“Seeds of change: We need a dawah
revolution” by sister Fatima Barkatulla
40 million prostitutes around the
world, 80,000 prostitutes in the UK. These are all daughters of Adam (AS). They
were precious once upon a time. This cruel, materialistic world made their
lives miserable. So many women around us are suffering. They are lost. Who will
tell them that there is a God who loves them and cares about them? Who will
tell them there is a purpose? Who will tell them the truth, my dear sisters?
This world is like a labyrinth. Most
of the people are lost and don’t have a clue how to get out. You as a Muslim
are given the map. But you are not sharing your map. What does it tell about
you?
Shariah came for preservation of
human life, dignity, lineage, property, sacredness of human soul. Who will
convey this message?
The most important blessing in our
life is our faith. We are so blessed to be Muslims, Alhamdulillah. How can we
not share this beautiful faith with everyone else? We must start a dawah
revolution.
There are so many people in this world;
we will love to have our problems. Our problems are noting in comparison with
what most of the people have to go through.
So what is dawah revolution? Every
single day of our life can be a dawah day. We can make our family a beacon of
change in our community. We need to think about dawah potentials. As sisters,
we are significant. The most powerful change can come from a mother, who raises
her children as future scholars and leaders. We all can be soldiers of Allah
Subhana Ta’ala.
Think about what talent you have. Use
your tool. Think about what you can offer your Creator.
Sister Fatima’s talk was really
amazing, very emotional for me. I make sincere dua that Allah Subhana Ta’ala
make me and my precious family do our best to serve Him, ameen! I hope we all
can become good dawees InshaAllah.
I have always been a big fan of sis
Fatima Barkatullah. You can have a look at her blog: http://muslimmotherhood.blogspot.co.uk/
Just a bit more info about her: “Born and raised in the United Kingdom, Fatima has had a rich Islamic education at an early age thanks to her parents. Fatima began her Arabic and Islamic studies in Egypt at prominent institutes such as Al-Fajr Center, Qortoba Institute and Al Azhar University. Currently Fatima is an instructor and lecturer for iERA.”
The next talk was by brother Hamza
Tzortzis titled PhDawah on Campus (4.05 pm)
By 4 I was quite exhausted so the quality
of my notes are that good, I’m afraid L Brother Hamza talked about the
importance of dawah and how we Muslim women can get involved inshAllah to be
good dawees. At the start he talked about knowledge. According to him, there is
nothing such as secular knowledge. For us, every knowledge comes from Allah
Subhana Ta’ala. Our Rabb taught us bayaan (Surah Ar-Rahman) i.e the words/
languages. Islam teaches us to think, to ponder. There is a grand design.
Everything is here for a purpose. MashAllah as sisters we are especially
blessed by Allah Subhana ta’ala. Muslim sisters maintain their haya (modesty)
through hijab. We muslimahs are free from social pressure. Thus we can have a profound
effect inshaAllah. He addressed us all the attendees to feel glad and grateful
that we were able to take part at the event. We are here because we wanted to
be closer to our Rabb Alhamdulillah. He recommended us to do the Call of duty
course to learn about how to give dawah effectively.
A bit more about the dawah course:
As we are an ipod generation, we can
do so much dawah through internet and all the technologies available to us,
inshAllah. He asked us to study the lives of our great companions of our
beloved prophet ( Sallallahu Alaihe wa sallam). Without their efforts and
tremendous sacrifice, we wouldn’t have known about Islam. No doubt, Islam is
the biggest blessing in our life Alhamdulillah. What are we doing to convey the
message? He talked about how powerful and well-organised the Christian missionaries
are. Subhanallah we have the truth but where is our dedication, sisters? Just
imagine the world where every single Muslim takes dawah seriously!
You can find more about his work at http://www.hamzatzortzis.com/My vision for your role in Dawah by brother AbdurRaheem Green
Most of the session was geared to fund raising for iERA. MashaAllah lots of generous sisters have donated, Alhamdulillah. May Allah subhana ta’ala put lots of baraka in iERA projects, ameen! He reminded us the importance of giving sadaqa in Islam and inviting people to our faith. Allah subhana ta’ala doesn’t ask us to convert anyone, as the guidance is only from Him. But He told us to convey the message and give them dawah. Dawah needs to become a culture, a habit, an essential part of our being. You, especially as a mother, wife, daughter, sister-in-faith can do this important job. He mentioned that if we give , then charity (sadaqa) becomes a proof that we believe in Allah subhana ta’ala. When we spend in Allah’s way, He gives us more! He subhana ta’ala increases our wealth through charity , subhanallah.
You can give your sadaqa to iERA
through their website at http://www.iera.org.uk/
But just helping them financially, should never make us feel like yes we have done our duty of giving dawah. We need to actively engage in propagating the message of Islam among our neighbours, families, relatives and people in general, inshaAllah.
Climbing the corporate ladder to
jannah
Sister Rahma Abulatif talked about how the Muslim working women should present themselves at workplaces. She is a policy & performance team leader. She was saying how sometimes we tend to think we need to dress and behave in certain way to fit in office environment. Unfortunately quite a lot of Muslim working women end up compromising their hijab standards. We really need to think how we carry ourselves as Muslims. Do we really need to compromise. If we are very well-organised and professional, that should be enough to get promotions. We need to learn how we can make any conversation a dawah conversation insha-Allah.
Sister Yasmin Mogahed did couple of small talks throughout the day through video link. As I was at the ‘Mother & Baby’ room, I couldn't really hear the videos very clearly. The way they made the video, she looked like a giant! Lol! I always love her beautiful talks and articles.
Do have a look at her website: http://www.yasminmogahed.com/
She also has a FB group: http://www.facebook.com/YasminMogahed
Her YouTube link is http://www.youtube.com/yasminmogahedonline
The last talk of the day was by
brother Abu Hafsa AbulMalik Clare. MashAllah an amazing brother, mashAllah. I was just
listening to his talk and really didn’t get the chance to take notes. The title
of his talk was Womankind: The Ummah’s Engine. He addressed us sisters as “Impact
players” mashAllah. During the talk he called his wife and daughter who were
abroad. His family said salam to us all through the phone speaker J He is a very funny brother
mashAllah. As some of you may know, he is blind. But his disability did not
stop him from calling people to their Creator Allah Subhan ta’ala, mashAllah.
He talked about the great ladies in Islamic history. Maryam (AS) the ultimate
single mum subhanallah! She (AS) has raised an amazing son, one of the
prominent prophets mashAllah, Eesa (AS) aka Jesus (AS). She was always there
for him.
He talked about Musa (AS)‘s mum and how she made sacrifice for her son, subhanallah. He mentioned Khadija (RAW) ‘the engine of Prophet Muhammad (Sallallahu alaihe wa sallam)’.
You can find more about him through his mashAllah very active FB page: http://www.facebook.com/AbuHafsahAbdulMalikClare
Abu Hafsa "Abdulmalik
Clare" - Blind Hearts
Alhamdulillah I am really grateful to
Allah subhana ta’ala for giving me the opportunity to be there for the whole
day. At the end of the session, they gave us all a dawah box each. MashAllah it
was very kind of them Alhamdulillah.
May Allah Subhana Ta’ala bless every single person who worked so hard to make this event a success, ameen! May Allah Subhana ta’ala give us all the tawfique (ability) and tayseer (easiness) to implement the lessons we have learnt at the event, ameen! Lot of sisters here in the UK and in abroad are not that lucky like us to have this sort of events. And that’s why I really wanted to share my notes feesabilillah. My apology for notes being not that well-written L After all you really cannot expect that much from a very busy mum of three kids all under 4.5 alhamdulillah J Jazakallah kahiarn for reading this post.
