Voice of British Muslim Women

Nooresahar Ahmad, Hampshire

Grief sends tremors through the living with monstrous force. It causes changes in behaviour, sleep, body function. It affects the immune system, it makes the sufferer spend whole periods of time wrapped in a brain fog, repressing and warping their memory forever. Right now, we are witnessing grief on an unprecedented scale. Since the horrific killings of civilians in Israel on October 7th, the people of Gaza are being punished indiscriminately. At a distance from the violence, we have watched video after video of neighbourhoods turned into rubble, fathers and brothers searching in the wreckage for their families, mothers cradling their deceased children. I have been turning over their grief in my mind for weeks; I find that I am too weak to fathom it for even a second.

There is also a kind of second-hand grief being experienced by people around the world — a sense that we are mourning the fact that we live in a world in which such injustices can take place, in which we are failing to care for our weakest and most oppressed people.

What is to be done with this grief?

In trying to find the answer to this question, I have turned to the example of the life of the Prophet of Islam, Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be on him). He was intimately familiar with the catastrophes of grief; his father passed away before he was even born; his mother then died when he was aged just 6, whereupon he was placed in the care of his paternal grandfather; two years later, his grandfather also died. By age 8, he had experienced the blows of losing his primary caregivers, three times over. As the book Seal of Prophets explains, ‘These happenings left a deep and ever enduring effect on the heart of the Holy Prophet [peace and blessings of Allah be on him].’ Such losses at such a tender age no doubt play a defining role in the development of one’s character — they could easily make one disillusioned, alienated, bitter.

Yet, in the case of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be on him), as the book Seal of Prophet notes, ‘these initial grievances were the reason behind his immense love for the poor and special sympathy for the less fortunate; thus his nature became exceptionally distinguished.’ In the earlier part of his life, before his prophethood, Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be on him) exhibited a keen commitment to protecting and fulfilling the rights of the most vulnerable members of society; one example is his commitment to the Hilful-Fudul agreement, which aimed to protect the rights of the oppressed and restrain the oppressor from injustice. After his prophethood, under Divine guidance, he provided an unparalleled example of what it means to seek equality and justice for all peoples. It is no coincidence that the earliest followers of Islam consisted of women and slaves, who were some of the most acutely oppressed groups in Arabia at the time.

The Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be on him) thus generated his grief and pain into a remarkable and noble concern for the pain of others. Of course, there is another path which can be taken — one in which the heart hardens instead of softens. The Quran addresses this: ‘Did He not find thee an orphan and give thee shelter? […] So the orphan, oppress not, / And as for the beggar, chide him not, / And the bounty of thy Lord, proclaim.’ (93:7, 10-12) It is all too easy to, having been hurt, inflict hurt upon others. The Quran urges us to have a different approach. If we experience injustice, we should remember that feeling, and use the memory to prevent the oppression of others. If we were abandoned, we must remember that feeling, and use it to help others whenever they require it of us. And, in reminding us to proclaim the bounty of our Lord, we are told to still have hope in Allah and in this life.

It suits oppressors if we fear one another, if we become suspicious and despairing, if we lose belief in our capacity for compassion and change. The way we view the world may, in fact it should, have changed in the past weeks. We have a responsibility to recognise and pay attention to the brutalities being carried out, so we can learn how we may try to alleviate them. May the pain we witness and experience, rather than making us adamant to inflict it on others in turn, make us better at assuaging suffering. May we become and remain #voicesforpeace. And may Allah have mercy on, and grant comfort to, the grieving.

References:

https://www.alislam.org/quran/app/93:1
https://www.alislam.org/library/books/Seal-of-Prophets-Vol-1.pdf pages 136-7,144