Unity of The Message, Right to Defend, Neighbours,
Issue 248 » November 14, 2003 - Ramadan 19, 1424
General
| Living the Quran |
Al-Nisa
(The Women)
The Quran affirms that the proper required and comprehensive concept of faith is based on believing in God and His Messenger, making no distinction between God on the one hand and His messengers on the other, or between the messengers themselves. Belief in the absolute unity of God necessitates that we believe that the religion that His messengers preached is also one single faith, and that all the (true) messengers belong to the one same group. Attitudes to them all must be the same. For people who knowingly 'differentiate' between the essential messages preached by God's messengers, ie. believing in some and not others, their only reward with God is a 'humiliating suffering'. Any denial of this unity of the messengers, or of the unity of the message itself, is tantamount to a denial of the oneness of God, and is a misconception of what His oneness really means. Therefore, the religion and the code God has given mankind (through different messengers) come from the same source and share the same basis and essence. This holds true only if the original message revealed through the messengers has remained intact and uncorrupted. Muslims are required by their ideological concepts to believe in God and all of His messengers without any distinction. All messengers are highly respected by them, and all Divine faiths are true, unless distortion has crept into them. To a Muslim, the procession of the messengers of God, led by Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad (and all other true prophets, peace be upon them all) only helps to give genuine meaning to the true purpose in life; that they are custodians of this great task and heirs to an ever-continuing blessing. Source: |
| Understanding the Prophet's Life |
Death in Defence of One's Rights Those who die defending themselves, their family, their wealth, their faith or any other legal right or who are wrongfully killed by those who practice injustice and tyranny are considered to have the reward of martyrs. The following traditions bear witness to this fact: The Prophet said: "Whoever is killed defending his wealth or possessions is a martyr; whoever dies defending his family is a martyr; whoever is slain because of his faith is a martyr; and whoever dies defending himself is a martyr." [Abu Dawud, Al-Nasai] Allah's Messenger said: "Whoever is killed as a result of tyranny and injustice is a martyr." [Al-Nasai] Source: |
| Stories Good & True |
Kindness Towards Neighbours One of the Prophet's companions was called Abdullah. He feared Allah and was kind to people. One of his neighbours was a Jew. One morning Abdullah sacrificed a goat for his family to eat that evening, and then left his house to go about his business for the day. When Abdullah returned to his house that night, the evening meal was placed before him. He and his family were just about to start eating, when Abdullah asked his family if they had given some of the meat to their neighbours. They replied that they had not given any to the Jew because he was not a Muslim. "What!" said Abdullah. "He may be a Jew, but he is still our neighbour. The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, has often reminded us to be kind towards our neighbours, even if they are not Muslims. I will not eat anything until he has been given some this meat!" It was not very long before Abdullah and his family were enjoying their evening meal! Source: |
