Tala' al-badru alayna

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There is one song in the world I can bear to listen to and that song is “Tala al-badru alayna”. This song is around 1430 old and is still very popular among all Muslims. It is not so much a song as it is a poem. Nevertheless, it was first sung with great cheerfulness and meaning. This song is very important to me because it signifies the victory and reinforcement of my Islamic faith.

This song was sung by the children of the city of Madinah as the Prophet (peace and blessings upon him) made his entrance to the city after successfully winning the battle of Tabuk and escaping assassins on the return. Tabuk was the last battle that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) went to. On the way back some assassins from the Muslims tried to kill him, but his companion saved him. Upon seeing the Muslim army returning to madinah, the children and women ran out to meet them singing this poem they had prepared for the arrival. There hearts were so full of joy upon seeing the victory Islam had on that day. I feel the same joy every time I think about the victory Islam won over my heart. My favorite part of the song is the two lines “And we owe it to show gratefulness/When the call to Allah is called”. Whenever I learn Islam or am in prayer is when I am at my happiest and it is the time of my greatest humility. With the humility I have when I attend lessons, Quran readings, and prayer leads to overwhelming gratefulness that seems too little for Allah guiding me to his religion. Even the Prophet (peace and blessings upon him) was grateful at the time of the singing of this song as reported in many Hadiths in which it was narrated,

When the mountain of uhud came in the sight of Allah's Apostle he said, "This is a mountain that loves us and is loved by us. O Allah! Abraham made Mecca a sanctuary, and I make in between these two mountains a sanctuary.”

This was his gratefulness to Allah by asking Allah to send his goodness upon the area of Madinah in the same way Abraham asked Allah to bless the area of Mecca. This goodness is a blessing upon all the inhabitants of the city of Madinah to be righteous and to make them of the best to worship Allah. Allah’s Messenger (peace be upon him) was the first and best one to call people to Allah as the song says and so just saying these lines brings a smile to my face and a teardrop to my heart.

When I listen to the song, I feel as if I am one of the kids singing it and feeling so happy that the Muslim army returned victorious, leaving no other threat of hostility around the Muslims for the first time in years. Now, once again, the Muslims have threats from all over. The Muslim countries of Palestine, Iraq, and Afghanistan have been invaded and here in the United States and Europe there has been rises in hate crimes and unfair laws against Muslims. Listening and singing this song lets me imagine the feeling of security the Muslims felt after this splendid view of the Muslim army appearing next to mount Ehud in the valley of Wada’. I hope that, soon, the wars will stop, people will stop committing hate crimes and governments will stop legislating against Muslims just like when this song was sang. All the Muslim children in the world are taught this song and I hope we can repeat the joyous singing of it together one day.