In The Name of Allah The Most Gracious The Most Merciful
Assalamualaikum Semua…May Allah Grant us His Blessing upon us all…May He guide us through His path..May He strengthen our Imaan…Ameen…
Few entries before are all about my wedding right. You could be bored reading my wedding story..huhu..So for today, I wanna continue a story about my journey with IPSI. Alhamdulillah, now I move to another step in dakwah which is practical.
My First Step
You know what is so special about this NGO? I mean IPSI ? Because we are not just learn comparative religion and how to convey a massage to not yet Muslim theoretically but also practically. My first step in dakwah is here:
Masjid Kapitan Keling. A place where we can meet people from a round the world.
Before I share my experience, I would like to clarify these two terms, Dakwah and Islah:
Definition of Da’wah and Islah:
Da’wah means a ‘call’ or ‘invitation’; which means to invite non-Muslims to Islam as well as the Muslims to the true understanding and practice of Islam, but many a times, in context, it refers to the invitation of Islam extended to those who are yet to believe in or accept Islam.
‘Islah’ literally means ‘to repair’ or ‘to improve’. In an Islamic context, it refers to efforts to improve Muslims or to correct them.
Difference between Da’wah and Islah:
Da’wah in Arabic actually means an invitation and an invitation can only be given to an out sider. And in Islamic terminology, Da’wah ul Islam means an invitation to Islam. When we speak about Islam to a non Muslim inviting to Islam it's called Da’wah.
Many people even think when we speak about Islam to Muslim it's called Da’wah and they use this term Da’wah for both types of talk. Basically when we speak about Islam to a Muslim calling him closer or letting him know more about Islam the more appropriate word is Islah.
So, when I use term Dakwah, it refers to an action of conveying or spreading the massage of Islam to not yet Muslim. When I first step into this masjid, I’m in my Fasa 2 in comparative religion class. That’s mean after a year attending classes theoretically and now comes the time for practical.
What am I doing here actually? Basically I would call myself as volunteer tour guide because my duty is invite people to visit the mosque and guide them by giving brief explanation about the mosque and Islam. The tour only takes about 6-10 minutes. It could be less or more depending on the visitor itself.
Ok…This is not me..hehe…This is my teacher, Bro Kamarudin. He’s entertaining some tourist and explaining the structure of this mosque.
For first time, I just follow Bro Kamarudin around and see how he conducts dakwah through masjid tour. Its very interesting though. But I was afraid. I couldn’t even open my mouth to speak with the tourist. My problem is I don’t know how to speak english. I still remember Bro Kamarudin said, everytime I speak in english languange, I sound like a robot. Huhu….
After 3 times I went there, Bro Kamarudin ask me to conduct the tour by my own. My legs are shaking at that moment. Oh no. What am I going to do…If I were ask to conduct using Malay language it could be easy for me. I don’t have any confidence to use that language because I never practise it. I just use English in terms of listening and writing but not speaking. I keep thinking what if I make mistake and I use wrong vocab or even worse what if suddenly they ask any question and I can’t answer their question?
Bro Kamarudin once told me, What are you afraid for? Remember what Allah said in Surah Al-Imran verse 139. Allah said we are the greatest ummah or person because we have faith. Once you begin your first step, Allah will help you with the rest of it.
"Do not become weak (against your enemy), nor be sad, you will be superior (victorious) if you are indeed true believers"
(Surah Ale-Imran 3:139)
That verse driven me to improve my Dakwah through masjid tour. I took a video of Bro Kamarudin while he conducting the tour . As I go back, I study the video and I jot down every word he said during the tour. I memorize every sentence without missing any word. When I go to Masjid Kapitan Keling with preparation, Alhamdulillah I can do better than before. I know my English is weak, so my first step how to improve my dakwah is by memorizing the so called ‘script’ for the tour. Its not that hard actually to speak english. But when it comes to dakwah, there are Islamic or religious term that I dont know. Its different from our daily conversation.
Yes, I made a lot of mistakes and Alhamdulillah I learn a lot from that as well. As for my English, I think I improve a lot since last time I went there. There are some tourists which corrected my English while I’m speaking to them. Well, Its not kind of embarrassment to me. I know my English is weak so I’m very grateful when they corrected me. I can learn from them. Its a free though. 
Its been 4 years now since my first step into this mosque. I’m not a pro yet. Still learning and improving my skills. Insyaallah I will share step by step how to conduct dakwah through majid tour later, Insyaallah….
IPSI will be conducting Dakwah Training on:
Date: 8 July 2012
Time: 9.00 am – 5. 00 pm
Venue: Auditorium Sheikh Ahmed Deedat, Bangunan IPSI,
Tingkat 1, No. 197, Jalan Argyll, Georgetown, P. Pinang.
Fee: RM50 per person
Those who interested to attend can email me at:
ns.nurqina@gmail.com
Hurry up as we have limited seat. Grab this opportunity to broaden up your dakwah skills.
With Love,
NUR
