Mufti Menk – We Live In A Non Ideal World

			So if there is someone generally practicing,
		

			they may not appreciate
		

			that we're actually
		

			aiming at the the vast majority who are
		

			struggling to practice or not practicing, or sometimes
		

			not even Muslim.
		

			I studied in Madinah Munawara in 1991
		

			onwards,
		

			for a few years, and I can tell
		

			you that I was also very hard initially,
		

			and rigid with what I learned and the
		

			way I wanted to do things. But when
		

			I got home, my father told me,
		

			sit and watch the people for a whole
		

			year. Don't go out and start talking to
		

			them until you see them for 1 whole
		

			year. So for a whole year, I was
		

			just sitting and watching, teaching little children alif
		

			and ba at this madrassa.
		

			And it was very humbling because I was
		

			bubbling and bursting with a lot and ended
		

			up teaching at a madrasah adjacent to the
		

			masjid. I was leading the salawat,
		

			barely ever spoke to anyone and so on.
		

			And then by the time I opened my
		

			mouth, I was already calm.
		

			I already saw that, you know, you're trying
		

			to bring people into an ideal
		

			situation and we're living in a non ideal
		

			world.
		

			So it's really
		

			a beautiful experience to have had someone,
		

			who's an expert in addressing people,
		

			discipline you and your own wishes at the
		

			same time bringing the 2 together.