Al-Andalusi on Nostr: I remember going to the masjid every Friday before I converted to Islam, to speak ...

I remember going to the masjid every Friday before I converted to Islam, to speak with the brothers and ask questions.

Every time they would welcome me with a smile from ear to ear, invite me to sit down and dedicate me all the time in the world, and treat me like the most honourable guest.

Sometimes we would sit for hours speaking. Sometimes they would have to take a break, pray, and come back.

I could tell they must have been busy. We all are. Yet they would not let it show in the slightest. Every time I showed appreciation for their time, they would answer me with a smile. Every time I said that it was enough and that we could carry on speaking next time, they would fight me and tell me they were in no rush.

Question after question and discussion after discussion I was shocked at the eloquence, their way of teaching, etc., that showed their deep understanding. There was no question that the uncles wouldn’t be able to answer. It was spectacular.

On the topic of manners, I remember this one Egyptian uncle once (he was one of the three “OG’s” that gave me Dawah relentlessly for countless Fridays.)

There was a little period when, for different reasons, I stopped going to the masjid on Fridays. My brother sent me a text after two weeks saying: “I hope everything is going well with you. We just got used to see you on Fridays”.

The week after that text I was going back home and this uncle’s text was in my mind. So in the last turn, I changed direction and went to the masjid. It was dark already and I had zero clue that the guys shut after praying.

As I arrived to the masjid there were a lot of brothers coming out. And as I was about to enter (clueless that they were closing), I came across my Egyptian brother who was leaving with his three kids.

He saw me and told me to COME IN. I thought “Shut up, this guy cannot be for real”. He asked his kids to go home and wait for him. I asked him to go home and that I would come again. “Just ten minutes” was his reply. Reluctantly, I said “ten minutes”.

To a “Westerner” and non-Muslim at the time, I thought my man was crazy. I had not seen such manners and hospitality and way to look after and treat someone in my life. I have not had a rough life either, so it is not that I wan’t accustomed to good treatment. But man these guys were next level insane.

Next level of manners and caring. People always say that the best way of doing Dawah is through conduct and I have seen the truth in that statement in my own experience. What an excellent man. I held him in such a high steem and he was so dear to me even before he knew it.

Not only the way of treating others, but other things like their deep understanding, etc., showed me the pursuit of excellent of these people.

The Ummah is full of people like him. As Muslims, we have the best example and the clear one, prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. And following his steps, millions of Muslims that remind us in our own time what the embodiment of Islam is.

#nostr #muslim