Hijrah: Can it pass unnoticed?
By Ahmad Alsawi
Friday, January 4, 2008
Dear scholars! As-Salamu `alaykum! We Muslims should not
let any event go without understanding its wisdom and taking
a lesson from it. The life of the Prophet was a celebration
of utter morality and excellence in everything. Would you
please help me understand some lessons that can be taken from
the great event of the Hijrah?
Wa `alaykum As-Salamu wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings
be upon His Messenger.
Dear questioner! Thank you for your question and the confidence
you place in our service and we pray to Allah to enable us
render this service purely for His Sake.
Every sincere Muslim with intellect and understanding will
see that the Hijrah is the main turning point in the history
of Islam. Every year, with the coming of the early days of
Muharram, the reminiscences of the Hijrah generate new lessons
for Muslims and remind them of the sufferings their ancestors
endured for the sake of this religion.
Shedding more light on this issue, here are the words of Sheikh
Usamah Al-Khayyat, the Imam of Al-Masjid Al-Haram, Makkah:
"The major events in the lives of nations and communities
need to be studied for lessons and benefits. Indeed, there
are in the life of the Messenger of Allah events that changed
the course of human history and left great impacts on the
history of mankind. Among these events, the Prophet’s
Hijrah (emigration) from Makkah to Madinah occupied the highest
position, for through this emigration Islam won a decisive
victory, started its consolidation, and the disbelievers started
suffering defeat and humiliation.
In fact, there are uncountable lessons to be learned from
the Prophet’s Hijrah. There are, however, two main lessons
which are:
First, Islam is greater than the land, home, and town in which
one is born; it is greater than all the beauties, allurements,
and pleasures of this world.
This concept showed up vividly when the Messenger of Allah,
along with his companion Abu Bakr, set out from Makkah, the
sacred city. Addressing the city, the Prophet (peace and blessings
be upon him) said with tears in the eyes: “By Allah!
You are the most pleasant city and the dearest place to me.
Had my people not expelled me out of you, I would not have
lived elsewhere” (At-Tirmidhi).
Makkah was his birthplace and the very place where he spent
his childhood and youth. But the Prophet (peace and blessings
be upon him) left this blessed city to seek the pleasure of
his Lord in the interest of His religion and in order to spread
the belief and guidance and deliver His Message. The Messenger
of Allah removed all obstacles that impeded the deliverance
of da`wah so that mankind could have the right of choice between
guidance and error. Allah says: “And say: ‘The
truth is from your Lord.’ Then whosoever wills, let
him believe; and whosoever wills, let him disbelieve”
(Al-Kahf : 29).
Second, We should have perfect certainty that Allah is always
with His truthful and believing slaves. This deep-rooted certainty,
which was unshaken by the threat of the enemy, manifested
itself in these two emigrating men. When the situation became
tense and the disbelievers almost came to know the cave in
which they were hiding, Abu Bakr said, “By Allah, Messenger
of Allah, had anyone of them looked at his feet he would have
seen us.”
The Messenger of Allah replied, “O Abu Bakr! What do
you think of two people who are accompanied by (the support
and protection of) Allah?” Allah confirms this incidence
in the Glorious Qur'an when He says: “If ye help him
not, still Allah helped him when those who disbelieve drove
him forth, the second of two; when they two were in the cave,
when he said unto his comrade: Grieve not. Lo! Allah is with
us. Then Allah caused His peace of reassurance to descend
upon him and supported him with hosts ye cannot see, and made
the word of those who disbelieved the nethermost, while Allah's
word it was that became the uppermost. Allah is Mighty, Wise”
(At-Tawbah :40).
What support is greater than this Divine support and what
power can overcome this power? The support of Allah is the
greatest protection against all calamities. It is the provision
in times of difficulty and the protecting shield from all
evils. But this special support that entails protection and
victory is only given to the righteous and pious slaves of
Allah, those who fulfill their obligation to Allah by believing
in His Oneness, worshiping Him alone without ascribing any
partner to Him, abiding by His commandments and abstaining
from all His prohibitions.
Let us put the lessons of the Prophet’s Hijrah into
practice in order to reclaim our glory and our position in
the world. Allah says: “Lo! Allah is with those who
keep their duty unto Him and those who are doers of good”
(An-Nahl :128).
If the Hijrah means abandoning a non-Muslim land for that
of Islam, it also means abandoning sins and rushing to obedience.
The Messenger of Allah said: “The Muslim is the one
from whose hand and tongue all Muslims are safe. And the muhajir
(emigrant) is the one who abandons what Allah forbids”
(Al-Bukhari)."
Excerpted, with slight modifications, from: www.islamiczone.netfirms.com
Allah Almighty knows best.
|
