Trial and Movement: Between the Verse of Trial and the Verse of Ṣafā and Marwa

Occasion: Transcription of a khatira delivered on 2018-08-14 Source: A transcription of a video khatira by Dr. Ahmed Abouseif — Watch the original video on YouTube

We Have No Time to Waste

After our reading of the words of Allah, blessed and exalted: ﴿وَلَنَبْلُوَنَّكُمْ بِشَيْءٍ مِنَ الْخَوْفِ وَالْجُوعِ وَنَقْصٍ مِنَ الْأَمْوَالِ وَالْأَنفُسِ وَالثَّمَرَاتِ وَبَشِّرِ الصَّابِرِينَ ۝ الَّذِينَ إِذَا أَصَابَتْهُم مُّصِيبَةٌ قَالُوا إِنَّا لِلَّهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ ۝ أُولَٰئِكَ عَلَيْهِمْ صَلَوَاتٌ مِّن رَّبِّهِمْ وَرَحْمَةٌ ۖ وَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الْمُهْتَدُونَ﴾ (And We will surely test you with something of fear and hunger and a loss of wealth, lives and fruits, but give good tidings to the patient, who, when disaster strikes them, say: Indeed we belong to Allah, and indeed to Him we will return. Those are the ones upon whom are blessings from their Lord and mercy, and it is those who are the guided)^[1]. This is a discourse about the believers' acceptance of the calamities that come to them, and that what happens to them in their lives is only from the Lord of the worlds, glorified and exalted. It is a discourse about the trials that follow one upon another on the believers, and the promise of the Lord of the worlds to them of reward.

The verses speak about one state, and then the context suddenly moves you to His words, the Most High: ﴿إِنَّ الصَّفَا وَالْمَرْوَةَ مِن شَعَائِرِ اللَّهِ فَمَنْ حَجَّ الْبَيْتَ أَوِ اعْتَمَرَ فَلَا جُنَاحَ …﴾ (Indeed, Ṣafā and Marwa are among the symbols of Allah. So whoever performs ḥajj of the House or 'umrah, there is no blame …)^[2]. So what is the story? What is the connection between these verses in such a place?

It is as though Allah, blessed and exalted, mighty and majestic, is telling us that we have no time to waste weeping over ruins. Whatever calamities have befallen us in our lives, whatever trials we have faced, whatever loss has occurred in our lives, none of that makes the believer sit idle, the one who believes that Allah is with the patient. It does not make him sit idle; at the beginning he seeks help through patience and prayer, and then, at the conclusion of his matter, he moves at once; because the calamities that come are only like obstacles on the road, and if you are able to get past them, you cross them to where you want to go.

Ṣafā and Marwa: A Religion of Action and Movement

﴿إِنَّ الصَّفَا وَالْمَرْوَةَ مِن شَعَائِرِ اللَّهِ﴾ (Indeed, Ṣafā and Marwa are among the symbols of Allah): our religion is a religion of action, a religion of movement, a religion of moving from one place to another, a religion of accomplishment; you accomplish something and then you look at what comes after it to accomplish that too, and so movement follows movement in the lives of the believers who affirm the oneness of Allah.

And if you picture the system of Ḥajj as a whole, you will find that it is a return to the comprehensive principles in life. And Ṣafā and Marwa, to which the Lord of the worlds, glorified and exalted, refers here, point, in their existence and their mention and the work that is carried out around them or upon them, to a model that realized the significance of the term motherhood, which is one of the comprehensive concepts in human life, like fatherhood. The matter of truthfulness, the matter of sincerity, the matter of perfecting one's work, the matter of sensing tranquility, all of these are among the landmarks of Ḥajj. But in Ṣafā and Marwa specifically, even in the situation in which Hājar, may Allah the Most High be pleased with her, ran, you see that the pilgrims too run, reenacting what that woman did, who realized one of the concepts of life, representing movement and accomplishment in the reality of this world.

When Hājar exerted this effort that she exerted, it bore fruit for us in the world of life in Ismā'īl, peace be upon him, of whom, when the Lord of the worlds spoke, He spoke within the frame of practical movement to produce something in the world of life: ﴿وَإِذْ يَرْفَعُ إِبْرَاهِيمُ الْقَوَاعِدَ مِنَ الْبَيْتِ وَإِسْمَاعِيلُ رَبَّنَا تَقَبَّلْ مِنَّا﴾ (And when Ibrāhīm was raising the foundations of the House, and Ismā'īl: Our Lord, accept from us)^[3], and ﴿وَاذْكُرْ فِي الْكِتَابِ إِسْمَاعِيلَ …﴾ (And mention in the Book Ismā'īl …)^[4]. There are places that point to a model who was raised at the hands of that woman, and so she produced an effective human product, who moves within the framework of society, spreads his good among people, and influences positively, not negatively, the output that will come after him in the generations that follow.

So Let Trials Not Stop Us

Our religion is a religion of action, a religion of movement, a religion of production. So whoever withdraws from these practical concepts, looking to trivial matters, or halts at small issues, will not take one step forward with his Islam. And so we remind ourselves once more that whatever trials there were in the past, they should not stop us from new work and renewed production by which we cross time, and with which we prepare to stand before the Lord of the worlds, glorified and exalted.

I ask Allah, the Most High, to find us where He wants us, glorified and exalted, and I ask Him, mighty and majestic, that we not be where He is not pleased, and that we be at His expectation of us, glorified, high in His majesty. O Allah, we ask You for pardon, well-being and Your good pleasure; O Allah, amen. May Allah bless you and bless you in what you have, may Allah reward you well, and peace be upon you.

--- ^[1]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Baqara, verses 155–157. ^[2]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Baqara, verse 158; the speaker stopped at "there is no blame" and we have not completed the verse in the body. ^[3]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat al-Baqara, verse 127. ^[4]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat Maryam, verse 54; the speaker mentioned only its first sentence and we have not completed it in the body.