Razan Nayyar, The Girl with the Red Scarf

Yesterday in the salat of Taraweeh we recited the surah of ‘Ankabut, the surah of the Spider.
In this surah there is a well-known verse in which Allah likens those who take other gods – other protectors, others in whom they put their longings and trust, others in whom they seek the benefit that is not Allah – likens them to the house of the spider which is the most fragile of houses.
But it is not this particular verse that I want to talk about, but I would like to talk about the first verses of this noble surah, verses in which Allah says:

“Alif, Lam, Mim. Do men count on being allowed to say: we believe and they are not going to be tested?”

As I recited these verses, an image immediately came to my mind that I have seen a lot these days, the image of a young woman of 21 years old, with a frank and clear look, with a sincere smile and a red scarf framing her face, a huge heart and a tremendous determination to help those most in need, those who are suffering; this girl was called Razan Nayyar and, as we all know, she was killed just a few days ago while working as a health assistant in the Gaza Strip.
The image of this girl came to mind, because the verse I mentioned speaks of people like her, of people being tested, of people being punished, mistreated, vilified, even killed, for staying firmly rooted in the Deen of Allah… and helping someone who is suffering, is not part of the Deen of Allah?
All these things are part of the trials of Allah, tests that all those who are loved by Allah have to go through.
His close friend, Ibrahim, ‘alayhi salam, who was thrown into a huge fire, had to pass through them, all the Prophets and Messengers passed them, they were passed by Sayyiduna Muhammad, salla allahu alaihi wa sallam, and they were passed by the first Muslims.
Men and women who, like Razan, died for what they believed in.
This was the case with one family, Yasir’s family, his wife Sumaya and his son Ammar.
That on one occasion when they were being tortured in Makkah, with their bodies buried in the desert and their heads under the scorching sun of the Arabian desert, suffering unimaginable humiliations, they were asked to insult Muhammad and his God, they were asked to say that Allah is not One, to associate something with Him; but their tongues only said, ‘One, one.’
At that moment the Messenger Muhammad passed before them and, very sorry but happy at the same time, said to them:

“Be patient, Yasir family, for your destination will be the Garden.”

And it is that Allah’s proofs are a constant in His creation, they are something that is constantly repeated; and those who endure the hardest trials are those whom He loves, and it is for this very reason: because He loves them, that is why He puts them to the test.
This, which may seem like a contradiction, is not, far from it, but it is a reality and one only has to study the life of Messenger Muhammad and his noble Companions to realize it.
The secret is how to endure those trials, how to face them, and how to overcome them.
And one of the ways to do this is by being aware of what we have, of what Allah has given us, and of the reward we will get for successfully passing those trials. We should not take the trials as an evil for us, even though they are hard – and without a doubt, for Razan’s family it is the hardest test – but that cannot lead us to despair, since the trials are to differentiate, to separate the sincere from the false and also to elevate some above others.
And therefore, immediately after the verses mentioned above, Allah says:

“Verily, We have already tested those who preceded them. So that Allah will know who are the sincere and who are the false.”

And let us not fall into the mistake of thinking that Allah does not know, that He does not know who are the sincere and who are the false, for His Knowledge is all-encompassing.
Hence al-Zayjaj said: “That the truthful may know the sincerity of the truthful when he is subjected to His test, even though He knows before He created them, who is the truthful and who is the liar.”
But it is not easy to pass the trials, it is not easy to endure them when we see injustice around us, when we see oppression, when we feel mistreated for the mere fact of accepting Allah as God, Muhammad as the Messenger and Islam as a way of life.
It is not easy to endure trials when we see how those who commit these injustices and acts of oppression are not punished, when we see how they get away with all evil; but do not forget one thing: that Allah is Just, He is the Most Righteous of the Righteous, and that is why He says in the following verse:

“Or do those who do evil believe that they will be able to escape from Us? How bad they judge!”

Have no doubt that Allah will reward some and punish others.
The harder the trial we experience, the greater our reward, the greater the injustice they commit, the greater their punishment; Keep this constantly in mind in your hearts, for it will reassure you in times of trial and difficulty.
The fact that we are sometimes unable to comprehend with our restricted intellects some of the proofs does not mean that there is no wisdom in them, and perhaps it will reassure your hearts to read the episode of Sayyiduna Musa with the Jadir, which we find in the Surah of the Cave.
But someone may ask, and such questions are common in times of despair, especially when there is no total, full and absolute trust in Allah: What wisdom or what good can there be in Allah taking away a noble soul like Razan’s?
I cannot answer that, because I am no one to explain why Allah does things.
I can only say that Allah does what He wills, when He wills and how He wills, not what we want, when we will, and how we want.
But perhaps, and I say only maybe, Allah took this noble girl with the red headscarf, because her soul was so pure that He did not want her to be contaminated by the corruption that is around us, because her heart was so soft that He did not want her to be hardened by the misery that surrounds us.
This is only a hypothesis, a possibility, a feeling that invaded my heart yesterday and that I want to maintain, because in it I have found tranquility and tranquility, peace and rest.
And to Allah, who knows best, I ask that it be so.
Amin Shaikh Ahmed Bermejo www.ahmedbermejo.com