All praise belongs to Allah, Lord of the worlds, who sets the divine laws in motion and turns the days between people — honouring whom He wills through obedience to Him, and humbling whom He wills through His justice. He does not break His promise, nor does He change His way. May peace and blessings be upon our master Muhammad ﷺ, the Seal of the Prophets and the Imam of the Messengers, through whom Allah gathered the inheritance of all the prophets and bound his Ummah to the entire history of faith — and upon his family, his Companions, and all who follow his path until the Day of Judgement.
The Day of Ashura is not merely a historical memory of an event long past, nor only an occasion of worship whose worth ends at the virtue of fasting it. It is a day on which the meanings of certainty are renewed, in which the laws (sunan) of Allah in granting victory to truth and destroying falsehood are made plain. It plants in the hearts of the believers the confidence that the path of the prophets is one, that the struggle between faith and tyranny continues as long as life remains, and that the same divine laws which brought salvation yesterday are able to bring it today and tomorrow.
When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ arrived in Madinah, he found the Jews fasting the Day of Ashura. He asked them about it, and they said: "This is the day on which Allah saved Musa (Moses) and his people, and drowned Pharaoh and his army." So he said:
"We have more right to Musa than you." Then he fasted it and ordered that it be fasted.
(Sahih al-Bukhari · Sahih Muslim)
These words were not a declaration of taking part in a historical occasion; they were a declaration of a great matter of creed: that the message of Islam is the complete continuation of the messages of heaven, that the Ummah of Muhammad ﷺ is the inheritor of the legacy of the prophets, and the bearer of the banner of tawhid (the oneness of God) raised by Nuh, Ibrahim, Musa, 'Isa, and Muhammad — peace be upon them all. Allah, the Most High, says:
"He has ordained for you of religion what He enjoined upon Noah and that which We have revealed to you, and what We enjoined upon Abraham and Moses and Jesus."
(Surah Ash-Shura, 42:13)
"Indeed this, your religion, is one religion, and I am your Lord, so worship Me."
(Surah Al-Anbiya, 21:92)
For this reason, the bond between the Prophet ﷺ and Musa (peace be upon him) was not merely one of love and esteem, but a bond of message, method, and stance. He had more right to him because he carries his call, completes his journey, renews in people the meanings of tawhid, justice, and liberation, and stands in the face of tyranny just as all the prophets stood.
Ashura — The School of Divine Laws
Allah willed that the story of Musa and Pharaoh be repeated in the Noble Qur'an more than any other story, because it is the clearest Qur'anic model for confronting tyranny and oppression, and because the struggle between truth and falsehood is not a passing historical event but a divine law (sunnah) that renews itself in the life of nations.
Tyranny does not rest upon a single person, but upon an entire system of power, wealth, deception, and the harnessing of interests to serve falsehood. The Qur'an presented examples of this in Pharaoh, Haman, Qarun, and those who gathered around them among the people of desire and self-interest.
The tyrant stands full of his power, his soldiers, and his wealth; the believer stands stripped of everything but his certainty in Allah. Then the battle ends with what the people of the earth never expected — so that people may know that real power is not in what the arrogant possess, but in what Allah grants to His believing servants. Allah, the Most High, says:
"And We wanted to confer favour upon those who were oppressed in the land and make them leaders and make them inheritors, and establish them in the land."
(Surah Al-Qasas, 28:5-6)
This is not a verse speaking of the Children of Israel alone; it is a divine law that runs through every time and place. Allah does not abandon the oppressed when they are truthful and patient, nor does He leave the tyrants without account, however long their authority lasts.
And so the sea that appeared to Musa and his people to be the end of the road became the beginning of salvation, and the cause of the destruction of Pharaoh and his army — so that this scene would remain eternal in the conscience of the believers: that when Allah wills to grant victory to His servants, He prepares for them means the mind cannot grasp; that relief may be born from the heart of hardship; and that the gift may emerge from the womb of trial.
From Ashura the believer learns that weakness is not an eternal decree, that awaiting relief is an act of worship, and that trust in Allah's promise is not a psychological wish but a certainty grounded in the history of the messages and the unchanging laws of Allah. Allah, the Most High, says:
"...and it was ever incumbent upon Us to support the believers."
(Surah Ar-Rum, 30:47)
From the Seashore to the Reality of the Ummah
The believer does not read the story of Musa (peace be upon him) as a page from the pages of history, but as one of the ongoing laws of Allah among the nations — in which names and faces change, while the struggle between truth and falsehood keeps its original form.
How similar is the cry of the Children of Israel, "Indeed, we are to be overtaken!" (Ash-Shu'ara 26:61), to what is repeated on people's tongues when the means narrow and the trials intensify. And how like the answer of Musa (peace be upon him) is what the believer needs in every time and place:
"He said, 'No! Indeed, with me is my Lord; He will guide me.'"
(Surah Ash-Shu'ara, 26:62)
This is not a word spoken only in hardship; it is a creed that builds steadfastness, plants hope, and grants the Ummah the ability to endure however severe the calamities.
What is happening in Gaza today — of siege, starvation, killing, and displacement — and the patience, ribat (steadfast defence), and resolve its people offer, reminds the Ummah that trial may be the prelude to empowerment.
The children born under the bombing, the mothers who bade farewell to their sons and husbands while repeating "Allah is sufficient for us, and He is the best disposer of affairs," and the men who stood firm on their land despite the severity of the affliction — all of them are writing a new page among the pages of patience the history of the prophets has known.
Victory may be delayed, and the trial may intensify, but the believer knows that Allah's promise does not fail, that the days are alternated among people, and that truth is not measured by a single round, but by the final outcome Allah has written for His righteous servants.
Just as Allah saved Musa and those with him from the tyranny of Pharaoh and his army, He — Glorified is He — is the Helper of the oppressed when they are truthful and patient, bringing them out from constriction to ease, from trial to gift, and from weakness to empowerment.
Behind the Walls — Allah's Promise to the Oppressed
The people of Gaza are not alone in living the meaning of weakness. Behind the walls are thousands of detainees and wronged souls who await relief, certain that however long the night, a dawn must follow. In more than one Muslim land, families still swallow the pain of separation and endure the harshness of waiting — yet trial, however long it lasts, does not sever the believer's hope in his Lord, nor veil from him his trust in a good outcome.
In Egypt, thousands of families still live the effects of years of imprisonment, pursuit, and deprivation, yet they hold fast to hope, certain that injustice will pass, that the days are alternated, and that Allah does not let the reward of the patient be lost. This reminds us that the path of the oppressed may be long, but it is not lost — and that the tears of the wronged and the groans of the distressed are all preserved with Allah, from whom nothing is hidden. Allah, the Most High, says:
"And never think that Allah is unaware of what the wrongdoers do. He only delays them for a Day when eyes will stare [in horror]."
(Surah Ibrahim, 14:42)
Between Pharaoh of Yesterday and the Tyrants of Today
Names change and faces differ, but the reality of tyranny is one: arrogance in the land, contempt for people, corruption in the earth, and war against the people of truth. The Qur'an recorded this reality:
"Indeed, Pharaoh exalted himself in the land and made its people into factions, oppressing a sector among them — slaughtering their sons and keeping their women alive. Indeed, he was of the corrupters."
(Surah Al-Qasas, 28:4)
The Qur'an did not relate to us the tales of Pharaoh for entertainment, but to teach us that every tyrant walks his path, and every arrogant one ends at his fate. Allah, the Most High, says:
"So each We seized for his sin."
(Surah Al-Ankabut, 29:40)
The people of falsehood may imagine that the power, weapons, and media they possess can change history; but all of history bears witness that tyranny is a passing turn, while truth is a lasting state. Allah, the Most High, says:
"And these days [of varying fortunes] We alternate among the people."
(Surah Aal 'Imran, 3:140)
Ashura — and the Making of Hope
Hope in Islam is not a passing feeling, but a certainty in Allah's promise and a trust in His laws. So the believer does not read events with the eye of the moment, but with the eye of revelation — drawing from the certainty of Musa (peace be upon him), "No! Indeed, with me is my Lord; He will guide me" (Ash-Shu'ara 26:62), and from the certainty of the Prophet ﷺ, "Do not grieve; indeed Allah is with us" (At-Tawbah 9:40) — what renews his resolve and strengthens his steadfastness. And when certainty is joined with action, and patience with taking the means, the promise of Allah is fulfilled:
"And Allah will surely support those who support Him. Indeed, Allah is Powerful and Exalted in Might."
(Surah Al-Hajj, 22:40)
Our Duty on the Day of Ashura
Ashura is not only a day for recalling memories, but a day for renewing the covenant with Allah, deepening our belonging to the message of the prophets, and restoring trust in His laws and His promise. It is the duty of the Ummah to better its connection with its Lord, to support the oppressed, to stand firm with the people of truth, to raise its children upon dignity and honour, and to be certain that the path of reform is long — but it is the very path the prophets and the righteous walked before us.
If Musa (peace be upon him) fasted this day in gratitude to Allah for salvation, then the Ummah of Muhammad ﷺ combines in it gratitude for the blessing, the renewal of certainty, the remembrance of the unity of the prophets' message, and the work of supporting the oppressed, establishing justice, and resisting injustice.
And so Ashura remains a witness that the path of the prophets is one, that the good outcome belongs to the God-fearing, and that the laws of Allah show favouritism to no one, nor do they fail anyone.
We ask Allah, the Most High, to make the Day of Ashura a day of certainty, renewal, and hope; to relieve the distress of the troubled, to free the wronged, to grant victory to the oppressed, and to prepare for this Ummah a path of right guidance. Indeed, He is the Guardian of that and the One able to do it. And our final call is that all praise belongs to Allah, Lord of the worlds.
Ashura is the crown of Muharram — the sacred month that opens the Islamic year. Read more about its virtues and the fast of Ashura: Muharram: The Sacred Month and the Islamic New Year.