Ramadan Reflections (2025)
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Do You Want to See Tyrants Suffer? | Ramadan Reflections
“Now I understand why Hell exists.” This thought has resonated deeply in response to the latest atrocities in Palestine. But does it imply that Muslims are cruel and desire the suffering of others? And why is there a window to Hell in Paradise where believers witness the punishment of tyrants? In this brief reminder, Dr. Omar Suleiman reflects on maintaining moral integrity while seeking justice—and what it means to find peace in knowing oppressors will face their consequences.
“It’s not like the believers like to see suffering. It’s the confirmation that the suffering of believers did not go unpunished.” —Dr. Omar Suleiman
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings.Do Muslims like to see other people suffer? With everything that's been going on over the last year and a half, there's this sentiment that, you know, now we understand. If anyone had any doubts in their faith about the existence of hellfire and who deserves to be in hellfire, the monsters that have carried out the genocide have given you a sense of settlement with that belief and to say, okay, now I get it. For those of you that have been following the Ramadan series, the last two episodes about the other side of Gaza, where the souls of the martyrs are now and what happens with the children and the tyrants and so on and so forth in that world as it exists right now. These were very difficult two episodes to record and I wanted to add a little bit to it, bi'idhnillahi ta'ala, which is answering this question. Do we want to see the people who have caused this torment suffer? Is that something that brings calm to the heart of the believer? And then what does that say about us as Muslims in our overall mission on this earth? And subhanAllah, we just came out of Surat At-Tawbah where we have this verse about the Prophet (ﷺ). لَقَدْ جَاءَكُمْ رَسُولٌ مِنْ أَنفُسِكُمْ عَزِيزٌ عَلَيْهِ مَا عَنِتُمْ حَرِيصٌ عَلَيْكُمْ بِالْمُؤْمِنِينَ رَؤُوفٌ رَحِيمٌ That this messenger has come from amongst you. And by the way, the beginning part of this verse, as the Mufassirun mentioned, is speaking to the overall. He has come from amongst you, amongst yourselves. عَزِيزٌ عَلَيْهِ مَا عَنِتُمْ حَرِيصٌ عَلَيْكُمْ is for everyone, for his qawm, for his people. That it pains him (ﷺ) what happens to you, that he's deeply concerned about you, that he describes his mission (ﷺ) as a man that's standing in front of the fire trying to stop as many people as possible from falling into the fire, grabbing people by their waist belts. لَعَلَّكَ بَاخِعٌ نَفْسَكَ عَلَىٰ آثَارِهِمْ
It pains the Prophet (ﷺ) to see the people that he's calling, even as they are mocking him, be punished. بِالْمُؤْمِنِينَ رَؤُوفٌ رَحِيمٌ And then there's takhsis, then there's the specification of the believers, that with the believers he is especially compassionate and merciful (ﷺ). But let's stay with that for a bit. In the ethos of the Muslim, in the way that we think as a community, in the way that we approach in general humanity, is we don't want to see people suffer. That we actually want to save as many people as possible from suffering in this life or the next life. That the heart of a da'iya, the heart of a person who's calling to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, is that that da'iya is calling people to save themselves from destruction. And that even when we face harshness from the people, we still wish for them good. And we hope, يَا لَيْتَ قَوْمِي يَعْلَمُونَ, we wish they could see the light of the truth that they have been trying to obstruct. But then comes this element of dhulm, this element of transgression, tughyan, where it goes to another level, where there is torture, where there is mutilation. Still, even with that, the believers had a certain calibration, which is what I want you to think about. The Prophet (ﷺ) never mutilated his opponents. It was especially forbidden in Islam to mutilate. When our shuhada were martyred on the day of Uhud, it wasn't enough for them to kill the people that they drove out of Mecca in the first place, or those that took them in. But they mutilated them, they cut them to pieces, they made examples out of them. And that was a representation of the overall rot and decay of the heart and soul of the people. The soul of the kuffar at that time, and of course, beyond, those that follow in their example. And the Prophet (ﷺ) still maintained the moral high ground,
and that was a sense or a representation of the heart of the Prophet (ﷺ) and his companions by extension, and those that follow by extension, and the spiritual upliftment, and the way that they see things differently, that we never became them. We never became them. And we don't want to see that. We're not the ones who like to see children killed. We're not the ones that delight in seeing suffering or torment. But we do want justice. And here's what I want to bring us to into the scenes of the hereafter. There are two categories, if you will, of the scenes on the Day of Judgment, or when it's all said and done. لما قضي الأمر as people move on to the next station as they're going to Jannah. Or they're going to the other destination. May Allah protect us. Allahumma ameen. There are the scenes in which Allah shows you something to confirm إِنَّ وَعْدَ اللَّهِ حَقٌّ that verily the promise of Allah is true. And that Allah has given you with your vision what confirms what He has already told you. For example, Allah has already told you that there is no death after you enter into your final destination. But the Prophet (ﷺ) mentions that the people of Jannah will be brought out and the people of Hellfire will be brought out. And Allah will bring forth a ram, the representation of الموت and it will be sacrificed to say, no more death after this. That's it. And that's something that increases the people of Paradise in joy and increases the people of Hellfire in despair. That that's it. Death has come and death has been killed. In a representative way that you could see it.
When Allah describes to us the scenes of the people of Paradise, it's not like you see the Muslims being described as having a river of لبن, a river of milk, a river of honey, a river of wine, and then a river of the blood of the oppressors. That they drink from their blood once again and that, you know, we sit around in Jannah and we find joy watching, you know, endless scenes of the oppressors and the tormentors of the innocents be tormented in Hellfire. But the Prophet (ﷺ) mentioned a window, a window that the people of Paradise have that they could go to and they could see the people of Hellfire through. And they could see two types of people, those who try to lead them astray and those who wrong them. Those who try to lead them astray and those who wrong them. And when you're looking at those people, if you imagine, and may Allah let this be a reality for all of us, if you imagine yourself in Paradise and you go to that site of the fire, may Allah never allow us to dwell inside of that fire. And you look through that hole or you look through that window and you see the tyrants of today. Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah ladhi sadaqa wa'dah. Allah did not fail in His promise. Alhamdulillah. And you see the person who tried to lead you astray and mocked you? In kadt la-turdini. You almost led me astray. You see those people and that does not fall in the category of the elongated pleasures of Jannah where people sit around and do this all day. But it is not to show you or it is rather to show you that Allah delivered on His promise.
Similar to when the Prophet (ﷺ) walked up to the grave or walked up to Abu Jahl and his likes after the Battle of Badr. And said, we have found the promise of Allah to be true for us. Have you found what Allah promised you to be true? So this falls in the Bab of liyatma'inna qalbi, that my heart be put at ease. That Allah has shown us that justice was delivered. It's not that the believers like to see suffering. It's a confirmation that the suffering of the believers did not go unpunished. And to see that, to put your heart at ease and Allah to tell you, it's over. This is done. It's something that allows the believers to then sufficiently enjoy the delights of Jannah, the delights of paradise. The next stage of their existence which never ends and which only gets better and more beautiful. And to know that Allah will put those people in the torment that they deserve and the torment that they earned. And so yes, we want to see these oppressors, these murderers of children, these murderers of our brothers and sisters who laugh and delight. We want to have that moment where we see Allah deliver them to the destination that He promised them. And that will put the hearts of the believers at rest. But we are not a people who live in spite of them. We're a people who live for the love of Allah and look forward to that ultimate promise being delivered to us and realizing the full reward of what we sacrificed for in this world. That is the case of the people of Gaza. That is the case of the believers all around. We ask Allah that we be joined with the oppressed in their reward and that we not find ourselves entered into the punishment of the oppressors in any way.
And we ask Allah that we live and that we enter into paradise without any touching of the fire for all of eternity. And that Allah allow us to see those who are being tormented from the windows of Jannah and not from the pits of hellfire alongside them. May Allah give justice to our brothers and sisters in this life. May Allah give mercy to them as they pass away. And may Allah allow this month of Ramadan to be a month of victory for the oppressed as well. Allahumma ameen. JazakumAllahu khayr. Wassalamu'alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.
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