Power, Honour, Dignity and Steadfastness
Part 6 by Babar Ahmad
2004-09-03
9) The Dark Cloud
Allah said in the Quran (2:260): “And when Ibrahim (AS) said: ‘My Lord! Show me how you give life to the dead.’ He said: ‘Do you not believe (that I can do that)? He replied: ‘Certainly, but just to bring satisfaction to my heart…’” The rest of the verse describes how Allah showed him a sign and brought peace to his heart something that Ibrahim (AS) already believed in. Sometimes you will feel like asking Allah to show you a sign, just to reassure you that you are on the Truth and that Allah is on you side. If, at any one time you feel like that, make wudu, pray two rakahs and ask Allah to show you a sign. Then look out of the window towards the sky. One brother describes his thoughts when he did that.
“I asked Allah to show me a sign, on one of the days when I was feeling a bit low, and then looked out of the window at the sky. I was admiring Allah’s Creation, when suddenly I saw a huge, dark cloud approaching the prison. It was massive and looked terrifying- it came and overshadowed the prison. However, as slowly as it came, it drifted away and the shadow disappeared. I thought to myself that this is Allah telling me that no matter how bad your situation is, or how big you problem is, or how terrifying your circumstances are, there will be relief. Just like the terrifying cloud did not overshadow the prison forever, similarly every bad situation will not last forever: there will be relied after every difficulty, as Allah said in the Quran (94:5-6). “So indeed with hardship there comes ease. Indeed with hardship there comes ease.’” One hardship cannot overcome two eases. No matter how long the night is, there will always be a dawn at the end of it. And the dawn always appears after the darkest part of the night.
10) The Broken Foot
On the authority of Ibn Umar (RA), the Messenger of Allah (SAWS) said: “Fear the dua (supplication) of he who has been wronged, for verily it ascends to the skies faster than the rays of light.” (Al-Haakim, Saheeh). A narration (Ahmad, Saheeh) reads: “Fear the dua of he who has been wronged, even if he is a disbeliever, for there is no veil between it (and Allah (SWT)).”
In an incident narrated in Saheeh Muslim and others, a woman once accused Saeed ibn Zaid (RA), one of the ten companions of the Prophet (SAW) promised Paradise, of stealing some of her property. They appeared before the rule, and Saeed prayed: “O Allah! If you know her to be lying, then make her blind and make her graveyard in her own house.” The narrator of this incident said, “I saw her (later on), blind. She used to walk touching the walls and say, ‘The dua of Saeed has afflicted me!’ Once, she passed by a well inside her house and fell into it, so it became her grave.”
Once is a London prison, a Muslim brother (already unjustly imprisoned) was praying in his cell. The cell was extremely small and the only way to make sujood was towards the door, such that if someone opened the door, it would cross the path of the one praying. The brother finished his food and placed his utensils next to the door so the guard could collect them whilst the brother prayed. During his prayer a huge prison guard came to collect his utensils. He saw the brother was praying, so on purpose he opened the door fully until the utensils fell onto the brother’s prayer mat and he stood in front of the brother, with his big, black, steel-capped boots at the place where the brother would place his head during sujood. Knowing that the brother was praying, the guard began to rudely demand that he be given the utensils in his hand, in order to disrupt the brother’s prayer. The brother refused and went into prostration with the guard standing in front of him and his boots next to the brother’s head. During that same prostration, the brother pleaded to Allah; “O Allah, you know how this thug has wronged me and tried to disrupt my prayers to you. O Allah, Break this foot!”
After finishing his prayers the brother went straight to the room where the guards sat and complained about the guard trying to disrupt his prayer. That same guard was unrepentant and began to argue with and blame the brother so the brother said to him, “I will leave God to deal with you.”
No sooner had he said that, there was an almighty crash and a huge steel cabinet fell on the same foot of the guard. He started to scream and wail like a baby, until all the other prisoners heard and began asking what had happened. Other guards rushed to him, put him on a stretcher and an ambulance took him to hospital. It was a number of days before that prison guard returned to work at the prison. It can safely be said as far as is known, that guard never ever stood in front of or tried to disrupt a Muslim’s prayer again.
It appears that the only reason for the few minutes delay in the dua being answered was for the brother to finish his prayer and walk to the guards’ room.“Fear the dua of he who has been wronged, for verily it ascends to the skies faster than rays of light”(Hadith)
11) Power and Greatness/ The Taste of Dignity and Honour
A poet said, “Do you consider greatness a mere morsel to be eaten like a date? Truly, until you have licked the (bitter) cactus, you will never be great.”
Imam Ash-Shafi said, “No one becomes powerful until he is tested.”
Sometimes, you O prisoner think about what you are missing out on whilst you are imprisoned. If you could see beyond your prison walls, you would see that this is what you are missing out on: eating, drinking, sleeping, socialising, shopping, etc. This is what the world outside is busy with: none of which will be of any use on the Day of Judgement.
However, you also eat and drink, but the food and drink you are tasting is not the food and drink they taste. Even kings and princes cannot taste the food and drink you taste, because your food and drink has the taste of dignity and honour, which cannot be purchased with gold or silver. You also sleep, but you sleep in peace, knowing that your sleep carries more reward than a person outside, standing the night in prayer. You also socialise, but inside your cell you have Allah’s angels for company (due to dhikr (remembrance) that you make); and outside your cell you associate with the awliyaa (friends) of Allah, when you meet you fellow brothers who have been imprisoned because of their religion. You are also shopping, but you are shopping for Allah’s Paradise and paying with your life and your wealth. You are burning the leaves of your life in order to light the path to Paradise, as the Almighty said: ‘Indeed Allah has purchased the believers and their lives and their wealth in return for Paradise.” (Quran 9:11)
A scholar said: “It is the great who wrestle with horrors and undertake difficulties in order to achieve nobility. They are willing to pay whatever the price, even death; for the cup of death only passes once, while their deeds and words are repeated, time after time.”
12) Strangers
The Prophet (SAWS) said: “Islam began as something strange, and it will return, as it once began, to something strange; so give glad tidings to the strangers.” (Bukhari, Muslim). One explanation of the Ghurabaa’ (strangers) is those who are estranged from their loved one because of his religion.
There used to be a Companion who used to frequent the gatherings of the Prophet (SAWS) with his little boy. Then the Prophet (SAWS) didn’t see him for a while, so he (SAWS) enquired about him, whereupon he was told that his little boy had died. So the Prophet (SAWS) went to visit him and said to him words to the effect of: “Which do you prefer: that you spend your whole life with your son, and then you die whilst he is alive or that you have patience and on the Day of Judgement you do not come to a single gate of Paradise except that you find that your boy has already beaten you to that gate, opening it for you?” The man chose the second option so the Prophet (SAWS) said to him: “Thus will it be for you!” Thereupon, the other Companions asked: “Does this apply just for this man or for all of us?” So the Prophet (SAWS) replied: “For all of you.” (Saheeh Hadith)
This is the story of a Companion who lost the company of his young boy through death, and was patient. What then, of a person who lost the company of his parents, his wife, his brothers, his sisters, his children, family, etc. for the sake of the religion, and was patient? Although this hadeeth does not refer to prisoners, there is nothing to prevent you making dua to Allah that He replicates this situation for you on the Day of Judgement so that you find all you family members at the gates of Paradise, opening them for you.
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