Manners personified: my 10 minute meeting with the Mufti of Malaysia!
Alhamdulilah, on this day last year, I had the honour of meeting the Mufti of KL Malaysia, and I had a really interesting story with him that shows you the true manners of real scholars!
When he walked into the speakers room for the conference and sat next to me on the sofa for the first 10 minutes, I did not recognize who he is, as I've never seen him before. I asked him first to introduce himself, and he simply said "I am your brother Zulkifli"!!! So I didn't know I was speaking to the Mufti. This is indeed, one of the signs of the true scholars: being extremely humble!
He then proceeded to ask me many questions about my travels, and why I chose to live in Malaysia over other countries, and he made a remark about how I love Malaysia deeply more than most Malaysians do! :) Suddenly, after a few minutes, a volunteer walks in, asking "the Mufti" if he can perform the sunnah of Tahneek (rubbing the mouth with a date) on a newborn child, and that's when I finally realized who I was speaking with this whole time!
Subhanallah, I would have never ever guessed, based on the way he talks, his voice, his manners, his humbleness. The way he makes you feel like he is your true brother and not a mufti who has more knowledge than you. I have seen how some mufti's of other Muslim countries speak on the media sometimes (may Allah forgive them), and I cannot put in words how much I was impressed. I was the one who was supposed to ask him many questions and not the other way! He has authored more than 200+ research papers about deep topics, and I'm just in the beginning of my academic life! :)
Truly, it was a blessed 10 minutes that taught me about manners more than a 10 books would do! Indeed, spend time with our scholars to learn what you can't learn from books! He invited me some day to visit his office the next time I'm in Malaysia, and I cannot wait to do that on a future visit insha'Allah. May Allah bless Malaysia and its scholars, and inspire the rest of the world with their exemplary manners. Ameen!