien ideas" that he believes can go far to rejuvenate Islam and render it extremely appealing to a Western audience.'