Assalamu’alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh
Bismillahir- Rahmanir-Rahim
1. Opening
Friends whose hearts are filled with the light of faith, have we ever been puzzled by this phenomenon: There are people whose speech is so poetic, their rhetoric so captivating, yet their words just pass through our ears without leaving a trace. On the other hand, there are people whose speech is simple, even faltering, yet somehow it instantly brings us to tears and changes the course of our lives. Why is that? From the scientific lens of Islamic spiritual psychology, a good utterance will never have the “soul” to penetrate and move another human heart unless the speaker has first performed mujahadah. Mujahadah is the heavy behind-the-scenes struggle to slaughter one’s desires, arrogance, and personal ego, so that the words that come out are purely for Allah, not for human applause. Words that come from the tongue will only reach the ears, but words that come from a heart whose ego has been conquered will surely penetrate another heart.
Allah SWT alludes to the importance of this inner alignment and spiritual struggle in the Qur’an:
وَالَّذِينَ جَاهَدُوا فِينَا لَنَهْدِيهِمْ سُبُلَنَا ۚ وَإِنَّ اللَّهَ لَمَعَ الْمُحْسِنِينَ
“And those who strive for Us—We will surely guide them to Our ways. And indeed, Allah is with the doers of good.” [QS. Al-‘Ankabut: 69]
The power of sincere speech free from ego is also emphasized by Rasulullah ﷺ, that a person’s safety and the weight of his words depend on how he guards his heart for Allah:
مَنْ كَانَ يُؤْمِنُ بِاللَّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ فَلْيَقُلْ خَيْرًا أَوْ لِيَصْمُتْ
“Whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day, let him speak good or remain silent.” [HR. Bukhari and Muslim]
2. Lessons and Message
The precious message for all of us, especially those who love sharing content or speaking in public: Before busying yourself with perfecting rhetoric and appearances in front of the camera, busy yourself with rectifying the intention in your chest. Everlasting dawah is not the one that goes viral because of beautiful wording, but the one that is blessed because of the sincerity of its maker who has succeeded in killing the desire to be praised.
Let us recall a touching story of the great scholar, Sheikh Abdul Qadir Al-Jilani. One day, a mother came bringing her son who loved eating too much sugar until his teeth were ruined. The mother pleaded, “O Sheikh, please advise my son to stop eating sugar, because if it’s you who speaks, he will surely obey.”Yet, Sheikh Abdul Qadir surprised the mother by saying, “Go home, and return one month from now.” After a month, the mother came again. Sheikh Abdul Qadir then looked at the little boy and uttered just one simple sentence, “My son, stop eating too much sugar.” Miraculously, the child obeyed at once. The mother was confused and asked, “Why wait one month just to say one sentence, O Sheikh?” He wept tears and replied, “One month ago, I myself still liked eating sugar. How could my words touch your son’s heart if I had not yet conquered my own ego to stop eating it?” Truly, a slap in the face for us who love advising others before advising ourselves.
So we can reflect while smiling, let’s imagine a Child’s Toy Gun that shoots foam bullets, compared to a Real Military Assault Rifle. There are people who speak thunderously, use expensive mics, use powerful echo effects, but their hearts are full of ego wanting to be seen as great [this is like a plastic toy gun painted to look like a real weapon]. It looks scary, the sound is noisy, “Bang! Bang! Bang!”, but when the bullets hit someone’s heart, only foam sticks—no effect at all, it just makes the listener laugh. Conversely, there are people who speak softly, gently, without raising their voice, but at night they weep begging Allah for their ego to be removed [this is like a weapon with real sharp bullets fitted with a silencer]. The sound is inaudible, “fssh…”, but the bullet of sincerity pierces straight through the heart’s defenses of the listener, making them instantly aware and repentant.
The funny thing is, we nowadays are often fooled, busy buying “toy guns” that look aesthetic and Instagrammable for dawah, when what we actually need are “sharp bullets of sincerity” that can pierce the audience’s ego!
3. Conclusion and Closing
Friends, in conclusion, the power of a word does not lie in the beauty of letter arrangements on the lips, but in the weight of the struggle against ego within the heart. The everlasting investment in dawah is when we dare to be honest with ourselves and are pure for Allah when conveying the truth.Let us learn to conquer our own egos. Before we straighten others with our words, let us kneel before Allah to straighten our own intentions. May every string of words we share on social media not become a boomerang in the Hereafter, but become a witness to an investment of reward that flows eternally.
. والله أعلم بالصواب
الحمد لله رب العالمين
Wassalamu’alaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh.
Abu Sultan Al-Qadrie
