We Muslims may be numerous, but we have become weak. Why, for instance, have we allowed the Zionists to invade our land of Palestine? Why have we have tolerated the continuing oppression and killing and torture and humiliation of Muslims in occupied Palestine? Why have we done nothing effective when the kufr government of America, aided by apostates and hypocrites, invaded the Muslim land of Afghanistan and installed a puppet government? Why have we tolerated the continuing occupation and atrocities in Kashmir? Why have we done nothing about the abject humiliation and continuing detention of the Mujahideen captured by the kufr Americans?

If we need one stark example of our weakness let us remember Jenin. A small number of lightly armed heroic Mujahideen defend their homes, their families, their fellow Muslims, from the military might of the Zionist occupiers. Many of the Mujahideen are killed - may Allah (SWT) accept their martyrdom - while many of taken away by the Zionists for brutal interrogation. Muslims are massacred, humiliated and tortured. Muslim homes are destroyed. Muslim land is occupied. And what do we do? Very little, except perhaps call on kufr governments and kufr organizations, like the UN, to "condemn the massacre" and "investigate" it. And, of course, nothing happens - except some words by some people: words which are, in effect and in reality, meaningless and do nothing to end the occupation, end the killing, the torture, the humiliation of the Muslims in Jenin and elsewhere.

Why is this? There is a simple explanation:
 

Tawban (may Allah be pleased with him), one of the servants of the Prophet (salla Allahu 'alayhi wa sallam) mentioned that the Prophet (salla Allahu 'alayhi wa sallam) said: "There will be a time when the nations will call upon one another to act against us, just like people call one another to partake of a dish with food".

Someone else asked him: "Will it happen because we will be small in number, O Messenger of Allah?"

He replied: "No, you will be numerous, but you will be gusa'a [that is, like froth on the water's surface], and Allah will remove fear of you from the hearts of your enemies, just as He will place wahn into your hearts".

Those who were present asked him: "What is wahn, O Messenger of Allah?" He replied: "Love of this life and fear of death". (Sahih Hadith Sunan of Abu Daud, 4297)

What has happened is that many of us love the life of this world more than we love Allah (SWT) just as many of us have forgotten that this life is only a test, a path, which can lead to Jannah. We have forgotten that one of our foremost duties, as Muslims, is to strive in the way of Allah (SWT) even if - or particularly if - this means our own death. That is, we have forgotten that we have an obligation - given to us by Allah (SWT) - to actively and by force of arms to: (1) repel the invaders who occupy our lands; (2) to establish an Islamic way of life ( communities governed only according to Shariah), and (3) to forbid what Allah (SWT) has said is wrong and encourage what Allah has said is good and lawful.
 

"He [Allah] created life and death that He might put you to the test and find out which of you acquitted himself best." [67: 1-2. Interpretation of meaning]
"Every soul shall taste death. We shall try you in good and bad ordeals." [ 21:35 Interpretation of meaning]

"This present life is only like water which We send down from the clouds so that the luxuriant herbage sustaining man and beast may grow; until when the Earth puts on its lovely garment and becomes adorned, and its people believe that they are its masters - down then comes Our scourge upon it by night or in broad day, laying it waste as though it had not blossomed yesterday. Thus We make plain our Signs to those who use reason." [10: 24-25 Interpretation of Meaning]

Our true life, our true existence, lies in Jannah - and not in this world. Thus we are enjoined by Allah (SWT) to always remember The Last Day when we be subject to the only judgment that matters.
 

"Say: If your fathers, your sons, your brothers, your wives, your kindred, the wealth that you have gained, the commerce in which you fear a decline, and the dwellings in which you delight are dearer to you than Allah and His Messenger, and striving hard and fighting in His Cause, then wait until Allah brings about His Decision (torment). [9:24 Interpretation of Meaning]

Our real strength - that which makes our enemies to tremble and which created the great Islamic civilizations of the past - is our willingness to give up the life of this world, to die fighting in the cause of Allah (SWT) so that we may attain Paradise.
 

"And they who believe and do what has been commanded, will be in those Gardens underneath which rivers flow. That is the greatest achievement
of all." [85: 7-11 Interpretation of Meaning]

"March forth, whether you are light (healthy, young and wealthy) or heavy (ill, old and poor), strive hard with your wealth and your lives in the Cause of Allah. For this is the best thing for you, if you only knew." [ 9: 41 Interpretation of Meaning]

"The first obligation after Iman is the repulsion of the enemy aggressor who assaults our Way of Life and interferes in our affairs". Ibn Tayymia.

"Those who believe in Allah and the Last Day would not ask for permission to be exempted from fighting with their wealth and their lives, since they know that Allah knows all who are Al-Muttaqun. It is only those who do not believe in Allah and the Last Day, and in whose hearts is doubt, that would ask for such an exemption. For they in their doubt waver." [9: 44-45 Interpretation of Meaning.]

"And what is wrong with you that you fight not in the Cause of Allah, and for those weak, ill-treated and oppressed among men, women, and children, whose cry is: "Our Lord! Rescue us from this place whose people are oppressors; and raise for us from You one who will protect, and raise for us from You one who will help" [ 4: 75 Interpretation of Meaning.]

The questions we have to ask ourselves are: do we really believe that the Quran is the Word of Allah (SWT), and that in the example of the Prophet Muhammad (salla Allahu 'alayhi wa sallam) we have the perfect example to follow?
 

"This day I have perfected your Way of Life for you and completed My Favour upon you and have chosen for you as your Way of Life Al-Islam" [5:3 Interpretation of Meaning]

"Indeed in the Messenger of Allah you have the most perfect example for those whose trust is in Allah." [33:21 Interpretation of Meaning]

Are we "intellectual"- modernist - Muslims only: picking and choosing what to believe, what to do, what to say, how to live? Or are we Muslims in our very soul, our very being? That is, people who love and revere the Prophet and Messenger of Allah (salla Allahu 'alayhi wa sallam), who fear only Allah (SWT) and who with all their heart, all their being, desire the eternal rewards of Paradise?
 

"Be afraid of Allah and be with those who are true in words and in deeds." [9:119 Interpretation of meaning]

If we are truly Muslim, then our life - like the way of Al-Islam - is very simple: we must do, be, live, act, think, as Allah (SWT) has commanded. This means using only the Quran and Sunnah as our guides, as our standard, as our source of judgement.
 

"And whosoever does not judge by what Allâh has revealed, such are the Kâfirûn." [5:44 Interpretation of meaning]

Our greatest weapon - our way to victory both in this life and the next - is our simple, unaffected, trust in Allah (SWT). But it is this weapon - our Imaan - which many of us seem to have forsaken.
 

"Let those who would trade the life of this world for the life Hereafter fight in the Cause of Allah. And those who do fight in the Cause of Allah - whether they be killed or are victorious - will have bestowed on them, by Us, the greatest reward of all." [4: 74 Interpretation of Meaning.]