Learning Courage from Palestine & our Predecessors

Learning Courage from Palestine & Our Predecessors

Occupying forces in front of you, troops in front of you, settlers walking into your house and throwing you out, people that show you absolutely nothing of any redeeming human quality — and you have to be patient in the face of that. But they are connected to each other. And the Prophet ﷺ taught us, when it comes to patience in particular, that sometimes seeing someone else — or knowing of someone else — that is going through something harder than you, or has been through a difficulty harder than you, allows you to be able to overcome the trials and the difficulties in your own life. Because you're able to draw inspiration from them and ultimately try to connect yourself to the same source that they are drawing from.

And that's why we have the famous hadith of the Prophet ﷺ:

May Allah have mercy on my brother Moosa — he was struck with worse than this, he was annoyed by his people more than I am being annoyed in this situation. He faced a greater difficulty and he was patient — and so too shall I be patient.
(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 3405; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1062)

He too should be patient when he looks back on his brother Moosa ﷺ and draws from that inspiration. And there is something very important here. Our notion of patience in Islam is not passive.

Sabr Is Active, Not Passive

صبر is not just holding yourself back. It is actively thinking about what is more worth the situation — what is more worth it for you to engage in than what is immediately in front of you. And that's why when you hear وَصَبَرُوا وَصَابَرُوا — these are very active terms that we find in the Qur'an. To be patient and to make other people patient. People that were patient in the face of their oppressors. People that were patient in battle. Some of these things don't translate well when you're just thinking about the word "patience." But they do translate well when you think about the concept of صبر.

They actively enjoin one another with truth. And they actively enjoin one another with patience. Because patience is not just holding yourself back. It's not just passiveness. It's filling yourself with something greater. It's not just not responding to the person in front of you — it's being engaged with the One that is above you, so that there is perspective with the person that's in front of you. It's not just not being afraid of the oppressor in front of you who is actually a coward. It is understanding that this person — who finds strength, derives strength from their weapons and from their so-called access to power and whatever it is that they have — is actually drawing strength from something that is in reality vulnerable before Allah, and can immediately be taken away by Allah. Whereas you draw strength directly from the source. You draw strength from Allah. Without weapons, without the same access to material power as they have.

Sabr is investing in something. Sabr is feeling connected to something. Sabr is active worship of the heart — that leads to certain qualities and certain characteristics.

Our Brothers and Sisters in Palestine

SubhanAllah — we find multiple notions of this in the Qur'an. But let's say something briefly about our brothers and sisters in Palestine and what's happening over there. What those people have been subjected to for now over 70 years — they should have buckled a long time ago. They should have crumbled a long time ago. How do you deal with that much pressure? How do you deal with occupation? How do you deal with a regime that is meant to break your spirit? And all of the powers conspiring against you — how do you still generate the strength?

If you saw the images from Al-Aqsa today — subhanAllah — it's like Eid was today. Where do you find that? What is Allah filling their hearts with for them to be able to go out there and, as we said, not move. Not move. When you're watching them on the 27th night, it's as if they didn't even hear the bombs. They were just thinking about what the Imam was reciting. They were focused. Their hearts were established — and so their feet were firm as well. And this is what I want us to connect ourselves to, bi-idhnillahi ta'ala.

The Two Qualities of Leadership

A leadership role requires patience — a very particular type of patience. In fact, Abdullah ibn Abbas radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhuma said that the two qualities that are necessary for leadership are: certainty in Allah and patience. Those are the two qualities that are necessary for a leader.

Now I want us to not just imagine this one-day situation where we're in this horrible environment and we have to generate some sort of majestic type of patience to overcome a monstrous situation. Because that would disconnect the brothers and sisters in Palestine from us and turn them into some sort of mythology that we look to and just say "mashallah" — but then in our own lives we're not connecting the dots about what we should be generating in our own selves.

And that's why the ulama say that صبر, patience, is connected to all of the other good qualities that we find in the Qur'an and Sunnah. And that's why the Prophet ﷺ said: there is no blessing that is more expansive than patience. It brings out so much good inside of a person. And they say it brings out generosity. How does it bring out generosity? How does it bring out courage? How does it generate a person being very calculated in how they approach situations in their lives? Because when a person has patience, they have perspective all the time. And when they have perspective, they are focused on the greatness of Allah — and not the claims to greatness in this life, nor the smallness of their own means.

Courage and Generosity Are Brothers

Imam al-Dhahabi rahimahullah comments on the hadith where the Prophet ﷺ said:

"I seek refuge in You, O Allah, from cowardice and from stinginess."

And Imam al-Dhahabi rahimahullah comments:

"Courage and generosity are brothers. If a person is not able to give of their wealth freely, then they will not be able to give of themselves."

The opposite of cowardice and stinginess is: courage and generosity are brothers. If a person is not able to give of their wealth freely — because they believe in something greater than the fear of poverty or from the material pleasure of this life — if they are not able to do that, then they can't do that with their own selves. And courage requires you to not fear anything that comes your way in this life. The same way that true generosity — and that's why the Prophet ﷺ said — it might be that a person gives one dirham and they are superior in the sight of Allah than someone who gives a hundred thousand times that. Why? Because they're actually putting themselves at risk when they do so. They're giving and they're actually putting themselves in a situation where they have to trust Allah.

There is a توكل — a trust in God — that is embedded in their صدقة, embedded in their charity. It's not just that they're crunching numbers and saying "this is how much I can give." It is a trust in Allah that leads them to not have such a fear of poverty that paralyzes them. And it is a longing for what Allah has that allows them to readily and happily overlook the temporary pleasures of this life. I am not deceived by the pleasure of this life, nor am I deceived by the fear of poverty.

And what Imam al-Dhahabi rahimahullah is saying is that courage is the same thing. I am not deceived by the fear of what you seem to possess that's greater than me. I'm not afraid of you. I'm not afraid of you because I'm really afraid of Allah. I'm really not afraid of the means that you possess because they don't scare me — they're just means at the end of the day. Nor do I long for the position that you have, because I long for what Allah has promised me instead. If a person has power in this life, power ends with death. But if a person has the reward from Allah in the next life, that is everlasting. And so courage and generosity are generated from the exact same thing.

Overcoming Yourself Is Overcoming Your Enemy

Imam Ibn al-Qayyim rahimahullah comments on this as well — and this is very profound. Ibn al-Qayyim rahimahullah was a genius, and when he would talk about these things, sometimes he would decipher something and you can miss it in a book when you just read through the sentence. But he said: notice the hadith where the Prophet ﷺ said:

"A strong person is not the one who overcomes their opponent in wrestling. Rather, the strong person is the one who controls themselves when they become angry."

He said: notice here that sometimes when a person gets into an argument, what are the considerations that they make? At some point, there's a point in the fight — if you're just thinking in terms of material things — where, you know what, I'm bigger than this person, I can take them. Or: there are no consequences in this world to this argument we're having. I have more power. My job's not at risk. My career's not at risk. They start to make all of these worldly calculations. He says some people focus on the worldly calculations of the argument — they start making the hisabat, the calculations in their mind: I'm pretty sure I could take them, or I have more means, more power, the consequences of this fight are heavier on that person than on me.

He said: the other part of that is cowardice. Cowardice is when a person backs down in an argument or backs down in a fight — not because they see a greater reward from Allah or because they're deriving some sort of dignity in the moment, but because they are simply afraid. So: I'm just really afraid of this person, let me keep my mouth shut.

But subhanAllah — Ibn al-Qayyim rahimahullah said: notice that the Prophet ﷺ said, الَّذِي يَمْلِكُ نَفْسَهُ عِنْدَ الْغَضَبِ — he overcame his enemy by overcoming himself. No, I'm in control of the situation because I'm connected to Allah. Why did he overcome himself in that anger? Because he was able to maintain perspective. And his perspective was Allah. And so he had dignity. He had honor — even in the midst of an argument. Everybody else around might see: oh, he lost the argument. He lost the fight. In his mind, he didn't lose the fight — because he overcame himself. And by overcoming himself, he overcame his enemy. And he was focused on Allah and what Allah has prepared for him in the hereafter.

Al-Wahan: The Disease of Loving This World

And this is what I want to conclude with, insha'Allah ta'ala — a few ways to think about how we read some of these ayat and ahadith about courage, and how they're connected to patience and longing for Allah.

The Prophet ﷺ mentioned that as an ummah, you become like foam — the nations of the world gather around and they feast on you. You are the meal on the table, and these enemies and oppressors start to come and eat away at you one by one. And they were asking the Prophet ﷺ — because they were thinking maybe it's in terms of worldly means — is it because we're a small number? Ya Rasulullah, is it because there are so many enemies and we are so few? The Prophet ﷺ said: it's not that. It's that you have in your heart something called al-wahan — you're paralyzed. And they said: what is al-wahan, Ya Rasulullah? He said:

"Love of this world and hatred of death." (Sunan Abi Dawud, Hadith 4297; graded Sahih)

Now I need to contextualize this. Because the stereotype of the Palestinians — the so-called "angry savages," the Arabs, the "barbarians that had to be colonized," the Muslims, "these people are animals, they love death, they don't care about life" — the implication of that framing is that they are saying we are destructive, that we'll destroy them and destroy ourselves and have no regard for human dignity and human life. That's not what this hadith is talking about.

And you know what else is very interesting about the hadith? The Prophet ﷺ said: حُبُّ الدُّنْيَا وَكَرَاهِيَةُ الْمَوْتِ — you hate death. But Aisha radiyaAllahu ta'ala anha, when she spoke to the Prophet ﷺ, she said:

"O Messenger of Allah, there is not a single person among us except that they hate death." (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6507; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2683)

Is it hate death in the sense that you hate what awaits you in the hereafter? Are we supposed to long for death? Are we supposed to love death? Is that what the Prophet ﷺ is saying? Because seemingly there is a contradiction here. And that's what Aisha radiyaAllahu anha is raising — when the Prophet ﷺ said: whoever loves to meet Allah does not fear it, and whoever hates to meet Allah, Allah hates to meet them. And Aisha radiyaAllahu anha said: but Ya Rasulullah, we all hate death. And the Prophet ﷺ said: that's not the point. It is when the believer is given the bushra — the glad tidings — of what Allah has: the glad tidings of His pleasure, the glad tidings of His reward, the glad tidings of His forgiveness. At that point, they are invested. They don't care at that point. There is ease in the transition.

So how did the ulama reconcile between the two? They are saying that the believer does not love death. The believer does not actually love death. But the believer does not fear it in a way that paralyzes them from pursuing what comes after it. That's the difference. No one loves death. No one likes the idea of being separated from their families. When you hear these widows in Gaza talking about their husbands who have left them — talking about them as shuhada and saying that he preceded me to al-Jannah — it's not that they don't wish their husbands were still with them to be with their children. It's that there is perspective. You know what? I'm happy for him. Not that I'm happy I lost him — I'm happy for him, and Allah has promised him a wonderful reward in paradise. I'm going to miss him. I'm going to long for him. But I have that perspective.

And so the ulama say we can transfer that to everything. حُبُّ الدُّنْيَا وَكَرَاهِيَةُ الْفَقْرِ — you love the world too much and you fear poverty too much, so you withhold from your wealth when you are called to give charity. حُبُّ الدُّنْيَا وَكَرَاهِيَةُ الذُّلِّ — you love the world too much and you fear humiliation so much that you instead try to impose yourself in arrogance. And you become foul and you lose your principles in the process.

But what it truly is, is:

Those who believe love Allah more. They love Allah more than they hate death. They love Allah more than they love anything of this world. They fear Allah more than they fear their oppressors. They are connected to Allah more than people are connected to the things of this world. And so that gives them a sense of courage, that gives them a sense of generosity, that gives them a sense of firmness — because they always maintain perspective. They keep it all in front of them.

The Woman Whose House Was Destroyed

SubhanAllah — I was looking at that woman whose house was destroyed. And she's looking in front of the camera. You know, it's one thing to be able to say "alhamdulillah, Allah will give me something more." But when I saw this woman I said subhanAllah, I've never seen anything like that in my life. What was she saying? She said: this house — it'll come back, you know, houses are destroyed, they come back, we rebuild them. But Al-Aqsa, the house of Allah, the people need to stay connected to that. Giving a message to the world: forget about my house. Airstrikes will destroy other houses. But that is the first qibla of the Muslims. What about Al-Aqsa?

How do we then shut that phone off or that computer off and just go back and sleep comfortably in our own beds and think, "well, alhamdulillah, no bombs are falling on my house right now, I don't have to worry about the things she has to worry about"? No. That woman has something inside of her that is greater than anything that can come at her from outside. You can't kill a person like that. You can't break a person like that — one that is able to maintain that perspective and say: I don't care about my house, I care about Al-Aqsa.

You think she likes being homeless? You think the nights since that video went viral of her saying "my house doesn't matter, Al-Aqsa matters more" — you think that those nights have not been difficult for her? You think that there aren't moments of sadness where she remembers the memories in that house, where she remembers the people in that house that have been taken away from her? It's not the point. Allah did not make us people of no emotion. Allah did not make us people with no heart. But Allah gave us something to give us greater perspective. The greatest perspective. And that's where we find steadfastness from.

The Example of Imam Ahmad

I end with Imam Ahmad rahimahullah. Imam Ahmad rahimahullah was being tortured for his principles and found that his best friends had turned their backs on him. He didn't find the solidarity from his scholarly class that others found. One oppressor drags him, the next one drags him. This oppressor dies, another oppressor is born. They whip him in public. They humiliate him.

Imam Ahmad rahimahullah said something very powerful. He said: I never used to fear death — and at the same time, it's not about the imprisonment or the death — but I feared the whip. He's being very vulnerable. I didn't want to live a life of imprisonment and humiliation. The idea of death, I could come to terms with that — that I might die. But I don't want to live my life under a whip.

And he said: I drew perspective from the most interesting of people. One person was a thief — a criminal — and he said to me: look, after the first few lashes, you go numb. You'll be okay. SubhanAllah. He's telling him: at some point, the whip stops hurting. Your body will go numb. And Imam Ahmad rahimahullah said: I drew inspiration from that man.

And he said: as everyone was talking at me and shouting at me, there was another man that shouted out to me and said: Ya Imam — you are on the truth. And he said to him: if you are not killed, you will die anyway. If you're not killed in this noble way, you'll die anyway. You might as well die for something more meaningful. You might as well hold firm to your principles.

Conclusion: Drawing Inspiration from Our Predecessors

Dear brothers and sisters, we have to take inspiration from our predecessors. We have to take inspiration from our brothers and sisters in Palestine. How easily do we relinquish our deen, our principles, when we feel like our dunya is being threatened? When we feel like our world is being threatened — how easy do we let our deen go?

Draw inspiration from our predecessors and draw inspiration from our present brothers and sisters in Palestine and elsewhere, who constantly show us that if you are connected to something greater, everything else becomes miniscule as you think about the greatness of Allah. May Allah allow our connection to that to grant us firmness and patience and sincerity always.

O servants of Allah, indeed Allah commands justice and kindness and giving to relatives, and forbids immorality and evil and transgression. He promises you that you will remember. So remember Allah — He will remember you — and give thanks to Him for His blessings, which will increase for you. And the remembrance of Allah is the greatest. And Allah knows what you do. And establish the prayer.