Tea Stories: One-tea 👶🏽☕🦋🐿️🫖🕊️🇵🇸

Tea Stories: One-tea 👶🏽☕🦋🐿️🫖🕊️🇵🇸

73:10 'Bear patiently that which they say and take leave of them in a beautiful manner'

- Approach them for the sake of Allah SWT.

- Address them for the sake of Allah SWT.

- Be patient with them for the sake of Allah SWT.

- Leave them beautifully for the sake of Allah SWT.

At this difficult time we will hear many things that will stir deep frustration and emotion. We may be tempted to say cruel and personal things out of anger and this is so understandable. When I read this passage it made me realise that if I say rude and personal things then I am simply perpetuating the cycle of aggression. That perhaps I need to consider my intention before I speak. 💚 I do not need to be neutral but I do need to be intelligible and I do need to be better informed.

There are so many measured people who are highly educated and experienced and when they speak on political issues they have a clear message. We can follow them and learn about the history so we too are equipped to speak the truth. They communicate the truth and they sound like someone who we can trust. When I hear people fuelled by emotion saying cruel and unreasonable things I immediately think that they are simply jumping on the bandwagon and fuelling the rhetoric. Not to be trusted. 🙊

When Allah SWT advised Prophet Muhammad pbuh to bear patiently it was a multitude of reasons.

- Reacting with extreme anger and irrational name calling would drive people away.

- Dehumanising would send the message that Islam is not peace loving.

- Manipulating through bending the truth or perhaps just completely making things up would cause a loss of trust in him and what he was preaching.

- Prophet Muhammad pbuh communicated the truth and patiently stood by it.

- Attacking on the offensive or the defensive when the situation did not call for it would lead to trauma and violence.

- When we do things for the sake of Allah SWT our ego does not run the show (find the dua by the 7 sleepers from surah Kahf). Our communication becomes clear (find the dua Moses said before visiting Pharoah - Surah Taha). Fear cannot debilitate us into inaction (find the dua that Prophet Ibrahim said when Gibraeel offered to save him from the fire).

At this difficult time we can tap into Allah SWT. Let's make it make sense. Let's not dilute the narrative. We are in for the long game, and so we need to have -

1) an informed narrative, so we can seek to access information that is unbiased.

2) a commitment to make small changes that are long lasting (the hadith about how God prefers small changes, that are long lasting) so we don't forget about this once it's off mainstream news.

3) an understanding of the concept of 'a beautiful manner'.

These are difficult times let's all seek Allah's help through prayer and sabr. ⭐💫🌟