Friday Nasiha

Living The Quran

Elevating Humanity
Al-Muminum (The Believers) - Chapter 23: Verses 51, 52

"Messengers! Eat of that which is wholesome, and do good deeds: I certainly have full knowledge of all that you do. This community of yours is one single community, and I am your only Lord. Therefore, fear Me alone."

This address to His messengers requires them to live as human beings, which is the very thing that those who opposed them questioned: “Eat of that which is wholesome.” Eating is a human need, but choosing only what is wholesome is the aspect that elevates human beings and makes them grow in purity. It enables them to establish a bond with the Supreme Society.

They are also required to “do good deeds.” While taking action is common to all human beings, insisting on doing good is the characteristic of goodly people, providing a measure of control and a clear goal for their deeds. Again such people look up to the Supreme Society when they embark on anything.

No messenger of God was ever required to abandon his humanity. Rather, what they were asked to do was to elevate this humanity to the highest standard God has made possible for human beings to achieve. Thus, the Prophets provided the role model and the ideal which other people should try to emulate. It is left to God to judge their actions according to His own fine measure: “I certainly have full knowledge of all that you do.”

Emphasis is placed on the fact that neither time nor place is of any significance when compared with the single truth that all messengers preached. They all shared a very distinctive nature, were given their messages by the One Creator of all, and worked towards the same goal: “This community of yours is one single community, and I am your only Lord. Therefore, fear Me alone.”

Compiled From:
"In the Shade of the Quran" - Sayyid Qutb, Vol. 12, pp. 221, 222

From Issue: 818 [Read original issue]

Understanding The Prophet's Life

On the Poor and Needy

Clothing

Ibn Abbas related that the Prophet said: Any Muslim who gives a Muslim a garment to wear will be in Allah's safekeeping as long as a shred of it remains on him. (Ahmad, Tirmidhi)

Relieving the person in debt

Abu Qatadah related that the Prophet said: If anyone would like Allah to save him from the hardships of the Day of Resurrection, he should give more time to his debtor who is short of money, or remit his debt altogether. (Muslim)

Food and the needy

Safwan ibn Salim related that the Prophet said: Anyone who looks after and works for a widow and a poor person is like a warrior fighting for Allah's cause, or like a person who fasts during the day and prays all night. (Bukhari)

Relatives who are needy

Salman ibn Amer reported that the Prophet said: To give something to a poor man brings one reward, while giving the same to a needy relation brings two: one for charity and the other for respecting the family ties. (Ahmad, Ibn Majah, Nasai, Tirmidhi)

Stinginess

Jabir reported that the Prophet said: Avoid doing injustice to others, for on the Day of Judgment, it will turn into manifold darkness, and safeguard yourself against miserliness, for it ruined those who were before you. It incited them to murder and treating the unlawful as lawful. (Muslim)

Source:
“The Quran and Hadiths on the poor and needy” – SoundVision.com

From Issue: 480 [Read original issue]

Blindspot!

Hagar-like Deeds

To the west of the Kabah is an addition, changing its shape and giving a direction to it. A short, arched wall facing the Kabah. The hijr of Ishmael! Hijr? What does that mean? Skirt! And it actually resembles a skirt. The skirt of a dress, the dress of a woman! Yea. An Ethiopian woman. A slave! A black slave. A Woman who in human systems lacked every dignity, every honour, and then God united the mystery of her skirt with the mystery of His existence. This is the skirt of Hagar's dress! The skirt which nourished Ishmael.

The God of monotheism, seated alone upon His Omnipotent Throne, rejecting all galaxies behind Him, beyond everything which exists, He is Alone, and, in His heavenly kingdom, Unique. But it seems as if from among all His creatures, in His infinite Creation, He selected one. The noblest of His creatures, the human being. And among all? A woman. And among all? A black woman. And among all? A black slave woman. And among all? A black female slave of a woman.

Hijrah or migration, the greatest deed, the greatest command is derived from the word hajar. And muhajir or emigrant/immigrant, the greatest divine-like human being, a Hagar-like person. And what is migration? A Hagar-like deed. In Islam, it is to go from savageness towards civilization and this journey means to move from disbelief (kufr) to Islam because tarub bad al-hijrat, in the language of the people, means savagery after becoming civilized. Thus, kufr means savagery and religion means civilization. And hjr, and Ethiopian word, means town or city in the language of Hagar and Hagar, a black African, Ethiopian slave woman. The manifestation of a pre-civilization human being and yet, here, the root of civilization. Thus, a Hagar-like human being means a civilized one. A Hagar-like movement means the movement of humanity towards civilization.

Compiled From:
"Hajj: Reflection on its Rituals" - Ali Shariati

From Issue: 910 [Read original issue]