Battles Fought and Won in Ramadan

Ramadan is a season of soul-searching and repentance. It is a season for reflection and taking stock. It is also a season of conquest and victory! I am not surprised. We please Allah the most in this month and leave many actions which displease Him. If we recite as much Qur'an, stand as much in Qiyaam, give as much in charity, fast consecutively and observe patience and unity, everyday of the year as much as we do in Ramadan, inshaAllah Allah will restore peace in all lands from Cuba to Bruma.

Muslims think that perpetual prosperity, riches, health and good times are their rightful heritage by default. If this is true, then why did the Muslim suffer loss during the battle of Uhud? Why were 70 sahaba martyred and why was the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w) behest with dangers all about?

"Corruption has appeared throughout the land and sea by [reason of] what the hands of people have earned so He ma let them taste part of [the consequence of] what they have done that perhaps they will return [to righteousness]" [Qur'an, 30:41].

 Allah has taken a covenant with the Muslims. Whenever the Muslims collectively honoured the covenant, Allah privileged them success. 

"And fulfill the covenant of Allah when you have taken it, [O believers], and do not break oaths after their confirmation while you have made Allah , over you, a witness. Indeed, Allah knows what you do" [Qur'an, 16:91].

Battle of Badr - The mother of all defining moments – the battle of Badr, fought in Ramadan, is without a doubt the most important existential battle between good and evil in the history of mankind. On one side, the last Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w) and just over 300 of his followers. On the other, the idolaters of Quraish with their superior numbers, weapons and wealth.What followed was an epic battle that still resonates with Muslims across the world. Actually – the word “epic” doesn't even begin to define the enormity of this battle. How important was this battle in the grand scheme of things? Before the battle started the Prophet (s.a.w)  raised his hand to Allah and said words to the effect, “If this small band perish today, then there will be no one left to worship You on the face of this Earth.”  The Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w) spent the entire night in Qiyaam beseeching Allah to protect the Muslims. Alhamdulillah, they didn't perish and to this day, all who profess that there is no one worthy of worship but Allāh and Muḥammad (s.a.w) is His messenger are eternally grateful.

Conquest of Makkah - The conquest of Makkah was more than just a footnote in Islamic history. It was the happy ending of one of the most amazing stories ever told. A story in which a band of men and women were tortured and harassed in their own home town because of their faith, how they had to flee as refugees and within a decade returned as conquerors. That decade is referred to as the "golden age" of Islam, it was a time when the Muslims were the most sincere and thorough in their practice of Islam. 

The last stand at Ain Jalut

Few Muslims have heard of the Mongolian warlords who laid waste to everything that lay in their path. It was said that if a Mongolian warrior asked a Muslim to stay kneeling for him whilst he went and found a sword to kill him with, the Muslim man would wait patiently rather than risk a fate that was literally worse than death!The whole of the Muslim world had collapsed in the face of this new and barbaric enemy. Well, not the whole Islamic world. One last outpost remained. 

 In Egypt, the Mamluk sultan Qutuz decided that he wasn't just going to wait for his turn to die. He was captured by the Mongols and sold as a slave, he travelled to Syria where he was sold to an Egyptian slave merchant who sold him to the Sultan in Cairo. He was well-liked and well-positioned by the Sultan, whose death left a vacuum which only he could fill to defeat the Mongol invaders. Facing the Mongols was suicide and the Egyptian elites were shying again from the confrontation until Qutuz questioned their emaan and chivalry.  He said, "Emirs of the Muslims, for some time now you have been fed by the country treasury and you hate to be invaded. I will go alone and who likes to join me should do that and who does not like to join me should go back home, but who will not join will carry the sin of not defending our women." Indeed, he was a defender of the weak. He had the inscriptions, "Father of the poor and Reviver of Juice" carved on his shield. 
At the springs of Goliath (Ain Jalut) the last consequential army in the Muslim world faced off against the undefeated Mongols. It was like a boxing match between some scrawny challenger and the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world – only with millions more lives at stake. The outcome of the battle see-sawed between the Muslims and the Mongols until finally, Qutuz took off his helmet (as a sign of sincerity to the cause) and called out, "O ISLAM!" and made one last stand to honour the religion. He prayed, "O Allah, grant your servant Qutuz victory against the Mongols."  He then charged deep into enemy ranks. That Ramadan, Ain Jalut marked the first time that the Mongols had lost a pitched battle – and Islam (not to mention the rest of the world) was saved.

The Horns of Hattin

Everyone agrees Salahuddin Ayyubi was one of the most awesome heroes in the history of Islam. He was a warrior and a theologian.  He was a servant of Allah who did not miss Salah in congregation for years. He did not live in a fancy home, he lived in a tent in a battle field most of his adult life. 
He replaced Shi'i Fatimid creed with Sunni Orthodoxy in Egypt, which at the time was the centre of the Muslim world. This set a precedence and re-established the correct religious belief system in the Muslim world. 
We also know Salahuddin defeated the crusaders and reclaimed Jerusalem for Islam and the Muslims after almost a century of Frankish desecration. We even know that he managed to do this all whilst essentially being an extremely generous and peace loving man with chivalry and honesty being qualities that even his enemies admired. But did you know that he also had impeccable timing? 

Salahuddin had been slowly circling the Crusader kingdom for years. He was building his strength, neutralising weak points within his own ranks. In Ramadan of 1187 C.E. the Muslims met the Crusaders at the Horns of Hattin. What followed was less a battle and more an all night tarweeh session in individual camps. If he found his soldiers asleep at night he said, "we are not ready yet". He wanted his followers to be closer to Allah and fulfil their personal covenant with Allah more than he wanted them to rest or train militarily. The night every soldier stayed awake  and prayed Qiyaam al Layl, its preceding morning, the Muslims  triumphed, the leaders of the Crusader kingdom were killed or taken as prisoners and the road to Jerusalem was clear. Ya Malik grant us another Salahuddin. Ya Jabbar free Palestine. Aameen.

Battle of Guadalete

Ramadan, the 92nd year of Hijrah (711 C.E.) a slave of the Umayyad governor of Africa and his Berber troops faced off against the Visigoth king of Spain. Tariq bin Ziyad was born a slave and would have died a beggar, but somewhere in between Allah made him one of the greatest generals the world has ever seen. 
Spain was rent by civil war. The dispossessed sons of Witiza, king of Spain appealed to the Muslims for help. Tariq bin Ziyad landed shortly with 700 Muslim men from Morocco to help the oppressed. When Tariq realized that the Muslims were outnumbered and he sensed that the soldiers may loose morale, he burned their boats to deter any chance of withdrawal. Indeed there was no turning back, they had to invite people to Islam, which has always been the apogee of all Muslim encounters. Thus, Tariq initiated the 800 years of Muslim rule over Spain, that laid the basis of European Renaissance. 


After browsing through the pages of history, I am not worried for Palestine, Allah will bless their dead with martyrdom and allow their souls to cruise freely in Paradise aameen. Allah rescue them even if it is through its weakest inhabitants aameen. Heroes are not kings (like kings of Saudi Arabia and Jordan) or people who belong to the middle class (you and I sitting in North America). Heroes are usually freed slaves like Qutuz (defeater of Mongolians) and Tariq bin Ziyad (conqueror of Spain) who fulfil their covenant with Allah. Heroes are simple folks living in exile, in persecution and in occupation like Salahuddin, who take their interest in studying the Deen at a level that they genuinely practice it. So really... I am not worried about Palestine. I am worried about myself. Protests don't work, US gave Israel $225 billion in military aid today. It is okay for Norman Flinkilstein and Russell Brand to protest on the streets. But my covenant with Allah necessitates that I do much more. I am worried for myself.