The Pride of Iman And Allah’s Help
23-10-2008
Allah SWT describes the believers as a people whose rank is
of the highest level. As a result, they are not let to develop the attitude of
“weak mentality” or “grief”.
وَلَا تَهِنُوا وَلَا تَحْزَنُوا وَأَنْتُمُ الْأَعْلَوْنَ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ
مُؤْمِنِينَ
“So do not be weaken, and do not grieve, and you will
be superior if you are [true] believers.” (Qur’an 3:139).
The above verse was sent down concerning the Battle of Uhud which had just been
undertaken by Prophet Muhammad SAW and the Companions RA. They suffered defeat
in the battle against the Makkan aggressors. On commenting the above verse, Ibnu
Katsir rahimahullah said “A good end and (Allah’s aid) will be on your side, O
believers,” which means that even though they were suffering defeat, the
Companions RA, should remain optimistic, because in reality Allah’s aid is
always with the believers.
Whereas in the book Fi Dhzilalil Qur’an, Sayyid Qutub rahimahullah wrote: Do not
be weaken, and do not grieve because you are a people whose rank is superior.
Your aqeedah is superoir because you only prostrate to Allah, whilst they (the
mushrikeen) prostrate to His creation. Your Manhaj (Methodology) is superior
because you are walking on the manhaj of Allah SWT, whilst they are traversing
the way of life according to the manhaj created by Allah’s creations. Your role
is superior because you are the guardian of a will for the entire humanity, the
bringer of guidance to all mankind, whilst they deviated from the manhaj of
Allah and strayed from the straight path.
Your rank is higher because you are the inheritor of the earth just like what
Allah has promised, whereas they will be destroyed and forgotten. Therefore if
you are really believers, surely you will be the people who have the highest
level of status, so do not be weaken and do not grieve. Because all of those are
sunatullah (Allah’s law which is unchanging through time), which could affect
you as much as it could also affect the others. However, only you will gain
goodness out of it after conducting Jihad and struggling hard, after receiving
trials and after going through the process of purification.
The appreciation by a mu’meen that he is becoming someone who has the highest
rank compared to the rest of mankind should only be on the condition that he is
committed to the manhaj of Allah SWT in his life in this world. However, once he
leaves the manhaj of Allah SWT and joins the rest of mankind in his struggle to
depend on the man-made manhaj, he would fall into the abyss of humiliation and
he would be far from the help of Allah SWT as well as from victory, be it in
this world or even more so in the hereafter.
The test of iman could be felt even more when the ummah is in the midst of
experiencing defeats in their struggle in this world. On one side, Allah SWT
promises victory and honor to the believers yet the reality shows otherwise.
Those who are in power, as if every course of life in this world is determined
by them, are those from amongst the people who disbelieved or the kuffar in
fact, namely those who are against Islam and the Muslims.
This is the current situation we are experiencing. Don’t be surprised when, in
the era like this, not a few Muslims think that the only way to become honorable
and achieve victory in this world is by undertaking the path similar to that
which is being undertaken by the people whom Allah SWT has given the capacity to
lead the world, ie. the kuffar.
Therefore some Muslims have begun to adopt the path of dominating technology as
the only way of achieving success. So there are those who are busy in the field
of "money-making" as a result of following the principle of what they termed as
“time is money”. Or there are those who believe that the road to victory is by
immediately taking over the government. Therefore they are foolishly engaging
themselves in the political games of the system of Dajjal which will only drag
them down into hubbud-dunya (love of this world) and neglect the main tasks;
Da’wah and Jihad. All those examples only prove that some Muslims finally choose
the principles alien to Islam, ie. “if you can’t beat them you join them”.
In the era when the Islamic ummah is having their turn of experiencing defeat,
whilst the kuffar are having their turn of enjoying (the seeming) victory, then
it is a necessity for the believers to follow the examples in the struggles of
the Prophet SAW and his Companions RA in the phase before they were triumphant,
ie. the early Makkan period. At that time our predecessors were busy focusing
themselves in coordinating da’wah to the society in general. Whereas for those
who were already receiving the call of da’wah, their commitments were made to
increase through the activity of tarbiyyah or recruitment and integration so
they would become the elements who would initiate the necessary changes in the
midst of society.
All of those activities (da’wah and tarbiyyah) should be maintained in an
atmosphere where cadres are groomed so that when the time comes where a command
is loud and clear, they would instantly respond to the call of al-jihad fi
sabilillah in order to achieve two possibilities: ’isy kariman (live honorably
in Islam’s victory in this world) or die as shaheed.
مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ رِجَالٌ صَدَقُوا مَا عَاهَدُوا اللَّهَ عَلَيْهِ فَمِنْهُمْ
مَنْ قَضَى نَحْبَهُ وَمِنْهُمْ مَنْ يَنْتَظِرُ وَمَا بَدَّلُوا تَبْدِيلًا
"Among the Believers are men true to what they promised Allah. Among them is he who has fulfilled his vow [to the death], and among them is he who awaits [his chance]. And they did not alter (their determination) in the least:" (Qur’an 33:23)
Submitted by a Mujahid