In the course Husnul Khatimah, a sister asked Sheikh Wael Mohamed Ibrahim a question regarding some challenges she faced with her business, handling a restaurant.
Impressed with the positive things she had implemented, he straight up promoted her restaurant, to the point where he told the students that we have a collective responsibility to support her business and make it thrive.
And then I noticed a pattern. Every chance he gets, from questions, to side remarks, to related anecdotes, Sheikh would utilize every opportunity to promote local Islamic da'wah efforts and organizations, and highly encourage the students to link up with them in order to leverage, assist, collaborate and support their current efforts.
From Al Khaadem , to The Straight Path Convention , to Qalby APP , even our podcast The Barakah Effect . He gave room for Multiracial Reverted Muslims - MRM to promote themselves for others who would like to up skill and find opportunities for da'wah. At one point he even told me personally, with 2 other Malaysian sisters, to stand up, introducing us to the class as Aware academy-certified coaches, informing the class that "at any time you need someone to talk to to guide you, talked to these guys." (no pressure 😅)
To me, this recurring pattern points to one often neglected, but super l important aspect of high aspirations in Da'wah: Sustainability.
He recognizes that as the guest for the event, his presence is only for a short duration. After he is gone, everything - the da'wah, the ilm, the pursuit for improvement, the struggle to quit bad habits, all of this - must go on. And it's these organizations that will continue carrying the torch for the ummah: so, get onboard and strengthen each other!
What's interesting to note, too, is that he recognizes that the locals themselves might not even know about these existing establishments and efforts, and so he plays the role to link them up.
It's interesting, pondering upon the Hadith of the Prophet ﷺ:
مَنْ دَلَّ عَلَى خَيْرٍ, فَلَهُ مِثْلُ أَجْرِ فَاعِلِهِ
“He who guides (others) to an act of goodness, will have a reward similar to that of the one performing the deed” (Muslim)
To me, it's refreshing and inspiring to witness this firsthand. I always respect people and organizations that foster that Jamaah spirit of collaboration.
Unfortunately, too many times, I've witnessed negative examples of how some individuals and organizations behave as if they have a monopoly in knowledge and da'wah - from unnecessarily nasty competitive rivalry, to personally attacking or belittling others, to almost a cult-like cancel culture to force people only refer to them.
I recall a personal experience a few years back, a rude teenage boy outright yelled at me because he claimed that we "snatched" one person to attend our Islamic classes, instead of their classes.
I told him, "look, we want to help others on the path to Allah. We are on the same goal. It doesn't matter if its you or me."
Alhamdulillah ala kulli hal.. Here's hoping we take a lesson from Sheikh and adopt this collaborative mindset. May Allah make us people of high aspirations, and collaborate with each other upon al-birr and at-taqwa
No comments:
Post a Comment