Struck by the 'lightning'.

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Last night during Isya' prayer, again as usual the Mt St mosque has some special guests - the tabligh jam'ah. Usually the bayan (talk) that they deliver is pretty much the same, ritual and predictable (but I'm not saying same, ritual and predictable tazkirah (reminders) is wrong anyway).

However this time around, it sort of struck directly in my heart and my mind. One hadith mentioned by the speaker was roughly like this:

A sohabah (companion) was building a house which is made of bricks. He was about to finish and the moment he was about to put the very last brick to complete the construction of the house, He heard the azan (the call for prayer). He put back that last brick to the ground and quickly rushed to the mosque. 

Later after he had finished praying, one of his friend asked him, "Why don't you just put that very last brick to complete the house and then only you go to the mosque?" He replied, " If I were to do that, that means the house is more important to me than answering the call for prayer (the grand call towards remembering Allah)."

I quickly reflected back on myself, whispering to myself. This is the true quality of a mu'min (believer). It was even described in another hadith that prophet Muhammad s.a.w. was very friendly with everyone. One day the prophet was talking to some of his companions. The moment he heard the azan, he immediately stopped talking and go straight to the mosque as if there was no conversation taking place before.

Me? Sometimes, I do respond in such a manner but most of times, I don't. "I will go to pray once I've finished this work." "I will pray later once this TV program is over."

O Allah, give me the strength and give me guidance, and keep me in the straight path.

We might think this is a small thing, whatsoever. But nay! This small example is enough to show how weak our iman (faith) is. It clearly shows that our priority is still with this temporary life, world full of disillusionment. If it stays like this, don't ever dream of becoming the greatest ummah (nation) as described in the Quran in the following verse:

You are the best nation produced for mankind. You enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong and you believe in Allah.... (3:110)

Khaira ummatin is no mere joke nor fairy tale, but the joke now is the Muslims, ourselves!! We have a lot of things to do in order to make sure we do stand up as the best nation, but before that we have to start from the very basic step. We learnt a lot from the past, the seerah (history) and what we should do now is to اصلح (correct and purify) ourselves. 

Wake up people! Stop blaming others when we ourselves don't even live up to the standard of khaira ummatin as described in the Quran. 

.....if you disagree over anything, refer it to Allah (the Quran) and the Messenger s.a.w. (the sunnah), if you really believe in Allah and the Last Day... (4:59)

Let's start from scratch, start from ourselves and let's go back to the teachings of Quran and Sunnah. It's never too late until the death comes.

والله علم

والسلام عليكم