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--- Issue: "407" Section: ID: "4" SName: "General" url: "general" SOrder: "1" Content: "\r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n \r\n
Living \r\n the Quran

Al-Araf \r\n (The Heights)
\r\n Chapter 7: Verse 55 (Partial)

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Secret \r\n Devotion
\r\n \"Call on your Lord humbly \r\n and in secret.\"

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Calling upon Allah and addressing Him in supplications is indicative \r\n of the supplicant's admission that he is in need of bestowals, that he \r\n himself is powerless, and that all power belongs to Allah. This recognition \r\n is the essence of faith and is the best \r\n kind of worship.

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It is reported that once during a campaign the Companions of the Prophet, \r\n peace be upon him, were glorifying Allah loudly while they were going \r\n up and down the hills. The Prophet told them: \"People! Take it easy \r\n upon yourselves. You are not addressing someone deaf or one who is away. \r\n You are calling upon One who is All-hearing, close to you.\" (Ibn \r\n Jarir, Qurtubi)

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Ibn Jarir and Zamakhshari has explained the word \"khufyah\" \r\n of the verse as \"sincerity, concentration and secret devotion.\" \r\n These days we notice people shouting and shrieking in their supplications \r\n especially in the Friday prayers. The supplicant pierces ears with his \r\n loud voice without realizing that he is committing \r\n two innovations: first, raising his voice in supplications and second, \r\n raising voice inside a masjid. We also notice that these \r\n supplications move the listener in a manner that sober supplications do \r\n not. But such softening is not from the heart. It is the kind that affects \r\n the children. Had the supplications truly \r\n touched their hearts, they would have reacted in the same way even if \r\n the supplications were not pronounced so loudly. (Ahmed \r\n - Annotator of Kashshaf's commentary)

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Compiled From:
\r\n \"Tafsir Ishraq Al-Ma'ani\" - Sayyid Iqbal Zaheer, Vol 4, pp. \r\n 37-38

\r\n Understanding the Prophet's Life
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Do not scandalize an innocent! \r\n

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The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, \"Whoever \r\n accuses anyone with something not found in him, in order to scandalize \r\n him, Allah will imprison him in the Hell fire, until he brings a solid \r\n evidence of what he claimed.\" (Collected by At-Tabarani) \r\n
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\r\n Often times, it is observed in our Muslim community that people accuse \r\n others, just for the sake of increasing themselves in honour or worldly \r\n respect. A lot of false accusations are made simply to degrade a person \r\n of a different colour, ethnic or economic background. In addition, it \r\n is disgusting to see, sometimes apparently very practicing Muslims, \r\n specially the youth, bad-mouthing the brothers and sisters who are probably \r\n not very Islamically practicing yet, or those who belong to different \r\n Islamic organizations, ideologies or mosques. Let us not forget that, \r\n in this Hadith, the Prophet (peace be upon him) has used very severe \r\n words against those who falsely accuse others for no reason. May Allah \r\n cure all of these ills from our Ummah.

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Compiled From:
\r\n \"Selected Traditions of Prophet Muhammad\" - Shk. Al-Amin bin \r\n Al-Mazauri

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The Trial of Faith: Doubt and Trust

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The whole Abrahamic experience unveils the essential \r\n dimension of faith in the One. Abraham, who is already very old \r\n and has only recently been blessed with a child, must undergo the \r\n trial of separation and abandonment, which will take Hagar and their \r\n child, Ishmael, very close to death. His faith is trust in God: \r\n he hears God's command - as does Hagar - and he answers it despite \r\n his suffering, never ceasing to invoke God and rely on Him. Hagar \r\n questioned Abraham about the reasons for such behaviour; finding \r\n it was God's command, she willingly submitted to it. She asked, \r\n then trusted, then accepted, and by doing so she traced the steps \r\n of the profound \"active acceptance\" \r\n of God's will: to question with one's mind, to understand with one's \r\n intelligence, and to submit with one's heart. In \r\n the course of those trials, beyond his human grief and in fact through \r\n the very nature of that grief, Abraham develops a relationship with \r\n God based on faithfulness, reconciliation, peace, and trust. God \r\n tries him but is always speaking to him, inspiring him and strewing \r\n his path with signs that calm and reassure him.

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Indeed, trials of faith are never tragic in Islamic \r\n tradition. All the messengers, like Abraham, experienced the trial \r\n of faith and all have been, in the same manner, protected from themselves \r\n and their own doubts by God, His signs, and His word. Their suffering \r\n does not mean they made mistakes, nor does it reveal any tragic \r\n dimension of existence: it is, more simply, an \r\n initiation into humility, understood as a necessary stage in the \r\n experience of faith.

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Compiled From:
\r\n \"In The Footsteps of the Prophet\" - Tariq Ramadan, pp. \r\n 4-6

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