By Nawab Khan (with photo)
AMSTERDAM, March 31 (KUNA) -- Nine native Dutch, including six women and three men, announced their conversion to Islam at the National Converts Day of Dutch Muslims in Amsterdam Sunday evening.
The nine recited the Shahdah, the Islamic creed that "there is no God but Allah and Mohammad (peace be upon him) is His messenger," during the conference.
The most touchng of all conversions was when a 72-year old Dutch father Hans read the Shahada at the hands of his son Thomas.
"I am very happy today. I was influenced by my son and his wife and also my three grand children," Hans told the Kuwait news agency, KUNA.
He noted that every family has problems but, he dded, "when I saw how my son and his wife talk in peace and pray to Allah and come to solutions with the help of God I was very impressed," he said.
"I will now try to understand Islam more and more and to study the Quran and attend lectures," he said.
On his part, his son Thomas said he became Muslim eight years ago after he was intoduced to Islam by his Tunisian wife.
The one-day event was held at the Blue Mosque in Amsterdam. The mosque which was opened two years ago was financed by Kuwait donors, the caretakers of the mosque told KUNA.
The sixth National Converts Day was organised by the Discover Islam Foundation in cooperation with the National Platform for New Muslims in the Netherlands.
Jacob von der Blom, a spokesman for the conference, told KUNA that throughout the day an estimated 1,100 people came to attend the event.
He said the number of Dutch Muslims has now risen to around 15,000 from 12, 000 a few years ago.
The famous American Muslim preacher Yusuf Estes, Greek-convert Muslim preacher Hamza Tzortzis and Farouk Al Zouman, the first Saudi man who climbed to the summit of Mount Everest mountain in 2008, addressed the gathering.
It is estimated that over 800,000 Muslims mainly from Morocco and Turkey live in the Netherlands that has a population of around 17 million. (end) nk.bs KUNA 312252 Mar 13NNNN