So last weekend I happened to find myself in Dallas and
decided to go shopping at one of the malls (Dallas shopping is the best!). I
was browsing the shoe section at Macys and asked an employee for help. This
employee was an African American woman wearing a russet red head covering.
Assuming she was a fellow Muslim, I greeted her with “Asalam-o-alaykum,” the Arabic
expression meaning “peace be upon you” that Muslims greet each other with. She was overjoyed to meet another Muslim!
This women told me of her amazing story of how she found Islam and converted to
this beautiful religion. I could see
that she had a difficult life and I truly was happy that she had found inner
peace. She took the shahadah not too long ago, and was brave enough to start
wearing the hijab (headcovering) to work.
One aspect of her story really troubled me.
She told me of a dilemma she was facing; she converted to Islam but had no
Muslim friends. This woman was so eager to learn more about Islam, and she had
visited the mosque multiple times hoping to meet people that could help, but no
one ever approached her or made her feel welcome. She felt neglected and uncomfortable.
And it wasn’t just one mosque where she experienced this; she had visited
multiple mosques hoping to find one where she felt like she belonged, but had
no luck.
Dallas is a metro hub and has
a HUGE Muslim community mashallah. You can literally find a Muslim at every
corner. So what confused me was the fact that no one reached out to this woman. It
is such a tragedy that she felt this way. Are we, as a Muslim community, not
open enough to newcomers? This is an
issue that pertains to Muslim communities
everywhere.
As a community, I strongly believe
that we Muslims need to be more welcoming to the “strangers” at our mosques. If
a stranger is sitting in our midst at jummaa prayer, we are very likely to pay
no attention to them. When a newcomer shows up, no one really wants to put in the
effort to start a relationship from scratch. It is so easy to hang out with the
family and friends we have already established relationships with and stay
within our comfort zone. But we have to make an effort to reach out to the
newcomers that come into our communities. I choose the term “newcomer” because
it is very flexible and could mean a lot of things. A newcomer could be someone
who has recently reverted to Islam. A newcomer could be a Muslim brother or
sister that has moved from elsewhere. A newcomer at the mosque could be someone
who comes from a Muslim background but does not practice the
religion and has never really been to the masjid before. A newcomer could simply be someone that is not Muslim but is interested in learning about Islam!
So how can we go about fixing this problem? Start by
reevaluating your own actions.
1) If
you see someone new at the masjid, start a conversation with them!
Honestly, a two minute conversation can
make all the difference in making the other person feel welcome. Get out of
your comfort zone and reach out to others. Be warm and genuine. A person will
only return to the masjid if they feel welcome.
See how easy it is to greet another?
2) Don’t
expect anyone else to do the job of “welcoming the newcomer”. You do it, even
if you don’t consider yourself a regular at the masjid or qualified enough. The
mosque is a place of worship, a house of Allah, and it is our job to beautify
it with actions that God loves. It is a shared responsibility for all of us. Did
you know is our duty as Muslims to do dawah? Simply being nice to a stranger an
the masjid IS a form of dawah. (On a side note, I want to point out that dawah
is not only for non-Muslism, but also for our fellow Muslims!) Our Prophet
(Peace be Upon Him) taught us to be gentle and kind in all matters; we should
feel privileged and honored that God is giving us the opportunity to welcome others
into the community.
So the next time you see someone
new at the masjid, don’t ignore them. Greet them. Start up a conversation. And
don’t forget to smile, it’s Sunnah:)
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