Mirza Yawar Baig – History is the greatest teacher if you allow it
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You will know that I
make a big deal about history,
about reading history, about learning from history, about
teaching history.
And,
and I'm the lab.
I am
totally
convinced that this is,
the worst
the most I said the most I'm wondering
if I should say one of the most,
but I think I'll stick with the most.
The most,
valuable asset that we have
in life is history.
Our history
history of,
the ommah as it were,
history of our
personal history, our
family history, our
history as a culture, as
and as people.
This is our
most valuable asset. Now the reason I say
that with so much of,
passion and authority and belief
is that so one very good reason which
is
that this is
real.
History is
a record of
what happened.
It is real.
It's not it's not, philosophy.
It's not hypothetical.
It is real.
Now we know it happened,
and therefore,
if we study that,
then we have
an excellent
way of,
excellent method of,
charting a course for us
going forward.
But there's a catch. Like, it then you
would think there is a catch, and the
catch is that this will happen only and
only if we are rigorous,
absolutely
rigorous, and totally objective and dispassionate
about learning.
It will not happen if we,
if we,
you know,
pretend to study history.
Whereas, really, we are
playing games with ourselves. It will not help.
In my,
experience,
the biggest
the biggest achievement,
is
to be objective
when we are studying history, especially
in this case, because we are talking about
Islamic service Islamic history.
It's very difficult to be objective because
for one reason the other, we
identify
ourselves with
the actual individual people,
who are involved with the history.
We want to and then we get into
the,
judgmental
mode. So now we not only identify with
them, but we now are judging them to
see
who was good or was bad.
And,
then we hit a
not just a roadblock, but we hit a
a wall because
what if somebody that you
really loved and looked up to and so
on and so as a great role model,
did something which
was not in keeping with those standards.
So what do you do?
Do you say he was good or bad?
And if you say he's good at time,
but if he's bad, then,
what happens to this wonderful image,
high on a pedestal that you've had kept?
Now the killer trick for this, and this
is the,
in my view, the absolute basic fundamental,
thing that we have to
struggle with and
defeat
and beat, and that is
this tendency
to,
tendency to,
to judge
people,
to say who is good, who is bad.
In history,
if you want to study history and if
you want to learn the history,
there's no good or bad.
There is no judgment. You are not a
judge.
You are a student. You are an observer,
and you're observing what happened.
And from this observation,
your purpose
of learning
history
is to learn precisely that, is to learn.
So your purpose of learning is to learn.
So you will observe,
and then from your observation,
you say, well,
what do I learn from this?
And between
observing
and
or part of observing is also to say,
well, what else
could that person have done?
So he did this or she did this,
given the situation. So what was the situation?
How complex and so forth. And then given
that situation, they took some actions.
Now looking at it objectively,
the drone view,
you say, well,
what were the other options
which were available to them? What were the
other ways of dealing with that situation
that they could have used? What other things
could they have done
different from what they actually did?
And then when you,
when you come to,
all of that and you say, well, okay.
These were the several options that they had.
Then you might say, well, given that they
had these options,
what prevented them
from seeing these options? After all, you're seeing
the same options and you are able to
see them, but that person you're talking about
did not see those options. They did not
choose those options. So why did that happen?
Again, remember, this is hypothesis,
and we are not judging those people. We're
just looking at the different options. You're saying
this is what the person chose. This is
what was also on the table at the
time. They did not choose that.
Why was it?
1 or 2 reasons. 1 is that they
didn't see it, which is possible
because we are all human.
And second thing was that they did see
it, but they discarded it for x y
z reason. What could have been those reasons,
and so on. And then you go to
the most important step of learning history, which
is to say, what can I learn from
this which I can apply
to my life, my situation, my circumstances,
and benefit from it? So this is the
final
and the most important step. Let's say, okay.
This is what happened. How can I take
that and apply it to my life?
What is it in my life that,
mirrors
or
that,
is like what was happening at the time?
Now very important to understand is that
you are never going to find and you
will probably will never find,
the exact same things happening. Because if you
are looking, for example,
at,
say,
what should I what should I take? Take
take for example for the Mecca. I would
say Rasool,
conquered the city of Mecca.
He had the option of,
you know,
making
the people slaves or enslaving the people. He
had the option of,
killing,
all the,
you know, possible,
potential threatening males,
and enslaving the women and children,
and so on and so forth, and looting
allowing his people to loot,
the city,
especially because many of them,
were people who the had looted from. These
were the victims of,
of the,
pogroms and and and and the persecution of
the for 13 years. People had lost their
relatives.
People had,
you know, lost
their very near and dear ones. They had
lost their property,
their money, their
their, you know, whatever they had, they was,
was stolen from them, confiscated.
So they had a right to
get it back so Rasool al Salam couldn't
have done that. He didn't. He did not.
He
forgave everybody,
all the aggressors, all the people, and he
never even
asked them to compensate.
I'm not talking about,
fining or, you know, penal compensation.
I'm talking about just plain compensation. You took
$10, give back $10. I mean, you know,
what's what can be wrong with that, and
why would anybody even find fault with that
if he did that? But he didn't.
He did not. He not only did he
not do that, none of his Sahaba did
that. None of those who lost
property and who lost lives in Mecca,
ever asked for compensation.
Now here, this is sort of well, obviously,
I don't think any of us is going
to be in a situation where we are
conquering a city.
But what do I learn from this? And
the lesson I learned from this is the
importance of forgiveness, is the importance of stepping
away
from that cycle of,
cause and effect,
the cycle of
enmity and hatred,
the cycle of getting back, the cycle cycle
of retaliation,
the cycle of reaction,
which always puts
the other person in charge of me and
saying, no. I will not react. I will
respond, and my response will be such that
I will,
I will not kill,
figuratively speaking, but I will not kill those
I hate.
I will kill hatred itself.
I will not kill my enemies, but I
will kill enmity.
And this is what did.
He killed enmity.
If you take this into our lives, see
the
number of things that happen in our lives,
which are repetition of this. You know, pair
relations
between,
parents in law
and, say, mother-in-law and daughter-in-law,
all the different in laws and out laws
that we have in our culture. It's like
a joke. Like, it's like a bad joke
because we have,
I mean, the whole family is breaking apart
and all that kind of stuff with because
we just can't get off get,
our act together with regard to,
our families and with regard to the relationships.
And we just go on over and over
again.
So what can we do with that? Now
how can I take the the,
lesson from Fatamaka and apply it in my
life in a way that makes my livelihood?
Similarly, take for
example.
I consider
the treaty of
as
the final exam of the Sahaba.
Tested them in a way which was very,
very, very difficult
because it was not just a physical test.
It was a physical test also, but it
was much more importantly a
mental
and a spiritual test.
It was a mental and spiritual test. It
was the promise of the salam and his
companions were tested in ways which were so
intensely severe,
that it's, you know, it's very difficult to
imagine that. My book on,
both my books on,
leadership lessons from the life of
as well
as the, book called Sira is the answer.
I have mentioned
very prominently because of this reason. It is
the most prominent,
incident in the
in terms of learning and leadership. And the
big lesson that we learned from this, the
one big huge important lesson we learned from
this is not the importance of leadership.
It is the importance of followership. Now this
is something we just you know, I don't
know how many people,
think of Huddl as as a
lesson in followership.
We always talk about leadership. We say, oh,
you know, the Muslim, and the problem with
the Muslims is that we,
don't have good leaders. We have a leadership
crisis. And I say to people, I said,
no. Sorry. I I disagree. We do not
have a leadership crisis. We have a followership
crisis.
We have people. We have too many leaders.
We have everyone, and his,
and his wife who thinks that they are,
the ideal candidates to be the the Khalifa
of the Muslims. Like, every single month, we
we we we don't,
we don't study the real religion. We don't
study the Arabic language.
We don't study the Quran, but we are,
very ready to,
pass make, you know, pass opinions and and
pass judgments
and, make huge kinds of, statements.
This is right. That is wrong. This is
how that's haram. Now do this. Don't do
that. All kind of stuff. Right? So where
is the where is the question of, lack
of leadership? You have bad leadership. We have
plenty of bad leadership, but we have leadership.
But what we don't have is followership.
In Hudibiya,
we saw a
the example of
the most beautiful followership you can imagine because
the Sahaba,
they obeyed Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Salam. And Allah
put this as a standard
of behavior for the Muslims.
And that's why I said, surely, they do
not they do not have even. They do
not have faith until they accept your judgment.
Until they accept your judgment.
Meaning, they accept the judgment and they obey
it and they follow it.
And
they do not find in their hearts
any resistance against it,
and they accept it with full submission.
Now you know and I know that the
fundamental principle of the Sharia is that,
culpability comes with speech or action, not with
feeling.
You can feel anything, but rather you don't
say it or do it, Allah will not
punish you. Inshallah, we are free. But in
this case, which is obedience to the Rasool
Allah
is saying that not only is it essential
that you obey the promise, but you should
also not even feel a sense of resistance
in their obedience. You must obey
with complete submission
with happiness.
This is what the Sahaba demonstrated
in Hudibiya.
The decision of the Rasul alaihi
salaam
who invited them to go with him.
Invited the test on him. He's the Rasul.
What he says is. Allah
Allah said he does not speak from his
own volition. Whatever he says is being
inspired to him from Allah. So Allah gave
him this
good news. Allah said to him to take
people with him and go and make.
And then, lo and behold, when they get
to when they are a strong story from
from Makkah,
and go back home. Right?
Go back home. Now imagine. So what is
his position as a prophet? What is his
position with respect to the recipient of Wahi?
What is his position with regard to,
credibility
with his followers?
But he accepted that,
and he did what Allah
told him to do. He did not protest
to Allah. He did not say Allah want
to put me in this spot. No.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala so said to him
whatever he said to him, and Nabi Salam
demonstrated that, and he obeyed. So
to me, the proof of that is this,
because he was doing what he had been
commanded by his.
And he did it. He did it to
the 2 level of excellence, and the Sahaba
followed him. Now we know what
did. He actually questioned the.
But
anyone who studies the
that
was
only the
the,
spontaneous
spokesperson
for the rest of them. They were all
in the same boat. There was not one
of them who liked
what was happening. They obeyed,
but they obeyed.
And that is the key. The key is
real obedience is to obey
even when you don't like
to obey.
Real followership
is
to follow
even though you don't want to follow,
even though you disagree,
even though you
believe that the person who is leading has
made a mistake
because you trust them. And when you trust
them, you say to yourself that
inshallah, they would not have made a mistake,
because I trust them.
And,
if they make a mistake, we'll live with
that. We will correct that. But we will
not disobey.
We will follow.
Now see see the difference between the sahaba
and
of the, wave of salud,
at at the time of,
of Uhud,
where he
came with Nabi sallallahu alaihi salam and about
300 of his own troops, and then he
turned around and went back. Because he said,
no. I don't think your decision is right.
I think that we would be bet it
would be better if we had fought the
battle inside the city.
You listen to some young hotheads,
and you decided to go out and fight,
so I'm not with you. So now he
left the
prophet, and he turned back. So he did
not obey. He obeyed his own logic. He
obeyed his own opinion.
Whether he was right or not is,
is a mood point. It is immaterial.
What is material is that he did not
obey,
but he said I will obey you if
I agree with you. I will obey you
if I like what you are saying. I
will obey you if it suits me, but
I will not obey you if it is
the opposite. Now this is the difference between
and
the Sahaba of and
that's the difference between Jahannam and Jannah.
When Allah
promised
Jahannam, and he promised the Sahaba Jannah. And
that was the issue of followership.
So when we are studying history,
we must study it objectively
with the intention and understand and and,
of
following it. And we are saying here, we
have a situation in Bolivia where
our leader tells us to do something which
we really don't want to do. Maybe some
of us think that this is the wrong
decision, but not a single person said no.
We obey because we have chosen him as
a leader, and therefore, we trust him, and
we will follow.
What was the result? The result was fantastic.
Allah said,
today, I've granted you the greatest victory,
a manifest clear, glorious victory. What was the
victory? The victory was a victory over
themselves.
A victory over their own nuffs. A victory
over their own desires.
Even though the desire itself was positive, they
they weren't they didn't wanna do haram. They
they the desire was positive, but I said,
no. Even with a positive desire,
the fact that you overcame the desire, the
fact that you obeyed the Nabi alaihi salaam
and not your desire is a victory, and
that is the greatest victory. The result of
that victory was that even though
the was, the Allah gave them Mecca itself.
They wanted to make Umrah, and this was
a delight to them. Mecca became their property
in 2 years
from that day. So do as many Umrah
as you want because now the place belongs
to you. So you're not you're not being
permitted
by somebody else to come into the It
is yours.
Right? It is yours. Do as many as
you want.
This is the
way to study history.
Be objective.
Don't be judgmental.
Extract the lessons.
You know, don't don't don't do cherry picking.
Don't
just have a feel good factor.
Look at both the positive and the negative,
and then relate them to today and identify
where and how you will apply each lesson.
And the most important then, obviously, I won't
go into the details here, but just a
line, that each application for each time you
apply,
document the steps
and have metrics for each step.
Only then you start.
So then apply the lesson as you progress,
monitor the progress, and measure the result.
We ask
to help us to,
do that which is pleasing to him and
to save us from that which is not
pleasing to him.