Have you ever questioned on the reason why some things are kept existing in today's world, even though it happened during a period long time ago? Take for example, the corpse of the Pharaoh who chased after Prophet Musa (Peace be upon him) is still preserved due to Allah's will to this day, when a body that has been left in the oceans for a long time should not have any physical remains.
Allah wants to show His believers of what happened to those who refused to surrender to Him, especially those who crossed the line and challenged Him; so He presented the story of Prophet Musa (PBUH) in two ways; by eternalising the story in The Quran and preserving the Pharaoh's body so that one day it will be found and showed to the entire world.
My 2016 Winter Break trip to Andalucia, Spain has left me a big question. Why didn't the Catholics destroys the mosques in Andalucia when they managed to conquer the region from the Muslims? Why did they preserve some of the architectures instead of converting all of the building into a cathedral, or a church at least? Why do they still call the building that was once called the grand mosque "La Mezquita", a mosque when they can easily call it a cathedral? Is this mockery?
One idea that came out of my head at one moment was that they did this on purpose. How can the Catholics prove to the world that they took over Andalucia from the Muslims if they destroyed everything that was built by the latter? It is a symbol of glory for the Catholics, but on the dark side for us Muslims, it is a symbol of failure. Failure to remain united while hunger of power and fame killed our strength.
They waited for the right time.
The Catholics lead by King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabela I of Castile did not make haste and waited for the moment that the Muslims became divided internally. But the most striking fact about this event is that it is somewhat seen repeatedly happening in many instances and civilisation. Take an example close to us; how did Selangor fall into the hands of the British in 1874? It was because of power and wealth. Having ownership upon the tin mines in Selangor was deemed to guarantee these two prospects, creating the feud between Raja Mahdi and Raja Abdullah. Furthermore, the abundance of tin mines also attracted Chinese immigrants of whom some of them were a part of secret clan societies that fought for control over the tin mines. The havoc situation in Malaya attracted the British involvement, which later as we know in history, resulted in the loss of power and functionality for our local leaders.
So it's unity that we lacked, or do we still lack it?
Unfortunately, the story did not end right there. In my Arabic lessons, one of the topics focused on introducing the countries of the Arab World and their characteristics. From these lessons, I learned that countries like Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Morocco and Egypt share the same language and history, notably from the birth of our last Prophet, Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). What most people may not know is that there was no such thing as different countries during the period when Islam flourished. The Arab World was divided through colonialism of different regions by different colonialist, notably the British and the French. It was them who "divided" the Arab World by borders and politics.
Going back to my own roots, the same thing happened to the Malay Archipelago, was it not? There was no such thing as Malaysia and Indonesia in the past; only the settlers of the archipelago who developed hand in hand in many aspects such as international trade, knowledge and cultural heritage. And now we look at each other as if we are strangers, or maybe some sort of entities who need black and white signed papers to establish "secure" ties; at least that's how I feel.
So take a moment and reflect for yourself; "Have we really learned from the past?".
