Friday Nasiha

Living The Quran

Whims
Al Jathiyah (Kneeling Down) - Chapter 45: Verse 23

"Have you seen the kind of person who takes his own whims as his gods? God has left that one astray - sealing his hearing, veiling his heart and covering his sight. So who can now guide him after God (has withdrawn His support)? Won't you take a reminder?"

One who comments on the eloquent text of a great man of letters or a great poet must study it closely and make fine distinctions in his commentary until he has explained the intended meaning of the text. The research gives expression to the purpose of the author of the text, and it sustains the meaning commensurate with the rhetorical norms of the writer. This is more obligatory and necessary when the text is a religious or sacred one, such as the text of the Quran, or a text of the Prophet, which attained the summit of human eloquence, and which turned within the horizon of the Quran, clarifying and detailing from the Prophet what was in the Book revealed to him.

It is enough for some words that one refers to the dictionary of the language for their explanation. However, some words are not understood except in the light of their context, and their purposes, and their local and historical situations.

We see how some have intruded what is foreign in the sciences of the Law, play in commentary on the words of the Quran and the hadith. It is a matter of regret to all with a kernel of knowledge, and to all with a conscience, for these are commentaries that do not rely upon the logic of religion or of language or of science. They are following only their whims, and as Ibn Abbas puts it, whim is the worst of what is worshipped on earth.

Compiled From:
"The Holy Quran: Guidance for Life" - Yahiya Emerick, p. 360
"Approaching the Sunnah" - Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, pp. 182, 183

From Issue: 665 [Read original issue]

Understanding The Prophet's Life

Paradise without Reckoning

The son of Abbas, may God be pleased with them both, said: "The Prophet, God bless him and give him peace, came out to us one day and said: 'The communities were paraded before me. There passed before me a Prophet accompanied by one man, a Prophet with whom there were two men, a Prophet who had a small group with him, and a Prophet unaccompanied. Then I saw a multitude so great that it darkened the whole horizon and I hoped that it might be my community. But a voice said: 'This is Moses and his people.' Then I was told to look, and I saw a multitude so great that it darkened the whole horizon. Then I was told to look again, this way and that, and I saw a multitude so great that it darkened the whole horizon. 'These,' I was told, 'are your community, and together with these there are seventy thousand who will enter Paradise without a reckoning.' Then the people dispersed without receiving an explanation from him, so the Companions of the Prophet, God bless him and give him peace, conferred together and said: 'As for us, we were born in polytheism, but we came to believe in God and His Messenger. But these must be our children.' When the Prophet heard of this, he said: 'They are those who do not take omens from birds, do not cauterise themselves and do not steal, but put their trust in their Lord.' [Bukhari, Muslim]

Compiled From:
"Public Duties in Islam" - Ibn Taymiyya, pp. 75, 76

From Issue: 779 [Read original issue]

Blindspot!

Career Woman

Although homemaking, childbearing and childrearing are a universal career, it remains true that it does not exhaust the energies of a woman throughout her life. Her membership in the extended family, whether on her side or on that of her husband, will provide her with assistants and therefore with more leisure. Her childbearing cares may not last beyond two or three decades at the longest. Her life may be three whole decades longer. Is it right that Muslim women waste this valuable time on family gossip when they could be helping the ummah with their talents and energies? There are women equally who may not be fortunate enough to marry at all, or to have children or even to live in an extended family. How does Islam perceive their life to be?

Every woman, like every man, must carry the burden of serving Allah and benefitting the ummah, according to his or her talents and best disposition. This task is doubly imperative today because of the decay and dormancy of the ummah. Nobody can and should be spared. Our present circumstances demand that every woman be a career woman at least during some portion of her life. This could be during her student days, or during her motherhood period if she lives in a large extended family, or after her motherhood period.

Her first task is to undergo training as an Islamic worker, to awaken her mind and to nourish it with Islamic wisdom, to discipline and exercise herself in Islamic work. She ought to have acquired the skills to awaken and teach other Muslims, and to mobilize them in service to the divine cause. Practically every field of activity is open to and needs her. There are whole professions which she can monopolize.

Compiled From:
"Al Tawhid: Its Implications for Thought and Life" - Ismail Raji al Faruqi, pp. 138, 139

From Issue: 520 [Read original issue]