True Value Lies In Iman

Ibn al-Jawzi said something profound:

"This world only amazes someone who has no understanding, just like a dream amazes a sleeping person, or imaginary games which the child perceives as reality. As for the intelligent people, they are not deceived by it."

["Kitab al-Lataaif", 27-28]

This was the stance of Shaykh Sulāyman al-Alwān in prison when he smiled and swore:

“By Allah, I am pleased with this trial, and all praise is due to Allah! I see victories unfolding.”

O Allah, free Your servant Sulaymān al-‘Alwān, grant him steadfastness, relieve his distress, and grant him victory over those who have wronged him.

The path of Tawhīd is not always an easy path:

People distance them self from you, because they hear something new, they see that not a lot of people agree with you, they think 'how can this be the truth when most people don't follow it?'... So al-Ghurbah (strangeness) is the result: From brothers being refused in marriage because of their ʿAqīdah to brothers being physically attacked, to brothers losing all their friends and maybe even family, to sisters being isolated in families who have fallen into disbelief, to sisters not finding a Muwahhid husband to protect them... again, it is not an easy path, but wallāh, all of this is nothing, for it is the best Path. It is a sweet path, a clear path and a straight path: the Path of the Prophets. So, hold onto the Path of Ibrāhīm and the Āthār, and smile, for wallāh, you have the best you can get in this world!

Many think abandoning Qur’ān = abandoning reciting it, and this is wrong!

Shaykh Sulaymān al-‘Alwān (فك الله أسره)

❝It’s necessary to contemplate and ponder over it, since Allāh may He be Glorified and Exalted said:

وَقَالَ الرَّسُولُ يَا رَبِّ إِنَّ قَوْمِي اتَّخَذُوا هَٰذَا الْقُرْآنَ مَهْجُورًا

“And the Messenger has said, “O my Lord, indeed my people have taken this Qur'an as [a thing] abandoned.” [25:30].

Many people think that abandoning the Qur’ān is to abandon reciting it, and this is wrong! Abandoning the Qur’ān consists of various levels;

Abandoning reciting it, abandoning implementing the Qur’ān, abandoning pondering over the Qur’ān, abandoning making tahākum to the Qur’ān, and abandoning seeking shifā’ (cure) through the Qur’ān.❞

As we welcome Ramadan, many of our brothers and sisters will be breaking their fast in chains or behind bars....alone, oppressed and forgotten. Their only comfort is their yaqin upon Allah's Promise. And their only strength is in their patience.

O Allah, free the imprisoned, have mercy on their suffering, and grant them victory over their oppressors. Return them to their loved ones, strengthen their hearts, and let their pain be a means of elevation in Your sight.

امين

Never think highly of yourself when people praise you. The only reason they are praising you is because Allah has veiled your sins. Without that veil I swear by Allah many people would look at one another with pure disgust

How can the tears of a believer not flow over the departure of this month when he does not know whether he has enough of his life to see it returning [the following year]?

— Lataa’if Al-Ma’aarif | P. 373

قال الرسول صلى الله عليه وسلم:

لَا تَزَالُ طَائِفَةٌ مِنْ أُمَّتِي ظَاهِرِينَ عَلَى الْحَقِّ،

لَا يَضُرُّهُمْ مَنْ خَذَلَهُمْ وَلَا مَنْ خَالَفَهُمْ، إِلَى قِيَامِ السَّاعَة

The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said:

A group of my Ummah will always remain on the truth and dominant, unharmed by those who fail to support them and those who defy them, until the Last Hour begins.

[Sahih Muslim]

I heard someone last night crying, but it wasn’t a normal type of cry. This person was crying in the tashahhud, weeping at “كما صليت على إبراهيم وعلى آل إبراهيم”

This is not to assume someone’s inner state, but a cry like this is from the tightness of the dunyā…

It brought back memories سبحان الله, when I used to cry like this too… my eyes were constantly extremely swollen and I’d cry everywhere, and make no exception of my salāh.

In a way, I wish I cried out of fear for Allāh, the way the righteous do, and their genuine longing to Allāh, not out of the pressure of some dunyā matter. I did long for Allāh in those days, a lot, but did I long for Him during my times of ease in the same way? At the same time, these type of tears taught me that I really had none but Allāh, among many other lessons, and forced me back to Allāh to rectify my affairs between me and Him.

Though, there’s a difference between ورجل ذكر الله خاليًا ففاضت عيناه (or as Rasūlullāh said) and someone who tears up due to a dunyā matter and then redirects that pain to Allāh.

It’s not wrong at all, and actually the servant finds immense sweetness in constantly returning to Allāh, and in times of hardship it has a special sweetness to it. But I say this to remind myself and to keep it in check, my nafs needs to distinguish between the fine line of sincerity and true inābah (in times of ease and other than it) and simply feeling dunyawi pain.

It’s the same thing for wishing for shaهـādah, when do we long for it most? When we’ve got all we want out of this dunyā and have every want and need of ours? Or is it when we’ve been afflicted and want a way out of this dunyā completely? Again, I’m not saying wrong or right or shaming anyone (but myself), but remember that the only condition to be granted the level of shaهـādah even if one dies upon their bed (as in the Hadīth) is: sincerity. Do you think asking for it in the latter situation is more sincere than the former?

May Allāh grant us sincerity and make us among the truthful. May Allāh make us among those who truly enjoy His company in all times.

“We are upon the truth, you are the khawarij.”

We are upon the haqq. Living in our well-furnished homes, eating the food cooked by our beloved mother/wife, not having to worry about b0mbs falling any moment, not having to be under the constant threat of death, living in the comfort and safety of our houses. We have never gone out to battle, never got our feet dusty in the path of Allah, we’ve never known the sound of grenades or gunfire, our eyes never witnessed buildings being crushed and bodies being torn to pieces after a barrel bomb attack, we’ve hardly studied the fiqh of jhad.

 We’re on the haqq, -no doubt about that-

But you?

You are the khawarij. 

You’ve left everything you had ever loved to defend a people whom you’ve never seen, who are not related to you in any way except through the bonds of Islam and humanity. You’ve left the comfort of your beds to come sleep on rocks, on the hard, blood-stained ground; you gave up the warm meal cooked by your mothers/wives to come eat whatever you come across, even going days without food. 

You’ve left your career, job, loved ones behind to come live a life with no guarantees except death and injuries. You’ve studied deen under scholars who practice what they preach - who’ve marched forth with their guns and their pens.

But you are khawarij. 

You desire death as much as we desire life, 

But you are khawarij. 

You’re giving your blood to purify this deen and to raise the word of Allah the highest, you’re sacrificing your lives without a second thought so that the oppressed can get a new life, while we - we are sleeping in our homes and some of us don’t even have the guts to watch what our brothers and sisters are suffering from.

But we are on the haqq and you are the khawarij. 

You are treading the path of Khalid ibn Waleed, Ja’far ibn Abi Talib, Sa’d ibn Abi Waqqas, Al Baraa ibn Al Malik رضي الله عنهم while we have hard time getting up for fajr and standing for tahajjud.

But we are on the haqq and you are the khawarij.

SubhanAllah, strange times we live in.

“The strangeness of this ummah; no one wants to conduct jhad except the khawarij. No one wants to strive to establish the Shari’ah except the khawarij. None are feared by their enemies except the khawarij. And their khurooj is proven when death has come and they die smiling…” 

-Sayyid Qutb

A simple smile of a shaheed is enough to destroy years of propaganda. 

The small index finger of a slain Ghareeb pointing towards the sky, where the throne of His Lord and protector lies, is enough to prove that, perhaps, the “khawarij” were on the right all time long… 

That perhaps our claim of being fair and just was not true when it came to dealing with them, but we couldn’t realise because our eyes were blinded by the lies of those we thought were scholars. 

And while we were busy running our tongues in slander and heedless sin, they were:

“Rejoicing in what Allah has bestowed upon them of His bounty, and they receive good tidings about those (to be granted shahada) after them who have not yet joined them—that there will be no fear concerning them, nor will they grieve.”

“Those to be granted martyrdom after them” that could not be us, because we were busy mindlessly shouting that one’s striving to meet His lord was extremism and heedlessness. 

“The example of the disbelievers  is like a flock not comprehending the calls and cries of their shepherd. ˹They are wilfully˺ deaf, dumb and blind so they have no understanding.”

So oh one who was granted sight after years of blindness, Oh one who was saved from accompanying the oppressors in the hellfire, Oh one who was saved from the previous generations of oppressors cursing him and his likes, rejoice, and remember Allah’s blessing upon you and How He blessed you with guidance, a guidance which you would not have attained except with His assistance. 

And as Allah says, and His speech is the greatest: 

“And you considered it bad for you, but it was good for you.”

So do not perceive their deaths to be a loss, nor perceive their losses to be due to Allah’s displeasure with them or His curse, rather in everything Allah has a wisdom, that we may or may not get to know. Alhamdulillah. 

And if their perishing causes nothing but the guidance of a single servant, then that is better for them than red camels, as stated by our dear and beloved Muhammad ﷺ, whom, if we truly known and taken as an example, we wouldn’t call his followers “khawarij”.