Dr. Jeffrey Lang is an Associate Professor
of Mathematics at the University of Kansas, one of the biggest universities in
the United States. He started his religious journey on Jan 30, 1954, when
he was born in a Roman Catholic family in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The
first 18 years of his life were spent in Catholic schools, which left him with
many unanswered questions about God and the Christian religion, Lang said, as
he narrated his story of Islam. “Like most kids back in the late 60s and
early 70s, I started questioning all the values that we had at those times, political,
social and religious,” Lang said. “I rebelled against all the
institutions that society held sacred, including the Catholic Church,” he said.
By the time he reached the age
of 18, Lang had become a full-fledged atheist. “If there is a God, and He
is all merciful and all loving, then why is there suffering on this earth? Why
does not He just take us to heaven? Why create all these people to suffer?”
Such were the questions that came up in his mind in those days.
As a young lecturer in
mathematics at San Francisco University, Lang found his religion where God is
finally a reality. That was shown to him by a few of the Muslim friends
he had met at the university. “We talked about religion. I asked
them my questions, and I was really surprised by how carefully they had thought
out their answers,” Lang said.
Dr. Lang met Mahmoud Qandeel, a
regal looking Saudi student who attracted the attention of the entire class the
moment he walked in. When Lang asked a question about medical research,
Qandeel answered the question in perfect English and with great self
assurance. Everyone knew Qandeel – the mayor, the police chief and
the common people. Together the professor and the student went to all the
glittering places where “there was no joy or happiness, only laughter.” Yet at
the end, Qandeel surprisingly gave him a copy of the Quran and some books on
Islam. Lang read the Quran on his own, found his way to the student-run
prayer hall at the university, and basically surrendered without much struggle.
He was conquered by the Quran. The first two chapters are an account of
that encounter and it is a fascinating one.
“Painters
can make the eyes of a portrait appear to be following you from one place to
another, but which author can write a scripture that anticipates your daily
vicissitudes?... Each night I would formulate questions and objections
and somehow discover the answer the next day. It seemed that the author
was reading my ideas and writing in the appropriate lines in time for my next
reading. I have met myself in its pages...”
Lang performs the daily
five-time prayers regularly and finds much spiritual satisfaction. He
finds the Fajr (pre-dawn) prayer as one of the most beautiful and moving
rituals in Islam.
To the question how he finds it
so captivating when the recitation of the Quran is in Arabic, which is totally
foreign to him, he responds; “Why is a baby comforted by his mother’s voice?”
He said reading the Quran gave him a great deal of comfort and strength
in difficult times. From there on, faith was a matter of practice for
Lang’s spiritual growth.
On the other hand, Lang pursued
a career in mathematics. He received his master’s and doctoral degrees
from Purdue University. Lang said that he had always been fascinated by
mathematics. “Math is logical. It consists of using facts and
figures to find concrete answers,” Lang said. “That is the way my mind
works, and it is frustrating when I deal with things that do not have concrete
answerers.” Having a mind that accepts ideas on their factual merit makes
believing in a religion difficult because most religions require acceptance by
faith, he said. Islam appeals to man’s reasoning, he said.
As faculty advisor for the
Muslim Student Association, Lang said he viewed himself as the liaison between
the students and their universities. He gets approval from university
authorities to hold Islamic lectures. “The object of being their faculty
advisor is to help them get their needs met as far as adjusting to the American
culture and to procedures of the university. They appreciate the
opportunity to have misconceptions corrected,” he said.
Lang married a Saudi Muslim
woman, Raika, 12 years ago. Lang has written several Islamic books which
are best sellers among the Muslim community in the US. One of his
important books is “Even Angels ask; A Journey to Islam in America”. In
this book, Dr. Lang shares with his readers the many insights that have
unfolded for him through his self discovery and progress within the religion of
Islam.
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