THE EVIL COMMANDER
Actions do not originate from a vacuum. Your beliefs propel your actions. Thus, what you do is not as important as knowing why you do it: ‘How evil are the things your belief commands you to do’ [2:94].
STAND BIG
The fight for justice against all forms of tyranny spans time. Whenever there are righteous people, they will forever remain a bulwark against injustice.
Our consideration should never be whether our activism will be victorious. The test is not whether we are successful, but whether we stood up. It is about being principled, regardless of whether the cause seems hopeless.
In 2016, the Native American Sioux of North Dakota opposed corporate and political tyranny at Standing Rock to protect the Missouri River from a $3.6 billion oil access pipeline. Folk singer Trevor Hall was among the thousands who protested the pipeline construction during the standoff with the police and the US Army. He wrote a solidarity song with the following chorus: “If you are a rock, stand up like a mountain.”
The valiant protest efforts of the Sioux, which united all the Native American tribes, and the thousands of protestors from across the United States that converged at Standing Rock, failed to halt the juggernaut, and many mountains were locked up.
I want to call upon my brothers and sisters in faith in the same spirit as Trevor Hall did, and say: “If you are a Muslim, stand up like the Prophet (s).”
The Prophet (s) stood up, without fear or favour, against all injustice. His moral character was of such an exalted standard that it would have scaled the highest peak. [68:4]
The Prophet (s) is more than our mountain, he (s) is our paragon: ‘If We had sent this Quran down to a mountain, you [Prophet] would have seen it humbled and split apart in its awe of God’ [59:21].
There’s no need to be afraid. I was, too. But then I did it. It made for ugly reading, but reading nonetheless. And readings are never bad if your vision is yonder shore and doesn’t fall at your feet.
On 23 Dec 2024, I stepped on, and the screen groaningly flashed three digits: one hundred.
Though bitter, I accepted the truth. I’ve since changed the script, and now the screen happily winks eighty-three.
It is an incredible story rooted in the prophetic tradition. Yes, by following the sunnah, you too can become healthier.
Read my piece on Identity Craft to learn more.
Until next week, InshaAllah
Zaahied Sallie
Author of The Beloved Prophet – An Illustrated Biography in Rhyme
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