When You Meet The Souls of Gaza | The Other Side: Barzakh and Beyond Ep. 9
How many nights have you lost sleep over the horrors inflicted by cowards in power? How much rest has been stolen from the innocent, burned and broken by the hands of human devils? And how many times have you wished—just once—that it was the tyrants who were tormented instead?
The martyrs have a message for us. Their souls have ascended beyond the ruins of this world, flying free in Jannah, comforted by divine justice. The oppressors, no matter how untouchable they seem, are already trapped in the torment of the Barzakh, their agony only beginning.
Justice is inevitable. The martyrs are at peace, but our struggle continues.
NOTE: All depictions of Barzakh are purely conceptual and only vocals were used in the making of the soundtrack.
Download discussion guides for "The Other Side": https://yqn.io/2e7585
References
- “May the eye of the coward never rest.”
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings.May the eye of the tyrant never rest. How many times have you tossed and turned at night with helplessness because of cowardly monsters hiding in suits behind bombs? How much sleep do you think is snatched away from the men, women, and children who are relentlessly burned, broken, and tortured by human devils? How many times have you looked at tyrants and wished it was them who lost sleep at night? Fala namat a'yun al-jubana. May the eye of the coward never rest. These were the words of Khalid (رضي الله عنه) on his deathbed. And while that had a specific worldly context, you may find yourself wishing the same for the cowards of today or even more than that. And then you might wonder, am I a bad person for wanting to see those who made so many people suffer, suffer themselves? Sometimes I want the comfort of knowing that those who were murdered are now comforted, but I also want to see these unaccountable tyrants in this world held accountable there. You're not alone. All of us oscillate between sadness over what's being done to our people and rage at the criminals that are doing it to them. Even the Prophet (ﷺ) who was sent as a mercy to the world sometimes prayed against those who turned it into a genocidal playground. But the thing about the barzakh is that it speaks to both of those emotions simultaneously because divine justice is already in motion. It was the night before the battle of Yamama and the men who were about to be killed were having all sorts of dreams. Abbad ibn Bishr (رضي الله عنه) woke up and he said,
I saw a dream last night where the heavens opened up and then my soul ascended and then they shut behind it. As for Tufayl ibn Amr (رضي الله عنه), he had a far more vivid dream. He said, last night I had a dream that I was beheaded and that when I was beheaded a bird flew out from my mouth and it flew to a woman and then that woman entered that bird into her womb. And then my son was chasing me and looking for me, but he couldn't catch up to me. He said, the way that I interpreted it is that I'm going to be beheaded in the battlefield. And he said, and as for the bird, faroohi, it is my soul, walmar'atu al-ard utfanu feeha, and that woman is the earth as I will be buried in it. And my son who was with me in this battle will not be martyred and will wonder what happened to me. And it happened exactly like that. Abbad's body was so mutilated that he could only be recognized by a birthmark. And Tufayl was indeed beheaded with his son surviving the battle. The purpose for mentioning these graphic details is that let's face it, we've all seen more graphic death in the past year than possibly our entire lives. And look how familiar it all is. The people of Gaza have resorted to art to draw flowers to represent their beheaded martyrs. How many Tufayls are there in Gaza? How many Abbads in Gaza? How many shuhada' that have now joined the ranks of those whom they used to read about? And like the son of Tufayl who couldn't follow him, we're all left wondering what's happening to our shuhada' now. And the shuhada' have a message for us. The Prophet (ﷺ) said that when the souls of the martyrs of Uhud transitioned, many of them with mutilated corpses, Allah placed their souls in the bodies of green birds which go down to the rivers of paradise. They eat from its fruit and then they nestle in chandeliers of gold hanging from the throne of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And then Allah spoke to them and he reassured them himself.
And then when they experienced the sweetness of their reward, they said, but who's going to tell our families that we are alive in paradise provided with provision so that they can keep striving like we did and not lose heart in battle? SubhanAllah, it wasn't just to comfort us. They wanted to inspire us. So Allah said, I will tell them about you myself. And that's when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala sent down the verse, do not say of those who have been killed that they are dead. Rather, they are alive with their Lord being provided for. The shuhada of Uhud and the shuhada of Gaza want us to know that they're okay, but also that we need to keep going. Because firstly, while they're no longer with us, they're with their Lord. Remember when Asiya (رضي الله عنها) was being tortured until she was martyred and she asked, my Lord build for me with you a house in paradise. Notice before the house, before the reward, she first asked to be with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And now she is with him. And Allah says, the martyrs are with their Lord. Asiya is with her Lord. And so are all the other martyrs of all times. But you know what else? They're also with each other. Not just the ones who were killed in the same atrocity, but across generations. Imagine the shuhada from different generations getting to know each other. It's narrated from Abdullah ibn Amr ibn Al-'As (رضي الله عنهما) that he said that the souls of the martyrs are in green birds roaming through like visitors. They recognize one another and then they get to know one another as they eat from the fruits of the trees of paradise. Imagine the martyrs from Gaza, free from their open air prison, now flying beside the martyrs
of the Srebrenica genocide. The birds of Uyghurs embracing the birds of the Rohingya and Kashmir. Those who were killed in the Nakba, receiving those who were killed in Palestine now. Imagine the starved souls of Yemen and Sudan now sharing the fruits of the trees of Jannah. Think of the martyrs in Lebanon and Syria, meeting those who were massacred all over Ash-Sham in the same place, but a thousand years earlier. And then think of all of them flying to Sumayyah, the first martyr at the time of the Prophet (ﷺ). Then sitting with Hamza (رضي الله عنه) and Ja'far (رضي الله عنه) and the shuhada from the sahaba. What's it like for Hamza of Uhud to now meet the many kids named Hamza who were martyred in Gaza? They're called shuhada, witnesses, not only because Allah witnesses their sacrifice, but because they immediately witness Allah's reward upon death. How many times have you seen the images of bodies being ripped to pieces on your screen and thought to yourself, what unbearable, merciless pain must they have gone through? But what if I told you that many of them may not have suffered at death as much as you thought they did? The Prophet (ﷺ) said, the Shaheed feels no more pain at the time of death than one of you feels from a small sting. By the time we think they have suffered too much, Allah has already started giving them so much more than anyone could have hoped for of his unimaginable reward. Now that's not in any way to minimize the suffering before that moment of death for many of the shuhada who aren't killed in an instant, but it is to say that Allah's reward will certainly cause them to forget that pain as they roam freely now in paradise, and to remember that they will never suffer again. While all the rest of the believers are tested in their graves, the shuhada aren't even questioned because the Prophet (ﷺ) said that the flashing of swords over their heads was a sufficient test for them. But what about the jabbarin, the tyrants and the oppressors responsible for their death? Why does it seem like the jabbarin are getting away in this
world? Why do the good people always seem to die before their time, while the villains seem to live long, happy lives with the dunya in their grasp? It's actually all part of Allah's plan. He waits to punish them, to ruin them. InnaAllaha layumli lidh-dhalim hatta idha akhadhahu lam yuflithu Allah delays the punishment of the oppressor, but once he seizes them, he does not let them go. So to our eyes, it may seem like they're dying in their comfortable beds with servants and doctors all around them, but no one can help them from their agonizing last moments because just as the moments of death for the shuhada are where their pain ends and their bliss begins, the last moments for the oppressors are agonizing as their soul is ripped and squeezed out of their body, and it's only the beginning of their eternal torment. And where the grave expands for the shuhada, it shuts violently on the jabbarin. Imagine those that caused others to be crushed under the rubble, and now they are crushed by the paralyzing squeeze of the grave. It's no coincidence that the only explicit mention in the Qur'an of the punishment of the grave is regarding the greatest tyrant ever, Fir'aun. Allah says in Surah Ghafir, النار يعرضون عليها غدوا وعشيا ويوم تقوم الساعة أدخلوا آل فرعون أشد العذاب The fire, they are exposed to it morning and evening, and then when the hour appears, it will be said, make the people of Pharaoh enter the severest punishment. Think about your morning and evening and then theirs. You wake up every morning and evening, and the adhkar, the words of remembrance, are almost all around praising Allah for the blessings He's given you here. But do you also praise Him for the justice He's delivering to them there? Abu Huraira (رضي الله عنه) would wake up each morning and he would say ذهب الليل وجاء النهار وعرض آل فرعون على النار The night has gone and the day has come, and the people of Pharaoh are being presented
to the fire. And when the evening came, he would say, the day has gone and the night has come, and the people of Pharaoh are being presented to the fire. It still pains you to see injustice in this world, but you know that tyrants are being punished now in the barzakh, and it intensifies every morning and every evening. You have war criminals that have passed away in your lifetime, but who put into motion some of the tyranny that we live today. And that's why some of the scholars say the verse says, the people of Pharaoh. And that's not just his followers at his time, but every tyrant that follows in his example. You see the jabbarin are the opposite of the shuhada. Rather than devoting their lives to a cause bigger than themselves, they devoted their lives to making themselves bigger. And so Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, the greatest of all, will show them how tiny they really are. The Prophet (ﷺ) said, the arrogant and the tyrants will be gathered on the day of judgment as tiny little insects, and the people will trample upon them due to their disgrace before Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Meanwhile, imagine this. The Prophet (ﷺ) said that the shuhada will have crowns on their heads like the jabbarin would wear unjustly in this world. And you know how when we see one atrocity and then we say to ourselves, it can't get worse than this. And then the tyrants outdo themselves and we say, this is the worst we've seen. The Prophet (ﷺ) said that while these tyrants are being tortured, they're actually asking Allah to delay the day of judgment because they know that the full experience of hell that awaits them is even worse. The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, Allah al-Jabbar will take his skies and earths in his hand. And he (ﷺ) proceeded to open and close his own hand. Then he will say, ana al-Jabbar, ana al-Malik, ayna al-jabbaroon, ayna al-mutakabbiroon. I am al-Jabbar, the compeller. I am al-Malik, the king. Where are the tyrants? Where are the arrogant now? And while the Prophet (ﷺ) was saying it, he was saying it with such passion that his pulpit was shaking
and some of the sahaba thought he would fall. That's real anger. But what about the real pain and the grief we feel as well? And there's a reason why the shuhada get to intercede on behalf of 70 of their relatives. Their relatives who felt the pain of losing them in such a horrendous manner are now going to be honored with entering paradise through their intercession. And subhanAllah, how many of those people on your screen are now shuhada or from the families of shuhada? How many people in Gaza don't have a shaheed in their family? It's pretty much every single one of them. So can you imagine how large the Gaza strip is in Jannah? It's hard for us to imagine when the scene in front of us is so gruesome. But it's even harder to live if you can't. Just like the people in Surat al-Buruj, how many ditches of fire immediately become gardens of paradise? Think of the hairdresser of the daughter of Fir'aun who was thrown into a pit of fire, yet the Prophet (ﷺ) smelled her scent in the highest heavens on the night of al-Isra' wal-Mi'raj. And how many tyrants seemingly enjoying the comfort of their worldly homes now will burn forever? لهم عذاب الحريق But here's the thing, finding peace and knowing that Allah has not failed to sufficiently reward our martyrs or punish our tyrants in the barzakh should not in any way temper our pursuit of justice for the oppressed who are still living in misery in this realm here today. Because the reward of the oppressed is with Allah, but the responsibility to stand up against these oppressors remains with us here. And that's the point. The oppressors seek to dominate this world because they have nothing else to look forward to while we have something far greater awaiting us. And so we say to them, our guardian is Allah and you have no guardian. Our mass graves are mass gardens of paradise and your castles are chambers of hell. Our ending is victory and your end is humiliation.
لعلي أعمل صالحا فيما تركت كلا إنها كلمة هو قائلها ومن ورائهم برزخ إلى يوم يبعثون كلا إنها كلمة هو قائلها ومن ورائهم برزخ إلى يوم يبعثون
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