Lessons from the People of the Atlas Mountains

Lessons from the People of the Atlas Mountains

The first thing I noticed — that I've seen there — is how magnificent the creation of Allah is. We drove for about an hour and a half on completely flat land. Then once you're done, you start going up the mountains. And suddenly, when you're up the mountains, the road keeps zigzagging right and left — سبحان الله — for another hour and a half. Very narrow passages, and you look down at the valley, you see nothing but Allah's beautiful creation. Scary though, but it was so magnificent, سبحان الله — a beautiful sight.

The landscape, even though it's deserts and mountains, is still an unbelievable sight to see. You cannot say but الحمد لله and say لا إله إلا الله سبحانك ربي ما أعظمك. You praise your Lord — the Greatest — and it is indeed such a magnificent sight to see the creation of Allah.

The Atlas Mountains and the Earthquake

Another thing that we learned as we were going into the mountains — I don't know how many of you have been into that region — but the Atlas Mountains are divided into three major mountain ranges. There's the major one, the middle one, and the minor one. The major one is the highest in Africa probably in that area, and you keep driving all the way up into the mountains.

Villages are scattered all over the place. People wonder why Morocco did not ask for help from outside. Well, because actually the earthquake did not really happen in the city. The destruction in the cities was very limited. It happened in the mountains. When I say the mountains, most of the destruction happened in the mountains, and any village that was on that fault line was probably destroyed or got affected.

These villages are all over the place. Small towns — you talk about 150 people in one settlement, maybe 200, less than a hundred sometimes — a small village. Then you drive another maybe 15–20 minutes before you get somewhere else, and so on. But all of that was so beautiful.

A Beautiful, Simple Life

I remember one of our colleagues, Dr. Haifa, who was with us — سبحان الله — she said, "What a beautiful life this is." And for me I was reflecting on what she was talking about, because you talk about adobes — homes built of mud, not even rocks, mud. The roofs and the ceilings made of just wood and mud as well. Everything is so simple, so humble. And she goes, "What a beautiful life this is."

I said, "Dr. Haifa, this is so beautiful — not for them, it's for you and I." Because we come from very complex, luxurious lives, and we wish we had such a simple life like they have. Everything is organic, everything is natural. You wake up in the morning naturally, before even the sun rises. You go to sleep right after sunset — سبحان الله — an extremely natural life. Of course it's beautiful. Nothing artificial is there.

It's the natural connection and communication with Allah and with the creation of Allah. That's why it is so beautiful. And we who live here, we sometimes take a break from our busy schedule to go and live there in the mountains for a few days for recreation — because we just want to relax. Imagine if that relaxation were the type of life you have. It is indeed a beautiful thing, سبحان الله.

Faith and the Masjid

What we learn from being there is that سبحان الله — these villages, these brothers and sisters — they have a very beautiful, conservative life. They still believe in Allah. With the hardships they go through, with the simple humble life that they go through, they still believe in Allah, the Almighty, and are grateful to Allah.

Every time we visited a village and they came to us — when they saw us coming from America, and when they heard that we are imams, a group of imams going there — they were just marveling at the idea of imams coming from America. The amount of respect they showed us was just unparalleled. And they immediately started saying, "We have an imam in our village as well." They would go and call their imam. We would meet the imam, speak with them, they would lead us in salah, and we would make du'a together — سبحان الله. What a beautiful life, and what beautiful respect for the deen of Allah.

Very humble life, still so connected with Allah. Perhaps because every day and night, with their own eyes, they see the magnificent creation of Allah. They see the beauty of the sunrise and the sunset. They see the stars in the sky. They hear the wind that blows. And سبحان الله — the change of weather — all of that is an indicator for them that there is a Creator. Living in an urban city, we lost the connection with the creation of Allah. We lost connection with nature. And that's why every time we go out to the outdoors, it's just a beautiful life for us — a beautiful break. But that's their lifestyle over there.

سبحان الله — as a result of their interest in their faith, their imam, and their deen, every village you go to — you might find maybe about 50 houses, sometimes 25 or 30 houses, a constellation of small houses here and there. All of them made of mud. But then there is one particular building — the only colorful building in the entire village — made of concrete and rocks and stones and bricks. From the inside, it is very well decorated and well kept. And it has a very long minaret. That's the masjid.

Every village is so proud of its masjid. And we asked them, "Why is the masjid the only building that's colorful and the only building that's well kept?" They said, "Because we want the masjid — the house of Allah — to be the best house in the entire village." No one wanted to make their house look better or more beautiful than the house of Allah. That's why they keep their houses so simple. But for the house of Allah, they invest in it. And just like — wow — what an understanding they have. What a beautiful thing.

And in our community, ما شاء الله, الحمد لله — we're doing it, we're trying our best. But sometimes we compete with our masjid in terms of size and beauty. But for them — no, no, no, no — we can't make our houses look better than the masjid, the house of Allah. What a beautiful concept and understanding of their deen and the house of Allah.

When the Village Was Gone, the Masjid Remained

Brothers and sisters, even when their houses were destroyed — because we visited some villages where the entire village was gone — the entire village. More than 150 people lived in that village, actually 179 to be specific. The entire village was gone, سبحان الله. And everybody had to evacuate. They moved them out of the area because there was a risk that rocks might fall again from the top of the mountain. So they moved completely from that region.

They camped — they built them tents and camps on the top of another hill that is kind of a little bit flat. And now they're exposed to the wind, سبحان الله. But still, during around close to Maghrib time, as we were doing some distribution of some essentials — like mattresses and blankets to get ready for the cold weather — I could hear a sound. I was just thinking, "Is that an adhan? And where is this coming from?" With everybody just standing in lines getting ready to receive their things, you hear this voice.

I look around — on the top of a small hill to the left, there was an older man. He was standing there, holding in his hand a big water bottle that he had cut from the bottom, using it as a megaphone, and calling the adhan for Maghrib across the entire mountain range. You just hear that, and it's just like — سبحان الله — wow. What a beautiful thing.

They don't have a masjid anymore. They don't have a village. They don't have houses — nothing. But they still have their deen. They are faithful to their iman and to their salah. And as we walked a little bit away from that place, down that hill from the other side, they had made a masjid. Interesting. They had charted on the ground lines of rocks to indicate the boundaries of the masjid. They have a sajjada there for the imam. And when the salah time comes, they go and they pray together.

They have nothing there other than the tents and the basic essentials for life. But they still wanted to make sure the masjid is still there. Their connection with Allah is still there. For us in a situation like that, we are just in survival mode. Who thinks about making a masjid or a musalla and worrying about the time of salah? It's survival mode. But for them, their main survival mode is with Allah.

Which brings us to the next point. As we were driving through the mountains, almost everywhere we went during the time of salah, you would see people individually just praying by themselves in different places. A shepherd with his herd on the side, making his sujood. Another man by himself in the middle of the road, making his ruku' and his salah. Their care about their deen and their iman in a moment of crisis is just unbelievable. For us probably here — may Allah protect us — if the wind starts blowing and you hear a tornado siren, God knows what we're going to do. But these people just think about Allah in that moment.

The Greatest Gift: Patience

Talking to these people about what they have gone through and the situation they're in at that moment gives you a completely different perspective on life. One brother in particular — his answer was just phenomenal, wallahi. He lost his house, so he lives in a tent right now. We asked him how he was managing, how he was doing. He said, الحمد لله.

He said, "Allah took our house away, but He gave us patience." I'm like — لا إله إلا الله. Wallahi, we need years — we need years in America to teach people this perspective on life. He said, "Allah took our house. He took it away. الحمد لله. We can build it again. But Allah gave us patience — and that is a great gift." And he is right. He is absolutely right.

Because the Prophet ﷺ said in the hadith:

"No one has ever been given a gift better and more abundant than patience." (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 1469; Sahih Muslim, Book 5, Hadith 2246)

And in a situation like that, they come and they still smile, and they still shake hands with you, and they talk to you — very, very accepting of the Qadr of Allah — which gives us that perspective on life. They are always optimistic. With all what they go through, they say, "We will build it again, إن شاء الله. We're going to do it again." And they are very confident it's going to happen. They're not waiting for you and I. They're not waiting for us to assist and help, because they will take care of it, إن شاء الله. But definitely, help from outside is extra for them — that is a gift of Allah for them.

The Children and the Quran

My dear brothers and sisters, we've seen small classrooms where some of the schools were destroyed. What happened is they bring all the students into one — when I say school, I'm talking about maybe two or three rooms. We're not talking about a massive campus like the one we have here. We're talking about two or three classrooms. Two of them are destroyed, so they bring all the students into the same classroom. Now they're all cramped in the same place, and the teacher is still there — and guess what? All the students are there as well. They want to learn. We attended one of those classrooms and we watched the kids as they were reading from their books, also from the wall. It was just an interesting experience to see these kids — no matter what they have gone through — they still come to school, and they still want to learn.

One thing we also noticed — there wasn't a village that we went to where we didn't see someone who is a hafidh, ما شاء الله. So many huffadh. They care about the Quran from a very young age. For us, you might not see any future for them — unless they go out of that village to a bigger town, or even out of the country. But for them, the Quran is important. There wasn't a village that didn't have one or two, or even more, huffadh of the Quran — سبحان الله — because they care about the Quran.

They were very generous, very hospitable. Everywhere we went, they insisted — even if their house was broken — they insisted to feed you or give you tea. They insisted: "You can't leave. This is embarrassing for us," they said. "You came all the way up the mountains just to be here with us. You have to at least drink tea." Very hospitable, very humble, very generous. And I'm sure every Muslim country has that concept of active hospitality and generosity.

Allah Provides for His Creation

Brothers and sisters, even though their conditions were very harsh — to us who live over here — but the biggest lesson we learned is that no matter where they are, no matter where they live, Allah has His ways to provide for them. Even us — making the wrong turn, ending up in a different village from where we were assigned to go — so that we could give these people the rizq that Allah had written for them.

And we saw the masjid there — it needed some repairs. We asked them, "How much do you think this is going to cost?" They gave us the cost, which was nothing for us, الحمد لله. We said, "Here you go, بسم الله." We were worried about how we were going to make sure the masjid stays open — and الحمد لله, that rizq came from Allah, through the people who went and the assistance they provided.

There are many, many lessons we learned from the simple people of the mountains and their simple and humble lifestyles. I really highly recommend for you to volunteer. Go out there and see for yourself. You will go there with the intention to change their lives — and I guarantee you, wallahi, they will change yours.

Brotherhood in the Field

الحمد لله رب العالمين، وصلى الله وسلم وبارك على نبينا محمد وعلى آله وصحبه وسلم تسليمًا كثيرًا، ثم أما بعد.

One of the last lessons I learned was from the group that we went with — complete, perfect strangers, people we were meeting for the first time. We're talking about the team on the ground from different NGOs — like the Red Crescent and other local organizations that operate in Morocco — سبحان الله. We had never met them before. It was the first time. And we spent just a few hours with them throughout the day. By the end of the day, you are like brothers — like family.

The kind of bond that gets established in those few hours — سبحان الله — because you are all working for the same cause, for the sake of Allah. An unbelievable experience of brotherhood. Wallahi, it's so powerful, so beautiful.

I remember on the last day, as we were leaving, the governor of that area insisted that we go to a local restaurant. The owner of the restaurant refused to accept money for the meal. He said, "No, you have to eat here." So we sat there together, all of us — سبحان الله — around the same table, eating and talking. I was looking around and I was so mesmerized. Some people had come from Germany, some from the US, some from Tunisia, some from Spain — from different places — and we were all sitting around that table for the same reason, the same cause. Just like brothers, as if we had been together forever.

That is a reminder of what Allah says in the Quran:

"The believers are but brothers." And that is the meaning of the Prophet's ﷺ words: there will always be khayr in this ummah. There is khayr in the teachings of Rasulullah ﷺ and the ummah of Muhammad ﷺ until the Day of Judgment.

If there is anything we learn from this — even when sometimes organized governments may fail to operate in certain areas — الحمد لله, the ethics of Muslims, if they work on their Islam and their deen, are enough to keep the community strong and always be strong.