The Lion at the Border

Many people want to move to countries like the United States, Europe, or Australia. They want safety. They want work, education, and healthcare. They want a better future for their children. There is nothing strange in this.

Animals have the same wish. Every animal looks for good territory: water, food, shade, safety. And every animal learns the same hard rule. The strongest lion takes the best land. The weaker lions are pushed to the dry edges. The lion does not ask who deserves the water. It drinks because it can. The weak do not argue. They wait, or they leave, or they die.

Human migration often works the same way. It is filtered by power: money, skills, degrees, language, networks, status, and the passport you were born with. The strong and the advantaged find the gates open. The weak and the disadvantaged find them closed. They are blocked, or exploited, or simply left behind.

As a description of this world, the dunya, this is often true. Life is a competition. Resources are limited. Good places are scarce. People compete, and advantages matter.

But a Muslim does not stop at the description. We are not called to live like lions. Allah says: “And We have certainly honored the children of Adam and carried them on the land and sea and provided for them of the good things and preferred them over much of what We have created, with [definite] preference” (Qur’an 17:70). We have dignity. We have moral responsibility. We have revelation. The animal picture may describe the world. It must never become our rule.

So the real question is not “Is the world like this?” It often is. The real question is: “What does Allah want from me inside this world?”

Power Is a Test, Not a Sign of Worth

Allah says He “has raised some of you above others in degrees [of rank] that He may try you through what He has given you” (Qur’an 6:165). Read that again. Being raised above others is a trial, not a prize.

Wealth, strength, and a strong passport are not proof that a person is loved by Allah. The Qur’an warns those who read their comfort as a sign of favour: “Do they think that what We extend to them of wealth and children is [because] We hasten for them good things? Rather, they do not perceive” (Qur’an 23:55–56). And it tells us who the Hereafter is for: “That home of the Hereafter We assign to those who do not desire exaltedness upon the earth or corruption” (Qur’an 28:83).

So a rich country, a good job, or an easy visa is not a sign of spiritual superiority. It is a test. Will you be grateful? Will you be just? Will you remember those who were not given the same advantages? The lion is never tested by its strength. The Muslim always is.

Migration Is Allowed, But the Goal Is Higher

Islam does not forbid migration. Hijrah is part of our story. The Prophet ﷺ sent oppressed Muslims to Abyssinia to find safety, and later he himself migrated to Madinah. Allah says: “And whoever emigrates for the cause of Allah will find on the earth many [alternative] locations and abundance” (Qur’an 4:100).

So seeking safety, work, or a better life is not sinful. A father who crosses a border to feed his family is not doing something shameful.

But the goal is higher than a “good country.” The goal is the pleasure of Allah and the Hereafter. A visa is a means, not the destination. This world is a passage, not a final home. For the lion, the territory is the whole of life. For the believer, the territory is only a road.

Justice Is the Command

Allah commands: “O you who have believed, be persistently standing firm for Allah, witnesses in justice, and do not let the hatred of a people prevent you from being just. Be just; that is nearer to righteousness” (Qur’an 5:8). He also says: “be persistently standing firm in justice, witnesses for Allah, even if it be against yourselves or parents and relatives” (Qur’an 4:135). And He tells us plainly that He “orders justice and good conduct” and “forbids immorality and bad conduct and oppression” (Qur’an 16:90).

Notice what these verses do not say. They do not say: be just when it is cheap. They do not say: be just only to your own people. They say: be just even against yourself, and even toward people you dislike.

A Muslim cannot say, “The weak lose, and that is just how life is.” That is the language of the lion, not the language of faith. In the lion’s world, strength is the whole argument. In the believer’s world, strength is only a responsibility. The strong Muslim is not the one who takes the best territory. The strong Muslim is the one who controls himself, fears Allah, and stands for justice when standing costs him something.

Safety Is a Harder Exam, Not a Reward

Many of us saw injustice in our home countries. Cruelty in the street. A bribe at every door. The poor man punished and the rich man excused. We saw it, and most of us could do nothing. Speaking could cost a job, a home, or a life. So we hated it in our hearts and stayed quiet.

The Prophet ﷺ said: “He who amongst you sees something abominable should modify it with the help of his hand; and if he has not strength enough to do it, then he should do it with his tongue, and if he has not strength enough to do it, (even) then he should (abhor it) from his heart, and that is the least of faith” (Sahih Muslim 49). At home, many of us lived at that last level. Not by choice. By fear. And Allah accepts from a person what that person can carry.

Then Allah opened a door. A visa. A job abroad. A passport that works. Safety, a salary that arrives on time, and the freedom to speak without a knock at the door in the night. And here the trap opens. We begin to believe we earned it. My skills. My degree. My English. My contacts. Qarun said the same about his treasure: “I was only given it because of knowledge I have” (Qur’an 28:78). The Qur’an tells his story so that we do not repeat it.

Something heavier is forgotten too. The duty did not end when the fear ended. It grew. The man who could only hate injustice in his heart now has a tongue that is free. The least of faith was accepted from him when he was weak. It is not the measure of him now that he is strong. Allah describes this community by one mark: “You enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong and believe in Allah” (Qur’an 3:110). Enjoining what is right needs a voice. Now the voice is yours.

So read your safety correctly. It is not a certificate of talent. It is a transfer to a harder exam. The vulnerable are tested by patience. You are tested by what you do with a voice that is now free. Your skills did not raise you. Allah raised you, and He raises no one for free: more safety, more responsibility; more freedom, more questions on the Day of Judgment. Speak with wisdom, speak where it helps, but speak. The migrant who found security and chose silence has not finished the exam. He has only changed the room.

Conclusion

The animal analogy is a mirror. It shows us a real truth about competition in this world. The powerful often get the better territory. The weak often suffer. But it is not a destiny. Lions fight because they must. Humans fight because we have built systems that make good places scarce and access unequal. Systems are made by people, and what people make, people can change. We are not trapped.

As Muslims, we believe Allah has given us clear instructions: be just, be merciful, honour the vulnerable, and never oppress. And when He moves us from fear to safety, He moves us from the heart to the tongue: the freedom to speak arrives together with the duty to speak. We can care about our own people and still treat strangers fairly.

The question is not whether humans can act like animals. We can. The question is whether we will act only like animals. A lion cannot ask, “Is this just?” A human can. And a Muslim must.