DEVELOPING AN ISLAMIC PERSONALITY

Background
I have been giving this assignment since 2010. Over 1,000 students have done this
assignment so far. 75% of my students like this assignment, the rest dont. Most students tell
me that as a consequence of doing this assignment, their relationship with Allah
) )improves and they are better able to handle stress. Here is what I would like to stress:
In your life, you will have to deal with a lot of stress. You will face many
problems. By asking you to do this assignment, I want to show you a systematic
process to improve their imaan. That boost of imaan will give you the extra
spiritual strength to handle difficult situations in your life, inshaa Allah.
Maybe you will not use this process after the semester is over, but in one or two years (or five
years), when you face unexpected difficulty, you will remember this assignment and use the
same process to find the spiritual strength to deal with these problems in a positive way.
Developing imaan is a process
Allah ) ) has promised in the Quran that if we call on Him, He will always
respond. In the hadith, it is clear that if we try to get closer to Him by a little bit, He will get
closer to us by a lot. There are two ways of looking at hidayah

Hidayah is an event-it falls like miracle from the sky. No doubt, this happens
sometimes because Allah ) ) does what He wants.

Hidayah is a process-by learning a little bit more about Islam every week, we
gradually come closer to Him.

Since 2010, my experience has convinced me that Muslims can systematically get closer to
Allah ) ) by surfing the Internet and watching YouTube.com
What do you need to do?
This is an individual assignment. Once a week, you watch one Islamic video of a reasonable
length (i.e. more than 15 minutes). YOU CAN CHOOSE THE TOPIC. However, here are the
following guidelines

Choose an English speaker who is known to be following the position of Ahl Sunnah
wa Jamaah
Write a one page report where you a) describe the content and b) discuss your
opinion about the content.
Write a report every week
At lest half the talks must be tafseer of the Quran
At the end of the semester, submit all the reports with a conclusion. In this
conclusion, discuss whether or not you feel that doing this assignment strengthened
your imaan or if there was no difference.

My Advice
Since 2010, I have had over 1,000 students do this assignment. I have tried various
experiments. In some classes, I have asked them to only listen to regular talks. In other
classes, I have asked them to only listen to tafseer. I have found no difference. What seems
to make a difference is,

Most students have one (or more) important question about Islam. Finding the answer
to that burning question is often critical for them
Most students know surprisingly little about surahs that they recite regularly-like
surah al fatihah, surah al ikhlaas, surah al kafiroon
The quality of the speakers are very important- people like Nouman Ali Khan, Suhaib
Webb, Bilal Philips are always popular. Personally, I am rediscovering old names like
Yasir Qadhi and Hamza Yusuf.
Try to listen to different people about the same topic- every speaker talk about the
same topic in a different way. Sometimes, getting a diversity of opinions over one
topic gives you a better understanding of that topic

A story
Over the years, I have had many reactions from students. One student told me that before
doing this assignment, he used to drink alcohol and he didnt pray. Now he had changed. I
was happy for him but I was quite embarrassed that he told me about his previous sins. I
didnt need to know. I had one student slip a note under my door saying that before doing this
assignment, he was addicted to pornography and now he had stopped. That was a better way
of doing it.
My favourite story was a female student from India. She spent the whole semester listening to
talks about why women have to wear the hijab. At first, I was upset because she didnt follow
the instructions about doing tafseer. However, in her conclusion, she wrote, now that I
understand, I can accept. So, I was happy for her.
How will you be graded?
You start with an automatic 80%. If you do everything according to instructions, you keep the
80%. You are assessed for completing the assignment not for your opinions. If you like or do
not like the talks or assignment, that is your opinion and I will respect that. In this
assignment, you can tell me that you didnt like doing it and still get an A.