[box_dark]What:  Talk “BRG: Best of Generations Revived- Youth Awakening Project!”
Who:  Ustaz Mohd Kamal Bin Mokhtar, Ustaz Taufiq Bin Radja Nurul Bahri
Where: Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (MUIS)
When: Sunday, 27^th November 2011
By: Muhammadiyah Association of Singapore[/box_dark]

The Prophet (peace be upon him) had many companions in his lifetime. Even at this point of time, I can only recall a handful such as Sayyidina Abu Bakar, Salman Al-Farisi, and Khalid ibn Al-Walid, may Allah be pleased with them all. Most of these companions were heralded esteemed names such as Lion of Allah (Saiyidina Ali krwj), The Truthful (Saiyidina Abu Bakr RA) and The Proof of the Community (Malik ibn Anas RA).

The Past

If I flashback 1450 years ago during the Prophet’s time, stories of the tribulations faced by the companions stacks in my mind. One of the stories that touched me the most was the story of the Abyssinian slave Bilal (RA) and his sufferings at the hands of his master for his conversion to Islam. His master mercilessly whipped him and forced him to lie on the hot ground when it was a scorching day. Bilal had two choices: to renounce Islam or to die a slow death from his wounds. His torturers never tire afflicting him but his faith never wavered. When Umayyah ibn Khalaf brought a torch to burn his body, Bilal’s voice could clearly be heard saying “Ahad.. Ahad..” (The One, The One)

Generations of people, young and old, past and future will always be tested by Allah swt. The trials may be different but the message is the same.

The concern at hand is: how do we revive our iman as close as possible those of the earlier generations?

 

The Future

During the talk, the main pressing issue of our youth was raised- our heedlessness in learning about Islam and being distracted easily by the media and entertainment. Inside, I felt a twinge of guilt as Ustaz Taufiq pressed on about how these worldly distractions affect our imaan in detrimental ways.

Youths can name the Top Ten Hollywood stars but they are hard-pressed to name the Companions of our beloved Prophet (peace be upon him). Youths can quote lyrics from pop songs but they cant source for an ayah from the Quran. It made me think: how are we going to guide the future generation of youths when we ourselves are ignorant about these things?

We are the next generation of adults, of world and community leaders, and we are the beacon of hope that Islam will still be inculcated as a way of life in the future.

The Present

If we can spend our time scrolling through Facebook everyday, we can spend the same amount of effort viewing Islamic lectures on Youtube and if we can spend money on classes to improve our skills, we can use it to attend classes on reading the Quran. There are ways that we can improve our imaan and all it takes is our will and dedication.

Ustaz Mohd Kamal mentioned that we should always get our priorities right. The key message here, I feel, is exercising the will to learn. We should familiarize ourselves with the Quran, Fiqh, and anything and everything that has to do with our religion. With deeper understanding, inshaAllah we will be able to increase our piety towards Allah swt.  And even if we lack the time to sit down and read books or attend lectures, if we put greater commitment to practicing Islam despite our lack of knowledge, inshaAllah our level of iman will heighten.

As long as we take the first step to acquiring ilm and doing our prescribed worship with great sincerity and devotion, we can be better Muslims.

You can check out the Best of Generations Revived website for resources on the Companions of the Prophet (S).

[divider]

Whatever is written here, first and foremost, I refer to myself.
Whatever good written here comes from Allah swt. Whatever bad is from me.

Nur Hidayah Murad
Hidayah is a student of School of Film and Media Studies at Ngee Ann Polytechnic undertaking a Diploma in Mass Communications.