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Misers, Good Humour, Hifz

Issue 387 » July 14, 2006 - Jumada-al-Thani 18, 1427

General

Living the Quran

Al-Mutaffifeen (The Misers)
Chapter 83: Verses 4-6

The Miser
"Do such men not think that they will be raised to life on a great day, the day when all mankind shall stand before the Lord of all creation?"

The fact that the behaviour of the defrauders is tackled in this manner in a Makkan revelation is very interesting. Makkan surahs generally concentrate on the fundamentals, such as the assertion of the unity of Allah, the supremacy of His will and His dominion over the universe and over mankind, and the assertion of the truth of revelation and prophethood, the truth of the Day of Judgement, the reckoning and the reward. The tackling of a specific issue of morality, such as the stinting of weights and measures, or business dealings in general, is a later concern; it is characteristic of Medinan revelations, which regulate the life of the community in an Islamic state. The fact that this Makkan surah makes the issue of stinting its focal point therefore deserves to be considered carefully.

The text suggests that the defrauders against whom war was declared belonged to the nobility and wielded much power and influence which enabled them to force others to succumb to their wishes. The Arabic expression connotes that for some unspecified reason they were able to impose their will and exact in full. The meaning implied is not that they exacted their full due; for this would not justify the declaration of war against them. What is meant is that they obtained by sheer force what they had no right to demand. But when it was their turn to weigh or measure for others, they exercised their power by giving them less than their due.

Indeed this warning, coming so early in the Makkan period, gives an idea of the nature of the religion of Islam. It points out that Islam embraces all sides of life and aims to establish a firm moral code which accords with the basic principles of the Divine teachings. It declared war against the misers and threatened them with woe and destruction at the time when they were the powerful rulers of Makka. It declared its uncompromising stand against the injustice suffered by the masses whom it has never sought to lull into a state of lethargy and apathy. This gives us an insight into the real motives behind the stubborn opposition to Islam by the masters of Makka. They were undoubtedly keenly aware that what Muhammad (peace be on him) was calling for was not merely a matter of personal conviction which demanded no more than a verbal assertion of the unity of Allah and the prophethood of Muhammad, and a form of prayers addressed to Allah and not to idols. They realised that the new faith would establish a way of life which would cause the very basis of their positions and interests to crumble. They were fully aware that the new religion, by its very nature, did not admit any partnership or compromise with any worldly concepts, alien to its Divine basis, and that it posed a mighty threat to all the base earthly values of Ignorance. This is why they launched their offensive, which continued in full force both before and after the Muslim emigration. It was an offensive launched to defend their way of life in its entirety, not only a set of concepts which have no effect beyond individual acceptance and personal conviction.

Those who attempt in any age or land to prevent it from organising and ruling human life also realise these essential facts. They know very well that the pure and straightforward Islamic way of life endangers their unjust order, interests, hollow structure and deviant practices. Indeed the tyrannical misers (whatever form their stinting takes and wherever it is, in money and finance, or in the area of rights and duties) are those who fear most the ascendancy of Islam and the implementation of its just methods.

Their attitude is singularly strange. The mere idea of being raised to life again on that great day, when all mankind shall stand as ordinary individuals in front of the Lord of the Universe, awaiting His just judgement, without support from any quarter, should be enough to make them change course. But they persist, as if the thought of being raised to life after death has never crossed their minds.

Source:
"In The Shade of The Quran" - Syed Qutb
Understanding the Prophet's Life

A Man of Good Humour

Some people have supposed the Prophet (pbuh) to have been a severe, austere man, but in fact he was always smiling. One companion said of him: 'I have seen no person smiling more than the Messenger of Allah (pbuh).' Aishah, perhaps the most beloved of his later wives, agreed. 'He was the softest and most kind of all people,' she stated, 'and he was a man like you, except that he was cheerful and smiling.'

Others have claimed that the most the Prophet (pbuh) would manage was a smile, for it was undignified for him to laugh. In fact, we are told clearly that when people laughed, he laughed with them. Sometimes it was said of him that he threw back his head and laughed so completely that you could see his teeth shining like white hailstones. There are many hadiths recording how the Prophet (pbuh) laughed so heartily at something that people could see his molar teeth! For example, when his young wife Aishah argued with him about her model horses with wings, and pointed out that Solomon had such horses, she said that the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) laughed 'so heartily that I could see his molar teeth.' (Abu Dawud 2316).

Surely it would be improper for a prophet of God to have a sense of humour? Far from it - it only seems improper to those who have not studied his life with understanding. In fact, he was not a stern pronouncer of doom except
when such pronouncements were absolutely necessary - he was a man who was attractive and alive with humour, forever drawing people to the faith, not driving them away. He once said: 'The dearest of you to me are those who have good manners; the most offensive to me are the most boring and the long-winded! '

Once he caught one of his companions, Khawaat b. Jubayr, sitting amongst the womenfolk and asked him teasingly what he was doing there. Khawaat replied that he had lost his camel and was looking for it. Every time the Prophet (pbuh) saw him again after that he would ask: 'O Abu Abdullah, has your camel given up running away from you yet?' Eventually Khawaat declared that 'my camel has never run away from me since I became a Muslim!' (Tabarani).

Source:
"Prophet Muhammad (pbuh): Not severe, but a man of laughter and good" - Ruqaiyyah Waris Maqsood
Blindspot!

Memorizing the Quran

Memorize as much of the Quran as you can.

The Quran is unique in demanding to be preserved in memory, the hifz.

The word hifz itself, though now used in the limited sense of memorizing, includes both understanding and practice. In fact there is no English word which can accurately reflect its true and full meaning.

Hifz is an essential way of making the Quran penetrate you. It is not a mechanical, ritual act; it is an act of high spiritual and devotional importance. Only through hifz can you read the Quran in Prayers and ponder over its meaning while you stand in the presence of the Speaker. But apart from that, it makes the Quran flow on your tongue, reside in your mind, dwell in your heart: it becomes your constant companion. Also as you memorize more you will find it easier to make your inner self participate in its reading and your mind study and understand its meaning.

So allocate part of your time for the Quran for this purpose. Go about it in a systematic way. Set your targets over a period of time. All those parts should form part of your list, which the Prophet, blessings and peace be on him, used to recite during Prayer, or at particular hours of the day and night, or which he instructed his Companions to so recite, or whose excellence he expounded. Some other portions will attract you automatically as you read the Quran regularly, and you should proceed to retain them in your memory.

Source:
"Way To The Quran" - Khurram Murad