The Courage to Be Yourself

The Courage to Be Yourself

I used to have a colleague at work. Every day at 12:30, he would tell the colleagues, "I'm going for a walk." They'd think it's strange.

Every time we go to eat food, this guy goes for a walk. Comes back 25 minutes later — rain, sun, snow — ajeeb. I knew obviously he's going to pray Salah.

So I asked him one day, "Listen, Habibi, why don't you just tell them, 'I'm going to pray'? Maybe one of them will start asking you questions about Islam. Why don't you just be yourself?" He said, "I'm scared. What will they think of me?"

Hiding in Plain Sight

First time I came to the UK, I went to university in Nottingham. A Muslim person came and introduced himself to me. He goes, "Hey, my name is Mo."

I'm thinking, what is wrong with this guy? He can't see me? In the prayer room, we saw each other. He knows I'm a Muslim. "Hey, my name is Mo." What's going on? He would never reveal himself to those around him. Why? Why? Why? "I'm scared. What will happen if they know who I am? Will they exclude me? Will they treat me differently?"

It requires bravery and courage to stand up and say, "This is who I am."

The Meccan Period — Secret and Open Muslims

In the Meccan period, for 13 years, there were a number of Muslims who were Muslims, but who kept their Islam secret. They did not have the courage and the strength to show it to everybody.

But there were some Muslims who had the great courage to show who they were.

The Example of Abdullah Ibn Mas'ud

Abdullah Ibn Mas'ud. He's a small, unknown shepherd. That's his job — he looks after sheep. He's a nobody.

He comes in the middle of Mecca, next to the Ka'bah, stands, and he starts to recite the Quran. People are throwing rocks at him, throwing things at him, attacking him until he's bleeding. Then he goes back to Dar al-Arqam.

The Prophet, صلى الله عليه وسلم, said to him, "Don't go back tomorrow and do this to yourself." He says, "No, I'm going to go back tomorrow. They cannot stop me from being who I am."

This is the courage you need.

The Root of the Problem — Nifaq

You live in a climate where, because of people's fear of Islam, their uncertainty, their perception of Islam, you start to think the solution is to not show that you're a Muslim — to show something else.

And, at its root — and this is not a generalization — at its root, there is some level of Nifaq, some level of hypocrisy in this action. Because Nifaq — hypocrisy — is what? It is to hide who you really are and to show something else.