People are in distress across the world. The situations we find ourselves in have solutions; however the process for solving the myriad of problems begins inside of us, as an each unique individual. We must start with ourselves first. The revelation of the Qur’an begin with the word ‘Iqra’, the read /recite/ learn and this is incumbent on any nation that they must develop an educated citizenry. A society steeped in illiteracy must change itself person by person and everyone has a role to play.
We know that a handful of people can change the world, as we learned from the prophet (PBUH) when he talked to people in Mecca under the tree, and one by one people came into Islam. As the strength of each individual contributed to the strength of the deen, the deen changed the world. This lesson must be implemented. How do we work on ourselves first before looking outside and blaming others for the situation our hands have put forth?
Readers may be surprised that when Israel was planning to build an illegitimate state surrounded by all enemies it started with the education sector. The Israel Institute of Technology was first established in 1912 and the “Hebrew University “was established in 1949. The establishment of the university was the very first step taken by Israel after the war of 1948.
The goal of this article is not to ask what they are doing to us, but what we are NOT doing. How does each person live his or her life as a gift from the creator and aspire to the attributes of the divine? If we can agree on an answer to this question the path is clear. Any situation we as humans find ourselves in can be resolved with knowledge, patience and prayer, person by person so that hearts become connected.
The Prophet of Islam SAW has told us,
“Dissension (fitnah) will surely come. A companion asked him what the way out of it is, to which he replied, “Allah’s Book is the way (out), for it contains information of what has happened before you and news of what will happen after you and a decision regarding matters which occur among you. If anyone seeks guidance elsewhere, Allah will lead him astray. It is Allah’s strong Rope, it is the wise reminder, it is the straight path. He who speaks according to it has spoken the truth, he who acts according to it is rewarded, he who pronounces judgment according to it is just.”(Tirmidhi)
Whenever something happens we are told to raise our voices, a journalism expression which is taken in a positive way as giving people “voice.” The people who are creating the dissension want us to cry out loud, and so we do, we write articles, we protest a lot, we discuss the problem on numerous talk shows and we even make videos and pass them along on Facebook and Twitter. But what are we telling the world ‘yes we do have a reaction, please don’t do this to us’. But the point to ponder is, WHOM are we crying but in front of? They are not listening, they just wanted some reaction from us. Again, what are we expecting from them? Are we putting our fate in their hands? Let’s think of a basic principle of mathematics i.e, we can not work on different units of measurement, they have to be the same if we want a result. So, we have to work on a similar medium with similar people to get a result .
The way the Messenger of Allah (SAW) reacted to trying situations was that he kept everyone focused on self development, education and research. So this is my impassioned plea for you to is: ‘Recognize yourself as a pearl is hidden with in you’.
As Iqbal said:
Intellect is your shield, Love is your sword
My dervish ! Your viceregency is world-conquering
Your Takbir like fire for Godlessness is
If you are Muslim your prudence your destiny is
If you are loyal to Muhammad we are yours
This universe is nothing the Tablet and the pen are yours.
(Jawab e Shikwa)
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