AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND — Ustaz Muhammad Wahyudi, M.Pd. as Dai Ambassador Dompet Dhuafa received an invitation to break the fast together at Ustaz Irfan’s house, located west of Auckland City, on Monday (27/3/2023).
The iftar this time felt special, because he invited all his fostered converts to attend and join the iftar together. The family-like relationship between ustaz Irfan and his fostered converts is very visible and can be seen from the familiarity of all those present. This Makassar-born man had lived in Australia before moving to Auckland, New Zealand in 1996.
This man with five children has been in da’wah world since 2014 after returning from Hajj. At the age of 49, he feels that life is not just life, but someone must be able to become a jariyah (an act of almsgiving whose reward continues to flow, even though the person who gives alms has passed away) after the spirit leaves the body. With the intention and principles held, he finally decided to take steps on the path of da’wah to participate in spreading Islamic values to the citizens of Auckland and surrounding areas who have not known Islam.
Before entering the da’wah world, he had also joined a tablig congregation, participated in preaching to invite people to know Islam and practice Islamic teachings. Before going through the path of da’wah, he had also been a manager of one of the seafood restaurants in Auckland, then he believed in the hadith of the Prophet SAW:
فَوَاللَّهِ لَأَنْ يُهْدَى بِكَ رَجُلٌ وَاحِدٌ خَيْرٌ لَكَ مِنْ حُمْرِ النَّعَمِ (رواه البخاري)
It means: “By Allah, if a single person is guided by Allah through you, it will be better for you than a whole lot of red camels (the best kind of camel).” [Narration of al-Bukhari (2942)]
مَنْ دَلَّ عَلَى خَيْرٍ فَلَهُ مِثْلُ أَجْرِ فَاعِلِهِ (رواه مسلم)
It means: “Whoever shows kindness gets the same reward as someone who does it.” [Narration of Muslim]
In addition to preaching, ustaz Irfan is also an expert in mechanics, opening a garage at home for the Harley Davidson motorcycle community as a living for his family. Uniquely, he learned to be able to repair motorcycles or cars by himself, both from YouTube and experience in his life journey.
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For the education of his children, he put them in homeschooling. The reason he chose homeschooling over existing and free schools was that he understood and was very familiar with the LGBT movement which became a western culture that should be avoided.
“Don’t let the children get influenced by western cultural schools that are misleading from the creed as a Muslim,” said Ustaz Irfan.
The iftar event began with breaking the fast, then continued with doing the maghrib prayer together and having dinner together. After that, there are couples who convert to Islam who want to carry out a marriage according to Islamic law. Thus, ustaz Irfan married the two according to Islamic law, where there are guardians and witnesses from both the groom and the bride.
In addition, ustaz Wahyudi who was present was asked to deliver a marriage Islamic lecture as well as prayers. The groom and bride were Jonathan and Maryam.
“For me, this moment is the first and unique experience, that in da’wah, we must always be ready to serve the people. After the wedding vow, the isha and taraweeh prayers are carried out together,” said Ustaz Wahyudi.
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Since 8 – 9 years ago, ustaz Irfan has built up native New Zealanders, including Saifullah, Malik, Ahmad, Abdullah, Noah, Bruce, Marz, Salahudin and Yusuf. He was very patient in teaching Islam to them. One of the keys to being able to do the da’wah is to be able to speak according to their language, namely English, and understand the demographics and culture of the country, so that they can enter their world. Then gradually, they will come to know Islam little by little.
In addition to the ability to speak English, it must also be added with adequate Islamic knowledge to build them up to know Islam and be able to practice the teachings of Islamic sharia.
A very valuable lesson from ustaz Irfan who was willing to sacrifice his time and energy to continue to foster, escorting every convert to be able to carry out Islamic law gradually; it took a long time, but he kept being diligent and patient in spreading Islamic teachings that are rahmatan lil alamin (the main purpose of proselytizing promoted by Muhammad the Messenger of Allah). (Dompet Dhuafa/Wahyudi/Muthohar)