Last Friday, the Muslim Students Association of the University of New Mexico climaxed its
Islamic Awareness week with a colorful programme in one of the ballrooms of the Student
Union building. The programme, a departure from the usual programmes held by the
organization in the sense of participation was heavily attended by the Muslim community of
Albuquerque. They all thronged individually and in families because of the glorious case of a
miracle in the life of the main speaker for the day. They came in to have a first-hand interaction
with the man who has become a victim of what he spent almost all his life criticizing. They came
to see the man who had a volte-face in his outlook, belief and stance on religion and its
concomitant issues. They came to see the man who has profoundly exemplified the effect knowledge has on people. He has shown that knowledge dispels all darkness and affects in the least, the life of human bodies, the beat of the human heart, illumination of the soul and the enlightenment of the human consciousness. A biographer of the Holy Prophet once said
that “without a doubt, ignorance is one of the most chronic causes of lethargy, conservatism and prejudice; and it is the most difficult to correct.” Indeed, most difficult does not in any way show impossibility and the life of our main speaker for the day proved that.
His introduction alone captures the whole story and purpose of his travel from Europe to a small
city in the United States of America, Albuquerque. He started, “my name is Joram van Klaveren, and I am a former member of the Dutch parliament who represented the Party for Freedom, the anti-Islam party of Geert Wilders. I even was the spokesperson of theParty when it came to islam-related topics. For years I gave everything I had to fight Islam. I tried to make legislation to shut down all Islamic schools in the Netherlands. I attempted to close every mosque in my country, and I even tried to ban the Quran.” That was an interesting introduction considering the point that he now stands a proud Muslim, conscious and actively involved in its propagation.
Joram was a very active and articulate member of parliament who considered it as a moral
obligation to ward people off Islam, a ‘thing’ he considered as the deadliest political ideology in
the world. He was convinced beyond reasonable doubt that Islam was violent, promoted
terrorism and an establishment that was anti-women, anti-Christian and anti-Semitic. There was
no ravine, riverine, valley, town, city, community, radio, television show, school or university in
The Netherlands that has not received or provided host to Mr. Joram in his travels to spread his
political message which had the deliberate, corporate, annihilation of Islam as its crux and focus.
According to him, he came to have such sense of utter distaste, fervid repugnance, strong
feeling which gets him struck with revulsion at the mere mention of Islam because of certain
ideas that are influenced by the conservative protestant theology of his upbringing. These
theological teachings consider Islam an evil cult because of its strictest sense of monotheism
which utterly rejects the trinity, the divinity of Christ, the atonement and concept of Original sin.
He believes the aversion Europeans have towards Islam that has become cultural in outlook and
violent in practice stems from the many historic clashes with the Ottoman Empire and remnants
of this can still be found in many books, theater and even in some foods.
He recounts “remarkably, my first day as a student of comparative religion was September 11,
2001. Many horrors would sadly follow, in and outside of Europe. From the murder of columnist
Theo van Gogh (near my old House in Amsterdam), kidnappings, anti Semitic terror and beheadings, to haphazard stabs, truck attacks, the proclamation of the caliphate by ISIS and suicide attacks. There were even Muslims from the Netherlands
who travelled as Jihadists to Syria. The combination of all these factors (the anti-
islam theology of my specific church, the cultural aspects and of course terrorism) confirmed and deepened my negative feelings about Islam in such a way that
I became active for the most anti-islam Party of Europe. I believed that
Islam should be fought wherever possible.”
In 2017, he left parliament and saw it as an opportune time to fulfil his long-held desire, to write
an anti-Islam book that would provide conclusive theoretical groundings for all the objections he
held against it as a politician. The book, he believed would settle once and for all his crusade that
Islam is a danger for The Netherlands, for Europe and for the whole wide world. But as he began
writing his anti-islam book, he came across information stood antithetical to his beliefs and that
many of the ideas he held had little or no basis in historical Islam. His research brought him in
sharp focus to contexts and interpretations that were worlds apart from what he had taught and
spread for years.
This piqued his interest and he decided to learn more. He began writing to various academic
authorities in Islam (specifically Professor Abdul Hakim Murad of Cambridge University) who
pointed out books, facts and other scholars he should consult and read again, more profoundly.
This began to open his eyes to some of the positions he held in the past, his perspectives of Islam
began changing and gradually his objections to Islam vanished. The wealth of knowledge he
gleaned from these books broke down very strong and negative emotions he had towards the
religion.
With the statement once shared by Goethe, that quotes “the mind once stretched, never returns to its original dimensions” in action, Joram began to find answers to specific dogmas such as the
Trinity, the Crucifixion, atonement, Original sin etc. which have been wrestling his mind from a
young age. And he described the answers he got as “surprisingly satisfying.” Religion as described by Emile Whitehead “is seeking comfort in a world which dispassionately considered, is a terrifying wilderness.” And that was what Joram’s initial intention to write an Anti-Islam book turned into. He stated that “all that I was learning aboutIslam influenced my work on the book in such a way that it began to take on the character of a personal search for God.”
He took up a special interest in the character of the Prophet Muhammad and he saw in him
something more special. “A man with almost supernatural patience, care, love, guidance, and
above all dedication to his God and to his mission for justice.” He got struck with the story of
Hind (the lady who ordered the killing of the Prophet’s uncle, parted his chest and ate his heart)
and later got forgiven. That strong character of love, that overflow of compassion and massive
show of humanity shook Joram’s image of the Prophet. “Since I had never lost my faith in God,
and by writing this book I could no longer refute the prophethood of Muhammad. I was led to
Islam in a very natural and rational way”, Joram concluded.
Still harboring some doubts because of the pressure of having do a kind of activities and specific
rituals, it looked so difficult to him. However, two remarkable things happened which removed
all shred of doubt from his heart. The first was the saying of the Prophet which beautifully
touched his heart. The Prophet cautions all Muslims to “make things easy for the people, and do
not make it difficult for them, and make them calm (with glad tidings) and do not push them away.” These words, he said took away a big obstacle because it emphasized how Islam shows believers the way they should live the religion (not how some Muslims practice it).
The second one was when he stumbled on verse 46 of chapter 22 of the Quran which stated
profoundly that “it’s not the eyes that are blind, but the heart.” This to him was the last push. He
observed “because that really was my problem: I could see what I had written down about the
truth of Tawheed and the true life of the Prophet. Nobody forced me to do it, but I still couldn’t
accept it because my heart was closed. But when I read that passage it was as if some turned the
key and opened the door.”
Now Joram Van Klaveren is a Muslim and has established the Islamic Experience Center, which
visits schools throughout The Netherlands to provide them with an experience that shows how
influential Islam is in order to create a more positive image of it. This reduces the ignorance, fear
and insecurity about Islam.
In reflecting on the whole process, Joram feels ignorance had clouded his mind and blinded him
from the truth. And he feels it is knowledge that has opened the door for him, and it is what will
open the eyes of many in the West. “Where feelings and emotions are often subjective, knowledge is objective. It has the power to bridge gaps. To counter populist politics, lazy journalists and irrational fears. But sadly, enough a lot of times there is nobody with knowledge to share, and to enlighten those who live in ignorance.” Knowledge indeed, is light.
Inusah Mohammed
Okoromaazi@gmail.com
NB: The Writer is a Community Organizer, Youth-Activist and a Student of Knowledge.
THOUGHTS OF A NIMA BOY 