Self-preservation is the most basic human instinct, and governs relatively all of our human emotions and actions. It governs hunger, which helps us to maintain a healthy and nutritious body; it governs fear, which keeps us alert in the presence of danger; and it even governs love, which maintains the continuity of human life by means of procreation. So if self-preservation is a common factor in all human life, what factor sets us apart...and raises us higher in the presence of Allah, subhanna wa taala

Needless to say, you will never find a verse in the Qu’ran telling one to fear his enemy. On the contrary…it tells us to be brave. Never will you hear of a Muslim commander at the time of the Messenger of Allah (Peace and blessing be upon him) telling his soldiers to flee the battlefield and to remain oppressed for centuries at the hands of their enemy.

Today we are becoming the most cowardly of men…compared to the strength, courage, and bravery, and actions shown by the companions of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessing be upon him). Bravery and courage do not come from a person’s lack of fear…but rather it comes from his ability to not allow that fear to prevent him from doing what is right. The Prophet Muhammed (peace and blessing be upon him) never stopped carrying out his message for fear of death or punishment by the Quraish. Bilal (may Allah be pleased with him) for his mere recital of ‘La illaha illa Alllah’ suffered torture more severe than any one of us could fear facing at Guantanamo bay…and even then all he could recite in reply was “ahhadun ahhad!” “ahhadun ahhad!”

Regretfully, it has become the sad matter of the day that Muslims are becoming harrassed and fueled with fear by their brothers in Islam more than by their actual oppressor…albeit unintentionally.

We really need to wake up and smell the masala. In the actual reality of things, we are taking away our civil liberties before the oppressor has the chance to do so…we stop doing things we would normally do before our oppressor has the chance to tell us to do it…and all because we fear what may or may not happen if we were to do so. Even though pragmatically speaking we have a greater chance of facing hardships from diseases, accidents, heart problems, and violence.

Governments have been terrorizing their citizens to keep them submitting since such a thing called government was born. By arresting a few people and harassing a few more they are able to completely subjugate their subjects by nothing more than fear of the unknown.

Perhaps one day if they really want to imprison us, kill us, or send us to work brigades for the rest of our lives…we would all realize that, whether careful or not, they were going to do it anyway. So wouldn’t you feel much better about yourself knowing that you were not sitting around cowering in that time that you actually did have to be free. We really should ask ourselves why we as Muslim cannot live like any other American or European or Chinese person for the simple fact that we recite "La illaha illa Allah, Muhammadun rasul Allah"