A COMMUNITY STATEMENT

 

Communities are on the edge as violent protests rip through South Africa where business and residential districts have suffered wide-scale looting, extensive damage to property, infrastructure and attacks on persons. We are in a state of a national crisis.

 

The first call for any believer is to return to the Almighty, in humility and sincerity, acknowledging our own shortcomings that invite trials upon us, through anxiety, pain, loss and fear. We have to seek pardon from the Almighty towards whom we should supplicate for His Intervention and Protection.

 

When Suraqa almost caught up with the Prophet Sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam and his beloved companion, Abu Bakr Radhi-Allahu anhu as they fled Makkah in the Hijra, he r supplicated and Suraqa’s horse faltered. To ward off the potential harm of captivity, the Prophet Sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam had supplicated:

 

اللَّهُمَّ اكْفِنِيهِمْ بِمَا شِئْتَ

Allahuma ikfineehim bima she’ta
(Oh Allah! Suffice me and protect me against their evil in any way You will)

 

It has also been chronicled that Nabi Yunus Alayhis Salaam made a supplication in abundance which resulted in the relief from his anxiety and predicament. While in the belly of the fish, he had supplicated:

 

لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا أَنْتَ سُبْحَانَكَ إِنِّي كُنْتُ مِنَ الظَّالِمِينَ

Laa ilaaha illaa anta, subhaanaka inniy kuntu minazhaalimeen
(There is no deity except You; glorified are You. Indeed, I have been of the wrongdoers)

 

We call upon each one of us to engage in istighfaar, Salat al-Tawbah [Prayer of Repentance] and commit to deeds for virtue, with an utmost level humility, so that the Almighty grants us relief from the turmoil amidst the storm of the pandemic.

 

Furthermore, we call upon communities to rally together around the security of their neighbourhoods and surroundings, by taking all appropriate and necessary precautions, in order to guard against injury, loss of life and property. Advisedly, communities have to operate within the ambit of the law, at all times.

 

The prevailing state of lawlessness has to be dealt with in a decisive manner in order to deter any persons, who may be emboldened by the apparent impunity and signs of helplessness shown by the law-enforcers, so far. As such, the Jamiatul Ulama South Africa is calling upon the government to rise to the occasion, by exercising its responsibility of protecting ordinary law-abiding citizens, who are being held at ransom by thuggery and criminal elements.

 

Issued by:

The Executive Committee
Jamiatul Ulama South Africa

01 Dhu al Hijjah 1442
12 July 2021