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".. admonish them & speak to them a far-reaching word." (Al-Quran) Read & reflect. Repair, then share.
As ʿArafah nears sunset, remember three statements
Al-Awzāʿī said:
أَدْرَكْتُ أَقْوَامًا كَانُوا يُخَبِّئُونَ الْحَاجَاتِ لِيَوْمِ عَرَفَةَ لِيَسْأَلُوا اللَّهَ بِهَا
“I met people who would save up their needs for the Day of ʿArafah, so that they could ask Allah for them on that day.”
One of the righteous predecessors said:
وَاللَّهِ مَا دَعَوْتُ دَعْوَةً يَوْمَ عَرَفَةَ، وَمَا دَارَ عَلَيْهَا الْحَوْلُ، إِلَّا رَأَيْتُهَا مِثْلَ فَلَقِ الصُّبْحِ
“By Allah, I never made a duʿāʾ on the Day of ʿArafah, and a year had not passed over it, except that I saw it appear before me like the break of dawn.”
ʿAṭāʾ ibn Abī Muslim said:
إِنِ اسْتَطَعْتَ أَنْ تَخْلُوَ بِنَفْسِكَ عَشِيَّةَ عَرَفَةَ فَافْعَلْ
“If you are able to seclude yourself from people during the latter part of the Day of ʿArafah, then do so.”
The “latter part” refers to those precious hours between ʿAṣr and Maghrib. So free up your schedule at all costs. Close your door. Switch off your phone. Step away from the noise. Sit with your Lord. Raise your needs to The Sovereign of the heavens and earth.
I was going to say, “Just in case you didn’t see it,” then realised how unlikely that was.
The assault and rape of flotilla activists who tried to deliver aid to Gaza was meant to be seen by all and heard by all. It was public by design: a spectacle, a message, a declaration that said, in effect we fear no God, and we fear no human authority.
Circle back, for a moment, to the story of Prophet Lūṭ.
His people had lived upon their ways for a long time. But then things escalated. Sin became culture, shame vanished and appetite became identity. They reached the point where they even attempted the rape of Lūṭ’s guests without fearing scandal, heaven, earth, or anything in between.
At that moment, when they seemed high, mighty and quite untouchable, Prophet Lūṭ was reassured:
إِنَّ مَوْعِدَهُمُ الصُّبْحُ ۚ أَلَيْسَ الصُّبْحُ بِقَرِيبٍ
“Indeed, their appointment is the morning. Is the morning not near?” (Al-Qur’an 11:81)
What a verse for the exhausted heart.
When a people no longer hide their crimes, when they openly challenge the heavens and the earth, when brutality is intentionally broadcasted, that is far from a sign of strength.
It is the final arrogance before the appointment arrives.
It is a morning that is near.
Devils chained v Devils stoned
Ramadan is the season of receiving revelation, retreating with it, studying it, and living beneath its shade. It is the month in which the soul is liberated from distraction, and the believer steps back from creation in order to receive the words of Allah with a cleaner heart and a quieter world.
In many ways, Ramadan is a reenactment of the first descent of revelation in the cave. When the Qur’an first came down, the devils were driven away from the heavens and barred from stealing a hearing. In Ramadan, Allah chains them again as His servants return to the Qur’an, allowing its light to reach the heart with greater focus.
Then, almost immediately after Ramadan, the season of Ḥajj begins.
The heart has been washed. Apologies have been offered to Allah. The destination has become clearer. The will has been renewed. Now, the journey must begin.
Ḥajj is the season of acting upon revelation. It is the season of movement with the Qur’an, pursuit of Allah’s pleasure, and striving against injustice. Perhaps this is why jihād — the disciplined effort to uphold truth and resist oppression — is so often mentioned alongside ḥajj in the Qur’an. Hajj is the season in which the religion was completed, and no way of life reaches completion without necessitating movement and deliberate action from its people.
Ḥajj represents that exact movement. It is not an individual retreat of seclusion like iʿtikāf in Ramadan but a collective movement, and so it demands immense patience, the restraint of harm, and the abandonment of argumentation; a yearly reminder of the key pillars in the Ummah’s revival.
So, with the reformation achieved in Ramadan, the renewed bond with the Qur’an and refreshed sense of purpose, Muslims unite in Hajj, overcome their differences, move in a unified direction, and stone Shayṭān themselves, instead of needing him chained for them. They’ve grown. They’re stronger. They’re reformed. They’re unified. They’re now capable of subduing their enemies in life
Ya Rabb, bring our hearts nearer to you. Then, bring our hearts nearer to one another.
Episode 3 | Dhul Hijja series
https://youtu.be/WcMYaveKv1E?si=a5lPbd9dxqOTHfRy
Episode 1 | Dhul Hijja series
https://youtu.be/mAQXT313dfA?si=tLJbloRFfkD6CTA4
Ponder over the verse:
مَن يَتَوَكَّلْ عَلَى اللَّهِ فَهُوَ حَسْبُهُ ۚ
“And whoever puts his trust in Allah, then He is sufficient for him…”
Then, immediately after it:
إِنَّ اللَّهَ بَالِغُ أَمْرِهِ
“Indeed, Allah will accomplish His purpose…” (Al-Qur’an 65:3)
Whether the heart accepts or resists, whether the tongue complains or praises, whether a person trusts or refuses to trust, nothing changes; Allah’s command will still come to pass and will not wait for anyone's approval.
Part of human dignity and intelligence, therefore, is to meet Allah’s decrees with patience, complete surrender and, if possible, contentment. The opposite is to wrestle with anxiety, frustration and bitterness towards the path written him.
Either way, Allah will still accomplish His purpose. The only difference is whether we pass through His decree crowned with reward, tranquillity and nearness, or suffer the same decree, deprived of them all.
The strength to end well
In a time where marriages often end with bitterness, accusation, and a violent rewriting of every good memory, the Qur’an trains for dignity in divorce and the grace of clean partings. It teaches the believer to remember virtue even when the marriage cannot continue, to honour the good that once existed even when pain remains, and to let a chapter close without setting fire to the whole book.
وَلَا تَنْسَوُا الْفَضْلَ بَيْنَكُمْ
“Do not forget the kindness between you…”
(Al-Qur’an 2:237)
Shaykh ʿAbd al-Fattāḥ Abū Ghuddah used to say:
الوظيفة تضعف العقيدة
“Employment weakens one’s ʿaqīdah.”
They asked him, “How is that?” He said: “Have you ever seen an employee say in the morning: O Allah, provide for me?”
So many aspects of modern life eat away at our iftiqār, the sense of utter poverty and need of Allah.
Salaries arrive at the end of the month, same date, same amount time. We slowly link provision with an employer, not with Allah.
Navigation apps tell us exactly where to go. We stop asking Allah for direction.
Calendars control time better than ever before. We stop asking Allah for barakah in time.
Pensions provide security for tomorrow. We lose reliance on Allah concerning our latter years.
Whilst life, today, is more organised, efficient, and predictable, it is easy for essential parts of a believer’s inner life to slowly die; the sense of inner collapse before Allah, the urgent duʿā of a drowning person, the state of trembling need, and the instinct to crawl back to Allah in desperation.
Monitor this in yourself and guard your iftiqār, your sense of utter dependency on Him which He loves so much.
In today's world, it won’t survive by itself.
Episode 14: Contentment (Al-Riḍā, Part 1) | Change of Heart Series
The modern machine feeds on discontent, as it is precisely what keeps people consuming, scrolling, chasing, and never arriving. Here, Islam calls the believer to something far higher: al-riḍā, serene contentment with Allah.
We explore: How does riḍā differ from ṣabr (patience), tawakkul (reliance), and shukr (gratitude)?
And what are the signs that a heart is truly content with Allah?
https://youtu.be/M6-pcWw-_EQ?si=840L7y-U2R20mYN-
“Are you better now?”
A man once said in the presence of al-Muʿāfā ibn ʿImrān,
ما أشدَّ البرد اليوم
“It’s so cold today!”
Al-Muʿāfā turned to him and said,
استدفأت الآن؟
“Are you warm now?” (Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ)
Imam al-Dhahabī commented on this exchange, saying:
“Saying such things is permissible, but they disliked unnecessary speech.”
How much of our speech is just that?
“I hate being poor.” So, are you rich now?
“I hate this flu.” Are you better now?
“Stupid traffic.” Has the road opened up now?
“The world is a horrible place.” Has it become better now?
Such tantrums don’t solve problems, lift hardships, or change Qadar (decree). Instead, they just deepen agitation, train the tongue to speak pointlessly, and – worse still - disguise objection to Allah’s decrees.
By all means, search for a way out of the predicament, but restrain your speech until you can speak well, and train your heart to find contentment in Allah’s decrees.
That way, hearts rest today and honoured with Allah tomorrow.
Some people’s negative reaction to advice isn’t because they hate the truth, but because they’re exhausted by the feeling that every effort they have made to improve is ignored.
We often fix our eyes on what is still missing, and forget that the other person may simply be waiting to hear: “You’ve done well.” “You’ve made huge progress.” “You really have come a long way.” But when all they hear is criticism, correction, and disappointment, the heart begins to close, till they announce, “I do not want to hear advice from you or from anyone.”
Yes, they are mistaken in this reaction, but sometimes we play a huge part in pushing people to that point.
It is precisely this that, if left unaddressed, can slowly damage a marriage and weaken the bond between parents and children, and between teacher and student. Humans are, by design, hugely in need of acknowledgement and appreciation.
That is why the Prophetic way was so beautiful in how it combined encouragement with correction. The Prophet ﷺ said about ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿUmar:
نِعْمَ الرَّجُلُ عَبْدُ اللَّهِ، لَوْ كَانَ يُصَلِّي مِنَ اللَّيْلِ
“What an excellent man ʿAbdullāh is, if only he would pray during the night.” (Al-Bukhari)
He started with praise that opened the heart, then administered the advice, causing it to land exactly where it needed to. The outcome?
فكان بَعدُ لا يَنامُ مِنَ اللَّيلِ إلَّا قَليلًا
“After that, he would sleep only a little at night.”
It's been around 4 years since we paused this series. So much in the world has happened since then. As of next Wednesday, we resume this study, inshaAllah.
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The Overwhelming Sway of the Qur'an
What is it about the Qur’an that seizes a room the moment it’s recited?
There is a strange, overwhelming sway it holds over the soul, a dominion that minds struggle to explain but hearts cannot deny. What you’re feeling in those moments is the Qur’an laying its hand on your soul; a real, palpable serenity that countless people have tried to describe, and always end up doing so with the same mix of wonder and bewilderment.
[51 mins]
https://youtu.be/VJyTu8mQ0i4
On the day Saydnaya Prison in Syria was liberated, it was only half an hour away from the decision to execute many of its prisoners, just thirty minutes before their release. Those were the words of inmates. That turn of events was by the will of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, whose Will can never be repelled, who says to a matter: ‘Be,’ and it is.
O Allah, just as You freed our prisoners moments before their execution, free the prisoners of Palestine who are now destined for execution.
Be with them, grant them wellbeing, save them from their enemy, and bring utter ruin to their oppressors, beyond the ruin that they're already in.
Rebuilding the Muslim Mind
At times, the issue isn't connected to beliefs or actions, but the scale by which people judge things. The Qur’an does not just tell you what to do. It teaches you how to see.
📹 https://youtu.be/WmfwIUPLQS4
“Arafa tomorrow? I don’t think I’m that guy”
For anyone who feels they wasted the past few days, read carefully:
You have not missed the train. In fact, not only is the door still wide open, but the most precious day is still ahead of you. Tomorrow is the Day of ʿArafah.
This is the day about which the Prophet ﷺ said:
صِيَامُ يَوْمِ عَرَفَةَ، إِنِّي أَحْتَسِبُ عَلَى اللَّهِ أَنْ يُكَفِّرَ السَّنَةَ الَّتِي قَبْلَهُ وَالسَّنَةَ الَّتِي بَعْدَهُ
“Fasting the Day of ʿArafah: I hope from Allah that it will erase the sins of the year before it and the year after it.”
One day = Two years of sins vanish, by His mercy.
And the Prophet ﷺ said:
خَيْرُ الدُّعَاءِ دُعَاءُ يَوْمِ عَرَفَةَ
“The best Du’a is the Du’a of the Day of ʿArafah.”
So bring your entire life to Allah tomorrow.
The worries you keep replaying in your head, bring them. The duʿāʾ you have almost given up on, the marriage issue, the family tension, the child you are worried about, the debt, the scandal, the illness, the fear of the future, the guilt of the past, the private sin, the hard heart, the dreams that feel too far away, your pain that no one knows of, bring them all.
Tomorrow is ʿArafah: a day on which, quite literally, a new beginning may be written for you, provided you do not treat it like an ordinary day.
The Prophet ﷺ said:
مَا مِنْ يَوْمٍ أَكْثَرَ مِنْ أَنْ يُعْتِقَ اللَّهُ فِيهِ عَبْدًا مِنَ النَّارِ مِنْ يَوْمِ عَرَفَةَ
“There is no day on which Allah frees more servants from the Fire than the Day of ʿArafah.”
Therefore, it makes perfect sense that the day after ʿArafah is ʿEid, a day of celebration after a day of forgiveness, a day of joy after a day of pleading and healing.
Lastly, in Ramaḍān, Laylat al-Qadr — the greatest night of the year — is hidden from us, so we search for it across the last ten nights. But ʿArafah — the greatest day of the year — has been named for you, dated for you, and placed clearly before you.
So do not let Shayṭān tell you, “Ah, you’ve been lazy. You’ve wasted the first days. You’re not spiritual enough. People like you don’t suddenly become close to Allah.”
That’s one of his oldest doors, weaponizing your guilt to keep you away from the One who forgives guilt.
So fast if you are able to, and make the intention if you can’t. Guard your tongue. Give something in charity. Make a list of your duʿāʾs. Sit alone for a while. Raise your hands before Maghrib. Beg Allah like someone who is drowning, who knows that the King is generous and the door is open.
As you do so, do not forget your siblings in Islam in Gaza, Palestine, Sudan, and everywhere the Ummah is bleeding. Ask Allah to relieve them, strengthen them, protect them, honour them, and use you in their support in a way that removes from you the shame of abandonment.
O Allah, grant me and my global Muslim family the ability to do good tomorrow.
Episode 5 | Dhul Hijjah series
How You Will Be Resurrected
How You Will Be Resurrected | Dhul Hijjah Series | Dr. Omar Suleiman & Sh. Ali Hammuda | Ep.5
Episode 4 | Dhul Hijja series
https://youtu.be/O2Q_4bY_kc4?si=EK9OZtOnl1V-rZcB
Episode 2 | Dhul Hijja series
https://youtu.be/yaEK-Ia7KyI?si=T-mtfYGkyD0N_-YE
Trailer | Dhul Hijja series
https://youtu.be/jOcDbMtwU6w?si=qtoIq52UqQgY7Q91
Episode 15: Contentment (Al-Riḍā, Part 2) | Change of Heart Series
The modern machine feeds on discontent, as it is precisely what keeps people consuming, scrolling, chasing, and never arriving. Here, Islam calls the believer to something far higher: al-riḍā, serene contentment with Allah.
We explore: How does riḍā differ from ṣabr (patience), tawakkul (reliance), and shukr (gratitude)?
And what are the signs that a heart is truly content with Allah?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtdfwgVXeP0
From his arrogance, man attempts to put Allah on trial because life did not follow the tiny script that he’d written for himself. He tries summoning the Lord of the worlds to the court of his expectations, to measure Allah's wisdom against his five-year plan, mood, salary, marriage timeline, health of children or imagined version of how life was “supposed” to be.
We write a list of expectations: “I should be married by this age.” “I should earn this much by now.” “My children should turn out like this.” “My health should remain untouched.” “My work should be recognised.” “My pain should end by this date.” Then life comes differently, and suddenly the servant becomes the prosecutor. Suddenly, the one who cannot control his own heartbeat is cross-examining the One who controls the heavens and the earth and sets conditions upon Allah. That is nothing but a contract we drafted in our ego and expected the Lord of Majesty to sign.
No.
Allah was All Knowing before your name was ever uttered. He was Ever Wise before you took your first steps. He knew your life inside out before you shed your first tear, and knew the end of your road while you were still figuring out the first step.
Everything that your soul recoils from is layered with networks of immense wisdom. The fact that you can’t see it doesn’t change this reality. Your hardship is either the consequence of a sin, a debt that you incurred and never settled through Tawbah. Or it’s serving as a cure for an inner illness that was festering in you which was on the verge of ruining you. Or it’s a shield from a far bigger calamity you never saw coming, a door closed in your face only because there was a fire behind it. Or it’s the elevation of your rank, because there are stations in Paradise that your deeds alone would never have carried you to, so Allah sends you the ladder of difficulty.
The hardship passes, fades, and disappears, but the blessing it leaves behind endures.
فمن رَضِيَ فله الرِّضَى، ومن سَخِطَ فله السُّخْطُ
“.. So whoever is pleased shall have pleasure, and whoever is displeased shall have displeasure.” (al-Tirmidhi)
Laziness is how people, nations, states, and entire civilisations begin to collapse.
That is why, when one of the Barmakids (who rose to power around 750 CE and fell in 803 CE) was asked why their power disappeared, he said:
نوم الغدوات وشرب العشيات
“Mornings lost to sleep and evenings lost to indulgence.”
(Rawḍ al-Akhyār al-Muntakhab min Rabīʿ al-Abrār)
Episode 13 | Change of Heart Series
The Station of Ever-Returning (Inābah)
Why do some hearts crumble under minor inconveniences, while others endure immense loss and even grow in strength? This video investigates another action of heart - al-Inābah: the soul’s constant return to its Lord, and why it is the key to many of life's endless challenges.
https://youtu.be/vPyzKKorTZo
Trump announces he is "permanently opening" the Strait of Hormuz
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"My country comes first"
Whenever one addresses the suffering of one Muslim people, you are often met with: “What about the others?” “What about my country?” “What about our prisoners?” It’s almost as though the pain of some Muslims must compete with the pain of another, as if we must choose between injuries that all belong to the same body.
The tragedy of borders others drew across our lands is one matter. The greater tragedy is when those borders transfer into our hearts, our minds, and our loyalties.
The colour of your passport, the design of your flag, or the language you speak should have no bearing on my conscience towards you. Whether some flatter me or condemn me, whether they support causes that are close to me or fail to do so, it must remain that their pain is my pain, their cause is my cause, and their enemy is mine.
Spend enough time online and you will see just how thoroughly we have allowed borders to do exactly what Islam came to undo, as though the Prophet ﷺ never said:
المسلمون تتكافأ دماؤهم
“The blood of the Muslims is of equal worth...” (Abu Dawood)
That, my brother and sister, is a worldview that must inform how we speak, weigh things and comment, especially during times of civilizational pressure.
As the poet said:
وأينما ذُكِرَ اسمُ اللهِ فِي بَلَدٍ عددتُ ** ذَاكَ الحِمَى مِنْ صُلْبِ أَوْطَانِي
“Wherever the name of Allah is mentioned in any land, I count that sanctuary as being from the core of my homelands.”
Giving your loyalty to lines on a map or to the opinion of a very specific circle of scholars whose opinions sway in tune with their predominant state-politics is part of دعوى الجاهلية “the call of ignorance” which the Prophet ﷺ condemned, saying:
دعوها فإنها مُنتنة
“Leave it, for it is rotten” (Al-Bukhari and Muslim)
No, you and I are not above the possibility of falling into this. The Prophet PBUH said to one of his noble companions:
إنك امرؤٌ فيك جاهلية
“You are a person still carrying traces of jāhiliyyah (ignorance).”
We must be prepared to detect this disease within ourselves.
Justice means that we do not condemn entire populations because of the crimes of their superiors, militias, or loudest factions. We do not erase the suffering of ordinary people because of the corruption of their elites. Across the Muslim world there are common people, families, women, children, and sincere truth-seekers who are crushed beneath wars they did not start and political projects they did not author. We grieve for them. We ask Allah to relieve them. We do not rejoice in their pain. We do not mock their suffering, and we definitely do not watch Muslim bloodshed with selective tears.
But mercy and justice do not mean naivety. Whoever fights the truth, aids oppression, spills blood, or persists in behaviours that can only be explained as a systematic targeting of everything related to Islam, then our stance towards him is according to his crime and deviation, regardless of how closely he may resemble us.
So when people ask:
“Which country comes first?”
“Which people matter more?”
“Which cause deserves my voice?”
Such questions are wrong, because they force on us a strange language, one of rivalry and competition. This is not how Allah defines us.
As crises grow larger, our thinking, strategic maturity and longing for unity must also grow. It cannot be that our enemies deal with us as one body while we insist on behaving as warring tribes.
O Allah, purify our hearts from the arrogance of jāhiliyyah, allow us to spot it in ourselves, expand our concern to the full breadth of this Ummah, and make us people who love, grieve, and stand on principle for Your sake alone.
News that Masjid al-Aqsa will reopen tomorrow at 6am Palestine time Insha’Allah!
Ya Rabb..
If all the time poured into arguments, rebuttals, and endless back-and-forth during the war had been channelled into standing up for al-Masjid al-Aqsa while it faces one of the most serious assaults in recent memory, that would have been far better, far worthier, and far greater in reward.
Islamic maturity, today, entails less time arguing, diverting and sharing our own or other people's online sagas, and more time showing up for al-Aqsa and the Ummah's causes.
“My country, my anthem, my concern”
The Prophet PBUH said:
سَيَصِيرُ الأَمْرُ إِلَى أَنْ تَكُونُوا جُنُودًا مُجَنَّدَةً، جُنْدٌ بِالشَّامِ، وَجُنْدٌ بِالْيَمَنِ، وَجُنْدٌ بِالْعِرَاقِ
“The affair will come to the point that you will become conscripted armies: an army in al-Shām, an army in Yemen, and an army in Iraq.”
The narrator, Ibn Ḥawālah said, “Choose for me, O Messenger of Allah, if I live to see that.”
The Prophet PBUH replied:
عَلَيْكَ بِالشَّامِ، فَإِنَّهَا خِيرَةُ اللَّهِ مِنْ أَرْضِهِ، يَجْتَبِي إِلَيْهَا خِيرَتَهُ مِنْ عِبَادِهِ، فَأَمَّا إِنْ أَبَيْتُمْ، فَعَلَيْكُمْ بِيَمَنِكُمْ، وَاسْقُوا مِنْ غُدُرِكُمْ، فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ تَوَكَّلَ لِي بِالشَّامِ وَأَهْلِهِ
“Go to al-Shām, for it is Allah’s chosen land from His earth, and He draws to it His chosen servants. But if you refuse, then go to your Yemen, and drink from your reservoirs, for Allah has guaranteed al-Shām and its people for me.” (Narrated by Abū Dāwūd)
This Hadith is usually cited in the context of al-Sham’s superior status, particularly towards the end of times. But consider a different perspective for a moment; the tenderness behind the Prophet’s ﷺ words: “Allah has guaranteed al-Shām and its people for me”
You can hear the concern in it and the worry of a person whose heart was far bigger than tribe, territory, and borders made for us by others.
Notice how, in the Hadith above, the Prophet’s PBUH anxiety was about a land he had never seen in full, an age he would never personally live to witness, and a people many of whom he would never meet. In fact, at that stage, al-Shām was not even under Muslim rule. Yet look at how it lived in his concern.
The believer is not raised upon the logic of “my country first,” “my passport,” “my issue only,” “my flag, my anthem, my border.” His conscience is Ummatic, where his heart travels wherever the pain of the Ummah is, and feels for lands he has never visited, people whose language he does not speak, and crises from which he gains no personal benefit. As Muslims, our hearts are simply not allowed to be regional.
This also carries an immensely important lesson for teachers at every capacity:
Our institutions that raise Muslims – Mosques, universities, Tarbiya institutes - must understand that they are not producing members for themselves, whose loyalty ends at personalities, a circle, a movement, a ṭarīqah, or any narrowly defined camp. No, they are producing people who belong to the Ummah. Their gifts are the property of the Ummah. Their knowledge is for the Ummah. Their strength is for the Ummah. Their concern must be as wide as the Ummah’s wounds and as elevated as the Ummah’s hopes.
Beware of domesticating your students into a corner. Produce men and women who understand that wherever the Ummah bleeds, part of them is bleeding too.
O Allah unify the believers,
O Allah protect their belief and lives,
O Allah guard al-Masjid al-Aqsa.
Usually, strength travels in a particular direction.
It is often the warriors who reassure their womenfolk, calm their fears, and give them the courage to endure. It is usually the righteous who admonish the sinner, and the scholars and people of knowledge who awaken and mobilise the masses. That is the natural order, and that is how things should generally be.
But life is not always lived according to norms. There are moments of role reversal.
There were times in history when women stood at the rear of armies, urging hesitant men forward and shaming them from retreat. There are moments when a sinner gives courage to a righteous man, as happened when Abu al-Haytham, a thief who strengthened the heart of the great Imam Ahmad in his moment of fear before punishment.
These reversals are not the rule, but they are part of life, and perhaps today is one of those moments.
Though scholars and students of knowledge are meant to be the ones leading the way in speaking truth, addressing public affairs, and stirring the Ummah into action, sometimes it is the ordinary people who must push them to step forward, to speak with confidence, to engage the crises of the age, and to find their voice.
Is it ideal? Of course not. But is it real? Without a doubt, and recognising this is understanding how Allah causes strength to come from unexpected places. It also warns you from ever excusing yourself from duty or belittling your role, irrespective of your status.
A practical response to the above?
Send your local imam, favourite shaykh, or a student of knowledge you listen to a polite message. Encourage him to speak, to engage, to address al-Masjid al-Aqsa, to be relevant, to show courage, and to participate in the realities unfolding around us. Equally important is that you appreciate them when they do and motivate them to do more.