The Keys to Revival: The Third Key: Hope – By Shaykh Anas al-Mousa
This is the third in a series of three articles focused on how revival of the Umma must take place. From the On-Demand Course The Keys to Revival: Guidance in Crisis and Hope for the Future, this series brings together three leading scholars addressing the spiritual, social, and scholarly solutions needed for upliftment of the Umma.
There are many keys through which we can enter the gates of this magnificent religion. The key I have been tasked with discussing is the key of hope. Hope is an innate quality ingrained in the human heart. What motivated you to attend this seminar after reading its announcement? Was it not the hope of benefitting from it? I do not think any of you came here to gain money; rather, you came to benefit and seek the pleasure of Allah (Most High). Without hope, a person cannot live.
Consider those whose homelands have been occupied—what drives them to try again and again? Is it not the hope of achieving victory? Is it not the hope of success? The Companions of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) became the epitome of sacrifice. What pushed them to make such tremendous sacrifices? Was it not hope? “Tomorrow, we will meet our beloved, Muhammad and his Companions. Tomorrow, we will meet our beloved, Muhammad and his party (Allah bless him and give him peace).” This is hope.
Hope is what drives a person to give everything they have in order to achieve their goals. That is why it is said: “Whoever knows the value of what they seek, the effort they exert to attain it becomes easy.” This is why Allah (Most High) says: “But the everlasting good deeds are better with your Lord in reward and better in hope” [Quran, 18:46].
The Dangers of False Hope
However, there is a problem with hope. When hope extends so far that it prevents a person from taking action, does it still benefit them? Can we tell such a person to rejoice in the hope they carry within? Can we tell them to take solace in the hope that fills their heart? The answer is no. In this case, what they are experiencing is not true hope; it is complacency and laziness. The Quran takes a stance against this type of hope. Allah (Most High) says: “Leave them to eat, enjoy, and be diverted by false hope, for they will soon know” [Quran, 15:3]. These are false hopes.
There must be action. Allah (Most High) says: “You are the best community ever raised for humanity—you encourage good, forbid evil, and believe in Allah” [Quran, 3:110]. This indicates movement and action. We cannot remain confined to the book. We must move from the book to writing the Sunna of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) and the methodology of our Lord (Most High) in the fabric of the world. As the poet said: “Claims are merely claims unless you provide evidence for them.”
When it was said to Hasan Basri: “There are people who have a good opinion of their Lord and do not act,” he replied: “They are lying. If they truly had a good opinion of their Lord, they would act accordingly.” It is also said: “False hopes are the dreams of fools.” And who are the fools? The heedless ones.
We do not say that you should despair, nor do we say that your hope should extend so far that it prevents you from taking action. The Quran establishes a balance between the two. The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said: “A person grows old, but two things remain young within them: greed and long hope.”
The Balance Between Hope and Action
A dear brother once told me about a man who was 75 years old. He said: “I have a lifelong project in trade.” Seventy-five years old, and he still had hopes of achieving a great business endeavor! His hope had extended so far that he forgot when he would meet his Lord. The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said: “The lifespan of my Umma is between sixty and seventy years, and few exceed this.” What kind of hope is this? What kind of good opinion is this? What have you achieved? If you truly had a good opinion of Allah, you would have acted accordingly.
Our religion is vast; it gives us hope, and despair is akin to disbelief. A believer never experiences despair. Look at the prophets. Did any of them succumb to despair? Allah (Most High) says: “They said, ‘We consider you a bad omen, you and those with you’” [Quran, 36:18]. There is no pessimism in Islam, only hope. However, do not let hope take you so far that it prevents you from action.
A Lesson on the Dangers of Fear and Inaction
I will conclude with this story, which carries an important lesson. A lion once began to wonder whether a mouse could kill him. This thought lingered in his mind for days. The first day, then the second, and by the third day, the idea started consuming him. A week passed, and the lion could no longer sleep. Another week went by, and the illusion grew stronger in his heart. After three weeks, the lion had not slept at all. In the fourth week, the animals of the forest went to check on the lion in his den. They found him dead. What killed the lion? It was nothing but an illusion.
Thus, an illusion is a projection of your own self. If it takes hold of you, it will bring despair, leading you away from action. We are a nation that does not know how to sit idle or admit defeat. Whenever we fall, we rise again. We do not know stillness. We are a nation of movement, effort, struggle, and invitation. We never stop. The people of Sham left their homelands and spread across the world, and none of them remained idle. Instead, they started moving: this one calling to Allah, that one building a factory, another establishing a store, and yet another founding an institute. This is our religion.
I conclude with the words of our master Ya‘qub (Allah bless him and give him peace), who, after losing his most beloved son Yusuf (Allah bless him and give him peace) and his second son, said to his other sons: “O my sons, go and search for Yusuf and his brother. And do not despair of relief from Allah. Indeed, no one despairs of relief from Allah except the disbelieving people” [Quran, 12:87].
