By Shaykh Hisham Abu Yusuf
20 June 2025

﷽

All praise and gratitude belongs to Allah. We thank Him, we seek His help and His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides, none can lead astray, and whoever is led astray due to their own intentions, none can guide but Allah. I testify that there is none worthy of my worship, my devotion, my ultimate sacrifice but Allah, and that Muhammad ﷺ is His last and final Messenger.

Today, we stand on the cusp of something new.

As the Islamic year draws to a close in the month of Dhū al-Hijjah, we stand at the doorway of Muharram, the beginning of a new year. Often, when December 31st comes around, people throw fireworks into the sky, reflect on their life, and make resolutions. But for us as Muslims, our hearts and minds must recalibrate to a different calendar. A calendar that begins not with celebration, but with sacrifice. A calendar that synchronises with the life of the Prophet ﷺ.

At the beginning of the Islamic year, something profound took place. It wasn’t a moment of conquest or comfort. It was a moment of migration. The Prophet ﷺ and his companions were forced to leave Makkah, not because they wanted to, but because they had to. They were being persecuted, tortured, and threatened.

And at the heart of that migration was a moment that could have changed everything.

The Prophet ﷺ left Makkah with Abū Bakr as-Siddīq (RA) under the cover of night. Assassins had been sent to find and kill him. In that flight, they found shelter in the cave of Thawr. And as they waited in the darkness, a search party from Makkah traced their footsteps and stood right above their hiding place. Abū Bakr turned to the Prophet ﷺ and said, “If they look beneath their feet, we are finished.” The Prophet ﷺ responded, not with fear, but with certainty:

In that moment, the history of Islam hung in the balance. And in that moment, Allah sent down His tranquility:

A spider spun its web. A bird nested at the entrance. And the Quraysh walked away, thinking no one could possibly be inside. That fragile moment turned into the beginning of something vast and powerful.

From that cave, Islam rose.

This is why the Islamic calendar begins with Hijrah. Not with ease, but with hardship. Not with celebration, but with sacrifice. Because our faith was never meant to be passive. It was built on action, intention, and struggle for the sake of Allah.

And this is what Allah reminds us in the same verse:

The believers were never needed for Allah’s plan to succeed. But the opportunity to serve, to build, to be part of that plan – that was the honour offered to them.

So as we enter this new year, the question is not just “What will this year bring?” but “What will we bring to this year?” What will we build?

Allah gives us two categories of people:

There were people who did not migrate. They were too comfortable. Too attached to their homes, their tribes, their routines. And even after the Prophet ﷺ built the state of Madinah, there were still those who stayed seated when they were called to serve.

But Allah commands:

This is the call of the new year. It’s not about how much you have. It’s about whether you’re willing to give. Whether you’re ready to rise.

The Prophet ﷺ didn’t wait for perfect circumstances. He built as soon as he arrived. The masjid. The brotherhood. The constitution. The marketplace. The foundations of a living, breathing Islamic society.

He didn’t do it alone. He had companions who were ready to build brick by brick. One of them was Musʿab ibn ʿUmayr (RA), who he sent to Madinah a year before the migration. Alone. Yet by the time the Prophet ﷺ arrived, the city was ready. One man, one mission, total transformation.

The question now is: who among us is ready to build?

Who is prepared to say, “Where are the bricks? Where is the spade? I’m ready.”

O Allah, as You aided Your Prophet ﷺ when he was in the cave, aid us in our struggles. As You sent down Your peace upon him, send peace into our hearts. Make us of those who serve, who sacrifice, and who stand firm for Your sake in this new year. Let us be builders of the next generation of Islam.

Ameen.

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