I didn’t choose to be Malaysian, or to be born in Malaysia. But Alhamdulillah, I am very grateful that this was God’s destiny for me.
Whenever I have conversations with foreigners residing in our country - expatriates, foreign students, and the many investors, shaikhs, and professionals who made life-altering decisions to migrate and settle down here for good - they always express what they love about our country and what we have here that they don’t have in their home country.
And how much effort they have to put in just to continue staying here.
It’s these conversations that sometimes provide that much-needed reality check: Everything ranging from food, great people, peace, freedom to practice religion, abundance of opportunities, and everything in between, there are so many great blessings that Allah has granted to us through this country, which we overlook or take for granted, and should make us feel ashamed to think that sometimes, those from outside show more appreciation and love our country more than we do.
As much as we view the grass being “greener on the other side” when we compare how other countries do certain things “better”, the reality is, it only takes a short viewing of the world news to see the issues happening outside of our borders to also realize how blessed & privileged we are from being protected against the catastrophic issues other countries face: From the rampant gun violence in schools worrying parents if they should even sent their children to school, to massive economic collapse that has ruined entire nations, to masses of families dying from malnutrition, to oppression in practicing basic religious tenets, to the fear of being bombed at any moment and returning home with the news of a family member being shot to death in his own home, to the massive natural disasters that kill thousands in an instant swoop… the list goes on.
Would we prefer to trade in those problems instead?
We need to recognize that the blessings we have today, many others are deprived from. Mililons - perhaps billions - out there, yearn for what we have. These are blessings that Allah granted to us, without us asking for it. And Had He willed, He can take it back in a blink of an eye.
The least that we can do is acknowledge it, be grateful for it, and live our lives in a way that reflect that gratitude, and in turn, love this nation that provided the foundation for us to receive all these great blessings
وَإِذْ تَأَذَّنَ رَبُّكُمْ لَئِن شَكَرْتُمْ لَأَزِيدَنَّكُمْ ۖ وَلَئِن كَفَرْتُمْ إِنَّ عَذَابِى لَشَدِيدٌۭ ٧
“And (remember) when your Lord proclaimed: "If you are grateful, I will give you more (of My Blessings);
but if you are ungrateful, verily My punishment is indeed severe.” (Surah Ibrahim 14:7)
Being grateful and loving our country is more than just lip service or mere superficial acts of “showing” our love.
To me, these are four aspects as a self-reminder on our attitudes towards how we should express this Love:
❤️ 1. Love despite its imperfections
There is a tendency that, when we talk about loving our country, people are quick to rebuke us and highlight its flaws and its shortcomings, showcasing how “imperfect” or “broken” our country is.
To that I say, since when is perfection a requirement before loving something?
Just as we also love our family members in spite of their flaws, likewise, the same applies in loving our country.
More importantly, do WE want those standards of perfection to be applied to ourselves? That we need to be perfect before we are considered worthy of being loved?
We, too, have our flaws. We expect our family to love us in spite of our shortcomings. We want them to tolerate us. In fact, if we are sincere, we want them to HELP US improve. Shouldn’t the same standards apply to loving our country?
Why should we expect perfection from our country, yet expect people to tolerate our imperfections? Isn’t that hypocritical?
🛠 2. To Love is to Make Good & Rectify (Naseehah): Play your part. Give.
A common attitude people have in this modern world is that we tend to have a very entitled mindset when it comes to love: we love something purely because of how it benefits us. We tune in to the popular station, WiiFM: “What’s in it for me”.
But if we genuinely love something or someone, we can’t just be a parasite and leech it off its resources purely for personal gain or convenience. If we really had true love, we would have the genuine desire of good towards it - to be willing to genuinely put in the effort and resources towards the improving it, enhancing it. When we find flaws in our family, we don’t openly declare to the world how terrible they are. We take responsibility and ownership, we put in the work, as we collectively try to be part of the solution as a family.
Which leads to an important point: Do not confuse “contentment” with “complacency”. When we remind ourselves of what we should be grateful for and love it in spite of its imperfections, we aren’t declaring that we surrender to the status quo and just stay in our comfort zone and do nothing about those “flaws”. No, we need to play a collective role to improve and pave the way for a better tomorrow, for future generations.
Be a person who add value to society. Use your God-given gifts to play a part in your capacity: Participate in your children’s Parent-Teacher Association. Contribute to your local community. Volunteer for local charities. Participate in educational initiatives.
Excel in what you do. Be the inspiration you've always wanted.
Raise our children with the subconscious intent that this will be the future leaders and upright citizens that our nation needs.
Our deeds might seem small when done in isolation. But together, with the right intention - we build a nation.
Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said, “The most beloved people to Allah are those who are most beneficial to people. The most beloved deed to Allah is to make a Muslim happy, or to remove one of his troubles, or to forgive his debt, or to feed his hunger.” (Al-Mu’jam Al-Awsat, At-Tabarani)
🤬 3. Avoid: Hate speech disguised as “betterment for our future"
I cannot stand it when people spew out toxic words of slander and backbiting that incite hatred, and later justify it by supposedly claiming that they do it “because they love the country” or “for the betterment of our children’s future”.
Really? All this negative hate speech does it that it makes people despair, angry, jaded - and influences people to be less cooperative.
What betterment is this?
Reflect on the words of Allah when he describes the hypocrites:
وَإِذَا قِيلَ لَهُمْ لَا تُفْسِدُوا۟ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ قَالُوٓا۟ إِنَّمَا نَحْنُ مُصْلِحُونَ
And when it is said to them, "Do not cause corruption on the earth," they say, "We are only reformers who mean well” (Surah Al-Baqarah, 11)
Food for thought… Ask yourself: Have you had any situation in your life, when someone blurted out hateful criticisms to your face, and you feel inspired to change and improve?
This isn’t how you improve your nation.
History shows that spreading hate speech based on speculations have far-reaching, real-life consequences that could end up in people being killed, if we aren’t careful, by simply sharing the information, we unwittingly volunteer ourselves to become an agent of chaos.
This widespread speculation that went viral was precisely the reason why the third caliph in Islam, Uthman bin Affan, was murdered by an angry mob who laid siege on his house.
How did it all begin? A group of disgruntled citizens in the Muslim nation - none of whom were companions of the Prophet - voiced out accusations of unhappiness as they rallied cries of injustice against Uthman, accusing him of incompetence and wrongdoing by nitpicking past mistakes, perceived bias (e.g. giving off wealth to family members), and dwelling on matters of grey areas or differences of opinion in matters of fiqh.
Even when their arguments were proven to be wrong, and that they KNEW they were driving false accusations, they stubbornly doubled down and allowed their ego to takeover.
They continued rallying support for the nation to rebel against Uthman, all in the supposed name of “justice”. إِنَّمَا نَحْنُ مُصْلِحُونَ “We are only reformers, peacemakers”.
Slowly, over time, their rallying cries gained momentum and a large following, as thousands flocked to “the cause” - including troublemakers who just wanted to make some noise.
Sounds uncomfortably familiar?
These are all events that eventually culminated in the murder of Uthman, a rightly-guided caliph. A tragedy that opened the floodgates of national turmoil and civil war that took years before things settled down.
Allah allowed these events to take place as an evergreen lessons learnt for future generations for our reflection and wisdom. Only now, we have social media to accelerate the chaos. And history has an ugly tendency to repeat itself..
Practice mindful restraint. If you cannot be part of the solution, don’t make the problem any worse.
The Prophet ﷺ said, “whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day, say what is good, or just remain silent” (Al-Bukhari, Muslim)
👥 4. Be the Change you want to see: Become the citizens you would love to have if YOU were a leader
One time, when Ali bin Abi Talib was khalifah, one of his followers once criticized him to his face: “Why is it, when Umar was khalifah, the ummah was at its prime, the best state that it’s ever been. But now when you are the khalifah, it’s in this troubled, chaotic state?”Ali replied, “because when Umar was khalifah, he had followers like me. And when I’m Khalifah, I have followers like you”
On a lighter note: If there was a microphone back then, this would have been Ali’s punchline to drop it.
Ali - may Allah be pleased with him - is speaking about a very deep wisdom here: If, one day, you become a leader, what kind of followers do you expect?
What are the characteristics of a nation or followers that you would love to see in your people in order for the nation to be at their best?
List down, all the “ideal” characteristics of ideal citizens. Including, if what is the ideal, most effective, productive approach to rectifying a leaders mistakes.
So, now ask yourself: do YOU possess these characteristics? What kind of citizens are we to our leaders right now?
It’s very easy to criticize the leaders. But just how great are we, anyway?
طُوبى لمنْ شَغَلَهُ عَيبُه عن عُيُوبِ النّاسِ
"Glad tidings to the one who busies himself with (rectifying) his own faults,
Instead of (busying himself) with the faults of others” (Ahmad, At-Tabarani)
May Allah continue to increase us in these blessings, and grant us the steadfastness to be among the people who bring value to those around us, and, subsequently, our nation at large.
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