THE BEST GIFT

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"What better gift can u give than giving the knowledge of Islam to others?" 
Shaykh Shady Suleiman's voice was loud and clear. Crystal. As if the crystal is shattered and the sharp crystal fragments pierced through Ikhwan's heart. 

"And from the Islam you share with them, they embrace Islam and practise the way of life. What gift is better than that?"

Words coming from the heart will reach hearts of the listener. True enough.
Shaykh Shady continued the Jumu'ah khutbah. All the words play back in Ikhwan's mind, bit by bits, to form a solid understanding and memory of what's being discussed. To be shaken by words. Words reminding the ignorant hearts, reminding the forgotten hearts.

The theme of the khutbah was the Characteristics of a true mukmin. As he listen to the words that had really shaken his heart, Ikhwan tried to gather all the informations entering his ears, to be stored in his heart, and to be translated into actions.

"Charity, donation. Sadaqah. Every single person around us has his share in us. Have rights. The companions asked, if with their wealth they can't afford to give sadaqah, what should they do? Rasulullah s.a.w said that "you must help people in problem". They asked again," if we can't do it?" Rasulullah answered, "bring benefits to others." Again they asked, "if we can't do it?"
Rasulullah replied, "don't bring harm."

Yep. Everyone has rights we have to fulfil. Whether we realise or not. And that will be questioned in the day of judgement. But how far do we want to fulfil the rights of others, that's the most important thing. We have been given guidance from Allah through Rasulullah, what should we do, and the rest; to do or not to do, to make ultimate efforts or to make excuses which won't help us in the day of judgement, is up to us. *smile blinking eyes* (lulz)

"The best of you is who is the best to others. Bring benefits where ever he goes. Not only in surau or mosque or in class. But everywhere."

There it goes. It would be cliche to say this but truths are always cliche. We already know but we don't practise. Yeah. As the term implies, Islam is ad-deen, the way of life. As long as we live, whenever it is, where ever we are, we are to practise Islam. And if Islam teaches us to be beneficial to others, we shouldn't restrict it to bring benefits only in certain places.

"A true believer, he is the key to open the door of good, and become the lock to lock the door of evil. Amar makruf nahi munkar. He enjoins people to do good and forbid evils. If u can't become the barriers from people to do evil, don't become the barrier for the people from doing good; for example a person is changing to the good, but you condemn him, say things to him which hurts his heart."

"Characters of a true believer is the characters of Nabi Muhammad shallallahu alaihi wassalam. He attracts people to Islam with his characters. The ones who hated him the most turned to be the ones who loved him the most.
Every of our acts should attracts people to Islam. All our acts must be according to what Islam teaches us to be. To date, do you realise how many of our actions has caused people to be further from Islam?"

Shaykh said many other things, until these words. These words really strucked his heart. When Shaykh was talking about giving donation, when he did mention that the act of a man who worked hard to earn halal money to feed his family is considered as donation. As if everyone else is doing the normal routine, but his intentions differs him and grant him the reward as he is giving donation. The the Shaykh said;
"What better gift can u give than the gift of Islam? Sharing knowlege of Islam with others. With the knowledge u share to them, they embrace Islam, they practise Islam. What gift is better than that?"
Basically it's the obligations of da'wah entrusted to us, Muslims. How far did we do this job? Point to ponder. :)

But first, remember, 'To give, you must first have.' To donate, u have to earn the money; to teach, you must learn; to help people to understand the deen, you must first understand! And if u truly understand, u will help others to understand. :)

"Man yuridillahu bihi khairan yufaqqih fiddin"

---THE END---
Disclaimer: The words used are according to what I understood from the khutbah, not necessarily bit by bit is the same as Shaykh's.
Any wrongs and mistakes, I ask Allah for forgiveness. May Allah forgives us.
There are so many more that Shaykh conveyed, but this is the least I can share.