Remember that scene in Braveheart, before the first battle, when William Wallace gave his stirring speech to the mistrustful masses. When confronted by a skeptic who declared that he would rather run from the battlefield and live than fight an impossible battle and die, Wallace countered:
"Aye, fight and you may die. Run, and you'll live... at least a while. And dying in your beds, many years from now, would you be willin' to trade ALL the days, from this day to that, for one chance, just one chance, to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they'll never take... OUR FREEDOM!"
Well, I fear we have all become like that ragtag army of weak-minded, indecisive characters.
For too long, many of us have been unwilling to commit to a cause in which we believe. I speak from experience while also, presumptuously, speaking for many of you out there.
Let me explain.
Over the years, I have dabbled with various movements, from Tablighi Jamaat to Jamaati Islami to Hizbu-Tahrir to Tanzeem Islami to so many other acronym-based organizations. I have introduced myself to numerous spiritual brotherhoods such as the Naqshabandi, Shadhili, and Ba-Alawi. And I even started up my own lttle group, the Muslim Kids Club, a Baltimore effort geared towards kids aged 7-12.
I'm a proto-typical Muslim-movement 'playa', sleeping around with so many while never having the guts to fully commit to any one of them - all the while thinking myself to be balanced and mainstream, looking down on the "one-trick ponies" who've naively giving up everything for that lonely cause of their choice.
But I fear my hidden trepidation and not-so-hidden pomposity has failed me.
No true success can ever come from sitting on the sidelines. And here I am sitting in the stands watching the single most important match, that of haqq (truth) vs batil (falsehood), scared to enter the competition, content with my sissie pom-poms.
I have for too long straddled the fence between activity and passivity, between commitment and lethargy.
Neither living for a cause nor dying for it - just going through the motions with noncommittal activism mixed with feigned piety.
Not sure why, but I have a theory.
We have become a content people, lacking vigor and fire. We have adopted industry standard best-practices in risk management. Like a prudent fund manager, we have diversified our portfolios in hopes of minimizing our risks. We have become living examples of the adage 'Paralysis through Over-analysis'. With our safe 9-5 jobs, guaranteed pensions, and retirement plans, we have adopted a psyche fearful of taking risks and making commitment.
And this fear has seeped into our religious endeavors.
After all, we convince ourselves, you'll never suffer the ignominy of divorce if you never get married. You'll never experience the bitter pain of a broken heart if you never fall in love. Right?
But what sort of existence is that?
Truth is that sleeping around is very dangerous - and that is equally applicable to the religious realm as it is to the physical world.
It's time to throw caution to the wind and do away with our 'judicious restraint'.
It's time we moved beyond the safe confines of our comfort zones and trudged into the realm of sacrifice and struggle.
Whether it be going out for 40 days with Tablighi Jamaat (and thereafter committing one's life to the cause) or giving baya'a to Dr Israr Ahmed or diving headfirst into one's local Ikhwan chapter or joining a Sufi silsila (brotherhood), let us all put our money where our mouth is.
Let us stop dilly-dallying.
Just don’t call it genocide
1 week ago
18 comments:
Masha'allah for this post {ONLY ON HOW IT WAS WRITTEN} and i know you don't care about that because that is not what you wrote it for, you wrote this as it is, with what it has vulgarly shouted, with cold blooded attitude .... JOIN a SUFI Jam'aat!@#
what is this weird suggestion?, most of the trouble we are facing is from these guys AND OTHERS NOT TO MENTION. brother na'eem i couldn't believe what you wrote, please make it more clearer, maybe i didn't understand clearly.. and if i did, this is not a way of contributing to ISLAM. and i think you got more problems to rectify In yourself before giving announcements like these to the MASSES, YOU ARE A PERSON OF INFLUENCE AND CHARISMA, DON'T LET THAT BE A DESTRUCTIVE FORCE TO OUR UMMAH, INSTEAD OF BEING A GOOD CONTRIBUTOR .. WALLAHI AT THE BEGINNING I THOUGHT I WILL CHANGE MY LIFE BY THE HONESTY YOU POURED IN THIS POST BUT WHILE REACHING THE END OF IT, IT WAS SUPPOSE TO BE A HEART OPENER IT, BUT INSTEAD IT COMPLETELY SHUT ME DOWN AND TOOK ME SINKING IN A MORE DEEPER HOLE OF DESPAIR..
I love you
Salaams dear brother,
i admit i haven't been keeping up with many blogs, including yours, in some time. This post reminds me of why i read you and makes me wonder why i ever stopped visiting. MashaAllah, this is an excellent post, and completely correct: we must commit to a path, whatever that path may be, and try to live that path as best we can, inshaAllah. Dabbling creates confusion which then creates lethargy.
scared to enter the competition, content with my sissie pom-poms
Have you ever seen a male cheerleader? Those dudes are buffed. Way more buffed than some of guys on the field. They can toss a 100lbs. girl 20 feet in the air and catch her with one hand while balanced on the other foot, never forgetting to smile.
I think you need to rethink your plan :)
Bravely articulated.
I agree with a lot of it.
People are so used to thier "normal" lives, the things we take granted in life that we forget, we really forget to live without them.
Take away our TVs, telephones, cellphones, internet, car, swimming pool, movie theatre, and microwavable lunches, what are we left with? Nothing, we would be depressed and forget that there is life beyond these things.
I think this could go in hand with Thanksgiving because people need to while sacrificing some of these things also realize the magnitude of luxury we abide in.
I know the whole focus of this post was the religious aspect but I'm pointing all this out because I feel that it would be enlightening to post on facebook. I hope you don't mind. (Of course, I'll give credit to you).
I'll tell you what my "teenage", the worst of the people who live heedlessly that you speak of, what they think. *Oh and the Muslim Kids Club sounds interesting haha.
Seriously dude, nice post. :)
-Muslim Kid-
Ay stop dilly Dalying and DO WHAAAT ?
What if the Tabligi jamat, and the dr israr and the Sufi order, are also part of the batil ?
what if we the "unwilling" and safe players have proof that the shaikhs are batil agents, Dr israr is a CIA operative and Tablighi jamat is a British pacification innovation...do you still recommend that we "jump" into holly-wood of make-belive heroics ?
Mulla NafsEzakkiya
That was the best damn rallying speech I have heard on the internet as of yet!
FRRREEEEDDOOOMMM!
AA- Elfatih,
What exactly is your point of contention with my post? That I suggested joining a Sufi tariqa?
If so, what is wrong with that? Not all sufis are the stereo-typical grave-worshipping, twirling, hippies. Anyways, that is a topic for another post.
In the end, my essential point is not *what* to do or *who* to join, but to simply begin living/dying for a cause - whatever that cause may be for you.
I hope that is clear.
AA-
@Yursil, I love you too brother.
@Aaminah, thank you for your comment and thank you for 'getting it'.
@Marc, methinks you revealed a bit too much of your past. :-P
@MK, hey now! Where did I say that teens live their lives most heedlessly? I'm kool with teens - I even used to be one! :-)
Also, I'm a bit unclear of your comment. When I was referring to sacrifice and struggle, I didn't mean to give up some of our luxuries. I was talking about sacrificing for a cause and that may not necessitate giving up modern day amenities.
Not sure what you understood from my post.
AA- Rahat and Anon,
What you decide to do is irrelevant to my call for action. If TJ or HT or ISNA/MSA or Ikhwan or Sufis don't float your boat, then find something/someone that does and, this is most important, commit your life to them!!!
That could be serving the poor in your locality or working with kids or what ever.
I'm criticizing the activists who are all over the place, busying themselves with all of the above (charity work, masjid volunteer, MSA, etc.), never committing to any one cause.
A post which really did provoke some thought in my head. As someone who has worked with Islamic movements in the past I can absolutely relate to your post. I am constantly justifying to myself why I left so and so group and whilst doing so finding faults in the work of others who are actually doing something whilst doing nothing of real significance myself. I have no way achieved anything close to what I had working collectively, TAKING ORDERS, and where someone always made sure my life revolved around Islam and not the other way around. But now I am a ‘freelance dai’ doing things whenever I want to and whenever I have time. It made sense getting rid of all the beaurocracy involved in collective work for the idea of being accountable to Allah azz wa jal alone but in reality we can’t function properly without the collective group feeling, leaders, shakers, foot soldiers all working for the same goes as shown by the best of mankind Sayedunna Mustafa (saw).
So you're advising everyone to join a cause, any old cause. This goes against the two fundamental rules for any action in Islam. One is that it is done sincerely for Allah, and the other is that it conforms with the teachings of His Messenger peace be upon him. Sorry pal, but Jamaat Tabligh and Sufi movements do not conform with the teachings of our Messenger peace be upon him.
AA- Anon,
aaahhh...(deep inhale)...the wretched stench of arrogance. Oh, how I so enjoy the smell!
Anon, you may do well to read my post on Arrogance of Certainty.
AA- Salman,
Having discovered that 'freelancing' is not the way to go, what do we do now?
I think you should read this. I want to know your honest opinion..maybe I'm just going mad.
http://themuslimkid.blogspot.com/2009/11/that-motherfucker-ruined-my-sisters.html
-Faique
Naeem, I am not too sure where to go from here but honestly reading this post of yours made me realise there was a problem. So thank you :)
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