By Nurul Izzati Zakariah
“Celebrity preacher Ustaz Ebit Lew is now a household name in Malaysia,” MSN reported.
Providing accommodation and food to the needy families, medical equipment for Sabah, feeding animals at National Zoo, the 35-year old man deemed to be a ‘national treasure’ among the Malaysian community, is persistently helping others out.
Knowing that someone was suffering to pay bills for a hospital stay, the celebrity preacher Ebit Lew offered it for free to family members whose kin are being treated at the National Heart Institute of Malaysia (IJN) and Hospital Kuala Lumpur (HKL).
In his posting on Instagram, Ustaz Ebit stated that the family members will be placed in Premiera Hotel Kuala Lumpur. His sincere intention to help others without selecting neither gender nor race has caught the attention of many.
Furthermore, he also expressed his gratitude for the good services given by the staff in the hotel.
“Thank you Premiera Hotel for facilitating my affairs and dreams. The hotel is pretty and very comfortable. Four stars,” he wrote in his post which received 918,343 viewers and 217,237 likes.
Ustaz Ebit is known for his generosity and kindness to help people in need, especially amidst COVID-19 pandemic. Even when university students were stranded at their hostels, he stepped forward to arrange for buses to bring them home.
Some people claim that he deserved to be a government comrade.
“It’s inspiring to see Ebit Lew do so much for the people without asking. What’s sad here is that he’s probably doing more for them than the government,” World of Buzz stated in his entry.
Also, people prayed for his well-being and future missions to help others.
“MashaAllah, he helps everyone regardless of their religion and race. May Allah widen his rizq always,” commented one of his followers with the username mohd_hafizan8.
Previously, he managed to supply two water tankers to Batu Caves when the water crisis hit Selangor once again. His kind action received huge support and praise from Malaysians who felt touched by his fast action.
Conveying his empathy and worries how could he goes to sleep while others are suffering living without one of the basic needs?
Being active in humanitarian missions since the second phase of movement control order (MCO), Ustaz Ebit and his team began his wild step to establish a non-government association named Pertubuhan Kasih Umat Malaysia.
This NGO would be the official mediator between individuals who would like to donate and the team itself. The public can only reach the hotline or email the association to seek money for help.
Thus, the establishment of this association is considered a new platform for people to reach out and seek help.
Ebit Lew’s continuous and consistent deeds do not revolve among humankind only. He also helps other creatures. One of the notable recent deeds that he did is feeding the animals in Malaysia’s National Zoo.
He realised that the National Zoo is lacking funds because of the decreasing numbers of visitors since the beginning of the MCO. He then donated 200kg of beef and 500kg of vegetables and fruits. This has been shared through his social media accounts such as Instagram and Facebook which obtained 253.6K and 76.1K respectively
On the other hand, being rooting for Ustaz Ebit, we acknowledge that he loves to share motivational and dakwah content to his four million followers. Often, he will upload his humanitarian mission works to the public where those videos left significant marks in the heart of every viewer.
However, it is unquestionable to claim that different people perceive different messages upon the posting.
Undeniably, life is not always beautiful, isn’t it?
Indeed, sometimes facing obstacles and calamities are things that will set us back in doing something. Similar to Ustaz Ebit Lew, despite his good deeds and kindness, he also faced many threats along his path.
Back then, there was a group of people who expressed his clarification on exposing the faces of the recipients on social media. Surprisingly, the critics came from “Ustaz community” which remains unknown whether it is initiated by envy and jealousy or for good sake.
The issues went viral when a preacher who holds the title “Ustaz” posted up his writing on Facebook and claimed that revealing the identity of the recipients during charity work is forbidden in Islam. Although the purpose of his writing remains unknown, many people were able to relate his writing with the activity which Ustaz Ebit is currently doing.
Moreover, some parties questioned the sincere effort shown by Ustaz Ebit Lew on social media. Those groups throw accusations towards him and deny his charity works which were merely to show off and gain publicity.
The Malaysian Reserve reported that to some degree, they criminate Ustaz Ebit was using the donors’ money to buy luxury cars and shaming poor people.
A wise man once said: “Just as water can erode the hardest stone, sincerity can melt the coldest heart.”
This quote seems accurate to portray the good deeds of Ustaz Ebit and his team. No matter how hard people accused them, their persistence and tenacity in helping others remained exceeded during this trying time.
Popular with his mission and trademark to spread love, Ustaz Ebit who is also a successful businessman, had not responded to any hate messages he received. Instead, those external threats were only answered by repeated apologies for having offended anyone. Neither hold any grudge towards them.
Despite negative accusations made by some people, Ustaz Ebit Lew yet could be the most loved Malaysian after the Health Director-General, Tan Sri Dr. Noor Hisham presently. He received huge support from all walks of life.
Recently, Perlis Mufti, Datuk Dr. Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin or better known as Dr. Maza also showed his support for Ustaz Ebit. He said in his recorded lecture on Facebook that it is normal when we receive criticism even when we are doing good deeds.
“Even a singer who entertains people cannot avoid criticism,” said Maza as reported by New Straits Time.
The insight and comment given by Perlis Mufti definitely proved that Ustaz Ebit is not alone in doing good things.
We witnessed his kind hearted. Although Ustaz Ebit is a Chinese Muslim revert, his attitudes and behaviours do reflect a real Muslim personality according to what Prophet Muhammad taught us. He does portray a good role model throughout his journey in helping others.
His soft approach made people easily attached with him and putting him up as a role model. He proved to us that being kind to other people needs neither money nor energy.
All in all, helping others can be a cure, not just for those in need, but for our soul as well. ***
(This article is written as part of an individual assignment for Feature Writing class)