Foam of the sea

Thauban reported that the messenger of Allah said: "It is near that the nations will call one another against you just as the eaters call one another to their dishes." Somebody asked: "Is this because we will be few in numbers that day?" He said: "Nay, but that day you shall be numerous, but you will be like the foam of the sea, and Allah will take the fear of you away from your enemies and will place weakness into your hearts." Somebody asked: "What is this weakness?" He said: "The love of the world and the dislike of death." (Abu Daud) 

There can be little doubt that the prophet, peace be with him, was talking about us.

In verse 6 of Surah al-Hujurat, Allah admonishes us: “Oh you believers, if a sinner comes to you with information, verify it before you afflict people in ignorance and then regret what you have done.”

We did not pay heed. We placed our trust in the sinners and took their word for the truth without further verification. We closed mosques, even the Kaabah, cancelled Friday prayers and Tarawih, and contemplated cancelling Hajj, because they told us that we were in grave danger and might die. The love of the world and dislike of death made us abandon our religion wholesale. Whereas this world is temporary and death is certain, lockdown or not, as the Qur’an tells us in verse 78 of Surah An-Nisa’: “Wherever you are death will reach you even if you were in fortified towers…”

According to official statistics just over 200 people have died with (not from) Covid-19 (292 in the whole of Saudi Arabia). That’s about 25 per week. During Hajj about 1700 people die of heat exhaustion or heat stroke (in a single week!), so based on those figures we should never have allowed Hajj in the first place, for such a large gathering in such a hot country is almost ten times more dangerous than the new Corona virus.

What has happened to our scholars? What has happened to our leaders? It has become evident that they are no different from the secular scientific advisers and political leaders and peddle the same untruths about the unprecedented dangers from a virus hyped up by media propaganda, by the very people whose news or information we were meant to verify, knowing from their track record that they are immoral and sinful. Our scholars and leaders can no longer be trusted to guide us.

Abu Hurairah reported that whilst the prophet, Allah blessed him and granted him peace, was talking, a Bedouin came to him and asked: "When will the hour come to pass?" He replied: "Wait for the hour when trust will be destroyed." He asked, how it would be destroyed, and he said: "Wait for the hour when the rule will be entrusted to those who don't deserve it." (Bukhari).

In verse 57 of Surah Hud, Allah warns: “Then if you turn away, then I have already conveyed what I was sent to you with, and my Lord will replace you with another people and you will not harm Him at all, for my Lord is keeper of everything.” And in verse 38 of Surah Muhammad: “…and if you turn away He will replace you with a different people who will not be like you.”

We have experienced a Ramadan like no other in Muslim history where our mosques and the Kaabah have been placed into isolation. We are just over two months away from Hajj season. If the Muslims of today do not reclaim their heritage and God-given rights and over-rule those who have destroyed their trust, may Allah hasten His promise and raise amongst us people who will restore justice.

Abdullah ibn Mas’ud narrated that the prophet Muhammad, peace be with him, said:

“If only one day of this world remained, Allah would lengthen that day till He raised up in it a man who belongs to my family, whose name is like my name and whose father's name is like my father's name, who will fill the earth with equity and justice as it has been filled with oppression and tyranny”. (Abu Daud)