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The Islamic Bulletin
Volume XXV No. 29
would have to stay in bed for the next six months at least.
Although Robert was confined to his bed for the next
6 months and was in excruciating pain, he couldn’t have been
happier about his experience. He said, “I’ve never felt more
peace in my life than when I was in the Masjid. When I can
sit in my chair again, I’m going to go to Jumuah. I going to go
to the masjid because I want to feel that peace again.”
Some Muslims lose a little bit of health and they
complain, “Why is Allah doing this to me?” Atheists argue that
because of suffering, there can be no God. If anyone can say,
“I don’t believe in God, if there was a God, why would I be in
this position,” it would be Robert Davila. Yet, Robert’s face is
full of
noor
and contentment. He is completely satisfied with
life. When most of us might give up in the face of such a life
of restriction, not being able to move, Robert has achieved a
positive outlook on life, a life of peace and contentment.
“You know, sometimes I wonder why Allah put me in
this position. Then I say to myself, “What, am I kidding? Allah
has given me so much. I’m so grateful for what he has given
to me. And if this is the way he brings me to Islam, it’s all
worth it, so worth it.”
Robert has control of only his mouth and eyes. Still,
he says, “I only find peace in the masjid.” And here we are
finding every imaginable excuse not to visit the mosque. It
doesn’t matter what ideology, school of thought, or what they
talk about in the masjid, what fitnah may surround it, temp-
tation, trial, sedition, civil strife, it is still Allah’s house. Go
there to pray. Don’t go to talk to people, talk to Allah. Just talk
to Allah. Go there and you will find peace. You will become
a different person. If Allah can guide Robert Davila, Allah
will guide you. Guidance is all around us. You don’t have to
worry about what’s not there,there’s plenty there. Once you
become sincere, Allah will open doors and give you friends
and teachers that will guide you to the straight path. Allah will
provide access to resources which will bring you closer and
closer to him, to the truth, and a better life for you and the
people around you.
Robert is a reminder for all of us that there are no
excuses. If Robert can learn Quran from where he is, with
no Muslims around him, with nothing more than his will and
dedication, then so can you. Whoever and wherever you are,
if you ask, Allah will open the door.
From his bed, Robert found the path to Allah. Allah
has transformed his life and opened the doors to peace
and happiness. Robert has become a symbol of hope and
strength. Merely by paying attention to his dream, he be-
came the catalyst for an Egyptian handy man in America to
stop thinking his mosque was too far away to visit and pray.
Today, Robert spreads the word of Allah through his Facebook
page. Through Skype, he continues to memorize verses of
the Quran. Robert is an example of how we need not fear
the passing of time (Chapter 103 of the Quran). Whether we
fear it too fast, or too slow, we must spend it wisely. For a man
who cannot move his body, Robert embarked upon a new
life, a life of peace and fulfillment he never thought possible.
“Indeed, man is in loss, except those who have faith and do
righteous deeds, and enjoin one another to [follow] the truth,
and enjoin one another to patience.” Ponder the man who
could not move, yet traveled far to find Allah, and whose ef-
forts to know himself brought people together to renew their
faith.
You know, You know what Allah did for the people
of the cave? You know he guided them in where to sleep?
You know he guided them on when to turn? As the sun was
coming up, they turned away from it. As the sun came from
the other side, they turned the other way. Allah will guide you
in your sleep, when you make dua to him. He will guide you
in your sleep, when you toss and turn. Can you imagine? We
shouldn’t be skeptical of Allah’s guidance. We shouldn’t worry,
“How will I find balance?” That’s Allah’s job. Your job is to talk to
Allah. Your job is to be sincere. That is the only way you will find
balance. Honestly, once you do that, once you become sincere
and talk to Allah,
Robert agrees. “I’ve never studied Arabic or anything like that in
my life. I understand that there are some people, Muslims, who
grew up in a Muslim home and they do not know Arabic. You
know, it’s not hard to learn the Quran. Get online, try and don’t
give up; it’s not hard! You start off thinking, “Oh it’s the hardest
thing in the world for me to do. I can’t do this.” But no, it’s not!
You sit there and listen and go along with the recitation. Eventu-
ally I learned the Arabic alphabet and now I can find out how to
pronounce the words correctly. So when I’m reciting most of the
time, I say it correctly. I know my accent is not very good, but I
say it anyway. And it took me a while to learn the last ten surahs
of the Quran. There are a few other surahs I’ve started to learn.
For three or four months I was trying to memorize surahs
from the Quran and reading, and that was it. Never did I think
about understanding it because, as a non-Muslim reading, there
is a lot of stuff that you don’t understand. And then I began
searching for how to understand and I found Ustadh Nouman Ali
Khan’s Tafseer videos, and they appeared very good. I noticed
that as I was studying the surahs, I would watch the Tafseer vid-
eos. I understood the ayahs he was talking about and what was
going on in the time period theses ayahs were being revealed. It
helped me to understand everything so much, and then it made
my iman (faith) even stronger.
My cousin once asked me “Why do you believe in
Islam.” He wanted a big explanation from me, and, you know, I
told him, “Because I believe in the prophethood of Muhammad
(saw), and I believe that his revelations were from Allah (SWT).
That’s what I believe from my heart and that’s what I’m gonna
follow. I just have to . . . just always have zikr of Allah (remem-
brance of Allah). I always ask God for forgiveness (Astaghfirullah),
always praising God (Alhamdulillah).
And me in this condition that I’m in, sometimes it’s not
easy to stay satisfied and happy. I can’t do anything for myself
and, sometimes if I ask somebody to do something, it will take
them quite a long time. I was never a very patient person. But,
you know, after I became Muslim, and I studied more, and read,
I realized I have Sabr(patience, endurance) now. I can wait. I can
calm myself down and remember when they’re taking too long, I
just repeat Astaghfirullah, Astaghfirullah, Astaghfirullah, Astaghfir-
ullah, (ask for forgiveness from Allah) and eventually what I need
gets done.
My mother supports me in my decision. At first, well I
can tell you this, I actually converted for a month. I was talking
to my mom and I didn’t say anything. Then I said, “Well, what
would you say if I said I was thinking about converting to Islam?”
And my mother says, “Well, I wouldn’t like it.” And I said, “Well,
what if I told you I’ve already converted?” [Laughs] And the first
thing she said was, “So, you wanna go blow up people?” [laughs]
And I said, “Oh no, no. You have the wrong idea.” Eventually,
over time, as I talked to her, and gave her a Quran to read, she
read some of it. She understands me and supports me. My father
had a different reaction. From his experience he thought that . . .
he told me, “Son, only black people are Muslims.” [laughs]
I told him, “Dad, there’s over one and a half billion Mus-
lims in the world. They’re all races and colors, everything.” Then
the next time I talked to him, and I got a lot more Muslim friends
on Facebook, my dad finally sat down and talked to me. He said,