Monday, September 16, 2013

Quincy Miller is now Abdullah Miller

By Saeed Qureshi

Last Saturday (September 14), Quincy Miller proclaimed Islamic faith. This sublime ritual was administered by celebrated mystic Hazrat Sufi Ameer Khan. Mysterious is the divine will. Quincy Miller read an article written by me about Sufi Ameer Khan’s spiritual marvels that his prayers have produced over a long period of time. I have been having the honor of writing on the amazing Karamat (Miracles) attributed to Sufi Ameer Khan.

It was a blissful coincidence that I came to know about Sufi Ameer Sahib through his most dedicated devotee Jinab Khaliq Qureshi Sahib. Khaliq Qureshi Sahib could be portrayed as the true model of a good human being that one would wish in a society or that what the religion of Islam ordains a mortal person to be. He is cast in a mold of self abnegation, truthfulness, humility and total submission to God almighty. As such for a saintly figure as Sufi Sahib to have an ideal follower like Khaliq Qureshi is one of the phenomena that by itself is nothing less than a miracle.

After reading one of my articles on Sufi Sahib, Quincy Miller wrote me an email desiring to meet him. I directed him to Mr. Khaliq Qureshi.  That is how Mr. Miller finally met with Sufi Ameer Khan Sahib and after a dialogue replete with spiritual exhortations he expressed his wish to become Muslim.

It would be delightfully instructive to the readers that Mr. Quincy has been studiously searching about religions and in that regard he had substantive information about Islam as well. This was the blazing urge that brought him into the company of Sufi Sahib who named him as Abdullah Miller. And before giving him a new name his consent was sought. Mr. Miller’s main thrust was having peace of mind and solicit blessing of almighty God.

His email message to Khaliq Qureshi Sahib expressing his desire to meet Sufi Sahib is reproduced below:

Hello, Mr. Qureshi,

My name is Quincy Miller. I live in Arlington, TX. I have been in search of someone who can guide me on the path of submission to Allah. I was raised as a Christian and have studied several other religious traditions. I became attracted to Islam through the writings attributed to poets and saints of your faith. Their words have resonated more with my heart and mind than anything else that I’ve encountered. I’ve read some books about Sufism and have begun studying the Quran, praying to Allah only, and trying to remember God in my thoughts and feelings as much as I can in my current state. I am convinced of God’s presence. I realize that I am not a likely person to meet such a great Sufi as Hafiz Ameer Khan .but I feel that I need to be guided by a true servant of God so that I can align my life with God’s will, not just for own sake, but for the sake of all the lives that I touch as husband, father, friend, neighbor, school teacher and mental health interventionist. I have to be a better person, the person that God intends for me to be. For this reason, I’m writing to you to find out if and how I can meet Sufi Ameer Khan. I am searching to see if there was such a person in the DFW area and found a couple of videos of him praying. I could find no other information about him until I came across an article by a Mr. Saeed Qureshi. After reading his words, I feel that I have to try to meet Sufi Ameer Khan. A prayer, a word of encouragement, even a glance from a man so surrendered in Allah would help to set me on the right course. I emailed Mr. S. Qureshi, and he gave me your email Address. I apologize if I‘ve overstepped my boundaries by contacting you in this way, but I have no choice but to ask. Thank you for taking the time to read this, and I await your response.

Sincerely,

Quincy (9/10/2013)

In the backdrop of this profound and intense urge that Mr. Quincy was finally successful in having a rendezvous with a true Dervish and servant of Allah, Sufi Ameer Khan. He was inducted into the fold of Islam through an established religious tradition. According to tradition, a intending person recites or repeats the proclamation uttered by the Imam (guide or leader) or saint while their right hands are clasped.

This process is called Shahada (declaration of faith) in Islam. Every person entering Islam has to declare, that “I testify that there is no deity except God and Muhammad is his Messenger”. Readily Mr. Quincy Miller was given the Islamic name of Abdullah Miller by Sufi Sahib. However, he was also free to retain his original name as well.

Besides administering the oath of conversion to Islam, Sufi Sahib and Jinab Khaliq Qureshi gave Mr. Quincy a set of books to make himself knowledgeable about Islam with regard to its basic teachings, beliefs, traditions, five mandatory articles of faith and five obligatory pillars. Although this meeting was meant to be introductory yet by the divine grace, it culminated into the blissful fulfillment of the compelling urge of a person seeking the path of God and spiritual sublimation.

This ceremony took place over a sumptuous lunch hosted by Sufi Sahib in a local hotel. Besides esteemed Khaliq Qureshi and reverend Sufi Ameer Khan Sahib, those who also attended this holy and virtuous occasion were, a renowned humanist Mr. Farooq Khan, an eminent journalist Shah Alam, a famed Radio anchor Mr. Azad Khan and this scribe.

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