Life is frequently pregnant with experiences and profound lessons, and for many individuals, the formative years of education are marked by a fluctuating and questioning soul. Such was the journey of one individual who, having commenced reading about Islamic education around the age of 18, graduated from his studies lacking a firm sense of religiosity. Standing at the crossroads of early adulthood, he found himself turning left and right, plagued by deep existential questions: Where is the right path? Have I been created in this life for absolutely no purpose?
During this vulnerable period, he sensed an overwhelming void, creeping darkness, and profound dejection. In an attempt to find solace, he would often escape into the wilderness, walking alone in the dark, hoping the quietude of nature would bring him peace. Yet, his solitary excursions consistently ended in sadness and depression.
This internal turmoil coincided with a critical juncture in his formal education. Having graduated from the Institute of Teachers in 1969, he had already begun experiencing a strange and unsettling phase in his life a year prior. Darkness and anxiety swept over him, leaving him psychologically and emotionally exposed. It was precisely during this vacuum of purpose that the local Communist Party reached out and embraced him. Recognizing his creative inclinations, they began publishing his poems in their journals and magazines, elaborately illustrating his verses and inflating his ego to such an extent that he momentarily wondered if he might be destined to be the Expected Mahdi.
The party operatives carefully studied his identity and hobbies, choosing to approach him through the very things he desired most. Knowing of his affinity for poetry and literature, they took it upon themselves to print and publish his poetic volumes and even organized literary gatherings and sessions centered around his work. Once they had secured his trust, they began to instill poison disguised as honey. They would guide him to specific bookshops, encouraging him to choose whatever books he liked for free. These publications were refined, elegantly printed volumes, including foundational texts such as Basic Principles of Marxism and The Principles of Communism.
Gradually, their psychological conditioning deepened. They would take him to old public cafes, orchestrating scenarios designed to breed resentment. When a United States-manufactured car passed by on the street, his handlers would point directly at it and frame the moment with inflammatory rhetoric. They would tell him to look at the man riding a vehicle purchased at the expense of the blood of his parents and ancestors, assuring him that one day he would take it back through a great revolution that had already started and would eventually prevail. They boasted that preparations were underway in Dhofar and Kuwait, and that he was destined to be one of its leaders.
Hearing these calculated words, the young man felt as though the vast void in his heart was finally being filled. He would later reflect on the psychological reality that if a human heart is not preoccupied with the love of God, it will inevitably become preoccupied with the love of Satan. The human heart, he realized, functions much like a spinning mill: if you put wheat in it, it will produce flour, but if you put gravel in it, it will produce dust.
By the will of the Almighty, however, a critical turning point arrived three months later when he met the chief of the local cell, who had just returned from a month-long trip to Egypt. That particular night set the stage for a profound ideological rupture. The cell members routinely extended their meetings from evening until dawn, engaging in discussions that often felt alien to him, ranging from the materialist interpretation of history to the application of socialism and communism regarding sex and wealth. Whenever they voiced concepts that contradicted his sound natural instincts, he would timidly refrain from arguing. Seeing among them individuals he perceived as geniuses, intellectuals, men of letters, poets, and writers, he would silence himself with the thought of how he could possibly dare argue with such learned figures.
The psychological boundary was ultimately crossed that night when the group began openly mocking the sacred call to prayer, the Adhan. When the muezzin’s voice rang out proclaiming, "I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah," the gathered ideologues began to jeer and mock the Prophet of Islam. At that exact moment, the young man was swept by a torrential zeal for his instinctive faith, recognizing afterward that when Almighty Allah wills good for a person, He facilitates the means to achieve that good.
The chief of the cell then escalated the conversation, declaring that he had witnessed genuine communism firsthand upon meeting a poet in Egypt who practiced it completely to the core. Intrigued despite his growing discomfort, the young man asked what the sign of such pure practice could possibly be. The cell leader recounted that upon going out in the morning, the poet’s wife would kiss the cell leader goodbye just as she kissed her husband, and when retiring for the night, she would sleep between the two men.
The declaration stunned those present. The young man felt a suffocating darkness cloud his eyes and depression infiltrate his heart once more. He asked himself internally whether such a concept could ever be considered worthy thought, true freedom, or a legitimate revolution, concluding firmly that it was nothing short of devilish talk.
The sheer audacity of the lifestyle advocated by the cell leader provoked a rare dissenting voice within the room. One of the attendees dared to challenge the leader, asking that if he considered such practices acceptable, why he did not permit his own wife to come so that they could all share the company of her presence. The leader lamely replied that he still suffered from the remnants of bourgeois thinking and historical backwardness, but that a day would come when they could all successfully dispose of those lingering restraints.
This disturbing incident marked the beginning of a major shift in his life. He resolved to distance himself from the group and began seeking out different company. Eventually, Allah guided him to a local dewaniya where he met a group of fellow brothers. These individuals maintained their daily prayers and spent their afternoons relaxing by the beach after the Asr prayer, their most serious transgression being little more than playing cards.
One day, an event occurred that would permanently alter his spiritual trajectory. One of the brothers approached him and mentioned that a renowned, daringly eloquent sheikh from Egypt named Hassan Ayyub had arrived in Kuwait. The friend asked if he would like to accompany him to attend the sheikh’s lessons, to which he readily agreed.
Upon arriving at the mosque, they performed ablution and offered the Maghrib prayer. Following the prayer, the sheikh stood up to address the congregation, explicitly refusing to deliver his lesson while sitting on a chair. With his distinguished grey hair and beard, the sheikh spoke with immense emphasis. An inspiring, faith-cementing force seemed to gush forth from his mouth, and his words struck the listeners with the impact of cannonballs. As the sermon concluded, the young man felt as though he had stepped out of one world and directly into another, leaving behind a realm of profound darkness and entering a world of light.
It was the first time in his life that he truly perceived the right path and grasped his overarching purpose: why he was created, what was required of him in this life, and what his ultimate destination would be. The impact was so immediate and overwhelming that he could not leave the mosque without hugging and shaking hands with the sheikh. When his companion asked for his impression of the lecture, he simply replied with a quiet warning to remain silent, promising that his true impression would become evident in a matter of days.
Upon returning home that very night, he purchased all the recorded lectures of the sheikh and listened to them continuously through the night until the sun rose. When his mother brought him food the next day, he refrained from eating, entirely consumed by the audio recordings as he wept with a warm, cleansing emotion. He felt as though he had been born anew and welcomed into an entirely different existence. Embracing the Prophet Muhammad as his ultimate role model and ideal, he immediately began reading his biography and listening to extensive recordings on the subject until he had memorized the Prophet’s life story entirely, from birth until his passing.