It has been suggested that one should visit the past in order to know the present. So let us cast our minds back to Friday, Ramadan 17, AH 2. The place is Badr, named after a well established by someone called Badr, some 150 km outside Madinah in the direction of Makkah. There is a small army of about 300 men, ill equipped, only 70 of whom were mounted; the rest of them had trekked that distance on foot; this was the camp of tawheed (monotheism) and justice facing an army of between 900 to 1000 men armed to the teeth - the camp of disbelief and falsehood.

Before the Divine Command to leave Makkah and emigrate to Madinah was received by the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), the Muslims had endured many years of persecution at the hands of the unbelievers of Quraysh, which ranged from verbal and physical abuse to torture and murder, not forgetting the most infamous and cruel weapon of all, the embargo which Quraysh imposed on the Muslim community. During all these years of hardship and suffering, the Muslims remained steadfast exercising patience and piety. With them and suffering like the rest of them, having forgone a very comfortable lifestyle and position of honor and leadership, (which the unbelievers of Quraysh had offered him) was the leader Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). The position as the servant and Messenger of Allah was of far greater value to him than being a king. He remained with the oppressed and those perceived to be weak exercising a unique style of leadership - inspired and inspiring. Although he was like a shepherd providing direction, maintaining the flock and meeting individual needs, neither did he, nor do we even today, refer to those who were with him as followers. They are always referred to as Companions. He (peace and blessings be upon him) was the first companion; for each of his companions was a leader in his own right and he (peace and blessings be upon him) was a leader of leaders. That is how he wanted them to be. They obeyed him willingly - not out of fear, because he was a leader by example. He would not ask them to do anything that he would not willingly do himself.

Allah saw that the only fitting worldly reward for such men was a spectacular victory, and a spectacular victory it was. The unbelievers of Quraysh suffered a humiliating defeat losing 70 of their highly regarded men and a similar number captured, with scores of wounded. They withdrew to Makkah licking their wounds and leaving behind their belongings that were shared amongst the Muslims as spoils of war. The Muslims lost 14 martyrs.

Today is not that much different from the days preceding Badr. Although there is a great amount of Muslims nowadays, they are still suffering from oppression, injustice, poverty, diseases, illiteracy, ignorance and so on. What the Ummah in general needs is another Badr at three different levels.

The first and perhaps the most important level is the individual - ourselves. When Muslims turn away from their religion, Allah will turn away from them until they return to Him in repentance. We must realize that unless and until we sincerely repent and return to the true religion of Allah, we have no hope of overcoming the other obstacles.

The second level represents the internal problems of each individual country. These are usually associated with the government of the country. Most, if not all Muslim countries have rulers rather than leaders at the head of the state. Such rulers shall not become leaders in the mould of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and his rightly-guided Caliphs (may Allah be pleased with them all), until they see themselves as performing a function, not holding a position or rank. They should rely on their authority of knowledge, wisdom, and charisma to gain the respect of their fellow countrymen.

Once these two levels are set firmly in the right direction, the Ummah can turn to deal with the third level - the external threats. The Ummah can then expend all its energies and resources to become economically powerful and militarily strong.