Aishiteru, Takah!

Chapter 4's

Early in the morning, Taka was already standing in front of my apartment complete with a hat, mask and black hoodie. Tokyo Camii is our destination. Tokyo Camii, is a mosque with a Turkish cultural center located nearby in the Ooyama-cho district of Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. Located near the business and tourist districts of Shinjuku and Shibuya, it is the largest mosque in Japan.

In addition to worship, Tokyo Camii serves as a venue for weddings, fashion shows, performances, exhibitions and conferences. The Camii Mosque also has active members of the mosque's youth. Yuai International School organizes spirit classes reading the Qur'an, knowing Islam, karate, and calligraphy. The school is run by the Islamic Center of Japan (IJC), a Muslim institution that has been established since 1966.

Hand in hand, we walked slowly to Tokyo Station while breathing the morning air. From Tokyo Station, we take the Tokyo Metro Marunouchi Line train to Kasumigaseki Station or Kokkai-gijidomae then transfer to Tokyo Metro Chiyoda Line train to Yoyogi-uehara Station with a journey of about 24 minutes. Upon arrival at Yoyogi-uehara Station, we walked east for about 5-10 minutes. It is not difficult to find the mosque because from a distance we can see the minaret of the mosque.

***

I brought the scarf that I used as a hijab replacement. Closing the aurat is a requirement to enter the mosque. Inside the mosque, we met one of the administrators who was Turkish. As Taka discussed for a while, I headed to the souvenir shop located to the right of the entrance.

In addition to being a place of worship, Tokyo Camii became one of the religious attractions. There are Turkish souvenir shops and also halal markets. Muslims who stop to worship here can all buy various halal food needs.

After a long time of looking around and performing the dhuhur prayer, I was surprised when Taka patted my shoulder slowly. There was something he was hiding behind his back and there was something different about the look on the man's face. Slowly, he pointed out something that had been hidden. I covered my face and cried bitterly after seeing a piece of paper that was a certificate as a sign that Taka had become a convert.

***

"Why is it that fast?" manya curious.

"Why not? It is not difficult to be a Muslim. I just need to follow the sentence mentioned by the imam of the mosque," replied Taka.

I frowned. "That's all? You can easily become a Muslim before you know what Islam really is?"

Taka looked at me with a very serious face. "Rinai, when I said that I was going to become a Muslim, at that moment I immediately found out what Islam was. I asked a lot of questions and found out all about Islam. Both the ritual of his prayer, up to his prohibitions. You underestimated me!" said pouty.

I chuckled at her expression, "Sorry Taka, I'm not underestimating you. It's just that I just found out if you've been looking into all that. I was just shocked, and honestly had my own fears. I'm afraid you're just playing religion for marriage."

Taka breathed a long breath. "Rinai, listen. For Japanese people in general, religion has no effect at all. Moreover, I was an Agnostic who acknowledged the existence of God if it could be proven scientifically. This is my discussion with the administrators of the mosque, just now. Every time I ask about the existence of God scientifically, they can break me with the verses in the Quran. They say that the Quran was created long ago. But surprisingly, the content sounds real to this day and age.

When I said that it was possible for a Muslim to travel across time to write the book, some of the administrators there just laughed. They say it was not man who created the Quran, but God who created it as a guide for the people who live to this day. That is why the Quran is called a miracle, because of its existence which can be a guideline all the time. I was shocked to hear that explanation and my heart said that it was a reasonable explanation. Because of that I am also determined to become a Muslim," explained Taka at length.

I cried again hearing Taka's explanation. How true it is that guidance can come anytime, anywhere and through anyone.