By: Ammar AlShukry
The promises of Allah are seen throughout holy places. Abraham was told to build a house for Allah and upon its completion, he was told to call the people to Hajj.
“And proclaim to the people the Hajj [pilgrimage]; they will come to you on foot and on every lean camel; they will come from every distant pass -“
And so Abraham called out into the desert, with no one around and no one to be seen. A heart that relied purely on sight might have scoffed at this commandment and scoffed at that promise. And for thousands of years, after Abraham made that call into the desert, millions upon millions of people have responded and continue to respond to that call, they come riding on mounts, sailing on ships, and flying through the air. They come from every distant place responding to the call of Abraham, the promise of Allah fulfilled.
Thousands of years later, the people of Mecca were terrified. The call of the Prophet Muhammad, sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam, was a recipe for absolute economic ruin. They were the people of the haram, the benefited greatly from the pilgrimages of the Arabs to the universally recognized house of Allah that they were the hosts of. To that effect, they had over three hundred idols there to satisfy the worship of every pilgrim, where all would find the idol that they wished to venerate and exalt. How could any sense be made of disassociating from all gods but one?
Even more so, in the ninth year, Surat Al-Tawbah was revealed, declaring the polytheists to be spiritually impure and no longer welcome to the haram.
“O you who have believed, indeed the polytheists are unclean, so let them not approach al-Masjid al-Haram after this, their [final] year. And if you fear poverty, Allah will enrich you from His bounty if He wills. Indeed, Allah is Knowing and Wise.”
Quraysh did fear poverty, and they could not see, they could not imagine in their wildest fantasies, that by calling mankind to worship one God and shunning their idols, that this would not lead to fewer pilgrims, but more…much more. That they would no longer just have the Arabs visiting the house of Allah, but the entire world.
And a thousand years later from the revelation of the Quran we are witnesses to these promises being fulfilled, and being fulfilled in the most spectacular and magnificent of ways.
And yet even now we continue to challenge ourselves to submit in our belief in the promises of Allah. The brother who is not yet ready to give up an income that is impure or a sister who is afraid to wear the hijab because she is afraid that it will negatively affect her career, Allah promises them,
“And whoever has taqwa of Allah, Allah will provide for them a way out, and will provide for them from where they did not expect.”
And what causes people to be afraid of taking that step is because they do not see where the provision will come from, just like Quraysh did not see how their economy would prosper by worshipping one God, but included in that promise is that Allah will provide for us from where we don’t expect.
We will not see where it will come from, we must take that leap of faith and recognize that the promises of Allah will no doubt come to pass sooner or later.