It hurts, and it should.
Seeing injustice, cruelty, and pain in the world, especially seeing the live genocide on screens, witnessing all this, it is natural to feel the immense ache in your قلب (qalb), it is not a weakness. It’s a sign that your heart is still alive. The Prophet Muhammad (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) said,
“The believers, in their mutual love, mercy, and compassion, are like one body. When one limb aches, the whole body responds with sleeplessness and fever.” (Bukhari & Muslim)
So yes, your heart aches, because you are part of that body. And Alhamdulilah for that, as we still feel connected, irrespective of all the nationalistic, man made boundaries imposed and inflicted upon us.
But there is something, I want to highlight based upon my conversation with some acquaintances.
Sadness is step one. It awakens us, but if we stay in sadness too long, it can burn out, and become despair.
In Islam, we are not meant to stay trapped in sorrow and sadness, we are taught to rise with purpose, to be the light in the darkness.
When sadness comes, let it pass through you. Like the steady flame of a lantern, let it ignite something stronger, a fire of indignation, determination, and righteous anger, not driven by rage, but by the pursuit of justice, guided by Islamic values.
Sadness mourns, righteous anger (indignation) moves.
Sadness says, “This hurts,” but righteous anger says, “This must stop.”
Let the fire in your قلب be the spark that lights your words, your dua’s, your actions. Be a believer who feels deeply, who cries, who stands up, and who responds, just as the Prophet (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) showed us in his life.
Don’t fear being emotional, the Quran moves hearts to tears. But don’t let those tears dry into silence. Let them water seeds of change, like the steady, nourishing light of a lantern, guiding others through darkness.
Channel your emotions. Let sadness knock, but let righteous anger respond.
Because when one limb hurts, the body is meant to rise, not sleep.
Feel.
Be sad. Let your heart ache, but don’t stay there too long.
Channel that sadness into righteous ire, into purposeful anger, in the light of the seerah (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ) and Holy Quran.
For if you don’t, numbness will quietly take its place, deceiving you into despair, and paralyzing you beyond measures to an extent that you will end up doing nothing other than having
سُوءُ الظَّنّ (bad opinion, worse assumptions) about Allah Al-Hakeem, and for a believer that would be a very dangerous situation to be in.
So, I repeat.
It hurts, and it should
but it should move us walking the walk along the lines of seerah صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ