What does that mean to me though? What I gather from what Ust. Nouman is saying is to have a mission, to genuinely have something that could positively impact lives to share and not be another addition to the “noise.”
Ustadh highlights a sickness I also try to avoid: the need to look for content to deliver, for something to write about or speak about.
I don’t want that either, it sucks. I’m hoping to share things I really consider useful to other people (first to myself, but could come in really handy to others). The next question I ask myself is well, what about these kinds of posts. These introspective “sharing your thoughts on things” kinds of posts. Are these also considered “adding to the noise?” I guess the answer to that would be “Yes.” Unless, sharing these thoughts to the wider public has an agenda—are guided by a more noble cause.
I’m reminded of an excerpt from one of 16Ps articles:
This essentially was part of my reason for deciding to blog again, to write this post and others in my notebook. I’m drawn, I’ve always been drawn, to sharing these introspective thoughts and insights as they are a manifestation of how I’ve grown in thinking about a certain issue. They might not contribute to world hunger or climate change, but they have indeed contributed to who am I as a person, who I see myself as, to my values as an INFJ Muslim.
I want the self-reflective depth and sincerity I hopefully exude while I write in this corner—combined with my focus on collective growth in other corners—to inspire others reading this to cultivate a more balanced and genuine sense of self-worth, to understand things slightly differently like I might have, to see the world in a new light and in renewed optimism.
I have an uncanny ability to draw insights from everyday experiences, I’m driven by the need to be real. By real, I mean being visibly Muslim, confidently Muslim, intellectually Muslim, emotionally Muslim, and with the tendency of people with my personality to keep our inner worlds private, and our fear of being misunderstood when we do decide to share a glimpse of that world leads us to hesitate sharing our religious insights or personal growth experiences with others.
I think this other excerpt wraps it up beautifully:
I feel most people have never gotten to know me, and that’s not because they didn’t try, but more because I never allowed them to. So now, I’m making that jump, I’m learning to share my insights more openly, although the thought of doing this on the internet and not amongst a select few contact still scares me a bit, but hey! this is who am I. This is my path to becoming “a person of substance.” This is my substance.