Friday Nasiha

Living The Quran

One Community
Al-Baqara (The Cow) Sura 2: Verse 213

"Mankind was one single community. Then God sent forth prophets as heralds of glad tidings and as warners; and with them sent down the Book with the Truth, to judge among humankind in matters in which they disputed. But none other than the selfsame people who had been granted this [revelation] began, out of mutual jealousy, to disagree about its meaning after clear signs were sent to them. Then God guided the believers to the Truth, regarding which they differed. For God guides whomsoever He will to a path that is straight.'

The Quran is not saying that this original condition of being one community is somehow before the fact of revelation, nor that revelation is the reason we are no longer a single community. Rather, once again we are brought back to an obvious conclusion. It was humanity's predilection for defining differences, for disputing over identity and belief, which sundered the single community. A succession of prophets, 'heralds of glad tidings' and warners brought the means to judge, to reason and resolve the disputes that divide and separate peoples and societies from each other. Yet, once again, people who received revelation out of 'mutual jealousy' fell into disagreements about its meaning. Of course, we should remember that while in this and earlier passages the Children of Israel are cited, Christians are also included, and both stand as examples of the timeless temptation and errors that face all followers of organised religion. The verse ends with the clear statement that, despite the disputes and contention, God guided the believers to the Truth. Within all religions, indeed all societies, among all people there are those who hold to the straight path. The clear implication is that on the straight path we can and perhaps should strive to be one community: the community of common humanity in all our diversity and differences working together to make a better world.

All human beings began with the same potential and possibilities, the same sense of values. It was human diversity which 'sundered what God had joined'. Revelation exists to enhance and clarify the scales of human judgement—to refine the ability to choose and discern between different courses of action. And still, people disagree about the meaning, implications and application of these messages from God. This verse speaks to the simultaneous contexts of past, present and future. It has considerable relevance in today's world where we can, on the one hand, imagine a global community but, on the other, cannot eradicate racial prejudice and hatred or rabid nationalism and all the other ills that divide people. The moral challenge remains the same, and it is a challenge to everyone, no matter what their faith or no faith.

Compiled From:
"Reading the Qur'an: The Contemporary Relevance of the Sacred Text of Islam" - Ziauddin Sardar, pp. 155, 156

From Issue: 985 [Read original issue]

Understanding The Prophet's Life

Organic Body

Ummatic unity is organic, that is to say, the ummah is like an organic body whose parts are mutually and severally interdependent with one another and with the whole. For the part to work for itself is for itself to work for each of the other parts as well as for the whole to work for itself, is for itself to work for each of the parts.

The Prophet, peace be upon him, hit the nail on the head when he described the ummah as a body "which reacts in total with discomfort and fever whenever a part of it is hurt." [Muslim, Bukhari]

Comparing the ummah to an organic body, is perhaps the most apt description of Islamic society. The organic body is alive, and its very life is its organicness, i.e., the interdependence of its various parts to the end sustaining the whole, and their continuous sustenance by that whole. Organicness is not only a quality of life; it is life. For the ummah to be otherwise is for it to lapse into the pre-Islamic tribalism of the desert. Even that order, however, is built upon the assumed organicness of the tribe without which it could not exist. The ummah merely widened the tribe to include humanity. To deny the need of the ummah, is to assume as good the detached existence of individuals isolated from one another in a way which not only makes Islam impossible but equally makes civilization - indeed human life itself - impossible and unthinkable.

Interdependence can be exaggerated; for it can be intensified to the point of rendering the human person a mere clog in a larger body or machine, impervious to the cog's own advancement, self-fulfillment and happiness. The evils of regimentation and collectivism have always weighed heavily in man's consciousness, whether in the age of the tribe, the city, the nation, or the universal community. Here Islam has declared its purpose to be the achievement of felicity of the person as well as that of the group.

Compiled From:
"Tawhid: Its Implications for Thought and Life" - Ismail Raji Al-Faruqi, pp. 124, 125

From Issue: 630 [Read original issue]

Cool Tips!

Train Your Will Power

Many people fail to get ahead because they have no willpower to do what they know they should be doing. Nor can they help themselves to avoid the things which they know will ruin them. Many such people would like to give up smoking, to stop using drugs, or to avoid affairs outside of marriage. Many find that gambling or alcohol addiction is wrecking their lives. Yet these people have no willpower to set their life on the right course. They feel helpless, and they have to deal with a nagging conscience that pricks them with what they could have done, or should have done.

Yet there are some strong-willed people who seem to be able to do what they know is right and avoid what they know is wrong. Such people experience peace of mind knowing that they are doing the right thing. Their willpower is obviously working for them.

But how do they do it? What is the secret? The secret is that you can train your willpower.

Suppose you made a resolution to skip lunch for a month and actually stuck to your decision. You may save your lunch money, lose a few pounds, develop sympathy for the poor, and give your digestive system a much-needed rest. More importantly, you will strengthen your willpower.

The reason this works is that you teach yourself to avoid lunch even when you know you could have it if you decide. Your stomach may growl, but you won't listen. Thus you train yourself to ignore the calling of your lower physical self and reach for the higher goals of real human achievement. If you stick to your decision day after day for a month you can develop a regular habit of doing the right thing even when your desires are calling for something else.

Every year, for one month, able Muslims go through a similar fasting exercise. They observe the fast as a compulsory practice which God prescribed in His revealed messages, especially in His last revealed book. One of the many benefits they experience from fasting is its training aspect. The willpower they develop in the one month helps them to continue doing the right thing and avoiding the wrong throughout the year. They find the fast such an effective method of spiritual training and of achieving a closeness with their creator that many Muslims also keep some additional, optional, fasts on other days of the year. They eat an early breakfast before dawn and a late dinner after sunset. From dawn to sunset they would have no food or drink; they would also refrain from sexual activity. Whereas the baser selves regularly call for these things, Muslims train themselves with the help of God to fulfill their natural needs in the time and manner which God declared suitable for human dignity and well-being.

During the fast Muslims also train themselves to always avoid lying, cheating, backbiting, and all manner of false speech and immoral actions.

Compiled From:
"How to Train Your will power to work for you" - Shabir Ally

From Issue: 539 [Read original issue]