Fate within our Power
Khalid Baig
About a century ago the Muslim world was in great turmoil. The news from the Balkans was terrible. Then came the big crash. The last symbol of the unity of the Ummah, the Khilafah, was abolished - on 3 March 1924. Most people now cannot imagine what a bombshell it was. Writing in these troubled times, the great contemporary scholar Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi (1864-1943) said: 'When I think of these events before meals, I lose all appetite; when I think of them before bedtime, I lose all sleep.'
A century later, little has changed, Palestine and Kashmir have been suffering for more than half a century. In recent years devestation has devestated Bosnia, Kosova, Chechnya, Afghanistan, now Iraq. There is grief, sorrow, pain, anger and desperation. How does one cope?
Some turn to indifference, which may be desperation disguised, others pretend nothing has happened, or what has happened does not matter. Yet others go about traumatised, with an overwhelming sense of hopelessness. Such desperation is crippling: if we convince ourselves that we are doomed, then most certainly we are.
What can we do? Turn to Allah in supplication, for only in turning to Allah does one find strength as well as solace.
The words of supplication, du'as, taught by Prophet Muhammad (salAllahu alayhi wasalam) for such occasions are a great consolation. Just remembering that he himself went through great trials and tribulations ligetens our burdens. The realisation that he also showed us how to face hardships and trials lifts our morale. Making these du'as with understanding helps face the challenge.
These du'as are many, each itself a gem. They show us the way our of our misery. One of them says in part:
'O Allah! Grant us that yaqeen (cetainty in faith) that lightens our hardships in this world. O Allah! Do not make this world our greatest worry. Do not impose upon us, because of our sins, those who will not fear You and will not be kind to us.'
these are three very important messages here. Faith will help us lighten our difficulties; the pains and pleasures of this world are nothing compared to those of the Hereafter; our sins may bring oppressive rulers upon us.
True faith helps one overcome hardship. How can we feel helpless when we have faith in ALlah, Who is All-Knowing and All-Powerful? He is also the Most Merciful and the Most Just. He will not let any injustice stand or go unaccounted. His Love and Mercy will cover us ans wash away even the traces of all our sufferings.
It is part of Allah's greater plan that He allows the oppressors some respite in this world to show their real self. The Qur'an is full of stories of such people and nations. As the Qur'an states - and history humbly acknowledges - each one of them was punished in this world. The Pharaohs of the world were destroyed and made an example of, so the later people could take a lesson. And the Qur'an announces most emphatically that the punishment that awaits them in the Hereafter is more severe and unceasing.
These examples help us realise the inherent flaws in our timescales, which make us lose patience. Pharoah was not punished the moment he committed his fist atrocity, not even after his first encounter with Prophet Musa (alayhis salam). His atrocities continued for what must have seemed an eternity to those who were suffering directly. But in retrospect we can see that all that time bought him nothing but misery and painful doom.
Remembering the Hereafter helps us gain that perspective. For everything that happened in this world from the first day to the last will clearly be seen as a fleeting moment that is when we enter eternity. A hadith tells us about a person whose life was nothing but hardship and suffering. He would be given one dip in Jannah (Paradise) and taken out. Then he will be asked whether he had experienced any difficulty in his pervious life and he would swear that he had never. That one dip will erase all traces of the sufferings of a lifetime. Another person who had seen nothing but joy in his life. He would be given just one dip in Hell and would be taken out. He would then be asked whether he had seen any happiness in his previous life. And he would swear that he had never.
How blessed is the person who is armed with such faith and such perspective, foe he can never be awed by the show of worldly power, or made desolate by being inflicted with worldy sufferings. Our faith helps us set our sights so high that no worldy power can reach or spoil them. This is precisely what the sorcerers in the court of Pharoah told him once they realised that Syedna Musa (alayhis salam) was the true Messenger of Allah.
One marvels at the power of faith that instantly transformed them from ordinary magicians, concerned with money and power, into great men of faith who could not be intimidated. To the Pharoah who threatened to cut off their opposite hands and arms and crucify them, they said:
'Never shall we regard you above the Clear Signs that have come to us, and above Him Who created us! So decree whatever you desire to decree: for you can only decree (touching) the life of this world. For us, we have believed in our Lord: may He forgive us our faults, and the magic to which you did compel us: for Allah is Best and Most Abiding.'
[surah Ta-Ha; 20:72-73]
Clamities can either cripple or spur people into action. the realisation that occupation and oppressvive rulers may be the results of our sins can spur us into action. For, it is within our poer to change our ways and thereby our fate. If we do so, the turmoil would have been a blessing in disguise.
The challenges Islam faces today are mult-dimentional, so are the opportunities facing them: from self-reform and self-education, to giving an Islamic upbringing to out children, to da'wah and tabligh, to battling fellow colonialists - whose bibles follow the bombs - to promoting Islamic education, to helping the needy through charitable work, to building and strengthening Islamic instituations, to economic and political work to strengthen the Ummah, to the battlefields of liberation. The scope for jihad is indeed vast.
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