Tabligh

A Simple Thought: Tuesday, 13th December ’16

A simple thought from The Community on Friday: The legacy we will leave behind after we are long gone, as individuals, as families, as societies and as nations, will essentially be what we will be remembered for. Our contribution to humankind today, while we can still control our actions, and the lasting after effects of our deeds, may be our only befitting response to the purpose of our creation. Just as we must propagate matters of our faith in a balanced manner, through our speech and writing, we must also learn the art of silence at times, so that in the peace and quiet of our environments, we can start to listen to the noise that populates our surround system, and that we don’t usually hear because we are also always making noise.

The time of the year whence we celebrate the birth anniversary of the Holy Prophet (SAW), must certainly renew our commitment towards improving our character as a whole – character here representing the ability to build and nurture good qualities in ourselves, just as taught by this grandiose personality. If we keep digging too deep in the traps set around our lives that perennially keep us busy, at least through over socialising, always engaging in fun activities, or travel because if social reasons, it is doubtful if we will ever be able to look beyond our needs and wants.

And before we know it, our time will be up, and we will have nothing to show for the years we spent here. Simply chanting slogans and loudly arguing with others whose views don’t match ours, without fully comprehending the events unfolding around the world, posing grave danger to the survival of Islam, and remaining constantly busy in our own amusement and recreation, while seeming to spread borrowed knowledge through trigger happy habits of a typical netizen, will eventually aggregate to naught, and may in fact have the exact opposite effect on Islam. We can start with small things – humility in talking, moderated level of voice and tone, abstinence from using foul language, softness in executing our actions such as door closing to protect others from the ensuing noise, learning to greet others in all earnestness, beginning to learn our own knowledge rather than accepting to be spreaders of news and unverified anecdotes.

A lot needs to be done to refine our personalities so that others can see us and admire and emulate us, in that day all Muslums are bad will be a song long gone. Our obsession to constantly outdo each other in wealth, social status and trade, is leading us to a vicious cycle, that can never be satiated. The time we are losing not understanding the sanctity of our mosques, which we have turned into social clubs, rob us of our inherent right to keep claiming we are the followers of Muhammad (SAW), who was a principaled man, respectful and a seeker and propagator of knowledge that took him closer to his creator.

This initiative is made possible by the kind courtesy of Abu Baseer Eye Clinic, Bande Khuda Sponsors, G1 Security, Highways Car Hire Ltd, Max Fries, Meadows Academy, SD Dental Clinic & Ceramic Lab, SokoniAdvertiser and Xpress Rent a Car, and for the ISAALE THAWAAB of Marhumeen of Bhimji and Nayani Family and Marhuma Sarubai Abdullah

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About the author

Mohamedarif is a marketing professional and educationalist with a penchant for writing as a hobby since childhood. As he experimented writing about sporting events at first and then current affairs, he quickly developed a skill for observation of his environment and began to write on reform topics, especially in connection with the community. To further feed his pursuit of writing, he founded several newsletters and bulletins at his school and at the Husayni Madrasah in the 1980's, all the time learning from others already in the field not just about writing, but also about pre-press and production processes. He was also the editor-in-chief of the Knowledge Magazine in 1995–1996. A decade later, importing a flurry of ideas into his new home, Nairobi, he first founded a two page community newspaper then became a regular writer of the Friday Faculty before establishing the Community on Friday, a fully fledged Madrasah magazine in 1996. And while his writing at the community continued, he simultaneously started writing for a business weekly, pairing in with his newfound role as a marketing professional. During his time in Nairobi, he wrote several speeches for sitting chairmen and presidents while also giving some himself, developing his concurrent role as a public speaker and trainer.

With changing times and a decrease in advertising sponsorship, as well as a fall in overall readership, Mohamedarif transformed this publication into an electronic blog. Thus was born the Community on Friday in its present format.

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