Idris Tawfiq: When the Lessons Became His Own Questions
Idris Tawfiq knew how to explain religion to other people, but his own life had reached a question he could no longer leave outside the classroom. After years in Catholic service and training for the priesthood in Rome, he left that vocation. He did not describe his past with resentment: he valued the people he had worked with and the chance to help others. Yet, by his account, he was not happy within it.
A holiday took him to Hurghada in Egypt and then to Cairo. There he encountered Muslims at close quarters and watched ordinary people interrupt their work when the call to prayer sounded. In a later interview, he remembered a young shoe-shiner greeting him with words of peace. These encounters unsettled the image he had absorbed from the news and made him want to learn more.
Back in Britain, teaching religions required him to keep reading. Preparing lessons became an education for the teacher himself. Muslim pupils asked to pray in his carpeted classroom; he watched them and fasted alongside them in Ramadan before becoming Muslim. He also recalled tears rising as he read a translated Quranic verse to his class. The subject was no longer distant from his own life.
After September 2001, he questioned the gulf between Islam as he had encountered it and the fear surrounding it. Seeking understanding, he went to London Central Mosque and spoke with Yusuf Islam about becoming Muslim. Belief in God, prayer and fasting were already familiar to him, partly through experience. Watching the congregation prepare for prayer, he recalled crying as he reconsidered his position.
He accepted Islam in the early years of the new millennium. Explaining the decision later, he stressed the central place of God and the way worship extended into daily conduct and relationships. He saw a succession of steps leading towards faith, rather than a sudden break that erased his earlier life.
He subsequently lived in Egypt and wrote Gardens of Delight: a Simple Introduction to Islam for readers unfamiliar with the religion. In a 2013 interview, he discussed teaching at Al-Azhar and helping people understand one another across cultures. His earlier experience of education and religion became a means of patient explanation; he emphasized understanding an audience before expecting it to listen.
When he died in February 2016, a colleague remembered his guidance for new Muslims facing Eid without Muslim relatives or friends. His own journey had grown into care for people beginning theirs. Ordinary worshippers and a child’s greeting had helped open his questions; he went on to help others find both knowledge and companionship.
Sources
- On the road from the Vatican to Al Azhar — The Irish Times — 2006-08-11
- Idris Tawfiq, Catholic Priest, UK — The Egyptian Gazette / IslamReligion — 2007-07-02
- حوارات … قس الفاتيكان الأسبق إدريس توفيق — الخليج — 2010-08-15
- حوار مع البروفيسور إدريس توفيق ورحلته من الفاتيكان إلى الأزهر — الألوكة — 2013-05-05
- In Memory of Mr. Idris Tawfiq — About Islam — 2016-02-18