Abdur Rahim Green Speaking.
The first time I read the Qur’an my brothers and sisters, the things that really impacted me was the descriptions of Allah. Who is God? Who is Allah? Who is the creator of the heavens and the earth?
This beautiful and comprehensive yet simple understanding of who our creator is a well as the thing that really that stood out for me is the description of the day of judgment, the paradise, the hellfire.
But the second time, now as a Muslim, praying five times a day, the thing that actually stood out to me so strongly was actually the whole theme of dawah.
This could be because maybe a third of the Qur’an contains the stories of the Prophets and nearly all of the stories of the Prophets are about what? Its about their dawah. Its not really about how they prayed or they fasted or how much charity they gave or how much social work they did.
Nearly every single story of the Prophets in the Qur’an is a story about their dawah.
And then we find out that Allah subhanahu wa ta ala in the Qur’an is very strongly admonishing and criticizing those people who came before who covered the truth.
They knew the truth but they covered it. They failed to enjoin what is right and forbid what’s wrong. And on of the stories that really sticks out to me in the Qur’an is the story of the Sabbath breakers. The village that was by the sea that took their livelihood from fishing but because of their sins, Allah sent upon them a test.
Their test was there was no fish in the sea except on the Sabbath day. The one day that they are not allowed to do any work. However, on that day, they could see fish jumping.
So some people decided to set their nets the night before the Sabbath and collect the fish the night after the Sabbath and used t say ‘look, we didn’t do any work on the Sabbath, all we did was before the Sabbath’.
Of course they were causing fish to be caught. In this town, the people were divided into three categories of people.
The first group were the Sabbath breakers, the second group were those who gave dawah who went to the Sabbath breakers and gave them dawah, trying to point out to them the wrong they were doing and forbidding them from doing it.
The third group were also asking the second group to stop giving dawah to the Sabbath breakers and asking them why they are bothering them when Allah is already about to destroy them.
The second group answered by saying that they wanted to fulfill their duties before their Lord.
“We don’t want to be accountable in front of Allah” they said. “ And maybe they will be guided”
And we all know what happened to those people brothers and sisters.
Allah said in the Qur’an that He rescued those who forbade evil and sent upon the transgressors a terrible punishment.
Sheikh Greene continues that it was these things that motivated him almost from the first moment that he started to practice Islam.
I understood the need to give dawah and even in my small environment that that is my mom and dad, who were the only people close to me then that I started to give dawah to.
Alhamdulillah they experienced a lot of my mistakes but this continued when I came to the UK and I went down to Speakers’ Corner and I didn’t know what to say, I didn’t know how to give dawah but I started bit by bitand Alhamdulillah we started calling people to Islam.
Alhamdulillah that’s thirty years ago and till date I still meet brothers who say to me Abdur Raheem I used to come and listen to you down in Speakers’ Corner.
Brothers and sisters, dawah is hugely an important part of Islam and one of the things that has always inspired me is what the Prophet (SAW) said that “this matter, this religion is going to spread as far as the night and day’. Whether there’s a night or day Islam is going to spread.
In another narration, the Prophet (SAW) mentioned that Islam will enter every home even if the home is made of mud.
Every country, city, every town, every village, there’s going to be a home and every home there will be a Muslim. Someone that Allah honors and the honor that he gives Islam.
There will be brothers and sisters that if you look at their situations you will say masha Allah that’s going to happen or you could be inspired by it.
You can say that this is what the Prophet (SAW) said is definitely going to happen a 100% but how about a different way of looking at it.
How about saying ‘this is an opportunity, the Prophet (SAW) has said it is going to happen what if we are the people that makes that happen’?
Don’t we live in the time when that is supposed to be a possibility?
Don’t you think we live in an age of instant communication when we can talk to somebody miles and miles away. You can project all of it to someone at the other end of the planet.
The potential to bring this message of Islam to humans is unprecedented.
What is holding us back? What is preventing us? What is standing in the way? What is the real barrier between what Subboor was talking about fifty thousand shahadahs and us reaching a million?
You know what the big barriers is? I’ll be honest, its almost entirely down to finances.
Over the last 10 years we have developed systems, we have a fantastic methodology we call the GORAP method of giving dawah which is a very effective method.
We have a system to train the duat, we have systems to care for the new Muslims.
But what we’re lucking is bringing on board enough of these daees and of these outreach specialists who can do the work and that’s really it.
When we project a million, we can do that next year.
There are people who are ready but the barriers between us and the brothers and sisters at least from the point of view of this organization is really finances brothers and sisters, that’s the reality. And if you look at the things that we spend our money on and I include myself, subhanallah its sad.
Its sad that when we go on live appeals and we hear from our brothers in Latin America with six hundred million beings and when you hear their stories, people queuing for forty-five minutes to get a translation of the Qur’an.
When the Qur’an that we print through your donations arrive, the people do not wait for it to be delivered to them. They drive for seven hours to meet the team to get their copies.
And when we do a video live appeal and we’re excited that we printed thirty thousand copies, we forget there are six hundred million people there.
We are 1.600,000,000 Muslims, all the wealth that we have as Muslims and as an ummah and we cn’t even give dawah and these people want it.
Brothers and sisters don’t this make you afraid? It makes me afraid for my hear after, makes me afraid of that moment when I stand in front of Allah ta ala and He ask us what did you do with your life? What did you spend your money on? Did you fulfill this mission? Did you pass on this message?
Brothers and sisters please think about this deeply.
May Allah bless you and guide you and guide all of us.
Jazakallahu khayr.
Salam Alaykum.
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