Monkey in the Middle

Salam,

Lights, Camera, Action. What kind of dawah methodology are you packin?  Think again. We know Islam is a religion of moderation, unfortunately some people try to make it hard like constipation. It seems like staying middle on the straight path is getting more difficult with a bunch of loose Muslims.

Let’s look at the definition of methodology and dawah.

meth·od·ol·o·gy

1.a set or system of methods, principles, and rules for regulating a given discipline, as in the arts or sciences.

da·wah

2. to invite.

Not to scare away.

One time I went to a masjid in Brooklyn and I came across a brother who ran the masjid and immediately he spotted my friend with a nike golf cap and told him to take it off. When we asked him why, he said because shatan sits on the rim of the cap (haha). Then he went and got us some free kufi’s to put on our head. Come on, are you serious? well he was, but I was stunned. Well I haven’t gone back since.

Talk about being strict to the next level. Forget that, it was the most uneducated thing I ever heard. Wearing kufi’s is no doubt better, but how you going to tell someone shatan is sitting on their hat. How did he see shatan sitting? I didn’t see him. (joke)

This is a perfect example of Muslims Drowning in minor details…..Sometimes we get this approach from people about Islam that it chases us away from it. We all know Islam teaches us to man up, be intelligent and recognize the bigger problems and then rectify them. We got to look at the big picture, people got their approach out of order like a Picasso painting. We have to question how to present Islam to the Non Muslims on a collective and individual level.

We can talk about a whole bunch of issues, some of them in our own homes, others in the masjid and within our inner circle of peers A.K.A our brothers and sisters.

At the end of the day, you gotta be strict and gentle when the situations requires you to do so.

Let’s keep it real, all those differences have to be put aside, we got much more that binds us than that which splits us apart. Like a rapper once said in the Nike commercial say ” A family that prays together stays together and one that walks apart just falls apart”.

Last week I was able to talk to a customer who came to my store. He was wearing a fitted, akademiks apparel, white nike uptowns, had some tattoos and was wearing jewelry. At first I was just helping him, then he asked me to tell him about all the hottest gear that’s out. So I started naming some brands and he was completely lost. He said he’s fresh out out of jail so he hasn’t been updated on all the newest fashion.

Jail? The first thing that came to my mind was what did he do that got him there. So I asked him and he said ” I did 4 and a half years, and just came out two weeks ago. He got caught with two guns on his waist. To be specific it was two rugers. He was a drug dealer and someone basically snitched on him.

Anyways we started talking about life and how prison transforms people. I told him it’s a blessing for you to be out, it could have always been worse and you should thank god for giving you another chance. He kept it real and followed me through the conversation. When I told him, look at it as a test, he agreed with me 100 percent. I told him a lot of people who go to jail, they are actually happy they got imprisoned. The reason for that is its sort of like discipline, because they are punished they in return learn their lesson. Then I asked him about jail, the environment in particular.

He got into a couple of fights, he said its real tough. Sort of like the concrete jungle. Then I asked him if he had seen any Muslims in jail, he said of course. I asked him how was their character and he responded ” they were always the first to get food, they always stuck together and most importantly often read their Holy Qurans to keep themselves rest assured”. He said they didn’t get into fights and kept calm and didn’t bother anyone.

Now let’s zoom out of this real quick, in a prison, your mental and physical state can react often in the worst ways because of the psychological stress. Now here we have this non muslim former prisoner who was impressed by the presentation of Muslims.

All they did was keep to their principles, and they were able to leave him with a positive mark. In the toughest of environments, controlling your desires and restraining from anger is a huge test. Mashallah these muslims did that, as a result this guy was able to see Islam as it is. They didn’t talk to him, nor did they start beef with him. It was all about ethics, morals and manners. Nowadays, we have people who don’t smile, they grill you mad hard. So when we were finishing our conversation, he said he would read about Islam and he appreciates life much more now.

Don’t make Islam hard, just think of yourself as a mirror to Islam, the better you present yourself the clearer the window be Inshallah. In this society, grounding yourself as a Muslim  with solid principles as well as advancing in whatever professionalism you wish to achieve can be challenging. Just drill it into your hearts that Islam is applicable to all times and all environments from jail to the work place, the better you embody it, the better the perception of those who see it.

So you got the message? DON’T BE A MONKEY IN THE MIDDLE. Calm down, don’t get ahead of yourself. Like Shaykh Hamza Yusuf said ” Islam is not right, nor is it left, it is straight as an arrow”.

So that’s what I wanted to discuss, I will talk about the ICNA convention recap soon inshallah. Just came back today, I apologize for everyone who’s waiting for my article. I’m moving slow like a turtle, but you know what they say “Progress is a slow process”. So stay tooned folks…waslaaam.