STRONG WILL AND THE DETERMINATION OF MEN

Strong will in the heart of its bearers is like a burning fire enticing the body indefatigably.

As I am overwhelmed with my yearning I prepare myself to endure hardships. For great endeavours, there are men who are of a different cut than you, and who pledged to sacrifice themselves for the sake of Allah, and because of this, they are the ones that truly live. When they encounter hours upon which the courage of cowards break, they have the urge to repeat it all over gain, for their hearts are more firm in the battlefields than a star in its orbit. Their eyes never close when night arrives and you never have to wait for them to wake up prior to dawn, and why not, because his thirst has not yet been quenched.

All Companions immigrated from Makkah to Medinah in secret except Umar, RadhiAllahu Anhu, who went out in broad daylight, and not only that, he even challenged the disbelievers saying to them, ‘I am immigrating, therefore whoever wishes to stop me let him meet me down in the valley.’ “How I wish there were amongst you men who had sworn to spill my blood.” Since the day he divorced himself from his desires he cast away the adornment of this life from his household: his house was like that of a poor Muslim person, even though he was the Chief of the Believers [Khalifah].

He, RadhiAllahu Anhu, used to say: ‘If I live long enough I will meet the needs of all the widows of Iraq so that they will need no one after me.’

When Umar Ibn Abdul Aziz became the ruler he heard the sounds of crying in his house, so he inquired about the reason for which they were crying, it was said to him: ‘these are the finest women and handmaidens’, so he said: ‘whoever wished to leave, let her leave, for I have been assigned a matter that will keep me busy from you’

I wonder at that! Where is the strong will of men in comparison to all that? Indeed incapacity is the partner of forbiddance, and opting for laxity bequeaths it owner nothing but exhaustion.

Wash the face of earnestness from the dust of indolence, spend your wealth in good deeds, because if you are among the people of strong will and determination then know that the words ‘maybe’ and ‘perchance’ are not to be found in their vocabulary.