When we love something, it’s hard not to talk about it. Our minds and hearts become so preoccupied with it that sometimes we’d feel we’d explode! The same thing with Islam. When we’ve reached that stage where Islam turns from a common idea, to a common practice, and then into passion, you just can’t help but just spreaaaaaad the loveeeeeeee. So this is where da’wah comes in.

Say (O Muhammad SAW): “This is my way; I invite unto Allah with sure knowledge, I and whosoever follows me (also must invite others to Allah) with sure knowledge…” (Yusuf : 108)

Thus, we all have the responsibility to spread Islam. We don’t have to go knocking everybody’s door, or stand around at the city and preach to the shoppers. For instance, the time after the peace treaty of al-Hubaidiyah. People came to Islam because they were amazed with the Muslim’s way of life.  Hence, all we have to do is become Muslims - as simple as that. Be like the flower and the bees will come to you. So what’s stopping us?

 

 

1. “I don’t know enough.”

 

The Prophet Muhammad S.A.W urged us to relay knowledge from the Quran and the sunnah even if it’s just one ayat, or one word. Surely there’s at least one thing that we know about Islam, if not more than one. So we should relay this knowledge to others, and thus it will become our da’wah.

 

 

 

2. “I’ll do da’wah when I become a perfect Muslim.”

 

Dearest brothers and sisters, we will NEVER be perfect. Allah has created us human with all humanly attributes who make mistakes, occassionaly forgetful, have desires, etc. Even the state of our qalb (heart) isn’t stable. So we’re going to wait until we’re perfet Muslims, we’ll never come round to doing da’wah.

 

 

 

3. “I can’t get rid of my own sins.”

Hadhrat Anas r.a. relates: “We inquired of the Holy Prophet SAW: “O Prophet of Allah, is it right that we should not enjoin virtue unless we practise all the virtues ourselves, and should not forbit the wrongs unless we ourselves completely abstain from them all? ‘Nay,’ said the Prophet SAW, ‘do enjoin others to practise good deeds even though you do not practise all of them, and do forbid evil actions even though you do not abstain from them all.’”

The shame of not doing something when others are doing it or doing it better, or the shame of practicing what one doesn’t preach might eventually hit us. It could be one of the first things that could turn us into better muslims.

 

 

 

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This post will be based on the lecture I had on Monday. May Allah bless him with bountiful rewards. Amin.

 

 

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We often find ourselves looking back at our lives and seeing a once distressing moment in a lighter view. Your little brother accidentally threw away your favourite pair of Manolo Blahnik, and that got you REALLY mad. Borderline insane. But then years down the road, you’d laugh at yourself for being so dramatic about a pair of shoes - Manolo Blahnik or Primark, whatever.  But know this; a true mu’min is one who is patient at the STRIKE of a calamity…and not after.

 

 

Anas r.a. said: “The Prophet S.A.W.  said, “The real patience is at the first strike of calamity.”

 

 

Whatever state we are in in this life, the situation would only call for us to be sabar or syukur. When we’re blessed with food, a new hijab, or well functioning body, we say our syukur. We thank Allah for giving us His bounties. At times when we’re feeling sad, perfoming our salat or can’t start the car, we must be patient. There is khayir - good - in ever situation.

 

 

 

“Seek help in patience and prayer; and truly it is hard save for the humble-minded” (Al Baqarah:  45)

 

 

We should be sabar in 3 things:

 

 

1) Sabar in performing the religious obligations

 

 

When it’s time for our Fajr prayers, it’s tempting to just stay in our cosy beds and remain wrapped around our duvets. Especially when the weather is cold, and the rest of the world is still sleeping. Or perhaps in our salat. It’s easy let your mind wonder during our salat. What to eat, what happend in the last episode of Grey’s Anatomy, the exams you have to study for, yada yada yada. Sleep can wait. TV can wait. The world can wait while you spend just a small part of ur day to worship The Creator who gave you your life, you bed, your tv and everything else. As Muslims, we must always remember that all our righteous deeds will not go unrewarded. Allah has promised Jannah to the mu’min. To those who strive to seek Allah’s rahmah and forgiveness. Isn’t the eternal life in the Hereafter worth sacrificing those extra minutes in bed, or a few minutes to stop thinking about the world?

 

 

 

2) Sabar in refraining ourselves from committing sins and misdeeds

 

 

Living in a Western country, seeing almost naked ladies is a norm..premarital sex is a norm..alcoholism is a norm. It’s easy to say, “Paah~ It’s normal” when we see a naked lady on the huge billboards…It’s easy to share the same bed with our boyfriends just because everybody is doing it. The Quran has already stated what is forbidden to us, and if we study them properly, the reasoning behind them are very rational and is nothing but advantageous to us. For instance, what happens if we become involved in zina? There’s the STDs and AIDS. And what would happen to a baby who’s conceived out of wedlock? Wear protection all you want but Allah has the power to do whatever He wishes. You could be impregnated despite the pills you take regularly and the condom you always use. So we should have patience and lower our gaze; we should take care of what’s between our lips and between our legs. We shouldn’t become too normalised with what are clearly haram until we forget how such mere acts could lead us to Jahanam

 

 

 

3) Sabar with Allah’s Qadar.

 

 

As mentioned before, there is khayir (good)  in all Allah’s qadar. Even if we can’t see it now, we might see it in the future, or in the hereafter. The car refuses to start and you’re already 10 minutes late. All sort of thoughts run through our head, “Oh no! My boss is going to kill me! I’m going to lose my job! OH NO! I’ll be late for the meeting!”. But then you found out that there was an accident on the route that you were about to take. You’ve been trying for a baby for years and you’re still not pregnant. Maybe if you were to have a baby at that time, you and your husband might’ve not been spiritually or financially prepared for one. There is always a bright side to everything. But once we become angry and our nafs is ranging, syaitan does a well job in making us think that it’s the end of everything. In every situation, there is always a way out. Even Prophet Yunus was eventually expelled from the big fish.

 

 

We’ve seen how the many Prophets and sahaba in the past have been faced with such dire and grave situations. What did they ever do to deserve all the torture and tribulations? Did they deserve to be punished in such and such ways? They were amongst the best of the best ummah who did everything in the name of Allah. Allah tested them because He LOVED them. So do not feel sad or frustrated when something bad happens. Don’t be thinking, “Why does this always happen to me? What did I ever do to deserve this?”…because Allah test us because he wants us to become better…it’s because he LOVES us.

 

 

 

There are 2 ways on how we can instill sabar in us, insya Allah:

 

 

1) Know that EVERYTHING was never ours to begin with.

 

 

 

When a business is going well and we’re earning lot’s of profits, it’s common to hear the owner saying, “Oh, it was all my doing. I worked hard for it. I did it.” Sure you had put your efforts in trying to achieve your goals, but it was Allah who made it happen.  Our wealth, our body, our intelligence, our car, our parents, the tress, the buses are all Allah’s. We “have” them because Allah lent it to us, so that he could see how we make use of it…to give us comfort..and to test us with. Are we using the intelligence Allah has given us to help our ummah, or to destroy the society? Are we using our money to buy lottery tickets and go clubbing, or are we using it to help the poor and sadakah to our neighbours? So Allah can take everything and anything he wants in anyway He likes…because they are rightfully His. So don’t be crying if you ex boyfriend has not paid back the $1000 he owed you a year ago. If all that money was meant for you, it will come back…and if it doesn’t..innalillahi wainna ilaihi rajiuun (Verily unto God do we belong and, verily, unto Him we shall return)

 

 

 

2) Life is a journey, and akhirah is the destinantion.

 

 

When your driving from Southampton to London, you wouldn’t want to spend too much time at the pit stops, right? If you  stoped to go to the bathroom, or eat a little…you do just that. You don’t take your own sweet time to sit on the toilet seat, to eat the chips. The same thing applies in life. Life is only temporary. It’s akhirah that will last forever. We are aiming for akhirah and in such we should live our life on this earth. Hence, whatever we do, it should be for akhirah and not for  worldly pleasures.  Syaitan just makes you think that this world has everything to offer. Afterall, ibils have promised to prevent us from going on the siratal mustaqim.

 

 

“(Whereupon Iblis) said: ‘Then, (I swear) by Thy very might: I shall most certainly beguile them all into grievous error”(A’Sad:82)

 

 

May all that I have shared with you be of help to all of us, insya Allah.

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Last Monday, I bumped into a sister at the Uni masjid. She asked me if I was going to attend the lecture. So I thought, “There’s a lecture?” :O So from that brief meeting, I gathered that they have a lecture every Monday at the Uni masjid. I attended last night’s lecture and, masya Allah, it almost brought tears to my eyes. No words can describe how HAPPY I was. Finally, after weeks of living in this foreign country, I finally felt like “home”. I finally felt “content”. Finally, I was amongst other fellow muslims who share the same passion for Islam.

 

 

 

Last night’s lecture was an overview of Surah Ar-Rahman. The main message of that surah is that we should be thankful for all the bounties given to us by Allah. Our life is surrounded by the blessings from Allah - having being born as a muslim, the food we eat, the ability to talk and see, the difficult situations we are sometimes faced with. Thus, we should ALWAYS give our thanks to Allah by doing dzikir - subanallah walhamdulilah walaailahaillallah waulahuakbar - and performing other ibadah. One of the advice that I think is worth sharing is whereby in terms of dunya, we should compare ourselves with those who are less “fortunate” than us, so that we could be thankful for our current situation. Whereas in terms of akhirah, we should always compare ourselves against those who does more amalan than us so that we’d strive to do more than them.

 

 

The Uni’s Islamic Society (ISOC) has a weekly sisters’ halaqah too at a sister’s house. Will be coming to my first one this coming Thursday. And who would’ve thought that the venue would be just 2 seconds away from where I live? Alhamdulilah. I take this as a sign from Allah. I believe that THIS is the path that Allah wants me to take.  THIS is what he wants me to do. Insya Allah.

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Learning is a lifelong process. That’s what my GP tutor used to say to me. And I concur.

 

Islam encourages us to gain as much knowledge as we possibly can for the benefit of this life and the hereafter. Such knowledge could help us in gaining a further understanding of the religion, and into becoming a better Muslim. Other than reviewing the Al-Quran and hadiths, there are also camps and workshops that aim to empower Muslims. However, before participating in such activities I think it is advisable to do a background check on the organizers and the courses being offered. There are just so many people out there who’d like to see Islam and its people crumble - both intentionally and non intentionally.  The closest foe being those who claim to be of the Islamic faith but spread knowledge that are far from what’s written in the Al-Quran…and far from the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad S.A.W. and Allah’s other Rasul. For instance in Brunei, there is a reason why all books need to be checked and reviewed by the Pusat Dakwah..there’s a reason why Islamic activities and organisations need to be registered with the Ministry of Religious Affairs.

 

We all want to walk down the right path. We all hope for Allah’s grace, mercy and His everlasting Paradise. But we need to be extra cautious. We need ensure that the knowledge we sought is not against the true Islamic teachings. Please check with the relevant authorities for the authentication of said organisations and activities before participation.

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