From France to Iran - to a reversion to Islam

Br. Wariton Karbasi

Birth and Childhood

Brother Wariton Karbasi was born in the French town of Fontanblo that is fifty kilometres away from the French Capital Paris. In 1951 he left France to continue his studies in Britain in the field of electronic engineering after which he returned to Paris.

In 1956, Wariton Karbasi attained a contract with an airline for work in Mehrabaad Airport in Tehran, Iran. After a while he returned to live in Iran. He then spent three years and he worked as a translator in different institutes of translations.  

Allah in every Matter:

Wariton Karbasi occupied a lot of his spare time reading and learning other Islamic faiths generally and the Shia School of thought in particularly.  Brother Wariton started to read the holy quran to gain the valuable knowledge between its covers. During which brother Wariton was suffering from Degenerative Muscular disease, after days of being diagnosed with the disease, the pain of the disease became at its climax. The physicians decided to operate on him. However, even after the operation, brother Wariton did not get better. And he stayed with the hope of getting better!.

Point of conversion:

The pain of his disease occurred during the sacred month of Muharram, Wariton says: “surrounding my house, are massive houses used to commemorate well known Islamic occasions were there used to be held commemorations on Islamic occasion on deaths of Imams, lectures and tributes would be paid to the Imam who’s anniversary it was celebrated”. On one night, I was offered a glass of tea, which was part of the service included in the ceremony, brother Wariton was asked “Respected brother, would you like to drink a glass of tea of Imam al-Hussain (AS)? So he accepted the glass in open hands. As soon as I drank the tea I felt I was cured, I felt a sort of light encompassed my mind, so I asked my Lord ‘O Lord, with the mercy of Imam al-Hussain and his rank to you, please show me a miracle and cure me from this disease and ease me from this distorting pain’ the next day, as I was getting up from my bed I witnessed a miracle, and it was then when I proclaimed my conversion to Islam.

After that I travelled to the Holy city of Qum, where I studied under a great scholar where I bare witnessed that there is no Lord but Allah and Mohammed (PBUH) is the final messenger of Allah (SWT). And I changed my name to Hussain Ithna-Ashari.