Why Is The Islamic Ummah Tried With Various Forms of Trial?
31-12-2008
The Roles Of The Islamic Ummah
The main feature of the Islamic Ummah (community) as revealed by al-Quran is to
universally invite mankind to do good deeds (makruf) and renounce haram things
which are forbidden by the religion of Islam, it aims at no other than to make
them a successful Ummah in this world and the hereafter, this revelation was
mentioned through Ali 'Imran verse 104 which means: “Let there arise out of you
a band of people inviting to all that is good, enjoining what is right, and
forbidding what is wrong: They are the ones to attain felicity.”
The Islamic Ummah is the best Ummah ever brought forth by Allah onto this
surface of the earth, for the purpose of inviting mankind in its entirety to
dedicate themselves to Allah SWT in a very wide sense and meaning.
Tried with various forms of trial to be stronger and maturer
Amongst the trials on mankind mentioned by al-Quran is the making of life and
death as the testing ground for knowing how far they have really believed in
Allah (see verse 2 of surah al-Mulk and verse 2 and 3 of surah al-Ankabut).
The Islamic ummah is tested by the obligatory five times prayer (solat), fasting
in the month of Ramadhan, performing the obligatory hajj in Makkah, behaving
with noble characters (akhlaq), having good thoughts, leaving all the forbidden
and impermissible things decreed by Allah and so on. It is for no other reason
than to make them an Ummah with a high quality from the viewpoints of the iman,
taqwa and relationship with Allah as the Creator.
Without the trials, it would surely be impossible for mankind to know how much
their iman towards Allah are, just like the students in a school who must go
through an educational process which is concluded with an important exam,
whether it be the primary level, lower secondary level or upper secondary level,
in order to decide for themselves the best educational position in a higher
level.
Trials are to remind the Ummah about their roles and responsibilities.
1- The occurrence of the different kinds of fitnah in religion (caused by the
Muslim Ummah themselves)
2- The occurrence of earthquakes, typhoons, lightning flood, landslide, etc.
3- Death is everywhere (whether it be death caused by accidents, suicides,
killing others to hide the feeling of shame and so on), the Ummah is hit by
various forms of calamity from Allah.
Based on the explanation of the Prophet’s hadith above, we should be thankful to
Allah that we are categorized as being under the community of Prophet Muhammad
who are bestowed with a lot of advantages… it is only him from amongst the
Anbiya who could give the shafaat (intercession) in the Akhirah later.
However, what we should all concentrate on is the issues of our lives in this
world, has it ever crossed our minds that Prophet Muhammad had told us about the
repeating “examinations” or afflictions in this world is due to our own
mistakes.
Due to the negligence of the human being called Muslims, who do a lot of deeds
which are against the religion (that is considered as fitnah upon Islam itself),
for example, how many from amongst the Muslimahs who do not wear hijab (thinking
it is just a minor sin), there are those who gamble, drink alcohols, commit
incest's, steal, kill and many other crimes, all of these are fitnah upon Islam.
Therefore, if the Islamic Ummah themselves are involved in the phenomena of
fitnah, then it is not impossible that Allah SWT would send down various forms
of disasters and calamities that are unexpected by the human minds. If in the
past era Allah had sent down disasters in the form of insects and animals such
as locusts, fleas, frogs, and terrifying blood, now in the present era Allah
punishes mankind with bird flus, the hand, foot and mouth disease, Aids, SARS
and many others that have caused the humans to be in fear and helpless in front
of these afflictions.
Another calamity that Allah has made to befall on the Islamic Ummah of today is
death, whether it be death caused by accidents or killings, the newspapers
reported these cases of deaths every day, this shows that Allah is planning
something to punish us who are neglectful of our duties towards Him and are
lured by the worldly attractions that distance ourselves from Him.
Actually the trials that we have received and are currently facing, is for no
other reason than to remind us of the original purpose of our existence, namely
to worship Allah SWT. If we are tried and we die because of it, then we are
doing the righteous deeds, but on the contrary if we die in the condition of
indulging in sins and disobeying Allah, it is feared that our death would become
the damnation from Allah SWT, therefore, let’s all together regret and be
repentant with ourselves and do a lot of muhasabah (reckoning, settling the
accounts and self-interrogation) to Allah.
Submitted by a Mujahid