Between the Dominance of Stadiums and the Festivals of Disbelievers: Chapters from the Depths of Loss

In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate. All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and peace and blessings be upon the noblest of messengers, our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and companions and those who follow his guidance and adhere to his Sunnah until the Day of Judgment:

Peace, mercy, and blessings of Allah be upon you. May Allah honor you, bless your gathering and your efforts, and be pleased with you and grant you His pleasure.

In a world where events accelerate and crowd upon one another, and where the Muslim lives the bitterness of weakness and blatant collective assault (the rallying of nations against him), we arrive at the end of another Gregorian year. A painful scene repeats itself—documenting an era of weakness and heavy subjugation—where stadiums compete to capture attention, and people rush toward the celebrations of disbelievers. One stands before a scene of confusion and loss, distancing him from the reality of his identity and the dignity of his faith. One witnesses crowds gathering around trivial matters and misleading temptations—football portrayed as a virtue and a field of excellence, and festivals of disbelief and shirk treated lightly, while those who warn against being drawn into them are criticized and opposed.

What is happening today is not the product of a single day or night, nor mere coincidence. Rather, we are witnessing the outcomes of Western intellectual invasion and its penetration into fragile minds and mentalities. We are facing a clear intellectual, cultural, and moral defeat revolving around deceptive pleasures—between the dominance of stadiums and the glitter of disbelievers’ festivals—where chapters of loss, identity erosion, humiliation, and low aspirations unfold. We are confronting a practical reality of altering religion and cheapening it for desires and enemies.

Understanding these chapters is our path to seeing the truth clearly and holding firmly to what elevates us, not what misguides us, diverts us from the path of the believers, or makes us taste the bitterness of defeat.

How did we get here?

We are not facing fleeting events or innocent seasons of entertainment. Rather, we are witnessing a comprehensive civilizational condition in which awareness is being reshaped, priorities are being altered, and individuals—especially Muslim men and women—are driven toward distractions that neither save nor uplift, but rather harm and break them, in a time when trials intensify and come one after another like pieces of a dark night, as the truthful Prophet ﷺ informed us.

A contemplative observer of Muslim life today is struck by how easily temptations spread and how eagerly people anticipate them. Screens expand while insight narrows; the voices of stadiums rise while the voices of real struggles fade. Players are celebrated while Muslims cry for help under tents in Gaza and Bangladesh, and children and women suffer hunger in Yemen, Sudan, and elsewhere. Meanwhile, a match is discussed in full detail—even its most trivial aspects—while the tragedies of an entire nation are reduced to a brief news headline.

Here, a frank question must be asked: how did we reach this state?
How did attention to stadiums become a “sacred season,” and imitation of disbelievers’ festivals become a sign of “civilization,” while pride in faith is seen as extremism or isolation, and concern for Muslim affairs becomes optional—subject to trends?

This question is the entry point to diagnosis and treatment. For loss does not begin merely with the absence of an idea, but with habituation. Most Muslims have grown accustomed to being pulled toward what surfaces and is amplified by media, while neglecting the more important events hidden behind this noise and distraction.

Most Muslims today are unaware that while stadiums roared with chants over a ball being passed between feet, copies of the Noble Qur’an were being desecrated with gunfire outside a mosque in Stockholm; hate messages were written on mosque walls across Europe; Muslim graves were desecrated in Australia. Meanwhile, the Arab scene was obsessively focused on the Arab Cup—continuous broadcasts, endless analysis, heated debates, national songs, and loud celebrations, as if the nation were at the peak of its glory—while the sanctities of the religion found few who remembered or defended them.

The issue was never a single sporting event, but a pathological transformation of football into a central cause that consumes awareness, silences conscience, and covers a wounded reality: Gaza bombed, Yemen bleeding, Sudan collapsing, Iraq suffocating in silence, Syria still buried under its ruins. Yet media elites and cultural institutions rush to magnify a match, polish a player, and manufacture a deceptive “victory,” consumed as a substitute for serious discussion about dignity, identity, and the place of the Muslim human being—while hostile leaders in the West and occupied Palestine openly threaten to alter our religion, enslave us, and erase our existence.

Thus, the battle over awareness is managed: rising Islamophobia abroad, voluntary coma within; sacred things are insulted, mosques violated, while people are pacified with applause and divided by unjust nationalism. Victory is redefined as a goal in a net—not a stand against injustice, not support for truth, not defense of dignity. And woe to whoever criticizes the Jews—such is labeled antisemitism deserving punishment—while insulting the Prophet ﷺ and mocking Islam is framed as freedom of expression. May Allah disgrace them.

Was football always like this?

Football in its origin was not a danger, nor an enemy of religion or awareness. It began as a simple game—a pastime for workers, a limited form of recreation. But what we see today is not merely a game; it is a vast system for manufacturing heedlessness.

Football has transformed from a sport into a central issue in collective consciousness—emotions built around it, energies drained into it, reactions managed through it like markets. Matches have “seasons,” players have “sanctity,” losses bring “mourning,” and victories produce collective euphoria that erases what came before and after.

The question is not: why do people love football?
But: why are they made to love it to this extreme?

Media does not merely reports events—it manufactures them. Capitalism does not only sell products—it sells attention itself. Stadiums are magnified to replace real arenas: arenas of awareness, responsibility, and struggle.

While mosques were attacked, Qur’ans desecrated, and Islamophobia campaigns rising, broadcast hours multiplied for matches, and “national belonging” was invoked to silence any voice asking: How do we overcome weakness? How do we aid the oppressed? How do we repel aggression?

Here lies the danger: emotions consumed in symbolic victories, justified anger emptied into chants, and action replaced with applause.

It is no coincidence that regimes and media—explicitly or implicitly—cooperate in this amplification. Football is an ideal distraction: it demands no justice, exposes no Injustice, questions no authority. It fills the void and feeds illusion. Thus, awareness is domesticated without repression, and masses are directed without commands.

How did football become a global distraction?

Football did not begin as a giant dominating consciousness. It started as a simple popular game in 19th-century England. But through systematic amplification, it evolved into a global industry competing with major issues in people’s minds.

In 1863, with the establishment of the English Football Association, rules were formalized. Its simplicity allowed it to spread among workers in industrial cities.

In 1885, professionalism was legalized—players became “assets,” clubs became institutions, and money began shaping the game. British colonial influence spread football globally as part of soft cultural control.

In 1904, FIFA was established, giving the game a structured global dimension. The first World Cup in 1930 marked a turning point—football became a recurring global event, stirring national emotions.

After World War II, television transformed the game further. Screens created stars, stars created audiences, and audiences were given a substitute consciousness. Matches became “global events” embedded in daily life.

Behind football stands a network of interests:

• Corporations profiting billions
• Media buying broadcasting rights
• Political regimes using it to distract from crises
• A capitalist system viewing humans as consumers

All of this found empty hearts and unanchored minds lacking awareness—falling into its net individually and collectively, as families and entire societies.

What is the real purpose behind the exaggeration of football?

It is certainly not to promote sports for their own sake. Sports, in their essence, are beneficial, and there are many forms of sport that are more useful than football. Rather, the aim is to distract people from their existential and critical issues, to anesthetize collective awareness with false feelings of victory and defeat, and to reshape identity through imported role models, imposed morals, and a celebratory culture that does not belong to the nation. It empties man of his mission and turns him into a permanent spectator rather than an active participant in his reality.

Football has transformed from a simple form of entertainment into an adversary, once it was inflated without awareness and employed as a tool of misdirection. Between the dominance of stadiums and the glare of screens, the priorities of man and Muslim societies have been rearranged. Major issues have faded, while a match lasting no more than ninety minutes takes center stage—yet its impact on consciousness can last for years.

Some, afflicted with an obsession for this game, may object and say: “It is only watching; there is no need for exaggeration.” But who owns our awareness when we watch it? How did this obsession reach such a level? And why this game in particular?

This excessive attachment to football did not arise by chance, nor because it is inherently more enjoyable than other sports. Rather, we are dealing with a cultural product that has been strategically invested in across continents. Football was not left to grow naturally like arts or knowledge; it was engineered to become the center of collective attention. Its symbols are magnified, its stars are elevated, and social time is reshaped around it—work schedules, sleeping hours, emotional highs and lows, and even daily conversations.

This obsession did not emerge from a vacuum. It took shape when global capitalism intersected with political media, making football the ideal vessel. It does not raise existential questions, demand justice, or expose systems of domination, yet it consumes emotions with remarkable efficiency. Thus, it has become a form of soft cultural dominance: distracting without oppression, controlling without declaring its authority.

In a world where Muslims are oppressed, besieged, and subjected to war, where mosques, scriptures, and sacred elements are violated, while Western moral decay enjoys protection and freedom of spread, and systematic campaigns of hatred target identity—the Arab and Muslim consciousness is redirected. Anger is poured into a match, energy is spent supporting a team, and people live the illusion of victory and defeat within a green field, while the real battle unfolds outside it.

Football did not become “the most important” because it deserves to be, but because it is the most suitable for exploitation. It spares the media from questioning Authority, spares Authority from accountability, and spares the masses from painful reflection on Palestine, Gaza, Yemen, Sudan, East Turkestan, Burma, and every open wound that is not broadcast between two halves. It distracts them from their essential duties: correcting the condition of Muslims, upholding the word of الله, establishing His law on earth, and conveying His message across horizons.

Thus, the Muslim individual has shifted from being an active agent to a permanent spectator, shaped by the dominant cultural authority. He reacts passionately to what he cannot change and remains silent about what he must change. This is the most dangerous outcome of cultural dominance: the reordering of priorities until being preoccupied with football seems normal, caring about dignity feels like a burden, attention to the sacred is labeled extremism, and awareness is seen as unnecessary excess.

Year-end celebrations: part of a larger reality

Football is only part of a greater affliction. Muslims today are caught between two forces: the dominance of football and defeatism on one side, and the absence of will, ambition, and pride in faith on the other. A simple look at the end of the Gregorian year reveals the reality of this misguidance: societies occupied with football matches, and others immersed in the celebrations of non-believers.

If football is a tool of distraction, then these celebrations represent another dimension of misguidance. Their purpose is not mere joy, but the reshaping of collective awareness and the reordering of cultural and religious priorities.

Celebrating Christmas or New Year today is no longer a matter of courtesy or social connection; it has become a symbol of intellectual submission to an external value system. Streets are decorated, shops close to Western rhythms, and programs are broadcast to normalize dependency. Some Muslims participate unknowingly, under the pretexts of “modernity,” “joy,” or “coexistence.”

Among the ugliest manifestations of imitation are Muslim homes decorated with Christmas trees and lights, adopting hybridized pagan symbols mixed with Christian deviations. Gatherings for countdowns to midnight are treated like sacred rituals, while people move closer to their inevitable end with every counted number.

This extends to congratulating others and attending celebrations without distinguishing between legitimate social interaction and defeatist assimilation. Debates arise in families and schools about participating in polytheistic celebrations, exposing the fragility of identity. Even worse, criticizing such imitation has become, in some places, punishable by law—despite the consensus on rejecting imitation in such religious matters.

Meanwhile, children are taught that these practices are “natural joy” or “part of the modern world,” when in reality they represent a deviation from identity and monotheistic belief, and a form of secularism imposed under the guise of coexistence and respect.

The necessity of awareness

It is crucial for Muslims to understand the reality of Christmas. Religions are inseparable from their symbols and rituals. What is publicly celebrated reflects deeply rooted beliefs or theological narratives.

The date of December 25 has no basis in the Gospel. The four Gospels do not specify the birth date of Jesus. Internal evidence suggests otherwise, and the Qur’anic account describes his birth under a palm tree—an unlikely scenario in the cold of December.

The Church only adopted this date in the fourth century, centuries after Jesus, in a political and religious context aimed at integrating pagans into the Roman Empire. Many Christmas traditions—such as the date itself, Roman festivals, and the Christmas tree—originate from pagan practices later repackaged.

Even early Christianity rejected celebrating birthdays, viewing them as pagan customs associated with tyrants.

Santa Claus represents the height of contradiction: a fabricated myth taught to children, blending pagan folklore with modern capitalism, yet becoming the central symbol of the holiday—surpassing even the mention of Jesus.

This raises a fundamental question: if celebrating Jesus requires a constructed falsehood, what truth remains for people to learn?

A crisis of meaning and identity

What we are witnessing is a profound crisis: the loss of meaning in what societies pursue under the dominance of prevailing trends. Football distracts awareness, while year-end celebrations reveal a deeper cultural dependency—an uncritical imitation of others’ rituals and symbols.

Streets fill with Christmas trees, red hats, songs, and countdowns, as if these practices were part of Islamic heritage. This is not mere decoration; it is psychological normalization of beliefs that contradict pure monotheism, presented as universal human joy.

New Year celebrations have become global rituals of escapism—noise, nightlife, and illusions of renewal without moral reflection. They celebrate time, not values; moments, not meaning.

Debates about whether such practices are harmless or not persist because they do not stem from a firm identity but from internal emptiness. When the compass is lost, defending imitation becomes easier than defending identity.

A process of religious transformation

The most dangerous threat today is the gradual replacement of Religion itself. It begins with erasing foundations and ends with submissive imitation. When obsession with football combines with imitation of others’ celebrations, it produces a state of profound disorientation.

Major issues are neglected, identity is replaced by trends, and values are traded for fleeting displays. The result is a man who is trivial, driven, without purpose or meaningful goals—while his enemies ensure his inability to progress or bring about real change.

Thus, he remains trapped in a cycle of immediate gratification, believing he is doing well, while in reality he is drifting further from purpose, truth, and responsibility.

A Proof For Us or Against Us

It is heartbreaking that everything the Muslim nation is experiencing today was clearly foretold by the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him. He said: “You will surely follow the ways of those who came before you, span by span and cubit by cubit, until if they were to enter a lizard’s hole, you would follow them.” They asked: “O Messenger of Allah, the Jews and the Christians?” He said: “Who else?” Reported by Al-Bukhari and Muslim.

He also said: “Nations are about to gather against you just as diners gather around a dish.” Someone asked: “Will we be few in number at that time?” He replied: “No, you will be many, but you will be like the foam of a flood. Allah will remove fear of you from the hearts of your enemies and will cast weakness into your hearts.” Someone asked: “O Messenger of Allah, what is weakness?” He said: “Love of the world and hatred of death.” Reported by Ahmad and Abu Dawood.

And to understand the pain a believer feels from this reality and the estrangement of religion in our time, the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “There will come a time when holding onto one’s religion will be like holding onto burning embers.”

Thus, adhering to the religion in the end times becomes extremely difficult due to the abundance of trials, temptations, and corruption, along with the scarcity of support for obedience. The one who remains firm in faith is like someone holding a burning coal in his hand because of the pain and hardship he endures. We ask Allah for steadfastness until our final breath.

Reflecting on the sayings of the Prophet about the end times, his description of the state of the nation, and his guidance to Muslims is a source of immense knowledge, discipline, and reverence for truth. Whoever wishes to protect themselves from successive trials must equip themselves with the Sunnah and the prophetic teachings, following the example of the Prophet while repeating his guidance: “All matters of ignorance are beneath my feet.”

The Duty of This Stage

Today, both Muslim men and women are required to take responsibility for their positions—to be conscious of what they do and why they do it. A belief that is not protected by knowledge will be violated by ignorant imitation. Christmas is a striking example of how myth, fabricated history, and cultural dominance can be presented as “human joy.”

So what is required today from the mother and the family—the first line of defense for the identity and authenticity of the nation?

Every mother and family must strive to instill pride in faith during a time of campaigns, pressure, and even criminalization of religious practices and sacred principles. The struggle today is not merely about information, but about steadfastness and preserving identity under targeted pressure.

With the escalation of media campaigns and social pressure—and even, in some places, the criminalization of opposing Muslims’ drift into polytheistic celebrations at the end of the year—it is no longer acceptable for families to remain passive spectators. What is needed is conscious, responsible, and mature upbringing that fortifies children psychologically and in belief, providing them with immunity against misleading currents.

I strongly emphasize the role of the mother in this mission. A mother is not merely a caretaker; she is the builder of her children’s awareness. One of the most dangerous mistakes some mothers make is trying to “soften the blow” by making symbolic compromises: a little decoration, a simple greeting, a shy participation “so the child does not feel deprived.”

This is a defeated mindset. A child is not raised on what we justify, but on what we firmly believe, sincerely uphold, and pass on with dignity.

Every Muslim mother must connect identity to pure monotheistic belief, not to defeated comparisons. Do not merely say: “We do not celebrate because it is not our holiday,” but say: “We do not imitate disbelievers; we believe in Allah alone without partners, and we do not submit to anyone who disbelieves or is misguided.”

We must teach children rejection as a matter of belief worth sacrificing for, not just a superficial infringement.

Joy must also be redefined. Joy is not seasonal noise or decorative displays—whatever they may be. True joy is the tranquility of belonging, the correctness of choice, and the sincerity of following the righteous predecessors, in order to live according to the guidance of Islam.

A mother who is proud of her religion reflects that in raising her children. She does not trivialize critical details that affect their belief and their reverence for their Lord and their identity. She instills this early, with awareness and sincerity.

Likewise, the father is required to be a clear and grounded reference, not a marginal presence in his children’s lives. His role includes building awareness, instilling correct beliefs and moral values, and teaching children to distinguish between authentic values and intrusive, hostile cultures. He must train them to respond intelligently in school and society while maintaining dignity in faith—and he himself must be the example.

Preserving identity does not come through a single message, but through a comprehensive system. The mother nurtures emotional belonging, linking faith with love and security. The father builds intellectual awareness, explaining contexts and position. The home provides real alternatives, not weakening emptiness. A striving family creates meaningful activities and discussions that revive faith in the hearts of children, and nurtures uprightness from an early age. A child who discovers noble truth will not be drawn to degrading alternatives.

How Do We Instill Pride in Faith?

Pride in faith does not mean arrogance or looking down on others. It means honoring belief, feeling secure in belonging to Islam, and having confidence in one’s identity.

To strengthen this in children:

• Establish correct belief early, emphasizing monotheism and sincere worship of Allah alone.
• Instill fear of Allah before fear of parents or society.
• Break the illusion that material Western superiority means inferiority on our part—this is a grave injustice. The standard of Islam is life itself, not material measures.
• Teach that a monotheistic believer free from injustice is better than those who commit شرك and oppression, even if they possess worldly power.

Children must learn the life of the Prophet, his teachings, and that large numbers do not validate truth. The strangeness of this time was foretold centuries ago.

They must grow accustomed to stories of steadfastness and striving for the dignity of Islam—not stories of humiliating coexistence. Their choices should be tied to what pleases Allah, not what pleases people.

Teach them that pressure will intensify, and that steadfastness is the real achievement, no matter the cost. Abandoning identity costs far more—both in this life and the hereafter.

When speaking against collective drift is restricted, teach children an important principle: not everything permitted is right, and not everything prohibited is wrong.

Teach them the lessons of Surah Al-Kahf—wisdom in confronting tyranny and trials—so they develop strength and reject humiliation. A believer’s worth is not measured by public approval, but by sincerity with his Lord.

A Long-Term Educational Mission

The struggle at the end of the year is not seasonal; it is part of an ongoing identity conflict. What is required from families is not emotional reactions, but a long-term educational project that produces children who know who they are, why they are different, and how to remain steadfast without being defeated by dominant culture.

Raising your child with pride in their faith… is the greatest achievement.

An Age of Successive Trials

Today, we are not facing scattered phenomena, but complete phases of misguidance that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, warned about before they occurred. He described a time when standards would be overturned, trivial matters elevated, truth sidelined, and people would cling to superficialities while abandoning substance. Thus, this frantic pursuit of distracting stadiums and celebrations that empty monotheism of its meaning stands as a vivid fulfillment of a prophetic warning—not meant merely to frighten, but to awaken and protect hearts before they fall.

In a time the Prophet described as an age of trials—when holding onto one’s religion becomes like grasping burning embers—the believer is not called to be defeated, but to remain steadfast; to understand that defeat begins when one surrenders their awareness, and that true estrangement is not the estrangement of place, but of faith. The Prophet advised his nation to hold firmly to revelation when times become corrupt, and clarified that salvation lies not in numbers, but in uprightness; not in imitating disbelievers, but in following the righteous predecessors.

The most dangerous aspect of this misguidance is that it is beautified and presented as joy, openness, and modernity, until it is forgotten that honor lies in this religion, that identity is a trust, and that monotheism is a belief that does not tolerate negligence or compromise. Calling for pride in religion is not a war against joy, as some claim, but a rescue of hearts and the preservation of meanings that are degraded in every season of disbelief.

So take great care in preserving and protecting hearts—keeping them alive through monotheism and the Sunnah, and strengthening them through dignity in religion and striving in its cause.

Muslims no longer have an excuse: either we hold fast to what the Prophet instructed in times of trials, or we foolishly drift into the misguidance imposed upon us. The path is clear, the warning stands as proof either for us or against us, and the counsel remains: to uphold truth and patience. Blessed is the one who regains awareness and whose heart is illuminated before darkness fully descends and trials consume him.

A Final Word

It is not surprising that Muslims in the end times experience periods of lost direction and the dominance of misguidance disguised in deceptive forms. Yet all of this has a remedy in the guidance of the Prophet. Foremost among them is holding firmly to revelation in times of corruption—this requires reading the Qur’an, reflecting upon it, understanding it, and acting upon it, so that we may protect ourselves from trials and from the depths of misguidance.

We must hold firmly to our true identity—taking pride in obligations, acts of worship, and religious symbols, without concern for mockery or ridicule.

We must continue building awareness, enjoining good and forbidding evil, distinguishing truth from falsehood, and critically examining what is presented through media and culture—measuring it against the standards of monotheism and sincere values.

We must recognize hidden trials and understand that preoccupation with stadiums or foreign celebrations is not a trivial matter unworthy of objection, but a means of draining anger and energy, and normalizing dissolution into another culture—something that must be approached with caution and warning.

We Are in Need of Defenders of Faith

With the dominance of misleading media and the rapid tendency of people to follow what harms them rather than benefits them, there must arise those who return to the authentic foundations of religion—reviving them, defending them, and confronting those who attempt to distort or erase them, just as earlier believers confronted ignorance, polytheism, and disbelief in all its forms.

Islam dismantled their fortresses and erased them from the face of the earth, replacing them with the Great fortresses of Islam, which illuminated the world for fourteen centuries—and will continue to do so.

These defenders of faith—those who dedicate their lives, their souls, and their most precious possessions to preserving the authentic concepts of Islam—are the ones who will enable people to distinguish between the original, true Islam brought by the Prophet, and the newly fabricated hybrid version promoted by the disbelieving West and by those among us who have been defeated and follow in its wake.

This alliance seeks to establish a substitute for Islam within successive generations, many of whom have already fallen into the mud of its dominance, the spell of its propaganda, and the corruption of its intent.

Yet the emergence of those who preserve the foundations of religion and clarify the distinction between truth and falsehood does not mean the war has ended or that victory has been achieved. Rather, it signals the beginning of a long and difficult journey—one in which we confront the tyrants of our time and the forces of disbelief with our pure creed and sound principles, free from doubt or hesitation.

We move forward without confusion or disorder, guided by loyalty to this religion and the strength of certainty, responding to Allah and His Messenger, out of fear of the Day when neither wealth nor children will benefit, except one who comes to Allah with a sound heart. This is, without doubt, the path to clear victory.

A Call to the Ummah

We are indeed living in a time where Islam is being altered in a comprehensive manner. Yet at the same time, we witness those who rise to defend its foundations with unwavering strength—refusing compromise, commercialization, concession, or negligence. This means that the phase of struggle has begun, requiring patience and steadfastness to achieve the awaited victory.

In light of this reality, we can only issue a universal call to the entire Muslim nation: “O Islam!”—so that all may join the ranks and stand together like a solid structure, unchanged and unwavering.

Between the dominance of stadiums and the celebrations of disbelievers, these phases of deep misguidance place us before a serious test of truth: will we respond as the Prophet instructed, or as our enemies wish us to be?

Through our answer and sincerity, people will be distinguished—between a truthful believer and a doubtful pretender. We ask Allah to make us among His sincere servants, to protect us from trials—both apparent and hidden—and to shield us from the harms of defeatism and destructive dependency. May He honor us with Islam and honor Islam through us.

O Allah, forgive the believing men and women, the Muslim men and women, the living and the deceased. Our Lord, grant us goodness in this world and goodness in the Hereafter, and protect us from the punishment of the Fire.

“By time, indeed mankind is in loss, except for those who believe, do righteous deeds, encourage one another to truth, and encourage one another to patience.”

All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and peace and blessings be upon the most noble of messengers, our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and companions abundantly.