You feel the deep desire within you to do something for this Ummah. You see how the Ummah is suffering and struggling to survive. You are aware of the glorious history this Ummah has had. Your sense of loyalty and belonging pushes you to do something. Congratulations! This is a good sign. Indeed, the difficult times in which we live offer a great opportunity to contribute. There is ample room for substantial contributions, as the needs of our Ummah are dire. I address you today with the ambitious Muslim in mind, one who has a keen desire to offer this Ummah a genuine contribution. You are now faced with a question: How can I offer a meaningful service to this Ummah? Your answer to this question will have long-term consequences for you and probably for the Ummah. If you do your due diligence in identifying the right answer, you could potentially make a big difference. Conversely, if you don’t do your due diligence, you could become one of the millions who are building sandcastles. Or worse, one of those who are doing harm while thinking they are doing good. This blog attempts to help you think through this question and identify the best way your dedication and effort can be helpful and fruitful. It draws your attention to the common flaws that make the efforts of millions not only wasteful but even harmful.

Can I Help My Ummah?

Our Ummah is living in challenging times. Concerned Muslims often display a keen desire to do something about the dire situation. Millions of aspiring Muslims set out to contribute, only for their efforts either to make things worse—despite a good image on the surface—or for their path to drift as personal interests and gains take over the original goal.

A quick survey of those visibly active in the Da‘wah scene will reveal no shortage of reform projects that have exacerbated the predicament of the Ummah and contributed to making things worse, despite producing minor good results. As Muslim activists become more prominent, the risk of being carried away by early success or by an influx of resources becomes substantially greater. We hope this blog can help you avoid becoming a person who brings more harm than good.

Another common issue found among those who seek to contribute is that they choose an area of contribution that is incompatible with their natural talents and capabilities. Probably due to their admiration of a public figure, they have chosen to combat challenges that do not suit their abilities or their knowledge and skills. As a result, valuable years of their lives and a tremendous amount of effort and resources are wasted. They end up producing mediocre—and sometimes negative—results.

This could have been avoided by doing the necessary contemplation and planning before deciding to commit.

There have also been many individuals who poured their lives into areas that excite them but do not add meaningful value to the Ummah. Hence, their contribution has become both a waste and a burden. Just because something excites you does not mean that it is needed by the Ummah or that it would offer good value to Muslims.

Yes, we seek reward from Allah for our sincere contribution, but results also contribute a great deal to the reward we receive. As we offer our time, effort, and lives to Allah, we are supposed to do so diligently, in the same manner we approach matters of livelihood—if not more so. Return on investment while doing work for Allah is an integral part. We should not lower our standards just because we are volunteering to contribute to the Deen. Allah deserves our best!

A Framework for Choosing Your Contribution

I suggest here a simple framework to help one optimally choose one’s contribution to this Ummah. It is not a quick fix. This framework will help get you started on a guided journey of contemplation and careful thinking. It can orient you in the general direction where you are more likely to purify your intentions and optimise a meaningful contribution to our Ummah.

The area(s) where these dimensions overlap are excellent candidates for a good contribution: identifying a genuine need in the Ummah, identifying one’s strengths that enable them to make a meaningful contribution, being realistic about the feasibility of the desired project, and finally, making sure that the means and end of the project are in line with divine guidance.

Let’s zoom in on each of them and provide examples for each.

1. Identifying a Genuine Need

It is essential to identify the real needs of the Ummah. There are real needs that, once addressed, will repel evil or bring good. On the other hand, there are imagined or poorly identified needs where efforts are likely to go to waste.

An example of a genuine need is the widespread lack of proper knowledge of Allah that becomes a cornerstone in one’s worldview. It shapes how you see yourself and the world. It becomes the backdrop of your perception and thinking. This knowledge frames and contextualizes your understanding of everything else.

Another example is promoting the original role of females as mothers and wives. This is an area of extreme ideological pollution and confusion. The consequences of such confusion are massively destructive and are still eating at the Ummah every day. Feminism has ripped human societies apart and has become an existential threat to families, children, marriages, and society. Muslim populations are severely polluted with the feminist ideology and many are not aware of it. Anyone who decides to push against this destructive movement will face fierce opposition and demonization.

An example of an imagined need is the type of ritualistic Sufism such chanting, dancing, and feeling spiritual. Real Tazkiyah in Islam is serious work of transformation and personal excellence in every aspect of life. Tazkiyah is about serving Allah, not serving your feelings. It is about adhering to the path of the Prophet (pbuh) not inventing newer modes of worship. Good inner states are a byproduct of Tazkiyah and are not its ultimate goal.

Another imagined need is the assumption that Muslims need to adopt modern gender roles in order to advance. The assumption is that modernity has reached new heights because it broke from ancient social configurations and liberated women from “oppressive patriarchy.” There are individuals who built their Da’wa career on adopting these Western views and using them to “help” the Muslims advance and break through!

A controversial example would be the relatively recent wave of Muslim entrepreneurship—the advocation for becoming wealthy through excessive marketing and consumer manipulation. It suggested that when Muslims are wealthier, they are stronger and thus can advance the cause for Islam—not necessarily a false premise but the application has led to obsession with wealth and unethical approaches to business. As a result, it is more likely that such Muslim entrepreneurs will ruin their iman and character while maintaining a surface-level cosmetic image of a “successful Muslim.” Often, the damage is subtle, and the distortion in understanding Islam is hidden. Hearts become infatuated with wealth while chanting slogans of righteousness.

One ubiquitous and dangerous phenomenon that falls under this category is the obsession with publicly visible contributions. It has become a dominant thought that contributing to the Ummah comes in one form: public victory! This has led to leaving the most genuine needs of the Ummah unattended and unappreciated. The result is that Muslims are flocking to public contributions while huge gaps that are tearing the Ummah apart are getting bigger and cutting deeper. Both Muslim men and women have become obsessed with becoming public figures and celebrities, and they can only see service to the Ummah in such terms. Mothers are leaving their children for daycare and their homes for cleaning services in order to create a huge YouTube channel discussing public affairs in a manner that gets many views but offers marginal or even negative impact.

Another example of this is teachers who have the capacity to focus on nurturing quality leaders but opt instead to engage with the public directly, as the prospect of having a huge number of students is more attractive. There are individuals who could individually or collectively contribute to addressing serious deficiencies in the state of the Ummah by working privately in smaller circles, but who choose instead more publicly visible roles that position them in ways that limit their substantial contribution.

Another example I would like to highlight here is this new wave of obsession with mental health among Muslim speakers. Building on the unchecked assumption that modern psychology and psychiatry are solid and definitive sciences, many Muslim figures are now spreading propaganda and ideologies that are neither scientifically verified nor Islamically valid. A lot of scientifically disproven claims, such as the claim that mental issues are often caused by “chemical imbalance,” are now parroted by Muslim public figures who fail to fact-check this claim before spreading it among gullible Muslim populations. Couple this with a failure to see how our Muslim tradition has a comprehensive yet different approach to human nature, and voilà! We have Muslim speakers who do not know the real value and practicality of their tradition and who have become mouthpieces for a secular project that aims to remove Islam from our understanding of human nature.

Most of what is diagnosed today as mental health issues consists of symptoms of a deeper problem. When the heart does not truly connect to Allah—even in the case of those who are apparently religious—life’s tests and afflictions from demons can ruin someone’s life. A person with reasonably strong iman is immune to being so fragile that it is broken by such circumstances. The suffering of a heart that is denied a real connection with Allah, even among those who display religiosity, leaves it with no capacity to endure life's challenges and the attacks of the devil. This is an area of great need in our Ummah today, as the level of misinformation and propaganda is global and almost total. This is a topic for a separate blog post, insha'Allah.

Our Ummah has serious needs that are not attended to. Most of them do not generate popularity or public victories. They are waiting for sincere people who are willing to work for Allah without expectations of wealth, power, or fame. They require tremendous sacrifice, and most likely their fruits will be seen only after the lifetime of those who contribute. Their reward will be with Allah on the Day of Judgment. While many celebrate the fruits of public victories that produce minuscule genuine results, these heroes offer their sacrifice in complete silence, with no media coverage or recognition from the masses.

2. Matching the Contribution to Your Capability

A common example of this is when people who do not have a natural aptitude for knowledge and education set their minds on becoming scholars. No matter how hard they work, how many texts they memorize, or how many tests they pass, their performance as teachers and jurists is often awkward and sluggish at best. They produce low-quantity content, and their students turn out to be of poorer quality. They cannot see their limitations, and thus many of them become resentful and vengeful when others do not appreciate them as much as they think they deserve. Due to a lack of natural talent, such individuals lose the forest for the trees. Their intellectual capacity cannot handle the complexity of major matters. Their judgments are often based on reductive reasoning. If you want to recognize such people, they often state their conclusions in final and unequivocal terms as the only truth. They often create a cult around themselves with dogmatic tendencies. They use grand slogans to cover the poor nature of their opinions.

Another example is that of those who get into public debates without having the necessary demeanour, knowledge, skills, or natural capability. Debates are a double-edged sword. They need to be used sparingly. However, they have become a trend and a pathway to gaining popularity. Debates require a dedicated discussion, as the topic is very nuanced and cannot be done justice in a short paragraph. Debates are not won merely by having the truth. There are many mental and social tactics that can influence the outcome. It is not very difficult for falsehood to gain the upper hand in a debate simply because the person promoting it is good at playing the game of debate. It is equally easy for a person who possesses the truth to lose a debate due to dynamics that are unrelated to the subject matter of the debate.

3. Considering What Is Realistically Possible

There are contributions whose time has not yet come. There are layers of prerequisites that need to be in place before it is realistic to engage in them. If this logical order is not observed, such contributions end up being empty slogans and fruitless hard work because they lack a foundation to stand on. They become an incinerator where valuable efforts go up in smoke.

There is a principle in Fiqh that states: whoever seeks an outcome before it is due will be deprived of that outcome. The Messenger (ﷺ) sought to give da'wah to the people of Quraysh and did not seek to establish a Muslim government during the Makkan period. The time was not right for such a pursuit. Jumping over necessary steps is not ambition; it is a lack of reason.

A fair number of political engagement projects fall under this category. For more than a century, Muslim movements have engaged politically in the hope that they would gain some power and have a positive influence. There may have been small wins, but overall, the efforts were not fruitful.

The call for restoring the Khilafah (Caliphate), without realizing the necessary journey of personal and collective education and conditioning of the Muslim population, or at least its elite, will remain in the category of wishful thinking.

4. Ensuring the Means Are Islamically Legitimate

Legend has it that Robin Hood stole from the rich in order to help the poor. We cannot serve Allah by evil means, even if our intentions are good. The Prophet (ﷺ) said: “Allah is Good and accepts only that which is good.”

Sometimes, Muslims who grew up in non-Muslim environments have brought with them a great deal of unconscious baggage when they engage in Islamic matters. Unfortunately, the da'wah scene is full of Jahili means that are used to promote good. Rude behaviour is sometimes used to teach good manners! Selfish attitudes are apparent in projects that claim to serve the public interest. Gangster culture is brought in and packaged as being a brave, outspoken Muslim! Opportunistic tactics are used to garner a large social media following by pontificating on every trendy topic! And on and on goes the list.

Let us take the increasing popularity of gangster-like behaviour among the du'āt, for example. Some of them come from such backgrounds, and after Allah guided them, they wanted to contribute. Speaking and acting like a gangster will attract many young people who have developed a fascination with this culture due to the influence of rap culture, songs, movies, and so on. However, will this have good results overall? The answer might not be easy to find. But we have to keep in mind that speaking and acting like a gangster comes with a great deal of unconscious baggage. Yes, there is a form of bravery and ...positive traits but, in that culture, they are soaked in unconscious patterns of low character, something called سفاهة (*safāhah*) in Arabic, and the person who displays such patterns is called سفيه (*safīh*). When such individuals become role models, they recreate their character in those influenced by them. At some point, this inappropriate manner of behaviour becomes normalized and associated with Islam in certain localities.

It is important to identify these risks alongside the benefits and find ways to minimize the risks and increase the benefits. Good character starts with a good moral taste that emanates from the fitrah. Gangster culture destroys many of the elements of the fitrah. A person who comes from such an environment has partially lost their natural taste for what is appropriate and what is not. Thus, these elements are invisible to them. They cannot tell the difference between someone who is naturally decent and someone who is consciously performing acts of decency. They cannot detect the incoherence in the latter.

I am not suggesting that such people should not engage in da'wah. They can actually be very effective and sincere. But we need to figure out how such da'wah can be conducted without causing too many unwanted consequences.

Another serious example is Muslim charities and the recent business models they have been adopting. Using celebrities to draw a larger audience. Offering royal treatment to celebrities, filming the posh cars, ...the yachts, the extravagant hotels, and the restaurants in a Hollywood fashion to create a certain social media image and draw a larger audience by appealing to their inappropriate curiosity and desires. Spending almost half a million dollars while conducting a campaign with a celebrity. Yes, the charity will most likely raise far more funds than it spends, but is this model legitimate in Islam? Does the end justify the means? Does this help people have sincere intentions, especially when guests receive a cut of the funds, which sometimes reaches six or even seven figures? More questions can be asked, especially about how such a precedent will strategically move charitable work in a good or not-so-good direction.

What does this teach the younger generation? Is this in line with the Islamic legislative and moral systems? Have bodies of scholars looked carefully into this and given it the green light? Are these celebrities good role models who have a positive impact on the general masses, or are charities inviting them simply because they draw larger audiences? These questions, and many more, should have been answered before charities ventured forward in such a manner.

It is easy to produce impressive results when finances are the deciding factor. However, divine guidelines are not here to limit us. They are here to make sure we do not fall for the allure of quick results that are impressive only to cause greater harm in the long term.

What we mentioned above about Muslim speakers unknowingly spreading false claims originating from the propaganda of Big Pharma and a profession in crisis (psychiatry) also falls under this category.

Putting Yourself at Allah’s Service

One of the greatest pitfalls on the path of service is the nafs. The natural tendency of our desires and our nafs (ego) is too powerful and too subtle to ignore. The da’wah scene offers great temptation in the form of popularity and power, some of the strongest inclinations of our nafs. If you enter the world of service without sufficient preparation and sufficient guardrails, you are more likely to fall into temptation. You can start with a seemingly sincere intention to serve the Deen of Allah and end up using the Deen to serve yourself. If the damage resulting from such a phenomenon were limited to yourself or your close circle, it might not be as devastating. But the world is full of those who garnered a large following under the name of serving the Deen and who are now wreaking havoc within the body of the Ummah. Their personal goals of attaining greater prominence, drawing more attention, or making a name for themselves in history lead them to say and do things that create more division within the Ummah, provoke debates and doubts that have already been settled, and stir up unnecessary feuds.

We are not here to solve this predicament. Our conversation is meant for those who are sincere in offering great value to this Ummah and who genuinely seek to avoid anything that ruins such a noble endeavour.

 -Moutasem alHameedy