Sheikh Yusuf Estes speaking at the Katara Amphitheatre.
BY MOHAMMAD SHOEB
DOHA: Braving the cold wind, over 5,000 people, including Muslims, Christians, Hindus and followers of other faiths listened to Sheikh Yusuf Estes’ lecture on ‘My Journey to the light” for two hours at Katara Amphitheatre yesterday.
Sheikh Yusuf, a noted American Muslim and preacher who converted from Christianity to Islam in 1991, regularly appears on various Islamic channels, including Peace TV and his own Guide TV. The lecture was broadcast live from Doha on many satellite television channels including the US-based Guide TV.
During his lecture he mainly focused on his journey from Christianity to Islam. However, he also highlighted the prejudices about Islam and Muslims citing his own story about how he reacted first when his father asked him to do business with an Arab Muslim before his conversion.
Estes emphasised that Muslims should “read Quran” and build ideal “character” that can influence the people of other faiths.
“It is impossible to convert people to Islam unless the Almighty God wishes so. It is only the character of an individual Muslim that can have an influence on others… and those who say and believe that Islam was spread on the power of sword are not aware of the truth,” he said.
Estes became a Muslim after meeting an Egyptian named Mohammed. Following his conversion, he learnt Arabic language and did Quranic studies in Egypt, Morocco and Turkey and entered the field of Dawah (proselytising for the Islamic faith).
He said: “Look at my instance; I wanted to convert Mohammed, my Egyptian business partner, into Christianity, but his strong character influenced me and it happened the other way round. So we as Muslims must try our best to find out what Allah wants from us; try to do it.”
Highlighting the significance of the word ‘Islam’ he said that he never likes to give a speech when he forgets to define the word. He noted: “Islam is very much misunderstood these days. This is the only word in Quran that they don’t translate into English. These five letters have a very comprehensive meaning which is too hard to translate.”
He said that anybody who wants to establish a relationship with God, he just have to ‘surrender’, ‘submit’, ‘obey’ and be ‘sincere’ to the Almighty God, and be in peace with whatever God gives you.
Estes was born in Ohio, and was raised in Houston, Texas, in an Anglo-Saxon Protestant family. From 1962 to 1990, his career was in the music, entertainment and marketing fields. He also taught music and served as a music minister. He owned several musical instrument companies including the Estes Piano and Organ Company. He produced and directed live entertainment programmes in the US from the mid-1960s until his last endeavour for cable TV in Florida, entitled ‘Estes Music Jamboree’.
The Peninsula
