This era is the era of fitna. Fitna in al-Quran andal-Sunnah is not as understood by the Malay people with a meaning that relatesto making false accusations to others. Fitna as mentioned in al-Quranand al-Sunnah means trials or events that threaten the religion and life’stranquility able to drag a person into the mire cursed by Allah.
The Prophet s.a.w taught us numerous beautiful du’a (recitations ofsupplication). However, sometimes a person cannot feel the beauty of thosedu’a, not until the du’a truly connects to his present life’ssituation. When the situation presents itself then only the poignancy of thedu’a can be savored.
At that time, the du’a that we repeatedly recite without any specialfeeling attached to it becomes so poignant that it touches deep inside the heartand soul. Unfortunately in our community, the du’a authentically taughtby the Prophet s.a.w are abandoned whereas fabricated du’a suggested bybooks or people not sourced from the Prophet s.a.w become their choice ofpreference.
A prominent religious figure of this ummah named al-Qadi ‘Iyadh said, “VerilyAllah has granted the permission (for us) to supplicate Him. He teaches Hisservants du’a in His Book. The Prophet s.a.w also taught his followersvarious du’a. Those du’a consist of three elements namely theknowledge on tauhid (belief in oneness and uniqueness of Allah) and linguisticapplication and advices to the ummah.
Thus, it is improper for a person to turn his back on the du’ataught by the Prophet s.a.w. The Satan has deceived humankind in this matter andhe has given rise to a group of evil people (who fabricated artificial du’a).Consequently, they fabricate artificial du’a turning them away fromemulating the Prophet s.a.w.
Even worse, they associate those du’a to the prophets and the piousMuslims and claim that this is the du’a of Adam, du’a of Nuh, du’a ofYunus and du’a of Abi Bakr al-Siddiq r.a” (Ibn al-Imam, Silah al-Mu’min fial-Du`a wa al-Zikr, pg. 22-23, Damsyik: Dar al-Kalim al-Tayyib)
This era is the era of fitna. Fitna in al-Quran andal-Sunnah is not as understood by the Malay people with a meaning that relatesto making false accusations to others. Fitna as mentioned in al-Quran andal-Sunnah means trials or events that threaten the religion and life’stranquility able to drag a person into the mire cursed by Allah.
Similarly, syirk (joining others in worship with Allah), kufr (actof disobedience or disbelief to Allah), bid’ah (innovation in act ofworship), immoral activities, homicide, chaos, havoc and the likes of it arealso characterized as fitna. To live in an era of fitna is anexcruciating experience. Sometimes a person can even get disoriented indetermining which one is the right standpoint and decision.
The Prophet s.a.w taught us in many hadith to always seek refugewith Allah from fitna that is the menace that jeopardizes our religionand life’s tranquility. Because of that, among his teachings is for thoseperforming the prayer to always seek refuge with Allah from four elements. Thedu’a is, “O Allah, verily I seek refuge with You from the torment ofHell, from the torment of the grave, from fitna in this life andafterlife and from the fitna of al-Masih Dajjal.” (Reported byal-Bukhari and Muslim)
This du’a is to be recited during the tasyahud (tahiyyat) before pronouncingthe Salam. There are many more beautiful du’a taught by the Prophet s.a.w to berecited in salaat However, many are not aware of those du’a since their salaatis based on blind imitation. They do not learn the salaat through studying thehadith of the Prophet s.a.w but instead, they inherit the salaat by imitatingwhat they have seen from others.
Without knowing how to perform the salaat as taught by the Messenger of Allahs.a.w, we will lose the chance of experiencing the pleasing effect of thosedu’a. Because of that, among the books worthy to be read by all levels of thesociety concerning salaat is the book written by a famous hadith scholar namedNasiruddin al-Albani titled “The Prophet’s Prayer (saw)”.
We can learn many beautiful recitations taught by Allah’s Messenger s.a.w.Among the beautiful recitations is that when the Prophet s.a.w woke up atnighttime to perform the salaat, he would commence his salaat (recited the du’aof iftitah) with these words, “O Allah, Lord of Gabriel, and Michael, andIsrafil, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, Who knowest the unseen andthe seen; Thou decidest amongst Thy servants concerning their differences. Guideme with Thy permission in the divergent views (which the people) hold aboutTruth, for it is Thou Who guidest whom Thou wilt to the Straight Path” (Reportedby Muslim)
Such profound is the effect of du’a similar to this – with the exquisitenessof its Arabic language – that penetrates the heart while other people are stilldeep in their sleep and submerged in their dreams whereas a sincere servant ofAllah pleads and begs to be guided towards the right path amidst all thediscords occurring in the community.
This du’a touches the heart and the fragility of its innermost being as welive in an era of perpetual dispute and occupied with chaotic conducts ofhumankind. Each side claims that they are the right ones to the extent that wedo not know which is actually Satan masquerading as humans or angels accused ofSatan.
We have been repeatedly reciting this du’a from the Prophet s.a.w, “O Allah,if You wish for fitna to occur in the community then let me die in a conditionnot affected by the fitna.” (Reported by al-Imam Ahmad, ranked as sahih byal-Albani) Reading this hadith in an era or situation full with fitna reallytouches the heart.
It really feels like there is a dire need for it now. The longing for thegenuine tranquility in life is deeply felt. Without realizing it, tears dampenthe cheeks as we endure the weariness of coping with life’s turbulence and thepining of the heart in yearning for the guidance from the Lord. In this du’a,the Prophet s.a.w taught us to supplicate Allah to prevent us from beingimpinged on by fitna, the harm that threatens the stand or position of ourreligious observance.
When fitna descends on us jeopardizing the teaching of Allah and HisMessenger then life will become poison although it is made out as honey. If itis true that fitna will occur then we are asked to supplicate Allah to take ourlife in a condition unaffected by the fitna or harm. This is despite the factthat the fundamental ruling is a person is not commanded to wish to die but inanother hadith, he said, “None of you should wish for death because of acalamity befalling him; but if he has to wish for death, he should say: “OAllah! Keep me alive as long as life is better for me, and let me die if deathis better for me.’ “(Reported by al-Bukhari and Muslim)
Sometimes death is better than being alive if it only causes troubles toothers inciting fitna or inconvenience to the ummah. Similarly, death is alsobetter than trying to face tribulation that in the end causes us to be defeatedand suffer losses in the Afterlife. Thus, it is not surprising to know thatSaidina ‘Umar bin al-Khattab r.a in his old age, after he came back fromperforming the Hajj, he looked up the sky and raised his hands and supplicatedAllah, “O Allah! Verily my age has stretched out, my bones have become brittleand my people have multiplied. Thus, take my life before I mistreat my dutywithout it affected by fitna.” Consequently, after less than a month he returnedto Medina, he was murdered.
In similar case was Saidina ‘Ali bin Abi Talib. Although he has not reachedan old age yet but he asked from Allah to rest him from the stubbornness of hispeople who were in chaos and refused to calm down despite the effort he had putin. Consequently, he died not long after. Khalifah ‘Umar bin ‘Abdul ‘Aziz askedfor a person whose supplication was effective to supplicate Allah to take hislife when he felt that his people were unable to observe the justice and truthhe struggled to uphold. Thus, not long after that, he passed away. (Refer to:Ibn Rajab, al-Jami’ al-Muntakhab, pg. 103, Lebanon: Muassasah Fuad)
This is a fragmental story of the history of the pious individuals whopreferred to die instead of living but bringing on burdens and fitna to others.Compare them with the politicians who are more than willing to let others die aslong as they can live. All sorts of gibberish are being delivered to achievetheir goals. Let the people’s heads roll as long as they can seize power.
I am not bringing up this story so that we can all give up on life. On theother hand, it is so that a weak person like me will always remember thatalthough our feet are fixed on the ground on this earth but our heart has toalways be occupied with the real life that starts after life’s episode on theearth ends. If that is how our heart and emotion is set, surely our politickingwill not be in such disorderly manner.
Sometimes the political work has a religious sound to it but in several casesreligion is also used merely as a bridge to walk on to reach the politicalseats. Thus, how many people just recite the nas (religious authoritative texts)that illegalizes this and that mainly to blame others but at the same time, theydo not recite the nas to remind themselves and their groups.
For instance, when they accused others with various allegations, we did nothear any voice reciting the nas and evidence depicting the unlawfulness ofaccusing others without proofs and witnesses. However, when other people make anaccusation against us, all evidences and nas flow out smoothly to condemn thataction. Many have become confused by it. Who is being honest and who ishoodwinking? Or, are all of them monsters appearing in various forms to enticeall of us?
In a situation such as this, who is protected? Based on the hadith of theProphet s.a.w the most protected group is those who restrain themselves fromjoining up any of the groups that are in conflict with each other among theMuslims. That fitna ruins the religion because the conflict occurs dueto ambiguous reasons. Allah says in surah al-Isra’ verse 36 (translated as):“And pursue not that of which thou hast no knowledge; for every act of hearing,or of seeing or of (feeling in) the heart will be enquired into (on the Day ofReckoning).”
During the time of Saidina ‘Ali bin Abi Talib r.a, fitna occurred fragmentingthe Muslims including the companions of the Prophet s.a.w. It all stemmed fromthe issues surrounding the murder of Saidina ‘Uthman in ‘Affan r.a. The issuesthey were facing and their personality are much more virtuous unlike theambiguous and questionably obscure personality of some people these days.
The historians try to analyze whose opinion was the most truthful in thatparticular state of fitna. Various conclusions were produced. However, I am ofthe same opinion that the most accurate stand is the stand of the companions whorefused to be involved in that dispute. This was the standpoint of the majorityof the companions.
Muhammad bin Sirin said (deceased in 110H), “The surge of fitna swept theummah while tens of thousands of the companions were still alive but not morethan one hundred of them were involved. In fact, the number did not even exceedthirty people.” (Ibn Kathir, Al-Bidayah wa al-Nihayah, 7/264, Lebanon: Daral-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyyah).
Before the clash between the two companions ‘Ali and Mu’awiyah known as thebattle of Siffin struck, many quarters struggled to put a stop to it. Twoprominent companions Abu Umamah al-Bahili and Abu Darda’ are among the manypeople who tried to patch up the two sides. They went to see Mu’awiyah and said,“O Mu’awiyah! What is your justification for waging war against ‘Ali? By Allah!Verily he embraced Islam much earlier than you and your father did. His relationto Allah’s Messenger is much closer and he has more rights than you do ingovernance.”
Mu’awiyah answered, “I am waging war against him because of ‘Uthman’s bloodand verily ‘Ali is protecting his murderer. Both of you go to him and tell himto execute ‘Uthman’s murderer and I will certainly be the first person from Syamto give the pledge of allegiance to him.”
Thus, Abu Umamah and Abu Darda’ went to see ‘Ali and stated to him therequest made by Mu’awiyah. Sayyidina ‘Ali then showed them a troupe of army andsaid, “We are the murderers of ‘Uthman. Whoever wishes to attack us, please doso.” In the end, Abu Umamah and Abu Darda’ went back and decided not to getinvolved in the battle. .(Ibn Kathir, al-Bidayah wa al-Nihayah, 7/270).
Similarly, Abu Muslim al-Khaulani and those of the same standpoint as he wasmet with Mu’awiyah and asked, “You are waging war against ‘Ali, are youcomparable to him?”
Mu’awiyah answered, “By Allah! I sincerely know that he is much better andmore qualified as well as more deserving to be in governance than I am. However,all of you know that ‘Uthman was murdered unjustly and I am his cousin. I amavenging ‘Uthman’s blood. Tell ‘Ali to hand over ‘Uthman’s murderer to me and Iwill certainly pass this affair to him.” (Ibid 8/132).
Therefore, because of the ambiguity surrounding the situation at that time,most of the companions and tabi’in (the successors of the companions) took thestandpoint of refusing to participate in the battle.
That battle was headed by the prominent companions such as ‘Ali bin Abi Talibthe cousin of the Prophet s.a.w as well as the legitimate khalifah, ‘Aisyah thewife of the Prophet s.a.w, Mu’awiyah the companion of the Prophet s.a.w butstill the majority of the companions refused to participate in it because of theconfusion. This was despite the fact that those prominent figures were pioussouls whom had been granted Paradise by the Prophet s.a.w.
Do we then, in this era, wish to participate in the conflict among theMuslims concerning ambiguous issues and headed by dubious personalities? Fitna ofitna! O Allah, we leave everything to You in this baffling fitna.