Allah said in Surat Al 'Imran, v.139: {"And do not be weakened or sad, and you are uppermost so long as you are believers."}

This verse should be the slogan for our times.

I would be annoyed when I would hear certain Western du'at going around delivering lectures about Hudaybiyah, the Makkan period, etc. that seemed almost to justify our state of weakness. One such da'i gave a speech at an ICNA convention not too many years back where he alluded to some controversial topic in Islam, and commented: "Well, those were the old days when we were allowed to talk about these things," and he and the crowd burst into laughter. I remember sitting in the audience and slowly shaking my head, saying to myself: 'How is it funny that you now censor certain subjects from your lectures? How can it be anything but sad that you are subjugated?' And I would think of this verse.

Why this particular verse? Because it was revealed at Uhud – a moment when the Prophet & the Companions were beaten, bloodied, and some were demoralized. It addressed two natural feelings they were experiencing – weakness and fear – and forbade them from exhibiting either. It taught them that because they had held tight to their beliefs, their Iman, they had actually won despite their military loss, and therefore had no grounds to feel either weak or sad. It is as of the verse is being revealed to use anew today. It is teaching us that despite our state of disarray and external weakness, we should not think of ourselves as truly weak. The true battlefield is that of the heart & mind, and so long as there are enough among us who maintain their beliefs pure and unadulterated, we are not weak, regardless of our external physical condition. If an individual, community, nation, or ummah as a whole is physically safe and prosperous while having abandoned its beliefs & convictions, its outward prosperity is useless. If that outward safety and prosperity is absent but beliefs and convictions are not compromised on, then, once again, outward prosperity is irrelevant. That is why they say that empires often collapse the moment they contradict their own values, and this is why Allah described the militarily defeated Muslims at Uhud as "uppermost," and this is why the most crucial battle being fought against the Muslims today is the ideological battle, or the battle for hearts & minds. It is therefore imperative that we Muslims in the West work to pinpoint the infiltration points through which our enemies are fighting us on this battlefield, through which they work day & night to sap us of our true manifestation of strength = our beliefs, unfiltered by mental colonialism. It is these unfiltered beliefs that made the Companions "uppermost" even while in a state of physical weakness, and it is these unfiltered beliefs that will do the same for us, today.

And through this verse, Allah is embedding in your mind that if you succeed in identifying these infiltration points of mental colonialism, and protect your heart & mind from pollution, you will always be the uppermost, having no justification for exhibiting a feeling of weakness or sadness. And in fact, once you have identified these infiltration points, it is very easy to win this crucial battle. I once had an inmate a few cells down from me, a drug baron named Joe. Joe told me his story of being on the run for years while continuing to run his narcotics business, until the authorities finally caught up to him. He ended his story by sadly exclaiming:

"So, the government can basically do whatever it wants to us."
So, I said to him: "Joe, let me ask you: do you love your wife?"
He replied, "Of course I love her!"
I asked: "Let's say the authorities got ahold of you and applied enough physical pressure. Could they get you to just mouth the words 'I hate my wife'?"
He replied: "Maybe, yeah."
I then asked, "OK. Let's say they tear you limb from limb. Could they in any way affect the love you feel for her deep in your heart?"
Joe replied, "Never."
I concluded the conversation: "Therefore, they can't do whatever they want to you, because your heart is off limits."

So, it is quite easy to win this battle and maintain the upperhand at all times despite external weaknesses. If only our du'at in the West would orient their approach toward tapping into this strength to remind us that we are "uppermost" as opposed to emphasizing the 'Makkan period' & 'Hudaybiyah' comparisons that encourage us to complacently be "weak" and "sad." As I said, this verse should be our slogan today. We need to do away with this mentality of weakness.

Suggested reading:

• The chapter titled 'The Faith Triumphant' from Sayyid Qutb's book 'Milestones' [Read it here: Milestones - Sayyid Qutb]

• 'Civil Democratic Islam' by the RAND Corporation []Amazon.com: Civil Democratic Islam: Partners, Resources, and Strategies…

أکأ‡أ‘أ‍ أ£أ¥أ¤أ‡
Tariq Mehanna
Plymouth Correctional Facility
Isolation Unit - Cell #108