Friday Nasiha

Living The Quran

Al-Rad (Thunder)
Chapter 13: Verse 3

Tauhid, Resurrection, Accountability
And it is He Who has spread out the earth, and fixed the immovable mountains in it, and made the rivers flow on it. He has created in pairs every kind of fruit, and He covers the day with the veil of night. Surely there are great Signs in these for those who reflect upon them.

After citing some heavenly Signs in support of the doctrines of Tauhid and the Hereafter in previous verses, a few Signs are being cited from the earth for the same purpose. Briefly the following are the arguments for Tauhid, Resurrection and Accountability:

(1) Tauhid: The fact that the earth is closely connected with the heavenly bodies (which help create life on it), and the fact that the mountains and the rivers are so inter-related with that life are clear proofs that all these things have not been created by separate and different gods nor are being governed, by gods with independent powers and authorities. Had it been so, there could not have been so much harmony, congruity, accord and unity of purpose among them; nor could these relationships have continued for such a long time. For it is quite obvious that if there had not been One All-Powerful and All-Wise God, it could not have been possible and practicable for different gods to sit together and evolve out such a harmonious system of the universe without any discord or conflict between its myriad's of bodies.

(2) Resurrection: This wonderful planet, the earth, is itself a great proof that its Creator is All-Powerful and can, therefore, raise the dead whenever He will. For it is floating in space round the sun and it has high mountains fixed in it and has large rivers flowing on its surface: it produces countless fruit-bearing trees and it brings about the cycles of the day and the night with precise regularity.

All these things bear witness to the boundless power of its Creator. It would, therefore, be sheer folly to doubt that such All-Powerful Creator is incapable of raising mankind to life after death.

(3) Accountability: The earth, with all its wonderful and purposeful signs, is a clear evidence of the fact that its Creator is All-Wise. Therefore it cannot even be imagined that He has created man, His noblest creation, without any purpose. Just as His wisdom is apparent from the structure of the earth, its mountains, its rivers, the pairs of its trees and fruits, its night and day, so it is quite obvious that it has not been made the habitation of man without any purpose, nor will it be brought to nought without the fulfilment of that purpose. Clearly mankind shall be accountable to its Creator for the fulfilment of that Divine purpose.

Source:
"Towards Understanding The Quran" - Syed Abul Ala Mawdudi

Understanding The Prophet's Life

True Friendship

For various moral, psychological and social reasons, people need good company and close friendship. The type of friends you have, often indicate the type of person you are. 'Show me your friends and I will tell you what you are,' says the well-known proverb. The noble Prophet (peace be upon him) pointed to the value of good company when he said that it is better to be alone than in the company of the wicked, and it is better to be in the company of the good than to be alone. Good company can be a great source of help and support in leading a virtuous life, while bad company can lead to sin and ruin.

The Prophet (peace be upon him) was once asked: "Who is the person that can be the best friend?" "He who helps you when you remember God, and he who reminds you when you forget Him," the Prophet replied. Then he was asked, "And which friend is the worst?" "He who does not help you when you remember God and does not remind you of God when you forget," he replied. Then he was again asked, "Who is the best among people?" He replied, "He who when you look at him, you remember God."

When Zaid ibn Harithah (may Allah be pleased with him), the servant of Muhammad, was killed at the battle of Mutah, the Prophet said: "Zaid strove in the path of God sincerely as he should. Today he has met his Lord, and he is serene." Thereafter, Zaid's daughter found the Prophet weeping over the dead body of her father and said: "What do I see?" The noble Prophet (peace be upon him), with tears in his eyes, said: "A friend weeping for his friend." Through such actions and sentiments, the Prophet showed his gentleness and true human friendship and brotherhood.

Source:
"ISLAM- The Natural Way" - Abdul Wahid Hamid, pp. 95-97

Blindspot!

A Question of Dignity

Soon the Olympic Games will be taking place in China. Sports and politics must not be mixed, we are told, as if China’s stance were not political! The Chinese, in fact, have adopted a policy that intertwines and confuses the two. But it is impossible to celebrate a political authority or a government, impossible to participate in “sport”, when an entire people is oppressed, when its existence is denied, when it is humiliated by that same government. Markets and economic interests, the forces that have already purchased such a deafening silence, can no longer justify our cautious calculations as we confront the shameful images that have come to us, for so long, from occupied Tibet.

We cannot allow ourselves to be misled by eminently political and symbolic gestures presented as “purely sporting” or “purely cultural” (is it not striking to see some of those who criticized us for promoting a boycott of Israel—whose government continues to oppress the Palestinians—at the Paris Salon du livre and the Turin Book Fair, using precisely the same arguments in denouncing China?). They are fooling no one. Our duty is one of coherence: no more selective criticism, no more cowardly silence; there can be no culture, no sport devoid of ethics, stripped of their dignity. Boycotting the Olympic Games, as long as the Tibetans are being crushed, is a question of human dignity and intellectual decency.

It is no longer enough to philosophize, to expostulate, in our carpeted offices, our salons, our universities, on the benefits of “non-violence” and the greatness of soul of its spokesmen and leaders while, though our political cowardice and our economically motivated hypocrisy, we seemingly spare no effort to drive to violence resisters who have nothing left to lose, who have already lost everything.

These words are written for the women and men of Tibet, for those who are still standing upright, for my friends in the resistance who have taken the decision to accept no longer the silence of complicity, to countenance no selective denunciations. Whatever the price to be paid.

With you, our world is less ugly, our humanity not so sad.

Source:
"The Tibet Boycott: a question of dignity" - Tariq Ramadan