The fundamental problem for Muslims is that although many appear to have found God, they live far from Him. Even as His name rests on their tongues, their hearts often remain largely blind, deaf, and mute. What is read and learned does not evolve into deep spiritual understanding. Understanding is not crowned with love, nor does it rise to the horizon of longing and passion. Despite bold claims made in the name of religion and belief, only tentative, crawling steps are taken on His path. Not for everyone, perhaps, but when one looks at the overall picture, it is hard to claim that nights are revitalized with depth and sincerity. An era lies wasted in the hands of dark nights and joyless days. The heart is silent, and the spiritual core that should illuminate it has grown faint. Against this backdrop, it is accurate to say that in the name of piety, many lead a stumbling, faltering life that struggles to move towards its true goal.

This is precisely because the spiritual core has fallen quiet, the heart has fallen mute, consciousness and sensitivity have become paralyzed, and the flame of love and fervor has been extinguished. As a result, the stage is left to the tongue and the lips, which fill this void by rambling endlessly and making noise about every subject. The tongue, now in command, starts telling lies, spreading slander, making baseless accusations, and indulging in meaningless or frivolous talk. It becomes engaged in distortion, false narratives, and worthless chatter that benefits no one. Minds that have severed their link with the heart become polluted, and naturally, the words and writings arising from such minds spread corruption throughout society. If you doubt this, just glance at the media of our times — listen to the news, read the articles — and you will understand precisely what I mean.

Make no mistake: I am not referring to people with no connection to religion or faith. I am talking about those who call themselves Muslims, who pray five times a day, stand humbly before God, bow, and place their foreheads upon the ground. Yet, unfortunately, many have become people with deadened consciences, hardened hearts, and dried-up spirits. As a result, countless individuals openly indulge in idle chatter, employing every potential of the tongue for negativity. Witnessing this, one feels like saying, “May such tongues wither,” for when a tongue meant to speak truth and reality becomes the mouthpiece of falsehood, it deserves to wither. Such Muslims have very little to offer the world — and very little to present in the name of Islam.

Until now, we have lived with hope. We have believed that dedicated hearts, committed to serving the faith and the Qur’an, would overcome these challenges, revive religious sentiment and understanding, and make it an active force in daily life. We have hoped that, somewhere, an exemplary community would arise — one with its own character, its own design, its own voice — and that its resonance would draw others to it. We pray that God will not disappoint us in this hope or cause our trust to be misplaced.

Yet a group of tyrants, oppressors, and corrupt forces felt threatened by this handful of devoted people and sought to destroy the hopeful atmosphere they had created. They stripped those they viewed as opponents of their freedoms and deprived them of their most basic human rights. They tested people with separation from their children, spouses, and loved ones. They scattered those who held esteemed positions to every corner. They poured all their energy into destroying a legacy of good works built over half a century, making it their sole mission to eradicate, obliterate, and uproot others — a truly demonic endeavor.

All thanks be to God, despite the tireless efforts of such enemies to utilize every force at their disposal for ruin, God did not allow their vile ambitions to prevail. We pray that, as in the past, He will also frustrate the schemes of today’s oppressors, leaving their aspirations unfulfilled. So it shall be, for no one can extinguish the flame that God Himself has ignited.

From our own perspective, we consider these trials and injustices as a form of “gentle slap” — a warning from God, prompting us to reflect upon how well we have fulfilled the trust granted to us. We recognize that despite the showers of mercy and favor poured upon us, we have fallen short of responding with genuine gratitude, remembrance, and reverence. We have neglected to acknowledge Him as the sole source of every beauty and blessing. We have succumbed to complacency, drifted into forgetfulness, and distracted ourselves with worldly concerns. We have weakened ourselves with fatigue from the long journey, dulled ourselves with the intoxication of apparent success, or fallen prey to the poison of ego and vanity. As a result, when trials and hardships befall us, we try to draw ourselves into account. We regard these moments as warnings, accept that God is refining and teaching us through them, and seek to draw lessons and wisdom from every challenge. We accept every difficulty and disaster as a form of merciful discipline and adopt an attitude shaped by this understanding.

Fuzuli captures such moments with these lines:

The friend is disloyal, the heavens merciless, the era restless,
The pain is deep, yet no one shares it, the foe is strong, and fate is weakened.

I reinterpret the final line as: “Even if the enemy is strong, fate is not weakened.” According to our belief, every event rests in God’s hands. If — to put it this way — it is He who delivers the slap, tugs the ear, and gives the warning, then it must be because He intends to guide us towards something beautiful and worthwhile. Everything has its appointed time, its fixed term. When that time arrives, God bestows such blessings upon you and fills your heart with such serenity that you say to yourself, “So this was why I suffered! All those hardships came only so I could one day smile. To be granted such grace was worth every pain I endured.” The Almighty, who allows you to witness such moments, will also break the hands, arms, and wings of oppressors who have left no cruelty undone — paralyzing them and making their tyranny meaningless.

We must never forget that we were created for another realm. According to the deeds we carry out and the trials we experience here, we will assume a form and state in the life to come. What we become in the Hereafter will be shaped by the picture we paint for ourselves in this world. Everything we do here will be reflected there, determining the nature of our existence in that realm. In fact, how we respond to trials and calamities — how we pray, fast, and worship — is, in a sense, a decision about the life we will lead in the Hereafter. In this way, every deed performed in this world can be seen as a preparation for the world to come. According to this measure, some will rise to Paradise, some will remain suspended between realms, and others will tumble into Hell.

For this reason, a believer must live with an eternal perspective, rising above the trials and hardships of this transient world. They must work ceaselessly and faithfully, striving with every breath to be a person of the Hereafter. In an era when one injustice gives rise to another, when countless people suffer cruelty, when honor and dignity are violated, and countless brothers and sisters are wronged, our hearts must quiver for them. We must bow down, press our foreheads to the ground, and pour forth tears like a river, calling upon God with sincerity. We must pray for every moment of captivity, every instance of injustice, and every deprivation that the Ummah of Prophet Muhammad endures.

If we approach Him with a single teardrop, He will respond with oceans. Even if our deeds weigh no more than a grain of dust, He will repay them with the brilliance of the sun. The deeds we offer to God, however small and insignificant, will be met with returns as magnificent and boundless as His glory and majesty.