1] Are We Truly Believers?

1]
"So do not weaken and do not grieve, for you will indeed be superior
if you are truly believers." [Al-Quran 3:139]
This verse was revealed to the Messenger (salallahu'alayhe was salam)
by Allah The Almighty from above the Seven Heavens, soon after the
Muslims suffered a defeat in the Battle of Uhud and returned to
Al-Madinah dejected and downtrodden. It was revealed as an
encouragement to the believers after a victory that was in their
grasp, was snatched away from them and turned into a defeat. And why
should the Companions not have felt devastated at this defeat?
Seventy of the best human beings on Earth at the time were killed and
countless otherswere injured. Even the Messenger himself was
seriously wounded until blood flowed from his faceand he said in great
anguish whilst wiping the blood from his noble cheeks: "Allah's Wrath
is Great upon the people who besmeared His Messenger's face with
blood."
However, this defeat was only a temporary setback so that the
believers could reflect upon the reasons for the defeat, described
insuccessive verses of Surah Ali-Imran. The mistakes and sins of a few
believers had deprived the whole army of victory.
When Umar bin Al-Khattab (radiallahu 'anh) despatched the army of Saad
bin Abi Waqqas (radiallahu 'anh) to the Battle of Al-Qadisiyyah, he
advised him:
"Fear your sins more than you fear the enemy as your sins are more
dangerous to you than your enemy. We Muslims are only victorious over
our enemy because their sins outnumber ours, not for any other reason.
If oursins were equal to those ofour enemy, then they would defeat us
due to their superior numbers and resources."
And so Saad proceeded to fight the Persians and, sticking to the
advice of his leader, he imprisoned the alcoholic Abu Mahjan
Ath-Thaqafi lest his presence in the army delays the victory. Until,
Abu Mahjan lamented in his shackles and composedverses of poetry that
touched the wife of Saad to temporarily release himso that he could
participate in the battle with his brothers. Abu Mahjan thus went out
riding the horse of Saad (as Saad was bedridden with fever) and
performedunmatched feats of valour before returning to his cellin the
evening and wearing his shackles back by himself. This continued for
three days until, when Saad found out about the heroics of Abu
Mahjan, he untied his shackles with the words: "By Allah! I will never
imprison you again for drinking alcohol!" Uponthis, Abu Mahjan
replied, "By Allah! I will never again touch alcohol after this day!"
The army was victorious and Saad appointed the ascetic Companion
Salman Al-Farsi (radiallahu 'anh) asthe new ruler of Persia , who
lived on a meagre salary of one dirham per day.
Victory and defeat, gains and losses, and successes and setbacks are
not decided by money, resources, numbers or skills. Rather,they are
decided by the balance of obedience and disobedience of Allah The
Exalted. The more we obey Allah, both individually and collectively,
the more wehasten His Victory. The more we disobey Allah, the more we
delay the arrival of His Victory. One Muslim's sins can delay the
victory for everyone.
It is very easy to blame Bush and Blair, the 'West', the 'kuffar' or
simply 'them' for all our woes andworries. But it is not so easy to
look in the mirror and point the finger at ourselves.
Look at us and our pathetic state. We have abandoned Salah or we delay
it or rush through it. We are too stingy to give Zakah, let alone
optional charity. We prefer to go onholiday than to go for the
obligatory Hajj. We drink alcohol, we use and supplydrugs (Muslims are
amongst the biggest suppliers of drugs in the world today), we cohabit
outside wedlock, we steal, we cheat. We eat haram, earn haram and sell
haram. We beat our wives and force our daughters into marriages then
use Islam to justify it. We are quick to spend on fashion and luxuries
but slow to spend on orphans and the needy. We fail to utter a single
word, let alone raisea finger, when we see our fellow Muslims
imprisoned, tortured, house-arrested, extradited or slain for fear of
being 'linked' to them. We waste our lives watching television and
playing computer games then complain that we don't have enough time
tobecome better Muslims. We are too addicted to music to find time to
listento or memorise the Quran. We are too busy in fun and games to
fulfil our responsibilities as vicegerents on Allah's Earth. And after
all this (and more), we have the audacity to wonder why Allah's
Victory has not yet arrived. With our paltry state, we should more
likely expect Allah's Wrath and Punishment rather than His Victory.
:->