Dawah At Its Finest, Real Stories From me

(Read to the end for the amazing stories and a very important suggestion)

 

 

AlhumdAllah today was my last day as an undergraduate student. I am looking back at my personal statement I wrote in 2010 upon applying for colleges and alhumdAllah I think my whole college career revolved around this goal which is almost a form of dawah.

“I seek to redefine the image of Muslim-American women, just as Barack Obama has redefined the image of African-Americans. I am concerned about the negative stereotypes people hold of Muslim women. I will take advantage of the freedom and great opportunities I have been given. I hope that my choice of attending university will present a positive counter image to the prevailing stereotypes.” 

 

 I worked with so many people on campus, but only one was Muslim. Although you can argue it gets hard at times with so much fitnah around you, at the same time you can only imagine how many dawah opportunities I had.

 

Tip 1: Make an Annoucment

Tell Non-Muslims When You Have To Go Make Salat, Everytime You GO!

 

 

One tip I must teach everyone who goes to college, or works around non-Muslims is to NEVER be shy to say I need to a place to pray!  I want to tell you about the AMAZING stories I have when it came to practicing Islam openly in my non-Muslim workplace.

I dont think its okay to make up all of your prayers when you go home from school or work, and so I always pray at school and work. Although I must say its not very easy to concentrate as you feel like you must get back to class or work, I think its better than going home and praying duhr, asr, maghrib and aisha all at once which makes you even more lazy. There is a reason why the prayers are spilt into differnt times and not all at once.

Anyways I asked my job if I can pray in any of the empty rooms we had and they did not hesitate to say yes. I was given the work room as my own place to go to pray when I needed to.

One thing I would always do is make an annoucment that I was going to make salat. I would allow all those around me to hear me whether its the super boss, or my work study co workers. It was never embarrassing and in the end it was one of the best forms of dawah I was able to make during my years at the two offices I worked in.

Here are the cute small stories I have

Me: I am going to pray

Co Workers (plural,multiple): Please pray for me!

I think I heard that statement over 3 times!

Me: I lost my prayer rug =/

Office boss, and like everyone else around me: starts looking for the rug

Two days later,

Boss: Did you find your prayer rug? Me: Yes! Thank you for caring!!!

They reallly cared about my prayer rug!!!!

Me: praying in the workroom

Student Worker : Walks in and quickly apologizes, and apologizes again when I finished

The following three stories all happend in the same week (my last week)

Studnent Worker: You know Huda, I really like how you will stop everything just to go pray. You can be in the middle of an event,work, or whatever but when its time for you to pray you go!

Student Worker (upon driving her home): The thing I like most about you and Muslims is your  how you are serious about making your prayers. Our Pastor tells us how we should try to take out 5minutes every day to make a prayer.

Me: *Makes wudu in front of coworkers and explains what I am doing*
Student Worker: *Upon walking from the bathroom* I love your commitment to your prayers.

Do I need to say anymore?

 

 

Tip 2: Dont Let him hug you, touch you, or shake your hand!!

 

One common thing you will find in the non-Muslim workplace is that its okay when a guy hugs a girl and vice versa. If you tell them from the begining I cant shake your hand, hug you or whatever you willllllll recive so much respect! Explain why and move on its not that hard...here are some stories

 

 

 Man: *Tries to shake my hand*

Non-Muslim Classmate: No, she cant shake your hand!

Boss: *Tries to give me a high five*

Me: Sends an email explaining why I cant shake his hand or give him five

Next day Boss: *Air five!*

Co-Worker: Wow Huda you did great, and is about to air five me and then he stops

"I am so sorry I almost airfived you, but than I remembered you cant!"

Co Workers man and  women hug each other greet each other, than man co worker comes to me :

Verbally greeting only!

Tip 3: I tell them how I cant date, and I will get married instead...

Everyone dates in the non-Muslim environment, and thats okay, but for you, you must explain how you dont date and how you get married. Then the famous question of "Do your parents choose your husband"comes up and you get that awesome chance to explain how that is a cultural thing, and that is not apart of Islam.

Tip 4: BE KIND....no one is going to want to open dialogue with you if you are a rude person. And dont ever impose your beliefs on them, because you will see that they will come to you with all of the questions. I dont think a week passed in which I did not receive a question relative to Islam.

Tip 5: Be an ambassador of Islam...thats really all it is. REPRESENT !!! Easy as that...

And finally a tip I just learned upon my last day on campus (which I wish I learned A LONG time ago)

GIVE THE QURAN to people....after you have established a positive relationship with them.

I have a beautiful story for this tip:

Today I gave out the first Quran to  a Non-Muslim. He is one of my supervisors, and you wouldnt beleive his reaction...I did not expect that at all.

First of all I never gave him direct dawah  I like indirect dawah techniques such as being kind, showing that you are trustworthy person, doing a good job, etc. He would always ask me questions and he would always start dialgoues about differnt educational topics such as Palestine. I gave him an awesome lesson and resources for that.

Me: Hi, today is my last day at NJCU . I actually want to give you a book, it is realtive to the topics we spoke about such as history, and etc. Its the Holy Quran.

Him: WOW, thank you sooooo much Huda. This is great, I did not know that I am actually allowed to read this sacred text. I really appreciate this. This is a very nice gift.

Me: No probelm!! And than he starts talking about my great work ethics, and blabla

And than I go to the kitchen as I am leaving:

Him to other supervisor: "Look , Huda gave me the Quran!  Other supervisor: Wow!! Thats nice!

Me: *Sends message to mentor (VP of NJCU) saying I left a Quran on the desk because I know you liked to learn about my culture. I will never forget when you did not shake my hand the first time we meet! I learned sooo much from you!"

Mentor: "Huda, you have motiavted me to be a better person! I truly enjoyed meeting you. Thank you so much for the gift. I will read it to learn more about Islam."