What can we do for Gaza?

The first question is that, "Is this war a sign of the Day of Judgement?" The answer is quite simply, yes.

One of the signs of the Day of Resurrection is that we the muslims will be large in number, but we will be weak and broken.

Thauban reported that the Messenger of Allah said:

“It is near that the nations will call one another against you just as the eaters call one another to their dishes.”

Somebody asked: “Is this because we will be few in numbers that day?”

He said: “Nay, but that day you shall be numerous, but you will be like the foam of the sea, and Allah will take the fear of you away from your enemies and will place weakness into your hearts.”

Somebody asked: “What is this weakness?”

He said: “The love of the world and the dislike of death.” (Abu Dawud)

The Muslims are now seen as the lowest from among societies. Muslim nations have severed themselves from each other in a bid to gain authority. The Muslim brotherhood about which the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa salam once said,

“The Muslim Ummah is like the human body, if one part of the body aches, the entire body aches.”

Is now more like if one part of the Ummah is in pain and suffering, the rest of the Muslim nations will sit back and watch the clouds go by.

The question one must ask is why is this happening? How can it be possible that 4 million Jews across the world are more stronger and fiercer than a group of people who are 2.6 billion in number? The reason is because the teachings of Islam have been left and the way of Rasulullah salallahualayhi wa salam has been thrown away. If a country was to follow the way Allah has decreed that a country should be run. If it stepped in when its brethren are suffering and it tried to bring peace to the towns and cities. Then you would see that the people of that country would be honourable and respected in the eyes of muslims and non-muslims. But in this day and age there is none like this.

The underlying theme now is, what can we do to help?

Well firstly and most importantly we must make Dua. It is the main thing we can do to help. The Prophet salallahu alayhi wa salam has said that:

"Dua is the weapon of a believer."

Dua is extremely important, if a person starts to neglect dua then Allah doesn’t like it because that Muslim isn’t asking from Allah. Dua is such that we should even ask Allah for help when we want to tie our own shoelace! Allah is Al-Kareem He is the Rich the Wealthy, the Possessor of all bounties, He is the Most Powerful, He is the Most Wise, He is the All Knowing and He is Control over all things. Time and time again we see the various attributes of Allah mentioned in the Qur’an. In Imam Nawawi’s Arba’in it has been narrated on the authority of Abu Dharr radiallahu anhu:

“O My servants, were the first of you and the last of you, the human of you and the jinn of you to rise up in one place and make a request of Me, and were I to give everyone what he requested, that would not decrease what I have, any more than a needle decreases the sea if put into it.”

When a Muslim makes dua for his Muslim brother an angel says ‘Ameen’ and makes the same dua for the one who made the supplication in the first place. Now I ask, will an angel ever have his dua rejected when all they do is glorify Allah night and day? Whenever the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa salam and his companions ever had a battle or war or any sort of difficulty the first thing they would do is observe patience and make dua. They would make such dua that when armies 10,000 in number would come to fight a group of Muslim only 346 in number, you would find that the 346 beat the 10,000. It seems impossible and unbelievable but this is the effect and power that dua had.

The second most helpful thing a person can do at this moment in time is also to donate whatever you can to the oppressed people. Sadaqah (charity) is something that removes sins and has only goodness attached to it. There are many ahadeeth regarding charity and here is one. The Prophet salallahu alayhi wa salams said:

“The believer's shade on the Day of Resurrection will be his Sadaqah.” (Ahmad).

Recently alot of people have been hesitant about donating money to Gaza for the reason that they aren't sure wether their money will reach the people or not. The scholars have said that if a person donates money in the path of Allah he should not worry about wether it reaches there or not because at the end of the day his deed of donating the money is accepted wether it reaches the place or not. Aslong as our intentions are clean and we try to make the means of finding a proper person to deal with the charity and not someone who is untrustworthy, then we should leave the rest to Allah. Also, one should note that when we do donate money to charity and sadaqa we should keep our intentions that we are doing such acts for the pleasure of Allah and that we should not think that by donating this money we are helping the people in a boastful or proud way that they are relying on our help and support. No, this is not the case. If anything we are helping ourselves because we are the poor and needy in this world and in the hereafter in terms of good deeds. This sadaqa will help us in the hereafter when we are standing in the courts of Allah.

Recently there has been alot of media coverage and advertisements concerning demonstrations and rallies. Concerning this issue one must keep in mind the following; If one goes to a protest, we know that this does put pressure on the government and it does have some sort of effect but during the these times, you will notice that 50,000 people will go to Hyde park to march down to the embassy, but the majority of those people that are Muslims may miss their Zuhar, Asar and Magrib prayers because they are so close to each other and there isn’t no proper place to pray or to even do wudhu. Fardh acts come before everything else. If the people cannot get their prayer then what type of effect will these protests have? Imagine if every protestor before he/she left their house they prayed 2 rakaat nafl salaah and made dua for those in Gaza. That in itself would have more of an effect and virtue than these protests.

Insh'Allah more will be written about this in the coming days.

May Allah bring peace to our Muslim lands and May He bring back unity and respect to this ummah. Ameen.

P.S. Insha'Allah in the next couple of days we will be raising money for the Gaza Appeal in college. So brothers and sisters are requested to try and donate as much as possible. Jazakallah.