Helping New Muslims

Lately I have discovered that there is nothing (except maybe Eid Prayer) that brings together Muslims with more positivity and enthusiasm than joining together to help new Muslims. I am writing this post to encourage all of you Muslims to join this cause: helping new Muslims. There is no organization or non-profit corporation, or anything of the sort, to which you are invited here; this is a general call.

Since I became Muslim awhile back, I've noticed all the time that community activists and imams are trying to get Muslims to come together and do something productive for the kids. "We need to focus on the kids! What is going to happen if the next generation doesn't pray and becomes 'Westernized' and loses Islam? Parents, you need to do this, and you need to do that, and don't be like this and don't be like that. We are losing the children!!!!" It gets old, and it doesn't really go anywhere, but leaves everyone walking away from the masjid feeling like "SubhanAllah, the Ummah is in bad shape." And if you're a new Muslim, that is really discouraging. It's bad, what's happening to Muslim immigrants' children, don't get me wrong, but how are you going to get excitement, enthusiasm, and cross-cultural productivity out of a bunch of people who are feeling bad about the state of their children? There are a lot of successful projects that go on premised on this "recover the children" ideology, but there are few that really bring everyone together saying, "YES! This is awesome and I am ready and willing and able to help."

Well, no more. I live in a large community in a western city and we have discovered what it is that brings everyone together in the way those sheikhs and activists wanted. I am talking Indo-Pak, African, Arab, Maghrebi, East Asian, white, black, brown... EVERYONE gets together, excited, and hugs one another and smiles and pulls out the pocketbook over this one thing: new Muslims.

I'm sure you've seen it in your own masajid and you've read about it in the news and seen videos on YouTube. You've also read about it in Qur'an (110:2). People are flocking to Islam like it's going out of style (but it's not see Qur'an 61:8-9)! The new Muslims are from all different cultures and all different backgrounds. They all need some kind of help too. Whether it's time or money (favors), or just knowledge about Islam, or a friend, or whatever... they all need something.

We got together a group of people to focus only on this matter: helping new Muslims. You would not believe the outpouring response we got from a seemingly dormant community. We held a few events that were only gently advertised and filled up all the seats with people from all backgrounds, practically begging us to let them give support for new Muslims. People even came to confess shahada for the first time at these events, subhanAllah. Even some of those "lost kids" came and wanted to help and appeared to be happy just doing Muslim things.

I think we should stop looking at our Ummah as it is; complaining about what is wrong with it and trying to "fix" the Ummah. People always told me, Islam is perfect, but Muslims are not. We know that Muslims are flawed because they are human, and every follower of Muhammad (saws) knew that some day it would be so hard just to hold on to our religion. Yet, everyday there are thousands of people all around the world joining the prayer lines for the first time and, at least in the West, we keep telling them about how flawed the Ummah is. Does this make any sense at all?

Start focusing on these new Muslims. Just do good deeds for them. Sometimes a new Muslim just needs a ride in a vehicle somewhere, perhaps a little money, to make a huge positive difference in his life. When you do this for him on behalf of the Ummah, for the sake of Allah swt, do you know what it means to him? Do you know what it means to HIM (Allah swt)?

There are people in your community at your local masjid doing this same thing; just helping new Muslims. Join them and invite your brothers and sisters to do the same. Even if you have only one new Muslim in your community, figure out what she needs, gather some brothers or sisters, and make it happen for her. Not only will you make a change in her life that will encourage her to love Islam and this Ummah, but you will bring Muslims together doing good deeds that will fill their hearts with love for Allah swt and His deen, inshaAllah. You will wish there were more new Muslims coming to your community just so that you could help them... and they will come.

The power of helping new Muslims is greater than any other type of power I have seen within the Muslim community. People come together with excitement and love and all the cultural barriers are knocked down. I have never been to Hajj (may Allah swt give us all the opportunity, ameen), but I imagine that this sort of power is something like you would feel there: one Ummah, representing countless cultural backgrounds, working together to progress the deen of Allah swt.

That is the Ummah that I thought I was joining when I made my shahada, and I have found that it is real when I started helping new Muslims.

If you get any stories of helping new Muslims or have any from the past, please share them, and help get everyone who reads this post motivated to turn to the new Muslims and help them.