Steadfastness on the Truth in the Face of Tyrants
In the midst of trials and tribulations, and in times when injustice prevails and the voice of truth is suppressed, people of principle emerge, bearing the highest and most radiant image of faith.
Steadfastness on the truth is not during times of ease, but when adhering to it costs the soul or brings suffering; there, the truthful are tested, the ranks are sorted, and the people of resolve are distinguished from those of passion.
Truth is not an opinion to be debated or a deal to be concluded, but a light from God that does not change with time or alter under the pressure of power. Those who stand firm on the truth do so because they know that this life is transient and that God Almighty is more deserving of obedience.
In the Book of God, we have lessons and exhortations. Our master Abraham, peace be upon him, confronted Nimrod, the tyrant who claimed divinity, and did not hesitate to argue with him or fear declaring his faith, despite being threatened with fire. But he said, "Sufficient for me is God, and [He is] the best Disposer of affairs." He did not see the fire as a torment but as a test, so God made it coolness and safety for him.
Similarly, the people of the ditch, a whole nation, refused to bow down and faced the oppression of a king who wanted them to return to disbelief or be burned in fire. They chose faith and death over humiliation and submission. Women, children, men, and the elderly preferred the fire of this world to the fire of the Hereafter. They were not prophets, but ordinary believers, but their steadfastness made them immortal in the Book of God.
Life is not stubbornness, but awareness and steadfastness on the truth out of a deep understanding that what a person believes is the truth that God Almighty approves of; so he does not compromise on it even if the whole world agrees against it. It is a position created by the heart and mind together, not just rebellion, but a refusal to submit to what contradicts nature.
In our time, how much tyranny there is, and how many attempts to falsify awareness, dilute the truth, and distort the truthful, so how much we need today to stand firm and take a stand against the tyrants!
Perhaps steadfastness is in saying a word of truth in front of an unjust official, or in defending the oppressed, or in enduring harm, because you do not want to sell your principles.
Truth in the face of tyranny is the legacy of the prophets, the slogan of the believers, and the secret of the survival of free nations. Whoever stands firm on the truth writes his history with his blood, or with his patience, or with his word. And no matter how strong injustice may seem, only the truth remains, because God is with it: ﴿AND SAY, "TRUTH HAS COME, AND FALSEHOOD HAS VANISHED. INDEED FALSEHOOD IS EVER VANISHING."﴾.
People of principle are the ones who complete the journey, not because the road is easy, but because they carry certainty in their hearts, steadfastness in their depths, and awareness in their minds. What is built on truth cannot be destroyed by injustice or shaken by the storms of falsehood.
When we say that people of principle are the ones who complete the journey, then Gaza is the living meaning of this sentence;
Gaza, where the battle of truth with tyranny is embodied... Gaza is not just a besieged sector, but an open wound in the face of a closed world... A person in it is not measured by the number of his breaths, but by the number of times he said "no" in the face of the most powerful tyrants of evil.
In Gaza, people have nothing to lose but their principles, and they have decided not to give them up, even if they lose everything.
In every demolished house, and in every look of a child who sees the sky from his destroyed home, a meaning is renewed: that principle is more precious than the body, and that dignity is not exchanged for bread.
Gaza is not only under bombardment, but under a great test of faith. They watch the bodies of their loved ones being pulled from under the rubble, and they are patient, seeking reward, steadfast in their faith, believing that God's promise is true, and that His promise will not be broken: ﴿AMONG THE BELIEVERS ARE MEN TRUE TO WHAT THEY VOWED TO ALLAH.﴾.
Gaza is a picture of this nation... It does not need someone to cry over it, but someone to understand its secret: that it does not die, because its cause is its faith, connected to a deep divine meaning.
In Gaza, there are no superheroes, but mothers who shroud their sons with their own hands, then raise their heads and say: O God, accept!
What certainty is this?! It is the faith that is more precious than the soul, and for which everything precious and valuable is sacrificed.
Every demolished house in Gaza is a lesson to the world that tyranny - no matter how great - cannot triumph over those whose hearts are filled with faith, no matter how weak they may seem. It may be weighed down by defeats, confused by trials, and dominated by the forces of tyranny; but it does not die, because in its essence is a divine promise that will not be broken: ﴿AND IT WAS EVER INCUMBENT UPON US TO HELP THE BELIEVERS.﴾.
The Islamic nation becomes ill when it strays from the truth, when it forgets its mission, and when it neglects its duty, but it quickly regains its health when it sees the path; the path of salvation, which God crowned it with, with this trust by which humanity is saved and rescued from the rottenness of the decaying Western civilization; to return once again as the best nation brought forth for mankind, to ascend to the peaks of glory, and to rise again, a promise that God Almighty has promised it with succession and empowerment: ﴿ALLAH HAS PROMISED THOSE WHO HAVE BELIEVED AMONG YOU AND DONE RIGHTEOUS DEEDS THAT HE WILL SURELY GRANT THEM SUCCESSION [TO AUTHORITY] IN THE LAND, AS HE GRANTED IT TO THOSE BEFORE THEM.﴾.
Every pain the nation lives through today, and every drop of blood shed in the cause of God, is part of the throes of a nation returning by the permission of God, and that is not difficult for God.
Written for the radio of the Central Media Office of Hizb ut-Tahrir
Mu'nis Hamid - Wilayah Iraq