In his famous book of tafsir, Imam ibn Kathir talks about the iconic People of the Cave (Ashabul Kahf) - who sought refuge in a cave, fleeing from the persecution of their people, just to stick to their principles of monotheism (tauhid), worshipping One God.
Here's the interesting part: they didn’t know each other. They were not friends prior to that. It was their principles that brought them together.
As ibn Kathir points out in his Tafsir:
“None of them knew the others, but they were brought together by the One Who instilled faith in their hearts..
When the people went out to attend this gathering, these young men went out with their fathers and their people, and when they saw their people's actions with clear insight, they realized that the prostrations and sacrifices the people were offering to their idols should only be dedicated to Allah, Who created the heavens and the earth.
Each of them started to withdraw from his people and keep aloof from them. The first one of them to move away on his own went and sat in the shade of a tree, then another came and sat with him, then another came and sat with them, then four more followed suit one by one.” (End quote)
They were brought together and united by a common cause. This is as the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said,
الأَرْوَاحُ جُنُودٌ مُجَنَّدَةٌ فَمَا تَعَارَفَ مِنْهَا ائْتَلَفَ وَمَا تَنَاكَرَ مِنْهَا اخْتَلَفَ
“Souls are like recruited soldiers. Those that recognize one another will come together,
and those that do not recognize one another will turn away from each other” (Muslim)
And Alhamdulillah, that is how Allah brought together these groups of people: the volunteers of TSP. We didn't know each other, but here we are, united in One Cause: To collaborate in righteousness, to spread knowledge for the Sake of Allah.
May Allah reward all the speakers, organizers and volunteers, who spent their time, effort, energy, patience, and understanding, towards making this event a success.
One of the Hadith that always inspires me is the Hadith of the arrow. Prophet Muhammad ﷺ said,
"Allah, Most High, will cause three persons to enter Paradise for one arrow: the maker when he has a good motive in making it, the one who shoots it, and the one who hands it over to the shooter" (Abu Dawud #2513)
This Hadith teaches us, that it's not just the shooter that gets the reward. But everyone behind the scenes who helped prepare the shooter also gets rewarded. And not at a discount rate, either - they receive the SAME reward as the shooter!
If there is any benefit - any reward, barakah, any inspiration of change that comes out from the event - it's not just the speakers onstage who get the reward. Every single person who collaborated to make it happen, gets their share from Allah! From the collaborators, committee, volunteers in charge of the stage, the booths, the refreshments, the "valet" speaker buddies, collaborators, promotions and social media, registrations, audio-visual technical setup, mothers room, juniors course, and the organizations that opened up booths and enriched the conference experience, (and hopefully, the MCs too 🤲🏼) - all of us - may Allah reward everyone and unite us in Jannatul firdaus as He did for us last weekend.
Of course, as a reminder to myself and the others, our work does not end here. We've got a lot of work ahead of us to continue carrying the torch of the Prophetic Legacy. If anything, this should be a beginning!
As scholars would say, a sign of acceptance is that we continue good deeds one after another - from acting upon the knowledge, to spreading it, and continuing to commit ourselves to spend our time and energy to help in the cause of Allah, and continue to improve our efforts to do them with ihsan.
If we've been subjected to challenges, conflicts, misunderstandings - then don't let it get to our heads . Take it positively as a lesson, and move on. A sign of our sincerity and professionalism is that we stay the course in spite of the issues and challenges - because we are contributing to a cause greater then ourselves. The extraordinary cause require extraordinary effort!
#tsp2024 #propheticlegacy
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