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New hopes need more than dua

New hopes need more than dua
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August 30, 2024
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Allah described the Servants of the Rahman (Most Merciful) in Surat al-Furqan as having twelve qualities, saying:

وَعِبَادُ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلَّذِینَ یَمۡشُونَ عَلَى ٱلۡأَرۡضِ هَوۡنࣰا وَإِذَا خَاطَبَهُمُ ٱلۡجَـٰهِلُونَ قَالُوا۟ سَلَـٰمࣰا

The Servants of the Rahman (the All-Merciful, Allah) are those who walk on the earth humbly, and when the ignorant people speak to them, they reply peacefully, (25:63)

وَٱلَّذِينَ يَبِيتُونَ لِرَبِّهِمْ سُجَّدًۭا وَقِيَـٰمًۭا ٦٤

˹They are˺ those who spend ˹a good portion of˺ the night, prostrating themselves and standing before their Lord. (25:64)

وَٱلَّذِينَ إِذَآ أَنفَقُوا۟ لَمْ يُسْرِفُوا۟ وَلَمْ يَقْتُرُوا۟ وَكَانَ بَيْنَ ذَٰلِكَ قَوَامًۭا

˹They are˺ those who spend neither wastefully nor stingily, but moderately in between. (25:67)

وَٱلَّذِينَ لَا يَدْعُونَ مَعَ ٱللَّهِ إِلَـٰهًا ءَاخَرَ

وَلَا يَقْتُلُونَ ٱلنَّفْسَ ٱلَّتِى حَرَّمَ ٱللَّهُ

إِلَّا بِٱلْحَقِّ وَلَا يَزْنُونَ ۚ وَمَن

يَفْعَلْ ذَٰلِكَ يَلْقَ أَثَامًۭا ٦٨

˹They are˺ those who do not invoke any other god besides Allah, nor take a ˹human˺ life—made sacred by Allah—except with ˹legal˺ right, nor commit fornication. And whoever does ˹any of˺ this will face the penalty. (25:68)

وَٱلَّذِينَ لَا يَشْهَدُونَ ٱلزُّورَ وَإِذَا مَرُّوا۟ بِٱللَّغْوِ مَرُّوا۟ كِرَامًۭا

˹They are˺ those who do not bear false witness, and when they come across falsehood, they pass ˹it˺ by with dignity. (25:72)

Ibn Ashur in his tafseer of these ayahs commented about the Servants of the Rahman that:

God has honoured them by making their title His servants and has chosen for them the name associated with His attribute ‘the Most Merciful’ (Ar Rahman).

He goes on to describe the four categories that their qualities fall into:

1. The first category relates to having religious virtues, as the ayah begins by referring to: ‘Those who walk on the earth in humility…’ until His saying: ‘Peace’.

  2. The second category involves abandoning the misguided practices of polytheists, as the ayah mentions: ‘And those who do not invoke any other god besides Allah…’.

3. The third category involves being steadfast in adhering to the laws of Islam, as they fulfill Allah’s commands, and avoid what He prohibited, for instance, they “do not take life – made sacred by Allah, or commit fornication”.

4. The fourth category involves seeking to improve one’s condition in this life, as indicated by His saying: ‘And those who say, “Our Lord, grant us from among our wives and offspring a joy for our eyes, and make us an example for the righteous”.

This fourth quality of the believers highlights their concern for the spread of Islam and increasing its followers. They pray to God to grant them spouses and offspring who will bring joy to their hearts.

Thinking about the future and passing on his message, was the deep concern of the Prophet (peace be upon him) who urged the Companions listening to his Farewell Sermon to convey what they heard and pass on his message even if it was just one word. He (peace be upon him) said:

Have I conveyed [the message]? It is incumbent upon those who are present to convey this information to those who are absent. Perhaps the one it is conveyed to has more understanding than the one who heard it.

New school year = new hopes and dreams

We are entering a new school year next week. On the day the children step into their schools, they carry their hopes and look forward to what the future holds for them. This should be the case for all children – no matter where they live in the world.

In the 1990s the UN introduced the Convention of the Rights of the Child. This human rights treaty sets out the civil, political, economic, social, health, and cultural rights of children. The Convention contains 54 articles in total, of which 42 articles detail the specific rights and freedoms to be guaranteed to every child under the age of 18. The following articles detail rights that every sane person can see are imperatives for all children:

  • ARTICLE 2 (non-discrimination) The rights set out in the UNCRC apply to every child whatever their race, colour, gender, language, religion, ethnicity, disability or any other status.
  • ARTICLE 6 (children’s survival and development) Every child has the right to survive. The state must do all it can to make sure children survive and develop to the full extent possible.
  • ARTICLE 19 (protection from violence, abuse and neglect) The state must do all it can to protect children from violence, abuse, neglect, bad treatment or exploitation by their parents or anyone else who looks after them.
  • ARTICLE 22 (refugee children) Children seeking or who have refugee status have the rights set out in the UNCRC. Governments must provide protection and support, and must help children who are separated from their parents to be reunited with their family.
  • ARTICLE 24 (health and healthcare) Every child has the right to the best possible health and to healthcare. The state should ensure children have healthcare services, nutritious food, clean water, a clean environment and healthcare information. Richer countries should support poorer countries in this.
  • ARTICLE 27 (adequate standard of living) Every child has the right to a decent standard of living to enable them to grow and develop.
  • ARTICLE 28 (education) Every child has the right to education.
  • ARTICLE 37 (cruel treatment and detention) No child should be tortured or treated in a cruel or inhuman way.
  • ARTICLE 38 (armed conflict) Children in conflict zones should be given special protection.

The children of Gaza = no hope

Sadly, while our children enter their new academic year, the children of Gaza have no school to go to. Half the population of Gaza are children – 47% of 2.2 million. This means that 620,000 children will be prevented from going to school. 820,000 need psychological support for the traumas they have suffered and 15,000 children have been killed.

Apart from the destruction of schools, they have no homes, no hospitals, no mosques, not even roads! The people of Gaza are even deprived of water and electricity. Yet the tragedy is made worse by the Orwellian world we are living in – where the world remains silent even though the facts are before our eyes. Instead, the world has become desensitised to the images and the statistics of their dire condition. The daily bombardment and bloodshed that they endure has become so familiar that it doesn’t impinge on the consciousness or the conscience of the world’s leaders.

It has now been almost a year of unimaginable brutality, suffering and death. Supplications alone will not change the situation. We need to keep asking for the genocide to stop. We hope the new government will do something, but they will not do anything unless we urge them to do it.

If your child has a fever, you can’t sleep, yet whole families have been wiped off the map in massacres. This is unacceptable by all standards.

More than 200,000 have been killed or injured or lost under the rubble.

Nearly 10% of the population of Gaza. Imagine if 10% of any other country was killed. It is not insignificant.

Let’s use all peaceful and legitimate means to bring an end to this massacre.

I ask Allah, the controller of everything, to bring an end to the misery that has been inflicted on the civilians of Palestine. Ameen

Based on the Khutbah of Shaykh Haytham Tamim on 30th Aug 2024

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Shaykh Haytham Tamim is the founder and main teacher of the Utrujj Foundation. He has provided a leading vision for Islamic learning in the UK, which has influenced the way Islamic knowledge is disseminated. He has orchestrated the design and delivery of over 200 unique courses since Utrujj started in 2001. His extensive expertise spans over 30 years across the main Islamic jurisprudence schools of thought. He has studied with some of the foremost scholars in their expertise; he holds some of the highest Ijazahs (certificates) in Quran, Hadith (the Prophetic traditions) and Fiqh (Islamic rulings). His own gift for teaching was evident when he gave his first sermon to a large audience at the age of 17 and went on to serve as a senior lecturer of Islamic transactions and comparative jurisprudence at the Islamic University of Beirut (Shariah College). He has continued to teach; travelling around the UK, Europe and wider afield, and won the 2015 BISCA award (British Imams & Scholars Contributions & Achievements Awards) for Outstanding Contribution to Education and Teaching.

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