AHMAD AMMAR AND ME

Who do you think Ahmad Ammar is to me? My friend, my cousin, my brother? No.

I logged in into my facebook account via my smartphone a few days ago and I saw a lot of entries were posted as dedications to this one man that I never heard his name, Ahmad Ammar. I chose to ignore it because firstly I thought he was just a man from middle east who died in the battlefield or something. First thing that came into my mind was, ‘Mullah’. I thought he was a Mullah or Ayatollah, or somebody that held that kind of position. Secondly, I ignored the news because I was surfing with my smartphone. So the screen was small, internet connection was weak, and it takes a very long time to open any source.

That’s why I only use my smartphone  to Whatsapp, Wechat, Facebook and some apps only. To surf, to study, I prefer my laptop.

Yesterday I turned on my laptop, and I still saw some more posts about this Ahmad Ammar. Something that drove me to read about this young man was, he was a Malaysian, OMG, I was wrong. He was not this Mullah guy. Then I opened some links…

After reading his story, I feel really touched. I’m not going to retell the story, but I will only give my reflection. Basically he died in an excident and was buried in a very special place where some Sahabahs and scholars were buried. In fact, he was the first Malaysian who was ‘selected’ to be buried there.

His died when he was 20 years old, he devoted his life to Islam. He went to Syria and became a part of many dakwah programs. When he was involved in the excident, he was on his way to meet some new students in a dakwah program. His attitude made the people around him liked him so much, his aim was to die in the path of dakwah, his days were filled with al-Quran recitation, he practiced volunteerism, and his free time was not a free time because he gave himself to the community as a devotion to the religion.

20 years old boy, but so many achievements in life.

How old are we now? Do we have as many achievements as him? How much have we gave for Islam? All of us must ask this, to ourselves.

I involve in Briged Bakti, an NGO that also practice volunteerism. I went to a few places and did a few programs with my friends in Briged, basically to bring Islam to the community. If we die today, I think we’ll die like Ahmad Ammar. But today we are still alive. Nobody knows how long we will stay in this path, maybe one day we’ll stop doing this thing, maybe one day we’ll keep doing this, who knows. But the question is, how will we die soon?

I have improved myself, I give benefits to myself. I work and I have my monthly salary, and some other money from my side activities. I have bought a car, a bike, I have a wife and a house, I have done something good for myself. I pamper myself very well.

But what is my price if I only give benefits to myself? The community can’t see my value if I give them nothing good. That’s why I work for the community, I join some NGOs to serve the people so I can be considered as somebody who is beneficial to the community. In some cases, I help people. And I hope that Allah will see this as a good deed and gives his mercy to me, and makes me a successful man especially at the afterlife.

The price of myself. That is something that I have to work on. I don’t want be the next Ahmad Ammar, that is too special. I don’t care if I’m not as famous as him, but I want to have Allah’s love, I want Him to see me as a servant who works really hard to gain His love. I want Him to give me a high value. This is just about me and Him.

But the path that I have to choose is the path that people like Ahmad Ammar chose. Personally, do as much ibadah as I can, don’t waste any single time. In community, give something good to them. Don’t be so selfish by bringing only yourself to heaven. Bring others as well. Serve the community. Spread the message of Islam. InshaAllah, eventhough we are not people like Ahmad Ammar, but we live like one. We die like one. And the most important thing, Allah sees us with love.

#Islam #Volunteerism #Syahid