Alhamdulillah! Ten Residents of NTT Found Their Way to Islam After Being Shaken by 7.7 Magnitude Earthquake

MANGGARAI— Difficult conditions are still being felt by residents of East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) following an earthquake with a magnitude of M 7.7. Amid this situation, a deeply moving moment took place in Batok Village, Salama Village, Reok District, Manggarai Regency.

In the midst of disaster, ten residents of Batok actually found the path they had long been seeking: the path to Islam.

One of them is Wahidah. She admitted that she had long left her previous religion and had a desire to embrace Islam. However, her desire had not yet found a way to be realized.

"I wanted to become a muslimah who prays and recites the Quran, but I couldn't. There were no prayer books or anyone to teach me how to pray," said Wahidah.

Her desire grew stronger after seeing her relatives and neighbors performing prayers peacefully after the earthquake. In the midst of the disaster, she felt anxious because she did not yet have guidance and direction for worship.

The opportunity came when a DT Peduli volunteer, Ustadz Luki Utama, brought food aid for earthquake-affected residents. Wahidah gathered the courage to express her desire.

"When Ustadz Luki came bringing food aid, I gathered the courage to express my hope to be able to pray. Alhamdulillah, the ustadz guided me through the two kalimah syahadat and gave me a guidebook and a mukena," she said.

Previously, Wahidah had learned how to pray several times through YouTube. However, she still wanted to receive direct guidance to be more confident in professing her Islam.

That hope was finally realized through DT Peduli's mentoring. Together with nine other residents—Annisa, Hikmah, Aisyah, Nur Fania, Hajra, Farida, Siti Hawa, Ahmad Nur, and Saiful—Wahidah was guided to profess the two kalimah syahadat.

In addition to Islamic guidance, the new converts also received worship equipment in the form of mukena and sarung as well as practical guidebooks on how to worship.

For Wahidah and nine other residents, that day marked the beginning of a new journey as a muslim.

As is often the tradition, new converts usually receive a new name after professing the syahadat. However, this was not done for the ten residents of Batok.

What changed was not their names, but the path they chose to continue their lives.

In the midst of earth that had just trembled, ten hearts instead found peace in the two kalimah syahadat.