General
From Issue: 295 [Read full issue]
| Living the Quran |
Al-Baqarah
(The Cow)
Fasting, in one form or another, has always been an important and often necessary part of religious life, discipline and experience in every faith. As a means par excellence to come nearer to God, to discipline the self, to develop the strength to overcome the temptations of flesh, it needs no emphasis. Yet Islam turns Fasting, as it does every other act of worship and devotion, into something different and unique, the life-giving centre of life. How does it impart new meaning and force to Fasting? Put simply: by prescribing for it the time of Ramadan. This may sound like making things too simplistic, or trivializing the important. But Ramadan is no trivial event. For it is the month ‘in which was sent down the Quran: the Guidance for mankind, with manifest truths of guidance and the Criterion [by which to judge the true and the false’ (Al-Baqarah 2:185). It was on a night in Ramadan that the last Divine message began to come down: ‘Read in the name of your Lord...’ (Al-’Alaq 96:1). That is why you must fast in Ramadan, says the Quran. Ramadan therefore centres the entire discipline of Fasting on the Quran. The sole purpose is to prepare us for receiving the Divine guidance, for living the Quran, for witnessing the Truth and Justice that it perfects, for striving to make the word of God supreme. How is this purpose achieved? The fruit of Fasting ought to be that rich inner and moral quality which the Quran calls taqwa. The most basic condition for being guided by the God, too, is taqwa. The significance is plain to see. Fasting, linked to Ramadan in which Allah’s guidance came down, generates a taqwa which becomes directed on the supreme goal of entering the world of the Quran and of living therein, instead of being a spiritual ecstasy to be frittered away in the delights of soul. It becomes the key with which can be unlocked all the doors leading to the blessings which the Quran has to offer; honour, prosperity and freedom from fear and anxiety in this-world; success, Paradise and God’s good pleasure in the life-to-come. No time for Fasting other than Ramadan could have made taqwa such a potent force. More importantly, the fulfillment of being guided by the Quran comes about when we strive to discharge the mission it entrusts to us. For, having the Book of God — a weighty word — places on our shoulders a heavy responsibility: to hear is to make it heard, to know is to act, to have is to share, to say shahadah is to do shahadah. This means an unflinching pursuit to create a new self within us, and to create a new world of Quranic ideals outside us. This is the sole purpose for which a new Ummah was created and charged with the mission of bringing man to God by witnessing to His guidance. Otherwise, when the Quran came, the world was not devoid of godly men who fasted, and stood in prayers before God, and wept. Source: |
| Understanding the Prophet's Life |
| Marvel of the human mind The rational faculty of one’s soul, known as the mind, and the spiritual faculty, known as the intellect or spirit, can contribute to victory over the material faculty, known as the body, if both mind and spirit are supplied with knowledge from experience and study. Such knowledge makes possible discrimination between good and bad and can bring one closer to Allah, so one can know His strength and greatness. The Prophet (peace be upon him) praised the marvel of the human mind and spirit in his exclamation: The greatest dignity bestowed by Allah on His creatures was the human mind and spirit. [Tirmidhi] Source: |
| Blindspot |
Guises of BackbitingShaikhul-Islam Ibn Taimiyyah said that there are those from the people that backbite or listen to backbiting, and they do so to please the company they keep, with the awareness that the victim is likely to be innocent of some of the things that are uttered about him. Often such offenders feel that if they were to attempt to end such conversation in a gathering, their presence might become unwelcome or burdensome. There are many methods and guises that are employed when one mentions another in a negative way. Under the pretence of being informative, one could say that it is not one's habit to mention others, except for the sake of relating another's condition to someone. Or one could state that by Allah, indeed so-and-so is one to be pitied, thereby showing superiority over one who is to be rejected. Another method might be to say that so-and-so is a good person; however, he has such and such qualities. Again, one is justified in revealing another's faults. One could also simply state that we should forget so-and-so, and make supplication for their forgiveness as well as our own, intending only to belittle the one that was mentioned. In reality, all these tactics are designed to try to deceive Allah (the Exalted) and to please the creation; and in reality, the many that follow these methods only serve to deceive themselves. Source: |
