THE GREATEST QUEST
Eid Mubarak!
Kullu ‘aam wa antum bi khayr.
Yesterday was Youm al-Arafah, the pinnacle of the Ḥajj and the holiest day of the Islamic calendar.
The Day of Arafah is so magnanimous that Allah bestowed upon it a verse so great that it is worthy of an Eid all by itself: ‘Today, the disbelievers have given up all hope of your faith. So do not fear them; fear Me! Today, I have perfected your faith for you, completed My favour upon you, and chosen Islam (surrender to the Divine Will) as your way’ [5:3].
For pilgrims, the Day of Arafah will remain the zenith of their life’s experiences.
For these men and women, the journey began with a sincere intention somewhere in the bowels of a hopeful past, long before they boarded the transport that settled them in a land occupied by the Mother of Cities, containing a plain, which, on the ninth crescent pilgrimage moon, held the key to eternal salvation.
So, how does one prepare for such a celebrated quest? More importantly, how does one continue after reaching such heights, knowing that all subsequent journeys and occasions can never rival the grandeur of Ḥajj?
We plough forth by foregoing our nafsi (ego) proclivities and adopting the Prophetic ummati (selfless) mindset. Preferring others over oneself does not mean a dissolution of self, but living an ethical life in service of others.
The Prophet’s apex was different and far superior to that of the pilgrim’s, but no less linked.
On the night of Mi’rāj, the Night Ascension, Allah had raised the Prophet (s) to the Sidratil Muntahā, the enigmatic Lote-Tree, and beyond into the realm of the Divine. A place no other has ever been save God. It was here that Allah bestowed upon him (s) and his ummah the five ritual prayers and taught the Prophet (s) the highest truths. Still, the Prophet (s) returned from his Elysian experience, buoyed to advance his mission, which would culminate in its completion on Youm al-Arafah with the delivery of the ‘This day have I perfected your faith’ verse, during his (s) final sermon on the mount.
Upon completing his oration, the Prophet (s) asked, ‘O people, have I faithfully delivered unto you my message?’ An assent of, ‘Allahumma na’m, Allahumma na’m, O yes, God’, reverberated through the valley of Arafah.
In light of the Prophet’s life, we come to understand that Hajj truly begins when we return from the holy land.
Ḥajj makes us more so that we can be more for others and fulfil our covenant with God. To strive and perfect our lives regarding Islam, the perfect faith. This phase of life, termed self-actualisation, is the highest human prerogative, according to Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, a theory of psychological health predicated on realising intrinsic human needs through a priority.
Unlike Maslow, who prioritises physiological needs first and self-actualisation last, Prophet Ibrahīm (as), the father of the Ḥajj, inverts the hierarchy.
In Surah Ibrahīm, verse 14, which is the Ḥajj genesis story, Prophet Ibrahīm (as) offers us the sequence: ‘Our Lord, I have established some of my offspring in an uncultivated valley, close to Your Sacred House, Lord, so that 1) they may keep up the prayer. 2) Make people’s hearts turn to them, 3) provide them with produce, and 4) so that they may be thankful.’
Ibrahīm (as) sets prayer, our relationship with Allah, as the preeminent human need in the hierarchy. Social needs represent the second tier, emphasising our inherent interconnectedness and underscoring that even our basic physical needs, the third tier, are dependent on Divine and social bonds. Relationships predominate the hierarchy, and so we reconnect material fulfilment through gratitude, the fourth tier, to the fundamental relationship with Allah, completing the circle.
From Allah to Allah is the life lesson Ḥajj teaches us, and the Prophet Muhammad’s great progenitor, Prophet Ibrahīm (as), the Ḥanīf (pure monotheist), showed him (s) and us the way.
So violently beloved was Allah to Ibrahīm (as) that he became Khalil Allah, God’s friend.
Post-Ḥajj, by making God’s friend’s hierarchy our course, we will come to learn that only by maturing our love for God and serving his creation are we yet able to elevate our ‘Arafah zenith’.
THE MOST BELOVED DEEDS
Mental health issues have been teetering on the precipice of modern living for the last decade.
The upsurge has been indiscriminate, affecting both young and old alike.
Science has proven that lack of engagement, activity and limited agency are causal factors leading to depression and anxiety. Hence, the remedy is action, even if it is small, to get us moving in the right direction and towards mental health reclamation.
The Prophet (s) was asked, “What deeds are loved most by Allah?” He said, “The most regular constant deeds, even though they may be few.” He added, ‘Don’t take upon yourselves, except the deeds which are within your ability’ [Sahih al-Bukhari 6465].
This hadith teaches us that making things easy is a smart idea, as it aligns with human behaviour. Sporadic action, even though significant, holds less power than deeds which are small but consistent.
Psychology confirms the Prophet’s wisdom and informs us that humans prefer manageable things. Things that are within the ‘Goldilocks Zone’, the range of our abilities, and where consistency flourishes.
Irregularity cannot build identity, but consistency can. It can also stimulate mental balance.
Mythopoeia occupies Israel’s advocacy. We must beware that it does not occupy ours.
Our thoughts and beliefs are not immutable; they’re transmutable and, therefore, changeable.
Zionists, too, can change old, mythical platitudes. However, their investment has been too costly, making it nearly impossible for them to pivot.
Israeli fable construction is not by accident but a deliberate ploy to drive the Zionist ideology, which otherwise would not be tolerated since its fundamental drivers of colonialism, racism, exclusion, and supremacy began dissolving after WW2 with the creation of the United Nations (UN), and subsequently in 1960 with UN Resolution 1514, known as the Declaration of Decolonisation.
So, while the UN supported self-determination and freedom from the yoke of colonial tyranny, why was Zionism allowed to reign unbridled for nearly eight decades?
Because Israel’s convincing and efficient propaganda machine gave it a Judeaic veneer. By twining Zionism with Judaism and the Holocaust, Israel’s founding fathers made it the hottest hot potato, ensuring that no one would dare question it without being branded anti-semitic. Another reason was that the Judeo-Christian West was more sympathetic towards the Israelis than the indigenous Palestinians, who were majority Muslims.
Daniella Weiss, Israel’s ‘Settler Godmother’ in Louis Veroux’s documentary film The Settlers, reveals to the filmmaker the truth about Israeli coloniality: ‘Jewish settlements in Gaza is a very difficult step that demands a lot of work. You have to influence the leftists, the government, the nations of the world using the magic system: Zionism.’
Theodore Herzl, the founder of modern political Zionism, wrote: ‘We shall try to spirit the penniless population across the border by procuring employment for it in the transit countries, while denying it any employment in our own country… Both the process of expropriation and the removal of the poor must be carried out discreetly and circumspectly.’
Herzl’s words prove that from the beginning, de-Arabisation was always the plan. It began with the Nakba and continues to this day.
Zionism’s success is the reason why the world conflates October 7 with the beginning of Palestine/Israel history instead of viewing it as a dividing line. A dividing line that merely propelled the existing Israeli domination and oppression of Palestinians from Herzl’s discreet, circumspect, incremental and protracted erasure into warp speed with policies of extermination and starvation similar to those of the Warsaw Ghetto.
What we are now witnessing is Israel’s attempt at the final solution, the complete ethnic cleansing of Historic Palestine and its native people.
Until next week, InshaAllah
Zaahied Sallie
Author of The Beloved Prophet – An Illustrated Biography in Rhyme
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