Just as man, at times of his weakness, is legally obliged to do his utmost effort to get out of the this weak state and adopt the means of power for the realization of this purpose, he has, at the same time, to be aware of a great secret, that is, the weakness he has represents the key of his support.
At the present time, when we witness the disgrace, humiliation, weakness, and the domination of the enemies over this Ummah, we have to address our Ummah and say to its people all the time: be diligent and adopt all means to get out of the state of weakness you are living in. But at the same time we have to remind them that the weakness they are living in is a support from the Exalted Allah whose awards are bestowed upon them only when they appeal to Him, announce their slavery, their poverty and their destitution to Him, and when they appeal to Him in a state of urgent need. Mercy be upon the one who said: "destitution is the means of awards".
Hasn't the Exalted Allah said in Al Hadith Al Qudsi (the Holy Speech): "I am with those who are broken-hearted"?
Hasn't the Prophet (PBUH) said: "Be afraid of the curse of the oppressed as there is no screen between his invocation and Allah"?
Accordingly, oh the Muslim Man, as you are charged with applying the means of renaissance, and the material means of victory, you are, at the same time, in a state that makes you qualified for your Lord's aid and support only when you feel that you are a slave to Him in your state of weakness.
The Holy Qur'an presents many examples that reveal and indicate this meaning, some of which are the following:
1-The weakness of humiliation: This is indicated in the address of the Exalted Allah to the companions of the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) when they were few and had little equipment, and their enemies treated them with haughtiness and pride. According to the material logic, they were humiliated before an arrogant enemy. Reminding them of their weakness at that time, the Exalted Allah said: "Allah had helped you at Badr, when you were a contemptible little force". Thus, aid was supported when the believers were living in a state of weakness, and material and concrete humiliation. Notice how the Exalted Allah motivates the believers to be God-fearing and abstain from disobeying His order. The Exalted Allah said: "then fear Allah; thus may ye show your gratitude" (Al Imran, v. 123). By thanking the Exalted Allah, support increases. The Exalted Allah said: "If ye are grateful, I will add more {favours} unto you" (Ibrahim, v. 7).
2-The weakness of being deemed weak: This is another indication that clarifies this meaning. It is a state when you are in the weakness of being deemed weak, faced with a haughty, materially strong enemy who deems you weak, who does not consider you of any value, who shatters you and annihilates your entity and cancel your esteem.
This is the weakness of being deemed weak from the material concrete perspective. The Holy Qur'an refers to this kind of weakness in the following verse: "And We wished to be Gracious to those who were being depressed in the land, to make them leaders {in Faith} and make them heirs" (Al Qasas, v. 5).
In the first type, there are weakness and humiliation, so it is accompanied by the support of victory, while in the second, there is weakness of being deemed weak. So it is accompanied by the Exalted Allah's favor and bounty to make the believers superior to their enemies. Consequently, the one who is deemed weak becomes superior to the one who deems the others weak, and the one who is deemed weak becomes a leader and his enemy perishes.
3-The belying of the disbelieving material:
One type of the Exalted Allah's support and aid at times of weakness is when the proselytizers are belied and decanted by the unbelievers when the former call to Allah, and the apostate deny their mission. The Exalted Allah said: "Before them the People of Noah rejected (their messenger): they rejected Our servant, and said, 'Here is one possessed and he was driven out'. Then he called on his Lord, 'I am one overcome do thou then help {me}' ". (Al Qamar, vs. 9-10).
Notice the feeling of weakness our Master, Noah (PBUH), lived in though he was resolute in making use of causes, and was the one who called his folk day and night, but his calling only increased their flight from him. Notice how he used to fall down prostrate, broken hearted weeping out of awe with tears filling his eyes. He was the strong man in his mission, but he felt overcome and a slave and was weak and submissive before his Lord.
It is praised to show patience before enemies
But it is also appreciated to display weakness to intimates.
Thus, in that attitude, Noah (PBUH) fell down prostrate on the threshold of the Exalted Allah making use of his weakness so that he become a slave to the Exalted Allah. He was belied, cursed and reprimanded by the unbelievers, "Then he called on his Lord: 'I am one overcome do thou then help {me}' ".
Notice the scene of support at times of weakness. Noah (PBUH) was overcome and beaten, but he was prostrate on the threshold of the Exalted Allah in supplication. So all heavenly doors were open for him as aid and rescue to support him. The Exalted Allah said:
-So We opened the gates of heaven, with water pouring forth.
- And We caused the earth to gush forth with springs. So the waters met {and rose} to the extent decreed.
- But We bore him on an Ark made of broad planks and caulked with palm-fibre.
- She floats under our eyes {and care}: a recompense to one who had been rejected (with scorn}.
- And We have left this as a Sign {for all time}: then is there any that will receive admonition? (Al Qamar, vs. 11-15).
Can you imagine this scene?
Do you fall down prostrate to the Exalted Allah in supplication at times of weakness?
By the order of Allah, earth and sky reacted with the true one and he was raised high supported and helped "We bore him", because he carried out the obligation of the mission and the message. When people turned away from him, he appealed to his Lord. Consequently, he was borne (raised high and be victorious).
4-Scarcity of supporters: This is when the caller to Allah finds few supporters. This type of weakness is found in the biography of our Master, Shu'aib (PBUH), who called to Allah his people who were greatly interested in the material and lived in a commercial materialistic environment. Thus, oppression and injustice spread among them. Shu'aib (PBUH) invoked his Lord to make his people move from darkness into light to be able to live in spirituality connected with the Exalted Allah, but only few answered his call, and the majority denounced him. The Exalted Allah said: "They said: O Shu'aib much of what thou sayest, we do not understand. In fact among us we see that thou hast no strength" (Hud, v. 91), i.e., they find him have few helpers, and he had few to support him financially or in souls. In the unbelievers' opinion, such a person who is backed by few weak people is unworthy of facing a great material and commercial power.
Thus, when the faculty of understanding in the heart becomes ineffective because of the superiority of the material, sound judgment becomes non-existent. The Exalted Allah said: "Do they not then earnestly seek to understand the Quran, or are their hearts locked up by them?" (Muhammad, v. 24).
Informing about the people of Shu'aib, the Exalted Allah said: "were it not for thy family", i.e., were it not for the great number of his clan who were respected in that society and were unbelievers, and because they did not want to harm the clan Shu'aib belonged to (though Shu'aib's clan belied him), they would have stoned him, for his supporters would not be able to defend him. In addition, he was not so valued among the unbelievers, nor did he have material authority in wealth or men: "we should certainly have stoned thee for thou hast among us no great position" (Hud, v. 91).
Shu'aib said: "O my people is then my family of more consideration with you than Allah?" i.e., do you take into consideration the clan ties and disregard my Lord Who supports me, the One Who makes me victorious and He is my Defender and Sponsor?
- He said: 'O my people is then my family of more consideration with you than Allah? for ye cast him away behind your backs {with contempt}. But verily my Lord encompasses on all sides all that ye do.
- And O my people do whatever ye can; I will do {my part}, soon will ye know who it is on whom descends the penalty of ignominy, and who is a liar and watch ye for I too and watching with you.
- When our decree issued, we saved Shu'aib and those who believed with him, by {special} mercy from our slaves; but the {mighty} blast did seize the wrongdoers, and they lay prostrate in their homes by the morning.
- As if they had never dwelt and flourished there Ah behold how the Madyan were removed {from sight} as were removed the Thamud. (Hud, vs. 92-95).
Consequently, support and aid were provided to the believers at times of the weakness of having few supporters.
To summarize, support is provided at times of:
-weakness of humiliation,
-weakness of being deemed weak by the enemy,
-weakness of being belied by the unbelievers and the ungrateful,
-weakness because of the scarcity of supporters and helpers.
The Holy Qur'an presents another kind of weakness, it is:
5-Letting down of one's kin
The ordeal may not be restricted to an enemy that opposes the believer. It may come from a weak believer. Hadn't the companions of Moses (PBUH) said to him: "Go thou, and thy Lord, and fight ye two, while we sit here {and watch}" (Al Ma'idah, v. 24).
But the Holy Qur'an makes this fact clear in the following verse: "Respite will be granted until, when the messengers give up hope {of their people} and {come to} think that they were treated as liars, there reaches them Our help, and those whom We will are delivered into safety. But never will be warded off our punishment from those who are in sin" (Yusuf, v. 110). This statement is worthy of wonder, for it reveals how sometimes, the relative promises to support you but he thwarts you at time of adversity. In Arabic, the word 'Kudhibu' means 'treated as liars', but 'Kudhdhibu' with a stress on the word, has a different meaning. As related by Hafs, from 'Asem, the word 'Kudhdhibu' is related to the non-brethren unbeliever, whereas the word 'Kudhibu' means the letting down of the brethren.
"when the messengers give up hope {of their people}". In this case, the Messengers suffer from two types of belying. They are treated as liars by the their brethren and non-brethren.
In Al Hadith Al Qudsi, the Exalted Allah said: "Allah, Allah for the one who has nobody but Allah". In the balance of the material, it is a state of extreme weakness.
When the people of Al Ta'ef did harm to the Prophet (PBUH), he fell down prostrate on the threshold of the Exalted Allah and said: "O Allah, To Thee I complain of my weakness, my lack of resources and my lowliness before men. O most Merciful! Thou art the Lord of the weak and Thou art my Lord. To whom wilt Thou relinquish my fate! To one who will misuse me? Or to an enemy to whom Thou hast given power over me? If Thou art not angry with me then I care not what happens to me. Thy favor is all that counts for me".
No sooner the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) finished his humble invocation, than the angel of mountains descended to present himself as a servant to do whatever the Prophet (PBUH) ordered him to do. He said: "Oh, Messenger of Allah, Command me to swoop Al Akhshabain (two mountains near Ta'if) down upon them", i.e., to destroy them between the two mountains because they injured the Messenger of Allah. The angel of mountains means to say: "Oh, the beloved of Allah, I am your servant. Command me to squeeze them with mere beckoning from you". But the Messenger of Allah has a far unequalled tolerance. He answered him saying: " No. May Allah produce from their loins progeny that profess that there is one God".
Thus, heavenly support was provided when angels in heaven were angry with the unbelievers who harmed the Messenger of Allah (PBUH), but the merciful (PBUH) addressed the coming generations. He did not only see the generation that were contemporary to him.
Another scene of weakness mentioned in the Holy Qur'an is:
6-Weakness out of the feeling of gloom.
This type of weakness happens to man when he feels internally gloomy and dejected. Relating the story of our Master, Yunus (PBUH), the Exalted Allah said in the Holy Qur'an:
- And remember Dhu al Nun, When he departed in wrath: he imagined that we had no power over him! But he cried through the depths Of darkness, there is no god but Thou: glory to thee: I was indeed wrong!
- So we listened to him: and delivered him from distress: and thus do we deliver those who have Faith" (Al Anbiya', vs. 87-88).
Whenever the believer is afflicted with a tribulation or plight, and he, in the darkness of this gloomy state, calls his Lord with supplication, fidget before Him, response becomes very near to him.
Mercy be upon the Gnostic who said: "Stand on the carpet of humbleness and say: 'Oh You, All-Mighty, who is the supporter of the humble but You? And stand on the carpet of weakness and say: 'Oh you, the Most Strong, who is the helper of the weak but You? you find response ready at hand'.
7-Weakness of sickness
This is one of the scenes of weakness presented in the Holy Qur'an about our Master, Ayyub (PBUH):
- And (remember) Job, when He cried to his Lord, truly distress has seized me, but thou art the Most Merciful of those that are Merciful.
- So we listened to him: we removed the distress that was on him, and we restored his people to him, and doubled their number, as a Grace from commemoration, for all who serve Us" (Al Anbiya', vs. 83-84).
There are plenty of examples about such cases in the Holy Qur'an. If we understand the purport of these frequent examples, and if we employ the state of our weakness together with employing the causes, we become nearer to support, and support becomes nearer to us.
Beware of being a prey to disappointment.
Beware of being a captive to despair.
Beware of being a prey to a psychological war waged by the enemies of Allah by means of information media. Today, wars are waged by all the means to make our identity dissolve and vanish, to make our civilization concealed and make us turn away from the Exalted Allah so that we adopt an education that has no relationship with us whatsoever.
Can't you see the state our Islamic world live in, a state of dissolution of morality when they import from a Turkish Jew a serial that calls for the corruption of our morality. By these serials, they want to say to the Islamic Ummah: This is Turkey that defies secularism and atheism. This is turkey in which 80% of its population announce their desire to apply veiling of the woman.
The messages they want to send to the Arabic world are:
The first message: This is Turkey. It is the Turkey of dissolution…. It is the Turkey of adultery… . It is the Turkey of profligacy… . It is the Turkey that represents Europe.
In fact, this is distortion of a society whose majority are conservative committed Muslims. It is a Muslim society in which there is no religion other than Islam, and in it, preserving Islam and commitment to it are general aspects.
The second evil message: They want to say to us: Oh Arabs, behave in the same way as the characters in these serials do, for they represent the aspects of progress.
They want us to change our identity and our education. They try to experience distortion of our doctrines, our morality and our fundamentals. But in spite of all that, and in spite of the state of weakness we suffer from, and the fact that we do not possess what our enemies possess, we have to be externally steadfast, adhering to our identity, holding high the flag of our mission. On the other hand, when we prostate in humbleness on the threshold of the Exalted Allah, it is incumbent on us to raise a complaint directed from our deep hearts to the Lord of the Worlds.
Allahum…, guide us to You favorably, and make us from those who listen to wisdom and follow the best of it.
I say my words and ask Allah's forgiveness.