"The Major" Dilemma

Bismillah, alhamdulillah wa-salaatu wa-salaamu 'ala Rasulullah wa 'ala alihi wa sahbihi ajmaeen.

Brothers and sisters in Islam, as-salaamu 'alaikum wa rahmatullah. As the smoke circulating the incident at Fort Hood remains in course of clearing, a multitude of concerns and reactions plague the circumstance. Amidst our Ummah, the Ummah of Muhammad salallahu 'alayhi wa salaam, the majority we're haste in speaking out and even releasing statements condemning the act carried out by Malik Nidal Hassan. Confessedly, I too, basing the motives of our brother on the initial reports from officers who knew him, presumed he targeted people senselessly over some frustrated, petty personal reasons. But the more that unfolds about our brother, the more I'm convinced his gunfire was for the sake of Allah and in honor and defense of our fellow believers and worshipers of Him overseas.

The corporate journalists, columnists, networks and U.S. officials may manufacture whichever conclusions they please. As for us, those whose fear, hope and love is for Allah azza wa jall, we have the obligation to withhold conviction until analysis has been exhausted and ilm-ul-yaqeen, clear and certain knowledge, has been attained. Our dear brother and esteemed shiekh Anwar al-Awlaki, with unmatched bravery and commitment to al-Haqq, insisted publicly that Hassan did the right thing. On the other hand, I say if Hassan's intentions were as brother Awlaki speculates, and I pray they were, then only in such a case has he indeed done the right thing. Until we can confirm his true motives, and Allah Knows best what they were, I can neither praise nor rebuke the actions of our brother.

In Awlaki's claim that Hassan could no longer bear the contradiction of being Muslim and serving in the same forces assigned to fight his brothers and sisters abroad, I was brought to wonder about the rest of the Muslims serving in the U.S. Military as well. With over 10,000 soldiers who declare there is no god worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad 'alayhi wa-salaatu wa-salaam is His final Messenger to be followed until the Last Day, this blatant contradiction and nifaq (hypocrisy) hasn't so much as twinkled in their mind? How do they, over 10,000 professed Muslims, justify their position?

O Muslims, seriously we must contemplate and remind ourselves where our loyalty is set and where our disavowal is applied. We must contemplate and honestly assess ourselves as to where our hearts stand in relationship to al-Wala 'wal-Bara. Is our loyalty and allegiance to Allah and His Messenger, or is it instead pledged to those who plot, spend and fight to disrupt, degrade and extinguish the light of Allah and the guidance of ar-Rasulullah salallahu 'alayhi wa salaam? Na'udu billah!

May Allah purify us of such nifaq and guide this Ummah and its mujahideen. May He give us victory over His enemies and ours. Ameen. May He azza wa jall amplify our resistance against forces of every form that oppose our entitlement to His Pleasure and an eternal abode in Jannah. Allahumma ameen!

Let us contemplate and remember the words of Umar ibn al-Khattab radiallahu 'anhu when he advised the mujahideen during the Battle of al-Qadisiyyah: "We do NOT overpower them with our strength!" Their numbers are greater and their weapons are superior, the only way we're victorious is due to our mindfulness and responsiveness to our duties to Allah. It is when we neglect our duties as Muslims and sin as our enemies sin that Allah, our Lord, humiliates us. Umar radiallahu 'an also warned: "Do not say our enemies our worse than us, so they will not overpower us. Perhaps some people who are worse than the others may overpower the others as the polytheists overpowered the Bani Israel as they involved themselves in disobedience to Allah."

And so we may question why in the first place does Allah allow His disbelievers and enemies a position of wealth and arms to invest in fighting against His Cause? Allah Promises everything they spend will wind a source of grief and utter regret for them and Islam will supersede all other ideological and political systems anyway. But in the meantime we may concern ourselves with "why?" Well, this was framed in fine perspective by the classic mufasir Ibn Kathir rahimullah who said about Surah al-Anfal ayah 36 coupled with its succeeding ayah in summary says to us what means: "We tried you with combatant disbelievers whom we made able to spend from their wealth in fighting you to distinguish between those believers who obey Allah and fight His disbelieving enemies and those (among our Ummah) who disobey Him." As Allah said in Surah al-Anfal ayah 179 what means:

"Allah will not leave the believers in the state they are presently in until He seperates the evil from the good (among them). Nor will Allah disclose to you al-ghayb (the unseen)."

And in ayah 142 of the same Surah our Mighty Rabb says what means:

"Do you think that you will enter Paradise while Allah has not yet made evident those of you who fight in His Cause and make evident those who are steadfast?"

May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make us among the mu'mineen whose prayer, fighting, spending, sacrifice, living and dieing is for Him alone and who fully and unhesitatingly support, defend and join via spiritual or physical means the fight in His Cause, sincerely for His sake, that we may share in the barakah and glad tidings of the truly righteous and faithful. Ameen thumma ameen.