Friday Nasiha

Living The Quran

Superior Nobility
Al-Baqara (The Cow) - Chapter 2: Verse 267

"O you who believe, spend from the good things you have earned and from what We brought out for you from the earth. And do not seek what is inferior in order to spend from it, though you yourselves would not take it unless your eyes were closed to it. And know that God is ever-rich and worthy of praise."

A person who doles out difficulty without cause strips away the veils of dignity; this is what the "wise guides" (that is, the scholars) have said. It is equally regrettable when one discharges an obligation or fulfills a trust without good cheer. When paying charity, for example, one should smile and be humble, allowing the hand of the indigent to be above the giver's hand. It is a privilege to be in the position to give charity and an honor to fulfill a divine obligation.

In Islam, it is an anathema to give away in charity what is shoddy and inferior. There is parsimony and miserliness in this. The Muslim tradition is to give away from what one loves; God blesses this charity and extends its goodness.

Generosity is one of the highest virtues of Islam and one of the manifest qualities of the Prophet Muhammad who was known as the most generous of people. The word for generosity here is derived from karam, which also means nobility. In fact, one of the most excellent names of God is al-Karim, the Generous. It is better to go beyond the minimum of what the Sacred Law demands when giving charity. This generosity is an expression of gratitude to God, who is the Provider of all wealth and provision.

Compiled From:
"Purification of the Heart" - Hamza Yusuf

Understanding The Prophet's Life

Good Character

Everyone should realize that good character is truly a great gift from Allah and it is only Allah who can bestow such a gift. Thus the Prophet (peace be upon him) used to make the following supplication, "Guide me to the best manners, no one [can] guide to the best of them but You. And turn me away from evil manners, no one [can] turn me away from them except You." [Muslim]

How does one know if he has good character? The first source for knowing proper manners and good character is the revelation from Allah. In the Quran and sunnah, many qualities are stated and shown to be praiseworthy. The blameworthy qualities are also pointed out in numerous verses and hadith. A person should go to those verses and hadith and judge himself in the light of those teachings.

What about particular deeds? What about deeds that are not specifically covered in the Quran and sunnah? How can he judge his own deeds on a day-to-day basis and discover whether they are of good character or not? Al-Teebi has brought together two hadith that offer an answer to this question. In one hadith, the Prophet (peace be upon him) said, "Righteousness is good character." In the other hadith, he said, "Righteousness is that concerning which the soul feels tranquil and the heart feels tranquil." So, good behavior is that behavior concerning which the soul is at rest and pleased.

Therefore, whenever a believer performs a deed or is considering doing an act, he should study that act. If he finds that his soul is at rest with that act, he will realize that the act is an act of good and proper character. Similarly, if the believer thinks about an act and his soul feels very good about that act, he should perform it as it is part of the good character that every Muslim should try to possess.

Compiled From:
"Commentary on the Forty Hadith of al-Nawawi" - Jamaal al-Din M. Zarabozo, Vol. 2, pp. 842, 843

Blindspot!

Beowulf

The English word "God" in its present form is ancient and pre-Christian, having no hidden or implicit link with Trinitarian theology. Its earliest documented historical use is in the poem Beowulf, the oldest poem in the English language and the earliest European vernacular epic. Beowulf relates pre-Christian events from the early sixth century, a generation or so before the birth of the Prophet Muhammad. Western scholars often find Beowulf paradoxical, because it lacks distinctive Christian references but speaks constantly of God's grandeur, taking every occasion to praise God and give him thanks. "God" in its present form is the most common word for the Creator in the epic, but the poem also contains scores of other magnificent divine names, which are so deeply embedded in its fabric that they cannot have been interpolated later by medieval monks. Although Beowulf refers to the creation, Adam, Noah, the Flood, the resurrection, judgment, heaven and hell, it contains no references to Mosaic or post-Mosaic Biblical events or to Christ, the crucifixion, Trinitarian dogma, saints, relics, or similar elements that one would expect to find, if there had been any subsequent medieval editing. The poem declares God's oneness explicitly and extols His wise and merciful governance of the world and its people; it rejects and ridicules paganism as the work of the devil, and the epic's hero, Beowulf—a brave and mighty but truly humble man of God—engages in constant combat with the diabolical forces of evil and destruction.

Not just in its many words for God but in general, the religious vocabulary of Beowulf expresses with exactitude the crux of the spiritual and theological vision which Muslims find so precisely expressed in the Arabic language. Beowulf is a testimony to the English language's unique richness and should inspire us, as English-speaking Muslims, with a deeper respect for our language and its inherent power to express not only our concept of the divine but the entire repertoire of primordial prophetic teaching.

Compiled From:
"One God Many Names" - Umar Faruq Abdallah, p. 7