Professor Okuda Atsushi and 6 students from Keio University visited the mosque. The following lines describe the features of their discussion meeting with junior high school and high school Muslim students.
Time: 2015/ Dec 26th (Sat) from 6:00 to 7:30 [PM]
Place: prayer room in the fourth floor of Nagoya mosque
Attendants: 15 Muslim Junior high school and High school students.
The professor and the university students [visitors] kindly answered questions from Muslim students and talked to them about various matters.
The university students, who embraced Islam after receiving lectures of professor Okuda, talked about the occasion of their conversion into Islam and the reaction of the family and such alike. The common thing was that; the family that was opposing at the beginning, and through the filial piety which is encouraged in Islam, became so understanding that, contrary to expectation, it became cooperative in food tabooing. That was a new topic for [high school] Muslim students who were raised in Muslim families.
Also, professor Okuda talked about the occasion of which he studied Arabic and about the importance of that;
- When I was a university student studying law, I thought that there is no other than Islamic law to solve the problems of the world. It is written in Qur’an that killing an innocent person is just like killing all humankind. Human forgets such a self-evident thing. Therefore, we should read Qur’an.
- In Qur’an, which is the speech of God, matters those never occur to human’s head are written. Since Allah has created the world and all humans, He knows everything well. Therefore, if you want to know the world, if you want to know your own self, it is recommended to read Qur’an. There is no other such a book.
- So this Qur’an was bestowed by Allah through Muhammad [PMUH] in Arabic. Therefore, Arabic is the only language by which one can make a conversation with Allah [through Qur’an]. Then, if I am a Muslim I would eagerly want to study Arabic, in order to be happy in this world and in that world.
Else, professor Okuda kindly gave suggestions in a rich speech;
- Teachings of Islam are not [designed] to let people suffer or have difficulties. As for Halal, no need to think too strictly. Rather, it is better to think what we can do for our surroundings and ourselves to become happy.
- Allah has created all humans. There will be no change in the fact that He is the creator of even nonbelievers. So He is not the God of Muslims alone. If we explain [this] properly to even Japanese, they will understand. So let’s try to make our best to find out what kind of explaining [will be proper] to let them understand.
- A lot of messages which are demonstrating Allah were already granted. Even the mere gathering of you all here today is a miracle of Allah.
- I envy you all that you are Muslims from the beginning [born-Muslims]. If you, Muslims living in Japan, duly exert your efforts the world will surely be better.
- You can all gather like this because there is a mosque. Such places are few in Japan. Let’s be grateful to the adult people who established mosques and sustained all of you. And in order to do this [gathering] yourselves when you become adults, let’s join these activities. Studying Qur’an is also important, but there must be a lot of things you learn from activities of Nagoya Anyway, I would like you to learn, regardless.
It is known that there is cooperation in Keio University with [countries like] Syria, Lebanon, Morocco, and Jordan. Professor Okuda is holding a reception program for Arab students (called Ahlan Wa Sahlan program “ASP”), a project which is continuous for 14 years so far. In this project, [Japanese] students learning Arabic together with students from the Arab world studying Japanese perform a group work lasts for two weeks. It is only Keio University/ Shounan Fujisawa Campus (SFC) the place where you can learn Arabic as a language of Allah, along with learning what “Islam that meets modern times” means.
A message from professor Okuda; “To all junior high school and high school students who are thinking of trying to establish from Islam a world in which all people can live peacefully and happily: we are waiting for you in Keio University/ SFC. So while you highly esteem such an ambition, study hard please.”
