THE art of running AN USRAH

FOR THE NAQEEB

 

The Usrah

The usrah system is the backbone of the Muslim community and ummah. According to the most recent research, the Usrah system is one of the best administrative systems and the most efficient of them if it is applied correctly. The modern administrative system considers every functional unit an usrah, where the principles of administration are applied to guarantee the highest level of proficiency in terms of planning, organization and execution.

In the field of dawah, most of the activities can be carried out through the function of the usrah. Also, the educational / tarbiya process finds its healthy atmosphere in the structure of the usrah and from the usrah the dawah goes out to the rest of society in an organized, accurate and clear fashion. Through the usrah the processes of preparation and building and development take place. Preparing new classes and building its ideology and developing the way it functions, while deepening faith and brotherhood in the movement’s hearts. Through the usrah, the individuals reach to the complete homogeneity and arrive to the integration of their roles in achieving the movement’s goals. From there, it can be said that an usrah is an integrated organization in which the exchange of roles takes place and information gathering, attracts new talents, and through it reports and orders pass between leadership and members. Based on the aforementioned, success in running the usrah is a success for the entire movement as it realizes the following:

1. Executing the programs that are planned for the usrah → invites new support (madad jadeed)

2. Implementing the curricula → develops the structure of the movement

3. Realizing the goals (short and long-term) of the movement → empowers the movement (tamkeen)

4. Success of the educational and admin plan → gives the movement the spirit of practical success

5. Increased chemistry between individuals → gives the movement steadfastness, proficiency and strength

6. Success in communication of reports, news, carrying out orders → gives the movement mobility and admin success.

The Naqeeb

If we agree that the usrah plays an important role in strengthening the group to reach its goals, then we know this cannot happen without trustworthy, wise, and aware leadership.

The Naqeeb and the Usrah

Imam Al-Banna chose the name Usrah to be a title for a good natured gathering of people that seeks Allah’s pleasure and eternal life in the next life, and looks forward to a new dawn for the Muslim ummah in which its dignity, unity, and strength will return. Any careful reader finds the name itself by its pronunciation and meaning shows the role of the naqeeb and mission of the usrah. The usrah requires a wise leadership (father, mother, children who are its fruit, and the pupil of its eye). Leadership works for their sake and spends in hopes for their happiness and empowerment. Hence, the usrah naqeeb is considered to be a like a father, where his members are his children and the most important in his life. Therefore his role with the usrah is based on the following:

1. Fatherhood:

The father is the backbone of the usrah and is the essence of its movement. With God’s guidance in helping them manage the usrah, its ship reaches the shore safely. Overcoming the gale winds and high waves.

Mercy and firmness

  1. Mercy is a management attribute and one of the practical characteristics that God described Prophet Muhammad with:

فَبِمَا رَحۡمَةٍ۬ مِّنَ ٱللَّهِ لِنتَ لَهُمۡ‌ۖ وَلَوۡ كُنتَ فَظًّا غَلِيظَ ٱلۡقَلۡبِ لَٱنفَضُّواْ مِنۡ حَوۡلِكَ‌ۖ فَٱعۡفُ عَنۡہُمۡ وَٱسۡتَغۡفِرۡ لَهُمۡ وَشَاوِرۡهُمۡ فِى ٱلۡأَمۡرِ‌ۖ فَإِذَا عَزَمۡتَ فَتَوَكَّلۡ عَلَى ٱللَّهِ‌ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ يُحِبُّ ٱلۡمُتَوَكِّلِينَ

So by mercy from Allah , [O Muhammad], you were lenient with them. And if you had been rude [in speech] and harsh in heart, they would have disbanded from about you. So pardon them and ask forgiveness for them and consult them in the matter. And when you have decided, then rely upon Allah . Indeed, Allah loves those who rely [upon Him]. (Quran 3:159)

لَقَد جاءَكُم رَسولٌ مِن أَنفُسِكُم عَزيزٌ عَلَيهِ ما عَنِتُّم حَريصٌ عَلَيكُم بِالمُؤمِنينَ رَءوفٌ رَحيمٌ

There has certainly come to you a Messenger from among yourselves. Grievous to him is what you suffer; [he is] concerned over you and to the believers is kind and merciful. (Quran 9:128)

2. The prophetic mercy gathered the hearts around the merciful leaders (pbuh) and made the process of building easy as it reached its end and realized its goals.

3. There are numerous examples of the fatherly mercy in the prophet’s life. He said to Aisha - “There isn’t a thing that mercy was in but that beautified it, and it wasn’t taken out of the something but that it ruined it.”

4. “Allah is gentle and loves mercy. Allah rewards in return for gentleness what he does not give for violence.”

5. Prophet warns every leader and father from harshness and toughness that takes a person people away from justice and drives them be unjust, so the people in his care will be lost. “The worst of shepherds (leaders) are the hutama (the aggressive)”.

6. This mercy must be surrounded with firmness that refuses compromise in religious matters so that this mercy does not turn into helplessness.

Conflict resolution between individuals

1. Solving issues arising between members, carefully and slowly. Like a father when he sees his children fighting or screaming at one another - he cannot watch without action. He must intervene and solve the problem. If he doesn’t, they will resolve their issue on their own, and they will not pay attention to his leadership because he was not there. Thus the home is corrupted without his leadership. He cannot take sides in this process.

2. He is the first to solve problems that arise between brothers and fix his intention so that God might help him in his endeavor. “If they want reconciliation then God will guide their way through” - refers to verse of fighting spouses. (Omar Ibn Khattab - “If they” refers to the judges involved)

Strengthening the relationship with the members

1. The successful father gets close to his kids, he talks to each one of them in issues that matter to him and doesn't expose his secrets. He gets to know his personal matters and gets to know everything about him when the follower confides in him. Every member ultimately feels that the father pertains to him alone. There is no doubt the usrah in this time must be a strong and happy one. For this matter, the naqeeb is close to all his followers. He gets to know him closely, goes to visit him, gets to know his family and listens attentively to him and consults him and helps him carry out his affairs and fixes anything that goes astray in his family matters. For this matter, getting to know one personally achieves in a few hours what could be achieved in months. It is used as a preventative measure because it prevents problems that would eat up the time if they didn’t know each other so well.

2. Therefore, we see successful usrahs that achieve their goals and usrahs that don’t because the naqeeb is successful in fulfilling his fatherly role whereas the other only functions as a teacher.

3. So here is an individual who is merely physically present and mentally absent, another is always late and is absent frequently, a third excuses himself from preparing the lesson, a fourth doesn’t pay the monthly membership fees, a fifth who sleeps in the usrah - had the naqeeb gone back to himself, he would realize that he ignored his paternal role.

4. Salman al farisi visited his brother and found his wife looking bad, not caring about dressing up, sadness appearing on her face. While she was trying to hide that sadness because of her modesty - salman asked: how is my brother doing? She replied: Such a good man he is! He fasts the day, and prays all night. He realized that his brother has neglected his wife’s right upon him due to his keenness on worship. So he came by the following day and made Abu Al Dardaa break his fast. “Your body has a right on you.” So he broke his fast. At night he rose to pray qiyam, so salman told him to spend the night with his wife because she has a right upon you. So he did so. Salman told him fast a day and break a day, pray a night and sleep a night. This real involvement in the brother’s life reflects the high skill of the sahabi which made him successfully solve the issue in the brother’s family.

5. Prophet Yusuf was told by two youth in prison: “We see that you are one of the muhsinoon”

What made him of the muhsinoon?

i. Saeed ibn Mansur and Bayhaqi from the way of dahak that he was asked: What was Yusuf’s ihsan? He replied: if anyone got sick in prison, he would stay up the night to nurse him. If someone was in a tight situation, Yusuf gave him space. If someone needed sustenance, he would gather it for him.

ii. Ibn Kathir: Yusuf was famous in the prison with generosity, honesty, truthfulness, composure, frequent worship, dream interpretation, kindness to the inmates, visiting their sick, giving their rights, so the two youth loved him dearly.

iii. We would like to see people say “you are one of the muhsineen” to Usrah leaders.

6. Khadijah: “By Allah, He will never embarrass you.”

a. Indeed you are kind to your kin

b. Generous host

c. Give to the needy

d. Support the helpless

7. Ibn Kathir: Look how Abu Bakr’s traits aligned with the Prophet’s without even being raised by the Prophet (source: Al Isabba Fee Tabyeez Al Sahabah). When Quraish drove Abu Bakr out of Mecca, Ibn Duggunna defended him saying:

a. You maintained relations with kin

b. You are generous with guests

c. You give charity to the needy

8. Therefore we say to the Naqeeb - Do you think one of your students will abandon you? Make sure you do not reach that status. Make sure your students say - We will never abandon you.

Motivating the members towards perfection and success at home and at work

1. The father is happy when he witnesses the success of his children as a result of his toil. Likewise, the naqeeb must keep a watchful eye on his brothers to motivate them towards doing good in their affairs and to make lives more pure. He gives them his expertise and good counsel, asks about their family and asks about their kids. He sees what is good and praises it and kindly corrects mistakes. Thus, he gets the trust of his members. If every usrah is happy, there is success for the dawah. Establish bridges of trust and respect between them, giving the naqeeb the ability to solve problems when they arise. It brings about the obedience of his members.

2. How to push people towards success:

a. His work in locating their talents and developing them and drawing the road for them towards success in whatever they are doing is of the essence of his role in leadership of usrah.

b. The success of the brother in his work and his speciality, earning the trust of his boss is an important source for the success of the dawah. Some of Banna’s disciples who were nuqaba put forth great effort in this field and many of their students were great at work and had the greatest impact on dawah.

c. Must frequently visit members and check on anyone who goes missing from Usrah. The father must observe the manners of home visits, and it is considered a work visit intended to deepen the love. In it he usually tries to solve a problem or create purposeful entertainment. The naqeeb must ask about a missing member while searching for reasons as to why they are no longer attending while attempting to remove obstacles from his way. Such visits prove to individuals his keenness and his care for the group and the movement. There are important psychological effects that only the people with insights and experience will recognize.

d. The analogy that is drawn is that of Prophet Sulaiman who was so keen on analyzing his soldiers, and specifically the birds, when he noticed a hoopoe missing.

2. Managing the Naqeeb’s Usrah

We mentioned that the naqeeb must be close to his/her members, so we must discuss how he/she manages the usrah.

Reminding them + intention + each a shepherd

1. Reminding the members while enjoining in what is good. Attending usrah is a form of worship and attendance is calling to do good. Part of reminding is to instill in their hearts the goals of this dawah - establishing a society that rules by God’s law and spreads justice. Continuous reminding of this goal will ingrain it in the member.

a. Forms of reminding

i. Instilling the sense of faith-based ‘3izza

ii. Making the usrah well-liked to the people by renewing the program style (the way they prepare and present lessons)

iii. The way you present spiritual topics

b. Creating chemistry

i. Ta’aruf: Get to know one another for Allah’s sake and feel the meaning of brotherhood and make sure nothing gets in between you. Keep Allah’s verses in your mind - indeed the believers are brothers.

ii. Tafaahum: Stay on the righteous path and abandon that which he told you to do and hold yourselves accountable for good and bad. Then let each of you advise his brother whenever he sees a shortcoming, and the other should accept his brother’s criticism happily and thank him for it. The adviser shouldn’t feel a change of heart against his brother in this process, or that he gave his brother a favor. The receiver should not be arrogant and stubborn, nor should he feel a change of heart.

iii. Takaful:

The educational role

With the following two components the usrah can build the group

1. Teaching: Goal - educational curricula

2. Tarbiya: Goal - learn behaviors, correct practices, and application of principles

3. The usrah is the first school in teaching islamic culture and understanding, the movements principles, means and goals. The naqeeb carries this out by:

a. General study curriculum: naqeeb must excel at explaining that

1. creating eagerness to learn

2. excitement

3. great presentation skills

4. renewing teaching styles

b. Customized curriculum:

For each individual based on their talents: “Work, for each person is given an easy way to accomplish what he was created for.” - Hadith

In Tarbiya → Discipline: Individual sees the group represented in the person of the naqeeb. Because of that, the naqeeb must raise his spiritual, educational and cultural levels.

c. Follow-up: Father shouldn’t feed his children and clothe them and then abandon them without follow-up.

d. Mobilization: Push member to observe his deen throughout his day and night by encouraging prayers, visiting graves, collective reading, conferences, events, sports, dialogue, visiting political leadership, reading, news, political analyses, delivering lessons, managing meetings, taking care of children, treating wives.

e. Development: Naqeeb must develop self to develop others so that others see in him the kind father and brother, the well-equipped leader, knows personality types and nurtures them to reach its potential.

f. Evaluation

  1. Memory

  2. Recording

  3. Reporting: Evaluating the programs and to what extent they've been carried out. Evaluating people good/bad. Seeking advice from brothers.

g. Delivery - Naqeeb is the connecting point between the leadership and the members

  1. Smart relayer

  2. Memorization ability

  3. Honesty

h. Accountability and recording muhasabah

  1. Increase doing good

  2. Protecting info from getting lost

i. Discovering new talents and directing them: Hadith: “So and so is the most learned in halal and haram.”

j. Identifying issues and finding solutions

k. Checking on the psychological health

l. Help brothers in carrying out the plans of the group

m. Inciting enthusiasm in brothers

n. Establishing the right understanding of legislative balances

o. Teaching the duties and the rights of members towards each other