During the preparation of the Battle of the Ditch, while the Muslims were digging the trench, they came upon a large rock. The Prophet (saaws) struck it once and a third of the rock shattered, and he said Allahu Akbar I have been given the keys of Syria; I have seen its red palaces. Then he struck a second time and a third of the rock broke, upon which he said, Allahu Akbar I have been given the keys of Persian, and just now I am seeing the white palace of Ctesiphon. Then he gave the third stroke and the whole rock broke and he said, I have been awarded the keys of Yemen. By Allah! From here, I am seeing the gates of the city of Sana.

In another incident, when the Prophet (saaws) and Abu Bakr escaped to Medina, the leaders of Quraysh set a bounty for the capture or killing of the Prophet (saaws) in order to prevent him from reaching Medina. One of the Quraysh, whose name was Suraqa, accepted this bounty and chased the Prophet (saaws) and Abu Bakr while they were en route to Medina. Just as he was about to reach them, his horse stopped. At that moment, the Prophet (saaws) made Suraqa a promise that he would give him the bracelets of the Persian Emperor if he desists. During the time of Umar, when Persia was conquered and the bracelets of the Persian Emperor came with the war booty, Suraqa came and took the bracelets as was promised by the Prophet (saaws).


These two incidents have many lessons, but one that we would like to emphasize is that we should always have hope, because Allah (swt) promised us victory in this life. It is this hope in the victory of Allah (swt) that kept the spirits of the Muslims alive even during the Battle of the Ditch when they faced imminent annihilation, and this same conviction in the victory of Allah (swt) and His Reward is what enabled the Prophet (saaws) to promise Suraqa the bracelets of the Persian Emperor at the moment when he was the most vulnerable. All that is required of us is that we adhere to His Deen and fulfill our obligations and responsibilities in this life. Even if we do not see the victory in this life before we die, we are reassured that we will get the reward in the Hereafter, which is the ultimate objective of every Muslim.

Therefore, despair is alien to the psyche of the Muslim. While it is natural for the human being to experience moments of despair and grief, such despair and grief should never overwhelm us to the point that it incapacitates us or dictates our thinking and course of action. Unfortunately, nowadays, the Muslim Ummah is in a grave situation, and Muslims are oppressed and bombarded from every direction. Such a situation has resulted in a feeling of despair, so much so that we have become desperate and starving for hope itself. And in our desperation we blindly rush towards any road that would offer us hope, without thinking whether treading such a road is correct from the Islamic perspective or from the political perspective. For example, when Israel was established, there was a feeling of despair among Muslims, and the likes of Yassir Arafat capitalized on this despair and offered hope to the Muslims. As a result, Muslims, overwhelmed by their despair and starving for hope, rallied behind this person, and the result was a thirty year betrayal that achieved the political objectives of other powers at the expense of our resources and lives, and when this became known, it plunged us even further into despair. In addition, when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, the Muslims again were driven to despair, and in their desperation, they clamored behind the call for Jihad, even though this Jihad was manufactured by the CIA through the help of Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. The fruits of this struggle was again the fulfillment of political objectives of others at the expense of Muslim blood and resources, and after the expulsion of the Soviet Union, Afghanistan became a source of even greater despair among Muslims.

There is a lesson in all of this, which we should take very seriously. Equally important to eliminating despair is making sure that we do not become mislead by false hopes. We should always maintain our thinking and avoid rushing blindly into any avenue that offers us hope. The belief that Allah (swt) will grant us victory in this life and our belief in the Jannah should be our sole source of hope, and if this belief is properly cultivated and tended to, then it should suffice as a source of hope for us in any situation. Yes, it is true that our situation is very grave, but this should not serve as a justification for us to abandon our thinking or our criterion or our political awareness and clamor behind road that offers us hope. The Prophet (saaws) and the Sahabah faced many desperate situations, but this did not make them behave desperately and they did not blindly rush towards any action. Therefore, we should maintain the same level of thinking, even in desperate situations, or we will become slaves of our despair, which will render us easy targets to be used by anyone who wants to lead us into a mirage in the name of hope.

Only by educating ourselves and building our thinking in the correct manner can we rise to the level where we are not lead by our emotions and blindly rally behind anyone chanting Islamic slogans or carrying out certain actions ''in the name of Islam.'' For example, the mujahideen in Afghanistan launched their struggle against the Soviet occupation, and while the foot soldiers may have been sincere, the leaders were working in cahoots with the US, which was funneling money, arms, and support to them through Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. Thus, the leaders were nothing but a bunch of charlatans who sold a jihad to the Muslim Ummah in the name of Islam, whereas, in actuality, they were carrying out their actions in the name of the USA in fulfilling its objective in facilitating the collapse of the Soviet Union. And sadly enough, the Muslim Ummah rallied behind them, only to watch the very same leaders bring Afghanistan to ruin as they fought one another, and this same theme is repeating itself once again. Had we the Muslims been educated and aware enough to realize that this was nothing but a proxy war that was being initiated by the great powers at the expense of the Muslims, we would not have rallied behind them. We should have denounced this campaign as a plot that was manufactured to swindle the lives and resources of the Muslims in the name of achieving political objectives that were not ours. And we would have shifted our focus INTERNALLY and worked to address the source of our problems : lack of the correct thinking in the Muslims.