How We Did It -- In Those Early Days of "Work"!
By Hashim Mohammed
When Muslims banned us from doing our work in Mosques, we turned to Funerals: the work of inviting Allah's People -- everyone everywhere -- to Allah's book, the Qur'an.
Dr. Pasha called them Fishing Expeditions. What we call today the work of Taking the Qur'an to Every Home and Heart that Needs It -- and Which One Does Not?
Those were difficult -- and lonely days -- for many of us doing this work. We caught "flak," as the Americans say, and rejection from every side.
Once upon a Funeral, we caught a big fish. He was a real rustic man, from the far off interior horticultural region. Pure, innocent and straight as an arrow.
He couldn't then read a single word of Qur'an. But he loved Islam and the Qur'an as much as anyone ever could.
And there was nothing more important to him than to understand and learn Islam. And nothing was more urgent to him than learning to read the Qur'an -- with correct pronunciation.
And he undertook those responsibilities with a dedication that remains a marvel and an example for us all to this day. He undertook the long and arduous journey from his distant home in the interior country to the Metro Region, changing bus after bus, spending several hours on the rustic roads in the process, every week.
He once showed up with a bagful of sweet oranges from his trees: just before Fajr time!
One of us peeled those oranges and then shared them with the rest of us in our meetings for several days.
One day I asked: "Why do you peel the oranges before you hand them to people?"
The reply was: "I hope someone would notice and follow my example. Because that is Islam: reaching out to people, and helping them, as much as one can, and never missing out an opportunity to do so."
The reply continued: "And also because Muhammad, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam, taught people as much by personal example as by telling them or preaching to them."
I learnt an important lesson that day: "Love Islam? Help people!"
How simple and how sweet this was! Islam in a nutshell!
"And never wait for someone else to do anything that you could be the first doing it."
Subhanallah, how beautiful this Islam is!
And Allah bless Brother Sadiq, who died Thursday, December 31, 2015, and grant him Maghfirat and Jannat.
Brother Sadiq was an important part of this work during our early days -- and for a long time.
And his demise has triggered some of these memories in the minds of some of us who were around during the early days of this work, and were a part of it, what we now generally call the work of Taking the Qur'an to Every Home and Heart that Needs It -- and Which One Does Not?
May Allah open the hearts and minds of all Muslims -- and all human beings everywhere -- to his book the Qur'an and fill his world with the untold blessings and rewards that flow from his book.
A book that he sent into this world as Light (Noor) and as Guidance (Huda) and as Helpful Advice (Maw'izah) to everyone everywhere.
And a book that he calls a cure to all that ails human hearts: Wa Shifaa-un Limaa Fis-Sudoor!
Would the men and women of this world -- Muslim as well as non-Muslim -- turn to that book and embrace it fully and wholeheartedly so that they will be cured of all that is ailing and bothering them and making their lives miserable and sad and diseased!
END
