“To move people and nurture lifelong, God-centered agents of change.”

A Message on Committing to the Usra

As we study the Seerah, we’ll come across many important themes, lessons and facts that we should not only ponder over and share our thoughts on but act on and really implement in our lives as well. One of these themes is self-development, which is an especially strong one when the Rasool s.a.w. was in Makkah. The Prophet s.a.w.’s childhood, for example, was full of preparation for his coming life as the Messenger of Allaah. After the death of his father and mother, he was reared in the desert alongside Bedouins, where he learned pure Arabic and had plenty of space to play and plenty of fresh air to breathe. As a young adult, he pondered over the ills of society and never partook in any of them himself. He often retreated to the mountains to reflect and clear his mind. As a tradesman and fellow citizen to Makkans, he was always truthful and fair, kind and generous.

This theme of self development is strong also in the first revelations from Allaah to the Prophet s.a.w., and how these revelations influenced the lives of the Muslims early on. Qiyam al-Layl was fard on them, and it served as training for them to forsake their beds and stand in front of Allaah with pure hearts. They were constantly reminded, first hand, of the Day of Judgment, in the beautiful and pounding revelations that would grasp the Rasool s.a.w. right in front of their eyes. A deep-rooted belief in Allaah and the unseen was being assembled inside of them with the words of the Quran. The Prophet s.a.w. met regularly with them in secret to teach them about the new revelations. When the call to Islam was made open to the public, they were persecuted physically, emotionally, socially and economically, but were not allowed to fight back, or to move away, until the command from their Lord was revealed.

This was the training that the Prophet s.a.w. and his companions went through to become who they were—the best Muslims and examples to us, the ones who influenced others with their amazing characters and personalities, who stood in front of enemies with strong faith, who took Islam to all corners of the world, who braved all kinds of conditions, and who came out victorious in the end. This was the systematic method of development they committed to in order to become revivers of society. So how does this translate to us? I need to ask myself, am I undergoing a systematic method of self-development? I want to improve myself, I want to keep taking steps towards my potential best, I want to keep increasing my emaan, I want to work for Islam...but do I have a plan? If I want to commit to these goals, that means I need to set aside serious time to work on them—I need to sacrifice my sleep, my time, my money, and my ease of life.

The usra is a key tool in your road to self-development. We already know the benefits that it brings—inshaAllaah the support from other brothers, the concentrated curriculum, the progression, etc. The focus of the usra is to groom ourselves to become those who strive for excellence, have a sense of mission, are self-motivated, conduct a balanced life, live in peace with themselves and their environment, be equipped with the necessary knowledge, understanding, and skills to make a difference in the society by taking an active role, and take part in the betterment of our community, our country, and the whole world.

The usra, after the individual is, like we said, the smallest unit of the ummah. It’s your “other family”, your home away from home. It’s the stepping stone for all of those things we want to work on that we mentioned, especially working for Islam. By having this “home base” of brothers, of commitment, of knowledge, and of development, our journey to become like the companions will be easier inshaAllaah. They committed to Islam, and to the training that was made fard on them, and that’s what made them like unmoving rocks. We need to commit to this usra—a small commitment compared to what they had—as a central part of our self-development, and of our training to become true servants of Allaah who work for his deen. Our once a week, two-hour commitment to this usra should be a priority in our lives. The Prophet s.a.w. and his companions committed to their own self-development in many different ways and they were fully immersed in worldly life at the same time. We need to learn how to balance our worldly life with our self-development as well! We need to schedule in usra every week, and if anything else comes up, I need to ask myself, “Which one is more important?” Lastly, remember that yours and everyone’s usra experience will be much better if everyone comes.