708 Expats in Riyadh Embrace Islam

A total of 708 expatriate workers, including 146 Sri Lankans and 136 Filipinos, have embraced Islam this year as a result of the efforts of the Cooperative Dawa Centers at Maader and Um Al-Hammam in Riyadh.

The new converts included 392 Ethiopians and Eritreans, 29 Europeans and Americans, and five Indians, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Monday quoting annual reports of the two centers in the capital city.

Highlighting the centers’ achievements, the report said they organized a total of 1,118 lectures and study classes in different languages at hospitals and government departments. They distributed more than 68,000 copies of the Qur’an and 545,000 copies of Islamic books and booklets in various languages.

Fuad Kawther, a Saudi engineer associated with dawa activities in Jeddah, voiced his happiness over the increasing number of people who embrace Islam as their way of life despite the strident media campaign against the religion. “This once again proves that Islam is a divine and truthful religion. It is the fastest growing religion in the world,” Kawther told Arab News. He narrated an amazing incident that took place in Germany after Yusuf Estes gave a lecture on Islam. About 1,000 people who were in the hall expressed their readiness to embrace Islam after the lecture.

“It’s a great blessing that hundreds of expats who came to Saudi Arabia for work used the opportunity to learn and embrace Islam, despite the fact that some Saudis do not represent Islam in its full spirit,” Kawther said.

Filipino workers topped the list of new converts to Islam, he said and attributed it to their country’s long Islamic history before Western colonialists occupied it. “Now the Chinese workers are competing with the Filipinos in embracing Islam,” he pointed out.