Revive Your Heart: Putting Life in Perspective

ṣallā Allāh ʿalayhi wa-sallam
) was hit so hard he
fell unconscious. His tooth fell out and he fell unconscious and when he woke up
his face was filled with blood. While he was passed out a rumour spread that the
Prophet (
ṣallā Allāh ʿalayhi wa-sallam
) had been killed. Allah (
ʿazza wa-jall
)
revealed the 
āyah
:

---

It is not given to any soul to die except with the leave of Allah ...
(Āl ʿImrān 3: 145)
Wa-mā kāna li-nafs an tamūt illā bi-idhn Allāh
: it’s not appropriate for a
prophet to die—no prophet gets to die—until Allah gives permission. Except
that Allah gives permission.
Anyway, this happens and there’s so much chaos on the battlefield that
people like Umar (
raḍiya Allāh ʿanhu
), you can imagine how big an asset Umar
(
raḍiya Allāh ʿanhu
) is in the battlefield; he drops his sword and sits on the
ground. He goes what’s the point now? He got killed, what’s the point now?
Muslims were demoralized then it was retrieved that the Prophet (
ṣallā Allāh
ʿalayhi wa-sallam
) actually is still alive. The Muslims then went into a retreat
position and they headed up towards the mountain.
Recall when you were fleeing without casting even a side glance at
anyone …
(Āl ʿImrān 3: 153)
Allah describes when you were running up the mountain, you were scaling
the mountain and you wouldn’t turn back to look at anyone. In other words you
were desperate to save the Messenger (
ṣallā Allāh ʿalayhi wa-sallam
) from this
chaotic situation and by the way some people were running ahead and they left
the Prophet behind.
… and the Messenger was calling out to you from the rear…
(Āl ʿImrān 3: 153)

---

And the Messenger’s calling you from behind you. Then Allah (
ʿazza wa-
jall
) gave them the courage to fight back, they turned a little bit of it around but
still by the time it was over, seventy of the greatest 
Ṣaḥābah
of the ummah were
shahīd
; they had been killed. Including the beloved uncle of the Prophet (
ṣallā
Allāh ʿalayhi wa-sallam
), who many of you know the story, when Hind got a
hold of him she actually ripped his heart out and chewed on it. And so for the
Prophet (
ṣallā Allāh ʿalayhi wa-sallam
) to see his uncle in that state after him
almost being killed himself, is a traumatic experience and all of these problems
began with what? With one act of disobedience, one act of disobedience and
seventy 
Ṣaḥābah
are killed including the family of the Prophet (
ṣallā Allāh
ʿalayhi wa-sallam
).
I want you to think about this, the real test of leadership is not when your
followers are following you; the real test of leadership is when your followers
disappoint you. When you have all the reasons in the world to be angry at them
because they have done something terrible: they did not obey a very simple
instruction. They have made a mistake and you can imagine now, after it’s all
said and done, those archers, those 
Ṣaḥābah
who were positioned in those sniper
positions, when they’re going to be having a meeting with 
Rasūl Allāh
(
ṣallā
Allāh ʿalayhi wa-sallam
) they are expecting terrible things. They have
disappointed their Beloved (
ṣallā Allāh ʿalayhi wa-sallam
); I mean they must be
scared for their life.
Let’s just put this in perspective a little bit. You mess up at your job, you had
a project due, the client was waiting for it but you didn’t submit the project. You
sent the email but it didn’t go through; you thought that it went through. Now
you’re in big trouble because the client is asking to cancel the contract and your
company is going to lose a million dollars and it’s your fault. The whole
weekend’s gone by and on Monday there’s going to be a meeting with your
boss. What are you expecting in the meeting huh? and that’s just about money,
this is about lives, this is about family loss, this is about blood. Can you imagine
what that meeting has to be like?