A number of Japanese Muslims including Umar Yamaoka, Umar Mita, Abdul Muneer Watanabe, Sadiq Imaizumi, Umar Yukiba and Mustafa Komura gathered and set up the first Muslim association in Japan in 1953 (Japan Muslim Association).

Members of Tablighi movement started entering into Japan from Pakistan between 1956 and 1960. Their first group visited Japan in 1956, and I managed to meet Shabir Ahmad in Lahore, the only surviving member of this group. In fact, they visited Japan four times and I accompanied them in the fourth time in 1960. Those zealous Muslims revived the spirit of Islam in Japanese Muslims, such as Umar Mita, and Mustafa Komura, and converted new persons to Islam, such as Prof. Abdul Kareem Saito, Khalid Kiba, Dr. Umar Kawabata, ZaKariya Nakayama, Ali Mori, and Amin Yamamoto. The last four were the greatest and leading daees (callers to Islam) in Shikoku Island, one of the four main islands of Japan. Sadiq Imaizumi helped convert a number of Japanese persons to Islam including Ramadan Isozaki, Zubair Suzuki, Sideeq Nakayama, and Yusuf Imori.

During this period a prominent daee (caller to Islam) emerged, namely the late Abdur Rasheed Arshad, a Pakistani engineer from the Tablighi movement, who also knew the whole Holy Qur'an by heart. He visited Japan on a training mission at the expense of  Japanese government in 1959. He joined the third Tablighi mission and managed to convert a number of Japanese to Islam, including Khalid Kiba. It was actually Abdur Rasheed Arshad who encouraged me to come to Japan after I was introduced to him by the late Abul Hasan Ali Al Hasani Al Nadvi whom I met during one of his visits to Pakistan where I was studying agriculture in Layallpur (Faislabad). Upon Abdur Rasheed Arshad return from Japan, I met him in Raiwind, not far from Lahore, in 1959 during the annual meeting of the Tablighi movement. He used to encourage me to go to Japan, saying that it was like a blooming garden, full of ripe fruits where I could only go in and readily pick fruits and that the character of some converts to Islam was similar that of the Prophet’s companions (SAHABA). 

In the early sixties, Abdur Rasheed Arshad supervised the project of setting up the telephone line between Makkah Al Mukarramah and Al Madinah Al Munawwarah and I informed him while I was in Japan in 1961 that Umar Mita embarked on the translation of meanings of Holy Qur’an into Japanese. In fact, I shared the same room with Umar Mita for approximately a year. Abdur Rasheed Arshad approached World Muslim League, Makkah Al Mukarramah which called Umar Mita as well as Mustafa Komura and the three of them formed a team to translate meanings of Holy Qur’an into Japanese. Abdur Rasheed Arshad died in a car accident between Makkah Al Mukarramah and Al Madinah Al Munawwarah in 1964 (or maybe early 1965) while in the company of Umar Mita and Mustafa Komura who survived the crash and managed to publish translation of Holy Qura’n. 

Of the leading Japanese daees (callers to Islam) who embraced the Muslim faith during this period was the late professor Abdul Kareem Saito. He was converted to Islam at the hands of the Tablighi groups. He worked at Takushoku University and paved the way for scores of Japanese youth to embrace Islam. Actually, we together sent all these converts to Al Azhar University, Egypt, in the sixties and to Saudi Arabia in the seventies in order to master Arabic language and study Islam. Now they are teaching Arabic language in Japanese universities and working in companies, and some of them, such as Khalid Higuchi, Amin Tokumatsu, Japan Muslim  Association’s president and Yahya Endo, are running Japan Muslim Association, the first Japanese Muslim organization.

PERIOD FROM 1960 TO 1970:

Foreign Muslim students from different Muslim countries, Turkey, Pakistan, Indonesia, the Arab world (including myself) etc. arrived in Japan at the end of fifties and beginning of sixties, and they set up the first Muslim Student Association in Japan. The managing committee of the association included Dr. Zuhal[1] from Indonesia1, Muzaffar Uzay from Turkey, Ahmad Suzuki [2] from Japan, Abdur Rahman Siddiqi from Pakistan and Salih Mahdi Al Samarrai, an Arab. [3]

Muslim students set up a da’wah joint  Board with Japan Muslim Association (Umar Mita, Abdul Muneer Watanabe, and Abdul kareem Saito who represented Japanese side) and (Abddur Rahman Siddiqi, Muzaffar Uzay and Salih Mahdi Al Samarrai who represented students). The Board carried out a number of activities including the following:

1.      It published booklets on Islam written by Umar Mita and translated and published Al Maudoodi, towards understanding Islam.

2.      Brother Farooq Nagase assisted the publication of fortnightly The Voice of Islam newspaper.

3.       It sent Japanese Muslim youths to Al Azhar University and organized intensive preparatory training courses.

4.      It undertook all da’wah activities after the Tabligh members had left Japan.

5.       It purchased the first graveyard for Muslims in Enzan (Yamanshi prefecture) with a handsome amount of money contributed by Saudi Arabia and Kuwait as well as some money from the late Abdul Kareem Saito. The graveyard later registered in the name of Japan Muslim Association.

6.       The board introduced Professor Abdul kareem Saito to the Muslim world, first, he visited Iraq, then Egypt, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and many other Muslim countries.

7.       The board inaugurated the first Islamic Center in Tokushima city, southwestern Japan, in Shikoku Island, in 1965 but it witnessed only one year of operation.

8.       It inaugurated the first Islamic Center in Tokyo in 1965 with the help and support of Al Sanie, the first Kuwaiti Ambassador to Japan. The Center lasted for one year and then closed down after the support was stopped following the Kuwaiti Ambassador's leaving the country.

Late Al Mangoor, Saudi Ambassador to Japan, Mr. Muhammad Basheer Kurdi, Mr. Salah Al Husaini, (the son of the late Al Hajj Amin Al Husseini, the then mufti of Jerusalem) who worked in Saudi Arabia Embassy in Tokyo gave tremendous support to our Islamic activities in Japan. In fact, Mr. Al Manqoor would provide us with a generous amount donations on various occasions to support the different Islamic activities.

Indonesian students also had a huge residence in the heart of the Japanese capital, not far from its central Mosque, in which we used to celebrate the various Islamic events, particularly Eid Al Fitr festival. They would prepare a massive celebration with delicious food which would then be attended by Muslims and senior Japanese officials and even Japanese members of parliament. The celebration called AL HALAL BIL HALAL in Indonesian.

In the third part of this period, after most of the students had gone back home, and their Islamic activities witnessed a decline as a result, another eminent and unique caller to Islam by the name of Syed Jameel visited Japan. He was the chief accountant in Pakistani government and the president of Holy Qur'an Memorization Society in Karachi, Pakistan. In fact, he started from where others had left off and expanded the Islamic activities which started off by his predecessors. He also published some treatises on Islam in Japanese, and his activities included Korea as well.

The late Prof. Dr. Ali Hasan Al Samni, a highly qualified Egyptian professor, also came to Japan and taught Arabic to thousands of Japanese students in colleges of foreign languages as well as in other Japanese institutes from 1963 to 1978. He was consulted by leading professors in Japan and benefited from his vast knowledge. The Japanese emperor conferred the order of merit on him in appreciation of his services in the field of Arabic language and Islamic Culture. During the seventies of the past century, the late Abdul Kareem Saito, Ali Hasan Al Samni and the author of the present pamphlet would stay in Tokyo Mosque in afternoon of every Sunday to reply to the queries posed by the Japanese people about the Muslim faith.

It is worth mentioning that the late Miftahuddin and Ainan Safa, two Imams of Tokyo Mosque, as well as Mr. Kalki, the then Imam  of Kobe Mosque, who were amongst Tatar Muslim emigrants, also rendered great services to the Muslim community in Japan.

I would also like to stress here that during this period the main source of financial support of the general da'wah activities conducted by the joint Islamic Board came mainly from Kuwait through Mr. Abdullah Al Aqeel and the late Abdur Rahman Al Dosari who used to raise donations from Muslim philanthropists, most popular of whom were the late Abdur Razzaq Al Salih Al Mutawwa, Al Qinai, and Sheikh Abdullah Ali Al Mutawwa and many others. We pray to Almighty Allah to reward them abundantly for the services they rendered to Islam and Muslims in Japan.

The Seventies: PERIOD FROM 1970 TO 1980:

The late King Faisal Bin Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia visited Japan in 1970 and met a number of Japanese Muslim delegates including Muslim delegates from Korea. Then Dr. Abdul Basit Al Sebai, the president of "Muslim Student Association in Japan” seized the opportunity and requested the Saudi monarch to dispatch Dr. Salih Mahdi Al Samarrai, professor at Riyadh University, to Japan to help da'wah work in Japan, and he kindly granted the request in 1973. May Allah reward him abundantly for his services to Islam and Muslims.

The late King Faisal also supervised translation project of the meanings of Holy Qur'an into Japanese which was undertaken by Umar Mita, and he allotted a large sum of money to this project with Saudi Arabia Embassy in Japan, ordering that the Embassy in Tokyo pay every necessary amount whenever the translation was out of print. Umar Mita mentioned in the introduction to this translation that Mr. Ahmad Suzuki and Dr. Salih Mahdi Al Samarrai assisted him with the final revision of the translation work in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia during the summer of 1970.

During 1971 and 1972, Syed Jamil continued the Islamic work in Japan and Korea.

 In 1973, King Faisal assisted by late Hasan Al Shaikh the minister of education dispatched the author of the present work to help the da'wah activities in Japan along with six other persons, namely Khalid Kiba (Japanese), Asad Qurban Ali, the son of the late Abdul Hay Qurban Ali who founded Tokyo Mosque, Dr. Abdul Basit Al Sebai (Egyptian), Ali Al Zubee (Syrian), Abdur Rahman Siddiqi (Pakistani) and Musa Muhammad Umar (Sudanese). They had all studied in Japanese universities and had undertaken major Islamic activities in Japan. This team set up the first integrated Islamic Center in collaboration with other Japanese and foreign dignitaries who are active in Dawah, such as Umar Mita who translated the meanings of Holy Qur'an into Japanese,  Abdul Kareem Saito, Mustufa Komura,  Abdul Muneer Watanabe, Tamim Dar Muhit, Umar Daraz Khan, Ali Hasan Al Samni, Matloob Ali and Ainan Safa. We must not forget to mention here the great efforts made by the late Sheikh Hasan bin Abdullah Al Sheikh who was a great help to King Faisal Bin Abdul Aziz in this respect and helped support the various activities of Islamic Center-Japan and Islamic da'wah in Japan. The late Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Baz also played a major role in this regard. In fact, these two men helped shape the destiny of Islamic da'wah in Japan. May Allah reward them for their efforts.

Islamic Center-Japan was established at a critical stage in the history of Japan, namely the oil crisis in 1973 and the following years. The Japanese people started to show interest in Islam, as most of the oil exporting countries were Islamic. The establishment of this Center was a dream of every person who had been engaged in da'wah activities for a hundred years. In fact, all those who had visited Japan and engaged in da'wah activities whose writings we have read, such as Abdur Rasheed Ibrahim, Muhammad Barakatullah, and Noorul Hasan Barlas, were always hoping that an Islamic Center be set up in Japan where Japanese Muslims and anyone fluent in Japanese would call people to Islam and publish Islamic books in Japanese for the Japanese citizens.

1.      Islamic Center-Japan was frequented by huge numbers of Japanese who embraced Islam.

2.      The Center published numerous books and booklets on Islam in Japanese and issued Assalam  magazine in Japanese.

3.      Its da’wah activities covered the entire country from the north to the south, and Islam reached the northern island of Hokkaido for the first time and opened new branches in a number of cities.

4.      It sent Japanese students to Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Egypt for Islamic studies.

5.      In 1976, it set up the first council to coordinate the efforts of the various Islamic societies which numbered at that time twelve societies including Japanese Islamic societies in a number of Japanese cities as well as Indonesian community and Muslim Student Association in Japan.

6.      It organized the first symposium on the Islamic Law (Sharee'ah) in 1977 in collaboration with Muslim World League, Makkah Al Mukarramah and Chuo University, Tokyo on the initiative of Khalid Kiba. This event was attended by the uncle of the present Japanese emperor, members of the High Court and three hundred Japanese lawyers. It was also attended by the late Muhammad Ali Al Harakan, the general secretary of Muslim World League, Makkah Al Mukrramah. The symposium lasted for three days and its proceedings were published in Arabic, Japanese and English and paved the way for numerous studies on the Sharee'ah which are still going on.

7.      The Council also organized a number of cultural symposia which were attended by thousands of people in Tokyo and other Japanese cities under the auspices of major Japanese newspapers with wide readership in collaboration with Islamic Center-Japan and Riyadh University. These events were attended by His Excellency Dr. Abdul Aziz Al Fadda the rector of University of Riyadh and His Honor Dr. Tawfiq Ash Shawi.

8.      The Council also arranged for hajj missions which began in 1976 through the generous financial assistance of His Royal Highness Ahmad bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, Vice Minister of the Interior of Saudi Arabia and the generous hospitality of Muslim World League, Makkah Al Mukarramah.

9.      When His Excellency the late Hasan Al Sheikh visited the Council in 1975, Islamic Center-Japan requested him to establish an Arabic Islamic institute in Tokyo to provide an Islamic knowledge in Japan and to teach Arabic and the Islamic culture to Japanese people. He referred the matter to Imam Muhammad bin Saud University, Riyadh which undertook, through it’s the rector, His Excellency Abdullah bin Abdul Mohsin Al Turky, to supervise the setting up of this lofty cultural edifice which has greatly benefited thousands of Japanese people by teaching them Arabic, Islamic culture and winning many of them to the fold of Islam. His Royal Highness Prince Saud Al Faisal gave up the site of the Saudi Arabia Embassy and all its premises in Tokyo to build Arabic Islamic institute, Tokyo whose inauguration we still celebrate. King Fahd bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, the Saudi monarch, contributed ten million dollars towards the construction project of the institute and added another million dollars for its completion. May Allah (S.W.T.) bless his soul.

10.  Before this period, we used to put the number of new converts to Islam between one thousand and three thousand people, but after that we began counting them by tens of thousands. Islamic awareness was spread among Japanese people. Islam used to be locally called Kaikyo but now it is called Isram, as Japanese language does not have L letter which it is replaced with R instead.

Towards the end of this period, the late Syed Jameel, a noted caller to Islam, came to Japan for the second time and carried out his final Islamic da'wah activities in Japan, accompanied by Sheikh Nimetullah Yurt who is still at the top of da'wah activities in Japan.