In the
name of Allah, All-Merciful, Most Merciful
Praise
be to Allah, the Lord of all the worlds,
the
All-Merciful, the Most Merciful,
the
King of the Day of Judgement.
You
alone we worship. You alone we ask for help.
Guide
us on the Straight Path,
the
Path of those You have blessed,
not
of those with anger on them, nor of the misguided.
In the name of Allah the
All-Merciful, the Most Merciful.
No god except Allah.
Allah is enough for us
and a most excellent protector.
There is no power or might
except by Allah.
Allah, in His timeless wisdom,
begins his book with the phrase: “Praise be to Allah, the Lord of all the
worlds”. In these few words, Allah tells us that the whole creational event
is continually under His command. The meaning of Lord (rabb) is
comprehensive. It includes meanings such as ‘king’ and ‘master’, but also
indicates that He, the Exalted, is in control of His Dominion at every moment,
managing it, putting it right and taking care of it. So Allah has created all
the worlds and is, at every instant, managing every aspect of His creation and
ordering it. Everything from the movement of the vast array of planets and
stars to the smallest microbes are under His command at every instant - even
down to the tiniest atoms and the quantum field. Moreover, He precedes this
with His praise, which indicates that there is an excellence and perfection to
everything He does, whether or not we are able to perceive it. He is merciful
beyond our comprehension of mercy and He will hold us all to account on the Day
of Judgement; on that day, we will be most in need of the intercession of our
Beloved Messenger and Guide ﷺ.
Therefore, for the believer,
nothing is outside of His command. Every single thing that happens is His Act,
and He is One in His Acts, His Attributes and His Essence.
However, humans experience
events as having causes that bring about effects. If we put our hand into fire,
it will burn. Yet, for our tawhid to remain intact, we must perceive Allah as
the causer – the fire, the heat and the burning are all brought about by His creative
power. If we give power to the fire itself we fall into hidden shirk, may Allah
protect us.
It is in Allah’s wisdom that
he creates ‘causes’ along with their ‘effects’, and we become accustomed to
this illusory causality. This is clearly illustrated in the Qur’an when Ibrahim
(peace be upon him) was thrown into a fire by his people, and Allah commanded: ‘Fire,
be coolness and peace for Ibrahim’ (Qur’an: 21: 69). It is narrated in
Bukhari that the last thing he said before being thrown in to the blaze was:
“Allah is enough for me and a most excellent protector” (“ḥasbiya’llāhu wa ni’ama’l-wakīl”). This eminent
messenger, whom Allah describes as “an excellent example”, Ibrahim, had total
trust and reliance on Allah and sought help from none other than Allah alone; he
did not need anything or anyone else. In this instance, Allah created coolness
and safety for Ibrahim in the fire, thus revealing the Reality of His creative
power to him whilst providing him with protection from the bad intentions of
his people.
You may well be asking at this
stage, what has this to do with a virus?
The answer is this: we are
currently being bombarded by the media, the Government and health officials
with messages which contradict Reality, giving intrinsic power to the virus
itself; that it somehow freely spreads by itself and that it will end the lives
of many. Boris Johnson said that people would die ‘before their time’. Allah
says: “When their time comes, they cannot delay it for a moment and they cannot
bring it forward” (Qur’an: 16:61). Nothing happens that is not the will of
Allah.
These messages are relentless
and 24-hour news and social media platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter
only amplify the fear of this ‘powerful’ virus. This has led to mass panic and
hysteria, not to mention the outright selfishness of ‘consumers’ and greed of
shameless opportunists who have hiked up prices for various staple items.
Unfortunately, some of these are Muslim shopkeepers and businessmen. Moreover,
this fear has led to populations across the globe handing an unprecedented
amount of control over to the authorities, the likes of which I, for one, have
never experienced before.
Therefore, the greatest danger
that this new strain of coronavirus poses, especially to the Muslim community,
is the hidden shirk that underscores all of the discourse surrounding it and we
must not allow it to affect the way we perceive what is really happening. If we
allow it to deceive us, a veil will be drawn over our hearts, preventing us
from seeing that Allah is the Actor in every moment and that it is only He who
has power in any real sense.
The Prophet ﷺ was
the most balanced man and had the most elevated and perfected character. This
balance can be seen when we look at the various hadiths that relate to the
current situation. Many of the Ulema and Muslim organisations have mentioned
his warning not to enter a town that has the plague and not to flee if the town
in which you live has it. This is prophetic wisdom and we would be well served
to follow this advice. Unfortunately, not enough of our Ulema and public representatives
have mentioned those teachings which balance this wisdom out by holding on to
knowledge of Allah’s Absolute Power. One such Hadith is: “There is no contagion
and no evil omen.” When asked about the spread of mange among camels, he said
“Who infected the first one?” This clearly indicates the Reality that sickness
happens by Allah, which in turn clearly reflects the Quranic perspective. At
this point, it is worth returning to the narrative of Ibrahim, where he says to
the mushrikun of his time:
“He
said, ‘Have you really thought about what you worship,
you
and your fathers who came before?
They
are all my enemies – except for the Lord of all the worlds:
He who
created me and guides me;
He who
gives me food and gives me drink;
and
when I am ill, it is He who heals me;
He who
will cause my death, then give me life;
He who
I sincerely hope will forgive my mistakes on the Day of Reckoning.
My
Lord, give me right judgement and unite me with the righteous;
and
make me highly esteemed among the later peoples;
and
make me one of the inheritors of the Garden of Delight;
and
forgive my father – he was one of the misguided;
and do
not disgrace me on the Day they are raised up,
the
Day when neither wealth nor sons will be of any use –
except
to those who come to Allah with sound and flawless hearts.’”
(Qur’an:
26: 75-89)
To conclude, the biggest danger
posed by the coronavirus is not the virus in and of itself, but is rather that
we could begin to let the illusion that it has intrinsic power infiltrate our
hearts, greatly disturbing them and causing us to give power to the creation,
rather than to the Creator. This sickness, which is a sickness of the heart,
could not only cause us to act in a desperate and undignified manner, allow the
governing elite absolute control over our lives and undermine our own freedom, it
could also be a cause of great loss on the day we stand in front of Allah and
answer for every moment of our lives, and that day will certainly come. Let us
take the necessary precautions, follow advice about not exposing ourselves to
the virus and make the best of this period of reduced activity by, for example,
preparing for what is to come, whilst dedicating some time to the affairs of
our families and the purification of our hearts so that we can truly say:
“You
alone we worship. You alone we ask for help.”
This is a good article brother ♥️🙏🏼
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