Enlightenments From the Striving of the Muslims Alongside the Messenger of God

Enlightenments From the Striving of the Muslims Alongside the Messenger of God

In Mecca, the Messenger of God and his companions strove through good words and instruction: “Call to the way of your Lord with wisdom and good instruction, and argue with them in the best manner. Surely your Lord knows best who has strayed from His way, and He knows best those who are rightly guided.”^[78]

When the people of Mecca subjected the believers to persecution, imprisonment, and torture, they began to emigrate from Mecca, first to Abyssinia. Later, after the Messenger of God had endured persecution in Mecca and Taif, they emigrated to Yathrib, the radiant city of Medina.

In Medina, the Messenger of God began preparing for fighting and making God’s word prevail. Then came the great Battle of Badr, concerning which God said: “When God promised you that one of the two parties would be yours,^[79] you wished it to be the unarmed one. But God intended to establish the truth by His words and cut off the disbelievers at the root.”^[80]

This victory had a profound effect on the Muslims. It was not merely a military victory, but one of God’s signs, through which they perceived the unseen hand of God bringing defeat upon the ranks of Mecca’s polytheists.

Then came the Battle of Uhud and the events that followed, in which the Muslims suffered defeat. This happened because a group of them were drawn to the attractions of worldly life, sought the spoils of war, and abandoned their positions. During the battle, one of the Messenger of God’s teeth was broken, and the Muslims fled the battlefield, leaving him behind, apart from a few who remained steadfast and defended him. Even so, God granted the Muslims a victory of another kind by casting fear into the hearts of the polytheists after they had decided to wipe the Muslims out. When the polytheists learned that the Messenger of God and the Muslims were determined to face them again, their strength failed, fear seized their hearts, and they abandoned their advance and withdrew in disappointment.

Then the Battle of the Trench took place, in which Islam as a whole faced disbelief as a whole, and the Commander of the Faithful, Ali, killed Amr ibn Abd Wudd al-Amiri. In that battle, the angels, the soldiers of God, brought defeat upon the ranks of the polytheists after casting weakness into their hearts and filling them with fear. God said: “O you who believe, remember God’s favor to you when armies came against you, and We sent against them a wind and forces you did not see. And God sees all that you do.”^[81]

The Battle of Hunayn is among the strongest proofs that numbers mean nothing and that victory comes only from God. God granted the believers victory at Badr when they were few, yet at Hunayn their greater numbers were of no benefit to them until God granted them His victory: “Then God sent down His tranquility upon His Messenger and the believers, and sent down forces you did not see, and punished those who disbelieved. That is the recompense of the disbelievers.”^[82]

The conclusion is as God said: “Fighting has been prescribed for you, though it is hateful to you. Yet it may be that you hate something while it is good for you, and it may be that you love something while it is bad for you. God knows, and you do not know.”^[83]

“O you who believe, fasting has been prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those before you, so that you may become mindful of God.”^[84]

He also said: “Fighting has been prescribed for you…”^[85]

Just as fasting is obligatory for Muslims when its time arrives and its conditions are met, and the pilgrimage is obligatory when its time arrives and its conditions are met, fighting also becomes obligatory when its time arrives and its conditions are met. Otherwise, whoever fails to fast or perform the pilgrimage while able to do so deserves the punishment of Hell. What an evil destination. The same is true of fighting: once its time has come and its conditions have been met, it becomes obligatory, and whoever neglects it is like one who neglects prayer, fasting, and pilgrimage, and his destiny will be Hell. What an evil destination.

Fighting has been prescribed for you, though you dislike it. But a person does not readily sell his own life. For that reason, God made this transaction Himself, and its price is Paradise: “Indeed, God has purchased from the believers their lives and their wealth in exchange for Paradise. They fight in the path of God, kill, and are killed. It is a true promise binding upon Him in the Torah, the Gospel, and the Quran. Who is truer to his promise than God? So rejoice in the bargain you have struck. That is the great triumph.”^[86]

Glory be to Him who made striving a test by which the vile is distinguished from the good, the corrupt from the righteous, and the truthful from the liar. God said: “Or did you think that you would enter Paradise while God has not yet made evident those among you who strive and those who remain steadfast?”^[87]

He also said: “Or did you think that you would be left alone while God has not yet made evident those among you who strive and who take no allies besides God, His Messenger, and the believers? God is fully aware of what you do.”^[88]

Ultimately, believers should know that the inevitable outcome of striving is triumph over the self, Satan, worldly temptation, and capricious desire, and emergence from darkness into light. This alone is a significant and sufficient outcome, whether or not it is accompanied by material victory on the battlefield. “So let those fight in the path of God who exchange the life of this world for the Hereafter. Whoever fights in the path of God and is then killed or prevails, We shall grant him a great reward.”^[89]

There are still questions to be answered, or that require further clarification:

Who are those whose striving is the kind that God desires?

How can we recognize those whose striving is accepted by God?

What is the relationship between material civilization and striving?

What is the relationship between moral civilization and striving?

What is the relationship between moral civilization and material civilization?

What is the relationship between material civilization and the spiritual perfection of the human being?