Qur'anic Reflections

Day 4: Make someone happy

وَإِذْ أَخَذْنَا مِيثَاقَ بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ لَا تَعْبُدُونَ إِلَّا اللَّهَ وَبِالْوَالِدَيْنِ إِحْسَانًا وَذِي الْقُرْبَىٰ وَالْيَتَامَىٰ وَالْمَسَاكِينِ وَقُولُوا لِلنَّاسِ حُسْنًا وَأَقِيمُوا الصَّلَاةَ وَآتُوا الزَّكَاةَ ثُمَّ تَوَلَّيْتُمْ إِلَّا قَلِيلًا مِنْكُمْ وَأَنْتُمْ مُعْرِضُونَ

(Sahih International)
And [recall] when We took the covenant from the Children of Israel, [enjoining upon them], "Do not worship except Allah ; and to parents do good and to relatives, orphans, and the needy. And speak to people good [words] and establish prayer and give zakah." Then you turned away, except a few of you, and you were refusing.

-Sura Al-Baqarah, Ayah 83

In a recent video, I heard a scholar talk about how Mohammed Ali was his favorite star growing up because he never left a chance in showing the world that he was what he was, because he was Muslim. 

While the media likes to paint such genuinely nice people as ones who are good and law abiding despite being Muslim, we need to step up and set our rhetoric straight. 

We have achieved what we have, because we are Muslims. 

Because Islam teaches us to be better human beings, it teaches us how to impress people through our values and speech. 

In a time like this, all of us need to take our behavior seriously. 

You and I, when we wear the hijab, we carry the reputation of Islam on our shoulders. 

When you work with a lot of non Muslims, more often than not, you'll be referred to "that Muslim girl" and you don't want that word to be associated with something bad. 

Dawah is half part knowledge and half aqhlaq. The Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him could spread the message because he was kind and understanding so much so that his enemies couldn't defame him even if they wanted to. 

It is the greatest joy to see someone smile because of you, and to know that somehow that carries on to your reputation as a Muslim is just thrilling. 

Exercise for today, is to do something like that. Make your classmate or co worker happy. Give them a compliment, or a gift, help them out, do something in a way that when they look at you, they see what Islam has taught you. 

Let them know that it is Islam that makes you a better person. 

If you can't go that far, start at home. Make your siblings happy. Make them some cake or something ( that usually works) or help your mum out ( cook some biryani maybe. That's the pinnacle of every desi mum's happiness) 

Start with the simple things. Be happy around people. It's less exhausting :) 

Good luck!