Friday Nasiha

Living The Quran

Al-Imran (The House of Imran)
Chapter 3: Verse 54

The Best Plotter
"They plotted, God also plotted. God is the best of plotters."

This verse is referring to the efforts of the Jews contemporary to Isa (Jesus), may Allah be pleased with him, who hatched a plan against him to have him executed.

Makr: The expression used for the unbelievers as well for Allah is the same but the meanings are different. Makr on the part of man is secretive plotting or scheming with mischievous intentions. Allah also plots to frustrate the plotting of His subjects. But His slaves remain completely in dark about what He plans and how He intends to accomplish it.

However, Allah's plotting and scheming is entirely within the norms of justice. His plotting is based on wisdom and hence entirely beneficial to man as well as to an unknown number of His creations. Therefore, He is the best of plotters.

Compiled From:
"Tafsir Ishraq Al-Ma'ani" - Syed Iqbal Zaheer, Vol 2, p. 50

Understanding The Prophet's Life

Realistic Method

The Sunnah of the Prophet, peace be upon him, does not regard people as if they were winged angels, but as human beings who eat food and live in the markets, who have their dispositions and passions, their necessities and their needs - just as they also have elevated spiritual aspirations and are elevated by them to the host of heaven. They were created from clay and moulded mud, but also there is in them a breath from the spirit of God. Little wonder then that a human being ascends and descends, that he makes progress and he stumbles, that he is guided and goes astray, that he stands firm and he deviates, that he disobeys God and he repents.

The Sunnah makes allowance for the reality of the human being and it relents from him when he lapses into disobedience. It does not close the door in the face of repentance. Rather, it opens it wide before him so that he can knock on that door, repentant and remorseful before his Lord. As in the hadith: "God spreads out His hands through the night so that He may accept repentance for the offences of the day; and He spreads out His hands through the day so that He may accept repentance for the offences of the night - until the sun rises in the west." [Muslim]

The Sunnah makes allowance for the different conditions of human beings, and the differences between them, whether innate or acquired. In consideration of such differences the Messenger would answer a single question from a number of persons with multiple answers - so he did not apply to an old man a ruling on the matter appropriate to a youth; or to someone in conditions of necessity a ruling appropriate to one in abundance and enjoying freedom of action. Similarly, he considered the customs of peoples and their diversity: so he let the Abyssinians play with their spears in his mosque on the day of Eid; and he let Aishah watch them from behind his shoulder. In the same way he urged the girls to come and play with her, as a concession to her being young. So too he made lawful entertainments at weddings, and at celebrations for the return of someone long absent, and other such occasions, as a concession to the need of human beings for amusement and recreations.

Many examples of the Sunnah inform us of the realism of this divine Prophetic pattern.

Compiled From:
"Approaching the Sunnah: Comprehension & Controversy" - Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, pp. 6-8

Blindspot!

Kindness to Animals

Kind treatment and tender-heartedness was meted out to animals by the Islamic State and other welfare institutions of Islamic Civilization. Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz issued instructions to the common people not to cause animals hardship nor trouble them, but to treat them kindly. The law in this regard was as follows: "People should not be allowed to load their animals with loads heavier than their capacity, nor can they be permitted to goad them to great speed when they are carrying heavy loads. They should be made to desist from beating them. All these practices are against the Islamic Shariah. It is the duty of the owners of the animals to be God-fearing in the matter of their feed. The fodder should be enough to fully satisfy the animal's hunger. It should be neither of a poor quality nor meagre in quantity."

A very charming example of such kind treatment of animals is that presented by a high-ranking Companion - Abu al-Darda. At the time of his death he said to his camel, "O my camel! Do not quarrel with me before our Lord and Cherisher, for I never made you work beyond your capacity." There was another companion by the name Adi ibn Hatim who crushed the bread into fine powder for the ants and said, "These are our neighbours, therefore they have a right over us." The great Imam Abu Ishaq al-Shirazi was one day going along with his friends when a dog confronted him. Its master tried to drive it away from his path, but the Imam prevented him from doing so, saying, "Do you not know that the roads are common between us humans and dogs."

Compiled From:
"The Islamic Civilization" - Mustafa Sibai, pp. 127-129