Habib Umar bin Hafiz (may Allah protect him and benefit us by him) reflects on the legacy of his father, Habib Muhammad.
On a Friday, on the 29th of Dhu’l-Hijjah in 1392 (1973) I went out with my father to the Friday prayer. I came back from the prayer with only his scarf. He had disappeared.
But in reality who disappeared? Those who abducted him or him?
Do you not see him? Do you not see what he left behind? Do you not see his dawah?
His blessed body disappeared and he attained the honour of martyrdom in the path of his Lord.
But what remains is his legacy, his memory, his dawah, his concern, his words, what he built and what he gave.
He is a member of this ummah whose blood is connected to the blood spilt by Hamzah, the Lion of Allah and His Messenger. Hamzah did not disappear. Hamzah reached the pinnacle of honour and nobility. He is the ‘Master of all the Martyrs’ in Allah’s sight (may Allah be pleased with him). After him came the martyrdom of al-Husayn which we remember in Muharram.