Invite Everyone to Islam:
If You Are Muslim, That Is What You Are Supposed to Do!
By Dr. F. Kamalodeen, The West Indies
Allahu Akbar. The more time you spend in “Allah’s work,” the more time you seem to have on your hands for your own so-called personal needs.
And the less time you spend doing Allah’s work, the less time you seem to have for yourself. And then there are all other side effects and distractions that crop up on you from all sides.
That’s how it seems to be.
So here goes. Everything else will have to wait for the time being.
There is so much to say. And then when I think about it at times, I ask myself what “different” is there for me to say.
But then this is the trap – we seem to think that we need to say “different” things every time we want to say something.
Far from it though, as our work as Muslims, as those who believe in Allah and love his creation, remains unchanged – as it has always been and as it always will be.
Which is basically this:
- Reach out to others;
- Tell them about Islam;
- Tell them about Allah;
- Tell them about Sayyiddina Muhammad, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
- Tell them about Allah’s book the Qur’an;
- Ask them with all the love and with all the respect in your heart, in your language and in your demeanor, to embrace the blessings of Islam;
- And thereby to get closer to Allah;
- And to Sayyiddina Muhammad, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam;
- And to the Qur’an.
- And, in a word as they say, to get closer to both Allah and his creation.
And do it all in the nicest way you can and in as strategic and thoughtful a manner as you may be able to.
How much does or can this message change – over time or in different places?
Aren’t the Muslims in the kind of trouble they are because they have in large part neglected this most important duty?
While many Muslims pray and fast and go to Hajj, how many of them really engage in any way in conveying the message of Islam to others and inviting them to Allah?
Whether it is in America, the West Indies, Europe, India, Africa, Asia, China, Russia, Japan or any other place on earth? What exactly are we doing in any of these places to invite people to Allah and to Islam?
Is this even a priority for many of us? Is this where our resources are being spent? Is this the focus of our efforts and energies?
I have not a doubt that this is the work that is cut out for us as Muslims by Allah. Everything else is supposed to fit within this framework.
This translates for me to a rededication all the time to the Qur’an and Hadith and Sunnah for all of us. And at the same time to the literature that truly reflects and represents them in modern times in the Western Cultures and societies in the midst of which many of us live.
Or in any culture or society we may be a part of anywhere else.
I know, Alhamdulillah, I have signed on a while back to this and I wish to stay that way, forever as it were. And I don’t see there is much of choice if you are a Muslim.
More and more when you look at Muslims and the things they do or say, you see the Qur’an being made manifest to us as it were on a daily, hourly basis.
We have been warned by both Qur’an and Hadith about the enemies of Islam from amongst the Muslims.
And about the naïve Muslims who hurt Islam through their foolishness and naiveté.
And between them both, how Islam remains an orphan – uncared for, unattended to.
You look at the world, and you look at the Muslims and you look at the condition of Islam, and you cry at the “strangeness” that is Islam.
What a stranger Islam has become in this world. What an unknown quantity it has become. And how easily it is distorted and vilified and maligned by any and all.
Is that what the Hadith calls the “Ghurbat” of Islam?
But at the same time, it is amazing how, more and more, the world is moving closer to Islam every day. No thanks to Muslims, I am tempted to say.
And yet there is no contradiction in any of this.
You want the world to know Islam. You want the people of the world to share in the joy that Islam is and that God Almighty has blessed you with.
At the same time, you wonder about the “religious opiate” that passes for Islam nowadays.
But the exciting and wonderfully thrilling and electrifying feeling that you get just by thinking about Islam, makes you restless and you want the world to not only know Islam but to experience it as well.
All you need to do is to look around. Everyday Islam is unfolding everywhere. And if you look maybe you will see everything around you cry out constantly: A-falaa tubsiroon. “Don’t you see?”
If only we had eyes to see.
And if only we look and try to see. And if we don’t or can’t see, then we need to cry to Allah to show us. To make us see.
For, seeing it, feeling it, experiencing it, that is all Allah’s blessings that he gives to whom he wants.
I am thankful to Allah for whatever he has shown us. And some of it is in the process.
But as I understand it, showing thanks and gratitude to Allah for the gift and blessing of Islam should fuel our desire, fire up our motives and propel our actions to taking this Qur’an to every home and heart that need’s it.
And which one does not?
And not to resign ourselves to our newfound so called bliss and lapse into laziness and inaction.
There is a helplessness that seems to overcome Muslims at times that is worrisome. There may be many variables in the equation, but to me one that stands out is that we just want everything on a platter.
We want things easy.
Allahu Akbar, we are fortunate that we do have at our disposal literature that helps and guides our work. And that is served to us on a platter.
I am tempted to say that sometimes all you need to do is visit a website like www.IslamicSolutions.Com and browse some of the cutting-edge, mind-bending material it offers.
But how often do we really wrestle with parts of that literature and contemplate it and be haunted by it as it were until clarity eventually is obtained, if Allah wants.
But then how often do we contemplate the Qur’an?
Or the Hadith?
And then we complain Allah is not nice to us?
END
Nov. 10, 2010
Dr. Kamalodeen is an engineer and a developer.
To read more of his articles please visit www.IslamicSolutions.Com.
