Just a bit of afterthoughts regarding the protest. This post summarily talks about Shahadat Az-Zur and about the interaction between Musa and Firawn: 1- In a Hadith reported in Bukhari: The Prophet (saw) said: Whoever does not give up Qoul Az-Zur and acting upon it, and ignorance, Allah has no need of him giving up his food and drink. The Arabic word used here is Qoul Az-Zur. Another hadith that mentions Az-Zur is: The Prophet (saw) said to the Sahabah: Should I not tell you of the most enormous of enormities? Sahabah said: What are they O Messenger of Allah!?. The Prophet (saw) replied: Shirk, disrespect to parents, ... then he sat up [in order to emphasize the importance of what he was about to say] and said Qoul Az-Zur wa Shahadat Az-Zur, Qoul Az-Zur wa Shahadat Az-Zur, Qoul Az-Zur wa Shahadat Az-Zur ... and he (saw) kept repeating it until the sahabah thought he is not going to stop. Shahadat Az-Zur as defined by scholars among other things (such as false testimony, making halal of what is haram etc.) also includes witnessing falsehood and being silent about it. What is happening is Gaza is an injustice that is going on since way before most of us were born. Its history is as disturbing as its present. Sitting silent on this injustice is basically shirking one of the most important obligations of a Muslim. It is a crime so huge it is equated in the hadith with setting partners with Allah. 2- A lot of Muslims sit at home justifying it by saying: Its not gonna change anything! Why should I expose myself? This thinking is based on a fundamental misconception about the value we put in our action. Thats partly because we have been trained to think like a Capitalist mind. We try to assign value in actions based on their material benefit. For this I want you guys to reflect on the story of Musa (as) and Firawn. How many times have you heard Musa (as) is one of the greatest prophets? And that one of the worst tyrants of all history is the Firawn. If we read the Quran (Surah Taha to be specific), after choosing him as the prophet the first thing Allah says to Musa is to go and talk to Firawn. Musa (as) mentions his anxiety, stutter, his being charged with crime, his fear of getting killed. (So it is natural to feel its a difficult task. Problem is not in feeling the task is difficult, problem is not doing anything as a result of it). Allah said: Go with our signs we will be there with you listening. (So the attitude of the Muslim is not How can I do it? rather How can Allah do it?). Allah says Say to him: Im the prophet from the Rabb al-Alameen, send my people (Bani Israel) with me. Now the point to think about and reflect is that there was no way in the world that Firawn is going to listen to Musa and actually do what he is demanding. But still Musa is ordered to confront Firawn. And we see this over and over again with all the prophets. The reason these things are mentioned in the Quran is not to just tell us a story. It is Allah telling us that it is Allah alone that does everything, not us. Firawns response was: O Musa did we not raise with you as a child. That is, he is reminding him of his favors. Even though this has nothing to do with what Musa is saying to him. He is making a logical fallacy. But thats not because he is dumb. He is trying to personalize the issue. And this is exactly what the governments of today do. That is, US gives you so many favors so dont speak out against them. So what is Musas response: What favor? That you enslave my people? Which means that we need not think about our individual selves, we have to think as one nation. When your mother is being killed it doesnt matter how many roses the killer is giving you. It doesnt count as a favor. And the argument continues. There are a lot of benefits in the rest of the story where we clearly see how the two are talking to each other but the address is really to the people. And it is the public opinion that both of them are vying over. At the end of the day what matters is what the public ends up thinking about this interaction. What happens at the end of the story, Musa is victorious in setting his people free, when the sea parts by the Will of Allah. The help of Allah comes if we are willing to do our part. However insignificant it looks on its face, we can not measure its value with Allah. The only criteria for action of a Muslim is whether it will pleases Allah. And not whether it will bear the material fruits. The fruits never come from our actions anyway, they are always from Allah.
Posted on: Sun, 13 Jul 2014 08:07:37 +0000
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