Gems Of Ramadan ✔

DAY 23- 'AYN JAALOOT IN RAMADHAAN PART 2

Yesterday we talked on the introduction of one of the great victories of Islam – The Battle of ‘Ayn Jaaloot. In English, it is called The Spring of Goliath. We speak about it in this month because it occurred in this month, and it was one of the greatest victories for this Ummah, during dark times for the Ummah. Muslims need to know such essential parts of their history.
We spoke about how the Ummah was divided and each leader was trying to protect his throne. Each was concerned about himself and a man stood up to the task – a man named Sayf ad-Deen Qutuz. For nearly half a century or so, no one was able to stand up to the transgression of the Tartar, who in less than two weeks killed over two million Muslims in Baghdad. Sayf ad-Deen Qutuz turned out to unite the Muslims, and he started with his neighbouring leader – the Ameer of Damascus and the son of Salah ad-Deen al-Ayyoobi. He refused and instead of uniting with his Muslim brother, he turned against his brother and offered the Tartar help if they let him stay in power. The days went on and the Tartar turned on this man and took his land while he fled. Some Muslims or so called Muslims think power and honour comes through the enemies. They seek honour from other than Allah, which always ends up in humiliation and dishonor sooner or later. They use one, abuse them and dump them. No one could have been more surrenderous and helpful to the enemies of Allah than the prime examples we have today, like al- Ghaddaafi, Mubaarak, and their likes and their brothers. Look where they are at today.
Allah blessed Qutuz in that the son of Salah ad-Deen was ousted from Damascus to Falasteen by the Tartar – the same enemies he offered himself to. Then by force he joined Qutuz, but like I said he proved that he was a failure and left, while his troops remained with Qutuz. Now Sayf ad-Deen Qutuz does not have to worry about an-Naasir Yusuf al-Ayyoobi and a major obstacle is gone. When Allah sees solid, determined, sincere and dedicated men, He prepares for them the means of victory. Look what happened with his opponent.

Now Qutuz needed wealth, so he went to collect for the army and he had ‘Ulamaa to his side. He chose a righteous ‘Aalim and a beacon of truth – al-‘Izz Ibn Abdus-Salaam. Al-‘Izz Ibn Abdus-Salaam supported him with his famous Fataawa and advice – he issued stunning Fataawa that inspired the Ummah. Why do you think people listened to al-‘Izz Ibn Abdus-Salaam? The people listened to al-‘Izz because he had a history of speaking against supposed Muslim rulers who aligned themselves with the crusaders. He used to speak about them and if al-‘Izz Ibn Abdus-Salaam was living today, the surrenderist Murji’ah rejects – the worshippers and slaves of the rulers would call him a Takfeeri and a Khaariji. Out of all the ‘Ulamaa, Qutuz went to al-‘Izz Ibn Abdus-Salaam because sincere leaders know sincere ‘Ulamaa.
He went to him and he said what do you think we should do? Should we go on and attempt to defend ourselves against the Tartar or should we wait, surrender or what? For nearly half a century or so, no one dared to stand up to them. With a firm and solid heart, al-‘Izz said fight them and I guarantee victory. Fight them and I guarantee victory – that is all he said. He was assuring them – be strong with Allah. There were a lot of ‘Ulamaa in that gathering, but al-‘Izz took centre stage because this is time for the men to speak up. Qutuz told him we have no money, so al-‘Izz said the ruling on this is that when enemies try to invade Muslim lands, you must use all the wealth in the Bayt Maal al-Muslimeen (بيت مال المسلمين). All that goes to the army – to gather and make an army. They are literally making an army from scratch.

When there is no longer money in the Bayt Maal al-Muslimeen (The House of the Wealth of the Muslims), the leader can take from the Ummah – he can impose necessary taxes on them. There were some leaders there and some of them were wealthy, so look what al-‘Izz said – before you impose those taxes I am telling you about, the leaders have to start by bringing in all their excess wealth (anything that is not essential and necessary for them). The leaders complied and one after another would go and bring all his wealth, the gold and jewelry of his wife, set it down and then give an oath – Wallahi I left nothing. This continued until they brought everything. When that was not enough, they imposed one Dinaar on everyone in Egypt who was able to pay.
Then al-Malik al-Mudhaffar sent a small amount of soldiers to check out the movement of the enemies. They saw a small group that was doing the same, so the clashes began. Then finally on the 25th day of Ramadhaan, 658 after the Hijrah and 755 years ago exactly, the two armies clashed with full force. The Muslim army was approximately twenty thousand, and their opponents were nearly two hundred thousand. Some dispute the numbers, but it is right about there. Allah occupied Holaako (the leader at that time) with a relative he was fighting near China, so he sent his best general called Katibghaa (كتبغا) who was among the Romans.