40 days in the Path of Allah....in Wales!

I've been slacking off in my blog posts i know, but I was away for 40 days in the path of Allah and just came back on Monday. I have to say...it was an experience and a half. If anyone doesn't know what i mean by going out in the 'path of Allah'...don't worry it's not some kind of extremist terrorist training scheme! Far from it. Its called 'Tabligue jamaat' the group which 'conveys' and calls towards Allah.

Tabligue literally means 'to convey' and this collective effort is something like missionary work where you are out giving your time for any number of days you can do. Usually it's recommended to do 3 days a month, 40 days a year and 4 months once in a lifetime. You are in a jamaat (group) and go from mosque to mosque in the country you are sent to, or in my case England. You work and make effort in each local area with the concern as to how Islam can come into our own life, the locality and the how the whole of mankind be saved from the fire of hell.

This effort mainly works on the people who are already Muslims to make them steadfast in the Islam, before going onto non-Muslims. This is because unfortunately most Muslims these days (even myself) are Muslims by name or by our tongue, but inwardly our faith in Allah is very low. We believe things like food and money are sustaining us when in fact Allah is sustaining us. These things are just a 'means' of sustaining us. We have to have such belief that even if we were to drink sand, through the will of Allah, this can even quench our thirst. The impossible does not exist for Allah because this is no difficult task for the creator of the whole universe.

We also strive so very hard in this world to try and attain success and status, forgetting about the hereafter and forgetting that one day we will die and be judged for every single action we did in this world. The nature of human beings is such that whatever status or position we get to, we will always want more. Nothing will ever satisfy us, until one day death comes knocking on the door, and we find that the value of this temporary life is over. The prophet Muhammad (pbuh) once said, this world is like a paradise for the non-believer and a prison for the believer. He also said we must be like a traveller in this world, just stopping for a short while and getting ready to go onto our next destination, which is the real and never ending life.

So the main purpose for this effort is to mainly rectify yourself, and to build your faith in Allah. Since your in the mosque 24/7 for basically 40 days , your faith boost up like a recharged battery. You are away from all the desires and bad temptations of the world and in the environment where angels are residing and in a place where constant worship is going on. Everyday there are certain programmes which take place and certain people in the group are given certain roles to fulfill. For example, after the early morning prayers we get together in a circle and make shura (consultation/meeting). During this period we make concern for the local community, as to how everyone can be regular in the mosque for prayers and just generally bringing people closer to their faith. But we always bear in mind that we are in fact in need of guidence more than anyone else and we should never think we are better than someone in terms of faith. The more we invite people towards Allah the more my faith in Allah will grow - and this is the desired result.

During the consultation, everyone gives their opinion as to how the effort should be done in the area and who should be given which responsibilities. I was sometimes given the role of doing a short speech or lecture on the greatness of Allah. Other roles include taking care of each others well being which is called 'Khidmat' in arabic. This involves preparing breakfast, lunch, dinner for everyone, keeping the mosque clean and tidy, ironing and washing clothes, etc. This role is a very important part of Tablighi Jamaat since it is supposed to kill off the base desires of human beings and especially the pride which one has, since pride is a quality which only Allah, the creator and sustaniner of the whole universe deserves to have.

Other activities include reading from 'Hadith' books, which contain the sayings and traditions of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and just general individual worship e.g reading the Quran, rembering Allah through prayer beads, making supplications, etc. We learn though that even in our general lifestyle we can make anything worship but only if we do this act for the sake of pleasing Allah and follow the way in which prophet Muhammad (pbuh) would have done it. Everyone gets a turn in doing different activites so everyone is constantly learning.

Apart from staying in the mosque we go out and visit brothers door to door, and just generally on the streets, parks or wherever and give them dawah (invitation) towards the greatness of Allah. The greatness of Allah is really emphasised while we are out in jamaat because unless this conviction is not in the heart, all other Islamic practises will seem meaningless and 'empty'.

We first went to Dewsbury (the main headquarters of this effort in the UK) and we were sent to make effort in Wales. Wales is a wonderful place with nice scenery. The people there were generally quite friendly. We went and stayed in Bristol, Bath, Barry, Swansea, Neath, Port Talbot, Bridgend, Cardiff (which we stayed the longest), Gloucester and Cheltenham. I was surprised how very few people could actually speak Welsh, and how very similiar the neighborhoods were to that of places like Luton and London. We did face some antagonism but this was little enough to be shrugged off. There was the occasional beeps from the cars while we walked past, along with people screaming out of the cars saying God knows what but other than that it was pretty quiet.

There is a beauty in this effort where i haven't seen in anywhere else in the world. You're with brothers you don't even know, where you eat together, sleep together, worship together and give dawah together, all united with one concern, the same concern that our beloved Prophet had (pbuh) ....and this is how the whole of mankind can be saved from the fire of hell and enter into paradise.

It's pretty sad that it's ended since i wanted to do so much, and you'd be surprised at how quick the time went by. But at least i came back to the month of Ramadan where a whole new spiritual level is now being opened up.