Nafsiya Reflections: Heroes of Mankind

Welcome to another episode of Nafsiyah Reflections - Heroes of Mankind

Hero.

What comes to your mind when hearing that word in society? If you had a childhood anything like my own, you might have thought “Spider-man”, “Batman”, maybe, “iron man”, or any other fictional male or female character your little self would have thought of. As kids we grew up with a self-defined definition of what we saw. “Hero” just happened to be a person in a red cape. Or if not superheroes, we thought of a person fighting for justice, freedom, and liberty. Hypnotized by the definition we saw in that figure. An evil enemy... and the good guy (because yes, usually it was a male who always won). Then we grew up.

We grew up. Began our first walks in life. Realizing we lived in a world not like any movie we had seen as children. It wasn’t as simple... We began to realize this Dunya is a little harder than we thought it would be. And that “hero” began to fade away, but not yet, for we had just learned to walk in this Dunya. We had just opened our eyes. We saw people of all colors of all races. Befriended them, enjoyed their company. While some didn’t want anything to do with us.

Walking through this Dunya, now a bit faster, we grew. We started seeing the true colors of the world we lived in. We started differentiating between black and white. “Short” and “tall”,” rich” and “poor”, “smart” and may I say “dumb”. This world started enforcing definitions in our minds. Carving what it wished. We started labeling, subconsciously. We saw different people treated in different ways, talked about and mocked for their appearances. We became aware of all kinds of things we had never thought of as young children. People were different. Different colors, different accents, different beliefs.

And then it hit us, subconsciously maybe. There was no such thing as that “good guy”, that “hero”. For the good guys don’t win much in this world. That character ended up being a childhood fantasy. The world, life, was different than what we believed it to be. Life consisted of... evil. The bad guys seemed to always win. The definition of liberty, freedom, and justice seemed out of this world, non-existent, at least not in the way we saw it.

See, what if that word, that definition, “hero”... wasn’t fiction? What if the good guys in life do exist? What if that definition was just a small part of true justice. A small part of the bigger picture. That even as children we never truly recognized what justice could be, what “freedom” is, what liberation truly is?! What if it still existed, but the story was all messed up. What if we were looking at it in the wrong way?!

See the system that we live in now, controls our surroundings, controls all the definitions and meanings we were force-fed as children. Maybe... the bad guy is not the evil man in the green suit, or the invisible enemy, but the ugly, twisted, guy in the black one. What if the laws that were man made, were why we see so much injustice. Why we see so much racism. Why we see so much suffering and pain. Yeah sure, life is life. We are going to cry in life, it’s going to happen... but what if... and I repeat what if... this life was so much bigger than we thought it was. Safer than we thought it was. Kinder than we thought it was. And more generous than we thought it was.

What if we were just looking at it from the wrong angle...

See, Alhamdulilah, as a kid I grew up with Islam. My father was always there to show me haram from halal. My mother is always pointing me in the right direction. But still, those definitions were what I saw, what I grew up with. What I did not believe, but what I perceived. I never lived under the system of Islam. None of us have yet. See, Growing up, I saw Islam in a much bigger way. I truly am breathless, at times just realizing how detailed and how much mercy there is in Islam. The system it carries, the ideology, the true liberation I feel knowing that there is this hope. That there could be justice in this world. That it’s only the twisted definition that is limiting us and holding us back.

See this system can’t be repaired. It has always, and will always, contain this venom. The crimes, the hate, the corruption is just scratching the surface. As much as you try to fight it, it’ll keep coming back. And as we see today it was never really gone. It’s a damaged, old, broken pipe, constantly dripping water, instead of replacing it... you just keep mopping the floor.

The system of Islam, sees us as human beings, not by race or color Allah Subhanu Wataala said

(يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ إِنَّا خَلَقْنَاكُم مِّن ذَكَرٍ وَأُنثَىٰ وَجَعَلْنَاكُمْ شُعُوبًا وَقَبَائِلَ لِتَعَارَفُوا ۚ إِنَّ أَكْرَمَكُمْ عِندَ اللَّـهِ أَتْقَاكُمْ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّـهَ عَلِيمٌ خَبِيرٌ)

O mankind, indeed We have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another. Indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you. Indeed, Allah is Knowing and Acquainted. [Al-Hujurat: 13]

Subhan Allah... Allah (swt) knows how humans can be. For He SWT created us in the same way. As He created a system that does not differentiate between people... all rights are reserved for all. No one is left out. No one is given the blind eye, or the other cheek. Subhan Allah a system with so much beauty. So what if... these heroes exist, Truly exist! Not in the way we thought they did, but rather in a more superior reality... They just haven’t had the opportunity yet, to be the “saviors” of humanity...The “heroes” of mankind.

Jazakum Allahu Khayrun for joining us...

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