Paul H. Williams, Gleaner Writer

Sulaiman Tijani - photos by Paul Williams

'Temptations will always be there - Muslims are not perfect, you are going to make mistakes, you are going to falter, but how you deal with your temptations is that you accept when you make a mistake and you ask for forgiveness'.

You hear the passion in his voice, see the fire in his eyes, and feel the conviction of his thoughts. You get the feeling that he loves to chat, more so, about his favourite topic, Islam. But for Sulaiman Tijani, Islam is not just a topic, it is his life.

He's a committed Muslim who has embraced Islam because, according to him: "Islam is a complete way of life, there is absolutely no other form of living that is as complete. Islam covers all aspects of human life, human character and human behaviour, so if you want a moral code of living, there is absolutely no other way of living. This 'moral code' has many dos and don'ts, some restricting, some relaxed."

Though he could have very well gone astray, turned his back on Islam, and converted to another religion, he stays. He says: "I don't see any reason why anybody would want to leave Islam," which is a religion that advocates total submission to God.

He admits, though, that being committed can be difficult at times, depending on "your view of life, and your view of why you are here on Earth. If your view is not correct, then naturally, things will be difficult if you have one foot in and one foot out, so you want to come to the mosque on a Friday, but you still want to go clubbing on a Saturday."

Teeming with temptation

Both of Sulaiman's feet are in the mosque, but how is he able to do that when all around him is teeming with temptation? He says: "Temptations will always be there - Muslims are not perfect, you are going to make mistakes, you are going to falter, but how you deal with your temptations is that you accept when you make a mistake and you ask for forgiveness, and, as for temptations, you stay away from them as far as possible."

And so he stays away from alcoholic beverages, pork, smoking, lusting, clubbing and partying.

It doesn't stop there, however, as physical contact and copulation between unmarried couples are not permitted in Islam. Sohow does a 20-year-old man surrounded by everything sexual deal with a woman who might just want to give him a nice, friendly squeeze? For the woman who hugs him without realising that she shouldn't, he breaks it to her gently. And, of the urges, the ones that wrack his body, dripping with testosterone, he says, as he laughs uproariously: "The great thing about Islam also is, the prophet explains what to do when the urges come on; when the urges come on you fast, so that is what you try and do, you try and fast regularly, you pray, of course, when you are fasting." Abstinence and celibacy, he says, are "challenging".

Nevertheless, he intends to get married, and if he can afford it, to more than one woman at the same time. Polygamy (having two or more wives) is allowed in Islam. He claims he knows that "It's an allowance that has been given by the Creator - if you are able to maintain equity and justice - in terms of how you treat them (the wives), in terms of you being physically able to maintain them, and if you know that this is not within your power, to do it would be an oppressive stance towards the female."

As it relates to the female that he might choose to be his wife, he says her physical attributes do not factor significantly. He wants a woman who has "good behaviour, good morals", and who understands her religion. The physical mould should be secondary.

Until he's married, and between studies, he keeps entertainment at a certain limit - a trip to the beach, relaxing in a park, watching animated movies, and listening to Arabic chants. He doesn't listen to pop music anymore, as he doesn't find it fulfilling. But then, Sulaiman, at this stage of his life, hardly has time for entertainment, because of his chosen career path.

He has been ridiculed by his friends and associates many times because of his refusal to indulge in practices that are 'un-Islamic', but he tries to "understand basically the mentality of anybody who is around me - (because) with a lot of youths in Jamaica, what I find is that because of the state they are in now, religion doesn't play a huge part in their life, it's more materialistic, so I try to gauge that so as not to fall into that same trap."

Thus, he decided to fall into the realms of academia.

Former head boy

A former head boy of Excelsior High School (2003-04), he was born in Nigeria 20 years ago, to a Muslim family. He came to Jamaica at age three, and is now a naturalised Jamaican. After he left Excelsior High School, he spent a year at Excelsior Community College, from which he transferred to the University of the West Indies, Mona campus, first to the Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences, and then to the Faculty of Medical Sciences.

This just-completed-second-year medical student chose to be a doctor, because medicine is also a part of the ideology of Islam - service to humanity - and "if you look at the history of Islam, the effects that Islam had in that field literally draws you into that field (medicine) - Before the Renaissance in Europe, Islam dominated the field of medicine ... and that was the main factor that drew me."

While he mixes his profession with his spirituality, he has no intention of going into any unholy alliance with politics, in a country deeply divided by such. He doesn't want to get involved because "many (aspects) of it would contradict the Islamic faith - I am into telling the truth, that's what my religion asks, that we tell the truth."

Not better than anybody

With this truth comes simplicity. But there is not much that is simple about Sulaiman. He's complex and different in various ways, yet he doesn't think he is better than anybody. Islam doesn't advocate that.

"The prophet (Mohammed) himself said there's no superiority between an Arab and a non-Arab, between black and white, the only superiority comes with your faith with God, and that's really a personal thing," he notes.

So, you are now wondering where you got the perception that all young Muslim men are arrogant, bloodthirsty and suicidal,bent on wiping the face of Earth clean of all non-Muslims, in the name of Islam and Allah. He said Islam is nothing like that. In fact, he said murder is not part of the Muslim agenda.

In analysing the negative images of Islam in the Western media, he says: "We have to be realistic - When things happen, they (the media) will report them, so I can't be as ignorant and say everything is a concoction; I cannot say that, but the analysis (of the news), once you continue to analyse something incorrectly, then it doesn't matter what happens, it will always be falsified."

Amid the sacrifices he makes as a Muslim youth, and the negative images of Islam in certain quarters, he's happy with Islam and, by extension, with himself. He declares: "It's a wonderful time to be Muslim, and it's a trying time, but your outlook on life and your outlook on people in general are what shape the way (in which) you interact with them, and how you deal with ignorance and arrogance. The religion itself has absolutely no defects - but the people who practise it, we falter at times - the actions of individuals should be judged, and not the religion itself."

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