An Unprecedented Challenge
What we are facing now as an ummah, we’ve never faced in any other time in our history. We’re facing the threat of the dissolution of the human soul itself.
Meeting a Great Scholar
I had the great fortune very recently of meeting somebody that I would consider one of the great men of our time, Sheikh Abdelkareem Zay Dan. I met him in Mecca. We had sahur together. He’s an Iraqi sheikh of 90 years of age and has written an encyclopedic work about the fiqh of women, several volumes.
Sacred Knowledge and Responsibility
Among the many books he’s written, he wrote a book about the sunan of Allah, the ways in which Allah works in his creation. Our teachings literally provide us with a blueprint of how existence works. We are the conscious element within the entire creation that can understand creation in a way that no other creature can. We can prevent harm for ourselves or lead ourselves to destruction based on the knowledge we have been given. This sacred knowledge, this profound knowledge, is something that Allah has bestowed upon us as an Amana, a trust.
The Weight of the Amana
This Amana is a weighty trust of which, according to the Quran, the angels, the mountains themselves, refused to bear the weight. The human being took it upon himself to bear this Amana. One of the things that struck me about Sheikh Abdelkareem Zay Dan is his passion. Despite his age and difficulty walking, when he spoke, his deep sincerity and passion affected everyone in the room. He conveyed that we, as an ummah, are collectively facing a crisis unparalleled in the history of Islam. The greatest reason for this is mass communication.
The Power of Mass Communication
We are threatened now, unlike any other time, because the Kufar now have the power to attack the Muslims in the hearts of their own homes. Everywhere in the Muslim world, satellite dishes fill the houses of Muslims. Even in the poorest houses, you will see a satellite dish. These dishes absorb the filth polluting the minds and hearts of our youth, middle-aged, and old, day in and day out. Ramadan has become a time when people watch television because the best programming is now given during Ramadan in the Arab world.
The Calamity of Modern Distractions
People are watching television in Ramadan, which is a calamity. We must realize what is happening to this ummah. The massive impact and power of influencing minds through television is something we have underestimated. We have let the devil into our homes, allowing him to raise our children, teach our women, and corrupt their hearts. We now have young men on the Arabian Peninsula looking like gangsters from the 1950s, meandering around the Kaaba and not even praying. They spend their time in trivial pursuits and eat junk food that nourishes their junk minds.
A Wake-Up Call
We are in a crisis, and we are all sleeping. We must ask ourselves how much more we have to lose before we wake up to what is happening to our communities, families, children, masjids, and societies. How much more pollution can we fill our hearts with? Imam Sha’afiri complained about losing some of his memory because he saw something haram for even a moment. We are filling our hearts with haram day in and day out. We have a crisis, and we must wake up to it and realize the weight this Ummah has.
Turning Back to Allah
We have a great weight because we are not like other people. We do not want to be like the Jews who were given the truth and turned away from it, incurring the wrath of Allah. The saeed, the felicitous one, learns by the tribulations of others. By seeing others in tribulation, he wakes up to the reality that the only way to prevent that tribulation is to turn back to Allah. This is what Allah wants from us. We must turn back to Allah collectively as an ummah. We must give up our pettiness, set aside our differences, and wake up to the truth of this deen.
A Call to Action
We must take this deen out to people because they are dying. The planet itself is dying. Our rivers are poisoned, our food is poisoned, and our minds are poisoned. We are killing ourselves. Our oppression harms only ourselves. For the sake of our children and their future, we must change. How much selfishness can continue? Our children deserve to grow up in a world that facilitates their humanity, not destroys it.
The Birthright of Humanity
It is their birthright to become human beings, real people, not junk people who spend their lives in trivialized malls, buying junk goods to fill their junk lives. How much more? When will we wake up collectively as an Ummah and respond to the call of Allah and his messenger?