Glad Tidings To The Strangers
SIST 2022 - Glad Tidings to the Stranger
Greeting, strangers! We welcome you all after a long break, due to a certain stubborn virus that I prefer not to name, to SIST 2022! We know how frantically you’ve been waiting for SIST to happen again and so have we. Fortunately, we’re back and rejuvenated for another week of a glorious tournament!
This year’s theme is about you and your journey to accepting who you are. In this post 9/11 era of Islamophobia, our faith and resolve in practicing our Deen has not been the same as it was before. From our walk to our talk, we have had a constant spotlight on us with people from every walk of faith, socioeconomic background and geographic location casting their opinions on us, many of which have not been positive. No other faith has undergone the level of scrutiny that ours has and this obstacle has limited our enthusiasm and commitment to our faith at an individual and community level over the years. A label is imprinted on a man with a long beard on the first impression. While the world is acknowledging women’s rights, women are still being ostracized for wearing the hijab by being labeled as ‘oppressed’ just because it doesn’t fall under the social norms of the majority of the Western world. Praying on an international flight has suddenly become an act of terrorism. We have had to decide whether to fully commit to our faith, or blend in with the masses and become a ‘modern’ Muslim, losing our identities along the way.
However, such scrutiny is not just done by non-Muslims; we experience a great deal of it in our own society as well. Many unethical practices have become a norm even among the Muslim community in the name of short cuts and are promoted as the only ways to progress in the society. Cheating on a test has become so common that it is almost considered as normal behavior. If there is a person who wants to stay true to their values and prevail with their own hard work, that person is labeled as the black sheep of the society and bullied for being different and having a different opinion and mindset. Furthermore, we have lacked the tolerance to accept a different opinion, question and approach to the topic or task at hand, especially those related to Islam, whereas when we choose our ego over solutions, we only succeed in increasing the rift between our brothers and sisters. While doing what we want to do and what we think is right, we have to decide everyday whether to stand strong and alone, or to cave in to resistance and become ordinary, once again losing our identities in the process.
History has shown how Islam came into being through the efforts and struggles of those who were considered strange, and who had been considered outcasts just for believing and following the truth; the prophets and their companions. From praying in hiding to openly praying despite facing persecution, Muslims faced every trial head-on yet people nowadays are afraid that if they follow the Deen openly, they will face difficulties because of it because strange is that which is not understood. The Riyasat of Madina and governance of Hazrat Umar have been praised by Muslims and non-Muslims alike and have been adopted by others yet they have been lost to us, the real successors of this great religion.
Instead of following the easy route, let us follow the twisted route with its barbed wires, and curves and dips. Let us embrace who we are as Muslims because the only way to live is the right way. Each one of us has been created as Ashraf al Makhluqaat – The Best of Creations, and has been blessed by Allah with talents catering to our strengths. We must use our intellect and talent to good use in making the world a better place or solving life-changing conundrums. We are not meant to sit idle and simply enjoy this Dunya, but to do the best that we can with the life that we have while enduring the turmoil of standing out as strangers. We will be victims of criticism but remember that you are at your best when you follow your unique passion and when you’re firm and confident on your determination to be the best, Allah will open doors for you that you never knew even existed and pave a way for you to achieve the identity you want for yourself, however strange it may seem.
Let us accept our individualities together at SIST 2022 where we remind ourselves that it’s okay to stand out and follow our passions and the right path, no matter what judgment we might face because the only judgment that we need is from the One Who supports us all the way, Who is Ar-Raqeeb – The Watchful, Al-Mughni – The Enricher, and Ar-Rasheed - The Guide. It will be a week full of speakers, events, competitions and most of all, people from all over Pakistan bringing their eccentricity, strangeness but also confidence with them. Let us accept our strange and support each other’s strangeness together.
I’ll end with a motivational Hadis of the Prophet Muhammad SAW to guide you on your solo yet united journey:
“Islam began as something strange and will go back to being strange, so glad tidings to the strangers.’”
(Sunan Ibn Majah 3986, Book 36, Hadith 61)
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Greeting, strangers! We welcome you all after a long break, due to a certain stubborn virus that I prefer not to name, to SIST 2022! We know how frantically you’ve been waiting for SIST to happen again and so have we. Fortunately, we’re back and rejuvenated for another week of a glorious tournament!
This year’s theme is about you and your journey to accepting who you are. In this post 9/11 era of Islamophobia, our faith and resolve in practicing our Deen has not been the same as it was before. From our walk to our talk, we have had a constant spotlight on us with people from every walk of faith, socioeconomic background and geographic location casting their opinions on us, many of which have not been positive. No other faith has undergone the level of scrutiny that ours has and this obstacle has limited our enthusiasm and commitment to our faith at an individual and community level over the years. A label is imprinted on a man with a long beard on the first impression. While the world is acknowledging women’s rights, women are still being ostracized for wearing the hijab by being labeled as ‘oppressed’ just because it doesn’t fall under the social norms of the majority of the Western world. Praying on an international flight has suddenly become an act of terrorism. We have had to decide whether to fully commit to our faith, or blend in with the masses and become a ‘modern’ Muslim, losing our identities along the way.
However, such scrutiny is not just done by non-Muslims; we experience a great deal of it in our own society as well. Many unethical practices have become a norm even among the Muslim community in the name of short cuts and are promoted as the only ways to progress in the society. Cheating on a test has become so common that it is almost considered as normal behavior. If there is a person who wants to stay true to their values and prevail with their own hard work, that person is labeled as the black sheep of the society and bullied for being different and having a different opinion and mindset. Furthermore, we have lacked the tolerance to accept a different opinion, question and approach to the topic or task at hand, especially those related to Islam, whereas when we choose our ego over solutions, we only succeed in increasing the rift between our brothers and sisters. While doing what we want to do and what we think is right, we have to decide everyday whether to stand strong and alone, or to cave in to resistance and become ordinary, once again losing our identities in the process.
History has shown how Islam came into being through the efforts and struggles of those who were considered strange, and who had been considered outcasts just for believing and following the truth; the prophets and their companions. From praying in hiding to openly praying despite facing persecution, Muslims faced every trial head-on yet people nowadays are afraid that if they follow the Deen openly, they will face difficulties because of it because strange is that which is not understood. The Riyasat of Madina and governance of Hazrat Umar have been praised by Muslims and non-Muslims alike and have been adopted by others yet they have been lost to us, the real successors of this great religion.
Instead of following the easy route, let us follow the twisted route with its barbed wires, and curves and dips. Let us embrace who we are as Muslims because the only way to live is the right way. Each one of us has been created as Ashraf al Makhluqaat – The Best of Creations, and has been blessed by Allah with talents catering to our strengths. We must use our intellect and talent to good use in making the world a better place or solving life-changing conundrums. We are not meant to sit idle and simply enjoy this Dunya, but to do the best that we can with the life that we have while enduring the turmoil of standing out as strangers. We will be victims of criticism but remember that you are at your best when you follow your unique passion and when you’re firm and confident on your determination to be the best, Allah will open doors for you that you never knew even existed and pave a way for you to achieve the identity you want for yourself, however strange it may seem.
Let us accept our individualities together at SIST 2022 where we remind ourselves that it’s okay to stand out and follow our passions and the right path, no matter what judgment we might face because the only judgment that we need is from the One Who supports us all the way, Who is Ar-Raqeeb – The Watchful, Al-Mughni – The Enricher, and Ar-Rasheed - The Guide. It will be a week full of speakers, events, competitions and most of all, people from all over Pakistan bringing their eccentricity, strangeness but also confidence with them. Let us accept our strange and support each other’s strangeness together.
I’ll end with a motivational Hadis of the Prophet Muhammad SAW to guide you on your solo yet united journey:
“Islam began as something strange and will go back to being strange, so glad tidings to the strangers.’”
(Sunan Ibn Majah 3986, Book 36, Hadith 61)
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _