This picture was taken when the bearer of the printed shirt was in mosque praying
Introduction
This post is an extension of an image posting I made on my personal Facebook account last night.
The present post does not intend to expose the brother, whose action inspired this entry. It rather aims to create awareness among my fellow Muslims, especially the youngsters, for I believe there are hundreds, if not thousands, out there, who have been doing the same, thinking it’s alright to do so.
In the Mosque
Last night, in a prayer room of one of the dormitories (Mahallah), at the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), a brother wore a t-shirt, bearing the picture above during Isha prayers. I noticed the printing immediately when I stood behind him, to start my prayers. I managed to take a snapshot of his back, before joining the prayers.
After the prayers, I shook hand with him, outside the prayer room, and I saw (3) printed cross(es) on the front of the shirt . It’s usually printed on the heart. Correct?
Different Christian sects have different meanings for the cross. But what is certain is that, the cross is recognized and used by Christians, as a religious symbol.
When I asked him, why he had to put on this particular shirt, and come for prayers, he told me it was given to him (as a gift) by a friend. I supposed that friend of his, is a Christian. I assumed so, because I can’t imagine a Muslim, giving this kind of present (gift) to his fellow Muslim.
The brother then asked me, “Is it prohibited to pray in this?!” I don’t want to be judgemental here, but the tone and the body language, with which the question was posed, gave the impression of “You think I don’t know?”
After I explained… he agreed not to put it on, anymore…
“So, do you mind sharing with us, your explanation to him?” You may ask. Right? 🙂
I said to him:
In response to his question, I said the following:
- It's not about Halal and Haram, as much as it’s about appropriateness and inappropriateness. Can you imagine a Christian going to the church, wearing a shirt with ‘Islam' or ‘Mosque' printed on it? (His facial expressions started to change here).
- Look at the crosses on your heart (printed on the shirt). Is it acceptable that you are praying with this on your heart?
- Imagine someone praying behind you. Instead of him saying ‘Ameen!' at the end of Surah Al-Fatihah, he'll read ‘Church', which is written on your shirt.
At this point, he told me, he won't put it on, anymore.
What I couldn’t say to him
Alhamdulillah… The objective of the conversation was met in a minimum time. Therefore, there wasn’t any need to prolong it. However, a reader of this entry may still be wondering; what’s wrong with those printings, on his shirt?
Printings on shirts are meant to promote brands, products and beliefs. That’s why soccer fans usually wear t-shirts and jerseys, bearing designs and pictures of their favourite clubs and players. By doing so, they are displaying their loyalty and pleasure for such teams and players. They also promote, knowingly or unknowingly, their favourite teams, players, or whatsoever is printed on their shirts, to the outside world.
The same thing applies here. The brother is promoting Christianity, through a present he values, which was given to him, by a good friend of his. The bad news is, he’s not aware of the magic such a gift can do.
I have no doubt, that he’s not a Christian, nor does he believe in it, but the harm of his innocence for other innocent people is great. We can have Christian friends, but we should not associate ourselves to their beliefs.
It’s important to indicate here, that Prophet Jesus, known to Muslims as Prophet Isa, was not but a Muslim. That’s why, Muslims believe in Jesus (Isa), but not in Christians. The true religion that was brought by the Prophet Isa (Jesus), was modified by the followers of the religion, to suit their desires.
Lessons I learnt from the experience
- People don’t want to hear ‘Halal’ and ‘Haram’ even when they are “caught in action.” So if you care for them, and choose to advise them, it will be wise to avoid using such terms, plainly.
- There are so many instances, when we can seize the opportunity to remind a brother or a sister. That doesn’t mean we are better than them, but it serves as a constant reminder, for us to reinforce such values of Islam, in ourselves.
- How we prepare ourselves, and dress up for Solat influences the tranquility and focus we attain in the Solat itself. That determines how our rewards are likely to be awarded.
- We have the right to dress in the way we choose to, but we should be mindful of the impact our dress may have in others. Such influence can be the attraction we receive when the opposite gender (male or female) dresses immodestly. An image or a printing on the back of our shirt can cost someone his whole Solat.
- We should be mindful, for sometimes, we promote other beliefs at the expense of Islam, while we think we are doing the right thing.
- The Christian friend of our brother has reached us in the mosque, without using force and aggression. What have you and I done, so far, to spread Islam, in our communities, let alone reaching out, to non-Muslims, in their places of worship?
- They have reached our mosques. A clear indication that they have been in our houses and schools, for a long time now.
- Don’t underestimate the change you inspire in others.
Conclusion
The conversation between my friend and I took less than 3 minutes. When he agreed not to put it on anymore, I apologized to him; for bothering him. That wasn’t to tell him he had done the wrong thing, but to let him feel that the reminder was the common good of him, me and other fellow Muslims.
Before this encounter, I knew the brother in person, although from far. To be honest, I know (see) him in the mosque, more than I know him elsewhere. We used to exchange ‘Salam’ whenever we bounced into each other. But this interaction has made us good friends.
I pray that Allah opens our hearts, to accept the truth always. I also pray that Allah forgives our shortcomings. May Allah grant us the courage to take responsibility of spreading the Al-Kalimah Al-Tayyibah.
Allah knows best.
Allahu Hafiz J
Assalaamu’alaikum wr wb
Jazakallahu khayr kathiran for an interesting article with many reminders.
If I may add, the main problem with us not conveying the message of Islam is because we tend to think that we are ALREADY doing da’wah when we try to improve our fellow Muslims. This is more correctly islah, not da’wah. But because we use the term da’wah loosely when in fact we mean islah, we THINK we have done our da’wah and fulfilled our fard’ ayn when we try to improve our fellow Muslims. Yet obviously, we have not done so seriously. We’ve only done islah.
Da’wah originally is targeted at the non-Muslims and if the eraly Muslims had thought like we do over here, we would never be Muslims as they would just be trying to improve the Muslim community only in Arabia.
People also misunderstand that when the Prophet (saaw) lamented about his concern about his ummah, people think his ummah is ONLY the Muslims when he has been clearly been sent to ALL mankind and he has asked us to convey his Message to all of mankind and he (saaw) is worried about the number from mankind, not just Muslims, who will go to the hellfire.
But over here (Malaysia and Singapore) in general we remain generally parochial. We tend to be inward-looking. Worse still, now we have Muslims bending over backwards trying to make Islam seem accomodating to the other religions and accepting things like religious pluralism etc.