Perhaps the nation followed with great astonishment the legendary steadfastness that the people of Gaza presented over a whole year of pride and honor, and the possibility of an unprecedented barbaric aggression, in which homes were destroyed over the heads of their inhabitants. Hundreds of thousands were displaced to displacement camps, and the bombing continued day and night in all parts of Gaza, even if a little of that is enough to destroy the social structure of any society and dismantle the bonds of cohesion and solidarity between its people, but what we saw in Gaza was completely different!
The spirit of steadfastness and pride still covers the faces and fills the eyes. The expressions of children, women, and elderly people before men still draw from the fountain of language the eyes of words and arrange from its letters the springs of wisdom, and it is appropriate for us to ask about the secret of that wonderful collective steadfastness!
There is no doubt that the state of faith alone is capable of creating this human miracle, and the state of faith is not an emergency or a passing state. Still, rather it is a sustainable line, an accumulated effort, a gathering for good, cooperation in righteousness and piety, the construction of mosques, and a close connection with the wise remembrance.
It was not without reason that when the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, wanted to regulate the relationship between Muslims and the Qur’an, he called it “companionship,” for the Muslim is the companion of the Qur’an, and in the hadith of Abdullah bin Amr: “It will be said to the companion of the Qur’an: Read and ascend and recite as you used to recite in the world, for your place is at the last verse you recite.”
The “Elite Memorizers” Project has included thousands of young people who have memorized the Quran and mastered memorization
On the Day of Judgment, Allah Almighty chooses for His believing servants from among all the stations of obedience, from among prayer, fasting, zakat, Hajj, and jihad, He only chooses the recitation of the Quran. On the Day of Judgment, it will be said: O believing servants of Allah, take your positions and sit in the manners you were accustomed to in this world, and recite the Book of Allah that accompanied you on the journey of life!
The Elite Memorizers
Anyone who looks at the people of Gaza will find that they have an amazing state and status with the Holy Quran! In recent years, we have followed unparalleled social creativity in dealing with the Quran through the “Elite Memorizers” Project, which has included thousands of young people who have memorized the Quran, mastered memorization, and constantly reviewed it. Then they gather in the houses of Allah and recite the Quran from beginning to end in one session.
The number of those who recited the Qur’an in the year before that war reached nearly 1500, and statistics say that the number of Qur’an memorizers in Gaza exceeds 50 thousand, which is an indication of a high state of faith and evidence of a good connection to the Holy Qur’an and a society that has accepted the Book of Allah as a whole.
Perhaps when we look at the Prophet’s biography, we will find a state of steadfastness and amazing initiative in all stages that removes from us the astonishment of what we saw in Gaza, and if we want to set an example, in Gaza “Mu’tah” is what suffices the purpose, as there were 3 thousand whom the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, delegated to leave the peninsula and strike in the depths of the desert and penetrate the land of the Romans and initiate the battle against the Roman army, the strongest army on earth at that time, and most historians say that the number of the Roman army was 200 thousand fighters! And that faithful few came out without any hesitation, and the first battle of the Muslims with the Romans took place, and the Romans were at the height of their victory and glory, and they emerged from their last battle with the Persians, the Battle of Nineveh, with a crushing victory in which they reached the palace of Khosrau! And they took back from him the spoils that the Persians had taken when they entered the Church of the Resurrection in Jerusalem!
The emperor walked from his seat of government in Byzantium (Constantinople) to Jerusalem on foot, surrounded by tens of thousands of Romans, to return the cross of the Church of the Resurrection to its first depositor, and in that atmosphere, the Muslims went to invade the Romans!
The number of reciters of the Holy Quran in Gaza last year was about 1500 and the Quran memorizers exceeded 50 thousand.
The Battle of Mu'tah takes place and the few believers suffer a calamity that only comes from the people of faith. The three-day battle ends with the martyrdom of 13 Muslims, including the three leaders Zaid bin Haritha, Ja'far bin Abi Talib, and Abdullah bin Rawaha. The battle ended with the brilliant leadership of the drawn sword of Allah, Khalid bin Al-Walid, and the Romans were unable to achieve a noteworthy victory over that group of believers!
The believers return victorious from the Roman invasion of their own home as a punishment for the killing of one of their supporters, a Muslim man. They return to their base in Medina safe and sound, and all people hear about what those believers did to the Byzantine Empire!
This line of steadfastness, initiative, and ability to sacrifice extends throughout all the invasions in the time of the Prophet. I almost claim that it extends throughout the great river of Islamic history.
The origin of this legendary state is only through long companionship with the Book of Allah, the Almighty, and the gatherings of the Qur’an and the construction of the houses of Allah with it, as Allah the Almighty said: “(Lit is such a Light) in houses, which Allah hath permitted to be raised to honor; for the celebration, in them, of His name: In them is He glorified in the mornings and the evenings, (again and again) (36) By men whom neither traffic nor merchandise can divert from the Remembrance of Allah, nor regular Prayer, nor from the practice of regular Charity: Their (only) fear is for the Day when hearts and eyes will be transformed (in a world wholly new)(37) (An-Nur).
Let the Quran be the starting point, the center of the Renaissance, the foundation of unity, the provision of the nation, and its leader in the fields of work and jihad.
The post-war phase in Gaza does not only require rebuilding the structure, but it also requires continuing to build the human being. It requires new campaigns from the “Elite of Memorizers” project and a deeper consolidation of the values of faith and connection to the Quran among a people who have presented to all of humanity a lofty moral and ethical model that humanity has rarely seen the like of. This faithful steadfastness has created a remarkable state of awareness in the entire world.
It is necessary to think and plan how to sustain this great good, expand its scope, mobilize the energies of the youth to do the same, and gather Muslim homes in Gaza at the table of the Holy Quran once again.
It is also necessary to say: that Gaza has provided and is providing in this a good example for all Muslim peoples in the East and West of the earth. So let the Holy Quran be the starting point, let it be the center of renaissance and the foundation of unity, let it be the provision of the nation and its leader in the fields of work and jihad, and let the Holy Quran be, as Allah Almighty wanted it, the light of this nation that never goes out, and He, the Almighty, said: “And thus We have revealed to you an inspiration of Our command. You did not know what the Book or [what is] faith, but We have made it a light by which We guide whom We will of Our servants. And indeed, [O Muhammad], you guide to a straight path.” (Ash-Shura: 12) 52).
