An Extract from “A Palace in the Old Village”: His Father Taught Him Islam

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

The following is an extract from Thahar ibn Jillun’s “A Palace in the Old Village”.  He was shortlisted for the Nobel Prize for Literature. 

“Did my father talk to me?  It is true, he did not say a lot to me, but I knew what had to be done.  No need for big speeches.  He taught me the fundamentals of our religion: ‘My son, Islam is simple: you are alone responsible for yourself before God, so if you are good, you will find goodness in the afterlife, and if you are bad, you will find that instead.’  There is no mystery: everything depends on how you treat people, especially the weak, the poor; so Islam, that means you pray, you address the Creator and do not do evil around you, do not lie, do not steal, do not betray your wife or your country, do not kill - but do I really need to remind you of this?”