The Apparent Fighter:
The concept of the fighter conjures up an imaginary image in our minds of a knight mounted on his horse, charging at his enemy like lightning. We are accustomed to this. Whenever battle and the enemy are present, this brave man leaps forward, rushing ahead of the crowd and taking the initiative to confront and attack. This is how the Commander of the Faithful, Ali ibn Abi Talib, was described as the fighter.
Today, I believe the term “fighter” has become more prevalent and used.
Let’s abstract the term from combat and generalize it to problems and challenges, including combat.
The fighters are those groups that face problems, emerge ahead of others to confront challenges, and have the advantage of confronting the problem, accepting the challenge, and engaging in periodic, planned conflict with it on both the micro and macro levels.
When they succeed, they help those who follow them. If they fail, they try again, combining their experiences and solidifying their steps. They encourage each other, unleashing each other’s energies and redirecting them in a new way, unaffected by previous failures. They lack the psychological scars of memories associated with past failed operations and defeats in previous battles.
The new effort is combined with experience, precision, and dedication, thus having an impact on the problem.
They think of a successful tomorrow and work for victory, driven by an internal drive that derives its strength from moral, cultural, and organizational superiority and a deep belief in victory.
If the reapers persist, and their attacks on the challenge continue, and their impact on the problem accumulates, the problem will begin to crack and disintegrate.
The reapers must not neglect to solve the big problem when they solve it, because solving it involves small problems that require them to investigate their structure so that a new problem does not accumulate after a while and emerge in a new form.
The cause of hunger may be the spread of mice in the wheat fields, and attacking mice is beneficial for their year or similar. However, if the reapers investigated the cause of the mouse’s spread, they would find many small causes.
These causes may accumulate again and combine to create the same problem in the watermelon fields.
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The reaper is that towering alif surrounded by all the zeros around it.
Be that reaper.
On the authority of Thawban (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: The Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him, said:
“Nothing is better than a thousand of its kind, except for man.” (1)
A machine with the same specifications, made from the same materials, and with the same power is equal to its counterpart or slightly more, depending on price and market conditions.
The same applies to dumb robots that are adept at obeying and executing actions, and so on.
As for man, he is an honored creation, with a brain that thinks, a mind that innovates, a heart that believes, and a determination that desires. Your way of thinking may make you a person worth a thousand people like you, with your size, age, and specifications. Similarly, faith may be worth a thousand people like you. The same applies to determination and willpower. The defeated are not equal to the determined and determined, just as the learned are not equal to the ignorant, nor are the unemployed and the working.
Ibn Duraid al-Basri says: “People are a thousand, and one is like a thousand if a matter is against us.” (2)
In times of adversity, the knight stands among the zeros to be like a thousand of his representatives, and his matter is united and forward. He is not disturbed by their silence, nor does he abandon them due to their weak capabilities. He realizes that their dignity and worth are derived from the values and morals they possess, because he is aware and discerning, and his heart does not neglect God.
The matter is a stance and a stand, O knight of hope.
Stand as Abraham, peace be upon him, stood, making the idols worthless zeros behind him.
Let the influence of material and moral negativity on you be like zeros behind you. Try to move them forward or move yourself backward. The position may need to be changed or elevated to be in front of you and under the scrutiny of research and solutions, so that it has value and thus increases your value. You become an alpha, just as Abraham was a nation.
Stand as Khadija bint Khuwaylid did beside her husband, the Prophet, to be eleven thousand.
Your standing beside your husband in good times and bad, eleven, will be eleven. The more you turn negatives into positives, the more zeros you add to your ranks, and the higher your value will be.
Written by Ja’far al-Sadiq Tahan, June 15, 2021
