By Hazrat Maulana Yunus Patel (Rahmatullahi ‘alayh)
Whilst taking a walk, through Mitchell Park one morning, after Fajr, breathing in the fresh morning air, we found the pathway covered with flowers, having fallen off the trees.
I mentioned to my friends:
‘At one time these flowers were on the trees. They were admired. People enjoyed and appreciated their fragrance, inhaling and saying, ‘How beautiful…, ‘ ‘How sweet…’ ‘How charming…’ However, when the slight breeze touched those flowers, they left the branches of the trees. They fell onto the ground. Then we found those same people, who once admired and enjoyed those pretty flowers, trample over them as they took their walks. Those pretty, colourful and fragrant flowers became a carpet on the ground and were crushed underfoot – as if those visitors were squashing the hearts of those flowers. After some time, the garden service sweeps those flowers away and they are thrown into some bin. Thereafter, the bin bags are disposed of at some dump.’
I then presented this as an analogy to my friends.
Once upon a time, Muslims were like those flowers on the trees. The fragrance of their Imaan and Islam, of their beautiful character, modesty and charming etiquette, were admired and appreciated by all. Their pleasant character and speech, their honesty, sincerity and service to mankind, emitted such beautiful fragrances which even non-Muslims benefited from.
The beautiful colours of their Ibaadah – be it Salaah, Zakaah, business transactions, social interaction were the means of not only people changing their faith, but also changing their culture and language, as we find in the time of the Sahaba-e-Kiraam (Radhiyallahu ‘anhum). They travelled far and wide and had an undeniable influence on different nations.
When they were flowers on the tree, people inhaled their ‘fragrance’ and accepted Islam.
When the breeze of temptation
and sin blew, then as we find today, many Muslims have left the tree; they
separated themselves from the strong, sturdy trunk of correct Aqaa`id (beliefs)
and they lost the attachment they had to the branches of Ibaadaat (worship).
They adopted the Western culture and in turn, they lost their fragrance and
they lost their colours as they withered away.
Having fallen onto the ground, the Muslim Ummah, globally, is literally being ‘crushed’ underfoot by the enemies of Islam.
In whichever direction we turn, we find a picture to grieve over: So many amongst our precious youth cannot even be identified as the blossoming flowers of the Ummah. They have preferred to mix with sand and mud and in so doing, have lost their fragrance and colour. The Hollywood/Bollywood culture, with all its immorality and sins, is that sand and mud – more exactly, it is quicksand, which readily swallows our young Muslim sons and daughters.
And then we have the picture of
the burdensome yoke of injustice, oppression and suppression. The lives of
Muslims have become so cheap that hundreds, if not thousands are ‘swept’ into
mass graves, where genocide has become a play and past time for many enemies of
Islam. We have the destruction of Muslim homes, the deliberate killing of
Muslim children, the rape of Muslim women, the theft of Muslim land – Oppression
compounded.
When we turn away from this
sad, heart wrenching sight, we see another picture to cry over: Many, many
Muslims, in positions of authority and rule, are like puppets and their strings
are pulled by non-Muslim governments. Some are treated like animals - they are
“broken in”, or trained to listen and obey – as we find with some Muslim
Governments, and there is no gain in return.
This is our reality. …From
where to where, and from what to what.
…But there is no despairing if only we to return to Allah Ta’ala’s obedience and the Sunnah of Rasulullah (Sallallaahu ‘alayhi wasallam). All that is required is to plant the seeds of Taqwa – by giving up all sins - and those beautiful, fragrant, colourful flowers will bloom and blossom once more.
