All praise be due to Allah, Who showed us the right path and taught us the laws of being a world power by sending us His Book, and peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad (saws), who struggled day and night for our hidayah and who laid the foundation of a world state within a short time, and peace be upon all my brothers and sisters who work hard to resurrect this ummah.
In our last article I started to explain the real reasons for the decline of our ummah and stated as the first reason the fact, that after fulfilling their duty and carrying out their leadership of the world for many centuries, our ummah left their duty and the mujadalah (struggle) for the cause of Allah in the last centuries. They became lazy and left Islamic lifestyle and the fundaments of Islamic Civilisation. I explained, that the second reason for the decline of our ummah is, that after forgetting their duty and the purpose of their existence on earth, our ummah dived into the dunya and turned towards a life of pleasure, and consequently, Allah (awj.) took the dunya from them and made them decline in accordance with His Sunnah. Let us continue with the second reason.
Rasulullah (saws.) already told, that in the future the ummah will face severe difficulties and oppression and pointed out the real reason why. He said: “A time will come, where the nations will summon one another to attack you, as people when eating invite others to share their dish.” They asked: “Oh Rasulullah, will that be because of our small number at that time?” He replied: “No, in fact, you will be numerous at that time. But you will be like scum and rubbish, like that, carried down by a torrent, and Allah will take the fear of you from the breasts of your enemy and last wahn into your hearts.” Someone asked: “What is wahn, oh Rasulullah? The Messenger of Allah (saws.) replied: “The love for the dunya and the fear of death.”1
As the hadith tells about the unseen, it is a miracle and it came true the very exact way. Just like it is told in the hadith, the kuffar (disbelievers) attacked this ummah like food and they tore us apart. The hadith tells us, that the real reason why the Muslims are not in a state to resist these attacks is not their small number or anything like that, but that the real reason is, that the love for the dunya and hatred for death has entered the Muslims’ hearts.
This way it is pointed out, that the real reason is not material but immaterial. When the reason is immaterial, not everybody will be able to see it and they will make wrong diagnoses. Therefore Rasulullah (saws.) wanted to tell his ummah the real reason centuries ago. He wanted to avoid the shayateen of the jinn and humans from showing us other things as reasons while they are not, making us run after wrong reasons and using or energy, our pecuniary sources and our time in the wrong places.
Previously, I explained wrong diagnoses and wrong reasons and gave some examples. Mistaking these wrong diagnoses and results as reasons made us lose a lot and caused wrong solutions and controversies. This hadith reduces such controversies and wrong solutions. It wants us to adhere to the real reason and to create education programs according to it. In fact, by telling us the real reason for our decline and our weakness towards the enemy it shows us the real treatment. The real treatment is the one that erases the microbe. When the microbe is erased the body will recover itself. I.e. when this microbe, that made our ummah fall, is erased, the Muslims will start to recover, and our resurrection will take place. Is not our resurrection, that is slowly starting to take place today, carried out by only a view scholars and other people who threw the love for the dunya and the fear from death out of their hearts?
In Surah Al-Ma’idah the Qur’an Al-Kareem states: “‘O my people, enter the Holy Land, which Allah has assigned to you, and do not turn back [from fighting in Allah’s cause] and [thus] become losers.’ They said, ‘O Musa, indeed within there are people of tyrannical strength, and indeed, we will never enter there until they leave it; but if they leave it, then we will enter.’ Two men from those, who feared [to disobey] and upon whom Allah had bestowed favour, said, “Enter upon them through the gate, for when you have entered it, you will be predominant. And upon Allah rely, if you should be believers.’ They said, ‘O Musa, indeed we will not enter there ever, as long as they are within it. So go, you and your Lord, and fight. Indeed, we are remaining right here.’ [Musa] said, ‘My Lord, indeed I do not possess except myself and my brother, so part us from the defiantly disobedient people.’ [Allah] said, ‘Then indeed, it is forbidden to them for forty years [in which] they will wander throughout the land. So do not grieve over the defiantly disobedient people.’2
The Jews, who did not fulfil the duty they were given, who only make requests without hazarding to pay their price, who love the dunya a lot and who hate death, have been punished by wandering confusedly throughout the Desert of Tih for 40 years. In Surah Al-Baqara the Qur’an Al-Kareem tells about them, that each one of them wishes to live a thousand years: “And you will surely find them the greediest of people for life - [even] more than those who associate others with Allah. Each one of them wishes, that he could be granted life a thousand years, but it would not remove him in the least from the [coming] punishment that he should be granted life. And Allah is Seeing of what they do.”3
The Qur’an tells us, that an ummah, that has so much love for the dunya that they wish to live a thousand years, and that has so much fear from death that they say “Go, you and your Lord, and fight”, is being punished and that consequently, this honourable flag is taken from them. And in the above-mentioned hadith our Prophet Muhammad (saws.) tells, that this microbe will make us collapse. But despite all that, this ummah put the love for the dunya and the fear from death into their hearts, whereas the time of death is one and livelihood is one, as well.
Believing in one defined time of death will save a person from fearing death and believing in one defined livelihood will save a person from fearing its loss and loving the dunya. It will make the person think, “If the time of death is one and does not change, then I must not worry about the time of my death but about my duties. And if my livelihood will not change either, then I must concentrate on my duties, instead of loving the dunya. I must not focus on the dunya but on the akhira (hereafter)”. It will make the person fulfil their duties and gain tawakkul (reliance, trust in Allah). With this believe the person will know: Neither does courage shorten life nor does cowardice lengthen life. And neither does generosity reduce livelihood nor does stinginess increase livelihood.
All Divine Books and all Prophets tried to take the love for the dunya and the fear from death out of the hearts. Because to fulfil the duty it was given, an ummah must save their hearts from these loves and fears. Otherwise, the ummah will collapse and this will be the most important reason for its collapse.
In order to take the love for the dunya out of the hearts, the Qur’an Al-Kareem states several times, that the gifts of this dunya are simple and temporary, that they are only given as livelihood to live in this dunya, that the real gifts are with Allah and that we must turn towards Him. In Surah Ali ‘Imran it states: “Beautified for people is the love of that which they desire - of women and sons, heaped-up sums of gold and silver, fine branded horses, and cattle and tilled land. That is the enjoyment of worldly life, but Allah has with Him the best return. Say, ‘Shall I inform you of [something] better than that? For those who fear Allah will be gardens in the presence of their Lord beneath which rivers flow, wherein they abide eternally, and purified spouses and approval from Allah. And Allah is Seeing of [His] servants.”4
Further, in Surah Al-An’am it states: “And the worldly life is not but amusement and diversion, but the home of the Hereafter is best for those who fear Allah, so will you not reason?”5 According to the Qur’an, life in this dunya is nothing but amusement and diversion. Because:
1. Just like amusement and diversion life in this dunya is short and passes quickly. Just like a person becomes sad, when the amusement is over, they become sad when life in this dunya is over, as well.
2. Even if at that moment, amusement and diversion distract the person from their sorrows and make them happy, they generally make them sad afterwards. Because generally, amusement and diversion prevent the person from doing their duty and cause several bad things to happen at that moment. This verse in the Qur’an states, that life in this dunya is the same, that those, who dive into the gifts of the dunya, forget their duties, fall out with each other and end up in sadness.
3. Just as in general children and careless people dive into amusement and diversion, it is also regarding life in the dunya and its gifts, that in general childlike and careless people dive into them. Like children, they attach importance to what is unimportant but do not attach importance to what is important.
4. Just like the amusement of children does not bring any benefit, the amusement of the dunya does not bring any benefit for the dunya or the akhira neither.
5. Just as amusement and diversion are worthless, the pleasures of this dunya are also simple and worthless, because all they do is satisfy the needs of the nafs. Regarding these pleasures, humans are equal to animals. In fact, this kind of desire is stronger in animals than in humans, even though humans are more precious than animals. Therefore, humans must attach more importance to spiritual pleasures.
The Qur’an Al-Kareem differentiates between the blessings of the life in the dunya and the life in the dunya itself. As I explained above, on the one hand, the Qur’an states, that the blessings of this dunya are simple and temporary, while on the other hand, it tells us to make the best use of our life in this dunya, as at its end there is Jannah or Jahannam. According to the Qur’an, life does not only consist of this dunya, but it includes the akhira, as well. In fact, the essential life is the life in the akhira. People must not squeeze life into the narrow pit of the life in this dunya.
With the hope to continue with this topic. May Allah protect you.
1. Abu Dawud, b:4, p:483
2. Al-Ma’idah, 21-26
3. Al-Baqara, 96
4. Al-i İmran, 14-15
5. Al-An’am, 32
