Lessons from History: The Battle of the Confederates/Ahzaab

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Lessons from History:
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The Battle of the Confederates
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It is often said: ‘History repeats itself,’ but then again it is often the case that people just don’t read history. So it’s a self-fulfilled prophesy to some degree. Even sometimes the ‘powers at hand’ actually go out of their way to throw history out the window so people can’t learn from it. In any case, this phenomenon is a fact for what ever dunyaa reason we choose. Ultimately, the reason, from an Islaamic perspective, is that these are the sunan of Allaah:

“This is the established way of Allaah with those who passed on before; and you will not find in the way of Allaah any change.”

This verse comes at the end of surah al-Ahzaab (the Confederates). Seeing as though it is a common principle amongst the people of tafseer to connect the end of the surah to its beginning in order to understand it as a whole, we will look back at the beginning of this beautiful surah.

First, lets look at the background. This surah is a Madani surah; revealed after the hijrah to Madinah. A group from Banu Nadheer, those who were removed from their homes near Madinah to a place further off near Shaam, went to the Mushrikeen of Makkah and incited them against the Prophet sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam. So when the Muslims heard this they began digging the trenches around Madinah to keep back the enemy. This is why this battleis also called the Battle of the Trench. At that time the Muslims had entered into a pact with the Jews of Banu Quraydhah who had a castle towards the east of Madinah. However the other Jews managed to convince them to break that pact and so Banu Quraydhah entered into the confederacy. At this point, there are two groups of Jews attacking from different sides as well as the Mushrikeen. To make matters worse, the hypocrites of Madinah banded together and sought out a way to betray the Prophet sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam.

This is the setting of the surah. So now…how does the surah start?

“O Prophet, fear Allaah!”

Allaahu Akbar! Who fears Allaah if he does not? Sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam. Rather this is a reminder, because he is our model, and these are times that call for a renewal of our faith in order to stand strong against the trials ahead.

“O Prophet, fear Allaah and do not obey the disbelievers and the hypocrites. Indeed, Allaah is ever Knowing and Wise.”

So I say to you Muslims in the year 2006…fear your Lord and do not listen to the lies of these disbelievers and these hypocrites that they have placed among us to mimic their ways and call us to destruction.

“And follow that which is revealed to you from your Lord. Indeed Allaah is ever, with what you do, Acquainted.”

This is the action plan of the believers. Some may think it is a plan of defeatism but that is because they have not studied the Qur’aan nor reality well enough.

Victory has always come to the army of Allaah from Allaah and not from material means. We have always been outnumbered and we always have less military might. The exception was the battle of Hunayn when numbers helped us not and the Muslims fled! Take lessons O Muslims. Was Ibraaheem a scientist, or a mathematician, or a politician? Did anything in this dunyaa make the fire cool and peaceful for him? Of course not. It is only Allaah that grants victory:

“And victory is not except from Allaah, the Exalted in Might the Wise.” (Aal ‘Imraan).

The reality we live in also proves this point. Where does the power of the kuffaar stem from? It stems from the Muslims’ obedience to their laws and from the Muslims’ trying to follow after them due to their feelings of insignificance and inferiority. Why else would Muslims believe Democracy is good? Why else would Muslims believe women should wear jeans and show their bodies to the world? Why else would we feel it is important to buy big houses and cars? Is this from Islaam? No. It’s because we have been made to believe that this is what grants people ascendancy in the land and superiority. And the media has painted the Muslims as camel jockeys that never new what the word ‘power’ and ‘empire’ meant. They were too busy riding camels! They have caused us to forget our history and our supremacy and our sources from which our power sprouted from.

Take a look at what an empire is for a second. Basically it is one country’s dominance over many others. By definition it seems that the owners of this empire are always going to be out-numbered. So it is not their numbers necessarily that matter. For that matter I don’t believe any empire has ever touted that they could defeat the entire world if it were to join against it…except our empire because Allaah is our Victor. If Russia, Europe, China, India, Australia, South America, and the Muslims all decided to attack America, do you think they would sit still and laugh and proclaim they can never be defeated? Ok maybe stupid Bush would, but his advisors would soon tell him to shut up.

The power of an empire is only in the minds of the people it dominates. They make the world believe that they are superior and therefore invincible, undefeatable, etc. They also keep the people separated and divided. In this way, no one will dare stand up because he has no confidence whatsoever that others will stand behind him. So the smaller countries continue to pay huge taxes and work for the benefit of the empire and have their rights stripped.

Therefore, this is a mind game. This is a matter of my identity versus yours, my civilization my culture versus yours.

This is why Allaah has told us not to obey them but rather obey Him. He goes on to inform us that the practices of Jaahiliyyah- such as: calling foster children the children of their foster parents, making wives equal to mothers, etc.- are to be left off. They are remnants of the old identity and they have no place in Islaam. Rather, the relationships of blood and marriage are as Allaah has ordered them to be. If there is any straying from what is normally and conventionally considered as relations, then the relations of Islaam are more deserving of being upheld than relations that were made up:

“That is merely your saying by your mouths, but Allaah says the truth and He guides to the right way.”

So what are these religious ties?

“The Prophet is more worthy of the believers than themselves, and his wives are their mothers.”

These are the ties of religion, the kinship and the brotherhood of faith. In fact the Prophet sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam has said about the Prophets in Saheeh al-Bukhaari:

“The Prophets are paternal brothers; their mothers are different but their religion is one.”

Allaah Ta’aalaa confirms this by mentioning they all took the same covenant and are related through this upright religion:

“And when We took from the prophets their covenant and from you and from Noah and Abraham and Moses and Jesus, the son of Mary; and We took from them a solemn covenant that He may question the truthful about their truth. And He has prepared for the disbelievers a painful punishment.”

So we are tied to these great Prophets and to our noble Prophet, they are our examples and by following them, and thereby following Allaah, will we receive victory:

“There has certainly been for you in the Messenger of Allaah an excellent pattern for anyone whose hope is in Allaah and the Last Day and who remembers Allaah often.”

Is this a tried and tested method? Is the promise of Allaah true?

“Oh you who have believed remember the favor of Allaah upon you when armies came to attack you and We sent upon them a wind and armies of angels you did not see. And ever is Allaah, of what you do, Seeing.”

Well, it worked for Muhammad, it worked for Nooh (remember the flood?) it worked for Ibraaheem (tons of times) it worked for Musaa (remember the parted sea?) it worked for ‘Isaa (remember how he rose to the heavens?). May Allaah send peace and salaah upon them.

I put forth this parable for us:​

A man has a lot of land, too much to till with his own hands. So he puts donkeys in charge of doing the tilling business. I don’t know if any of you have read Animal Farm, and I don’t know if any of you have ever been kicked by a donkey, but animals can be really menacing when they want to be. Needless to say, one man is no match for one-hundred wild stampeding donkeys. So he beats these donkeys and tells them they are…well…’donkeys,’ and so they listen. They toil all day long and at the end of the day their reward is just some lousy donkey food, and not too much at that! They live in stables and they are told that is their place and they should feel lucky. Anyway, one day this one donkey decides he’s not gonna work anymore. So he kicks the landowner in the face and he gets put to sleep. Bye bye E-ore. That’s a sad note. But lets look at an alternate future: this donkey tells his buddy that there is a life beyond these fields where donkeys live in open pastures that have lots of green grass or whatever it is that donkeys like to eat. That donkey tells a friend who tells a friend who tells a friend. By the end of the week these donkeys are fed up and they all have decided that they want an end to this life-style. So they all quit. The landowner sees this insurrection and rounds up four or five of the ring leaders and puts them to sleep. The donkeys still quit. He puts five more to sleep. You get the picture. So he sees they are really determined and he sees his land is going to waste. Who has won here? Is there really any benefit in killing the rest of the donkeys? Fact is: he has lost.

What is the moral? The battle of the minds is a lot more important than the battle of the hooves.

This is what happened in the aforementioned battle:

“Remember when they came at you from above you and from below you and when eyes shifted in fear and hearts reached the throats and you assumed about Allaah various assumptions. There the believers were tested and shaken with a severe shaking. And remember when the hypocrites and those in whose hearts is disease said: “Allaah and His Messenger did not promise us except delusion.” And when a faction of them said: “O people of Yathrib there is no stability for you here, so return home.”

But what did the believers do?

“And when the believers saw the companies, they said: “This is what Allaah and His Messenger had promised us, and Allaah and His Messenger spoke the truth.” And it increased them only in faith and acceptance.”

So what was their reward?

“And Allaah repelled those who disbelieved in their rage not having obtained any good. And sufficient was Allaah for the believers in battle, and ever is Allaah Powerful and Exalted in Might. And He brought down those who supported them among the People of the Scripture from their fortresses and cast terror into their hearts so that a party you killed and you took captive a party. And He caused you to inherit their land and their homes and their properties and land which you have not trodden. And ever is Allaah, over all things, competent.”

Then Allaah mentions the laws of Islaam that bring this type of victory and honor. And He mentions that these hypocrites and disbelievers will also be punished in the hereafter as they were punished in this life. And they will hate those that they took as allies and wish they had been among the Muslims:

“The Day their faces will be turned about in the Fire, they will say: “How we wish we had obeyed Allaah and obeyed the Messenger.” And they will say: “Our Lord indeed we obeyed our masters and our dignitaries and they us astray from the way. Our Lord, give them double the punishment and curse them with a great curse.”

Indeed:

“This is the established way of Allaah with those who passed on before; and you will not find in the way of Allaah any change.”

So why do we seem to think that the way of Allaah has changed? Why do we just assume these disbelievers are not trying to surround us and gang up on us to rape our lands and our women? Are they nice people that just want the best for us? Or is it because alhamdulilaah we have their pact and their oath that they are going to protect us from the enemies who want to terrorize us? Or is it because we are the hypocrites that believe the way of the Mushrikeen is better than Islaam to begin with? So we sit at home and we watch the news and say: ‘Too bad for those Muslims…but I’m gonna sit here in my house where its safe!’

“And they had already promised Allaah before not to turn their backs. And ever is the promise of Allaah questioned. Say: “Never will fleeing benefit you if you should flee from death or killing and then even if you did, you would not be given enjoyment except for a little.” Say: “Who is it that can protect you from Allaah if He intends for you an ill or itneds for you a mercy?” And they will not find for themselves besides Allaah any protector or any helper. Already Allaah knows the hinderers among you and those who say to their brothers: “Come to us, and do not go to battle, except for a few. Indisposed toward you. And when fear comes you see them looking at you, their eyes revolving like one being overcome by death.”

Allaahul Musta’aan.

Has it come to the point that we are indisposed toward the one who is more worthy of the believers than themselves? Have we forgotten our brothers that languish in agony in Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo? I believe we are and I believe we have.

Either way Oh Muslims:

“And they had planned their plan, but with Allaah is their plan, even if their plan had been sufficient to do away with the mountains.” (Ibraaheem)

So know that they are planning and it is not a simple plan. There are organizations upon organizations, that all hate each other individually, that are out to destroy the Muslims. It is a plot that could very well put some big holes in the mountains. So don’t take it lightly. If you truly seek help in Allaah then He will guide you and He will make all of those plans worthless and He will put out their fire and their thirst for war. This is because:

“Indeed the plot of Satan has ever been weak.” (an-Nisaa’)

Why is it weak? Because Allaah is All Powerful and Satan owns not even an atom of Allaah’s creation. He only calls them to disillusionment and pretends to have protection for them:

“And remember when Satan made their deeds pleasing to them and said: “No one can overcome you today from among the people, and indeed I am your protector.” But when the two armies sighted each other, he turned on his heels and said: “Indeed I am disassociated from you. Indeed I see what you do not see; indeed I fear Allaah.” And Allaah is severe in penalty.”

Our strength comes in our determination which derives from our creed. Our belief in Allaah is what makes us worthy of His victory.

So Oh Muslims…leave this dunyaa alone to the Kaafirs and seek the land of the hereafter. So long as you seek what is in their hands Allaah will make it further from your reach. And when you seek the blessings that are in the Hands of Allaah, He will give you the lands of this life and the next and destroy your enemies.

“When you engage in ‘eenah (a type of interest), and you hold fast to the tails of cattle, and you are pleased with agriculture, and you leave off Jihaad, Allaah will overcome you with humiliation. And He will not remove it from you until you return to your religion.” (Abu Daawood and others. It is saheeh in shaa’ Allaah.)

May Allaah help us and keep us safe.​