“No soul knows what it
will earn tomorrow, and no soul knows in what land it will die. Surely, Allah
is all knowing, all aware” Surah Luqman verse 34
We are chasing life as if today and tomorrow will never end. And yet there is only one thing that we can all be certain of and that is that we won’t last forever.
Despite the facts we have a bad habit of constantly complaining, we have a bad habit of always portraying the victim and we give excuses to the rest of humanity that we are helpless and that our civil liberties are being eroded because we are Muslims. But when you look a little closer and the solution we are looking for it is somewhere else. It is not in the Quran and in the Sunnah, it is in manmade ideologies and philosophies and then we complain while we are nothing more than slaves to a Godless capitalist society.
We quote Aristotle, we quote De Vinci, we quote Mandela and Kennedy, yet we fail to quote the most important men and women in our Islamic history. Is it because of our ignorance or because we are afraid? That is a question I would like us to ask ourselves.
“We were the most humiliated people on earth and God gave us honour through Islam. If we ever seek honour through anything else, God will humiliate us again.” ― Umar ibn Al-Khattab(RH)
And look at the Muslims of the world today. Humiliated as we have forgotten what once bought us honour. Like sheep that have lost their shepherd we have left the fold, and we are in the den of wolves that are ready to pounce at any moment.
We plea with mere mortals for change, obscure that the only change will come from making dua’a to Allah Subhan wa ta’ala and our own efforts. Do we really want change? Then first let us change ourselves. Do we want good leaders? Our Islamic history proves that when the people were good, they had good leaders. So what does that say about the people in the world today? Do we really want the world to be a better place? Do we really claim to be what we say we are? If the answer is yes, then go back and read the Quran, go back and follow the Sunnah and understand for everybody else manmade laws and philosophies will work, but for Muslims the only thing that will bring us back is the Quran and the Sunnah.
Is that too difficult to comprehend? Is that too difficult to understand? We claim we are Muslims but Muslim is not just in a name. I don’t intend on beating around the bush, and I don’t intend on providing a façade of the reality of the situation today.
Mu'awiyah ibn Abi Sufyan said 'I heard the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam) say, 'Nothing remains of this world except trials and tribulations.' The world today is the very proof of the trials and tribulations that we are facing. In some cases we don’t even need to look around, it is happening on our very own doorstep and yet we remain ignorant to the wants of this world.
"And fear the Fitnah (affliction and trial) which affects not in particular those of you who do wrong, and know that Allah is Severe in punishment."[Al-Anfal: 25]
We may not do any wrong, but we are no better than those who do wrong when we do nothing at all.
The Prophet Muhammad
(sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam) was speaking to a group of Sahabas (companions)
about a time which will be full of fitnah, the Sahaba were concerned and
said, “What will be the way out Oh Messenger of Allah?” The Prophet Muhammad
(sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam) said, “Hold on to the Book of Allah” in the time
of fitnah, this is what you have to do. “In it is the narration of those who
came before us and those who will come after us.”We are chasing life as if today and tomorrow will never end. And yet there is only one thing that we can all be certain of and that is that we won’t last forever.
Despite the facts we have a bad habit of constantly complaining, we have a bad habit of always portraying the victim and we give excuses to the rest of humanity that we are helpless and that our civil liberties are being eroded because we are Muslims. But when you look a little closer and the solution we are looking for it is somewhere else. It is not in the Quran and in the Sunnah, it is in manmade ideologies and philosophies and then we complain while we are nothing more than slaves to a Godless capitalist society.
We quote Aristotle, we quote De Vinci, we quote Mandela and Kennedy, yet we fail to quote the most important men and women in our Islamic history. Is it because of our ignorance or because we are afraid? That is a question I would like us to ask ourselves.
“We were the most humiliated people on earth and God gave us honour through Islam. If we ever seek honour through anything else, God will humiliate us again.” ― Umar ibn Al-Khattab(RH)
And look at the Muslims of the world today. Humiliated as we have forgotten what once bought us honour. Like sheep that have lost their shepherd we have left the fold, and we are in the den of wolves that are ready to pounce at any moment.
We plea with mere mortals for change, obscure that the only change will come from making dua’a to Allah Subhan wa ta’ala and our own efforts. Do we really want change? Then first let us change ourselves. Do we want good leaders? Our Islamic history proves that when the people were good, they had good leaders. So what does that say about the people in the world today? Do we really want the world to be a better place? Do we really claim to be what we say we are? If the answer is yes, then go back and read the Quran, go back and follow the Sunnah and understand for everybody else manmade laws and philosophies will work, but for Muslims the only thing that will bring us back is the Quran and the Sunnah.
Is that too difficult to comprehend? Is that too difficult to understand? We claim we are Muslims but Muslim is not just in a name. I don’t intend on beating around the bush, and I don’t intend on providing a façade of the reality of the situation today.
Mu'awiyah ibn Abi Sufyan said 'I heard the Messenger of Allah (sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam) say, 'Nothing remains of this world except trials and tribulations.' The world today is the very proof of the trials and tribulations that we are facing. In some cases we don’t even need to look around, it is happening on our very own doorstep and yet we remain ignorant to the wants of this world.
"And fear the Fitnah (affliction and trial) which affects not in particular those of you who do wrong, and know that Allah is Severe in punishment."[Al-Anfal: 25]
We may not do any wrong, but we are no better than those who do wrong when we do nothing at all.
More than 1400 years ago, we were warned, we were sent a final message of mercy to the whole of mankind, not to a selected few, but to the whole of the human race. During that period, rivers have changed directions, civilizations have fallen and others have risen, languages became extinct and the miracle that we have forgotten is that for more than 1400 years, not a word, not a letter, not a dot has changed in the Book of Allah (Subhan wa ta’ala).
Our greatest tragic dilemma is the ignorance of our roots, the reason of our purpose in this temporary dunya (life). We choose our battles, we choose our direction, we choose what we stand for and we cannot lay blame to anyone or anything other than ourselves. Do not fall prey to the power of deception; do not fall for the cunning tricks. No one can be forced into the wrong path, no one can be forced to do wrong, it is the influence of free will that drives us to disobey.
“He who does not live in the way of his beliefs starts to believe in the way he lives.” ― Umar ibn Al-Khattab
We live in the most amazing of times ever since the mercy to the whole of mankind, the last and final Prophet Muhammad, May peace and blessings be upon him. We are witnessing verse after verse of the Holy Quran before our very eyes, a sign, a warning of what has come and what is about to occur, yet we fail to embrace the times and we are waiting on the sideline afraid to speak, in fear of the creation while neglecting what matters the most which is the Creator.
What is wrong with us? And when I look at the Arab world in particular, I wonder, what has become of us?
Prophet Muhammad(PBUH) said "Indeed Islam began new and strange and it shall return as it began - new and strange. So glad tidings to the strangers." (Muslim) It was asked, "And who are the strangers?" Rasool Allah said, "Those who are far away from the tribes." (Ibn Maajah)
And indeed this is the case today whether we want to acknowledge the fact or neglect it.
History repeats and in particular the last century with the mass media and technology the Arab and Islamic world has been humiliated.. why? We have been labelled with every label possible known to mankind since the dawn of time and only once and a step back in time did we once have our honour.
Usamah ibn Zayd: 'The Messenger of Allah (sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam) said, 'Do you see what I can see? I see the places of tribulation amidst your homes just like the places of raindrops as they fall (on the earth).'
And so begins our decline, unless we start treading in the right direction again.
“And whosoever does not rule by what Allah has revealed”… “And whosoever does not rule by what Allâh has revealed, such are the disbelievers (Kâfirûn)”
Did Allah Subhan wa ta’ala tell us to create and follow man made laws? Are there instructions in the Quran or in any hadith to create or implement other laws other than what Allah Subhan wa ta’ala ordained? Are there different instructions depending on the century we are born in and on the technology achieved?
People give excuses today, they say times are different; we live in a different era, with all this technology. But we as people have never really changed. We still contain the same feelings, same pain, same hearts, the same loss, same happiness, a soul. The physical appearance of the world may have changed but we as people are the same from the beginning of time to the end of days.
I recently read, “The Way Out of Tribulations” by Shaykh Muhammad Isma'il al-Muqaddam which made me stop and think and it is of the utmost importance to share. We like to claim and perceive that we are Muslims so here are some of the questions raised and questions I hope we will start asking ourselves.
“Do we believe in Allah and that He is the Creator? And do we believe that He knows what was and what is, that he is most knowledgeable about creation, that he knows mankind, what is good for him and what is bad? And do we believe that he sent the Messenger Muhammad (sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam) with guidance and truth, and revealed to him this Qur'an in which there is guidance for mankind to set right by it both their religion and their worldly affairs? “As for thief, both male and female, cut off their hand.” Do we believe that this verse is truly from the Qur'an? Then how much then will we ignore it? What then is our law?”
This is just an example I am relating. We have no excuses. The time has come to speak the truth and end this act of spinelessness. We are on this earth for a reason, not for treason and if we continue on this path we will fall like the people of Thamud, Ad, Al Rass, like the people in the time of the Prophet Lut (AS) to name a few.
So what is the matter with us? Be proud of what we are, be proud of what we must recite, what we must relate and stand firm with the truth whether the creation likes it or not and remember …..Worship the Creator not the creation.
WE WILL REMAIN WEAK AS LONG AS ISLAM COMES SECOND.
