Islam

Pain is often an instigator of change. Pain works as one method to break people out of their cycles or mindsets. Look at the story of ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him. In Mecca, before he became Muslim, he was one of the toughest on the Muslims. One of his relatives, Umm Abdullah, prepared to leave for Habasha. He asked “where are you going?” and she said “To Habasha.

During a year of difficulty–during the reign of Abu Bakr as-Siddique (radiAllahu ‘an), when the Muslims needed food–this HUGE caravan rolls into town. Everyone clamers around, they want to buy stuff, and it goes straight to the house of ‘Uthman (radiAllahu ‘an). He owned the caravans. So they went to ‘Uthman and said “We want to buy it from you, we’ll give you double the price”–that is, double the cost, for food.

“Allah has sent us to deliver whomsoever chooses, from the ‘uboodiyyah of men to the ‘uboodiyyah of Allah, from the narrowness of this world to the vastness of this world and the Hereafter, and from the tyranny and oppression of (false) religions to the justice of Islam.” So said Rib’ee ibn ‘Amir (may Allah be pleased with him) to the Persian general Rustum, before the battle of Qadisiyyah. An explaination of the core of Islam.

In the battle of Yamamah (against Musaylimah. Muslims: 11k. Enemy: narrations vary, 20k-60k), Abdullah ibn ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) ended up wounded and in the nursing docks. He saw this one Ansar (may Allah be pleased with him, whoever he was) critically injured–he couldn’t walk–out of commission, being nursed. To create motivation, outside on the battlefield, someone shouted “ya ahlil ansar” (o people of Ansar), like called them to group.

During the time of ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him), Amr ibn al-‘As was in Egypt, and requested fighters. ‘Umar (radiallahu ‘an) sent a letter saying “I’ll send you 8000 fighters.” He sent 4000 fighters. ‘Amr ibn al-‘As (radiallahu ‘an) replied and said (to the meaning of) “you said you sent 8000 and you sent 4000,” and ‘Umar (radiallahu ‘an) said “I sent 4000, and at the head of each thousand is a man worth 1000 himself.

Before the battle of Uhud, when the Muslims were preparing and such, the Prophet, peace be upon him, lifted up his sword and said “who will fight with my sword?” And all the sahaba were like “me, me”, like “pick me”. The Prophet (صلي الله عليه وسلم) put down his sword. Their emotions were raised. The Prophet (صلي الله عليه وسلم) raised it again and said “who will take my sword and give it the haq (right) due to the sword?

Often, non-Muslims question us about aspects of our faith. “Why do you wear hijab” or “why don’t you eat pork” or “why don’t you drink or date”. And we get defensive and mangle our explainations. “Well alcohol’s not good for you” or “pigs are dirty” and so on. Which is not correct. The answer to all these questions is very, very simple: Because Allah or His Messenger (صلي الله عليه وسلم) said so.

Imagine you are a boat, and the dunya is the sea. Far off in the distance, is land — the akhira. “You are a boat. You sail the waters of the dunya towards the lands of Jannah.” –Abdur-Rahman What happens if the sea floods into the boat? You sink. So be like the best Muslim leaders: they ditched the dunya for the akhira. In particular, I refer to the governers in the time of the Khulafa Rashideen (i.

In Surah Nisaa, Allah says: يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ خُذُواْ حِذْرَكُمْ فَانفِرُواْ ثُبَاتٍ أَوِ انفِرُواْ جَمِيعًا Translation: O ye who believe! Take your precautions, and either go forth in parties or go forth all together (Surah Nisaa, 4:71).1 The message: prepare, and fight in groups. A related incident: after the battle of Uhud, many tribes targeted the Muslims to take them down once and for all. The day the Prophet (صلي الله عليه وسلم) returned from battle, he slept, prayed ‘Isha (alone), and the next day, after Fajr, said “we’re going after [the fleeing army].

The people came to the king and said “Don’t you see, by Allah, your fear brought about the very thing you were afraid of.” The king didn’t know what to do. So he had ditches dug at all the roads out of the city. People try to escape, BOOM into a ditch. He had people brought to the ditches and said “disbelieve and live or believe and in you go.” They believed, so he threw them in.