Badr!
Dr. Pasha
(Bringing Islam to the World One Concept at a Time!
Taking the Qur’an to Every Home and Heart that Needs It --
And which One Does Not?)
Wa Laqad Naswarakumullahu Bi-Badrin wa Antum Adhillah (3:123).
“God had helped you at Badr, when ye were a contemptible little force” (Yusuf Ali’s translation, not mine.)
Waaqi’at Badr
I wish I could write something about the Waaqi’at Badr – the story, the event of the Battle of Badr between the Believers (Muslims) of Madinah and the Non-Believers (Kaafirs) of the Quraish of Makkah.
The Battle of Badr took place in the desert land of Arabia, to cap off the first quarter of the 7th Century of the Christian Era, on Saturday, 13th March, 624 Christian, according to some reports, that coincided with 17th of Ramadan in the 2nd year of the Hijri Calendar.
Nowhere to Run, Nowhere to Hide
The divinely ordained and created new Islamic State and Social Order at Madinah was barely two years old. The Muslims, under the leadership of Prophet Muhammad, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam, had found a temporary respite from the ceaseless and most heartless and cruel persecution of 13 interminable years at the hands of the Non-Believers of the Quraish of Makkah.
Or at least so it would appear. But not if the Non-Believers of the Quraish of Makkah would have any say in the matter. And they did. They invaded Prophet Muhammad, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam, and his Muslim, Believer followers in their fledgling refuge city of Madinah
It appeared Muhammad, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam, and his Muslim, Believer followers had nowhere to run and nowhere to hide from the continuing brutal aggression and persecution of the Non-Believers of the Quraish of Makkah and their ilk.
To Write or Not to Write: That Is the Question
There is so much inside my heart, bubbling and boiling, that I want to say, but which I don’t seem to be able to get it out on paper.
Dunya, with its myriad challenges, seems to superimpose itself upon my urge and ability to write.
And yet write I must, for, despite all odds, I just don’t seem to be able to stop writing.
God Goes to War
I keep asking myself, and I have done so for a long time: What kind of war was it which God himself went to fight; in which God himself did the shooting of arrows and the killing of the enemy; and in which God brought along with him thousands of his angels, riding pillion (double) on their special mounts, to fight along with him?
What kind of war was this war? And why did God become so clearly and decisively a party in this fight – on the side of the Believers of Madinah against the non-Believers of Makkah?
I keep asking myself this question. And I keep repeating it over and over in my head.
Torrents of tears roll down my face. And I keep shaking my head. And I want to pour out my thoughts and feelings and my heart and my mind on a computer, but the Dunya gets in the way.
Unable to Write
I am unable to write.
The demands and pressures of this world – my personal chores and responsibilities and my professional obligations and deadlines – pull and push me from all kinds of places and directions and get in the way of my writing.
I sometimes wish I could seal myself in a cocoon where there will be no one and nothing but God and the thoughts, ideas and feelings he pours into my heart and mind and not stop till I have gotten it all out on paper – or on a computer screen or hard drive.
All that I see right in front of my eyes!
What a Man He Was: Muhammad, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam!
What a man he was, this Muhammad, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam!
The nicest and finest of his entire species, the best and the closest to the point of perfection that any man ever came!
As Shaikh Busiri, Rahmatullahi Alaih, says in his Qassweedah Burdah what I paraphrase here:
“When it comes to praising Muhammad, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam, just don’t say what the Christians say about their Prophet Isa (Jesus, Alaihis Salam) – in the sense they call him God and Son of God.
Other than that, feel free to say whatever else you wish and go right ahead and attribute to him any level or aspect of perfection and praise that comes to your mind.”
To quote Busiri’s beautiful words:
Da’a Madda’auhun Naswaara Fee Nabiyyihimi,
Wahkum Bimaa Shi’ta Madhan Feehi Wahtakimi!
A Man Who Has It All: Muhammad, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam!
I wish I could write about his earthly perfections, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam! And go on writing and speaking about them till my tongue parches up and till the pen drops from my hand or is pried loose from my dead fingers.
I have seen and I have studied the lives of great people – people from different ages, places, faiths and cultures. And I admire them all.
But, as others have said before me, what separate and individual qualities of greatness they all have, he has them all in a perfect combination in himself.
Here is how some of them put it:
Aanchay Khooban Hamaa Daarand, Tu Tanhaa Daari!
Paraphrase:
“What beauties and perfections all the others may have, you have them all in yourself.”
Others summed their feelings this way:
Ba’ad Az Khdaa Buzorg Tu’ee, Qissa Mokhtasar!
Paraphrase:
“Just say that after God he is the greatest, the best and the most perfect, and that will be the end of the story.”
Not Mere Faith, But Carefully Considered Conclusion
All these people were not simply expressing their faith and devotion – far from it.
They were merely giving voice to a most rational and carefully considered empirical view: this was the objective conclusion they all came to after studying all the facts known about him in all the most authentic and reliable accounts of history.
I am so tempted to say, and I don’t know how to say it, what God was and is in heaven, absolutely perfect in Heaven, and everywhere, in all his divine attributes, known and unknown, Muhammad, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam, was on earth.
