The Prayer of the Oppressed

Hamza Yusuf

ene 2014 · eBooks2go, Inc.

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The
Power of this prayer of Imam Muhammad al-Dar’i lies in its simplicity, its
purity, and its sincere supplication. It is essentially a plea to God that our
transgressions be overlooked, that divine mercy be bestowed upon us, that
social justice be restored in spite of us, that wrongs be righted, and that
righteousness reign once again in our lands, so that the destitute may no
longer be in need, the young may be educated, the animals’ purpose fulfilled,
rain restored, and bounties poured forth. It is a plea to be freed from the
aggression of foreigners in lands over which they have no right—a plea much needed
in our modern world, rampant as it is with invasions and territorial
occupations. Ultimately, it asks not that our enemies be destroyed, but simply
that their plots, and the harm they cause, be halted. Its essence is mercy,
which in turn is the essence of the Messenger of God, Muhammad (peace and
blessing of God be upon him): “And We have only sent you as a mercy to all the
worlds.”

Acerca del autor

Born in Washington State and raised in Northern California, Hamza Yusuf became Muslim in 1977, after which he traveled to the Muslim world. He studied for ten years in the U.A.E., Saudi Arabia, and in North and West Africa, and received teaching licenses in various Islamic subjects. He then returned to the United States and earned degrees in Religious Studies and Health Care. He has traveled all over the world giving talks on Islam. In 1996 he founded the Zaytuna Institute, which is committed to presenting a classical picture of Islam in the West and reviving traditional study methods and the sciences of Islam. In 2009 he co-founded Zaytuna College in Berkeley, California, America’s first accredited Muslim institution of higher learning. Yusuf is the first American lecturer to teach in the Qarawiyin, Morocco’s most prestigious and oldest university. In addition, he has translated into modern English several classical Arabic traditional texts and poems. He currently resides in Northern California with his wife and five children.