Khaberni - Written by: Dr. Hani Al-Damour:
When we read the prophetic biography, we do not read it as history detached from reality, but rather as a mirror in which the Sunnah repeats itself, and the stages resemble each other, even if the times and places differ. From this perspective, the severe trials our people are enduring today in Gaza cannot be separated from the Quranic and prophetic logic that links deep pain to major transformations.
Gaza today is experiencing a moment akin to that which preceded Isra and Mi'raj in the prophetic biography. A suffocating siege, systematic destruction, loss of loved ones, and targeting of civilians, in a scene where the world appears silent or complicit, and all earthly reasons for support seem to vanish. This sense of general betrayal and total exposure is not strange in the history of messages, but is a recurring stage that usually precedes major transformations.
In Mecca, the Prophet ﷺ and the early Muslims suffered from weakness, starvation, and torture, losing support one after another, until the scene seemed as though the call was besieged from all directions. In Gaza today, the scene repeats with more bloody tools, but with the same logic: breaking the will, shattering morale, and spreading despair as a final weapon. Yet, the biography teaches us that this stage is not the end of the road, but its climax before a turn.
Just as the incident of Isra and Mi'raj came after the Year of Sorrow, so too do major moments of breakdown typically signal a different kind of opening, perhaps not immediate or in the form we imagine, but deeper in impact and further reaching. Isra did not immediately end the harm in Mecca, but it reshaped consciousness, steadied hearts, and freed souls from complete bondage to the apparent reality, which we see today in the resilience of the people of Gaza, where homes are bombed but wills are not, and bodies are besieged while the spirit remains free.
The scene of steadfastness in Gaza, despite the intensity of pain, reflects a solid Quranic law: that the ordeal is not measured by its size, but by its fruits. Just as the imposition of prayers during the Mi'raj was a psychological and spiritual preparation for the state-building phase, so too is what is forming anew today in the nation's consciousness about the issue of Gaza, from the falling of masks, the exposure of global moral hypocrisy, and redefining the meanings of justice and injustice, part of this long and painful preparation.
Linking the ordeal to empowerment does not justify the pain or diminish its severity, for the blood of the innocent is not a means, and the suffering of children is not a transient stage, but divine laws tell us that when injustice reaches its extent, it begins to undermine itself. Gaza, with its sacrifices, has restored centrality to the Palestinian cause, broken the emotional normalization with injustice, and awakened consciences that were in a long slumber.
Reading what is happening in Gaza in light of Isra and Mi'raj redirects the compass: victory is not a momentary event, but a process, and empowerment does not emerge suddenly, but is formed in the womb of suffering. Just as Isra was not an escape from reality, but a preparation to return to it strengthened, so is the resilience of Gaza not a withdrawal from history, but a writing of it with blood, awareness, and patience.
In the end, Gaza today remains a living witness to the unchanging laws of God, and that after the harshest stages of pain come consolidation, after consolidation comes transformation, and after transformation a new dawn, no matter how long the night. History has never been with the oppressors, even if it seemed so, but always, at the decisive moment, it sides with those who have perseverance, steadfastness, and believe that the heavens have an invincible word.
