The Hadith of the Palm Shoot and the Crisis of Islamic Work

Posted: 13 Mar 2010 09:59 PM PST

One of the Hadiths that never cease to motivate me to contribute to the cause of Islam is:

إذا قامت الساعة وفي يد أحدكم فسيلة، فإن استطاع أن لا تقوم حتى يغرسها، فليغرسها
السلسلة الصحيحة رقم 9

“If the Hour starts to happen and in the hand of one of you is a palm shoot or seedling; then if he’s able to plant it before the Hour happens, then let him plant it”. As-Silsilah as-Saheehah #9.

No doubt, there are many lessons that we can extrapolate from this short yet super-powerful Hadith. But the first lesson that comes to my mind is that a Muslim should learn to contribute under all circumstances. Now, I don’t think any Muslim would dispute the fact that the Day of Judgment is the ultimate accumulation of the most difficult sets of conditions for a human being to operate in. There is no shortage of Quranic verses that describe to us the human condition on that Day. In Surah 22:2, Allah says, “On the Day you see it, every nursing mother will think no more of her baby, every pregnant female will miscarry, you will think people are drunk when they are not, so severe will be God’s torment”. In such extreme circumstances, it may have been expected that the Prophet would have instructed us to throw out that plant, and to concentrate on prayer or something. Yet, the Prophet manages to draw a breath-taking picture of someone who’s fighting against the Day of Judgment, it starting to happen and him trying to plant a shoot before it happens!! Subhana Allah, not even the Hour is an excuse for the one of us not to contribute to society and to the benefit of humanity.

But if we look at our condition today, we see some Muslims, at least sub-consciously, ignoring or even opposing this prophetic message. We have come to a point where some of us have become experts at manufacturing excuses. Moreover, this attitude has managed to encompass all spheres of Islamic work, from prayer all the way to social service, civil rights, and political activism. Take for example the prayer of Fajr esp. in congregation. In the summer, we claim that Fajr is too early. In the winter, we convince ourselves that it’s too cold. When it comes to staffing programs and manning projects for the Muslim community, you see meager participation. Those of us who are active sometimes joke amongst ourselves that it’s the same people who are getting together to design a fundraising for a Masjid, planning a program for the youth, organizing a delegation to talk to a newspaper that offended Islam, and on and on. So, where is the rest of the Muslim community?? Even the 80/20 rule falls short from describing our condition. This rule simply states that it’s usually 20% of the people that contribute 80% of the work. I think I won’t be exaggerating if I said that in our case it’s probably 5% of our community that is contributing 95% of the work.

My intent here is not to expose or highlight a negative trend as much as to contrast our condition with the extremely positive message of the Hadith at hand. In other words, many of the excuses that you may hear from Muslims for not taking part in Islamic work are revolving around the difficult conditions that they find themselves in. On the one hand, you hear excuses like “Oh brother, I’m so busy, I have no time, I have a family and I have a full time job”. Or you may hear, “Oh brother, after 9/11, conditions have changed, I can’t work for this organization, and I can’t give money to that charity”. On the other hand, you find the Hadith saying that you contribute regardless of the condition you are in. Otherwise, there may never be an ideal condition for you in this life that perfectly suits your liking. May Allah have mercy upon this Muslim poet who beautifully captured this type of mindset when he said:

إذا كان يؤذيك حرّ المصيف ويبس الخريف وبرد الشتاء

ويلهيك حسن جمال الربيع فأخذك للعلم قل لي متى

If you are bothered by the heat of the Summer

the dryness of the Fall and the cold of the Winter

And you are overtaken by the beauty of the Spring

Then seeking knowledge tell me when?

In other words, it’s either not comfortable (too hot, too cold, too dry, too wet, etc.), or it’s too comfortable (too cozy, too beautiful, too soft, etc.), but it’s never just right! If you are waiting for the perfect condition to start working for Islam, it may never materialize, not soon anyway. But wait a minute, this is the perfect condition. It’s in the time of crisis that you can contribute most, that you are most needed, that you can influence and cause change and affect impact. Lots of Muslims immigrated to this country for a better life. They came here to seek a degree or find a dream job. And for a while that seemed to work perfect. Many Muslims became successful and began to enjoy the American dream. But, now that conditions have changed and are not as pleasant as they used too, it’s not time to get all depressed and negative. Now, it’s time to recapture and revive the spirit of our Muslim ancestors who operated under much harder conditions but with a very strong and positive attitude.

Just to cite one example of many, Abu Yusuf, the famous student of Imam Abu Hanifa was on his death bed and was losing consciousness when his student Ibrahim ibn al-Jarrah arrived. When Abu Yusuf woke up and saw Ibrahim he asked, “what do you say about this Mas’alah [a religious issue]?” Ibrahim proclaimed shockingly, “while you are in this state?” Abu Yusuf replied, “what’s wrong with that? We study so maybe one person will benefit or be saved [by the correct answer]”. Ibrahim goes on to narrate that it only took him to finish debating the Mas’alah and reaching the door till he could hear the weeping of his teacher’s family [signaling his death]. Can you imagine someone who was teaching and learning till the last moment of their lives? I say Abu Yusuf, and many others of this Ummah, were a true embodiment of the Hadith of the Faseelah [palm shoot] mentioned above. They contributed what they were best at under the harshest conditions and until the last moment of their lives. They contributed selflessly even if they didn’t see the results in their works in their lifetime. Just like this man that the Prophet described. He’s planting the palm shoot, but he’s not sure if he or the plant will make it for the next hour. But that’s ok since this man has fulfilled his responsibility. The rest is on Allah.

Taken from: http://muslimmatters.org/2010/03/13/the-hadith-of-the-palm-shoot

Assalamu alaykum,

We do not make excuses to avoid building wealth or satisfying our worldly needs. Why then do we make so many excuses, no matter how insignificant the burden, to avoid the pillars of our Islam?

This is a characteristic of an open hypocrite in the religion in which there is no doubt. (If you require proof from the quran and sunnah, just ask and I can provide it, insha-Allah.) To prove my point, the following scenario is a good example to ponder over and mirror in your own life to see if it applies and requires improvements.

My daughter falls sick at night and I will unquestionably forsake my work the next day to take care of her needs. Then the time for Fajr prayers arrives and due to the worry of my daughter's condition worsening, I forsake my prayer in the congregation at the Masjid completely and simply pray at home.

Was there a valid excuse to miss Fajr prayer in the Masjid?

Some people who are sympathisers, with children, or married will agree stating it is a temporary setback due to an unforeseen circumstance making it an extraneous circumstance thereby giving the permissibility to delay the prayer past its due time until the circumstance returns to normal.

Some people who are inconsiderate, child-less, or single will disagree stating it is a test from Allah referring to a clear hadith. (If you require the hadith, just ask and I can provide it, insha-Allah.) Then they will recommend that I heartlessly walking out of my home to complete the Fajr prayer in the masjid while my daughter fends for herself claiming that Allah will take care of her as I forsake her for Him.

The few remaining individuals that are responsible are both considerate and sympathetic by creating a wise, manageable compromise to satisfy the worldly need along with the commands of Allah and our Prophet. In the scenario mentioned above, I would have asked my wife kindly to forsake her sleep to watch over our daughter so I could attend to the Fajr prayer in the Masjid. If I was a single father, I would ask my Muslim neighbour to forsake their sleep for a brief moment to fulfil my short obligation in the Masjid. If Allah put me in a great difficulty and leave me to depend only on myself, I would take my daughter with me to the Masjid and hope the Imam shortens the prayer based on the hadith of when he hears the cries of my daughter. (If you require the hadith, just ask and I can provide it, insha-Allah.)

I myself am prone to excuses due to the weakness of my emaan when faced with sacrificing worldly needs for the reward of the Jannah. That in itself is not an excuse for me not to give sincere naseehah to my fellow Muslims, hypocrites and non-hypocrites alike. Our Prophet (May Allah's Peace and Blessings be upon him) did not forsake the hypocrites for fear of disunity, no matter how much they conspired to destroy Islam from within. Also, we should love

Muslims also have the fear of apologising, if is not due to arrogance or ignorance. It is surely not a sign of weakness, but a sign of progression. Any person in an addiction program will tell you that the first step in making change in yourself is to gather the courage to admit and accept your mistake and condition to others outwardly. Then you will be able to open up the opportunities to admit it to yourself inwardly. Making the time and plan to resolve the mistake and condition then becomes a goal. Without admission of the mistake or condition, it will never reach the point of becoming a goal and life continues on eventually making the mistake and condition a norm. This is causing the moral and social regression we see in our worldly progressive society today, all over the World.

I use Madina.com as my own personal diary. I know it is kind of gay, my brothers, considering it is a trait most common among our sisters. (No offense to our sisters.) Nonetheless, I want to share this personal diary with my fellow Muslims through discussion posts and blogs ONLY to benefit themselves and remind themselves of the rewards of Jannah for the little, insignificant sacrifices that need to be made in our short lifespan. Surely the sacrifices we are asked to make are insignificant, relative to the situation of those who are less fortunate than us. Should we be comparing ourselves to the Prophet and looking up to the Wealthy to become humble and productive? Or should we be comparing ourselves to the Poor and looking up the our Prophet to become humble and productive?

Picture my condition right now as you read this: My wife is soundly sleeping in our bedroom. My son is calmly sleeping in my lap and my daughter is sleeping worry-free beside me on the sofa. The temptation to sleep along with them is overwhelming but I fight my desire to pass time with them. Instead, I drive myself by the love I have for my fellow Muslims to forsake that beautiful sleep by taking the energy and time to type this and express my concerns about the holes in our community that we need to start filling properly and wisely now while we are capable and before Allah befalls a calamity upon us for our negligence or ignorance, insha-Allah.

And Allah knows Best.

Edited by Majid Hameed, 6 month(s) ago

Always make excuses for your fellow Muslim, but always be critical of the excuses you make for yourself.

Ghibah of the heart: To think the worst of Muslims.

You may not think badly of a Muslim unless you have definite knowledge of his having done something evil, and there is no possible excuse or justification for him. You should try to make 70 excuses for your brother, and if you cannot find an excuse for him, look for some flaw in your perception. If someone informs you of something bad about someone else, it is obligatory upon you to investigate the matter. Is there some enmity between the informer and the one he is telling you about? You are obliged to think the best of your Muslim brother/sister. Thwart Satan by making du`a for the person. Do not spy on your brother, under the pretext of trying to find out the truth. If it does turn out that he has done something wrong, then advise him in secret.

Taken from:

The Rules of Backbiting
http://qa.sunnipath.com/issue_view.asp?ID=212

that is sooooooooo wise