I have a good friend who came to me recently (he is from a Sikh background) to ask my advice. He wanted to know whether he should set up business with a person that he has known for a relatively short time. We had tea and chatted together and I told him my opinion: if you haven’t travelled or stayed with a person then you don’t really know him, so how can you make a big decision like that? You need to spend time with that person first.
Based on this advice my friend called me later saying he decided to not go ahead with the deal. Someone else went into business with this character instead and within two months he had left the country with their shared profits.
My friend was really glad that he took my advice and he wanted to know who had told me? I mentioned that it is one of the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H). He was so inspired he began - and still is - reading the Qur’an and learning more about the faith and how it can help him on other issues.
I tell you this story because the advice and knowledge I share and offer as an Imam – is not just for Muslims but is and should be for people of all faiths. We can all learn something from each other and each other’s religion.
My friend was not tolerating my faith, he was acknowledging it, because he realised that there was something beneficial in Islam that could help him in his life.
March 25, 2008
People often think: ‘Islam cannot help me in a worldly or materialistic way.’ But to be honest, it does. Having a faith like Islam can give you the support of a community and the structure and the discipline to move forward towards your goals in life.
And it’s important for Imam’s to keep the teachings of Islam up-to-date to show you how relevant they are to you lives.
As an Imam I try give advice – to Muslims and Non-Muslims - but not just from an Islamic point of view but also from a logical point of view.
I also do drug education and youth work about substance abuse within my community and I council people from different ethnicities, backgrounds, social groups and faiths. At first, you can see them all thinking;
‘Whoooah who is this guy with a beard who is going to be talking to me?’
But after I have broken the ice and build up some common ground with them, their preconceptions begin to melt. They forget I am an Imam; I’m just a person who is offering my advice and knowledge to help them.
Just after I graduated as an Imam for the Islamic institute I bumped into some old friends that used to be in my class; some of them were doing the wrong things or had been in prison and they said to me: ‘If we had the chance to do what you did we would do the same now.’
If I had not studied Islam then I think I might have fallen into the same kind of holes that my friends have with done with relationships or even crime – the same ones that many young people do today.
A positive environment is really important for all of us. If you walk through a perfume shop – even if you don’t touch anything – you come out smelling of roses; if you walk through a garbage dump with bad smell that effect will come on you too.
It’s good to spend time with educated and good mannered people – it will rub off on you too! And it will help you achieve your goals in life and make a better person of yourself!
March 25, 2008
