Ponder Over Quran, Fairness in Dealings, Global Crises
Issue 216 » April 4, 2003 - Safar 2, 1424
General
Muhammad
Commentary: You cannot gather the full and real blessings and treasures of the Qur'an unless you devote yourself to understanding its meaning, unless you know what your Creator is saying to you. The Qur'an has come as a guide and reminder to radically change you and lead you to a new existence. Your Response to the Quran You must exert yourself to absorb and discover what the Qur'an has to say, mainly for one very important, crucial reason: The Qur'an is not merely a book of knowledge, or a collection of do's and don'ts. It wants to take hold of your person and bring you into a new living and pervasive relationship with Him. Hence, it should increase and strengthen your faith (Iman), your will (Iradah), your steadfastness (Sabr). All this can be accomplished only if you enter into a personal relationship of study, meditation, and understanding with the Qur'an. Without immersing yourself in the study of Qur’an’s message, as this Quranic verse indicates, your hearts, your thoughts and your conduct cannot respond to them. Argument Against Studying: But I am Not a Scholar?! Is there not a danger that a person who is not guided by a learned teacher nor equipped with all the necessary tools of study, and who still embarks on the journey of understanding, on his own, the Book of God, that he may go wrong, even astray? Yes, there is; especially when you do not know clearly your own limitations and goals. But the loss is greater, for yourself and for the Ummah, if you do not try to understand at all. While the risks involved in studying on your own can be averted by taking certain appropriate precautions, the loss incurred by forsaking such study cannot be made up. As Imam al-Ghazali forcefully argues, had personal study of the Quran been discouraged, the Prophet (peace be upon him) would not have exhorted his Companions to exert themselves to understanding the Qur'an, nor would they have done so (as they did), nor would there have been disagreements between their interpretations (as there are). Fearful of the consequences, many religious leaders forbid even reading a translation of the Qur'an without the help of a learned teacher. Such counsels, despite their good intentions, in fact end up depriving you of the great riches that the Qur'an has to offer every seeker. While their fears are genuine, their prohibitions have no logic or basis. Just think! Can they also prohibit an Arab from understanding the literal meaning of the Qur'an? Why, then, should a non-Arab not read a translation? Again, can they prevent any person from trying to find the meaning of whatever he reads? Why, then, prohibit attempts to study the Qur'an and find its meaning? And finally, what about the first addressees of the Qur'an, non-Muslim as well as Muslim? They were illiterate merchants and Bedouins, with no scholastic tools in their possession. Yet even some non-Muslims did revert to Islam by only listening to the Qur'an, without the help of any learned exegeses, and indeed at the first hearing [Compiled from "Way to the Quran" by Ustadh Khurram Murad] |
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Fairness in your dealings!! Islam calls for material and emotional justice and fair treatment from both parents to their children, regardless of their gender. A male child is not given preference over a female child, and vice versa. Allah's Prophet, peace be upon him, once was asked by a man to bear witness that he gave his son a gift. When the man told him this, the Prophet asked the father: "Did you give all your children the same as you gave this son?" The man answered negatively. Allah's Prophet said: "Let someone else be a witness. I will not bear witness to an unfair and unjust thing. (O People!) Fear Your Lord, Allah, and be just amongst all your children." Islam did not limit justice and fair treatment to visible matter only. This treatment was passed on to all details of the life including, but not limited to emotional acts such as kissing a child or smiling for him. Anas, reported that a man was sitting with Allah's Prophet. A son of that man came to see him. The man kissed his son and let him sit on his lap. A little later, a daughter of that man came (to see her father). He made her sit in front of him. Allah's Prophet said to the man: "Why do you not equalize (in treatment) between both of your children?" [Taken from "Woman In the Shade of Islam" by Abdul Rahman al-Sheha, p. 36] |
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This is a series from the book "Building a New Society" Global Crises The vast powers of technology that were supposedly harnessed to bring happiness and abundance to all, have on the contrary been employed more for destructive purposes - for enslaving and exploiting weaker nations. Technology has been used to derive maximum comfort and control of power and resources for particular groups, classes or nations. It is in pursuit of these aims that the present day global conflicts, poverty, misery and other problems have resulted (Case Study: US Invasion of Afghanistan & Iraq). In fact over 100 million lives have been lost in the 20th Century owing to wars and conflicts. Such human devastation has never been witnessed in human history. Today, the world is ruled by multinational banking and industrial enterprises. They dominate world affairs; they control the sources of information and the world's natural resources, and have established a complex and exploitative world economy. Developing and Third World nations, even though some of them possess an abundance of natural resources, have no, or little, control over them - they live at the mercy of the powerful nations and international banks. As a result of all of this, today man is turning against man, nations against nation. Genocide, expulsion of people from their homelands, political corruption, exploitation and oppression are everyday news. It appears as though our world is on the brink of a great catastrophe. Does this state of affairs not compel people of good will, to leave aside their small differences, join hands and endeavour to put an end to this barbarity and change the course of history? "They were a people that have passed away. They shall reap the fruits of what they did and you of what you do..." [Al-Baqara 2: 141] [Compiled from "Building a New Society", by Zahid Parvez, pp. 84, 85] |
