MAKKAH: About three years ago, award-winning radio announcer and television host Faizal Ismail made the decision to 'hijrah' in his spiritual quest to become a better Muslim, not only in the eyes of Allah but also within the community.
Since then, Faizal, popularly known as FBI among his fans, has leveraged his advantage on social media by encouraging his 362,000 followers on Instagram and 20,000 followers on Facebook to do good deeds and sharing beneficial information, including offers for people who wish to perform haj.
And he has continued to do so even after he, his wife Nor Azlina Ahmad, and their eldest daughter Nur Khairina were selected to be among 31,600 Malaysians to perform the pilgrimage for the 1445H/2024M haj season.
"At first, I did not take the matter seriously. It was at the request of my followers, who were passionate about it, that I started sharing all the information I stumbled upon on pilgrimage.
"I am using the advantage I have and sharing offers available from Lembaga Tabung Haji (TH) on my social media. So far, I have received positive feedback and encouraging responses from my fans and followers," he said.
Faizal has been journaling his pilgrimage journey from the first day he and his family departed for the Holy Land, providing updates on his social media accounts whenever he can.
"When I received the offer to perform the haj, I immediately took to my social media accounts to inform everyone. I did not expect to receive so many positive responses, with people congratulating me and so on.
"As such, I will share my movements here as often as possible.
"Who knows, by doing this, it will encourage more of my social media followers to register with TH to perform the haj," he said.
Faizal admitted that he is aware of his own shortcomings but at the same time feels a sense of responsibility to share the little knowledge he has with his fans and social media followers.
"I always remind my family to share only positive things instead of focusing on negatives on social media," he said.
Talking about his three other children who did not accompany them for the pilgrimage, Faizal said it is indeed difficult for him and his wife to be away for over a month to perform the Islamic rite, but with current technology, video calls are not an issue.
"We always stay in touch and provide updates. We have brought them here for umrah before, so they understand our situation.
"We told them that haj is one of the Five Pillars of Islam and this time, father, mother, and sister have been invited to the Holy Land to be the guest of Allah.
"Our two daughters are staying in a hostel, and our son is staying with his grandfather."
Faizal has been certified as a motivational speaker by the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) until 2025.