We must always humble ourselves towards Allah

Tadaru' is a term that means exaggerated humility and humbleness caused by despair and is expressed when a person reaches his last resort. 

Imam Ahmed ibn-Hambal explained it saying, "Imagine a man drowning in the middle of the sea and all he has is a piece of wood that he is clinging onto. He is becoming weaker and weaker and the salty waves are pulling him closer to death. Imagine him with his eager eyes looking desperately at the sky crying out loud ‘O Lord, O Lord!!!’ 

Imagine how desperate he is and how sincere he is asking for Allah's help. That is tadaru’ before Allah".

Allah teaches us in the Qur’an that tadaru' is a form of worship a believer uses during emergencies and crises. 

It requires a person to remove the veils of arrogance and ego covering his or her heart. 

It implies sincere begging to the Lord of the Worlds. 

It demonstrates that a person has realized how weak he is and how Powerful our Lord is. 

Sometimes when Allah sees that His servants are becoming distracted with this worldly life and have strayed from the Straight Path, He puts them in a severe situation so that they realize their weakness and run back to Allah for protection. 

Therefore calamities falling upon Muslims are to make them wake up and turn back to Allah. 

We must be intelligent enough to understand these messages and act according to them.

Allah The Almighty says, what can be translated as,

 "Verily, We sent (Messengers) to many nations before you (O Muhammad). And we seized them with extreme poverty (or loss in wealth) and loss in health (with calamities) 

  so that they might humble themselves (believe with humility)." (TMQ, 6:42).

This verse shows that Allah uses calamities as a routine method to wake people up and encourage them to run to Him for protection. 

It is as if a calamity is bitter medicine for us to become better believers. 

Allah does this for our benefit, because we need to maintain a close relationship with Him. Allah expresses our need for this form of medicine in the following ayah that can be translated as,

 "And if We had mercy on them and removed the distress which is on them, still they would obstinately persist in their transgression, wandering blindly." (TMQ, 23:75).

In another verse Allah says, what can be translated as,

 "When Our Torment reached them, why then did they not humble themselves (believe with humility)? But their hearts became hardened, and Shaytan (Satan) made what they used to do seem fair and correct" (TMQ, 6:43). 

We must not make this mistake and close our eyes and hearts to Allah's call to humbleness and humility to Him. 

We must not let Satan trick us into believing that our problems have nothing to do with our relation with Allah.

Allah says, what can be translated as,

"Say (O Muhammad) ‘Who rescues you from the darkness of the land and the sea (dangers like storms), (when) you call upon Him in humility and in secret (saying):

If He (Allah) only saves us from this (danger), we shall truly be grateful.’ 

Say (O Muhammad): ‘Allah rescues you from this and from all (other) distresses, and yet you worship others besides Allah.’" (TMQ, 6:63-64). 

No one will rescue us from the darkness we Muslims are in today except Allah, but first, we must call upon Him in humility.

Step 1: Humility and Humbleness in front of Allah Until They Change Themselves

How to achieve tadaru’:

It is necessary to realize the grave calamity that is falling upon us. Our children are being pounded by missiles that are weighed in tons, and our brothers and sisters are being oppressed and tortured all over the world. 

It is not so distant back in time that tens of thousands of our sisters were raped in the Balkans and until this day our brothers are falling in Palestine with Israeli bullets. 

Our homes are being demolished and our dignity is being stepped on ever day.

It is not just about Iraq, and believe it or not, its not just about our Muslim ummah (nation); it is about our whole planet. Our world is heading straight towards a cliff and it is not slowing down. 

If you think you are far from the danger, you are wrong. If you think you could ignore it, dream on! The destruction will reach you and your children.

If your children or friends are not killed in another war, they will die by an over-dose or will be hit by a drunken driver. Things will only get worse for everyone. 

We are drowning, and no one can help us except Allah. If you can't realize the severe situation, then you have an additional problem. 

Read the ayah (6:43) above. We need Allah's help and protection!

When the whale swallowed Prophet Yunus (Jonah) after he was thrown off the boat, he was in a terrifying situation. Imagine yourself for a second being locked up in a small closet. It is dark, and there is no hope of getting out. Now imagine yourself in a whale’s stomach! Imagine the darkness, and the difficulty of breathing. The whale is in the storming sea and it is night. Imagine how Prophet Yunus felt, and imagine how he was when he prayed to Allah in humility saying, what can be translated as, 

"None has the right to be worshipped but You (O Allah)!! Glorified (and Exalted) be You!! Truly, I have been of the wrong doers!" (TMQ, 21:87). 

Imagine a Prophet, a role model for human beings, saying that and referring to himself as a wrong-doer, then imagine how you should beg Allah.

The night before the battle of Badr, Prophet Muhammad (Salla Allah alayhe Wa Salam [All Prayers and Blessings of Allah be upon him] )saw how the army of the pagans had out-numbered them and was so well equipped. Then he looked at the Muslim army and how few they were with poor weaponry. Badr was the first military confrontation between the Muslims and the non-believers. It was a critical event in the history of Islam. Had Muslims lost this battle, Islam would have disappeared forever. Realizing this, Prophet Muhammad (SAWS) started to pray to Allah in humility and humbleness.

He raised his hands up high, stretching his arms to the extent that his armpits showed. He engaged in sincere supplication to Allah and his body was shaking causing his cloak to fall off his back.

He was begging Allah crying, 

"O Ever Living!! O Sustainer and Protector!! I beg You for Your mercy!!! 

O Allah!! I am waiting for Your victory which You have promised me. I beseech You Allah to defeat them (the enemies)."

This is the level of humility we should try to reach when praying to Allah to help our ummah. Let us try to practice this form of worship this whole week.

Let us beg Allah for His help as if we are really drowning and there is no one there to rescue us except Him.

Let us get up in the middle of the night to pray qiyam (voluntary night prayer), and let us break down in front of Allah begging Him, as we have never done before.

Let us gather each other and do it together. Let us pray to Allah in humility in groups. Let us cry to Him together. Let us run towards Him with our families and friends.

Let us all beg him for His help and protection.

Tadaru'.... that's the first thing we should go back to. We need to achieve tadaru' so that Allah may change our situation, (because...Allah said in Quran )

"Verily Allah will never change the condition of a people until they change themselves"  (TMQ, 13:11).