their faith with wrongdoing.” When genuine faith takes hold among a people and is not marred by injustice, security naturally ensues.

Let me offer an illustration that is easy to grasp, though it comes from a distant age. In the earliest days of this blessed ummah, its highest official would sleep alone in the mosque and walk through the marketplace unescorted, fearing none but Allah. ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb—may Allah be pleased with him—would heap up a small mound of pebbles in the mosque and lie down upon it. He had no bodyguard and needed no one to watch over him, whether in the market, at home, or in the mosque, because the pure faith of that era was untainted by wrongdoing; accordingly, the people lived in complete security.

When the period of the Rightly Guided Caliphs ended and the Umayyad era began, some of the Umayyad governors deviated from the path of their predecessors. Disorder followed: strife erupted, the Kharijites arose, and evil spread.

Later, the caliphate of ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz—may Allah have mercy on him—restored security. People could travel back and forth in perfect safety. Yet, in His wisdom, Allah did not prolong his rule; his caliphate lasted only two years and a few months.

The essential point is this: true, comprehensive security is not achieved by large armies, superior weaponry, or intensive surveillance. Security depends solely on the two qualities set out in the verse: “Those who believe and do not mix their faith with wrongdoing—they are the ones who have security, and they are rightly guided” (al-Anʿām 82).