Palestine Reimagined #10 Haste

Your duty is to work towards the welfare

of the Ummah. Don't ask me, Allah, about

the outcomes. I decide these things. Your duty

is to work.

In the searing heat of Mecca, under

the shade of the sacred Kaaba, lay the

prophet Muhammad

sallallahu alaihi wasallam his cloak serving

as a makeshift pillar.

This was a time of immense trial

for the early Muslims, a period marked by

relentless

and bloody persecution.

Among them was Khabab ibn al Arat.

A man fatigued

by torment

at the hands of the pagan Meccans.

With a heart heavy with suffering,

Khabab

approached the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam, and he

said I came to the prophet as he

laid in the Kaaba shade.

Having made a pillow of his cloak.

We had experienced Khambabset, intense torture at the

hands of the pagans, And so I said,

Will you not ask Allah to give us

victory?

Will you not pray for us?

The Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam's response was profound

but also equally measured.

He said

a man from those before you would be

dug,

a hole in the earth where he would

be placed.

Then a sword would be brought and placed

on his head and he would be sawed

into 2 pieces.

And that would not deter him from his

religion.

And he would be combed with iron combs.

Separating flesh from nerves and bones.

Yet it would not deter him

from his religion.

And then he said to Khabab, wallahi I

swear by Allah.

So that a rider

will be able to travel from San'a to

Hadramaut,

to cities in Yemen that were dangerous. He

said people will travel between them fearing nobody

but Allah

and perhaps the wolves for your sheep.

He said,

but you are in haste.

The story

shows that moments of outpouring are not always

necessarily

blameworthy,

nor necessarily an indication of hypocrisy or doubt.

But it also shows that man, by way

of his humanity is hasty.

It's natural, Allah Almighty has made it an

instinct instilled in all humans

Allah said man is ever

hasty. Man was created of haste. The word

haste, and its derivatives appeared 19 times in

the Quran.

Here

it is key to note

That the efforts you exert today in the

championing

of any cause of justice whether that of

Palestine

or elsewhere

A Muslim cause or otherwise

May only come to fruition

many years after your death.

Remember that you are not more concerned for

the Ummah's causes than Allah is. So don't

despair if you don't see your efforts taking

off during your lifetime.

Your duty is merely to sow the seed

with dedication.

Then it is up to Allah to decide

how and when to give life to matters.

I mean we burn out after a few

months of activism

and complain that nothing is changing. But whilst

the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam invited to Islam,

around the clock, in Mecca, for 13 years,

there was nothing but

persecution. Where Allah refused

to give him the power to resist and

to fight.

Subayyah,

the first Martyr,

did not see Badr. She didn't see Uhud.

She didn't see Al Ta'disiyah.

She saw nothing but persecution and an early

death in Mecca.

Our mother Khadija

never had the privilege of reciting a full

copy of the Quran. It wasn't fully revealed

by the time she had passed away.

Allah Almighty said to the prophet Muhammad Sallallahu

Alaihi Wasallam

Muhammad. Indeed the promise of Allah is truth.

And whether we show you some of what

we have promised them or we take you

in death,

it is to us that they will be

returned.

Whether we show you or we don't, that's

that's up to us. They will come back

to us.

Look, I understand

the

human

desire to see the outcome of his or

her wa'ik.

The fruits of their

life, the fruits of their activism, sacrifices, an

outcome of justice

that abates the inner flames of frustration or

anger.

But in the grand scheme of things none

of this should really matter. What actually matters

is to meet Allah having carried out

that concern.

Having tried your best

with all what is at your disposal.

What matters is to have earned the honor

of being an active participant in the process

of giving honor to the causes of truth

and justice. Whether you live to see the

finish line

or not, that is inconsequential.

Because the truest finish line is where? It's

with Allah on the day of reckoning.

A finish line that crosses into paradise or

hell not in this temporal world.

No mortal

brings honor to their religion. Their religion brings

us honor.

So take your share of this honor by

being part of this project,

by being a visionary,

by never despairing,

then hand over the baton to those

who will come after you and will build

upon what you did. So don't be in

haste.

Don't assume that your eyes

must see any outcome today. All things will

come just in time for Qadrach, the decree

of Allah.

And the fact that prophet Yunus

Gave up on his people when inviting them

to Islam since they rejected him so stubbornly

Only for him to go back and find

that they had all embraced Islam on their

own accord. That's a message from

Allah.

That I, Allah, I am the one in

control of affairs, I decide how and

When efforts come into fruition

Your duty is to work towards the welfare

of the Ummah,

don't ask me Allah about the outcomes. I

decide these things, your duty is to work.

And allow me to share with you here

one final practical example of this. Since we

are on the topic of Palestine.

Ali Abu Muntar al Sulani was a jurist

of the Shafi'i school of thought, teaching in

the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus.

We authored a book which detailed the rulings

of war,

explained to the Qur'anic verses that address

it.

The duties of different people

towards it.

The book frequently cites Al Ghazali and other

classical scholars. It was, you can say, the

first scholarly response to the crusades which had

by that time conquered Jerusalem.

The initial public readings of this book

were in the year 1105,

just 6 years after Jerusalem had been conquered

by the Crusaders.

So you would assume that these readings would

be popular

due to the urgency of the matter.

Yet amazingly, subhanAllah, they were poorly attended.

And a year after this Ali ibn Tahaher,

the author passed away.

So he didn't live to see much.

Fast forward just 81 years to the blessed

land of Asshaab.

The night sky should be filled with tension

yet there is a surprising calm

and excitement fills the air.

This time, thousands of Muslims have gathered in

a huddle to hear

a reading of a book.

His book,

pin drop silence,

is only broken by weeping sounds of the

sincere or the bellows of Taqmi'u and

led by Salahuddin,

and his teacher Muradin Azingi,

a once disparate

Muslim community of various ethnicities and languages became

united by Islam, inspired into action

by the book of Ali ibn Taha'i.

And it was read in the lead to

the decisive battle of Hetreem.

The battle in which Jerusalem was liberated by

Salahuddin,

one can imagine therefore the reaction of Ali

ibn Tawhid when, insha'Allah,

on the day of judgment he is told

that your book

played a key role in the recapturing of

Jerusalem.

What is the point of saying this?

Beware of the arrogance of assuming that you

must see the outcome of your labor.

Beware of being in haste.

We are responsible for the striving

not for the result.

We are responsible for the journey not for

the arrival.

not for the victory.

not for the victory.