Dakwah??

Da‘wah (Arabic: دعوة‎) usually denotes preaching of Islam. Da‘wah means literally "issuing a summons" or "making an invitation", being the active participle of a verb meaning variously "to summon, to invite" (whose triconsonantal root is د ع و). A Muslim who practices da‘wah, either as a religious worker or in a volunteer community effort, is called a dā‘ī, plural du‘āt. A dā‘ī is thus a person who invites people to understand Islam through a dialogical process, and may be categorized in some cases as the Islamic equivalent of a missionary.

I have never thought that I will be part of it. Back when I was a child, da'wah has always been associated with extremist, a group that called themselves Al-Arqam, or the tabligh people. These people either locked their wives at home while they go out on a mission, or let the wifes fend for themselves and the family, while they will go away for months in the name of jihad.

I got the concept all wrong. That is not all about da'wah, there is more to it than just the male went out and preaching about Islam while neglecting their utmost resposible besides Allah, their family. I see the bigger picture now, and actually proud that in a way, I am in it.

Remember when I mentioned about the Ramadhan program? Well, we had a discussion abouth Hadith 40 by Imam An-Nawawi every Friday. And for yesterdays' session, I prepared the slide. Its not that I know about it, just few things that I copied and pasted from the net. We talked about the first and foremost act of all action 'Niat' which is intention, purpose why you are doing certain things.

In Islam, everything that we do must be because of Allah, and as a bonus, the act can be done for other purpose. For example, you study because of Allah, and also because of knowledge, so when you put the intention as to study because of Allah, it becomes an ibadat and InsyaAllah if the study process is done as recommended in Islam, you will be rewarded later (apart from gaining the knowledge).

There is another part to niat, which is the intention to change for the better (hijrah). If all are done because of Allah, we will InsyaAllah be granted the better change that we intended for in the first place. Everything must have a sense of purpose, and this hadith tells us, to whom the purpose should be in the first place, the mighty creator Allah S.W.T. All that we gets apart from that just bonus.

I hope I'll be strong enough to start influencing people that I care (family and friends) towards living a blessed life as Islam always wants it. InsyaAllah..