Six weeks ago, saw the same dream three mornings in a row. I told only one person, and though I thought about sharing it publicly, I ultimately backed off.
But considering what happened overnight in Damascus, with the assassination of a top general (Shaykh Zahran Alloush), I feel like sharing it for some reason.
Basically, I was praying Fajr at the Umayyad Mosque. As I stepped out onto the courtyard after prayer, it was a warm summer morning and there was a gentle breeze.
I remember being barefoot and the courtyard being very cool and absolutely silent with no-one in sight. There was a surreal stillness and tranquility.
As I walked towards the exit, a man runs up and taps me on the shoulder and asks me, ‘aren’t you going?’
I responded, ‘to where?’
Him: ‘To the pledge of allegiance.’
Me: ‘What are you talking about?’
So I followed him into a room adjacent to the main praying space and was very curious.
When I walked in, the first thing I saw were the crosses held by Christian priests and the hats of the Druze mashayekh standing right in front of me.
Everyone was streaming in the same direction, to a distant corner of the room. I was impatient and felt like pushing through, but ultimately decided against it.
Eventually, reached the front.
There was a man dressed in black from top to bottom, maybe in his late fifties, who was taking a pledge of allegiance from everyone to be the leader over us.
There was incredible contentment in that room. A sense of dignified victory, celebration and collective accomplishment for Muslims everywhere and the non-Muslims of Syria too.
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Now, I pray and hope there’s some glad-tidings in that.
But even if there isn’t and just a figment of my imagination, something remains: this is a fertile city and land.
This is the city of Umar bin Abdul-Aziz, of Saladin, of Ibn Qudamah, Ibn Taymiyyah, Ibn al-Qayyim, Ibn Abidin and hundreds of others whose legacy and greatness we seek guidance and inspiration from every single day.
This is the city of the Messiah’s return to earth. The city of Imam al-Mahdi.
Damascus is the city at the heart of Bilaad Ash-Sham; the Abode of Islam and the cream of Allah’s Lands into which the pillars of monotheism were planted by the angels, according to a Hadith Qudsi.
This city never leaned on a leader or another; it always knew another one was coming who would be even greater, capped by the return of one of the greatest men to set foot on earth: Jesus, the Son of Mary, peace be upon him and his mother.
So great leaders are coming, and days of victory, security and tranquility will accompany them.
The Muslim Independent 