Would we Muslims be ‘psychologically’ ready to defend ourselves and ‘psychologically’ confident of winning, if a powerful country with huge armies and sophisticated weapons is planning to attack us?  What if it happens when the weather and environmental conditions are unbearable, the weaponry is not as sophisticated as the enemy, the lacking of logistic preparation, the distance of the war field,  the scarcity of resources, and on top of that,  the season where you’ll be receiving the resources (e.g. food/money) is approaching?  This is the scenario faced by the Sahabah/Companions RAA before the War of Tabuk took place.   This is the superpower Roman empire we are talking about (imagine a superpower country during our time) not just the Meccan people or just any Arab tribes.  Are we ‘psychologically’ prepare for that?  It is timely for us to ‘psychologically’ review this event since it happened during the month of Rajab.

Other blogposts related to the month of Rajab are “Why are Some Muslims Psychologically Obsessed with the Month of Rajab?” and “The Psychology of Isra’ and Mi`raj.

Some of you may have answered ‘yes’ to the above question, alhamdulillah.  I would too - conceptually-speaking.  But when reviewing what some Sahabahs/Companions did before - operationally-speaking, it makes me feel fearful that I may not have that strong iman to join the war myself. Read the rest of this entry »

Question: In a series of competition, if you won, and then you lost, what would you do?  You would fight back, right?  The problem is, sometimes I am not aware that we Muslims had lost and still keep on losing - hence, sometimes I do not fight back in this psychological battle that decrease (or even distort) Muslims’ iman and `amal.  The Sahabah/Companions RAA, in the month of Dhu al-Qi`dah (Zulkaedah) after winning the Badr War and ‘losing’ the Uhud War, they fought back!  They didn’t feel hopeless with the loss during Uhud War, and they didn’t feel overly-proud with the victory during Badr War.  They fought back! 

This writing is inspired from the writing of Munir Muhammad al-Ghudban in his book “al-Manhaj al-Haraki li al-Sirah al-Nabawiyyah.”

In this battle, Muslims were facing 10,000 enemies consisting of a coalation (Ahzab) of 10,000 Musyrikun (Polytheists) Makkah, various Arab qabilahs/tribes, the Jews, and the Munafiqin (Hypocrites).  In other words, enemies from outside Media and within it.  Nowadays, facing psychological war from the coalation (Ahzab) of atheistic scientists, Zionist Jews, Christian Crusaders, and materialistics/secular Western and Muslim leaders, what did I do?  Sometimes I just sit back and enjoy the materialistic life I am having, thinking that it is a gift/ni`mah from Allah - and it should stay that way.  And sometimes I think that a couple of individual ritualistic `ibadah can ‘balance’ or ‘preserve’ my iman and `amal in the hereafter, so why bother involved in da`wah, tarbiyyah, and jihad.  Sometimes, I do not even give an effort to build new psychological “ditch” (Khandaq) as defense to protect Muslims’ iman and `amal because I think it is enough to perform salat, zakat, sawm, hajj, dhikr, sadaqah, etc.   What did the the Sahabahs/Companions RAA do? They defended the purity of their `aqidah, and the validity of their `ibadah, and the morality of their akhlaq in the War of Khandaq/Ahzab.  Read the rest of this entry »

Most of us Muslims feel quite ’safe’ nowadays, right? Especially those who are living in a majority-Muslim countries.  ‘Safe’ here means that we can perform our salat/prayers, pay our zakat/alms-giving, perform our sawm/fasting, perform our hajj/pilgrimage, and perform our individual/collective ritualistic `ibadah activities that do not require or burden us to think or perform da`wah, tarbiyyah, and jihad.  Note: Actually, Muslims are quite free to do all these activities in some minority-Muslim countries, how weird is that? Compare this to the Sahabah RAA who never felt safe and continuously involved in da`wah, tarbiyyah, and jihad.  They only felt a little bit ’safe’ during the War of Hunayn and Allah already gave them a painful lesson during the war.  Are we Muslims nowadays actually ‘playing safe’ by not performing da`wah, tarbiyyah, and jihad to avoid such painful lesson and to avoid improving ourselves as ‘real’ Muslims? 

This writing is inspired from the writing of Munir Muhammad al-Ghudban in his book “al-Manhaj al-Haraki li al-Sirah al-Nabawiyyah.”

Remember, this war happenned after the event of Fath al-Makkah, the event that indicate the victory of Muslims over polytheist of Makkah, an important city in Arab in terms of business, arts, and religion.  Any Muslim would feel very proud at that time.  Arab tribes from all over Arab Peninsula came to Makkah to declare their conversions to Islam.  Read the rest of this entry »

In the early (in fact till the end of) month of Shawwal/Syawal, most Muslims in Malaysia would still be celebrating `Id al-Fitr (Aidil Fitri) although, technically and shari`atically,`Id al-Fitr is celebrated ONLY on the 1st of Shawwal.  Unfortunately, amidst the joy of celebration, we tend to forget one important event that had occured in the early Shawwal: The War of Uhud… This writing is inspired from the writing of Munir Muhammad al-Ghudban in his book “al-Manhaj al-Haraki li al-Sirah al-Nabawiyyah.”

After winning the War of Badr, surely the Muslims were psychologically excited to defend themselves again in the War of Uhud (Al-Qur’an, Ali `Imran: 142), right?  But they had to learn some important lessons: those elements of psychological traits such as hypocrisy, undisciplinary, and lack of faith are important factors in winning/losing a battle. Read the rest of this entry »

Some Muslims, during Ramadan, are very concerned about the “selfish”-type of `ibadah trying to maximise as much as possible the rewards for ourselves.  The over-zealousness of performing salat tarawih based on false rewards promised in fabricated/forged hadith (hadith mawdu`) is one of them.  But during Ramadan, Prophet Muhammad SAW and his Sahabahs/Companions RAA were involved in a war (a very physically and psychologically demanding activities) that made all of them being promised to enter Jannah/Paradise, and being pardoned of both past and future sins!  Wow! How I wish I would have that privilege.  So, let us psychologically reflect the lessons that can be learned in this war, the War of Badr… This writing is inspired from the writing of Munir Muhammad al-Ghudban in his book “al-Manhaj al-Haraki li al-Sirah al-Nabawiyyah.”

I believe that the War of Badr is ‘psychologically’ important because the day is labelled by the Qur’an as the Day of Furqan (the Criterion between Truth and Falsehood) (See surah Al-Anfal: 41).  This is the day where Truth is clearly differentiated with Falsehood: Islamic ideology vs. polytheistic/shirk ideology, Islamic rituals vs. bid`ah (innovation in rituals), Islamic akhlaq vs. culturally-based morality, Islamic servanthood vs. slavery to human, and Islamic way of life vs. lust-based way of life.  It is the ahl al-Badr (the Muslim armies of Badar) that have helped us in differentiating all these.  No wonder they received immense rewards (and pardons) from Allah.  If I were to live during those era, am I confident enough to join them to war? Or worse, would I join the polytheist Quraysh instead (Allah forbid!) to attack the Muslims?

Can you imagine Muslims before the War of Badar had been oppressed in Makkah?  They were boycotted, tortured, and some of them were even killed!  During that period, the whole focus of da`wah and tarbiyyah is just to build the true `aqidah, to stay patience, and to unite the ummah… NOT to physically attack the Musyrikun Makkah.  Suddenly, with just a few months after the establishment of the new Islamic state at Madinah, 313 (or so) Muslim armies have to face 1,000 enemies, the very people that tortured and boycotted, them, killed their family members, and stolen their properties!  And sometimes, these very enemies are their own family members and relatives!    Would you join them in war…?  But, the Sahabahs/Companions RAA did!

This is even when the Companions RAA secretly wished that the Muslims would be the larger group (who doesn’t?) compared to the Musyrikin (polytheists) Makah (see surah al-Anfal: 5-8).  In other words, their confidence of winning is not that strong.  But why did they stick to this mission of da`wah and jihad?  I believe this was due to the ‘psychological’ tarbiyyah that Prophet Muhammad SAW had instilled before i.e. focusing on `aqidah, patience, and unity.  That is a very strong foundation of a great army.  Numbers are just secondary (though still quite important). Read the rest of this entry »