Concerning Gaza (may Allah help the Palestinians), Muslims are at the threshold of Despair. Whereas Hope is said to be a belief in a positive outcome related to events and circumstances in one’s life; and it is the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best, Despair is the opposite. It is hopelessness; it is the loss of hope. Muslims all over the world, except for the few illegitimate rulers of the Arab World, are desperate for Allah’s intervention in the matter of Gaza. “Desperation,” according to William Burroughs, “is the raw material of drastic change.”
In an article titled A Formula for Victory on muslimvillage.com, it was written: “Undoubtedly Muslims have a great deal of attention in today’s world. They are subjected to wars, massacres and detention in concentration camps. Their land is being captured, their treasures are stolen and their children are brutally killed. People observe this and acknowledge it but they simply do not know why it is happening. Among Muslims there are those who are starting to lose heart, and sometimes lose faith that tomorrow could be better than today.
Like others millennia before them, Muslims of today are screaming loudly: ‘When is the Victory of Allah coming?!’ And Allah answers, as He answered the others so long ago: ‘Victory from Allah is surely near.’ (Al-Baqarah 2:214).”The phenomenon of depression is not new in history. Usually people feel overwhelmed very quickly.
Some – if not most – Muslims feel that they are confronting a situation where they feel helpless, and they start to develop a fatalistic approach when dealing with matters. Muslims may start to feel that they have absolutely no power to make any difference. They even start to believe that change will only be for the worse, and that there will be no positive results in the foreseeable future.”
Living in the age of communication magnifies the negative effect that is being felt. Whenever something happens in one part of the globe, people instantaneously know about it in other parts. This is due to faxes, the internet, telephones and televisions that were not known in the past. In the past, bad things happened, and sometimes the worst possible scenario became a reality, yet it would take long periods of time before people came to know what had happened.
Moreover, by the time the news reached the other parts of the world, the impact would already have passed. “We should not feel that we have been singled out by the catastrophes of this day and age. Almighty Allah says: ‘If a wound has afflicted you, a wound like it has also afflicted the (unbelieving) people; and We bring these days to men by turns, and that Allah may know those who believe and take witnesses from among you; and Allah does not love the unjust.’ (Aal Imran 3:140). [Let us remember the Butcher of Sabra and Shatila, Ariel Sharon, where is he today? Indeed, where is the Butcher of Sarajevo, Slobodan Milosevic?].”It is very important that we understand that if we are touched by a wound, other people have also been touched by a similar wound, and that such days rotate among mankind. Therefore, we are not alone in this; and in the battle of life it is not crucial to win every battle. As long as our intention is pure, victory will eventually come. Salah Ad-Din, the great Mujahid, was a clear example of this. Even though he did not win every battle, his steadfastness and perseverance, his faith and strong belief in Allah’s words and His promise led him to great victory during the Crusades.Salah Ad-Din Al-Ayyubi (Saladin) was able to conquer the Crusaders in the battle of Hattin in 583AH, thereby restoring Al-Quds (Jerusalem) and many other countries that had been occupied by the Crusaders back to the Muslims. No one imagined that this could possibly happen, but it did. Therefore we need to keep hope alive. Just as John did, in the story below titled Fear Of Gravity, as narrated by his friend:
“John, my co-worker at a company fabricating telecoms towers, is the kind of guy you love to hate. He is always in a good mood and always has something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, ‘If I were any better, I would be twins!’ He was a natural motivator.
“If an employee was having a bad day, John was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation. Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up and asked him, ‘I don’t get it, John! You can’t be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?’
“He replied, ‘Each morning I wake up and say to myself, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or...you can choose to be in a bad mood. I choose to be in a good mood. Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or...I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it. Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or...I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life.’
“’Yeah, right, it’s not that easy,’ I protested.
“’Yes, it is,’ he said. ‘Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people affect your mood. You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It’s your choice how you live your life.’
“I reflected on what he said. Soon thereafter, I left the company to start my own business. John and I lost touch, but I often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it.
“Several years later, I heard that John was involved in a serious accident, falling some 60 feet from a communications tower. After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, John was released from the hospital with rods placed in his back. I saw him about six months after the accident.
“When I asked him how he was, he replied, ‘If I were any better, I’d be twins...Wanna see my scars?’ I declined to see his wounds, but I did ask him what had gone through his mind as the accident took place.
“’The first thing that went through my mind was the well-being of my soon-to-be born daughter,’ he replied. ‘Then, as I lay on the ground, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live or...I could choose to die. I chose to live.’
“’Weren’t you scared? Did you lose consciousness?’ I asked. He continued, ‘...the paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the ER and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read ‘he’s a dead man’. I knew I needed to take action.’
“’What did you do?’ I asked.
“’Well, there was a big burly nurse shouting questions at me,’ said John. ’She asked if I was allergic to anything ‘Yes, I replied.’ The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and yelled, ‘Gravity!!!’ Over their laughter, I told them, ‘I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead.’”He lived, thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude...I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully.”Attitude, after all, is everything. The Gazans have such a positive attitude, despite the desperation. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. After all today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.
Phillips Brooks had written:”Do not pray for easy lives, pray to be stronger men/Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers/pray for powers equal to your tasks.”
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