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
