| |
Brotherhood and Purifying Hearts from Hate
Law Number Seven: Our Ummah can’t survive unless we love each
other
Allah has promised us that He will change the condition of
our Ummah if we change ourselves. It’s a Divine Rule. But have you ever thought
about how we will react towards each other after Allah grants us this promised
victory? For example, I'm afraid that one day, after Allah grants us victory, we
will hate some of our Muslims brothers and sisters. I'm afraid that in the
future, Iraqi and Kuwaiti Muslims won't feel easy about each other. In their
subconscious, Iraqi’s will think that Kuwaiti’s were behind all what happened
and there will be an emotional barrier between them. Not so far back, we used to
feel bad towards our Palestinian brothers and sisters, we used to think that
they deserve what was going on to them because they sold their lands to the
Israelis in the first place, they let them in. Time passed and we realized that
this was a wicked lie and big illusion, it turned out that we were just saying
that to feel that we have no responsibility towards them. We saw them on the TV
sacrificing their own lives for their land. We saw families being driven out of
their homes before it was demolished. We saw children and youth driving the
Israeli army crazy with their stones. A Palestinian family today is ashamed if
their household is without martyrs. Our enemies tried to sow hate in our hearts
between us so that we wouldn't care about them.
We can't allow hate towards one another find its way into our
hearts. We have to maintain our brotherhood and purify our hearts from hate
towards each another.
Do you know that Brotherhood is deeply embedded in our
religion? It’s a fundamental concept in Islam. Allah says, "The Believers are
but one Brotherhood" (49:10). Let me demonstrate to you how essential
Brotherhood is to Muslims, and I won't start from Prophet Muhammad's time, no,
I'll go back much before that. Lets start with Prophet Moses (pbuh). When Allah
told him that he must go to the Pharaoh of Egypt and convey to him the message
of Allah, what did Moses ask? Allah tells us that he asked, "And give me a
Minister from my family, Aaron, my brother; Add to my strength through him, And
make him share my task: So that we may glorify you much and remember you much,
Surely, You are seeing us." (20:29-35). Moses asked Allah to let Aaron be with
him because his brother was so important to him and Moses knew that as a team
they would be more successful and would help each other be better servants to
Allah. Can you sense the love between both of them from the verses? Then Allah
replied, "You are indeed granted your request, O Moses" (20:36).
The two brothers demonstrate to us the importance of
brotherhood and unity once again when Moses went to meet Allah and left Aaron in
charge of the Children of Israel. When the Jews started to worship a golden cow
Aaron tried to guide them back to The Straight Path and some people responded
but most of them refused. Aaron noticed that this was causing a split in the
community between the true Believers and those who deviated. Aaron feared that
this would lead to breaking the union between the Children of Israel, so he
preferred to be patient and leave them as they were until Moses came back. When
Moses returned and was devastated to see his people worshiping a golden cow he
blamed Aaron for not being responsible enough. Allah says, "(Aaron) replied: ‘O
son of my mother! Seize (me) not by my beard nor by (the hair of) my head! Truly
I feared that you would say, You have caused a division among the children of
Israel, and you did not respect my word!’" (20:94). This is how unity and
maintaining brotherhood was important to Prophet Aaron.
Our beloved Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) taught us how essential
brotherhood is for Muslims and for Islam to flourish. In the midst of oppression
and persecution in Mecca, Prophet Muhammad started to preach Islam to other
tribes and cities hoping that he could find a place that is more secure than
Mecca to move to. He never thought of going to Yethreb though (Medina
afterwards) because there was an ongoing war between two tribes there, Aws and
Khazraj. Do you know why there was a war? Let me tell you. The Jews moved to
Yethreb because their sacred scripts told them that the last Prophet will appear
soon and he will migrate to this city, so they decided to move and settle there
to wait for his appearance. Seeing that there are two big tribes in Yethreb they
feared that they would drive them out, so they decided to keep them busy
fighting one another. Also another reason to start a war between Aws and Khazraj
was to profit from selling weapons to them. So the Jews divided themselves into
two groups, each group allied with one tribe, either Aws or Khazraj. Part of the
alliance agreement was that if a Jew allied with Aws is killed then the whole
tribe must participate in punishing the attacking tribe. So the Jews would plot
fake clashes between themselves where a Jew allied with Aws would "kill" a Jew
allied with Khazraj thereby sparking a war between the two tribes. So the tribal
war in Medina was at its peak and the Jews were fueling it more and more, and
therefore Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) never even considered it as a place to
immigrate to. Then one day Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) met 6 youth from the Khazraj
tribe in Mecca and they all accepted Islam and went back to Yethreb. The next
year they were 12 Muslims, 9 from Khazraj and 3 from Aws. When Prophet Muhammad
(pbuh) saw that, he became very happy because he felt that Islam was bringing
back the brotherhood between these two tribes. Another year passed and Prophet
Muhammad migrated to Yethreb and announced the ending of the ongoing war between
Aws and Khazraj, and the relationship between them became one of brotherhood and
mutual respect and love. The Jews failed ever since to restart any war between
them, the brotherhood was far too strong, it was strengthened by a flow of
revelations encouraging brotherhood...
"And hold fast, all together, by the rope which Allah
(stretches out for you), and be not divided among yourselves; and remember with
gratitude Allah's favor on you; for you were enemies and He joined your hearts
in love, so that by His Grace, you became brethren; and you were on the brink of
the pit of Fire, and He saved you from it. Thus does Allah make His Signs clear
to you: That you may be guided." (3:103).
"The Believers are but a single Brotherhood: So make peace
and reconciliation between your two (contending) brothers; and fear Allah, that
you may receive Mercy." (49:10).
“And those who came after them say: "Our Lord! Forgive us,
and our brethren who came before us into the Faith, and leave not, in our
hearts, rancor (or sense of hate) against those who have believed. Our Lord! You
are indeed Full of Kindness, Most Merciful." (59:10).
The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said, "On the Day of
Resurrection, Allah, the Exalted, will say: `Where are those who have mutual
love for the sake of My Glory? Today I shall shelter them in My Shade when there
will be no shade except Mine.’" Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) also said, "Allah, the
Exalted, has said: `For those who love one another for the sake of My Glory,
there will be seats of light (on the Day of Resurrection), and they will be
envied by the Prophets and martyrs.’”
One day Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was sitting with one of his
companions and a man was passing by. The companion said to Prophet Muhammad (pbuh),
"Do you know, I love this man for the sake of Allah", so the Messenger of Allah
asked, "Did you tell him?" and the companion replied "No". Prophet Muhammad
said, "Go quickly and tell him! When a man loves his brother (for Allah's sake)
let him tell him that he loves him". This is how fundamental brotherhood is in
Islam.
In the Battle of Uhud 70 Muslims were killed. After the
battle was over and the Muslims were burying the dead, Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)
suddenly halted the process asking loudly while searching between the dead
bodies, "Where is Amr ibn Al-Jamooh and Abdullah ibn Haram??!" When the
companions asked why, he replied, "Burry them together! They loved each other in
this world for the sake of Allah, let them be buried together!” Can you believe
that? But this doesn't mean that as brothers, nothing goes wrong between us, we
are after all human. Here's an example....
One day Abu Zar (rAa) had an argument with Bilal (rAa) and
called him "Son of a Black Woman". Bilal became so sad he went and complained to
the Prophet (pbuh). Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) went to Abu Zar and angrily asked,
"Did you say that?! You are a man who has ignorance in him." Abu Zar (rAa)
deeply regretted what he did. He put his cheek on the ground and asked Bilal to
step on his face saying "I swear by Allah that you step on my face so that Allah
may forgive me", but Bilal didn't and he forgave him, and when Prophet Muhammad
(pbuh) died, he was pleased with them both. Brotherhood dear brothers and
sisters, we might have our difference, we might argue, but we will always be one
family.
Lets revive the sense of brotherhood in our Ummah. It’s a
shield that protects our unity and grants us Allah's mercy. Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)
told us that on the day of Judgment, two men would stand in front of Allah and
one of them would say "O Allah, this man took something from me against my
will!!" So Allah would tell the other man to give the first man's property back,
but he doesn't speak, he remains silent. So the first one says, "O Allah, then
let me take from his good deeds!" When Allah tells the second man to give the
first one from his good deeds (hasanat), he looks up with despair and cries, "O
Lord, I no longer have any good deeds." So the first one (persistently) demands
"O Allah, then take from my sins and dump it onto him!!" Then Allah asks him,
"How about something better than that? Raise your head." So the first man raises
his head and sees a spectacular Palace and says "Wooow!! Who’s Palace is that??
A Prophet?? A Martyr??" Allah replies, "To whomever has the price." The man asks
"And who could possibly have the price of such a Palace??" Allah replies "You."
"Me??!!" the man asks with surprise. Allah explains to him saying "Yes you, by
forgiving your brother, you will have the price." So the man says, "I forgive
him O Lord!! I forgive him!!" and Allah tells him, "Take your brother's hand and
enter Paradise together!"
Lets forgive each other dear brothers and sisters, lets
strengthen our bonds, and lets revive our brotherhood. Lets remove any hatred
towards each other from our hearts. We need that to change our condition, and if
we change our condition, Allah will certainly change the condition of our Ummah.
http://www.amrkhaled.net/articles/articles336.html
|