BRIDGE TO LIGHT
Spiritual Wayfaring Towards Islam
Invite all to the way of the Lord with wisdom and beautiful preaching, and argue with them in ways that are best and most gracious.
(Holy Quran 16:25)
BRIDGE TO LIGHT
Spiritual Wayfaring Towards Islam
Kathleen St.Onge
New Jersey
Copyright 2007 by The Light, Inc.10 09 08 07 1 2 3 4All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in anyform or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recordingor by any information storage and retrieval system without permission in writingfrom the Publisher.Published by The Light, Inc.26 Worlds Fair Dr. Unit CSomerset, New Jersey, 08873, USAwww.thelightpublishing.comLibrary of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication DataSt.Onge, Kathleen. Bridge to light : spiritual wayfaring towards Islam / Kathleen St.Onge. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 1-59784-074-2 (pbk.) 1. St.Onge, Kathleen. 2. Muslim converts from Christianity--Canada--Biography. 3. Islam--Essence, genius, nature. I. Title. BP170.5.S7S76 2007 297.5'74--dc22 2006032241ISBN-13: 978-1-59784-074-3Printed byalayan A.. Izmir, Turkey
Table of Contents
Dedication
T his book is dedicated to my husband, who was the first person to bring Islam into my life and the Holy Quran into my home; to my two sons, who have travelled the journey to this faith with me and have added their comments and insights to each text; and to my eldest, my daughter, whose different life path is a constant reminder of the importance of building and maintaining bridges of dialogue with which to hold our hearts together in the soft light of peace.
Some of the texts included here were originally written as individual articles, 17 of them appearing in an Islamic publication in the Greater Toronto area in 2002 2004 , Sunrise Newsletter, while another appeared in Pearls, an Islamic journal, in 2004, and a few were platforms for public presentations on Islam in Hamilton, Toronto, and Ottawa. Overall, writing for this book began in October 2002 and was completed in May 2005. The texts are provided here under various themes, not in the order in which they were written. As my knowledge and faith evolved, so did my writing style. The differences in texture and approach have been left deliberately, as a testament to personal growth.
I would like to thank various members of the Muslim community in Toronto who first provided me with books and answers to my many, many questions. In particular, I would like to mention Mr. Mehmet Gul, the respected former editor of Sunrise Newsletter, and Mr. Faruk Aslan, his esteemed predecessor, for their generous words of encouragement when I first began to write on this subject. I would also like to express my gratitude to many new friends from around the globe, who are gathered here in Toronto, perhaps the most multicultural city in the world, and who have offered me their company, their perspective, and their support. My dear friend and co-worker for a time, Suheir, in particular, nurtured my interest and ability in public speaking and always seemed to inspire my days with a verse from the Quran, sharing her superb fluency in both English and Arabic. My thanks also extend to the many individuals who have written and spoken to me over the years, both Muslim and non-Muslim, to indicate that the views presented here were helpful to them in better understanding Islam.
May God forgive me for any omissions or errors. I have tried to relate my comprehension of various points to the best of my ability, and I have endeavoured to check quotes carefully to eliminate faulty citations. Any discrepancies remaining are strictly mine and should not be taken as poor reflections on the blessed religion of Islam, the Holy Quran, or other Muslims.
May God also forgive me for often omitting or minimizing the usual blessings which should accompany any mention of the name of God or of the prophets. In traditional Islamic writings, for example, it is customary to see the phrase Peace Be Upon Him, in Arabic, after every individual instance of a prophets name, to demonstrate honour and profound respect. It is also a customary requirement to write SubahanaAllah (Glory be to God, to Whom all praise is due) after the word Allah. In the interest of appealing to a largely western audience, however, this tradition has been applied less stringently than is normally the case, and written in English where used (as pbuh) in order to reduce the burden on readers with no knowledge of Arabic or of this particular tradition. In addition, the word God has been used interchangeably with the word Allah, as they clearly both refer to the same, and only, Creator.
Readers are strongly encouraged to consult the Holy Quran itself for clarificationand for pleasure. Among the vast tradition of Quranic commentary, the recently published interpretation, The Quran with Annotated Interpretation in Modern English, by Ali Unal, is recommended, and I have personally found the translations by Abdullah Yusuf Ali and Marmaduke Pickthall to be highly accessible. There are also several excellent sites on the Internet which offer various translations next to each other to ensure that the reader is able to obtain the clearest and most consistent understanding of the Message. At islamawakened.org, for example, there are no less than 17 side-by-side translations of every line, along with a literal rendition of the original Arabic.
Other Internet sites which are particularly useful are mquran.org, for the English interpretation and exposition of the Quran, as well as a search by category and chapter; the excellent Quran chapter and word search hosted by the MSA at the University of Southern California (www.usc.edu/dept/MSA); muslimway.org, for a general understanding of Islam; pmuhammad.com, for details about the exemplary life of Prophet Muhammad; slife.org, for information about spirituality from an interfaith perspective; biblegateway.com, for Bible quotations; religioustolerance.org, for extensive information on various faith groups; and nationmaster.com, for world statistics on faith and values.
I am not a scholar of Islam by any stretch of the imagination. I am only an interested believer in God, and I have decided to study and learn what I can, in a way in which anyone might, primarily by reading, simply chronicling my studies up to now in these texts. In fact, all of us are urged to respect the value of reading and writing in coming closer to God:
Read! In the name of thy Lord and Cherisher, Who created-
Created man, out of a mere clot of congealed blood.
Proclaim! And thy Lord is Most Bountiful,
He Who taught the use of the pen,
Taught man that which he knew not
(Holy Quran 96:01-05)
God willing, I humbly submit this manuscript in the hope of supporting contemporary dialogue about the Creator of us allOne God and One God alone.
