The path of martyrs, not of the ignorant…

 Mujahid al-Suraymi — Sana’a

Honor and value do not lie in merely claiming to join the side of truth, because anyone can make such a claim, as long as the matter is only a play of words. What truly matters is the effort of free people to recognize the criteria that enable them to distinguish the truthful from the deceitful—even if both make equal claims. For the measure is action, not speech.

How many people are there whose words stir emotions, attract hearts, and inspire admiration, yet once they achieve their goal, they turn to corruption and destruction, striving to obliterate every sign of life and growth, and place the sword of tyranny upon the necks of the people? When they were told, “Fear God,” they turned their sins into religion and fashioned a law by which they judged nothing but themselves.

But you—who consider yourself steadfast on the path of truth and faithful to its way, and who stand in the field defending it—know that no matter how much knowledge and awareness you have attained, you must not be content with it. For as long as you do not seek guidance from God at every moment, you remain exposed to deviation and fall. Look around you and see how many today relied on themselves, became proud of their own cleverness, and ultimately became kindling for the fire of delusion, ending up on the side of falsehood: some recognized the truth but turned away from it in action, thus incurring God’s wrath; others drowned in misguided cultures, accepted everything they heard, embraced every thought without reflection, and turned away from God’s guidance, leading only to misguidance and ruin.

These truths remain hidden, while people are preoccupied with appearances. Whoever pauses and reflects will realize that the first front that shaped our revolutionary transformations was the front of the word, and from it arose the men of victory and honor. Therefore, the enemy sought to strike it with the hands of base and ignorant people—using clowns and fools and sidelining the noble and aware. They opened false social media accounts and created fake identities to speak in our name and distort our ideas. In short, they used corrupt and failed tools to convey our message to the world.

But one who knows the truth of the path understands that the media model of these noisy, shallow-minded individuals is not the standard; rather, it is the anonymous and striving figures, those who embody the truth of the verse:
“Indeed, those who say, ‘Our Lord is Allah,’ and then remain steadfast.”

The bearer of truth does not hide behind the name of a famous artist or a celebrated intellectual; rather, with faith in God and certainty in His way, they convey their message to all people and seek His help for perseverance and guidance.

God describes His sincere servants thus: they are the best spokespeople, for they dedicate all their mental, spiritual, and practical power to the call to God and righteous action. People see in their behavior a living example of faith and honesty; their words and deeds are one. Even if no one hears their speech, the truth is seen in their actions.

These true humans are present in the field of action as well; they do not hide behind a fabricated persona, but openly take pride in their faith and ideas and defend them, just as the Qur’an says:
“And who is better in speech than one who invites to Allah and does righteousness and says, ‘Indeed, I am of the Muslims.’”

This is the true model that must be spread—the model of martyrs, not of the foolish. For the path creates martyrs, not the ignorant; an aware martyr who knows that God’s religion does not require its bearers to be famous, wealthy, beautiful, or powerful to have the right to speak and call others; rather, only inner purity, a sound conscience, recognition of reality, and sincere intention are sufficient. Whether you are unknown or well-known, beautiful or ugly, poor or rich—the value in God’s sight lies not in these appearances, but in the correctness of thought, steadfastness of reason, and sincerity of intention.

It is this purity that places you among the martyrs of God’s path; those who bear witness about themselves, the people, and all of existence, based on God’s message and the essence of His revelation, which illuminates their thoughts, feelings, and deeds, so they can say:
Whatever pleases God is what should be spoken and lived by.