One Way…The Only Way

If you are reading right now, I assume that you are taking a break, right?  A break from the very busy and hectic schedule of your daily life.  So this is your time to unwind, um perhaps to reflect?  I ask you to reflect with me for a moment. 
On a daily basis we have to contend with a lot, so we think.  The car broke down; the domestic never pitch;  the kids’ projects and homework (back to the grindstone next week -new term and all), what to cook everyday; in law and outlaw issues; health challenges;  financial stress…the list is infinite.  Now while you are mentally listing your woes and worries, and yes, to each of us our problems are the worst because, “hey, my bag of troubles and I have to deal with it”, how about we step out of our little world for a bit and see what’s happening in the rest of the world. 

Do you recall the floods in Malawi  in January of this year 2015?  The legacy of death, destruction  and devastation and the unbelievable amount of mass graves filled.  It’s definitely a sign of Allah’s power, but does Allah not have a message for us? Does Allah not require a humane reaction from us?

Do you recall the atrocities committed in the grotesque, inhumane detainee camps? Remember where Dr and Haafidha Aafia Siddiqui, a Muslim woman (the only woman-prisoner no 650, among hundreds of muslim men detainees), was unjustifiably detained and imprisoned (tortured, defiled, beaten up, shot, raped and separated from her three young children, including a six month old baby) for two years solitary confinement? And yet she still wrongfully languishes in prison a decade later..
And as your mind regurgitates those pushed aside memories of many other heart-breaking injustices targeting  innocent Muslims and you find yourself lost in a whirlpool of disturbing thoughts and while the silent screams of our hearts pierce the sound barriers of our minds at the atrocities committed against our Muslim brothers and sisters…in recent times Brother Muazzem Baig and Sheikh Bassioni to mention but a few.  Not forgetting the atrocities committed against humanity at large…

And while we anxiously search and probe our intellect at what can we do to assist our fellow Muslims, for is not ‘the Muslim ummah like one body.  If the head hurts than the rest of the body hurts too.” (Muntakhab)
We have to comfort ourselves in the knowledge that there is a way… only one way. It is without a doubt the way of the greatest philanthropist that humanity has ever been privileged enough to encounter, the way of the Final Messenger Muhammad SAW.

The solution to each of these musibats/ difficulties for each and everyone of us, the solution to every difficulty and the ONLY TRUE means of attaining Allah’s assistance for us and the rest of mankind lie in the love and implementation of complete Sunnah into our lives. 
How do we attain success for both Ad Dunya and Al Aakhirah? How do we attain salvation from the afflictions of both Ad Dunya and Al Aakhirah? How do we regain peace of mind and tranquility of heart after observing the atocities endured by our beloved muslim ummah in the inhuman detention camps of Guantanemo, Abu ghraib, Baghram? How do we continue to live and not merely exist after having experienced the calamity of a robbery, the murder or even accidental death of a loved one? How do we protect ourselves internally and externally, temporarily and eternally? How do we survive the multitude of tests of this temporary life?

Only behind the shield of Sunnah can we find safety, salvation and sanctuary for our minds, our bodies, our hearts and our souls.
If we want, desire and need the best of both the worlds, and who can say they don’t, the only successful way to attain and achieve our desires, wants and needs is through the sunnah. There is no better time than the present. How do we pay tribute to the life of the greatest man to have lived? Our tribute to him is not in rituals and innovations. It is in our every action, every action that is done according to sunnah. It is time to be grateful; it is time to be proud.  It is time to find the desperately needed solace and solution through Sunnah.  For has Allah not declared us to be of the best of people…“You are the best of peoples ever raised up for mankind. (Al Quraan- 3:110)                                                                                
It is time to take courage and beautify ourselves with the adornment of the sunnah of Habibullah, Muhammad SAW; It is time we make his way, our way.   Not only is following the sunnah of benefit to us in both worlds, but it is in fact a testimony of our love for Allah. As Allah says in the Noble Quran,  “Say if you (really) love Allah, then follow me (Muhammad) and Allah will love you and forgive you your sins.  For Allah is Most Forgiving, Most Merciful.” (Al Quraan: 3-31)

Daily as we beg Allah for the best of this world and the Hereafter; As we beg Him for complete protection from the azhaab of the kabr and the punishment of the fire of jahannam; As our hearts call out to Allah for ourselves and the rest of humanity, let us include in our duas , “ O Allah raise us on the Day of Qiyaamah among the congregation of Nabi Muhammad SAW, enable us to follow his Sunnah, cause us to die while we adhere to his religion and make us amongst his group, ameen.” (Al Hizbul Azam-Friday)