By [abdelkader bachir/Staff Writer]
In a world often divided by faith, the spiritual journey of Abu Mujahid, born Sanford Pass to a conservative Jewish American family in the mid-20th century, stands as a powerful testament to a lifelong search for a single, coherent truth. Now 76, and a Muslim for the last 16 years, Abu Mujahid sat down with Towards Eternity to share an extraordinary story of survival, divine intervention, and a quest that spanned decades and continents.
"I was raised in the belief, 'Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One,'" Abu Mujahid begins, recalling a childhood steeped in tradition. His family observed kosher laws and kept the Sabbath. But the seeds of inquiry were planted early. At just 14 years old, the assassination of President John F. Kennedy shook his world, igniting a deep-seated need to understand "what is really going on in this world."
This pivotal moment set him on a path of relentless questioning. A pivotal crossroads came on his 13th birthday, a milestone in the Jewish faith. His parents offered him a choice: a grand party with all his friends or a trip to Israel. "I chose the party," he says with palpable relief. "And I thank Allah for that. When I see what is happening today, that could have been me. They could have gotten into my head."
Instead of being grounded in the faith, his religious education felt hollow. "They put me in a room with a cantor and told me to memorize this," he explains. "It was just a performance. No one ever sat with me to explain the deep meaning." This superficial experience, coupled with the social and political turmoil of the era, drove him away from organized religion and into a vast, personal wilderness.
His search for truth became his life’s compass. He dropped out of university to live on a communal farm in Tennessee, seeking authenticity. He spent three years in a monastery, becoming a devout Christian and immersing himself in the Bible, only to leave, troubled by what he saw as irreconcilable contradictions. He then spent many years studying meditation under a teacher from India, seeking a connection to the divine energy that sustains the universe.
Through it all, he got married, raised two children, and navigated the American corporate world. But the questions never ceased.
It was his own son who unknowingly set him on the final leg of his journey. "He said to me, 'Dad, if you look in the Bible and the Gospels, you will find Muhammad, peace be upon him, if you look here, here, and here.'"
Abu Mujahid, then in his sixties, prayed on his son’s words and opened the Bible. What happened next was a moment of profound, undeniable clarity. "I looked in the book, and the words came off the page as if in three dimensions. They were glowing in front of me." He saw Deuteronomy 18:18, where God promises to raise up a prophet "like you" (like Moses), who will speak only what he is commanded—a description that powerfully echoes Jesus's words in the Gospel of John about the "Spirit of truth" who will not speak on his own.
He then examined Deuteronomy 33:2, which speaks of God's glory rising from Sinai, dawning from Seir, and shining forth from Paran. "I researched what this truly meant," he explains. "Sinai is where Allah gave Moses the law. Seir is where Jesus, peace be upon him, overcame the temptations of Satan. And Paran is the ancient name for Mecca, where Muhammad, peace be upon him, was born." The pieces of a puzzle he had been assembling for over 60 years finally clicked into place. "When I saw that, I could no longer ignore it. It was the answer to what I had been seeking since I was 14. It closed the loop."
The realization was overwhelming. "If someone had told me one minute before that I was going to become a Muslim, I would have laughed. But Allah surprised me." He recalls the moment with vivid emotion: "Tears were coming from my eyes, but they weren't running down my face. They were shooting out of my eyes like birds. At the same time, my rib cage felt like it was opening, and my heart was exploding—but not painfully, in a good way. I realized Allah had been over me my entire life, guiding me to this moment."
The experience was the culmination of a life that had been miraculously spared twice, moments he now views as divine protection.
The first was a harrowing incident in 1971. Hitchhiking on the Ohio Turnpike, he got into a car with a man who drove in complete, unnerving silence. After about 150 kilometers, Abu Mujahid asked to be let out. As he was retrieving his bag from the back seat, his hand still on the door handle, the driver saw him in the rearview mirror and sped off, dragging him alongside the vehicle. "He accelerated, and I was flung toward the highway. Suddenly, everything slowed down. I felt like I was in a cocoon of light, and I heard this sound, like voices saying, 'Not yet, not yet.'" He hit the pavement but walked away with only minor cuts and bruises.
Another time, working on a 12th-floor roof in Miami Beach, he was backing away from a protective mother seagull. His foot went over the edge. "I felt my center of gravity tilt, and then I felt a giant hand in the middle of my back push me back onto the building. Allah is my witness."
After embracing Islam, his faith was further affirmed when he made a simple prayer: for a pious wife, not focused on materialism. Soon after, a sister from his community was introduced to him. As he gave her a tour of his home, she said, "You don't need to show me anything. I'm not a materialistic person." They were married, and he considers her a direct answer from Allah.
Now, Abu Mujahid looks at the world through a lens that finally makes sense to him. He speaks candidly about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, viewing the current situation as a tragic but logical outcome of a long-standing ideology. "The real motivation has always been to take the land," he states. He describes a spectrum of belief among Jewish people, from ultra-Orthodox who oppose Zionism to those who advocate for extreme measures. "But the dominant ones... are starving the Palestinians and moving forward." He sees the conflict as part of a larger, choreographed plan for regional control, and draws stark parallels to history, noting proposed U.S. legislation that would equate criticism of Israel with antisemitism. "It reminds you of Germany in 1933, except now it's the Muslims, not the Jews."
If given one minute to address the world, his message would be simple and direct. "Whoever you are, wherever you are, let me tell you this: There is no deity worthy of worship except the One God who is making your heart beat right now and mine this moment. And Muhammad is His final messenger, announced and predicted by Moses, Jesus, and others. I invite everyone to discover your birthright. Learn what Islam is, and come home."
Abu Mujahid’s journey is not just a conversion story; it is a narrative of a soul’s relentless navigation through the world’s major faiths, guided by questions, protected by providence, and finally finding peace in the answer he sought for over 60 years. He is a Jew who, in his view, completed his journey by accepting the final two prophets in the line of Abrahamic tradition, and in doing so, found not a new religion, but a home.
Post a Comment