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 Dr. Jeffrey Lang is an Associate Professor of Mathematics
at the University of Kansas, one of the biggest universities in the United
States. He started his religious journey on Jan 30, 1954, when he was born in
a Roman Catholic family in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The first 18 years of his
life were spent in Catholic schools, which left him with many unanswered
questions about God and the Christian religion, Lang said, as he narrated his
story of Islam. “Like most kids back in the late 60s and early 70s, I started
questioning all the values that we had at those times, political, social and
religious,” Lang said. “I rebelled against all the institutions that society
held sacred, including the Catholic Church,” he said.
By the time he reached the age of 18, Lang had
become a full-fledged atheist. “If there is a God, and He is all merciful and
all loving, then why is there suffering on this earth? Why does not He just
take us to heaven? Why create all these people to suffer?” Such were the
questions that came up in his mind in those days.
As a young lecturer in mathematics at San Francisco University, Lang found his religion where God is finally a reality. That was
shown to him by a few of the Muslim friends he had met at the university. “We
talked about religion. I asked them my questions, and I was really surprised
by how carefully they had thought out their answers,” Lang said.
Dr. Lang met Mahmoud Qandeel, a regal looking
Saudi student who attracted the attention of the entire class the moment he
walked in. When Lang asked a question about medical research, Qandeel answered
the question in perfect English and with great self assurance. Everyone knew
Qandeel – the mayor, the police chief and the common people. Together the
professor and the student went to all the glittering places where “there was no
joy or happiness, only laughter.” Yet at the end, Qandeel surprisingly gave him
a copy of the Quran and some books on Islam. Lang read the Quran on his own,
found his way to the student-run prayer hall at the university, and basically
surrendered without much struggle. He was conquered by the Quran. The first
two chapters are an account of that encounter and it is a fascinating one.
“Painters can make the eyes of a portrait
appear to be following you from one place to another, but which author can
write a scripture that anticipates your daily vicissitudes?... Each night I
would formulate questions and objections and somehow discover the answer the
next day. It seemed that the author was reading my ideas and writing in the
appropriate lines in time for my next reading. I have met myself in its
pages...”
Lang performs the daily five-time prayers
regularly and finds much spiritual satisfaction. He finds the Fajr (pre-dawn)
prayer as one of the most beautiful and moving rituals in Islam.
To the question how he finds it so captivating
when the recitation of the Quran is in Arabic, which is totally foreign to him,
he responds; “Why is a baby comforted by his mother’s voice?” He said reading
the Quran gave him a great deal of comfort and strength in difficult times. From
there on, faith was a matter of practice for Lang’s spiritual growth.
On the other hand, Lang pursued a career in
mathematics. He received his master’s and doctoral degrees from Purdue University. Lang said that he had always been fascinated by mathematics. “Math is
logical. It consists of using facts and figures to find concrete answers,”
Lang said. “That is the way my mind works, and it is frustrating when I deal
with things that do not have concrete answerers.” Having a mind that accepts
ideas on their factual merit makes believing in a religion difficult because
most religions require acceptance by faith, he said. Islam appeals to man’s
reasoning, he said.
As faculty advisor for the Muslim Student
Association, Lang said he viewed himself as the liaison between the students
and their universities. He gets approval from university authorities to hold
Islamic lectures. “The object of being their faculty advisor is to help them
get their needs met as far as adjusting to the American culture and to
procedures of the university. They appreciate the opportunity to have misconceptions
corrected,” he said.
Lang married a Saudi Muslim woman, Raika, 12
years ago. Lang has written several Islamic books which are best sellers among
the Muslim community in the US. One of his important books is “Even Angels
ask; A Journey to Islam in America”. In this book, Dr. Lang shares with his
readers the many insights that have unfolded for him through his self discovery
and progress within the religion of Islam.
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