The Spiritual Activist Fulfilling a Life of Purpose - Corrected Transcription
By Abdul Nasir Jangda | 2026-01-19T06:29:51.446426+00:00 | Topic: General
The Spiritual Activist: Fulfilling a Life of Purpose
Shaykh Abdul Nasir Jangda
Opening
This topic of spiritual activism and particularly this first to go out there and for all intensive purposes roll up our sleeves get our hands dirty and work with people. I want you to understand one thing about this concept of working with people getting involved with the community. This is not just simply the need of the community that the community needs us to go out there and get active and be activist and be involved.
But it is our own personal need. We need you need I need we all need ourselves individually for our own spirituality and for excellence within spirituality to go out there and work with the people and to be active in our society and our community in all different aspects, whatever might suit you, whatever might be your area of expertise or your level of comfort according to that. But we need to go out there and we need to engage with humanity and that is at the core of not just activism, but that is at the core of spirituality.
The Greatest Spiritual Activist
And what I wanted to talk about here in the time that I have to basically elaborate upon this and to also back up this the statement that I've made is I wanted to talk about the greatest activists and also the individual who has achieved the greatest excellence within spirituality throughout the history of humanity. And that is, of course, Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, the messenger of Allah, the prophet of Allah, Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم. There was no greater spiritual master and there was no greater activist and something very profound and very interesting from his life.
And when this occurred to me that this would be the right issue to talk about and to address here, I realized the need to kind of break things down just a little bit, particularly in conferences and programs that are for the general public. And it's all inclusive. Everyone is there.
It's very important that we don't assume anything on behalf of the audience. And we discuss every single item with its proper and giving it its proper due.
The Prophet's Temperament Before Prophethood
The first thing I want you to understand is the temperament of the prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم, his personality. You could call it his personality, his temperament, the prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. The way that we know about his personality, his temperament and his conduct even before prophethood is actually in the very first chapter. The very first chapter within Sahih Bukhari is (بَابٌ بَدْءِ الْوَحْيِ - Babu Badil Wahi), the chapter about the beginning of revelation.
That chapter talks about that blessed day on which the prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم received divine revelation and that mission of prophethood began. And it talks about how when he came home, very overwhelmed and shaken up by this profound experience that he had just had. He comes home, asks his wife to wrap him up in a shawl or blanket and he's sitting there shaking and feeling the weight, the burden of what's just been laid on his shoulders.
Khadijah's Testimony
And as he's sitting there and his wife is holding his hand, trying to console him, trying to inspire him. She actually says, she says, what are you worried about? Allah will not waste someone like you. Why would Allah not waste someone like you? What is so unique and special about you? And then she actually, the things that she rattles off, the items that she lists are very interesting.
She says that you are there for the poor and the needy. The orphans and the widows know they can depend on you. The destitute, they know you on a first name basis. You are there, you are constantly, your entire life is based on serving humanity. You have been chosen based on those qualifications. You have been chosen for a very, very divine purpose.
And that is to bring enlightenment and guidance to humanity, to deliver this message to all of mankind. And that is who the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was even before prophethood.
The Period of Contemplation
Now what happens is that, I'm going to talk a little bit about before the era of prophethood again. I just wanted to highlight, this is the type of person that he was. Well, in the few years, in the couple of years before that divine message arrived and that prophethood was bestowed upon his shoulders, the revelation of (Quran 96:1) اقْرَأْ بِاسْمِ رَبِّكَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ, before that came, alright? The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, he became so concerned with the situation of people. And he all at the same time was trying to make sense of everything that was going on around him.
Because he obviously understood and knew that the way things are is not right. It can't stay this way. There's no status quo here. Things have to change, things have to get better. Exactly how, why, what, that's what I got to go figure out. And so when he became extremely concerned with society's current state, he started practicing something which is referred to again in the hadith of Bukhari, which basically means he would go and he would isolate himself.
He would spend sometimes weeks at a time, weeks at a time. He would go up to the cave of Hira, right? Remove himself from society, from community. And he would go to the cave of Hira and he would isolate himself.
And there he would meditate, he would ponder, he would think, and he would just try to figure out exactly what's going on and what needs to be done. Well, eventually one day in this process of being there and meditating and pondering and thinking, Jibreel عليه السلام comes, the divine message is given and the mission of Prophet has been bestowed.
Now fast forward to what I was talking about. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, goes home. He's shaken up, his wife is consoling and telling him, you're an amazing person. You must have been chosen for this message, for this mission, because of how amazing of a person you are and what your contribution to humanity is and what it could further be.
All right. At that time, now we really figure out what's going to happen. So he has naturally, by personality, he's somebody that goes and works with people, serves humanity. To try to figure out exactly what's going on and to spiritually preserve himself and to also figure out the deeper, the big answers about life and about society's current state. He started practicing isolation, separating himself from people, so that he could protect himself and also figure out what the right answer here is. But when the divine message comes, when prophethood comes, look what instruction he's given by Allah.
The Divine Command to Activism
Allah سبحانه وتعالى tells him in surah number 74, surah al-Muddathir, Allah tells him:
O you who wraps himself [in clothing], stand up and warn!
What are you doing sitting there wrapped up in a blanket and a shawl? What are you doing? stand up. فَأَنذِرْ go warn people about the dire situation and about the dangers of their current circumstances.
And then he tells him:
And your Lord glorify.
Stand up, go warn the people and proclaim the greatness only of your Lord. And then further instructions are given:
And warn your closest kindred.
The closest of your family members, your tribesmen, your own people. Go and warn them, dialogue with them, talk to them. Try to make them understand what this message is and why it's so necessary. Further instructions are there:
Say, "This is my way; I invite to Allah."
Announce, proclaim, tell the people. هذه سبيلي - This is my path. This is my job. This is the purpose of my life. This is my contribution to humanity. This is my service to Allah, my service to God.
أَدْعُو إِلَى اللَّهِ - I call humanity, anyone and everyone to Allah. What's interesting about the grammar of this ayah is that there are certain sentences. This is a verbal sentence أَدْعُو إِلَى اللهِ. A verbal sentence typically and a lot of times and this is one of those instances. It requires an object. I call who? I call what to Allah? It requires an object, and there's no object provided here.
And this is done intentionally within classical Arabic. This is one of the rhetorical functions of classical Arabic and the Quranic language. That when that object is not provided, it basically creates versatility and variety and diversity in the meaning.
It means anyone and everyone. I call actively, it's the present and future tense verb. I actively call anyone and everyone to Allah.
With insight.
With foresight, with vision, with understanding, with knowledge, with wisdom. So I have a foundation. But what I do with that foundation? Do I just benefit myself? Do I just take care of me? Am I just watching out and looking out for number one? No, no, no.
I call people. I take this message to people. Everything I have in my life, all the benefit I have, all the knowledge, all the wisdom, all the experience I have, I invested into the betterment of humanity and their condition.
This was the message that was delivered to him. And this was the divine instruction given to him. No more reclusion for you. You gotta go out and mix it up with the people. Get your hands dirty. Alright?
The Challenge of Working with Humanity
Now, this brings about a very important question. You have someone of the spiritual stature of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. The greatest, like I said, the person who has achieved the greatest heights in spirituality to ever walk the face of the earth. So you have someone of the spiritual status and stature of Muhammad Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم. And who is he having to go and talk and dialogue and
discuss and even debate and go back and forth and, you know, mix it up with? How are these people? What is the nature of these people? What is the condition of these people?
These people are the lowest of the low. I mean, think about how low this time must have been that that time period, that era is referred, those people of that era are referred to as (الجاهلية - Jahiliyyah). A time of ignorance. I mean, just think about what that means. So these people are at the lowest of the low.
And you have somebody of the spiritual stature of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم having to go and mingle and mix and talk and discuss and work and spend all day with those people.
Indeed, for you by day is prolonged occupation.
You gotta swim all day long throughout the ocean of humanity. You can't take a break from this. No, no, this is your lifelong job. And you know what that parable is? In the Quran, Allah gives the parable of swimming. سَبْحًا طَوِيلًا - a long swim.
Imagine being afloat, swimming out in the middle of a huge lake or even out in the middle of the ocean. And you start to get tired and you look around and land is nowhere in sight. Is stopping an option for that swimmer? It's not.
He's gotta keep going and keep going and keep going otherwise he will perish, he will drown. Allah told the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم,doesn't matter how difficult it gets, doesn't matter what the circumstances become, there is no end in sight. You gotta keep going, keep going, keep going.
Because there is a sea of humanity out there and they need you. They need you.
Does Activism Damage Spirituality?
But the question that remains here is, does this damage his own personal spiritual condition? That's the question I want you to think about. Somebody of the excellence of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم dealing with horrible nefarious people. Does that negatively affect him? Is it justified for him to say, man, I spend all day long talking and working with these people and it's just killing me. My iman, my taqwa, me, me, me. I'm dying here spiritually. Is that a valid assessment? Is that a valid conclusion?
The answer again lies within the life of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and the sequence of events that unfolded. When things reached their very worst, 10, nearly 11 years after the preaching and the message began. 10, nearly 11 years after the message began and things were at their absolute worst. Things were at their absolute worst. And at that point in time, was the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم becoming spiritually tainted by dealing with these people, by talking to these people? No.
The Isra and Mi'raj: The Ultimate Spiritual Experience
An incident from the life of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم occurred and we call that incident الإسراء والمعراج al-Isra wal-Mi'raj). The journey by night and then the ascension above the heavens. And on that night the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم achieved greater heights than any human being has ever experienced and will ever experience.
On that day, that night, he became closer to Allah than any human being has ever experienced and will ever experience:
Then he approached and came closer, and was at a distance of two bow lengths or nearer.
The Quran tells us that he drew closer and then again he drew even more nearer than that فَكَانَ قَابَ قَوْسَيْنِ أَوْ أَدْنَى - It was literally the distance between them was the distance of two bows, like a bow and arrow, was the distance of two bows or even closer than that.
Only Allah and His Rasul صلى الله عليه وسلم know exactly how near and how intimate of an experience was achieved on that night. It's almost to the point of it's like saying it's nobody else's business. And I'm going to paraphrase here when I do this a lot of times, especially to explain Quran, understand please, I'm not trying to disrespect Quran, but I'm trying to put it into context.
I want younger people to understand. Young people are too used to hearing the Quran translated as Thou art, giveth, thou giveth, taketh, right? And a bunch of words with th, th, th at the end of it. They're too used to hearing Quran translated like that and it doesn't talk to me, it doesn't speak to me because I don't even understand what that just said, right? But it's almost kind of like when you are really close with somebody and you have a real personal relationship with someone.
And when somebody asks you about it, say, man, that's my homie, none of your business. Me and him are tight, man, we're homies, right? Allah سبحانه وتعالى is letting us know nearness, intimacy, closeness was achieved on that night. And it was the distance of two bows or even closer than that, only they know.
The Lesson: Service Elevates Spirituality
And a very valuable lesson was learned on that night. That when you go out there and when you work with humanity and you serve the people, and you work with people to improve the human condition and the human experience, it doesn't taint you, it doesn't lower your own level in any way, rather what it does, it further elevates you and brings you closer to Allah. That's very important to understand.
And I'm going to also logically quantify what I just said. You know, I can speak about this from a personal perspective, but this is an MSA conference, so y'all won't understand what I'm talking about, but I'm still gonna throw it out there, all right? When you have children, once you have a child, you know what is
more impressive and more endearing to you than somebody giving you a gift? It's when somebody gives a gift to your child. If somebody gives me a nice gift, it's like (جَزَاكَ اللَّهُ خَيْرًا - jazak Allahu khayran) thank you very much.
Somebody gives something to me from my daughter, it's just, I won't forget it, because that's my child. I love that child more than I love my own life. I would sacrifice my life for my child.
Human beings are the creation of Allah. And Allah loves each and every single human being so much more than their own mothers do. The love of a mother, which is unbelievable. The love of a mother is such an amazing thing, Allah has praised it, the Rasul عليه السلام has praised it. But Allah loves each and every single human being exponentially more than their own mother loves them. So when you go out there and you serve humanity, and you take care of human beings, and you serve the people, you become extremely near and dear to Allah.
That is an extremely endearing act to Allah, because you just took care of His creation, and He loves you for it. And that's what we find here in the example of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. He went out there, did not hesitate, and got his hands dirty with the people.
And Allah سبحانه وتعالى gave him a station, Allah gave him an experience that no other human being will ever experience. Because he was willing to go out there and literally give up everything for the sake of the people and serve the people. Be an activist.
The Importance of Balance
Now this does not preclude, in fact I would go as far as saying it is still necessary at the same time to maintain your spirituality. And this is where balance comes into play. I emphasize the aspect of activism and serving the people and working with society, because that is being drastically and completely overlooked today.
We sometimes can overemphasize spirituality to the point where we make it seem impractical. I've had many many young people come up to me and tell me that they're getting this idea of practicing Islam or achieving excellence spiritually that it requires them to recluse themselves from society. And that's the farthest thing from the truth.
And that's why I emphasize activism. But at the same time, it is important that we maintain a sense of balance. And that's something that one of my teachers told me.
One of my teachers told me this. He actually told me a little phrase in Urdu. And it was very interesting. He was talking about that when you graduate and you go back and then you start working with the community and you're giving khutbahs and lectures and youth group and halaqahs and doing programs and activities and conferences and seminars. Then he told me that as you continue to get out there and be public and work with the people, make sure you also continue to take out time regularly and consistently to find a personal close connection with Allah. Achieve intimacy with Allah.
Strengthen and reaffirm your relationship with Allah. Because that's extremely important. Balance is always necessary.
But understand that you will spiritually also benefit from serving people, from serving humanity, and from getting active in society.
The Collective Nature of Worship
And the last thing I wanted to point out, and this is something that fascinates me. And that is even in the area of worship, what is the primary means? What is probably the best means of connecting to Allah and establishing or reestablishing your connection with Allah? Anyone, any suggestions? Salah, prayer.
Salah, the prayer is the prime, the most optimal method for reestablishing, reconnecting yourself with Allah and coming closer to Allah in bonding and spiritually excelling. This is the primary means of doing so. And سبحان الله, one of the key features of Salah, you could almost call it the essence, the core of the experience of Salah is actually Surah Al-Fatiha.
There's a Hadith Qudsi, which means that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, has told us that Allah Himself has said. And it's a beautiful Hadith Qudsi (Muslim hadith 395). And it details that when we stand in our prayer and we recite Surah Al-Fatiha, as we recite each and every single verse, ayah of Surah Al-Fatiha, Allah responds directly to us.
When we read Al-Fatiha in our prayer, it is a direct conversation between us and Allah. It is the essence and the core of that experience of prayer. You're directly talking to Allah, back and forth. He's making time to respond to you. It's an amazing experience. But سبحان الله look at Surah Al-Fatiha.
And I always tell people that Surah Al-Fatiha is like the table of contents for the entire Quran. It gives you a list of the key themes, concepts, the core themes of the Quran, and then the rest of the Quran goes on detailing those things. And one of the things that Surah Al-Fatiha emphasizes very, very eloquently and very subtly is:
It is You we worship and You we ask for help.
إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ - Only you do we worship? Do we enslave? Do we commit? Do we dedicate ourselves? Only to you, only you do we worship.
Right? Now I want you to pay attention to what I'm saying. Only you do What's the next word everybody? نَعْبُدُ - We. Is that singular or plural? That's plural. But then that's a little bit confusing.
What if you're praying by yourself? Can you change it to the singular? Anybody? No, you can't. That's the way it is. That's the way it's been taught. That's the way it was revealed. And that's the way we read it. We
always read it in the plural.
Even when we're by ourselves. Even when we're praying by ourselves. Because it's emphasizing something. And it's emphasizing unity. It is a collective experience. Even worship and devotion, dedication to Allah has a collective element to it.
Go on a little bit further in Surah Al-Fatiha:
Guide us to the straight path.
اهدنا - Show us the way. Guide us. Singular or plural everybody? Thank you all four people for answering. Alright? Singular or plural everybody? Plural. There we go. That's a little bit better. It's plural. Guide us. Show us the way. It's a collective experience.
There's a beautiful supplication of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم :
O Allah guide me among those whom You have guided.
O Allah guide me. Show me the way. That's a pretty amazing supplication. But it doesn't end there. فيمن هديت - Among those people whom you have guided. Meaning don't guide me individually or by myself. Don't leave me stranded. Don't leave me out to dry. But guide me and put me in the company of people in a group of people that are also guided.
So this is something that is emphasized in the Quran and even emphasized through the beautiful prophetic supplication. And that is we have a collective experience. We have a responsibility to ourselves to serve humanity.
The Collective Responsibility
And that's where I started and this is where I want to end. That serving humanity when talking about it we should never ever get the idea or get the impression that we are doing human beings. We are doing society a favor. We are sacrificing our personal time to serve people and to serve the community and society. No, but we need it. Because we will be spiritually incomplete.
We will be spiritually inadequate. If we do not roll up our sleeves get our hands dirty and go out there and work with society. Work with people. Deal with the issues and the problems that they have. And be a part of the solution. Because you know what it is? If you isolate yourself and you are worried about me, me, me not only are you not solving the problem but you are actually becoming part of the problem.
You are becoming part of the problem. And I don't want to take the talk in this direction because I personally think that these type of forums are to motivate and to inspire and to encourage. But if the talk kind of leads there then I got to go there. Alright. And I apologize in advance if this offends anyone. Alright. Sorry y'all. Alright.
The Warning Against Spiritual Isolation
But the Prophet peace and blessings be upon him tells us about an individual in the people, amongst the people in a time before us that he was extremely devout and pious and righteous. And his society was absolutely corrupted. And it came to the point where the decision and the decree from Allah came for the destruction of these people.
And at that time there is a question remaining well, what about this individual? Is he included? Is he grouped into this punishment that will be unleashed upon the society? And the response was that yes, you start with him. Because he saw all of this corruption and chaos going on around him. And it never troubled him. It never bothered him. It never made him step out of his comfort zone and his comfort level. But he was satisfied. He was content with doing what he did. I'll take care of me. You worry about you. That was his mentality.
And so he became part of the problem. Aisha رضي الله عنهاthe mother of the believer, she asked : صلى الله عليه وسلم Rasulullah
(Bukhari hadith 3346)
Will we be destroyed while there are righteous people among us?
And he said:
(Bukhari hadith 3346)
Yes, when evil becomes abundant.
When evil dominates a society and a community, then everyone gets enveloped. Because those righteous pious people that are there, they actually became a part of the problem maybe without even realizing. Because they didn't do anything to better the condition of society and of community.
Of course, results aren't in our hands. We'll do what we can. But we got to put forth that effort. And realize that if we are true, and we are sincere in our desire to become close to Allah. And I don't think there's any human being, I'm even talking about outside of the realm of being Muslim. I don't think anybody would ever deny the fact that they want to find peace and tranquility and meaning of life, which we define as iman and a connection with Allah. Every Muslim wants to have an extremely close, deep, meaningful connection with Allah, a relationship with Allah. Then becoming active, serving the people, going out there, and dealing with the trouble and the difficulty that might come along with it.
Conclusion
Nobody said it's gonna be easy. It's not gonna be easy. I'll tell you right now, there will be difficult times. There will be extremely tough times. But remember what happened with Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم When the going got tough, then the mercy of Allah came to his rescue. And that was the moment that he tasted the sweetness of a true meaningful connection and intimacy with Allah.
And that opportunity is available to all of us. That when we go out there and we serve humanity and society, and things do become negative or tough for us, that is the moment we will taste the sweetness of our iman. May Allah جل جلاله give us all the ability to practice everything that's been said and heard.
Thank you for your time.