Bismillah

Alhamdulillah. Yesterday was truly a rare opportunity given. Allah s.w.t has made it all possible. Allah works wonders, Subhanallah.

I have not been exposed to many non-muslims before. I can count the number of chinese or indians whom are considered as friends. Even though i am living in a community where chinese are dominant, i can sadly say i don't know many of them. So, simply said, i am oblivious to their culture and religious practices (oblivious yes, but not totally oblivious)

But yesterday i've been given the opportunity to actually talk (really talk) to a Buddhist believer. She was very approachable. We were giving out flyers regarding Valentine's Day, but our aim was to approach just muslims, since we wanted talk to them (muslims) why we are prohibited to celebrate the day. We thought being a non-muslim, why should one care if Islam prohibits it, since a non-muslim is not obligated to adhere to any Islamic practices.

Elly (i think that's the way her name is spelled) waved to us, showing interest in what we were doing. I actually hesitated, contemplating whether i should approach her or not. But seeing others were walking towards her, i decided to follow them.

When we explained that we were giving out flyers about Valentine's Day, she quickly asked for one. I felt weird by her actions, because i thought she wouldn't be interested in reading or listening to a bunch of muslimahs talking about why celebrating Valentine's Day is haram and such.

We started out by talking about Valentine's Day from the Islamic view as well as Buddhist view. Islam prohibits it but in Buddhism, there is no concrete prohibition. Then we started to talk about Buddhist practices and Islamic practices, the similarities and the differences in both faiths. Elly did not stopped talking or avoided us when we were talking about Islam and its practices. I can sensed her sincerity when she talked to us.

I felt truly in awe. If i was alone and being approached by Buddhist believers (at 12midnight, mind you), maybe i wouldn't be so open. Maybe i'll run away. But Elly did not, and this shows that she really was sincere.

Elly seems like a potential person we can do dakwah on. She was open, approachable and agreeable. I must not let the chance pass. A friend told me, sometimes we already have the chance, the opportunity of dakwah, yet we let it pass. Just like a story she told, one muslim exchanged numbers with a non-muslim during a brief encounter at the airport. After 4 long years of silence, the muslim decided to contact the other party. And the message he received was, "I've waited for 4 years to hear about Islam from you."

Lesson learnt: build rapport with the potential person to do dakwah on. Sometimes they really wanted to know more about Islam, and they are willing to wait for the one person who told them about Islam to contact them again.

Same goes with Elly. Maybe she will wait for us to contact with her again, and talk with her about Islam. Who knows? Only He knows...

Wallahu 'alam