“And do not weaken nor grieve, and you will have the upper hand if you are [true] believers.”

(Surah Ali-‘Imran; 3:139)

There is a psychological phenomenon popularly known as “Baby Elephant Syndrome”. It’s not a disease or an ailment. Instead, it’s a paradigm of mental conditioning that controls our habitual thinking.

Baby Elephant Syndrome is where a baby elephant is tied to a strong rope or chain at a young age and is unable to break free of the constraint. When the elephant matures, the elephant has grown strong enough to uproot trees and surely break the rope, but the elephant has been conditioned to accept this constraint.

Due to colonisation, not only of our lands but more importantly our minds, we have been conditioned to thinking in a certain manner whereby we have to accept the fact the Islamic Ummah is living under the syndrome of the baby elephant.

The Complex of Inferiority

Psychologically, the Muslims think they are unable to free themselves from the shackles put on us by the colonialists to reach our potential and strength as a united Ummah. As a result of this, the Muslims are suffering from a catastrophic inferiority complex where we have been conditioned into accepting weakness and hopelessness to such an extent that many of us have even adopted unseen fatalism as our salvation where we accept that we cannot change our situation and can only await for the Mahdi to come and change it.

This paralysis in thought and action is the reason why the Muslims in Gaza are being massacred and humiliated under a brutal occupation. Having seen what is happening before our very eyes, the Islamic Ummah stands as a powerless bystander with barely anything to contribute, and not pressing its scholars, dignitaries, people of power and influential figures to arise from their slumber, pressuring the armies to move and holding those in authority to account.

Obscuring the Perceived Victory

What has given the Islamic Ummah vigour and revitalised them is the courage and the valour of the Palestinians with their limited resources. This has shattered the illusion of weakness which is why the Zionists are carrying out a barbaric onslaught on the Palestinians to break their resolve, obfuscate the achieved victory, erase the false notion of IDF being undefeatable and remove it from the memory of Muslims, so as not to remove the illusion of weakness and submission that we have been deceived by so we dare not seek liberation and revival.

The colonialists with their media are trying hard to replant the thought of the IDF being one of the most powerful armies in the world by constantly repeating and reminding the people by showing their air power and their shelling from armoured tanks to subdue the Muslims into thinking they have no choice but to accept the Zionist entity as a formidable force.

This psychological warfare is not a new phenomenon. Whenever America and her surrogates sense revival within the Islamic Ummah or any attempt to loosen the chains of colonialism which would eventually lead to liberation, the colonialists ensure the chains are tied tighter. This was evident during the Arab Spring with the masses emboldened and the fear of the rulers removed, only for America to instruct her agents to violently suppress the masses restoring the fear back into the masses. Or whenever the Muslims elect an Islamic party to govern their affairs, America’s purpose is to set these parties up to fail leading to despair and loss of confidence.

Seeking Glad Tidings in Hardship Is a Sunnah

It can be overwhelming and despairing to witness the nations of the world gathering on our lands devouring our resources and wealth like animals devour their prey. A Muslim however never loses hope nor is in despair as that is not the characteristic of the believer but a ploy by Shaytaan to weaken and subdue the Islamic Ummah.

When the kuffaar came together and plotted against the Muslims to destroy them and Islam during the battle of Al-Ahzaab, the Messenger of Allah (SAW) gave hope to the believers whilst digging the trench. He struck the first rock and saw a vision of Muslims conquering Rome, then another strike he saw Muslims conquering Persia and the third he saw Muslims opening Yemen.

When the Quraysh were in desperate pursuit of the Messenger (SAW) to stop him reaching Medinah as the head of state, they despatched Suraqah ibn Malik who was the best of them in horsemanship and tracking. When he reached the Messenger and wanted to kill him, the Messenger of Allah (SAW) did not plead nor compromise, but said to him, “O Suraqah, how would you like to wear the bangles of Persia” which Umar ibn al-Khattab, after conquering Persia, gave to Suraqah. So in hard and difficult times we must never lose strength nor feel weak as we should seek glad tidings in hardship which is a Sunnah and the way of the believers who remain firm on their Imaan. Reliance on Allah is epitomised by the Muslims of Palestine which should be seen as a filtering process of the hypocrites and wrongdoers.

Breaking Free From a Shackled Mindset

It is imperative we change our mindset to break the chains of slavery to remove the weakness from our minds, and to plant the seeds of revival which we may not reap the harvest nor seek shade under the tree in our lifetimes but the future generations will benefit.

One of the main reasons for weakness is we see ourselves as individuals not part of the Islamic Ummah consisting of two billion people which has huge strength and potential. We should work to establish a sincere leadership where we can move forward as one single state, stretching from Morocco in the East to China in the West, and from Turkey in the north to Malaysia in the south. Occupying the best part of the world in terms of resources and strategic points and having the largest military the world has ever seen, it would undoubtedly constitute a front which would be stronger in every respect than the leading powers put together.

This can only be achieved by following the method of the Messenger (SAW) as nothing else will bring true salvation and success in this life and the next, otherwise Allah (SWT) will replace us with those who will take up the mantle of responsibility and accomplish this mission which He has promised us with victory.

It is for this reason the colonialists keep tightening the chains. But if the Islamic Ummah acted in a unified effort we would be liberated, freeing ourselves from the foreign powers who are currently dictating our destiny which is the only thing holding us back from liberating Palestine.

“And if you turn away (from Islam and the obedience of Allah), He will exchange you for some other people, and they will not be like you.”

(Surah Muhammad; 47:38)