REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, By Nourdeen Wilderman
Did you know that there are approximately 825.000 Muslims in the Netherlands? Most Muslims are (children of) immigrants from Morocco, Turkey and also Indonesia. And each year, more than 500 native Dutch converted to islam, alhamdoulilah. Did you know there are almost 500 mosques in my country?
Those figures might sound amazing, but to be honest: if you are driving somewhere out of the biggest cities there might not be any mosque near you. As a result, many Muslims keep a prayer rug in their car. When the adhaan-app on our cell phone sounds, we just stop at a gas station and make salaat there.
In Western-Europe, there are strong anti-islamic sentiments within the society. In my country maybe even more than elsewhere. So when you want to make salaat in a public and open area, you may want to find a spot out of direct sight. I usually pray behind my car, so others driving there won’t see me until they have already passed me by. However, sometimes this doesn’t work. Sometimes people scream curse words at you, or even throw stuff. I think I can say that my most unpleasant encounter with a banana peel ever happened in sudjuud.
But even as you expect the worst, some situations can still leave you surprised…
One day, I parked my car at a gas station and started to make my salaat as a motorcycle drove by. The man on the motorcycle slowed down and in the corner of my eye, I could see he turned and came my way. His big and loud motorcycle stopped right next to me as he put his leather boots on the pavement inches from the prayer rug as I put my head on the ground.
I quickly made du’a: “Ya Allah, please protect me and keep me safe.” The man just stood there, with his engine still turning as I continued my prayer. I gave the tasleem, held my breath for a second and than slowly looked up at the biker, dressed in all black.
He looked down at me and pointed at my prayer rug. “That’s handy, it has a compass!” he said. I knotted my head. He smiled and with a single movement of his hand the powerful engine gave a roar and he drove off.
Luckely, not everything is what you might expect it to be.
*Nourdeen Wilderman (31 years) started reading books on Islam in 2003-2004. The Dutch converted to Islam in 2008 and then active in dakwah (teaching Islam) in many countries. Here, to Republika Online's readers, Brother Wilderman loves to share his stories, rich with his colorful-life experiences.
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