Recently, Help for Reverts passed the 500 revert sign-up mark – Alhamdulillah.
An incredibly momentous milestone considering the organisation was set up just over two years ago with little to no funding.
Since then, Help for Reverts has grown from a simple mentoring service to a host of offerings for new Muslims to Islam. But is this enough?
Arguably, no. What Help for Reverts has demonstrated (to us) is the hunger for Islam, but also assistance with settling into a new community. To fully achieve this, skills, education and know-how needs to be made accessible by the Muslim community.
So why doesn’t Help for Reverts pay to get these services?
Help for Reverts is independently funded with a conscious effort to replenish funds into the pockets of struggling new Muslims. Those that have been abandoned by their family members, told to leave or have been forced to vacate their impermissible way of making money.
But it’s not that which this service seeks. As mentioned above, it’s the skills and time of Muslims that’s needed – and sadly, both are lacking. In short, it’s time and skills that’s urgently needed, not money.
In a brutal and frank assessment, we have to acknowledge the deficiency of ‘volunteers’ that are putting themselves forward. Many that have lived amongst non-Muslims for almost 50 years have admittedly never had a conversation about Islam with others. Rather than playing a supportive role towards a new Muslim, it’s veteran Muslims that require coaching.
This requires deeper investigation. Why have Muslims not taken on the role of educating others in some capacity? As alluded to in other articles, there’s a cultural economic mindset which needs altering.
For many, there isn’t the slightest concern about what happens to another Muslim, except those living in the same house as them, never mind thinking about the hereafter of a non-Muslim.
Parents have failed in their duties to educate their children prior to moving to western lands, and subsequently, there’s a scarce selection of Islamic-conscious individuals growing up in western societies today.
Overstretched Mosques are expected to take on additional roles such as teaching children about inter-faith dialogue coaching, combating woke ideas, atheistic refutations and more. However, this requires further investment from the Muslim public (such as parents) to facilitate this. In many cases, Mosques and leaders are just not equipped to deal with such issues. Therefore, Muslims in the location need to step up as volunteers to plug this education gap. They must educate themselves first, and then sacrifice their time and offer this to others.
But what does his have to do with Help for Reverts?
Help for Reverts is just another Islamic project which relies on the drive, time, knowledge of the Muslim community.
As the community is in such a dire state with mass self-indulgence, consumerism, religious illiteracy, then organisations such as Help for Reverts will take a hit. This is precisely what’s happened. Volunteers are scarce, and unwilling to put themselves forward, and commit. This results in projects being unable to begin, or continuously operate.
What features at Help for Reverts, is probably a regular occurrence in your local area.
Perhaps the most shocking experience is ‘volunteers’ nominating themselves to assist with clauses. For example, ‘I’m happy to help but my fees are…’, or ‘Sure! Here’s my social links’.
Again, there’ll be the offline equivalent in your local community. Individuals nominating themselves for an expectation of a worldly return. This disgusting trait means blessing-less Islamic projects come and go, and new or young Muslims are left standing.
For those that are looking to give back and transfer good deeds in their hereafter account, please be mindful of the WHY. Without it, we can find ourselves deficient.
May Allah the Almighty enable us to act on what has been covered, Ameen.
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