I first heard of usrah when I was in form 4. Every Friday, the girls were made to meet at the surau to listen to religious talks. I thought usrah ends there. However my understanding towards usrah changes after joining usrah in MMMC. Unlike religious talks (ceramah agama) where people can only listen, the approach is much more personal; you can discuss, clarify any doubts and share your problems.
From what I have learnt, usrah was started in Egypt by Hassan al Banna, founder of Ikhwanul Muslimin, in response to the end of caliphate in Turkey in 1924. The end of this system marks the fall of Islamic civilization. He realized the need to educate Muslims at the individual level to truly understand and practice Islam in order to bring back its glory. To this purpose, a lot of efforts had been put forward and usrah was one of the ways.
Even though the term usrah was not used during the time of the Prophet Muhammad PBUH, the strategies that he used such as creating strong bonds in the name of Allah, personal approach, musyawarah etc are actually implemented in usrah. However, over the years, due to lack of understanding and error in conducting usrah, there are a lot of misconceptions regarding it.
Through my own experience, my usrah has helped me a lot in understanding Islam. I used to be confused in juggling the different aspects of my life; religion, relationships, studies, entertainment etc. but now I understand that Islam cannot be separated from any facet of life. As I try to integrate Islam in everything I do life becomes more meaningful and fun too.
As a human I can never run from making mistakes, but thank God, I have a group of friends bonded in the name of Allah who always remind me to return to the right path. Sometimes I feel inferior for my lack of knowledge but then on second thought this shouldn’t be an issue as we all have our own specialties and weaknesses and at the same time share equal amounts of obligation as a servant and caliph.
Another thing that I have realized is that in conducting usrah, we need to free ourselves from any sentiment of obsession towards any one organization or group of people. Organizations are only used as tools to carry out certain programs. There shouldn’t be any dispute among groups of usrah as long as the ultimate aim is to bring back the glory of Islam and the means applied are in accordance to Al- Quran and Sunnah.
In a nutshell, for me usrah is the best way to build an individual spiritually because if it is conducted properly, a Muslim at any level will be in a system in which he or she can always learn new things about religion, clarify any doubts and share their knowledge and experience with others. My usrah has benefited me a lot, perhaps you should try too :)
