Last night my car broke down in east London. I had a long chat with Derek a.k.a. Del, the recovery truck driver, on the way home. Cool cockney 'geyza', in his late 40s maybe 50s. When I was talking to him about Islam, I could tell he was riveted, really opened up and told me about his thoughts and beliefs that he said he never spoke to anyone about.
He was your typical unreligious believer in 'something out there'; only went to a church when someone was born or died, with moderate exposure to Muslims, but not Islam.
My point is that when I saw his face light up when I was speaking to his natural disposition, his Fitrah, he clearly saw that this made so much more sense than anything he had known before. He kept telling me how grateful he was for me telling him about Islam and how little he knew about it, despite living and working in London his whole life.
Instead of feeling happy at this individual's happiness, my heart sank and I felt so ashamed that this man was so close to his Fitrah, relatively uncorrupted in his thoughts and world view, yet no one had ever told him about Islam. Despite being so eager and glad to learn about it. Despite being like a sponge when I was speaking of Allah's Beautiful Names and Attributes. Despite being such a regular old bloke like perhaps millions of others in this country.
I really do applaud organisations dedicated to da'wah like iERA, Discover Islam and the rest, but we are kidding ourselves if we think they are able to reach those we are obligated to reach, as though they have lifted the burden from ALL of our necks. We all need to do as much as possible to help propagate this common sense message of the Fitrah, and Allah in His Mercy has made this possible in so many ways, with something for everyone, so there are no excuses.
If it is not for pleasing your Lord because you love that He be praised and glorified alone by more and more people; if it is not for your love for your fellow humans that you want for them to realise their true purpose and taste the Sweetness here and hereafter; if it is not for your saving your fellow humans from a severe trial and potential punishment; then do it out of fear for your own self. When I was sitting with Sheikh Haitham one day and said about a non-Muslim family passing by, "Will we be held accountable on the Day of Judgement for not delivering the message of Islam to non-Muslims like this that we pass on the street? Can they come up to us on that Day and blame us for not warning them of it?" Thinking that he would say 'Don't be so harsh on yourself' or something... his face changed, went pale and he said,
"By Allah, I worry about the same thing everyday living in this country."
Remember, Allah will not burden us regarding those people truly out of our sphere of influence, but we all know some non-Muslims, and we are all able to help fund or volunteer for organisations or initiatives that are working for the larger scale da'wah. I hope I can live up to these words but we really do need to step up and realise our priorities.
I ask Allah to guide Del and all others like him sincerely seeking Truth, and to forgive myself and all of us for our negligence in acting upon and calling to it.
وصلى الله على سيدنا محمد وعلى آله وصحبه وسلم
-- Salman Butt
