I was honoured to give the closing speech for the 8th AGM of Asian Federation of Muslim Youths. A few years back, during the presidency of the late Dato' Ustaz Abu Bakar Chik, I was given the opportunity to officiate the opening of AFMY's AGM.
Youths should be the focus of all leaders. Creating khaira ummah is the ultimate aim of continuing Rasullullah saw mission till qiyamah.
I will just share a portion of my message for the outstanding participants.
" I pray may Allah bless our gathering and help
us to uphold Islam and internalize Islam in our lives so that we can be
examples par excellence of Islam. Let us try to emulate the
Prophet Muhammad saw. Let us force ourselves to really know him, understand him
and what his real struggles were. Let us delve and immerse ourselves into
the immense richness of Islam as Ad Diin or way of life. Let us thrill ourselves with the
core keys to success both in this world and eternity. The Quran. The real
source of all knowledge.
But to
really understand the Quran we have to refer to the man whom the Quran was sent
to, initially before it reach the masses including us. The man whom Saidatina
Aisyah r.a described as the ‘walking Quran’, the man whom Allah Himself
chose to be His Messenger. To tell us what is life is all about. And what
next? How to live in this earth that God created for us. The man, whom Allah
himself taught or tarbiyyah. This man is none other than Rasulullah saw.
I am made to
understand that you, the participants of this 1st Asian Muslim Youth Leadership
Ijtimak came here to convene your 8th
Annual General AFMY meeting. Let me as a
State legislative member of Selangor and ex education state minister welcome
you to the state of Selangor, the most developed state that contibutes to more
than 23% GDP of Malaysia. Your ijtimak now is in Selangor. I hope you have
enjoyed your stay here and we are looking forward for your next visit hopefully
with your family and friends to join us here.
In my 6 years tenure as State Minister of Selangor , I tried my very best to push
the idea of making Selangor into baldatun tayyibatun wa rabbun ghafur as
Allah stated in sura Saba verse 15. In the midst of political jahiliyyah
and entrenched secularism( despite Malaysia attaining physical freedom
from British colonization 58yrs ago), government bureaucracy and resistance to
change I must say it needed hard work. We still have a long way to go. Integrity
and good governance is still not totally welcomed.
Being an Islamic
party of Malaysia, PAS, lawmaker, I had to literally strive to prove that clean
politics within the framework of tauhid is possible and very desirable. Tons of
money can be saved. This can be used for the benefit of the rakyat. I have created
several taskforce to handle social issues such as poverty, the widows, the orphans, the
disabled and elderly. I had created taskforce to look after infrastructure and
public amenities such as roads, drains, pipes, flood mitigation etc. I also
have a special committee called TASKFORCE FOR KHAIRA UMMAH DEVELOPMENT that
gather all masjid committees and villageheads to define the critical pathway to
achieve our mission of achieving khaira ummah in my constituency SELAT KLANG.
I still have
a long way to go. Please pray for me. I really want it to happen. I am inspired
by this verse.
ُنتُمْ خَيْرَ أُمَّةٍ أُخْرِجَتْ
لِلنَّاسِ تَأْمُرُونَ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَتَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ الْمُنكَرِ وَتُؤْمِنُونَ
بِاللّهِ وَلَوْ آمَنَ أَهْلُ الْكِتَابِ لَكَانَ خَيْرًا لَّهُم مِّنْهُمُ
الْمُؤْمِنُونَ وَأَكْثَرُهُمُ الْفَاسِقُونَ
· Ye are the
best community that hath been raised up for mankind. Ye enjoin right conduct
and forbid evil/indecency; and ye believe in Allah.
And if the People of the Scripture
had believed it had been better for them. Some of them are believers; but most
of them are evil-livers
Who CAN create
the best community, khaira ummah? Allah says:
وَلْتَكُن
مِّنكُمْ أُمَّةٌ يَدْعُونَ إِلَى الْخَيْرِ وَيَأْمُرُونَ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ
وَيَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ الْمُنكَرِ وَأُوْلَـئِكَ هُمُ الْمُفْلِحُونَ
· And there may
spring from you a nation who invite to goodness, and enjoin right conduct and
forbid indecency. Such are they who are successful.
These 2 verses of sura ali Imran
clearly points to us the significance of planning and working hard to achieve
khaira ummah, the best ummah. It also tells us that we need a group of
people, a selected group of people, who are fit to carry the burden or opportunity
to enjoin good and forbid evil and most importantly who believe in Allah. This
is vital in order to succeed in achieving the mission of creating khaira
ummah.
That is the ‘HOW’.
Of course the ‘WHO’ will spotlight
on the leaders. We need leaders who are not only physically strong and healthy,
but is knowledgeable and continuously learning many disciplines integrated
in the framework of strong spirituality that allows constant on-line or
maintains strong connectivity with Allah swt the All Mighty who gives
guidance or Huda. We need strong, knowledgeable leaders who can discipline
their emotions and survive crises and exercise practical intelligence to solve
problems and optimize the use of limited resources and even explore potential
resources outside the normal circles. We need leaders who can develop the
society, not only physically to achieve baldatun tayyib but leaders who can
develop iman and taqwa in their community at large.
Inspiring leaders who can walk their talk.
Leaders who can create the ‘giving society’, the caring society. A society
which can think of others than just himself/herself. A society that believes ‘ what you give you get’. A society
that believes in abundance, from the character of ar Rahman.
Leaders who are Uswatun hasanah, a
reflection of Rasulullah saw
Qudwah hasanah, good and capable
leaders.
It’s not
impossible. It’s very possible. Allah
has let out the secret to achieve Allah’s rezeki/abundance/wealth. Allah told
us:
Al-A'raf 96
وَلَوْ أَنَّ
أَهْلَ الْقُرَى آمَنُواْ وَاتَّقَواْ لَفَتَحْنَا عَلَيْهِم بَرَكَاتٍ مِّنَ
السَّمَاء وَالأَرْضِ وَلَـكِن كَذَّبُواْ فَأَخَذْنَاهُم بِمَا كَانُواْ
يَكْسِبُونَ
·
Yet if the people of those communities had but attained to faith and
been conscious of Us, We would indeed have opened up for them blessings out of
heaven and earth: but they gave the lie to the truth - and so We took them to
task through what they [themselves] had been doing
....
Thinking and caring for others is
part and parcel of good deeds/amal soleh. Iman is usually tied up with amal.
Iman is manifested in the form of amal. Looking after society, after other
people is indeed what Rasulullah saw and His SAHABAT did everyday of their
lives. VOLUNTEERING time, money, wealth etc is a deed that Allah loves.
Al-'Asr 2 إِنَّ
الْإِنسَانَ لَفِي خُسْرٍ
· Verily, man is
bound to lose himself
Al-'Asr 3
إِلَّا
الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ وَتَوَاصَوْا بِالْحَقِّ وَتَوَاصَوْا
بِالصَّبْرِ
· unless he be
of those [2] who attain to faith, and do good works, and
enjoin upon one another the keeping to truth, and enjoin upon one another
patience in adversity.
Just look at our radar of concerns.
Look at the map. How many muslim countries are poor in Asia? Look at their
spiritual status, specifically aqidah/akhlaq? Is it strong or tough enough to
withstand the whirlpools of influence from a global village that share
audiovisuals for free to destroy our iman? Pornography! Chit
chat/facebooks,telegram/instagram and the misuse and abuse of modern instant
gadgets that cause vanity, hollow lives, hedonism that distract the naive
Muslim youths, including the offsprings of imams, Muslim scholars. Massive
propaganda in the cyber world cause enormous erosion in Islamic values and
iman.
VITAL FACTOR:
Effective Youth Leadership
Who will come to the forefront to
prevent exodus of Muslim youths from the real teachings Islam as Ad Diin to
Islam as mere heritage value or just a ritualistic Islam?!
Who will help to sow seeds of
economic strength among the Muslims specifically and the people at large. Who
will spread the salam and ensure peaceful living? Who will deter heinous
crimes, bribery and modern slavery of capitalism?
Who will protect their susceptible
brothers and sisters from drug addiction, alcohol, zina, HIV,cruelty,
gangsterism? Who will save their countries from fasad and mungkar? Who are they
to prove that Islam is a beautiful choice, a blesing to mankind in fact
lessings to all rahmat lil ‘alamin.
Who will advise the young members of their society not to waste time,
money and even their bodies on things that do not benefit them?
The answer is you, my brothers who have been selected by
Allah swt to be within this framework of ukhuwwah fillah. To be engaged in the
early work of harakah Islamiyyah. I mentioned early, because you are
still young. Some of you ,I am sure have vast experience handling the society.
Please remember don’t embarass Rasulullah saw. As Steven Covey said, begin with
the end in mind. Don’t rush, plan the outcome. Chart the future. Also, start first
things first. Be PATIENT.
Start good rapport with our
prospects. Husnu zon. Leaders must err to forgive. Leaders must let go uncalled
for remarks, unwanted behaviour amongs folllowers, must be able to analyze root
causes of inaction or slow action among member groups.
Understand the real problems: be
objective, put your big ego outside. Pull the bulls by the horns
Dont sweep problems under the carpet.
Please let me double emphasize that!
FACE IT! YOU GOT THAT! FACE IT!!
Listen, listen and listen to the
issues encountered by the people, by our movement grassroots. Do not just hear.
Listen with your heart! Give the people your heart and souls.Tear down the wall
that obstruct our sight of the real issues. Train ourselves to identify what
are non-issues. Noisy and annoying but they are really non-issues. They are
just distractors which impede our momentum of growth.
Absolute necessity of continuous
struggle to Values.
The bad image of Islam must stop! Al
AN! Now! With us here! We have to plan how to stop the smears that tarnish the
image of Islam by the Muslim followers who have myopic views and confused
themselves about what Islam is all about
. From EXTREMISM, malaise, apathy, absolute dependence on others, devoid of
humanity, compassion and akhlak. The ills of the Muslim society which has
digressed greatly from the teachings of Rasulullah saw may actually be one of
the real reasons of Islamophobia not only among the non Muslims or not yet
Muslims but the offsprings of the Mukmin.
We must stop this. You and I must
stop this. We have to start now.The buck stops HERE!! You the syabab, the
youths are the cream of the cream of your societies. The ball is in your court.
Play the game of success for the sake of Allah. Please. Won’t you?!
Read More “Awakening of Muslim Youths: AFMY's 8th AGM” »»
