nobody likes a mr. know-it-all. add in i'm-holier-than-thou attitude, you'll get one very annoying person indeed.
facebook is the perfect breeding ground for these idiots. the ease to create groups, pages for free; status updates, and the unmoderated style of commenting give them the chance to annoy others. you know the kind, they'll berated you for not being a good muslim if you ever dare to disagree with their views/actions. they'll pester you with invites to join their 'holy crusade' causes, and if you don't, you're a munafik! MU-NA-FIK! i tell you, if groups affiliation in facebook scores you points during judgement day, i'll be waaaaaaaaaaay down the queue list.
lets be clear here, i'm not againts 'dakwah', nooooo, in fact, i believe that as a muslim, its your responsibilty to 'dakwah' 24/7. what i'm against is the blatant disregard for other people faiths and feeling, as if they don't have any rights to be respected and heard. can you imagine if Muhammad p.b.u.h were to act like you lots: fiery, blunt, straight talking, i'm-right-you're-wrong attitude, always ready with a barrel of sarcasm ... he'll be beaten senseless by the people in the streets of Makkah! and no, it never happened, why? because the people of Makkah, muslims or non-muslims, respected him, or if i may use the word, love him. he was nicknamed "amir" by the people of Makkah, meaning "the just", refer to the story of him coming up with a solution to the conundrum, which leader of the many tribes of Makkah should be given the right to put back the holy stone, al-Hajar-ul-Aswad, in place after the rebuilding of Ka'abah. that event proved that Muhammad p.b.u.h is a master of diplomacy. ok, yes people did threw stones at him, but not in Makkah mind you, it was somewhere else, i guess you can't please everybody. i supposed people from that part don't like foreigners very much. but, his response exemplify the type of person he is: a (very) good one. aghast by the poor treatment dished out to the prophet, the angel Jibrail/Gabriel flown down quickly from heaven to be on his side and offered to 'open a can of whoop-ass' to these desert rednecks, but Muhammad p.b.u.h politely declined and instead ask for Allah S.W.T forgiveness and guidance for the very same people that had just threw stones at him minutes ago, real stones! people! if that were to happen to a muslim preacher today, you lots will be burning churches, throwing paint bombs, "angkat sepanduk", filed a police report, create a protest facebook group, et cetera!
what about the story of Muhammad p.b.u.h and the old lady who threw a pail of urine and faeces at him, shouting profanities, each time he walked past her house on the way to the mosque for the morning prayer? he just coolly walked home and changed his clothes. this is repeated for days? weeks? until a day came when he noticed that the old lady was not by her window as usual. so after the morning prayer, he stopped by the neighbours' and asked if anyone had seen the old lady. actually, she was bedridden that morning, probably suffering from backache with all the heavy lifting, so Muhammad stop by her house and pays her a visit, wishing her to get well soon. can you do that sir? can you?
there are many more stories about Muhammad p.b.u.h being respectful to non-muslims, the story about the bedouin man who urinated inside the mosque came to mind, look it up please, and observe how Muhammad p.b.u.h handled the situation. he is the Chosen One. we're supposed to emulate him. well, i guess, to summarize it all up, we can all agree that Muhammad p.b.u.h is a man of peace, understanding and full of compassion for his fellow human being, muslims or not. just a point that i wish to highlight here, muhammad p.b.u.h is so successful in his 'dakwah' not because he can recite quranic verses on a whim to support his arguments, but because he embodies the 'dakwah' itself. the way he leads his life is 'dakwah'. and people respected him for that, and naturally ... are more willing to listen to him, to trust him, after that. So instead of going "full-blast" with your 'dakwah', why don't we all tone it down a little bit, and try to work on our 'indirect' 'dakwah' more. so, don't throw rubbish out from your car window, do not be rude to waiter/waitress, do not double park, do not drive aggressively, give way to car exiting/entering a junction, be considerate to pedestrians/cyclists/motorcyclists, queue up when boarding the bus/LRT, give your seat to pregnant ladies, oldies, and the disabled, be kind to animals (fun fact, Muhammad p.b.u.h is a cat-person!), do not smack your children senseless, don't change the tv channel when the "Donate to Haiti" appeal appears on the screen, do not support manchester utd (hehe), be on time, do not opened your facebook account during office hours, false claim is a no-no .. no matter how you try to justify it, do not waste electricity, do not cheat during exams, do not copy-paste your friend's assignment, or download it from the internet and passed it as your own, do not ogle at your female colleagues/or males (hey, i'm not here to judge!), do not marry women, just to divorce them later (and have the gal to avoid paying alimony!), do not sell fake goods, do not participate in dodgy multi-level marketing scheme, or persuade others to join in, do not believe in 'magic vase', and well, everything else that is not in line with the image of the 'dakwah' itself.
i do not wish to sound preachy, well i'm not qualified to be called a preacher anyway (yes, i have a youtube link to one miss scarlett jo D&G ad, i know), but please my friends. lets be kind to one another. and animal too, there's a story in the al-Quran about a prostitute that get to enter heaven because she gave a thirsty, mangy, dog a drink (but oooohh, 'anjing' is 'haraam' 'disentuh', 'biar-betul-ko-ni-labu?'). hate is a very tiring job to do anyway. signing off. adios amigos.
