THE PATH TO JANNAH IS NOT EASY AND NOT CHEAP…
In 1991, I was a first-year student at the Faculty of Theology. I have been actively preaching since that year. In my sermons, I would always talk about both the physical and psychological violence that the tribes before our Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wasallam) suffered because of their faith, and the persecution and suffering that our Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wasallam) and his companions suffered from the Meccan polytheists, hypocrites and Jews.
What I told took me back years ago and I would get emotional and cry. Because even though I didn’t say it, I secretly wanted to live in those years and feel the warmth of faith with those people to my bones.
Oh, I wish I had witnessed Bilal’s رضي الله عنه faith, just as the huge stones placed on Bilal’s رضي الله عنه naked body witnessed Bilal’s رضي الله عنه martyrdom.
I wish I were one of those who walked to the Kaaba, arm in arm, in the second row, when the Companions رضي الله عنه, whose number did not reach 40, walked to the Kaaba, arm in arm.
I wish my head had been split open at Uhud instead of the Prophet’s (sallallahu alaihi wasallam) head. If all my teeth were sacrificed for a single tooth of the Messenger of Allah. I wish that cheek that bled from the helmet that sank into the Prophet’s face was mine.
I wish my name was Hazrat Sumayya (radhiyallahu anha) and I would be known as the “first martyr” in heaven.
Ah, I would say, if I were the sahaba who was tortured with fire by his master, or Abu Zhar رضي الله عنه who was beaten to death for saying Allah. Oh, if I were a member of the companions who were boycotted for years and left hungry and thirsty, but who never gave up and stood tall.
I wish my hands were the ones that cleaned the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam when the camel tripe was placed on him. If only I were the target of the arrows shot at him.
Oh, I would say, if I were one of the Rasul’s lovers who willingly goes through all the troubles and all the tortures in order to receive the slightest compliment from the Messenger.
I wish I had lived in that age when faith was at its peak and seen the lords of heaven through the eyes of the world. If only I had witnessed their rock-solid faith, their patience, their hearts like a barbecue, their trust and submission.
Sometimes I would sit and meditate for a long time. I would think that those days had passed, and I would be convinced that there would never be anyone with that level of faith, patience, and submission, and I would feel deathly sad. “What an unfortunate age I live in,” I would say reproachfully. “It was my destiny to breathe in such a strange age.” I would say and get sad.
But for 38 days, “O you who believe! Believe!” I am observing the manifestation of the verse. God forbid, a force of faith arose in my heart as if I had not believed before but had become a new Muslim. I watch the Palestinians with amazement.
The young man who buried his brother smiles and says, “hasbunallahu wa ni’mal wakeel,” and is happy that he has been martyred, alhamdulillah. And he adds: “I hope it will be my turn too.”
The man whose baby died as a result of the bombardment held the child up in the air and said, “Look, I gave my life to you. Are you pleased with me now, Lord? If so, alhamdulillah. Take more from me!” says.
The woman whose 6 children were martyred only says “Allah is enough for us”.
“God tests us because He loves us,” says the 10-year-old little girl, laughing.
While drinking their drinks in the car, the two men laugh and say, “These drinks are the last drinks we have here. We will drink the rest in heaven. See you in heaven.”
While the tanks are advancing on the young people, they are laughing and doing their local dances.
Women are wearing their prayer clothes and taking their children with them, waiting to be martyred.
The young people, who were handcuffed and taken to death, are laughing and making victory signs.
A 10-year-old boy refuses a piece of halva that his grandfather offers him to eat, saying, “Grandpa, I am fasting. I fast all the time because I want to die fasting when I die.”
While the grandmothers and grandfathers over the age of 65, who were subjected to bombardment, tell about the incident, they console themselves by reciting verses from the Quran. I literally freeze.
What kind of people are these people? Friends, tell me for God’s sake, are we really in the year 2023? Please someone tell me, are we living in the same age as these people? Do we belong to the same religion?
I swear my circuits are fried. Please someone enlighten me. In my country, there are the parents of young people who sit and eat at Starbucks and McDonald’s, who do not even bother to boycott, who have failed to be human, and the 10-year-old boy who sits on the rubble of his house in Palestine and says, “No matter what they do, we will not leave this place. This is our country.” Do the child’s parents belong to the same religion?
Will the man who crossed his legs and said “Elin Arab deserves everything” and the man who is looking for his 4 dead children with his torn hands in the ruins go to the same heaven?
Will our son, who turns up his nose at a breakfast table lacking bird’s milk, and the boy who has no capital other than the stone he has to protect his sister from the Jews, go to the same heaven?
Will the man who wastes tons of water while brushing his teeth or washing dishes be hosted in the same heaven as the man who drinks water from the sewer because the Jews cut off their water supply?
Will the woman who waits to be martyred in her prayer clothes until the morning and the woman who does tiktok and exposes her body even though her head is covered, and who does all kinds of disgrace, will be rewarded with the same heaven in the future?
Will 10-year-old İsmail Muaz, who constantly fasts to die fasting, and our well-to-do young people who do not give up the pleasure of eating burgers and drinking coffee, be welcomed in the same way in the future?
The grandmothers and grandfathers over the age of 65 who console themselves with the Quranic verses they recite under the sounds of bombs, as well as our grandmothers who refuse to go to the Quran course in order not to miss a single episode of Müge Anlı and Esra Erol’s program, and the grandfathers who follow everyone on social media, are residents of the same paradise. Will it happen?
“I don’t know if my wife and children are alive. This doesn’t matter to me right now. The freedom of Palestine is important to me right now,” said Abu Ubeyde, the hero of the hearts, who left his home and commanded a handful of young people for 38 days. Will our immoral men, who do not miss a living thing and shamelessly examine every inch of it from the hair of its hair to the tips of its toes, be treated as members of the same religion?
Should the faith of a handful of members of the army, consisting entirely of memorizers, who do not accept those who have missed prayers, be put on the same level as the faith of a group of people who do not even bother to get up for the morning prayer and spend the morning on the phone?
Should the faith of people who lost everything because they say God be considered the same as the faith of people who plundered Jewish goods on sale and sold their humanity for a pittance?
Friends! Take care of Palestine! The inhabitants of heaven reside in Palestine in 2023. Take good care of these chosen ones whose faces are illuminated by the light in their hearts! We are lucky people. Because not everyone has the chance to see the people of heaven with the eyes of this world while they are on earth. Alhamdulillah we were blessed.
Friends, let’s face it. You know, we thought we would definitely enter heaven just because we said La ilahe illallah, we were seeing heaven as a piece of cake… The Palestinians have been telling us for 38 days, “Stop, Muslims! You can’t enter heaven by just saying we believe without being tested and tested. You can’t be a Muslim like that, you have to be like that!” They teach faith lessons. They show how to be Muslims with the blood they shed, the property they lost, and the lives they gave.
If you read the Qur’an from beginning to end, you will observe that the characteristics of believers, hypocrites, unbelievers and polytheists are explained there, verse by verse. I recently read Murat Padak’s newly published translation. Believe me, Palestinians have all the qualities of “believers” described verse by verse in the Quran.
Us? I must say with shame and regret that we, too, have all the characteristics of the hypocrites mentioned in the Quran. I don’t know what our situation will be like beyond.
There is no escape, at this rate it looks like there will be a surprise in the future. But whether this surprise will put us in heaven or hell, that is unknown.
Ayşeli Pola
