بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
So, what IS the summary of our situation?
Well, it would be this:
And this:
And this:
And this:
You might be thinking that the summary of our situation today is that we have huge meals. No, that is not what I meant.
The summary of our situation today is that we ARE the huge meal.
عَنْ ثَوْبَانَ، قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم : يُوشِكُ الأُمَمُ أَنْ تَدَاعَى عَلَيْكُمْ كَمَا تَدَاعَى الأَكَلَةُ إِلَى قَصْعَتِهَا . فَقَالَ قَائِلٌ وَمِنْ قِلَّةٍ نَحْنُ يَوْمَئِذٍ قَالَ : بَلْ أَنْتُمْ يَوْمَئِذٍ كَثِيرٌ وَلَكِنَّكُمْ غُثَاءٌ كَغُثَاءِ السَّيْلِ وَلَيَنْزِعَنَّ اللَّهُ مِنْ صُدُورِ عَدُوِّكُمُ الْمَهَابَةَ مِنْكُمْ وَلَيَقْذِفَنَّ اللَّهُ فِي قُلُوبِكُمُ الْوَهَنَ . فَقَالَ قَائِلٌ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ وَمَا الْوَهَنُ قَالَ : حُبُّ الدُّنْيَا وَكَرَاهِيَةُ الْمَوْتِ
Narrated Thawban (radiallahu anhu): “The Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wasallam) said: The people will soon summon one another to attack you as people when eating invite others to share their dish. Someone asked: Will that be because of our small numbers at that time? He replied: No, you will be numerous at that time, but you will be scum like the scum of the sea, and Allah will take fear of you from the hearts of your enemy and cast al-wahn into your hearts. So someone asked: What is al-wahn?. Messenger of Allah (sallallahu alaihi wasallam): He replied: Love of the world and dislike of death.” [Sunan Abee Dawood, Hadeeth No. 4297. Graded “sahih” (authentic) by Al-Albani.]
That’s us right there, just waiting to be eaten.
We’re being passed around by everyone and getting munched on. The reason that our huge numbers don’t make a difference is because we are like this:
What’s the reason? Well, as the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wasallam) said, it’s the love of this world and hatred of death. We’ve forgotten about the hereafter and instead filled our lives with constant parties, intagram/twitter/facebook, endless shopping, endless eating and endless gossiping.
And then we wonder why the Ummah (Muslim nation) is so weak! Subhan Allah.
The strange part of all of this is that Allah has already told us how to return to glory once more so it’s not like there is no way back to the top.
وَعَدَ اللَّـهُ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا مِنكُمْ وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ لَيَسْتَخْلِفَنَّهُمْ فِي الْأَرْضِ كَمَا اسْتَخْلَفَ الَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِهِمْ وَلَيُمَكِّنَنَّ لَهُمْ دِينَهُمُ الَّذِي ارْتَضَىٰ لَهُمْ وَلَيُبَدِّلَنَّهُم مِّن بَعْدِ خَوْفِهِمْ أَمْنًا ۚ يَعْبُدُونَنِي لَا يُشْرِكُونَ بِي شَيْئًا ۚ وَمَن كَفَرَ بَعْدَ ذَٰلِكَ فَأُولَـٰئِكَ هُمُ الْفَاسِقُونَ
وَأَقِيمُوا الصَّلَاةَ وَآتُوا الزَّكَاةَ وَأَطِيعُوا الرَّسُولَ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُرْحَمُونَ
لَا تَحْسَبَنَّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا مُعْجِزِينَ فِي الْأَرْضِ ۚ وَمَأْوَاهُمُ النَّارُ ۖ وَلَبِئْسَ الْمَصِيرُ
Allah has promised those among you who believe, and do righteous good deeds, that He will certainly grant them succession to (the present rulers) in the earth, as He granted it to those before them, and that He will grant them the authority to practice their religion, that which He has chosen for them (i.e. Islam). And He will surely give them in exchange a safe security after their fear (provided) they (believers) worship Me and do not associate anything (in worship) with Me. But whoever disbelieved after this, they are the Faasiqoon (rebellious, disobedient to Allah). And perform salah (prayer), and give zakah and obey the Messenger (Muhammad) that you may receive mercy (from Allah). Consider not that the disbelievers can escape in the land. Their abode shall be the Fire, and worst indeed is that destination. [Surah An-Nur (24) : 55-57]
These ayaat (verses) tell us how we can establish ourselves again. Firstly, we need to believe in Allah and apply tawheed (i.e. worship Him alone) and not commit shirk (attributing partners to Allah) like supplicating to the dead, seeking blessings from stones, wearing amulets, etc. After this, we need to do good deeds. The two deeds mentioned here are salah and zakah.
That’s it. We need to apply tawheed, pray and give zakah and we will see a HUGE change in our circumstances.
The problem? Most people would rather sit in a café and complain about the state of the ummah, rather than seeking to improve themselves.
Why is that? Well, one reason is the love of this world as mentioned in the hadeeth. We always worry about what will happen to us here e.g. employment, graduation, marriage, health, etc. and forget that these things may or may not take place. However, death will definitely come to us.
The main reason that we have a fear of death is because we haven’t prepared for it. And the reason that we haven’t prepared for it is because we haven’t taken out the time to learn about tawheed. That’s the thing that really changes a person’s life. Trust me on that one.
So, let’s all try to make this Ramadan a new starting point. Let’s stop fearing death and preparing for it by applying tawheed and doing righteous deeds.
In shaa Allah, this is will cause Allah to have mercy on us and also cause our Ummah to be strong once more, and not like a meal that is feasted upon.
PS. For those who want to read more the state of the ummah, there’s an interesting article by Shaikh Salim Al-Hilali here.