PILGRIM ASSIST
The pilgrims have returned.
The challenge confronting the forgiven is to live the pilgrimage life outside the Holy Lands and weave it into everyday intercourse.
Sinful to absolved is the successful cycle of the pilgrimage.
Seeking absolution in the Holy Land is a revolution within a broader context: the culmination of the lunar year. Thanks to Sayduna Umar (as), who strategically set Muharram as the Almanack’s opener, with the pilgrimage concluding mid-month of the final lunar hallow. This arrangement prepares the pilgrims for a trifecta reflection: the pilgrimage that was, the closing year, and the approaching one.
The month of Hajj’s seamless flow into Muharram, the first lunar hallow and the commencement of the new Islamic year prepare the pilgrim and non-pilgrim to aim with calibrated sights. However, the wise non-pilgrim will leverage the pilgrim’s near 20/20 vision and set their sights on the new year through the pilgrim’s eyes.
From Hajj to Hijrah—Prophet Ibrahim (as) to Prophet Muhammad (s)—these are mighty symbols of transition, just like the night flawlessly merges into the day, symbolising rebirth, spiritual light, and continuous renewal into eternal life: ‘You merge night into day and day into night; You bring the living out of the dead and the dead out of the living; You provide limitlessly for whoever You will.’ [3:27].
Beginnings are excellent positions to drive change and push on. Pilgrims, having been gifted a new slate and the offering of a new year, are primed for the next hallowed cycle. And we would be wise to use a pilgrim assist and slingshot into their orbit.
FOOL ME TWICE
Trustworthiness is not a hallmark of Western regimes, least of all the United States.
Recently, we’ve witnessed the US use inordinate levels of deception to topple Iran, proving that honesty and trust are lost currencies in the world of Geopolitics. The level of inordinacy from the West depends on the victim. In the case of Iran, such duplicity, regardless of whether catastrophic, is acceptable to a Western society groomed to prejudice Iran, Islam and the East.
The Prophet (s) said: ‘War is Deception’, but the US was not at war with Iran. There was no declaration of war by the US. Hence, honest diplomacy should have prevailed, not an approved US-Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities, 48 hours before US-Iranian negotiations.
And if that was not enough, the President of the US, Donald J. Trump, declared to the world that the US would take two weeks to deliberate whether they would join Apartheid Israel’s illegal offensive against the sovereignty of Iran, only to enter the fray after two days with B-2 Stealth Bombers carrying the GBU-57 Ordnance Penetrator missiles designed to obliterate Iran’s IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) approved nuclear facilities.
Iran, anticipating the US’ illegal actions and a lying Trump, did not succumb to a second fooling and employed countermeasures for the attack.
Unlike the world leaders who lack character and guide us toward destruction, God’s Prophets carried four non-negotiable attributes to draw us towards honour: 1) Honesty, 2) Dissemination of God’s message, 3) Integrity, and 4) Intelligence.
We must remain prudent and search our leaders for these salient traits before endorsing or believing them.
Regarding treachery, Allah reminded the Prophet (s): ‘And if you learn of treachery on the part of any people, throw their treaty back at them, for God does not love the treacherous. The disbelievers should not think they have won; they cannot escape’ [8:58-59].
Thus, Iran not only has the right, both legally and divinely, to vacate their NPT (Non-Proliferation Treaty) seat but should dissolve their trust with those regimes long antagonistic towards it and whose brokerage lacks honesty and decency. The US and the West, especially during the real-time genocide of Gaza, have desecrated International Law to give their unconditional support to Israel. They forfeited their legitimacy as honest brokers in the case of Palestine, and Iran should treat them as an extension of Israel. And so should all the law-abiding countries and citizens of the world.
Iran used critical intelligence gathering to foil US and Israeli perfidy and then used the information to strike them. Sniffing out threats is not enough. Iran’s success would have been impossible without its military might, which brings me to my next point: power and its absolute necessity.
After Allah directed the Prophet (s) about treasonous enemies, He immediately addressed the subject of deterrence: ‘Prepare whatever forces you [believers] can muster, including warhorses, to frighten off God’s enemies and yours, and warn others unknown to you but known to God. Whatever you give in God’s cause will be repaid to you in full, and you will not be wronged’ [8:60].
This verse is in the commanding tense and insists that believers establish forces that can strike deep within enemy hearts as a means of deterrence.
Though Iran had sufficient power to thwart the US and Apartheid Israel, it still lacked the ultimate deterrence, a nuclear bomb. And only until they muster one will they be free from the wiles of those wishing them harm.
This segment is not a review of the 1980s comedy starring Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd. It’s about trading current habits for better ones.
We have left the sacred days of Hajj and entered the Islamic Hijri New Year through the holy month of Muharram.
These hallowed times should focus our actions on the sacred mirrors these two months reflect for us: sacrifice, amendment, eternal well-being and migration for God.
The Prophet (s) taught us that the best deeds are few but consistent. But there’s more: if we pledge to trade today’s for better ones tomorrow, and if our migratory acts are solely for God’s pleasure, we can make our best deeds even better and successfully trade this transitory life for an eternal one.
This journey is undoubtedly thorny, so remember to carry these critical provisions: Ḥasbunallāhu wa ni’mal wakīl—Sufficient is Allah, and He is the best Disposer of Affairs, and ‘lā taḥzan innallāha ma’anā—Do not worry, do not be sad, do not grieve, God is with us.
Hijri 1447, Fī Amānillā, go in the custody of Allah.
Until next week, InshaAllah
Zaahied Sallie
Author of The Beloved Prophet – An Illustrated Biography in Rhyme
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