Lesson 22 – Do good, yo!

Rabi Al-Awwal 25, 1431

“Who can say a better word than the one who invites towards Allah? And does good deeds and says: “I am indeed among those who submit to be a Musalman”.”

Surah Ha Meem Sajda (Surah 41), verse 33

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It took me such a long time to come out of the shell of “personal”  religion. I always thought my prayers were my own, nobody else’s business, that faith was something I don’t need to tell anybody about because He Knows what’s in MY heart. It’s only recently I started being more open about my struggles, about my strategies in upgrading my iman because I needed help and because all of us need help. I still haven’t crossed over all my inhibitions about how I take this; there are things I want to do and I don’t know how to start, more so I don’t know if I have the credibility to go out and just suggest ideas to people that I think will help them.

I only give out ideas to people who, I think, will take them or to people who, I feel, are really down and out and could do with a little bit of genuine care on my part. I don’t want to be taken as preachy,  I don’t want to waste my energy on people who’ll probably just go back to their ways that are harming them knowingly. I’ve been through both and I know those are annoying situations to be in.

I am very inspired by stories about people who do good but never feel the need to tell anybody until their “secret” gets out, and while I still believe in that, I’ve realized one should put forward ways of doing good anonymously… somewhere… because it has a very rewarding domino effect on people and it becomes the very thing a person, with relatively less ideas, needs to read or hear to decide how he wants to become the person he wants to become but couldn’t find ways to until your input came.

Now the problem is, this blog is becoming the prose of a slightly self-indulgent hypocrite and I was debating on whether I should continue with it or not… until I hit upon this. So I may not be even close to being perfect, but the value of my work is still there if it helps anybody even a teensy bit… and while I may not have the power to influence people towards Allah’s Path, I can try and trudge along. While I can’t talk very well about the good I try to do and I don’t think I ever should have to, I am going to stick to writing about my struggles and problems with my faith so that I’m doubly rewarded if this is helpful for other people.