Canada has a (money-minting) graduated licensing system. So i had to get my "G" license before my G2 expired. I had given my G2 test with a really nice non-muslim MALE instructor. Since then, i have donned the niqab and gained more deeni (religious) perspective; so im feeling nervous about taking lessons without a mahram present. I make lots of dua that this deed doesnt go against me on the day of judegment. The guy comes to pick me, and i figured he wouldn't recognize me from my pre-niqab days. It had been 3 years AND i had moved. But he did! I had climbed down 2 flights of stairs and was very nervous, so i was a little out of breath. This is how he broached the topic. "If you dont mind, please dont mind i just want to tell you that the reason you have difficulty breathing is because you have this (niqab) on your face. Maybe you want to tie it a little lower. please dont mind." At first, I DID mind but then he continued. He is a sikh guy so wears the net around his beard. He said see i tie this (under his chin) and initially I had difficulty too. I was like yeah, ok, whatever. Then he asked me " you didnt use to wear this before, you only covered your head - whats with the change? is it a religious problem?" I was like yes! dawah opportunity. I explained that it was not a problem at all Alhamdolillah and i felt like taking it. So lesson1 ends with pretty much that.
Come time for lesson 2, and the instructor says can i ask you something. Whats one to say to that except go ahead. He asked me how should one pray, if they really want something to get done? I said, you should make dua and then have faith that what will unfold will be better for you. He was like no but this thing really needs to happen - like it cant not happen. He explained the situation to me. My answer was still the same. In my head though i was thinking how to gear this towards Tawheed. So, i told him if you are so hell-bent that it has to happen this way - why dont you go make it happen. Can you? he's like no. I said, so the fact that you need to ask God to help you - means He has some power that you dont? he's like yeah. Then i said you need to understand who Rabb is. You need to have faith in the one you are bowing down to. He is only one who can grant you anything, or take it away from you. I stressed the oneness a bit more. He wasnt fully convinced, i could tell. He almost had expected me to pull out a piece of paper he could tie somewhere, for his wish to be granted. When i said all he needed for faith, that seemed too simple.
Sadly thats the case with most of the ummah now. They simply dont believe in prayer. How much more hypocritical could you get if you are bowing to Allah and actually depending on people or chances?
Anyway, my deduction was that my niqab gave him the impression that i was a religious person and i have some magical answers. He must really have been desperate to ask a person of a different faith! I tried to tie his faith with tawheed as best i could. May Allah guide him.
ps: for those who dont know, he understands the word rabb and dua - since they exist in his language.