Episode 1 - And He Takes From You Martyrs

Peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah.

Why Has Victory Been Delayed in Syria?

A question that crosses many of our minds, and I would like to start by correcting the question. Victory in Syria has not been delayed. Victory in Syria is born every day and grows every day. As Muslims, we believe in the Hereafter, and we know victory by Allah's definition of it. Allah the Almighty said: "But whoever is removed away from the Fire and admitted to Paradise, he indeed is successful." Those of our people in Syria who are killed for their faith are, by this meaning, victorious and successful, if Allah wills.

The people of the ditch were tortured and burned alive, yet Allah the Almighty said in Surah Al-Buruj, which speaks of their fate: "Indeed, those who have believed and done righteous deeds will have gardens beneath which rivers flow. That is the great attainment." Therefore, those of our people in Syria who are being tortured and killed are, if Allah wills, victorious and successful now.

In a hadith narrated by Bukhari, Haram bin Malhan, one of the companions of the Prophet peace be upon him, was stabbed treacherously by a disbeliever with a spear in his back that came out of his chest. Haram put his hand on the blood and wiped his face with it, saying, "I have won, by the Lord of the Kaaba, I have won, by the Lord of the Kaaba." The most important forms of victory and success in our religion is to die while steadfast in your faith. He who is killed among our people while steadfast in his faith is victorious and successful. Therefore, we say that victory is born every day in Syria.

Why Has the Trial Been Prolonged in Syria?

So let us correct the question and say: Why has the trial been prolonged in Syria? Brothers and sisters, Allah the Almighty has perfect wisdom. Let us contemplate some of the apparent wisdom behind the prolongation of the trial on the people of Syria.

The First Wisdom: The Selection of Martyrs

"And I have not created the jinn and mankind except to worship Me." One of the forms of worship is to suffer, to be patient, and to die for the sake of Allah. What is happening in Syria is the norm, not an exception. Allah did not create us to eat, drink, sleep, and then die. Rather, He created us to test us. Our Lord did not create us in vain, only to leave us without a test.

"Or do you think that you will be left [without being tested]?" Or do you think that you will be left [without being tested] and Allah does not know those who strive among you and do not take besides Allah and His Messenger and the believers allies? And Allah is Knowing of what you do. "Do the people think that they will be left to say, 'We believe,' and they will not be tested? But We have tested those before them. And Allah will surely make evident those who are truthful, and He will surely make evident the liars."

This is a reality we often overlook in the hustle and bustle of life. We think that the norm is to eat, drink, enjoy, and have our money and families safe. No, my brothers, is this why we were created? This is why Allah the Almighty warns us with such an introduction: "Or do you think that you will be left [without being tested]?" "Do the people think that they will be left to say, 'We believe,' and they will not be tested?" We will not be left. Allah the Almighty did not create us in vain, but He is the One who created death and life "to test you [and see] which of you is best in deed."

But when you see thousands of our brothers and sisters being killed, you forget a very important thing, which is that the selection of martyrs is an end in itself. The selection of martyrs is an end in itself. Allah the Almighty wants to take from His servants martyrs. "And those days [of varying fortunes] We alternate among the people that Allah may make evident those who believe and [may] take to Himself from among you martyrs."

"What a man does on the day of sacrifice is not more beloved to Allah than the shedding of blood." So what about when a Muslim accepts that his blood be shed for the sake of Allah? The selection of martyrs is a demand in itself. This is a meaning we forget while we lament the thousands of youth being killed in the Levant, and some say, "Their blood has been spilled in vain." No, by Allah, if Allah wills, their blood has not been spilled in vain. Their blood has not been spilled in vain as long as they were killed for their religion and died steadfast upon it. They have not been wasted in vain, but Allah the Almighty has taken them for Himself.

Notice the expression in the verse: "And [He wants] to take from you martyrs." Imagine a box presented to you, and you disdain everything in it except for a precious jewel that you take for yourself and say, "This is my share and portion." And Allah has the highest example. What does Allah want with the world and what is in it? All of it, with its beauty and wealth, does not weigh with Allah the weight of a mosquito's wing. Rather, He takes from it for Himself and shelters in His care the martyrs. So this is the first wisdom: Allah the Almighty did not create people except for this, to test them so that servitude may become manifest from them and He may take from them martyrs.

The Second Wisdom: Victory with Patience

The tribulation has been prolonged because Allah the Almighty has prepared for the people of Sham a great reward in this world before the Hereafter. The Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said: "And know that victory comes with patience." Therefore, the extent of victory is according to the extent of patience. Our people have exercised great patience, so their victory, if Allah wills, will be great.

The Arab countries that were swept by revolutions and where systems fell witnessed great sacrifices, indeed. However, the tribulation was relatively short, less than what would bring about elevation and empowerment as we have seen from the Sunnah of Allah. Thus, the fruit of these revolutions came mixed and unclear. As for our people in Sham, we remind them that from the ruling of Allah the Almighty in the upbringing of His servants what Ibn Al-Qayyim mentioned: that if He tests them with domination, breaking, and defeat, they humble themselves, submit, and surrender, then they deserve from Him, the Almighty, honor and victory. The gift of victory is only with the state of humiliation and submission.

Allah the Almighty said: {And certainly did Allah give you victory at Badr while you were oppressed.} He wanted to grant them victory, so He humbled them first. And He said in contrast: {And the day of Hunayn, when your great number pleased you, but it did not avail you at all.} So He, the Exalted, if He wants to honor His servant, empower him, and grant him victory, He breaks him first, and His empowerment and victory for him is according to the extent of his humiliation and submission. End of Ibn Al-Qayyim's speech.

Therefore, when Al-Shafi'i was asked: Which is better for a man, to be empowered or to be tested? He said: "He is not empowered until he is tested." This is an example of Allah's saying: {And We wanted to confer favor upon those who were oppressed in the land and make them examples and make them inheritors * And We will establish them in the land.} through their patience. The oppression from the enemy, if met with victory from the believer, comes from Allah the Almighty as a favor, inheritance of the land, and empowerment.

Sibah Ad-Dawlah delayed in giving gifts to Al-Mutanabbi once, so Al-Mutanabbi said to him: "And of the good is the slowness of your generosity towards me Faster than the clouds in their journey the armies"

Meaning, I see the delay of your gift as good, for the cloud that is quick in its journey does not carry rain, but if it carries rain, this slows its journey.

The awaited relief is not relief for Sham alone, but for the entire Ummah. And our hope is that the Islamic Caliphate will be born anew in the land of Sham despite all the global attempts to pluck the fruit of the revolution and jihad in Syria. We ask Allah the Almighty for our people steadfastness so that they deserve Allah's plotting for them and the turning of their enemies' plots against them. And we ask Him, the Exalted, to help us in their victory, for every Syrian brother who falls as a believing martyr contributes, if Allah wills, to raising the edifice of victory for the Ummah, and this will lighten his suffering.

And our optimism is not only based on understanding the Sunnah of Allah, but also on the authentic hadiths. It is narrated from Ibn Hawalah that the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, said: "The matter will proceed until you become conscripted armies: an army in Sham, an army in Yemen, and an army in Iraq." Ibn Hawalah said: "Allot for me, O Messenger of Allah, if I reach that (meaning choose for me a country from these countries)." He said: "For you is Sham, for it is the choice of Allah from His land, and He selects from His servants its best." Until he said, peace be upon him: "Verily, Allah has entrusted me with Sham and its people." The hadith was authenticated by Al-Albani and graded good by Al-Wadani.

And he, peace be upon him, said: "Verily, faith is when the trials occur in Sham." The hadith was authenticated by Al-Albani and Al-Wadani. And it is not hidden from us that we are in a time of trials, especially trials in ideas, hearts, and distinguishing truth from falsehood.

The Third Wisdom: Establishing Proof for Creation

The affliction has lasted so that our people in Syria may become a proof from Allah upon His creation, by setting examples of heroism, steadfastness, and sacrifice, so that people may know that the Quran still makes men, that the nation of Muhammad may fall ill but will not die, and that all the forces of disbelief cannot uproot the mountain of faith from the heart of a Syrian child or woman after Allah has placed this mountain in their hearts.

The affliction has lasted so that the steadfastness of the people of Syria becomes one of the manifestations of the power of Allah the Most High. When preachers and callers wanted to prepare a sermon or a word or a lesson on patience and steadfastness, they would return to examples from history: the magicians of Pharaoh, three thousand years ago, believed in a moment and no longer cared about being cut, crucified, or tortured. The companions of the Prophet, peace be upon him, a thousand and four hundred years ago, would be dragged over hot iron and stones placed on their chests to utter a word of disbelief, but they refused.

We, perhaps we the preachers and callers, would present these models while doubting the possibility of their repetition in the present age. We knew that there were people being tortured in the dungeons of our time, but we did not know much about their psyches and their belief in their Lord. Children, women, and elders, whose hearts are filled with the screen of faith, turn into giants who have made people forget Gandhi, Mandela, and Guevara, whose pictures the Muslims used to raise, as if the nation of Muhammad had become barren of producing believing heroes, not communists or disbelievers.

From where did this child come, a Syrian child suffering from the effects of torture, saying, "For the sake of Allah, for the sake of Allah, for the sake of Allah"? Seeing this child or a young Syrian being buried alive, another being burned while they repeat, "There is no god but Allah, there is no god but Allah." Seeing a chaste woman saying that she has vowed herself and her children to Allah, and has endured the death of those who died among them and the killing and torture of her husband. Every scene of these scenes is more eloquent than the sermons and lessons in the books and on the pulpits.

And where is this? In a country whose people are known for their piety, indeed in Syria. Syria, which we never thought would produce all this good. Syria, whose name has been associated with dubbed series, which made the preachers strain their throats in warning against their effects and corruption. Then, a video clip of a minute or two of a child or a weak woman in Syria silences the preachers and callers, and does more than they have done over the years, and teaches them what they themselves were teaching people theoretically.

And Allah wills to lure the soldiers of Bashar to film these clips and broadcast them, thinking that they thereby spread terror and break the wills, but Allah turns it against them, igniting the enthusiasm of our people in Syria and increasing their determination, and teaching the whole world the most eloquent of lessons. For Allah the Most High has established the proof upon the people of this time and has established for them the most beautiful examples with the people of Syria.

And I believe that Allah the Most High, from above His throne, boasts to His angels with models of heroism in Syria. He shows them that this human race is worthy of prostrating to Him, and shows them what He knew beforehand when they said to Him: "Will You place therein one who will cause corruption therein and shed blood, while we glorify You with praise and sanctify You?" As if the angels were saying, "What do You want from the creation of mankind while we worship You in a way that no one surpasses us, we glorify You with praise and sanctify You?" The angels did not think that there would be great men in the human race of this form who surpass them in their servitude to Allah the Most High. He the Most High said: "I know what you do not know."

It was known to the knowledge of Allah that these great models would be. And where, at that time, is the glorification of the angels from the cry of a child or a woman: "We will not change You, O Allah, for the sake of Allah, there is no god but Allah"? Where is the glorification of the angels in their comfort from these expressions under torture? And with this, we understand His saying, the Most High: "And that Allah may know those who believe." He the Most High knows, but He wants to show this faith to His creation and boast of it.

For all this, the affliction has lasted in Syria, and these wisdoms would not have been realized in this form had the affliction not lasted. Are there still wisdoms that we speak of and contemplate? Yes, but we will postpone them for the next episode, God willing. We will speak of many wisdoms. And until then, we ask Allah to make our brothers and sisters in Syria steadfast and to grant them victory over their enemies, and we ask for ourselves that Allah the Most High may help us to support them and not to let them down. And Allah the Most High knows best, and may the blessings and peace of Allah be upon Muhammad and his companions. And peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah.