Al-Qalam 
A former church leader says a series of dreams directed him to Islam along with his congregants, writes Nabeelah Shaikh.
Ebrahim Richmond once led a Christian congregation of 100 000 people, but a series of dreams changed it all for the former KwaZulu-Natal Pastor who reverted to Islam.
Richmond embraced Islam just over three months ago in Durban along with the congregants of his church – and now he has just completed his Hajj journey after being invited as a guest of the Saudi government, under the King Salman Ḥajj Programme.
In a heart wrenching documentary about his journey to Islam, filmed by the Saudi government, Richmond details how and why he made the decision to embrace Islam.
“I’ve been a pastor for about 15 years. I was the leader of The Corinthian Church of S.A which has about 100 000 followers. This was until I had a dream. I was sleeping and I’m hearing this voice. I was sleeping in the church, in a small room and I heard a voice that says: ‘Tell your men to wear white kurtas.’
I then asked, ‘Muslim? Muslim?'” explained Richmond.
At first, he says he did not pay much attention to his dream and snubbed it as “just a dream” as the order was related to Muslims and irrelevant to him as a Christian person at the time. But Richmond then detailed how after his initial dream, the dreams came again and again.
“I said aaah, it’s just a dream but it came again, and again. And the last time I had the dream, this voice that was telling me this became more and more aggressive. Then it said again, ‘Tell your men’. So I went into the congregation and I said I am going to tell them and let them believe,” said Richmond.
Shahada
Richmond said he approached his congregation to break the news of his dream to them, and the Almighty made this easy for him to do.
“I went in there and I told them, and you know how Allah made it easy?
They just accepted Islam – all of them. And when the meeting came for the next congregation, everyone was wearing kurtas and they all accepted Islam. Three months ago, I took the shahada in the church, and they were all supporting what I was saying. They were also saying it. Those thousands of voices saying the same thing, giving the shahada with me was amazing,” explained Richmond.
In a viral video circulated on the internet in March, Richmond and thousands of his followers were pronouncing the Shahada together. Not long after this, the Muslim community came together with Richmond. He said he was happy when he saw Muslim brothers come to the church and he told them that he had been “waiting” for them.
“I told them, ‘I had been waiting for you. I had a dream that you will come here’. And then they told me that I am going for Hajj. When they told me I am going to Hajj, I said ‘me’? I can’t go there, I won’t go there. And when it came to the day that I was leaving, I thought it was a joke and it can’t be happening, but it happened for me,” said Richmond.
He said he was hopeful for the future of Islam in South Africa. Standing at Mount Arafah, he said he was blessed to have the opportunity to walk on the mountain of light, and its blessed soil.
“I will follow the footsteps of Prophet Muhammad, and I believe… millions of my people in South Africa will follow these footsteps to see the light. This is the mountain of light. I am the first one in my family to touch here, this soil, this blessed soil,” he said. Richmond says that Allah made his Hajj journey easy and blessed.
“I am so happy and lucky to be given the chance. It’s all from Allah, it’s amazing. I can’t explain the feeling I have. It’s something I can’t explain. This is my time to be a newborn, to be with my family, the people of Islam. And to pray for everyone. To pray for me, and to be forgiven and be a child again. This is the light, this is the way. Allah is the light, this is the truth. We have to follow in the footsteps of the beloved Prophet. I am honored, this place has been beautiful, and the people were beautiful,” said Richmond.
Saudi authorities have described this year’s event as the “biggest” Hajj pilgrimage in years, as more than two million people from over 160 countries were said to have performed their hajj.
