Making sense of God Blog

People are guests in our story, the same way we are guests in theirs. But we all meet each other for a reason because every person is a personal lesson waiting to be told. lauren klarfeld

The above quotes summarises my one day trip to the southern coastal town of Portsmouth.

As a volunteer for iERA, I was asked to talk about the topic entitled: Making sense of God.

It was a wonderful drive through rural England. Taking into the journey the counties of West Sussex and then Hampshire. The one of many bonuses that one receives when travelling to call people to Allah swt is the joy of observing beautiful valleys. Usually I always have a few podcasts on standby, snacks or something to pass the time by in this instance the views outside my window whilst driving on these A roads were more than enough entertainment.

Before the talk, I hung around with the ever so lively Br Yasir. I have a lot of hopes for this br, he has the potential to become a great Daee Insha’Allah. We conducted some campus da’wah at Portsmouth University library. The highlights of which were me showing brothers how stopping someone & then building quick rapport with someone is easy. So rather than doing just theory I exclaimed “let me show an example” and literally the first guy that caught my eye I called out and said something along the lines of, how are you man, listen stop for a few minutes.. and he did! 😎. My usual compliments about his jacket ( and it was a cool jacket ) we began a quick discussion, he said he was a Christian. I posited to him that in Islam, God is one, transcendent, not a part of creation at all and that if he was then he ceased to be God! From a common sense point of view. My point was to try and making him re think that Jesus is the son of God. He nodded and agreed to take a book away with him.

Alhumdulilah the young brothers who were looking on were inspired that a Muslim in the year 2020 is capable of stopping and engaging with such confidence and ease. I am forever in training and mentoring mode.

Yasir, who I mentioned earlier, although has the cheeky bubbly persona, coudnt some how transfer that persona into stalls Dawah or when approaching people. And herein lies a lesson for all duaat. Why aren’t you being yourselves? Why so formal on the da’wah stall?’ Let people see your whacky side! They want to see that Muslims are relaxed and funny.

For some reason we are different at home and with mates but in a street da’wah situation we become so serious and not ourselves. Perhaps me showing a practical example during this campus da’wah may help him and others to be themselves more.

Between the actual lecture at 6pm and campus da’wah, we went to a nearby place to eat. The third brother with us, Br Othman was a hugely enterprising brother. He said he’d been following me on social media and wanted to connect for a long time. Here I want to make the point that when you travel for Allah for one thing, other doors always open. Masha’Allah this bro has a lot of plans for Portsmouth city. Very energetic and enthusiastic. After conversing with him, this motivated me to perhaps work with this team in the near future. It’s new unexpected opportunities like this that make these trips worthwhile.

In the talk, I went through themes such as the origins of the universe & the design argument. This was as a part of showing a couple of the rational arguments one could use when it comes to discussing with atheists. I also pressed upon the ideas that this is just one means in order to awaken the truth within. I also touched upon a couple of beautiful names and attributes of Allah swt. Something we do not use enough in our conversations. Finally I spoke about some personal aspects of my relationship with God. A few anecdotes from my own life to drive home the point that this isn’t a purely academic affair.

So Alhumdulilah, A highly satisfying and productive trip to the coastal city of Portsmouth. I felt a strong vibe from this city & will be making frequent trips here in the near future Insha’Allah.

This blog & all these other blogs on this site have been written with a few purposes including providing practical tips in the dawah and general inspiration. The other aspect is for readers to build upon these blogs, take whatever you can and improve them Insha’Allah..

The next blog is the big one. THE GAME PLAN. Written in a unique manner and I hope an invigorating read!

May Allah swt accept.