It’s not my Duty! Forget it

Author: Rabia Tariq

Early morning as per routine I was commuting to work, sitting in the New York City subway enjoying tea with a book in my hand. As stops passed by, the passengers’ crowd started to decrease. As soon I finished my tea I pulled up my bag to adjust the mug in its side pocket, within milliseconds I looked up randomly and got distracted by a very young white American non-Muslim kid probably in his early 20’s reading a sharp yellow-colored book titled as “ALLAH is not obliged (grateful)” – “Allah is unfair about all the things he does here on earth”.

For some reason, my heart started to pound a bit faster, I could feel some kind of restlessness rushing in my bloodstream and my brain. At first, I planned to approach that kid, be friends with him with a warm morning greeting so that I don’t scare him off, show some excitement/interest towards his book, and then request him to share a bit of a summary of that book, just so that he feels comfortable and I can take the conversation a bit further to understand his viewpoints and analyze his misconceptions as a young kid.
(NOTE: Don’t think of it as an abnormal act; Passengers in New York City subways have this common culture where they feel absolutely fine to share each other’s books’ details, authors’ names, synopsis, etc. IF someone is interested).

Now, the plan was set and I had everything sorted out in my head. I was waiting for the train to approach the next station where I could stand up from my seat and walk towards him. Unfortunately, I saw my entire plan fail in front of my eyes within seconds…! That stop was the busiest stop for Manhattan/Brooklyn bound trains because one of the departments of New York Pace University was situated nearby, and several passengers exited the train including that kid.

There was an unexplainable disappointment in my heart because I really wished to execute that plan. My restlessness increased over time until the train approached the final stop and I took an exit. While I was walking towards my office, hundreds of different thoughts crossed my mind. I was wondering if that kid will have such a wrong concept of Allah once he finishes his book and he will spend his entire life without a proper introduction about Allah & our religion, which is very simple and easy to understand. (If some so-called influential figures stop trying to make it difficult for our youth to practice).

But then, as always, the devil started to play with my thoughts and I started to question myself, e.g.,;

1. Who am I to execute such plans…?
2. I’m not a perfect Muslim at all, I don’t even follow all the commandments of Allah SWT so what authority do I have to talk to someone about Allah? Only ‘scholars’ can do that…
3. I don’t even know much about the teachings and concepts of Islam, why would I have a conversation with someone about Allah? People will judge me…
4. Why should I be trying to clarify the misconceptions about Allah, His attributes, and His introduction, when I myself am a sinner and I’m in no way near perfection…? 

If I’m not wrong, aren’t these EXACTLY the same questions we ALL ask ourselves every day? Especially, when it comes to defending our religion in an intellectual debate or having a friendly chat with someone who lacks the basic knowledge of our Deen, who doesn’t even know about Allah or doesn’t understand the concept of Tawheed (oneness of Allah)?

If we all start thinking the same way as I did, how can a common person who is far away from Allah, or has limited access to resources and scholars, can clear his doubts about the purpose of life, mindset towards life & death, or how can he know the greatness of Allah? He will never be exposed to Allah’s message inside the scripture that He has sent via His messenger i.e. Quran.

At that moment, I realized, there are millions of people on this planet just like that kid, whose viewpoints are completely distorted about our Creator, religion, beliefs, and our basic principles. I wonder if it’s not their fault, they don’t have enough knowledge or they don’t get proper attention from people like us who can answer some simple questions in their head. Even if we don’t have the confidence to indulge in a basic conversation, at least we can refer them to the translation of the Quran, which has all the teachings and guidelines about the way of life. People like you and me can remove their misconceptions through our little friendly conversations, chats over a cup of coffee, or by letting them observe our daily actions representing our principles, beliefs, moral values, ethics, and taqwa (God-consciousness).

We don’t need to be scholars to have these informal intellectual conversations with our fellow human beings, but at least as a normal layman, slaves of Allah, it is our duty to convey basic messages of our religion and have enough knowledge to answer simple logical questions. 

We all are sinners, and imperfect creatures but the best of us are those who at least TRY to make tiny impacts on people’s hearts and guide them toward light…

FOOTNOTE:

For my next article “Is God Unfair?”, I am drafting some important points in contrast with the book, “ALLAH is not obliged (grateful) – Allah is unfair about all the things he does here on earth.“

I did extensive brainstorming and finalized some beneficial points which I will mention in the next blog. I believe the question mentioned above on the title page of that book, is not only common among Atheists or other non-muslims, but we as Muslims also think on these lines when faced with hardships or unforeseen situations. (To be very honest…)