General
From Issue: 316 [Read full issue]
| Living the Quran |
Al-Balad
(The City)
Indeed, man's life is a process of continued hardship that never ends. No sooner does the first living cell settle in the mother's womb than it starts to encounter affliction and to work hard in order to prepare for itself the right conditions for its survival, with the permission of its Lord. It continues to do so until it is ready for the process of birth, which is a great ordeal for both the mother and the baby. Before the baby finally sees the light it undergoes a great deal of pushing and squeezing to the point of near suffocation in its passage out of the womb. A stage of harder endurance and greater suffering follows. The newborn baby begins to breathe the air, which is a new experience. It opens its mouth and inflates its lungs for the first time with a cry which tells of the harsh start. The digestive system then starts to function in a manner which is totally unfamiliar, as does blood circulation. Then it starts to empty its bowels, encountering great difficulty in adapting its system to this new function. Indeed, every new step or movement is attended by suffering. If one watches this baby when it begins to crawl and walk, one sees the kind of effort required to execute such minor and elementary movements. Such affliction continues with teething, and learning to stand, walk, learn and think. Indeed, in every new experience much affliction is involved. Then the roads diverge and the struggle takes different forms. One person struggles with his muscles, another with his mind and a third with his soul. One toils for a mouthful of food or a rag to dress himself with, another to double or treble his wealth. One person strives to achieve a position of power or influence and another for the sake of Allah. One struggles for the sake of satisfying lusts and desires, and another for the sake of his faith or ideology. One strives but achieves no more than Hell and another strives for Paradise. Everyone is carrying his own burden and climbing his own hill to arrive finally at the meeting place appointed by God, where the wretched shall endure their worst suffering while the blessed enjoy their endless happiness. Affliction, life's foremost characteristic, takes various forms and shapes but it is always judged by its eventual results. The loser is the one who ends up suffering more afflictions in the hereafter, and the prosperous is the one whose striving qualifies him to be released from his affliction and ensures him the ultimate repose under his Lord's shelter. Yet there is some reward in this present life for the different kinds of struggle which people endure. The one who labours for a great cause differs from the one who labours for a trivial one, in the amount and the quality of gratification each of them gains from his labour and sacrifice. Source: |
| Understanding the Prophet's Life |
| Creating the Muslim State Prophet's aim as a messenger of God was to convey His message to His servants. This is true, but it is also true that the attempt to create an Islamic state is an important part of that message. It has been said that had it been one of his aims to create such a state the Prophet would not have turned down the Meccan offer of kingship. The prophet did reject that offer, but he did so because its acceptance would not have made him the head of a Muslim state. He would have become king of a people who did not even believe in his Message, and who in fact offered him status as a bribe to abstain from propagating it. A man, who accepted such an offer would not be a genuine Prophet but a man possessed by lust for power, who would be using the claim to prophethood only as a means to gratify that desire. The fact that the Prophet was desirous of creating a Muslim state comes out clearly in the fact that besides his attempt to convert individuals to the new faith he was doing his best to win over the power of an organized and independent community to be the stronghold of this faith. To that end, he used to contact the chiefs of different tribes, especially at the annual Makkan fairs, and ask them to accept him as Prophet and be the protectors of the new faith. Finally two tribes of Madina, al-Aws and al-Khazraj, did so, and made possible the first Muslim state to be in their land. Source: |
| Cool Concepts! |
Factors Inspiring
Patience and Perseverance in the Early Muslims
It is natural for us to meditate deeply on the factors that led to the constancy and perseverance shown by the early Muslims. It is normal to wonder how those people managed to tolerate unspeakable persecutions, and stand fast in the face of cruel tortures. 1. Unshakable Belief in Allah: The first and foremost factor is, no doubt, unshakable belief in Allah alone coupled with the correct knowledge of Him. A person with this belief deeply rooted in his heart will look at any difficulties as unimportant compared with the sweetness of belief. Other sub-factors that branch out from this belief and assist in strengthening it are as follows: 2. Wholeheartedly-loved Leadership: Muhammad (peace be upon him), the great leader of the Muslim community and mankind at large, was an exemplary man in his perfect manners and noble attributes; no one could measure up to his qualities of nobility, honesty, trustworthiness and abstinence. His companions held him dearest to them, and he occupied the innermost place in their hearts. They were always ready to defend him and secure his well-being even at the risk of their own lives. 3. The Sense of Responsibility: The early Muslims were fully aware of the responsibility they were expected to shoulder. They understood that there would be far-reaching consequences if they shunned their obligations and that doing so would have a horrible impact on humanity. Hence, they were convinced that those charges were inescapable even though they were being persecuted. 4. Unwavering Belief in the Truth of the Hereafter: This was the cornerstone that strengthened their sense of responsibility. There was a deep certainty established through the light of their religion that they would have to rise on the Day of Resurrection and account for all worldly deeds, small or big. They were sure that their future in the other world would depend wholly on their acts in their provisional life on Earth. They knew that this life with all its amenities and pains was worthless when compared to the Hereafter. Such deep convictions brought about in them a sense of indifference to all troubles and hardships that attended their life. 5. The Quran: The verses and chapters of the Noble Quran were attractively, forcefully and successively revealed at that depressing and critical stage, supporting and advancing arguments on the truth and soundness of the principles of Islam. The Quranic verses also served to excite the feelings of the believers, strengthen their selves on their course of patience and endurance and introduce them to the most purposeful examples and suggestive instructions. 6. Glad Tidings of Success: The believers were aware that the Islamic Call had one goal: the termination of pre-Islamic tradition and its unjust system, to go on parallel lines with extending its influence all over the Earth and holding in firm control the political situation worldwide to lead humanity along a course conducive to Allah's pleasure, and perfect enough to rid people of worshipping Allah's servants so that they could worship Allah Himself. Glad tidings of this sort were being revealed sometimes explicitly and at other times implicitly, in a manner relevant to the situation. When the Muslims were forced to undergo constraints, or when their life was kept under continual restraint, there would be verses revealed telling identical stories of the past prophets with their people and the sufferings and pains they had experienced. The verses would also include suggestive clues to the final tragic end of the Makkan disbelievers and glad tidings for the believers. Source: |
