Friday Nasiha

Living The Quran

Evil & Sin
Al-Baqara (The Cow) - Chapter 2: Verse 81

"Nay, whosoever earns evil and is surrounded by his sins, it is they who are the inhabitants of the Fire, therein to abide."

Evil here is most commonly understood by commentators to mean "idolatry," the setting up of "partners" to God (or the setting up of other things as equals to God) as objects of worship. To be surrounded by his sins means to be a persistent sinner, to be one who dies in sin before repenting of it, or to commit major sins as opposed to minor ones and to die in that state unrepentant. The distinction between major and minor sin (corresponding roughly, but not exactly, to mortal sin and venial sin in the Christian tradition) is universal in Islam, although historically there have been many different lists of major and minor sins. Some are based on certain hadith of the Prophet listing grave sins, while others identify major sins as those connected to hadd punishments (e.g., murder and adultery) in the Quran or those speci?cally mentioned in connection with Hell or the curse of God. Major and minor sins are not strictly divided: one can repent and be forgiven for major sins, but even a minor sin can become major through obstinacy and repetition.

Surrounded renders ahata, which can mean to "encircle," "enclose," or "comprehend." In a sense, one's sin overwhelms one's good actions, as one object encircles another, so that the decisive character of the soul is evil rather than good and the heart is what is encircled and overwhelmed. In a way, only idolatry deserves eternity in Hell, as it manifests a decisive orientation of the heart. When God says He forgives all sins except shirk, idolatry (4:48; 4:116), this means that He forgives gratuitously all sins other than shirk, not that shirk is unforgivable, since God forgives all sins (39:53).

The identi?cation of major sin and its consequences became entangled politically in early Islamic history, which is why many of the creeds of the classical period discuss the status of the Companions alongside questions of God's Attributes and Destiny. The internal con?icts of the early period made the Prophet's Companions subjects in the theology of sin and error, in light of the civil wars involving major Companions and even wives of the Prophet on opposing sides, culminating in the assassination of the two Caliphs Uthman and Ali by extremist elements who labeled them as grave sinners, hence, according to their belief, no longer believers and therefore illegitimate. The status of individual Companions (especially the early Caliphs) became a charged issue in intercommunity politics, in which sin became both a theological and political question pertaining to both religious and temporal authority.

Compiled From:
"The Study Quran: A New Translation and Commentary" - Seyyed Hossein Nasr

Understanding The Prophet's Life

Good Morals

Abu Dharr, Jundub Bin Junadah, and Abu Abd Al-Rahman, Muadh Bin Jabal, may the Sublime God be pleased with them, said that God’s Messenger, may God’s peace and blessings be upon him and his family, said, “Fear God wherever you are. Follow a bad deed with a good deed—it will erase it. And treat people kindly and with good morals.” [Al-Tirmidhi]

The virtues of Abu-Dharr are plenty. He embraced Islam when God’s Messenger, may God’s peace and blessings be upon him, was in Mecca and the Messenger told him to go back to his people. When the Messenger saw that Abu-Dharr wanted to stay with him and couldn’t leave, he told him, “Fear God wherever you are and follow a bad deed with a good deed—it will erase it.”

The statement of the Prophet, may God’s peace and blessings be upon him, “treat people kindly and with good morals,” means treat people the way you’d like to be treated and be aware that the thing that counts the most is good morals. The Prophet, may God’s peace and blessings be upon him, said, “The one I like the most of you and the one that will sit next to me on the day of Resurrection is the one with the best morals.” Good morals are the attributes of the Prophets, the Messengers, and the best believers. They do not treat people badly who treat them badly. They forgive, pardon, and act graciously.

Compiled From:
"Ibn-Daqiq's Commentary on the Nawawi Forty Hadiths" - Ibn Daqiq

Blindspot!

Path to Greatness

What starts someone on the path to greatness? In the case of Harriet Tubman, it was a two-pound lead weight.

At the age of thirteen, Harriet had her first experience in helping a slave escape. One evening in the late Fall she saw Jim, one of slaves, slip away to the village store without permission. Harriet watched in dread as the overseer followed Jim. She quickly decided to make a dash through the fields ahead of the supervisor so she could warn the slave.

In the tense confrontation that ensued, the overseer commanded the sturdily built Harriet to help restrain Jim so he could be whipped. Harriet refused, and then bravely blocked the door with her own body so that Jim could make a getaway. The enraged overseer yanked a two-pound lead weight from the store's scales and hurled it in Jim's direction. He missed his target, though, and the weight struck Harriet's forehead. She crumpled to the floor as though dead. The impact fractured her skull and created a great convex dent.

Harriet remained in a life-threatening delirium for months, and never fully recovered from the injury. But the lead weight did not stop her. It only strengthened her determination to fight the injustices of slavery.

In the decade that followed, Harriet Tubman risked her life helping over 300 Maryland slaves escape to freedom, deservedly becoming known as the "Moses of her people."

Compiled From:
"Harriet Tubman" - Rebecca Price Janney, p. 18