By Muhammad Alif Tan

“Spending some time in the morning or evening in path of Allah is better than the world and whatever it contains…” (Bukhari)

I intend this article for Allah ﷻ and for the sake of Allah ﷻ only as I reflect upon the recent KL spiritual retreat that we embarked on during 27th to 29th April 2024 with our teacher. Alhamdullilah, Alhamdullilah, Alhamdullilah. All praises to Allah for allowing us to have this blessed opportunity.

Although it was a short 3 days trip, there were many takeaways and barakah for us. It was a much needed trip to intend it for Allah alone as Ibn ‘Ata’illah r.a mentioned ‘Nothing benefits the heart more than a spiritual retreat wherein it enters the domains of meditation.’

Subhanallah, Alhamdullilah, La ilaha illallah, Allahu Akbar!

وَمَا خَلَقْتُ ٱلْجِنَّ وَٱلْإِنسَ إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُونِ ٥٦

And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me. (51:56)

If we could sum up the whole trip in 5 words, that would be EAT, PRAY, ZIKR, SLEEP, REPEAT. We were constantly reminded by our teacher to train ourselves to be in a state of worship 24/7, which is actually what we should be doing with our lives which is a gift from Allah. Yet we have always been putting our worldly matters before our Lord, forgetting who is the One that enables us to do the worldly activities in the first place. We need to learn how to have consistent remembrance of our Lord in every worldly activity we are doing, be it work, sports, studying etc.

Abu Huraira reported: The Prophet ﷺ said, “A man is upon the religion of his best friend, so let one of you look at whom he befriends.” (al-Tirmidhī)

Being around our teacher and a group of companions for consecutive 3 days, with back to back programmes, has helped us to get closer to being in a state of ubudiyyah (24 hours worship/ibadah). We started the day with tahajud and subuh in congregation. Followed by zikr, talim (lessons) and Quran recitation. In the noon, we were at the event venues, setting up and attending the classes that Ustaz Sameer had prepared for our fellow Malaysia friends. After Isyak, we continued with zikr and talim with Ustaz before we called it a night. It truly is a nikmah (blessings) in this 3 days to be able to experience what it means to be in a state of ubudiyyah.

The Prophet ﷺ said to ‘Ali (r.a), “By Allah, if a single person is guided by Allah through you, it will be better for you than a whole lot of red camels”. (Al-Bukhari and Muslim)

SEEING THE NUMBER OF TURN-UP AND EVEN HAVING NON-MUSLIMS, HAS MADE ME REALISE THE IMPORTANCE OF OUR RESPONSIBILITY AS A MUSLIM TO CARRY THE FLAG OF SPREADING THE MESSAGE OF ISLAM.

There are many out there who need this message & who needs help. Be it Muslims, non Muslims or even a person who is practicing simply those who want to find out more about Islam. Without our Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, we would not have Islam today and we wouldn’t have the honor to be part of his ummah.

So how could we just let it stop at us?

Spreading the message is not only upon the scholars or our teachers. It is the responsibility of everyone of us as a Muslim.

But it is not an easy journey. As we find the balance in our daily lives and spreading the message, inevitably for most of us, certain times we may face rejections which may lead to us feeling dejected.

However, we just need to remember what Allah mentioned in the Quran (28:56) “You surely cannot guide whoever you like ˹O Prophet˺, but it is Allah Who guides whoever He wills, and He knows best
who are ˹fit to be˺ guided.”

Only Allah ﷻ can guide whom He wills. We can’t guide anyone nor do we have the capability to guide anyone. We can only pass the message to our best of abilities and leave it in the hands of Allah ﷻ.

For a period of time, I was taking this verse too literally and thought that if only Allahﷻ can guide, so those that are not guided, we don’t have to spend too much time on them. But I was wrong. Yes, only Allah can guide. But that doesn’t mean we stop spreading the message to everyone. We still need to continue fulfilling our duty to make this message available to these people, Insha’Allah one day the doors will be opened for them, with His mercy and guidance. For if our teachers were to have similar thinking like me, I would not have been on this path toward Allah today. Alhamdullilah.

May Allah ﷻ continue to shower us with His blessing and guidance. May He grant us more openings to be able to organise many more spiritual retreats and dawah opportunities. May He accept our efforts and allow at least 1 person to turn back to Him through us. Ameen Ya Rabb! Insha’Allah we would also like to take this opportunity to encourage you to join us on our next spiritual retreat, to experience it for yourself and for the sake of Allahﷻ.

Do You Believe in One God
& Ready to [Re]start your Journey of Faith & Gratitude as a Muslim?