Da’wa starts with introduction. That is what I learned recently from one of Anwar Al Awlaki’s lectures. Prophet Musa (AS) did Da’wa by introducing himself and by showing respect and kindness to all. If you approach someone with harshness and rudeness what chance do you have of getting across to that person?

So I decided in that vain, I ought to introduce myself properly. As of right now I am just a random muslim from amongst the 1.3 billion muslims in the world and I want to rise above randomness . Inshallah with an introduction my words may carry more weight and I may get across to more people.

Here goes..once upon a time. Ok seriously, I was born in Gujarat in a village (Khambat). Yes, born in poverty. My dad was blessed by Allah for his dedication and determination which enabled us to move to the middle east while I was still a baby. I lived in Doha, Dubai, and Abu Dhabi before finally making the voyage to the US of A. I was an innocent 18 year old all alone in this scary place. I remember I was about 112 lbs and 5′8 when I came here. Yep, about the same as supermodels of today hehe. We got the skinny gene in our family, eat all you want, remain skinny. I was determined to change that and eventually today I am still 5′8 but about 150 lbs. It did not come easy though. I had to and still continue to workout regularly.

Let me digress momentarily on the topic of working out. Why is it that I don’t see many muslims working out? The Prophet (pbuh) encouraged us to dress well, smell good, look good, take care of our health and body. Mashallah I see a few sisters every now and then, and yes they do the hijab as well! Yes yes..I kept my gaze down, its just that I got a sixth sense for these kind of things *wink*. There is one brother there with a very long beard mashallah and I see him getting along very well with the American folks playing basketball. This sends a positive message as well to people who may be prejudiced against muslims. It brings me joy to see him hi-fiving and working to beat the negative stereotype at least to a few people at the gym. So brothers and sisters, go out there, workout, keep fit, it does the mind, body and soul good.

Ok coming back to me. What makes me tick….well… since I was always an athlete, I enjoy being outdoors playing sports. Currently I play basketball, golf. In high school I was on my school track & field team, swim team and soccer team. Back in the glory days I won quite a few medals too for my school.

Anyway, growing up, I was surrounded by Islam which is a good thing. I went to Qur’an classes, had Islamic studies in school, and of course mom & dad did the rest for me islamically. Unfortunately, I never got the real spirit of Islam in me. Islamic studies at school was a terrible experience for me and I still have nightmares sometimes. The teacher was a giant Iraqi man with a huge beard. At our tender age, his presense was terrifying. He would cane our knuckles till we bled if we missed a prayer or if we did not memorize a surah. I have always followed Islam out of guilt, and it has never come truly from the heart, until recently, Alhamdulilah. I will get into more details later or some other time.

What I mean by Islam coming from the heart is – have you ever actually looked forward to being in the mosque? looked forward for Fajr prayers? Looked forward to being in a Halaqa learning all things Islam?

Anyway, I am an extremely social person. I love the company of people and people love my company. I tend to be the life of the party (well islamic party hehe) because I love to make people laugh. I am quite the comedian actually. I feel life is worth something if I do something good for someone every day of my life be it making someone laugh, or helping someone in misery. I have always had a soft spot for pain/misery. I don’t like to see people in pain, especially if there is nothing I can do to help. Back in Abu Dhabi, my dad would get his car washed by this old guy. I would feel so bad for the guy because he was very old and he washed my dad’s car for very little money. It hurts to see people with disabilities. I have always been like this since I was a young kid. Like the other day in class, I noticed for the first time that this one guy always uses his left hand while talking. I peeked at his other hand and noticed that his fingers were mangled. Immediately I was overcome with emotions. I am not sure why I get teary-eyed, but I do, Allahu Alim. I just pray Allah helps muslims in misery, muslims who are handicapped, muslims who are oppressed, we need Him, more now than ever before.

Today, one of my long time friends, had a very unfortunate thing happen to him. His 16 month old child died (not sure yet how), and to think, his wife is currently pregnant with their second child. When I heard the news, it shook me. May Allah give them sabr and respite from this pain. Just a week ago we were chatting about life in general and then this happens. It is a reminder to us all brothers and sisters, the baby died at a tender age of 16 months. There really are no guarantees in life. Time is short…way short and we must do the right thing, for us, for our ummah. Our mission should not stop with just working on ourselves, we need to be part of the revival this ummah is going through. Let us all do our part in da’wa. Make a solemn promise to yourselves that you will strive to do something above and beyond your daily prayers and duties inshallah. Remember, it takes a few good people to make a change. Believe in that.

Anyway, what else…hmm I have done Umrah. It was a beautiful experience. I remember it was Ramadan and I used to stand for Taraweeh prayers till 2 AM and still not be tired. That is Allah’s barakah on his followers. I loved the whole Ihram thing too, it is so liberating, no labels. We are all truly *ONE* ummah when you see people of all colors wearing the same thing. There is just so much love in the house of Allah. Inshallah, I plan to do Hajj this year. If you my dear readers cannot do Hajj, please do Umrah, it truly is a life-changing experience.

As a hadith goes, “If you wake up tomorrow with the same level of Iman as today, something is terribly wrong”. Basically, every single day of our lives we should be working constructively toward a higher level of Iman. We cannot stagnate or be satisfied with our level of Iman we have today.

Anyway, I have a lot more to write..but I will keep that for another time. Thank you for reading..and hopefully some of you feel that you know me a little bit better.