A short video by Nouman Ali Khan.

Facing opposition- silently?

Recently I have been in certain situations where I have been faced with the question as to what is more important; to practice one’s own beliefs in peace or to raise a voice whenever you see something being done the wrong way. Much to my disliking, I have come to the conclusion that on most occasions it is best to stay silent. The reasons for this are manifold, one of the most important reasons being that people will only listen to you when they have their minds open and most of the time people are not willing to hear a thing that goes against their preconceived notions or their interests(to be more precise).

However, contrary to the belief of most Pakistani Muslims, Islam is not JUST based on an individual’s beliefs and actions, but in fact Islam pays a lot of emphasis on community, relations and their significance. And this is so because Islam is not just a religion but it is a way of life. Furthermore, just like a person is defined by the company he/she keeps, similarly every society has inbuilt norms and the people living within the society are expected to comply with its norms. Here is where the problem sets in, if our society is doing something the wrong way, it doesn’t matter to people because it is something that everyone is doing, the question of right and wrong is put on a back foot. Our society is following traditions and cultures blindly.

Our people have “chosen” to live in ignorance and oblivion; they have taken laughter as not just the best remedy but rather as the only remedy. Everything is treated as a joke and everything is made a joke of. Shows are being produced such as “hum sab umeed se hain” which make fun of the things which our people should actually be crying about but somehow it is funny when our Prime Minister is handing out charity funds to fraudulent parties, when our cricket team is accused of match fixing or when the politicians and leaders are running this country to ruins. It is all so funny! It is funny when the poor are killing their own families because they don’t have money to feed them, it is funny when graves are being dug up and bodies are being sold for black magic and it is funny when our people are dying because they are slaughtering each other!

Our masses watch the news for hours and hours, then they have even longer intellectual discussions and debates on it and yet they fail to look for solutions; they fail to initiate a change. Our problems are many but the causes for such a chaos are few. The reason why we are in such a mess is because we are in denial, the people who can bring a change become too easily disheartened and flee away from taking responsibility, they hear about the bad conditions of the country and carry on with their daily routines and work, all the time hoping and trying to find avenues to escape to foreign countries. While the people in rural areas and down-trodden parts of the country are caught up in such a vicious cycle that many of them are not even aware of the ignorance that is surrounding them. There are such people who don’t know how to recite Quran, they believe in everything being told to them by peers and faqirs and they do grave worshipping believing that it would earn them heaven.

I’m willing to silently go about my business, to just mend my beliefs and work on myself but then if I happen to do something good today it will not be because of my own righteousness but because of Allah’s mercy. Allah has bestowed us with countless blessings, He has made us Muslims; if He has chosen the best for us, why then do we keep running towards the worst? However, having said that there is no doubt that my first most priority should be to keep myself away from all that is wrong and then try to speak up against it and if conditions allow then even put an end to the wrong being done. For verily it is a hadith that;

"When you see an evil act you have to stop it with your hand. If you can't, then at least speak out against it with your tongue. If you can't, then at least you have to hate it with all your heart. And this is the weakest of faith."- Sahih Muslim, Book 1, Number 79

One thing that is crucial to note in all of this, however, is that guidance comes only and only from Allah and our job is only to watch over ourselves and warn others against wrong.

“And [had you been present], you would see the sun when it rose, inclining away from their cave on the right, and when it set, passing away from them on the left, while they were [laying] within an open space thereof. That was from the signs of Allah. He whom Allah guides is the [rightly] guided, but he whom He leaves astray - never will you find for him a protecting guide.”- Surah Kahf, ayat 17

Since Allah has power over everything hence we should continuously turn to Him and pray to Him for the well-being of our country and the well-being of Muslims. We should also ALWAYS pray to Allah to bestow His mercy and blessings upon us and to give us guidance because we are in dire need of it!! May Allah guide us all! Ameen!

What a wonderful world by Dawud Wharnsby and Zain Bhika