Importance of Da'awa : Part I

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

Diary and Da’awa

At last I finished everything and manage to dump some notes here so everyone could also get the benefit out of it. I wrote this diary last week around 14^th of July 2012 after I revised few materials. In this side, I basically don’t write for magazines for money or for any organization but writing and translating stuffs only for Him. 

Translating the tafseer and collecting notes in fact is not an easy job though I think everyone could do this but the way how writers write their articles or materials could be tough as well as the style of their language could not easily being conveyed in English as for example those which are shrouded with poems, getting the points from materials written in Classical Malay and with Malay pantuns segala mak nenek nya.

Translating and interpreting is a job of Faith. With Faith I am not sleeping at night and have to bear sufferings with sacred heart for these to reach audience from all over the globe because I am pretty sure this treasure is not reaching others as I had checked it all over the searching engines. Now everyone could enjoy these treasures from the East in English and they could translate this into Arabic, Persian, Russian, Hebrew, Spanish, German, French, Dutch, Japanese, Finnish whatever lingo it is that they use.

The tafsīr materials that I am using right now is from the tafseer written by an Indonesian national and a Sumateranese religious professor known as Dr. Abdul Malik Amrullah of Muhammadiyah movement and it is entirely in Malay language. He received the title of professorship ironically from the first established center of our ancestral tariqa which was from the al-Azhar University of Egypt. I am also upgrading my rudimentary Chinese for this and trying to polish up Arabic as my ancestral tongue. Wishing it inspires other Chinese speaking Muslims in our country and around to take opportunity from these treasures for their own benefit in the world and the hereafter. 

Mum went home to our village to call people for my third sister’s walimatul ‘urs or her wedding reception. So, basically I am the only one who finished my classes and stays home most of the time. I just helped dad with his diapers, showering him, helping him to perform salat, reciting prayers for him and giving him some milk and his medication since he cannot do anything on his own and it is my charge as a son. I cleaned the kitchen and cleaned the compound of the house too because these places seem quite out of the looking. Also did some hand-washing for clothes because I need them for prayer services and I can’t pour hot water into the washing machine. If I do not do these, nobody would do them for us. I do not care if people calling me things because I did all of these lame-slave things. I believe that Muslims must be clean in every place, clean in spiritual, mind, heart and physical. And I feel weird because why a man cannot do house chores apart of outdoor ones together with woman? Wasn’t our prophet Muhammad s.a.w also helped his wife with kitchens? Wasn’t he also mends his clothes by himself? So, he is not a man because of that?! Where is the notion about cleanliness and the obligation for us to be clean spiritually or physically? Where is gender equality as what I always heard here and there? 

My family actually is being tested by the Lord again and again. Since last two months, my dad had fallen down due to a severe stroke and it was classified at the hospital as the low risk fall. He had the symptoms since before my maternal grandpa passed away where his thinking becoming slower and slower and later he was attacked by few strokes and the recent one, he is paralyzed half part of his body. He could not speak any word and only using hand signals. I could say that my dad is quite a stubborn person. He seldom listens to this kid advising him, asking him to follow to fast and he’s not so religious because of his dad passed away early. Basically he was religiously illiterate. Part of it because he is a father and I understood that a father and a man have his ego too and I already tried to exercise my responsibility as an inferior son through politeness and discretion but guidance is His right. I faced this with my elder or younger sisters and also with my mother. Sometimes I would have to find a religious teachers and helping me in term of advising them but they only listen to these respected people for a moment. Later they’ll forget about it.

Besides of the pressures and depression that I had to face in the hostel, this news about my dad really affected me and it makes me even more “weird” in the eyes of people around me at that time. I lived there alone without any roommate or colleague so I can’t discuss anything. I only have Allah to talk with and I don’t know how pathetic I looked like in front of musalla’s congregation besides I cannot really hold my tears from flowing when praying because it feels like a mountain suppressing my head. I tried to meditate to substitute negativity around with positivity and practicing supplications that I learned from honorable teachers.

When I talked to my sisters especially one who always listens to religious lectures, she said that I should be patient and bear it. It is easy to say patience but to bear it is not as easy to say it out. I am sure this also happens to everyone. Especially, people begin to show the "true" traits of human-being. That is normal I guess. If normal human-being facing the problems here and there at a time, they maybe would die a tormenting death. My friend, Amir talked about tormenting death or mati beragan as we call it in Malay when we talked about this, haha. I am just kidding.

We have to be positive in all the time. I still have the Faith in Allah as my sole Savior and the only true Friend though many times I had this evil thought to commit suicide, just die and being something forgotten. Just like mother Maryam cried her self in the Surah Maryam 19:23. I seek forgiveness for my weaknesses dear Lord!

Sealed with prayers for mercy, peace and love amin!