HATI

Saya selalu mengingatkan diri sendiri dan kawan-kawan kepada pesanan RasululLahi sollahu 'alaihi wassalam. "Tugasku membawa syahadah. Urusan hati adalah urusan Allah SWT." Bermakna tugas kita adalah untuk menyampaikan tentang Islam, dan kepercayaan seseorang, yang akan tersemai di hatinya, adalah urusan Allah.

Begitulah dengan cerita terbaru yang dilalui oleh seorang agen perisik Russia, Alexander Litvinenko. Dua hari sebelum maut, akibat diracuni, beliau telah mengisytiharkan syahadah.

Alexander Litvinenko Conversion to Islam two days before his death

Litvinenko worked for the Russian Secret Service in the KGB and in the FSB.

Litvinenko's father today told RFE/RL's Russian Service that his son told him shortly before his death that he had converted to Islam, and wished to be buried according to Muslim tradition.

"He told me about his decision two days before he died. He said, 'Papa, I have to talk to you about something serious. I've become a Muslim,'" Valter Litvinenko said.

"I said, 'Sasha, it's your decision. As long as you don't become a communist or a satanist, that's the main thing. I'm a Christian myself, but I have a granddaughter whose father is Kabardin -- my daughter's husband, he's Muslim as well," he continued. "We haven't lost God; we believe in God. But how to believe in God, how to pray -- everyone should do that in the way they consider best."

Valter Litvinenko said his son had grown disenchanted with what he described as the "hierarchy" of the Russian Orthodox Church, and had sought a change.

Akhmed Zakayev, the London-exiled Chechen separatist envoy, told RFE/RL that Litvinenko asked him about the possibility of converting in the early days of his illness. "I told him it was a purely personal question, that it isn't important to which god we pray as long as we aren't doing ignoble acts. And I sort of dropped it. But he over and over again returned to the subject."

Zakayev added that Litvinenko went on to pronounce the shahadah, the fundamental Muslim statement of faith.

"Any student of Islam will tell you that there are no particular rituals for converting to Islam. All you have to do is say one sura" -- a verse or chapter from the Koran -- "and from that moment if the person who pronounces this sura, this shahadah, has sincere intentions, from that moment he is considered a Muslim," he said.

Zakayev also described the day before Litvinenko died: "On November 22, at his request, I, with his wife's approval, brought an imam to him. He read over him a sura from the Koran, the one that is read over a dying Muslim," he said. "Of course, according to Muslim rituals, they pray over the body before burial. Now, unfortunately, that part of the process which Aleksandr requested cannot be fulfilled because of the exceptional circumstances of the radiation in his body and the fact that the coffin that will contain his body cannot be opened for 6 1/2 years."

Litvinenko, who defected to Britain in 2000, had previously been active in uncovering corruption in Russia and was involved in investigations into the murder of Anna Politkivskaya, the Russian journalist and anti-Chechen campaigner killed in Moscow last month.

Radio station Echo Moskvy reported Friday Litvinenko had converted to Islam shortly before his death.

Baru-baru ini pula, seorang teman, Muhammad Fitri Abdullah, seorang da'i yang dulunya sebelum Islam, pernah melalui latihan untuk menjadi swami Hindu, telah menerima panggilan mengejut dari seorang pesakit jantung berketurunan Cina di HUKM, meminta untuk diberikan syahadah; sejurus sebelum beliau melalui pembedahan jantung. Alhmadullilah pesakit ini berjaya dibedah dan sekarang dalam keadaan sihat.

Satu lagi keanihan yang diceritakan oleh seorang teman saya yang lain berlaku di Masjid di Kelana Jaya, minggu ini. Sewaktu jemaah sedang akan pulang selepas melakukan solat subuh, datang seorang pemuda berketurunan India. Beliau berseluar Bermuda dan nampak dalam keadaan luar biasa. Apabila ditanya tujuannya ke Masjid, beliau menyatakan bahwa beliau beragama Katholik, dan ingin menerima Islam. Peng-Islamannya diuruskan pada pagi itu juga di Jabatan Agama Islam Selangor.

Begitulah cara-cara Allah SWT menguruskan hati manusia. Semoga hati kita ditetapkan Allah SWT dalam keimanan.