As a young, student, I used to wait at the bus stop sometimes up to an hour in 100-degree F. heat and pray for my bus to come. As buses passed by, I noticed nearly all of them had written on them (Help from Allah and victory are near). I felt happy about the Promise, which is always true.
Many years have passed since then, and despite tremendous growth in the number of Muslims and Muslim flags, I am saddened by the defeats and losses of Muslims. The 1967 Arab-Israeli war, loss of Al-Quds, breakup of Pakistan, massacre in Palestine, Lebanon, India, Kashmir, Bosnia, , invasion of Afghanistan, the Iraq-Iran war, the Gulf War, the Iraq war , the theft of Islamic rule in Algeria and the terrorism of the media on Islam and Muslims all contribute to this sadness. When any American president’s popularity goes down in the polls, he can boost it by bombing a Muslim country like Libya or Iraq, or by sending a massive force to intimidate Muslim countries. In France, Christian women can wear crosses, Jewish men can have their cap, but Muslim girls cannot wear Hijab in school.
Prophet Muhammad (P) is reported to have said, “The nations will gather against you like those who are invited to a feast while they are starving.” The companions asked, “Is this going to occur when we will be few in number?” The messenger of Allah replied, “No, you will be in large numbers, but you will be like the foam that floats on the ocean. Your enemies will no longer fear you. The ‘Waham’ will be in your heart.” They asked what is Waham, and He replied, “the love of this life and fear of death.”
In the last 15 years alone, close to 10 million Muslims have died in the above wars imposed on them. Eighty percent (80%) of the world’s 20 million refugees are Muslims, and all we have are flags and organizations like O.I.C. and the Arab League. These groups can only meet and make statements begging the U.N. and U.S.A. to “do something,” while 40 million impotent Muslim armies, armed to the teeth, can only fight their Muslim neighbors and oppress their own people, while most of the Muslim masses remain in poverty, uneducated and unemployed. Thousands of Muslim children sleep without shelter and without food.
Have not those who look up to Washington for help and protection, read Qur’an:
If Allah helps you, no one can overcome you; if He forsakes you, who is there, after that, that can help you? In Allah, then, the believers put their trust (Qur’an 3:160)
Thus, as I started studying the Qur’an, I found out that this promise of Allah of help and victory was not unconditional. It was a binding contract between two parties, and the reward was conditioned upon completing the terms of the contract.
O you who believe! Shall I show you a trade that will save from a painful doom. That you believe in Allah and His Messenger, and strive in the cause of Allah with your possessions and person. It is better for you if you knew it (His return). He will forgive your sins, and enter you into gardens under which rivers flow, and give you pleasant dwellings in the garden to live in. This is a great reward and something (more) you love, the help from Allah and the victory are near (so) give glad tidings to the believers. (61:10-13)Allah has promised, to those among you who believe and work righteous deeds, that He will, of a surety, grant them in the land, inheritance (of power), as He granted it to those before them; that He will establish in authority their religion–the one which He has chosen for them; and that He will change (their state), after the fear in which they (lived), to one of security and peace: ‘They will worship Me (alone) and not associate aught with Me.’ If any do reject faith after this, they are rebellious and wicked. (24:55)Allah has purchased from the believers, their persons and their goods and (in return) they have a garden (of paradise).`(9:111)Say my prayer, my sacrifice, my living and my dying, are only for Allah, the Sustainer of the worlds. (6:163)You have been raised as best among nations, because you enjoin what is good, and forbid what is wrong and believe in Allah. (3:110)
Thus, as we ponder the above verses, we come to the conclusion that Iman (faith) is not just lip service. After taking Shahada (declaration of faith), one becomes a “legal” believer. Then the believer is being asked to believe, i.e., expressing his belief by his actions, in following Qur’an and Sunnah, and striving in the cause of Allah, with all he has, i.e., his wealth and person, and devoting his rituals, his sacrifice, his life and his death only for the pleasure and cause of Allah, in enjoining the good and forbidding the wrong as defined by Qur’an and Sunnah. Only then will he become worthy of the status of best of the nation, and only then will Allah reward us with success in both worlds.
Qur’an challenges Muslims to act and not just talk.
And say (unto them), Act! Allah will hold your actions and (so will) His messengers and believers, and you will be brought back to the Knower of the invisible and the visible, and He will tell you what you used to do. (9:105)
If we just stand at the bus station and pray, and do not move, we will for sure miss the bus when it comes and we have!
