Originally published in December 2013

From the Greek and Syriac sources of the Church Elders

There are those who love and there are those who hate. Of which were our pious predecessors and of which are you?

When the Muslims surrounded Jerusalem, the inhabitants said they would surrender the city only if the Muslim ruler himself —Omar, the second successor or “Caliph,” of the Prophet Muhammad— came to them. ((The Encounter of Eastern Christianity with Early Islam, Emmanouela Grypeou, Mark N. Swanson and David Thomas)) So Omar sojourned by camel from Damascus, Syria to Jerusalem in the Holy Land. As Omar approached the city, his servant became weary, so he ordered his servant to ride the steed while he walked it by the reins.

When they entered Jerusalem —records indicate it very well could have been Easter— the people of the city mistook the servant for the Caliph. When corrected, they couldn’t believe that this man in tattered and dirty clothes, leading on foot his servant who rode his steed, was the ruler of this new people who were conquering the Persian and Roman Empires, the greatest empires the world had ever seen, with such speed that had never been seen before. St. Sophronius, Christian Patriarch of Jerusalem, greeted Omar with a set of fresh regal clothes and insisted he wear them instead of the dirty rags he was wearing. According to the Greek chronicler Theophilus of Edessa (695-785CE), Omar refused saying, “It is not right for a man to take from another what God has not decreed for him, for God has given to each and every one of humanity from His Divine knowledge, and he who desires to receive something from his companion exceeding that, does so against God.” (( Theophilus of Edessa’s Chronicle- And the Circulation of Historical Knowledge in Late Antiquity and Early Islam, Liverpool University Press- Translated Texts for Historians, Robert G. Hoyland)) Yet, the Christians of the city were outraged and Omar sensed that they found it humiliating to concede the city to someone who looked so base and common. So he compromised. Theophilus further records from Omar, “Because you request it of me, and have shown me such great honor, please lend me these clothes and I will wear them while you wash mine. When mine are returned, I will return these clothes to you.” Michael the Syrian, 12^th Century Patriarch of the Syriac Orthodox Church, says about Omar, “He was certainly just and removed from greed, to the degree that from all the empire that the Arabs ruled, that is, from all the wealth and treasures of the Romans and Persians, he took nothing for himself. He did not change the simplicity of his habits, not even the piece of hide that was placed under him when he rode by camel and that he used for sitting on the ground or sleeping on.” ((Ibid))

As the time approached for the Muslim noon prayer, Sophronius invited Omar to pray in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the holiest site in all of Christianity that contains the Golgotha, the Hill of Calvary where Christ was to be crucified, as well as the tomb where Christ was to be interred. Omar refused saying that he feared future generations of Muslims might seek to make it a Muslim holy site. So he prayed opposite the southern courtyard of the Church where, sure enough, they eventually built the Mosque of Omar that stands there to this day facing the empty tomb of Jesus Christ.

Patriarch Eutychius of Alexandria of the Greek Orthodox Church (877-940CE) records:

“When the gate of the city was opened, Omar came in with his entourage and sat at the aetrion of the Church of the Resurrection. When the time of prayer approached, Omar said to Patriarch Sophronius: ‘I want to pray.’ And he responded: ‘Commander of the faithful, pray in the place where you are now.’ And Omar said: ‘I do not want to pray here.’ The patriarch and then led him to the Church of Constantine [the Church of the Resurrection] where he spread a mat made of straw on the floor of the church. But Omar said: ‘I do not want to pray here either.’ He went out to the steps, which are at the gate on the eastern side of the Church of St. Constantine, and he prayed alone on the steps. Then he sat down and said to Patriarch Sophronius: ‘Patriarch, do you know why I did not pray inside the church?’ He answered: ‘I do not know, Commander of the Faithful.’ And Omar said to him: ‘If I had prayed inside the Church, you would be losing it and it would have gone from your hands because after my death the Muslims would seize it saying: Omar has prayed here. Give me a piece of pergamene ((A type of parchment named after the ancient city of Pergamum in Aeolis)) to write for you a document.’” ((The Encounter of Eastern Christianity with Early Islam, Emmanouela Grypeou, Mark N. Swanson and David Thomas))

Eutychius goes on to relate the terms written in that document protecting the Church and the churches surrounding it forbidding Muslims from congregating near its steps for their prayers.

While some Muslims bicker over whether they should bid their Christian fellows “Merry Christmas” or any other variety of holiday greetings throughout the year, I urge them to drop such vain harangues. Instead, reach into the psyche of Omar, inspired by the Prophet Muhammad whom he served and later succeeded, and how he treated the Christians who found themselves under his rule. Had he wished, he could have done away with the Christian and Jewish populations and history would have no less recorded him as yet another conqueror. When the Christian Crusaders invaded Jerusalem 400 years later, they did slaughter the Muslims, Jews and even those Christians of sects they deemed heretical in a stadium as if it were sport. No man, woman, child or even babe in arms was spared. ((“In this temple 10,000 were killed. Indeed, if you had been there you would have seen our feet colored to our ankles with the blood of the slain. But what more shall I relate? None of them were left alive; neither women nor children were spared.” Gesta Francorum Jerusalem Expugnantium, Fulcher of Chartres)) The year prior to that, in 1098, the Crusaders had actually cooked and eaten the Muslims of Ma`rrat al-Nu`man in Syria. It is said that babies were skewered on spits, broiled and eaten. ((“Some people said that, constrained by the lack of food, they boiled pagan adults in cooking-pots, impaled children on spits and devoured them grilled.” Citing Rudolph of Caen, The First Crusade: The Chronicle of Fulcher of Chartres and Other Source Materials, Edward Peters.))

But that is not our way and any who adopt such ways in God’s name profane the very core of Islam. Omar chose the path of love, compassion, and mercy. He gave the Christians freedom and brought the Jews back to the Holy Land from whence they had been driven out just a decade before and successively in the centuries preceding that. The city’s Christians entrusted the keys to the Church of Holy Sepulchre into the hands of the Muslim family of Nusaybah. Today, a millennium and a half later, a member of that Muslim family unlocks the Church in the morning and locks it up at night. The Christians of Jerusalem would have it no other way. ((The Oxford Companion to Christian Thought, Adrian Hastings, ‎Alistair Mason, ‎Hugh Pyper))

Will the Christians love you when you deal with them thus? Some will. Some won’t. In spite of acknowledging the magnanimity of Omar related above, Theophanes the Confessor (760-818CE) refers to him as a devilish beast and mocks him for entering the city in dirty clothes. (( Theophilus of Edessa’s Chronicle- And the Circulation of Historical Knowledge in Late Antiquity and Early Islam, Liverpool University Press- Translated Texts for Historians, Robert G. Hoyland)) God even tells us in the Qur’an, “The Jews and Christians will never be fully satisfied with you until you follow their respective religions.” ((The Holy Qur’an, Chapter al-Baqara 2:120)) It should matter to you naught! Be good and seek no reward. We do not let the pleasure of people guide our actions. We do not behave well towards goodness nor do we mete ill with evil. Jesus is recorded in Islamic sources as saying:

“Virtuous action does not consist in doing good to someone who has done good to you—that is merely returning a favor. Virtuous action consists in doing good [even] to those who have wronged you.” ((Walk on Water, The Wisdom of Jesus from Traditional Arabic Sources, Hamza Yusuf. This work cites Ahmad bin Hanbal as the source. Begging the esteemed Hamza Yusuf’s pardon, “[even]” added by the author for clarity and context.))

Thus, we behave as our beloved Prophet Muhammad, the servant and messenger of God, instructed and exemplified seeking only the pleasure of the very One Whom we —Jew, Christian and Muslim— worship as the One God who rules over all with Love and Mercy. Seek not the pleasure of mankind because they will never truly be pleased with you no matter what you do. Love and brotherhood in humanity are found in behaviors well beyond the realm of mere words. Ponder well. Let your attitude and behavior towards your Christian fellows speak louder than any bidding of “Merry Christmas” ever could.

By Omar Ead

Come closer. It’s so plain, it could pass you by without realization; so dear, you could take it for granted; so intimate, you may only recognize it if you surrender your entire being.  “…We are closer to him than [his] jugular vein”(Qur’an 50:16).  If you want to understand you must listen, with a heart undistracted, attentive, and directed at Him. “…And remember your Lord much…” (Qur’an 3:41)

When Yusuf alayhi as-salaam (peace be upon him) was cast out of his father’s home by his own brothers, he was ordained to grow up in the palace of the King.  As he grew older, the wife of the King developed a lingering passion for Yusuf and tried luring him into her arms.  She even tried to use force. Yusuf too was attracted to her, but his heart was always focused, always attentive, and he never allowed it to become preoccupied with the pleasures of dunya (worldly life). “And let not your eyes pass beyond them, desiring adornments of the worldly life…” (Qur’an 18:28). His heart was always present, and entirely focused. He never viewed the moment as an end, but always as a means; a means to a great reason, a means to an ultimate moment, and an ultimate day.

Today, we hear the phrase “live for the moment” used often, but somewhere along the way, it turned into a term justifying the lower nature of man.  The moments that the pious saints and figures from east and west spoke of in the past, were moments that brought about greater purpose, far outweighing the mere moments of the lower self.  It was this clear understanding that led Yusuf (as) to make the right decision at a very tempting point in time. “…and he would have inclined to her had he not seen the proof of his Lord” (Qur’an 12:24). As a matter of fact, one of Prophet Yusuf’s most well-known and documented attributes was his insight and ability to interpret the signs of Allah subhanahu wa ta`ala (glorified is He). His dreams foreshadowed his fate and the revelation that came to him saved an entire nation from the onslaught of a major famine.  His heart was filled with the Oneness of God. Prophet Yusuf (as) knew his circumstances and those around him were never simply a coincidence. He knew that every situation, every thought, and every feeling was connected to something much greater—the will of The only existing Truth—Al Haqq.

Many of us search for His signs hoping He will guide us, yet we remain lost.  There may be moments when we witness His absolute infinite wealth of guidance (tawfiq) and blessings, still most of the time we persist in a world of emptiness and neediness. We search endlessly for His messages. But if God were to answer your call, would you know it?  Would you heed His guidance? Is it possible that you are repeatedly shown signs, and dismiss them as simple coincidences?

Understanding His will and receiving His call requires closeness (taqwa).  It requires a tearing of the veil between you and Him.  It requires a love and intimacy so powerful and so consuming, that only the vessel of one’s heart can carry this one love.  The great poet said:

“Gamble everything for love. If you are a true human being. If not, leave this gathering. Half-heartedness doesn’t reach into majesty. You set out to find God, but then you keep stopping for long periods at mean-spirited roadhouses. Don’t wait any longer. Dive in the ocean, leave and let the sea be you. Silent, absent, walking an empty road, all praise.” (Rumi)

If we desire His guidance, it’s critical that we first learn how to fill our hearts with Him alone. This is a condition expressed in the Qur’an. “Indeed, within the heavens and earth are signs for the believers,”(Qur’an 45:3). This verse refers to the mu’min (believer).  The root of the word mu’min is  (ا م ن ). This root has many interpretations but some of these interpretations encompass the following:

• Tranquility triggered by a strong sense of faith
• Being present, in the higher dimensions of a moment, without expectations
• Emptying one’s heart from everything except for the trust one instills in Allah (swt)

Allah (swt) tells us that paying heed to His signs is the benefit, indeed the essence, of being a mu’min.  Nothing is real outside of Him, and if we are able to fill our heart with this reality, if all circumstances and all conditions become a manifestation of His will in our eyes, than His guidance will come regardless of how heavy or complex our affairs may seem.  “For indeed, with hardship [will be] ease.” (Qur’an 94:5)

Believing in the Oneness of God’s purpose and design is critical to the way we view the events that take place in our lives. This is especially true if we desire His guidance. Ibn Qayyim radiAllahu `anhu (may God be pleased with him) in his book Madarij as-Salikeen discusses guidance as being a primary benefit in achieving a true internal state of tawheed (Oneness of God).  The states are articulated in four stages:

1. Tawba (Repentance): Ibn Qayyim suggests that in order to achieve the greatest and most insightful state, one must start with a constant (and never ending) state of tawba (repentance), and recognize the heart’s thirst to seek the truth. It’s through the deep thirst for truth that light enters one”s heart. And once light enters the heart, seeking the Source becomes a deeply rooted cause within the individual.
2. Awakening Level (Fikra): This is the level of thinking and pondering.  In this early stage, the heart starts to stare in the direction it wants to go in and after recognizing, it desires a wakeful state. In this phase the heart starts to understand and distinguish truth from falsehood.  It starts to determine what is good and what is bad.
3. Bassera (A light in the heart):  Bassera becomes a form of revelation for the mu’min.  Bassera is very powerful, because it places ferasa (insight) in the heart and it makes the believer aware of the good and evil in life. It removes all forms of shock in dunya.  It helps one ease the need to set expectations. In this state, the believer is aware of what others can’t see or understand.
4. Azim (Determination):  The ultimate by-product and fruit of the previous stages lead to Azim.  To reach this state a mu’min must set a qada (goal).  The goal must be a path towards God.  Once you have ferasa (insight) the believer is able to set a goal that will lead them on the right path.  Once the goal is set, and one pursues it, his determination increases (Azim). This determination will create a sustaining bias towards action in the believer. He will constantly and without tiring struggle on the path to reach his goal: God.

Of all the states listed by Ibn Qayyim, the most important one is repentance.  Tawba isn’t a phrase we say at the end of each prayer, nor is it just a gesture. Tawba in its deepest sense represents humility and God-consciousness. It means, before doing something, we ask ourselves whether it will bring us closer to Him. It means, every time we incline towards a sin, our heart aches for forgiveness.  It means, loving Him with a sincerity that penetrates the deepest aspects of our wants, desires and hopes, because we can’t have the love of dunya and His love in the same vessel.

So start with tawba.  Let your life become completely consumed by it. It will bring you so much closer to Him, His signs, and His revelation.  Even if you don’t have the chance to reach the higher stages in this life, tawba will protect you, guide you, and reassure you in moments of weakness and in moments of need.  “…ask forgiveness of your Lord and then repent to Him. He will…increase you in strength [added] to your strength.” (Qur’an 11:52)

By Omar Ead

“And [yet], among the people are those who take other than Allah as equals [to Him]. They love them as they [should] love Allah. But those who believe are stronger in love for Allah. And if only they who have wronged would consider [that] when they see the punishment, [they will be certain] that all power belongs to Allah and that Allah is severe in punishment.” (Qur’an 2:165)

He was sure he finally found her.  “She must be the one,” he thought.  After learning more about her for several months, he decided to fly to the city to meet her. He had tried so many times before, but he finally felt like this was it. Because this time, he was doing it the “right way.” It would be a big event with thousands of people. He would meet her in public. She’d be with friends. No risk of being alone.  For the first time, he was able to ask a lady, “Will you marry me?”  The only problem was, as soon as he said those words, he learnt that she was in a relationship. What does he do now?

Stop. Absorb. Reflect.

Ask yourself this question: at what point does love become immoral?  Is it even possible that love can be immoral?  Were we not taught that love is always a beautiful thing?  From what I recall, love is always pure, love is always good, love is always right.  What he experienced for her could have been love, but given the circumstances, it was only destructive.

This story is important to understand in the context of submitting to Allah subhanahu wa ta`ala (exalted is He).  Why?  The importance of submitting to God can be no better understood than through the example of love. To know God requires that one loves God. And to love God requires the condition of complete submission.  The lover never wishes to disappoint the beloved. It would be impossible, then, that one knows God and disobeys Him intentionally.  To believe in God is different from submitting to God. Belief encompasses a sense of acknowledgment while submission encompasses love and veneration for something’s existence.  We must strive to love God and to love through God.  We must seek to love only where love is pure.  Because love outside The Source (God) becomes a force of hawa (desire), a means of destruction, degradation, communal strife, jealousy, deception, immorality, and hate. Without The Source, love becomes chaotic.  What happens when love is not attached to The Source? Love turns to lust.  Love turns to desire.  Love turns to hate. It is as one of the great English poets once said:

“The expense of spirit in a waste of shame/ Is lust in action; and till action, lust/ Is perjured, murderous, bloody, full of blame,/ Savage, extreme, rude, cruel, not to trust/… All this the world well knows; yet none knows well./  To shun the heaven that leads men to this hell.” (Shakespeare)

The danger of love is when one is commanded by the nafs (the self, the ego), it can be very difficult to tell the difference between love and lust, love and hate, love and pleasure. Because love is so powerful, it can become an object of worship itself.  So many times we like to limit the concept of worship to actual physical alters, but the more dangerous and more real concept of worship is more abstract, more powerful, more universal. To better understand this, let’s look at some concepts that are synonymous to worship:

adore, idolize, venerate, revere, admire, appreciate, be in awe of, cherish, esteem, exalt

Every one of those concepts relates to the idea of love.  How different is love from worship? There is a fine line.  This is why it is so critical to love through God.  Love can easily turn into a form of worship, and once you worship more than one thing, it can only lead to the impairment of the heart. Allah (swt) says in the Quran:

“Had there been within the heavens and earth gods besides God, they both would have been ruined. So exalted is Allah, Lord of the Throne, above what they describe.” (Qur’an 21:22)

Love, when not established through Him (swt), becomes an object of worship itself. And when you have competing objects of worship in you heart, it can only lead to much harm.  Love outside of The Source, becomes corrupt. This is why Allah (swt) discusses several forms of love in the Qur’an.  When the wife of the Vizier tried to seduce Prophet Yusuf `alayhi as-salaam (peace be upon him), Allah (swt) tells us through the people of the city that it was through love that the wife of the Pharaoh was “impassioned” to seduce him. It was through love that she was tempted to commit an immoral act:

“And women in the city said, “The wife of al-‘Azeez is seeking to seduce her slave boy; he has impassioned her with love (hubb). Indeed, we see her [to be] in clear error.”” (Qur’an 12:30)

So what is the difference between the concept of hubb (from the root H-b-b) in the former verse and the word mawaddah (from the root w-d-d) in the following verse?

“And of His signs is that He created for you from yourselves mates that you may find tranquillity in them; and He placed between you affection and mercy. Indeed in that are signs for a people who give thought.” (Qur’an 30:21)

Let’s take a look at the definition for hubb:

{lovely/pleasing/charming, take pleasure in a thing, be fatigued or tired, form a thing into something else, fill or satiate a thing (with water or drink), become clotted/form a clot}

Now let’s look at the definition for mawaddah:

{to love, be fond of, will, long}

Is the difference not clear enough? The hubb form of love is in the physical world, and therefore anyone can experience it even outside of God. But those who do experience it outside of God will suffer, they will break, they will find themselves lonely. This is why it’s important to seek all love, including hubb, through God. The other form of love (mawaddah) is a love that comes only through the blessing of Allah (swt).  By the way, the form of love classified as mawaddah in the latter verse is placed side-by-side with rahma (mercy).  So that means that mawaddah and mercy complement each other.  Mercy encompasses sacrifice, tolerance, compassion, and generosity. Mawaddah is a form of love that is bestowed upon the human heart through Him and only through Him (swt). Hubb is more of a phenomenon of the physical world, and can therefore be experienced by anyonel. However, hubb outside the Source causes fatigue and lust.

So how do we protect ourselves from the dangerous forms of love and seek mawaddah?  A dear friend once told me, “Only let God in your heart, and keep everything else in your hand.”  The `ulema (scholars) say the Prophet ﷺ (peace be upon him) had the world in his hand but only had Allah (swt) in his heart. This is what we must train ourselves to do. Anything that we allow into our hearts should only be through God and by God (e.g. mawaddah).  Of course, many will claim doing so is too difficult or requires too much work. This is not entirely true; everything worthwhile takes effort.

This can be better understood through an analogy.  When you prepare for guests to enter your home, what do you do? You anticipate their arrival. You convince yourself that they will show up to your home at some point, by God’s will. So you prepare for their arrival by cleaning the house. You put everything in its place.  You take out the trash.  You clean the dishes.  Why is it that we don’t hesitate when it comes to cleaning the home?  When someone is preparing to come over we don’t say, “It’s going to take too long to clean the home,” or “It’s too complicated, I’ll just leave the house the way it is.”  No.  What we tell ourselves is “There is a lot of house cleaning to do, but I will start by cleaning a room, then cleaning an entire floor, and I will end by cleaning the entire house.”  This is precisely the type of internal conversation we need to have with ourselves when it comes to the metaphysical.  When we want to prepare our hearts for the mawaddah of Allah (swt), and for the guests He invites into our hearts through His mawaddah, we need to take it one step at a time. Allah (swt) says in the Quran:

“[Adhere to it], turning in repentance to Him, and fear Him and establish prayer and do not be of those who associate others with Allah.”  (Qur’an 30:31)

So when we want to cleanse our hearts of hubb (that exists outside the Source) and other worldly idols and prepare it for His mawaddah, we are instructed to do a few things:

1. Repent
2. Have taqwa (God consciousness)
3. Establish obligatory prayers/ worship/ dhikr (remembrance of God)
4. Dissociate from all idols of the heart

Starting with repentance is important because it opens our hearts to Allah (swt)’s mercy and rahma.  By first seeking God’s forgiveness, you prepare yourself for true submission. Tawbah (repentance) is one of the greatest ways of submitting one’s heart to Allah (swt). It is perhaps the quickest way to “fall in love” with Him. It is a means that acts a channel to drive one closer to God (taqwa). Imam ibn al- Jawziyyah once said:

“The state of repentance, tawbah, is at the beginning, the middle and the end of all states of submission to the will of Allah (swt). The servant who seeks the pleasure of Allah (swt) never abandons tawbah. He remains in the state of tawbah until his death. Whatever his state of belief, the servant makes tawbah his constant companion.”

Once our hearts are open to His mercy, we are prepared for the next step: to worship Him the right way.  Through worship we build a deep love by turning to Him five times a day and confessing our love seventeen times a day when we say, “Only through you we seek help and assistance,” (Qur’an 1). Along with establishing prayers, one should be in constant dhikr of Allah (swt). What happens when you love someone? You can’t stop thinking about them. What keeps that love alive? What keeps that love intense and fertile? The thoughts you have for that person.  The love for Allah (swt) works the same way. Once you love Allah (swt), you continue to grow your love for Him and you intensify your love for Him through dhikr.  There are many ways to remember God.  Some ways we already know of are by praising Him using phrases like subhan Allah (glory be to God) or ma sha’ Allah (what God wills).  We can also invoke His beautiful names like al-Waddud, which means the Affectionate and the Most Loving.

Keep in mind that the above steps will help us ward off allowing any idols to enter our heart. They will prepare our hearts for the love of God, and will defend it from all intruders. In the end though, we must also acknowledge that sometimes (but very rarely) the love we have for someone regardless of whether it is hubb or mawaddah never leaves the soul.  It will be a trial for some people as long as they are alive. It will be a source of pain, unease, wonderment, and broken-heartedness. But is this really a bad thing? It has been reported on several occasions that Allah (swt) said,  “I am with those whose hearts are broken (munkasirah) for My sake,”  (Hadith Qudsi). So for as long as you may be broken, even if it is a lifetime, remember “with hardship will be ease.” With hardship, you will find your source of relief.

By Omar Ead

“Say, ‘Allah [alone] do I worship, sincere to Him in my religion, So worship what you will besides Him.’ Say, ‘Indeed, the losers are the ones who will lose themselves and their families on the Day of Resurrection. Unquestionably, that is the manifest loss.’” (Qur’an 39:14-15)

The time preceding the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ (peace be upon him) was dark, bleak and empty. It was considered sound business practice for merchants to drown their customers in usury and dubbed socially progressive for communities and families to bury their baby daughters.

“And likewise, to many of the polytheists their partners have made [to seem] pleasing the killing of their children in order to bring about their destruction and to cover them with confusion in their religion.” (Qur’an 6:137)

In spite of the chaos, there existed a few men in this period that believed in one God alone and refused to succumb to the ignorant ways that existed in the communities of those that worshiped their desires, idols, status and power. Zayd bin’ Nufail was one among a few that had a sense of Allah’s (God’s) complete Oneness (tawheed).  Zayd traveled wide and far in search of the truth. He met with Christians and Jews during his travels, but decided in the end that both religions were missing critical elements, so he finally concluded that the truth rested in the footsteps (Sunnah) of the Prophet Abraham `alayhi sallatu wa sallam (may Allah send peace and blessings on him). Zayd even went to the extent of proclaiming the Oneness of God to the people of Quraysh. In the center of Mecca with his back against the Kabba, he would say to them:

“O people of Quraysh! By Allah, none amongst you is on the religion of Abraham except me.” (Sahih al Bukhari)

Zayd never accused the Quraysh of not believing in God, but rather accused them of not following in the footsteps of the Prophets that proceeded them in worshiping God alone.  Zayd was later banished by his own family from Mecca. When in Al-Sham (modern-day Syria) Zayd was told by a monk that a Prophet would soon appear in Mecca. So Zayd made the intention of going back to Mecca to wait for the Prophet to appear, but was killed before he could make it back. Zayd’s son Sa’eed, who lived in Mecca after his father passed away, became Muslim under the leadership of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ (peace be upon him).

There are many stories similar to Zayd’s.  Each time a person who believed in the oneness of God came forward in Mecca and demanded that its population submit themselves entirely in oneness and purpose to God’s cause (i.e. politically, socially, spiritually and economically) they were threatened and usually banished from the city.

It’s critical to understand though that the Quraysh never ran people out of Mecca that preached the belief in one God.  It was when people preached oneness in purpose and complete submission in all aspects of life to God (tawheed), that the Quraysh felt threatened.  For example, the wife of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, Khadija radi Allahu `anha (may Allah be pleased with her), had two cousins that believed in one God (one of them even embraced Christianity). Why weren’t the Quraysh threatened by them?  Why didn’t the Quraysh try to run them out of Mecca? Because neither of them expressed the importance of worship to One God alone in all aspects of life. Tawheed, when practiced in its essence, affects everything. It is at the heart of every single other matter. Belief in God does not alone qualify one as being a believer (mu’min) in Islam. It is the complete submission to God that makes the difference.

It was for this reason that the Quraysh perceived the Prophet ﷺ as a challenge. It meant a change in the political, social, and economic spheres of influence. Tawheed would have a huge impact on their political power, but more so, it would overwhelm their economic dominance in the peninsula. Case in point? In the times of the Prophet ﷺ, caravans with goods that would travel back and forth to Syria were very commonly attacked by tribal people and everything was stolen. The only tribe this didn’t happen to was the Quraysh. That’s because the Quraysh owned everyone’s idols in the Arab peninsula. If one of the tribal people tried to steal from their caravan, the Quraysh could easily threaten to destroy their idol since it was stored in the Kabba. The Prophet Muhammad’s ﷺ practice meant complete loss of such economic benefits for the Quraysh. It meant no more “free trade” agreements or economic buffer zones.

So the importance isn’t only in believing in One God. As a matter of fact, Allah subhanahu wa ta`ala (exalted is He) clearly states that messengers and prophets were sent not only to declare the belief in one God, but to warn of any form of taghut (rebellion, deviation, transgression outside the bounds of God’s rulings).  Allah (swt) says in the Qur’an:

“And We certainly sent into every nation a messenger, [saying], ‘Worship Allah and avoid taghut (all false deities, authorities, ideas, solutions, etc. outside of Islam).’” (Qur’an: 16:36)

Taghut is a very potent term that engenders many complexities. In his great work called “Four Basic Quranic Terms,” Maududi does a great job of explaining the seriousness of taghut, by laying out 3 shades of rebellion against God.  The first category is when someone declares obedience to God (as a matter of principle), but in deeds they disobey and fall short (fisq). The second is when someone rejects obedience to God (as a matter of principle) and does as he pleases or obeys someone else (kufr). The third category (and most serious) is when one rejects the principle of obedience to God alone, and begins to make his/her own laws and rules for a nation and its people (taghut).

It’s the third level of rebellion—taghut—that the Quraysh and so many others before them and after them were accused of. They refused to believe and obey God alone, and they openly declared their own laws based on what suited them economically and politically. When Zayd bin’ Nufail stood up to the Quraysh and declared his belief in the Oneness of purpose to God, he wasn’t simply declaring his belief in God, he was articulating his faith in a way of living—a way of living that would require his people humbly and faithfully submit themselves to God alone in everything they do together as a nation.

When the Prophet ﷺ years later spoke of Zayd bin’ Nufail, he said that Zayd “[would] be raised as a nation by himself on the Day of Resurrection,” (Sahih al Bukhari). It was this idea of oneness in purpose to God that the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ would soon successfully articulate and advance through the revelations of the Qur’an and his Sunnah (tradition).

by Sabeen Mansoori

The light is red. It seems to have been red for an eternity. The minutes tick slowly forward as the heat of the sun mercilessly beats down. Is it broken? You are so late! Not a single vehicle is passing through the intersection. It seems to be red for everyone. The empty intersection shimmers like a mirage before your eyes. Surely it must be malfunctioning. The person in the car next to you mouths a curse and as if on a cue you complain, “It’s never going to turn green.” The instant the words leave your lips, as if by magic, the light turns green and you are free to go.

How many times do we try our best not to complain but the circumstances seem truly impossible and whining just seems the natural, acceptable thing to do? We rarely question these slips of the tongue, especially because everyone around us is doing the same. But these sighs, eye rolls and snippets of ingratitude chip away at our iman (faith). They are a subtle form of arrogance. The thought process behind the complaints is that I am so special that all lights should turn green as I approach. The carefully crafted car commercials are a true indicator of what our hearts desire. In the commercials there are rarely any stop lights.  The cars zoom by or climb to heights that no mortal can actually drive to; leaving all the ordinary people in the dust. Confetti falls and flags wave in the breeze as music blares in the background.

This message of hedonistic self-fulfillment is the greatest trap of Shaytan (Satan). When he promised Allah subhanahu wa ta`ala (may He be glorified and exalted) that he would take us down with him to hellfire his strategy was already set. He did not ask for a few years to operate. He asked for our entire testing period.

“(Satan) said, “Reprieve me until the Day they are resurrected.”  (Qur’an, 7:14)

What worked for him would work for humans, since we are mere mortals crafted from clay. If he could make us arrogant and ungrateful, than the descent to moral depravity and the fall from the favor of Allah (swt) would be simple. There are those, however, who escaped from his devious designs and made it safely through this life and were guaranteed Paradise. Most eminent among them was the second Khalifah `Umar bin Khattab radi Allahu `anhu (may Allah be pleased with him).

The Prophet ﷺ (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, “O Ibn Al-Khattab! By Him in Whose Hands my life is! Never does Satan find you going on a way, but he takes another way other than yours,” (Sahih Bukhari). Subhan’Allah—glory be to God—the life of Umar (ra) is an amazing story of the love of Allah (swt) and His Messenger ﷺ. That love is stamped forever on the pages of history through his success in this world and in the Hereafter. But why did Shaytan consider him a hopeless case? Why was the Shaytan, who whispers to us day and night, afraid to even go near `Umar?

`Umar (ra) was a source of strength for the Muslims from the day he accepted Islam to the day he returned to his Lord.  Verses of the Qur’an were revealed that agreed with his opinion. During his ten years as the khalifah (caliph) the Muslim state grew to an unprecedented degree as the empires of Persia and Rome toppled. `Umar (ra) had much to be proud of, but he never let arrogance taint and destroy any of his deeds. He led a simple, humble life and even at the moment of death asked his son to put his face on the ground.

If we look into his achievements as a sahabi (companion) and as a khalifah and then we read his words his greatness becomes apparent. From `Amir ibn Rabi`a: “I saw `Umar pick up a straw from the ground and say, “Would that I were this straw! Would that I were nothing! Would that my mother never bore me!”

He walked the streets of his city for fear that Allah (swt) would hold him to account. From Dawud ibn `Ali: “If a sheep dies on the shore of the Euphrates I fear lest Allah ask me to account for it on the Day of Resurrection.”

Once `Umar (ra) called people to the Masjid and when they all assembled, `Umar stood on the pulpit and said, “I had some aunts and I would take their goats or sheep to this valley and I would come back at the end of the day and they would give me a handful of dates or raisins and I would have a miserable day.” Then he came down from the pulpit. Abdul Rahman ibn ‘Awf (ra) said, “You haven’t done more than belittle yourself.” `Umar (ra) replied, “Woe to you son of ‘Awf! My nafs [lower self] was telling me that you are Ameer ul-Mu’mineen so who is better than you? So I wanted to teach myself a lesson and let it know who it is.”

How could Shaytan influence his nafs when he never let it stray for a moment? He reined in his ego before it had a chance to become inflated. It is reported that `Umar ibn al Khattâb (ra) said: “Bring yourselves to account before you are brought to account, and weigh your deeds before they are weighed,” (At-Tirmidhî).

It would have been so easy for `Umar (ra) to let his achievements instill in him a sense of false pride but he always considered himself nothing but a slave of Allah (swt). Presidents and kings rule for a few years and have memorials and statues built in their honor and books written eulogizing on their greatness. They write memoirs listing and elaborating on their terms in office. `Umar (ra) who was assassinated while in salah (prayer) was worried about completing his salah even as the blood poured out of his body! He was irritated with Ibn Abbas (ra) because while trying to comfort him Ibn Abbas (ra) used words of praise. `Umar (ra), whose example we can only read about and tremble at his greatness, was with his last breaths anxious about being saved from the fire:

“When `Umar was stabbed, he showed signs of agony. Ibn `Abbas, as if intending to encourage `Umar, said to him, ‘O Chief of the believers! Never mind what has happened to you, for you have been in the company of Allah’s Apostle and you kept good relations with him and you parted with him while he was pleased with you. Then you were in the company of Abu Bakr and kept good relations with him and you parted with him (i.e. he died) while he was pleased with you. Then you were in the company of the Muslims, and you kept good relations with them, and if you leave them, you will leave them while they are pleased with you.’ `Umar said, (to Ibn “Abbas), ‘As for what you have said about the company of Allah’s Apostle and his being pleased with me, it is a favor Allah did to me; and as for what you have said about the company of Abu Bakr and his being pleased with me, it is a favor Allah did to me; and concerning my impatience which you see, is because of you and your companions. By Allah! If (at all) I had gold equal to the earth, I would have ransomed myself with it from the Punishment of Allah before I meet Him,’” (Sahih Bukhari).

Shaytan was smart enough to realize early on that it would be useless to waste time trying to deceive `Umar (ra). Shaytan’s time is much better spent riding with us. Ibn Qayyim described Shaytan as patient. He can wait for years till his whispers convince someone to boast about an act of goodness they had done. Sadly for many of us he only has to wait a few seconds before we utter some words of arrogant impatience.

The reality is that we can only pay lip-service to the greatness of `Umar (ra). There is little chance that we will adopt his ascetic lifestyle and attain the high stature of humility that he achieved.  One small step that it is possible for us to take is to eliminate the whining from our lives and become content with what Allah (swt) has blessed us with. This could be as simple as accepting the seemingly interminable thirty seconds at the light, or the greater challenges that we face in our relationships, finances and health. We cannot convince Shaytan to take another street but we can gradually nurture our level of patience so that we make his journey as miserable as possible. If Allah (swt) wills, the light will still turn green and opportunities to do good will open up before our eyes.