I heard Allah’s Messenger ﷺ say
My example and the example of the people, is that of a man who made a fire and when
it lighted what was around it, moths and other insects started falling into the fire, the
man tried his best to prevent but they overpowered him and rushed into the fire.
The ignorance of the insect can be shown as an example of humanity. Just as the insect is
fooled by the bright lights of a trap that would eventually destroy it, man is also fooled
by the bright lights of this world which would also destroy him.
Although many men have been fooled in the past, some have managed to run away from the
fire before it consumed them.
My name is Aiman, 26, a couple years ago I was a club promoter, dancer, big on social
media and everything that wasn’t right in life.
I was blinded by Satan, the glitz and glamour. I used to think as I was, being a dancer,
jumping in the middle of a circle and having all eyes on you, making people clap and cheer,
I thought that was glamour I thought that was “Wow what a rush”.
My name’s Nour, they used to know me as Noah. Aiman’s my best friend I’ve known
him since high school. We used to go out together, do everything together, the promotions, the
festivals, the whole lot.
At the time when you’re there, you’re enjoying it. The way the environment is, girls
coming at you, the lights, the music, your heart pounding, the goosebumps. You know the
really good feeling that everyone wants to search for.
Satan did beauty everything around me, from women, to money to acquiring more. He made
it look so good that you wanted more, and if you took a bit, you weren’t satisfied
you still wanted more. I always thought to myself I can go out every night you know.
Wednesday to Sunday night. Just party and hang out, meet people and socialise, and I’m
not hurting anyone - when in actual sense, I was hurting myself.
With a lifestyle of non-stop parties, music and dancing, it wasn’t long until both Aiman
and Nour soon came to realise the emptiness hiding behind all the glitz and glamour.
Night in night out, you go out, you think you had a good night, but once you put your
head on that pillow, you realise the emptiness in your heart. You know, you just went to
sleep and everything you just did was a waste.
I had a really big night, I think the next day when I woke up in my hotel, I just stood
for half an hour, sat there and thought “Is this it, is this what life is, work Monday
to Friday, go out on the Saturday” And I thought to myself there has to be something
more to it.
The time came and I started to realise to myself “What am I doing, what is the purpose
of this, why am I in this scene to begin with” and when I started to realise to myself I
actually sat down and I still remember this day. I just came back from a night out, went
to sleep, woke up, and I was sitting in my bed literally no joke, half an hour at the
most and just wondering, what happens when death comes, death itself, when it comes and
it takes you, what happens after it.
And then that’s when I started to change and I started to realise, and I started to
attend a lecture or two.
At that time when I came to make that decision, I was planning to go to one of the really
big music festivals that I had been to the year before. I had a ticket, I had it with
me, and I think the week before I was getting offers of over $500 for it, even some of my
friends were coming to me with money after they found out that I put on Facebook that
I didn’t want to go anymore. But I knew that the only way I was really going to feel
like I had let go was to burn that ticket, so I burnt it.
One day after work, just went into the car park, threw it on the ground, got a lighter
off someone and just torched it. Probably the best feeling I’ve had till this day.
Soon after making their change, both Aiman and Nour realised that sacrifices were going
to be needed to be made and the Shaitan (Satan) was going to wait for them at every doorstep.
One thing I realised about being in this scene is that one thing that Shaitan, the devil,
threatens you with is being alone. You know, he threatens you that if you leave this people
in this circle, you will have no one. Which is completely false.
At one point it was only me and Nour as mates, as brothers. But then through Islam and as
we started to practice our religion, we started to realise that the brotherhood became bigger.
10 grew to 20, 20 grew to 30, 30 grew to 40, 40 grew to an amount that you can’t even
explain. Sometimes you go pray at another mosque that is completely out of your area
and you meet someone that has seen you before or you’ve seen them. And they’re like
“Oh I remember you brother, I seen you at this talk, I met you at this dinner, I met
you at this fundraiser”. It’s an amazing feeling, this persons coming up to me, just
to say hello, he doesn’t want money off of me, he doesn’t want fame, he doesn’t
want entry into a place that he wants to go in, he just wants to speak to me, because
that’s what Islam is about - Love.
The sweetness of faith was slowly falling into their hearts and over the past three
years, the fruits of their labor were beginning to pay off.
Alhamdulilah [All praise to God] the past three years have been beautiful for me. Alhamdulilah
Allah invited me to Hajj in 2011. That was an experience I would never forget, I took
my mother as well. Alhamdulilah I have been to countries around the world to spread the
religion of Allah. Be France, New Zealand, also go around Australia.
The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) taught us that the best of us in our days of ignorance are
the best of us in our days of religion. To understand what this means entirely, we only
have to look towards what happens next in their journey.
Last year, me and brother Nour went to one of the big music festivals that happen every
year, and we went there to call people to not go in. To save them. Back in the day,
I used to call them to the festival, to enter and enjoy, discounts and so on. And we thought
that we would try to redeem ourselves for what we were doing before you know, calling
people to that environment, so we would go to this, and tell people to stay away. To
try to convince the people of what they’re getting themselves into. Because we had been
there, we knew what it was like, because we’ve experienced it before.
Aiman and Nour are not the first to make such a change, and they’re surely not the last.
However despite their efforts, many Muslims are still sinking into the same traps and
falling into the bright lights of this deceptive world today.
It burns the heart to know that my Muslim brother, sometimes Muslim sister out there,
they’re still in this. And it burns me to know that I can’t do anything about it but
to ask Allah to guide them. Because if we die in this state, a state of ignorance, a
state of not caring. What will our ending be? So it’s a strong urge from myself, turn
to Allah before it’s too late. Just run away, run away from the fire, because it’s
just not worth it.