Your excellences the committee, the honourable judges, my dear friends who

participate and not forgetting my loving brothers and sisters.

Bismillahirahmannirahim, Assalamualaikum wtb.

My dear brothers and sisters, before I begin, I praise the Almighty Allah, who created

the heavens and earth. Peace and salutation to our beloved Muhammad who has

told us the cardinal principle of the unity of Allah.

Ladies and gentlemen,

I am very pleasure to stand here in front of the honourable audiences in this precious

time to deliver my speech entitled Reviving Islamic Spirit. The revival has been

manifested in the growth of Islamism movement. The hadith, narrated by Abu

Hurayra, is as follows:

Allah will send for this ummah at the end of every century someone who will revive

their faith for them.

Islam is a religion of peace, prosperity, equality, justice, well-being of the

society and every other good quality that a person can associate with a good and

ideal system of living. Therefore, at present what has happened is that Islam has lost

its essence and there are few Muslims who live by the true spirit of Islam. Therefore,

the need at present is to revive the true spirit of Islam in Muslim Ummah.

Ladies and gentlemen,

My first argument is muslim needs to remember a times that in its days Islam was

the religion that dominated the world and Muslim empire expanded to the

farthest regions. When the West was in dark ages, it was the Muslim world that

was on its peak and making scientific, philosophical, economic and political
progress. It is on the remains of the peak of Muslim world that the renaissance in

Europe generated. Therefore, it is imperative that the Muslims at present realize our

past and see the kind of glory days our had. Once Muslims realize what we have

been, only then can we realize our potential and work towards achieving it. Most of

us have committed to memory the beautiful, short surah: Al-Asr verses 1until 3.

)2(
) 1(



3(

Which means;

By the Time! Man is surely in loss, except those who believed and did good works,

and exhorted one another to Truth, and exhorted one another to patience.

The point is that we need to strengthen our own faith because that is our

responsibility. We are products of a legacy that has existed for over 1400 years ago,

we have had rises, and we have had falls, but just as history repeats itself, so will

time repeat itself.

My second point of view,

Muslim countries are far behind the developed world when it comes to

literacy rate and it is quite natural for us to be less enlightened as well due to less

literacy. Muslims need to realize that in order to move forward in the world and stand

for what Islam stands for, we need to get education in worldly literacy and

religious enlightenment both. Muslims need to realize that it is our religion that
encourages us to ponder over life and gain knowledge from every possible place

where it is available to us. Allah clearly mention in Surah Mujadalah verse 11:

Which means; Allah will exalt those of you who believe, and those who are given

knowledge, in high degrees.

Sad to say, we are still facing this situation in todays world, something quite similar

to the Jahiliyyah situation of the past - but with a difference. So we can say that the

cure for it will be the same too; and so its will be the medication. Meaning, the cure

or antidote will be the same as that was used by the Prophet SAW to cure the

Jahiliyyah situation by education.

Ladies and gentlemen,

My last point is no matter how progressed and how advanced the West is and

how intellectually superior they think they are, there is still one thing that Muslims

have that can make us rise in the world at any time. That particular thing is

understanding of Al-Quran and the Sunnah of Muhammad (PBUH). It is Al-

Quran in which Allah has addressed people and told us what we need to do in order

to be successful in this world and the world to come. The need is that a Muslim

should explores and tries to learn Al-Quran and As-sunnah so that we are able to

understand it under personal reflection and then implement it in life. It was narrated

from Zaid bin Thbit that the Messenger of Allah said: May Allah cause his face to

shine, the man who hears what I say and conveys it (to others). Many of those who
have knowledge but no understanding, and many who convey knowledge to those

who have more understanding of it than they do..

Our responsibility is to do something for our religion ourselves, which is to

teach Y and Z generations and to learn ourselves. Our responsibility is to hold fast to

the religion of Allah Most High. When we go wrong, we correct ourselves and try to

do better.

Ladies and gentlemen,

In short, the list is endless when it comes to the things to be done to revive

the true spirit of Islam in Muslim Ummah. First, a Muslim needs to remember a

times, that in its days Islam was the religion that dominated the world and

Muslim empire expanded to the farthest regions. Second, the Ummah to begin

mutually supporting its parts to excel in all aspects of Islam by getting education in

worldly literacy and religious enlightenment both. It is evident that in all

successful nations and communities which are based upon a way of life. And last but

not least, the understanding of Al-Quran and the Sunnah of Muhammad (PBUH)

will always stand as the foundation stone on which the revival will be possible.

Lastly, I can say reviving of Islamic spirit is the way for Muslim to expand our

thinking from narrow considerations and to deepen our thinking to look beyond

superficial analysis and understandings. Therefore, we should appreciate everything

that Allah has done for us and as a Muslim try to be the good one as to show that we

are the true believer and we obey Allah and His prophet.

The right one is merely from Allah. All praise is for Allah, the Lord of the universe.

Until then,
Wabillahi taufik wal hidayah. Waalaikumsalam wtb. Thank you.