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Part A
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“Put
chains around my hands and burn my chest,
Yet you can never besiege my mind for a minute,
The light is in my heart,
And my heart is in the Hands of my Lord,
And my Lord is my helper and keeper.”
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Allah says in the Qur’an, 32:24: “And We made from them leaders,
guiding others with Our order, once they had patience, and possessed
certainty in our signs.”
The scholars said, in relation to this: “One cannot attain
leadership in the religion except after patience and constancy. So
the believing slave must know that when he is exposed to trials, not
only prison, then this is an indication that Allah (subhanahu wa
ta’ala) has chosen for him leadership in the religion. Therefore, he
is currently being examined, so that Allah may see, and the
believers may see, the truth of his iman and constancy. Most of the
awliyaa’ (beloved) of Allah were tested by this test. There is the
Prophet of Allah, Yusuf (AS) as the Qur’an does not stop at his
imprisonment, and neither does it mention much about it. Allah says,
“And he remained in prison for a few more years…” like that, as if
it is no big deal, as if staying in prison is normal, routine and
easy matter.”
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You
are in prison for two reasons: Firstly, Allah has in store for you a
great position and lofty stations in the future, that you are
unaware of, and that He is currently preparing you for this position
as you are not good enough for it at present. Secondly, He is
cleaning away your previous sins and mistakes to make you even more
worthy of this position…
Part B:
Firaasah (Intuition)
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Firaasah can be
translated to mean intuition, insight, sixth sense, gut feeling,
deep judgement, and related terms. Although it is an ability granted
by Allah, the theory of it can be studied. Imam Ash-Shafi went to
Yemen to study a course in the theory of Firaasah as it used to be
taught in the Islamic institutes at that time.
The concept of Firaasah was what all the Prophets of Allah were
blessed with, but in their case it was divinely bestowed. For
example, Prophet Ibrahim (AS) was given Firaasah to see that a star,
the moon and the sun could not be his god. Likewise, Yusuf (AS) was
given Firaasah in terms of his ability to look deep into dreams and
interpret them. His father Yaqub (AS) also had this ability and it
was manifest in him asking his sons to enter the city from different
gates when they went to show Bin Yamin to their brother Yusuf (AS),
as Allah describes in Surah 12:67-68. And obviously there are
numerous accounts from the life of the Messenger of Allah SAWS)
showing Firaasah.
Likewise some of the Sahabah were blessed with Firaasah. Abu Bakr
(RA), for example, when he alone knew the real meaning behind the
revelation of Surah An-Nasr (110) was signalling the approaching
death of the Prophet (SAWS). Then there is ‘Umar (RA), about whom
the Prophet SAWS) said, “Amongst nations before you there were
inspired people (who were not Prophets) and if there was to be one
from amongst my people then it would be ‘Umar (RA). Umar (RA), about
whom revelation was sent down 19 times in the favour of his opinion
as opposed to the opinion of the messenger of Allah (SAWS).
Finally, many scholars of the early and latter generations have
shown evidence of Firaasah in their lives, and indeed their
writings. For instance it is reported that when Imam An-Nawawi was a
boy of seven years old, he was sleeping next to his father on the
27th night of Ramadan. When half the night had passed, he woke up
all of a sudden and asked his father, “O father! What is the light
which has filled the house?” The whole family woke up but they could
not see anything, whereupon Imam An-Nawawi’s father said, “I then
realised it was Lailatul Qadr (the Night of Power)”
Prison is the perfect environment to develop and be blessed with
Firaasah. Ibn-Al Jawzi wrote in his book, Sayd Al-Khatir; “ I have
not seen or heard of anything that brings repose, honour and dignity
as much as seclusion does. It helps one to stay away from evil, it
protects one’s honour and it saves time. It keeps one away from the
jealous minded who take pleasure in your affliction. It promotes
remembrance of the Hereafter and it allows one to reflect on the
meeting with Allah. In times of seclusion, one’s thoughts may roam
in that which is beneficial, in that which contains wisdom…”
Therefore, as it can be seen, in seclusion one’s mind develops,
views are ripened and one is able to delve into a sea of ideas and
concepts. In such a state, the mind is free to form its opinions.
Isolated from the company of others, the soul is free to achieve a
state of rapture and to hunt for the stimulating thought.
The ideal environment in which to develop Firaasah is prison. In
prison, one is free to worship Allah to the utmost, completing both
obligatory and supererogatory deeds until, as per the Hadith Qudsi,
“I become the sight with which he sees, the hearing with which he
hears, the hand with which he strikes and the foot with which he
walks..” Therefore Firaasah is only developed when in an environment
of vast amounts of good deeds coupled with lack of sins and plenty
of forgiveness. And there is no better place for this than prison,
which is why prison is also known as the ‘factory of men’.
The Prophet (SAWS) said, “Fear the Firaasah of a believer, for he
sees with the Light of Allah.” The strength of a believer’s Firaasah
is directly linked to the strength and level of his Imaan. When his
Imaan reaches a high enough level, his Firaasah increases to the
extent that Allah (SWT) begins to directly communicate with him in
the form of righteous dreams (visions) regarding the future of both
himself and others.
It is reported that many pious people realise the time of their
death shortly before it happens. For example, Fatima bint Muhammad
(Ra) bathed on Friday, wore her best clothes and lay down on a bed
in the middle of her open courtyard awaiting her death. Her noble
soul was lifted a little while later.
Likewise, pious people also have dreams sometimes of significant
world events that are going to take place, before they happen. The
Prophet (SAWS) said, “Prophecy is one forty-sixth part of
prophethood.” He (SAWS) also said, “Towards the end of time, the
righteous dreams of believers will start to become reality.”
Yet another manifestation of Firaasah is the ability to judge or
instantly form an opinion about people, in the absence of apparent
evidence such as prior knowledge or information about those people.
That is why some pious people can tell the sincerity or otherwise,
of a new person within minutes of meeting them for the first time,
even if they have no prior knowledge about that person. This is an
inherent quality in many successful men and leaders, which is why
prison is the university of leaders and successful men. Those who
have experienced the seclusion of prison look at problems,
difficulties and obstacles from a different angle, in a different
light to that which others observe the same.
To be continued…
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His concluding comment:
“I am not a threat to the public and nor am I a terrorist… I
am a political prisoner and not a murderer or armed robber or [like
the] other criminals with whom I spend my breaks. My only crime was
to ask for justice but because of that crime, they want to extradite
me to America. The start of any nation’s end is when they replace
justice with injustice.”
Source: www.stoppoliceterror.com
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