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From Issue: 446 [Read full issue]

Living the Quran

Surah Al-Anam (The Cattle)
Chapter 6: Verses 25-26

Natural Law of Heart Closure
Of them there are some who (pretend to) listen to thee; but We have thrown veils on their hearts, so they understand it not, and deafness in their ears; if they saw every one of the Signs, they will not believe in them; in so much that when they come to thee; they (but) dispute with thee; the Unbelievers say: "These are nothing but tales of the ancients." Others they keep away from it, and themselves they keep away; but they only destroy their own souls, and they perceive it not.

Here Allah has ascribed to Himself the cause of the defects produced in their faculties of understanding, hearing and seeing, for everything that takes place in the world under the Natural Law does, in fact, take place by the command of Allah because He is the Author of that Law. Therefore the resultant effects of the working of that Law, in fact, take place by the will and order of Allah.

The obdurate disbelievers do not understand, do not hear and do not see the Truth, even though they seem to listen to the Message of the Messenger, because their obduracy, their prejudice and their unwillingness have, according to the law of Nature, dulled their faculties. The law is that if one is bent upon obduracy and does not adopt the attitude of a righteous person, all the doors of his heart automatically get locked against every kind of truth that goes against his lusts. When this natural process is described in the human language, it will be said, "The doors of the heart of such and such a person are locked." But God, without Whose Command and Leave nothing whatsoever can happen, will describe the same like this, "We have locked the doors of the heart of such and such a person." This is because a human being will describe the thing, as it seems to happen, whereas Allah states the true nature of the happening.

The “Nothing New” Excuse

This is the excuse that the foolish people put forward for rejecting the Message. They say, "There is nothing new in the Message towards which the Messenger is inviting us. This is the same old Message that we have been hearing before." According to these foolish people, in order to be true, a Message must also be new because according to them that which is old cannot be true. Whereas the fact is that the Message has always been one and the same and will ever remain so. The Messengers of Allah, who had been coming from the earliest times for the guidance of mankind, have always been communicating the same Message; likewise, the Holy Prophet was also presenting the same old Message. Of course, only those, who being devoid of Divine Light, cannot see the aforesaid eternal reality, might invent something new and by forging some theories present them as truth, saying, "We have a new Message, which has never been given by anyone before us."

Double Bad

They discourage people from following the truth, believing in Muhammad and obeying the Quran, (and they themselves keep away from him,) They thus combine both evil acts, for they neither benefit themselves, nor let others benefit from the Prophet. Ali bin Abi Talhah said that Ibn Abbas said that the Ayah, (And they prevent others from him) means, they hinder people from believing in Muhammad. Muhammad bin Al-Hanafiyyah said, "The disbelievers of Quraysh used to refrain from meeting Muhammad and they discouraged people from coming to him.''

Source:
"Tafsir Ibn Katheer" - Ibn Katheer
"Towards Understanding the Quran" - Sayyid Abul Ala Mawdudi
Understanding the Prophet's Life

Sajdah

Not all the Prayers of the Prophet were long. In public he would pray for a shorter period of time and ask other imams to do the same. The Prophet used to make dua in Sajdah not just tasbeeh as we do in obligatory prayers. He used to cry in Sajdah. He would spend an extended amount of his time in Sajdah whenever he was praying on his own. Many times, however, Muslims would join him when they found him praying alone.

Aisha, may God be pleased with her, mentions that: the Prophet one night stood up for Salah and he stayed in it for so long that I thought the Prophet had passed away or died. When I felt that way I stood up shook his toe and I felt the movement then I laid down again and I heard the Prophet saying in Sajdah "I seek refuge in Your pleasure from Your wrath, and in Your pardon from Your punishment, and in You from You. I cannot enumerate Your praises as You praise Yourself." (Transliteration: Audhu bi ridaka min sakhatika, wa bi muafatika min uqubatika wa bika minka, la uhsiy thana'an alayka, anta kama athnayta ala nafsika). [hadith from Baihaqi but Dua wording from Muwatta Imam Malik]

One of the Prophet's companion, Abdullah ibn Zubayr, would pray with such concentration that when he was in Sajdah the sparrows would come flying and sit on his back. In a separate narration, Abdullah ibn Abbas, another companion, said if you want to see how the Prophet of God used to pray, you should copy how Abdullah ibn Zubayr used to pray.

And consider these two Hadiths from the Sahih Muslim:

Ma'dan b. Talha reported: I met Thauban, the freed slave of God's Messenger, and asked him to tell me about an act for which, if I do it, God will admit me to Paradise, or I asked about the act which was loved most by God. He gave no reply. I again asked and he gave no reply. I asked him for the third time, and he said: I asked God's Messenger about that and he said: Make frequent prostrations before God, for you will not make one prostration without raising you a degree because of it, and removing a sin from you, because of it. Ma'dan said that then he met Abu al-Darda' and when he asked him, he received a reply similar to that given by Thauban.

In the second Hadith, Rabi'a b. Ka'b said: I was with God's Messenger one night and I brought him water and what he required. He said to me: Ask (anything you like). I said: I ask your company in Paradise. He (the Prophet) said: Or anything else besides it. I said: That is all (what I require). He said: Then help me to achieve this for you by devoting yourself often to prostration.

Sajdah is truly a humbling experience. We can beg for God's forgiveness and cry by thinking about our misdeeds, as well as seek refuge in God from the Hellfire. We are in one of the most submissive physical positions when in Sajdah. It is one of the best occasions to ask God for forgiveness, guidance, and all that we want. It is one of the best positions in which to talk to God. Seeking God's pleasure and forgiveness need to be given top priority in these remaining days and nights of Ramadan.

Source:
“What The Prophet did in Sajdah” - Abdul Malik Mujahid
Blidspot!

Pledge of Mutual Respect

Recognizing that the specter of sectarianism threatens to further weaken and debilitate our struggling Muslim community at this critical time in human affairs, and recognizing that Allah, Exalted is He, has given the Muslim community in the West a unique historical opportunity to advance the cause of peace, cooperation, and goodwill amongst the people of the world, we the undersigned respectfully:

  • Urge Muslims to categorically cease all attacks on individual Muslims and organizations whose varying positions can be substantiated based on the broad scholarly tradition of the Sunni Muslims. We especially urge the immediate cessation of all implicit or explicit charges of disbelief;

  • Urge Muslim scholars and students of sacred knowledge to take the lead in working to end ad-hominem attacks on other scholars and students; to cease unproductive, overly polemical writings and oral discourse; and to work to stimulate greater understanding and cooperation between Muslims, at both the level of the leadership and the general community;

  • Urge Muslims in the West, especially our youth, to leave off unproductive and divisive discussions of involved theological issues that are the proper domain of trained specialists, and we especially discourage participation in those internet chat rooms, campus discussion groups, and other forums that only serve to create ill-will among many Muslims, while fostering a divisive, sectarian spirit;

  • Urge all teachers to instruct their students, especially those attending intensive programs, to respect the diverse nature of our communities and to refrain from aggressive challenges to local scholars, especially those known for their learning and piety;

  • Urge our brothers and sisters in faith to concentrate on enriching their lives by deepening their practice of Islam through properly learning the basics of the faith, adopting a consistent regimen of Qur’anic recitation, endeavoring to remember and invoke Allah in the morning and evening, learning the basics of jurisprudence, attempting to engage in voluntary fasting as much as possible, studying the Prophetic biography on a consistent basis, studying the etiquettes that guide our interactions with our fellow Muslims, and the performance of other beneficial religious acts, to the extent practical for their circumstances;

  • Finally, we urge the Believers to attempt to undertake individual and collective actions that will help to counter the growing campaign of anti-Islamic misinformation and propaganda that attempts to portray our religion as a violence-prone relic of the past unsuitable for modern society, and by so doing justify indiscriminate wars against Muslim peoples, occupation of Muslim lands, and usurpation of their resources.

Saying this, we do not deny the reality of legitimate differences and approaches, nor the passionate advocacy of specific positions based on those differences. Such issues should be rightfully discussed observing established rules of debate. However, we urge the above measures to help prevent those differences from destroying the historical unity and integrity of the Muslim community, and creating irreparable divisions between our hearts. Further, we do not deny the urgency, especially in light of the situation in Iraq, of efforts to foster greater cooperation between diverse Muslim communities. Hence, this document should not be seen as negating any statements, or declarations designed to foster greater peace and harmony between diverse Muslim communities. However, we feel, as Sunni Muslims, a pressing need to first set our own affairs in order.

Source:
“Pledge of Mutual Respect and Cooperation Between Sunni Muslim Scholars, Organizations, and Students" - www.newislamicdirections.com

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