Sr. Dunia Shuaib, motivational speaker and author, visited us at BIS earlier this month. She was scheduled to arrive and speak on our surprise snow day. Despite the weather in Birmingham, she traveled from Dallas, TX to speak to our community. The weather made us change our original plans from a Friday night community dinner to a Saturday afternoon talk. As a result, the attendance was fairly low, but alhamdulillah her talk was well received by those who were able to be there.
Sr. Dunia spoke on an important and timely topic titled, “Choosing Faith Over Fear.” In today’s heated political climate and current events, many Muslims may feel overwhelmed with practicing their religion. They fear what others may say or do to them since we as Muslims are “different”. We have different beliefs; we appear or dress differently; we pray differently. But yet, we must still hold steadfast to our religion. How is one to uphold their religion when it can actually be quite stressful for some?
Alhamdulillah, we have been given prayers, stories and examples from the time of the Prophet (peace be upon him) on how to handle such fear and anxiety. The companions of the Prophet experienced much worse trials in their lives than we have or ever will in our lives (insha’Allah). Despite the daily tortures they faced, they still remained strong in their faith and believed strongly in the words of Allah (subhana wa ta’ala) and the Prophet (peace be upon him). Knowing our history can help us put our lives into perspective when feeling overwhelmed with all that is taking place in the world today.
Sr. Dunia prepared a handout with daily remembrances and duas that we should be reciting. She reminded us to begin and end each with a daily set of adhkar. We have specific du’as given to us asking for Allah’s protection, what to say when and if we are afraid of a group of people, du’as for fear of oppression, what to say if we feel frightened, and prayers to say when leaving our homes.
May Allah reward Sr. Dunia for taking time out of her busy schedule to visit us. She has visited us several times in the past and has always been a community favorite, mashaAllah. May Allah bless her work and time. We pray that Allah protect the Muslims and keep us strong in our faith to allow us to choose it over any fears we may have in our lives.
If you missed this talk, you can view part of a recording of it on our Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/BirminghamIslamicSociety/videos/10156077273104066/
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