Friday Nasiha

Living The Quran

Maryam (Mary)
Chapter 19: Verse 83

Satan's Promptings
"Do you not see that We have set Satans against the unbelievers, to incite them with fury?"

Satan incites man in numerous ways. It is hard to enumerate the forms, degree and means of Satan's promptings directed at those who follow him. He facilitates the path of evil for his followers and tempts them in every conceivable way.

The Quran makes a succinct observation that Satan prompts those given to doing evil. Satan fills them with false hopes and even makes them think that their evil deeds are all right. He makes them insensitive to sin.

This should not, however, be taken to mean that Allah has preordained evil for the unbelievers and that they cannot escape from doing evil. Rather, the Quranic statement informs man of divine dispension and of how Allah tests the unbelievers. Satans have been granted the opportunity to incite the evil-doers into committing sin.

The Quranic reference covers all temptations offered by Satan in man's financial, sexual, political and social life. Man is liable to fall prey to Satan at every step. For Satan has made misdeeds seem alluring to man.

Satan is consistently engaged in wielding his evil influence on man. Many men and women are swayed by his temptations. They are enticed and incited by him in a number of ways. So doing, they abase and degrade themselves. The Quranic account is too graphic to be adequately translated, so suffice to say that it explains how man succumbs to Satan's temptations.

Compiled From:
"Guidance from the Holy Quran" - Sayyid Abul Hasan Ali Nadwi, pp. 214, 215

Understanding The Prophet's Life

Fabrication for Material Gains?

Is it reasonable to assert that Muhammad, upon him be peace, might have claimed prophethood to attain some material gains? This question may be answered by looking into his financial status before and after prophethood. Before his mission as a prophet, Muhammad, upon whom be peace, had no financial worries. His loving and rich wife, Khadijah, may Allah be pleased with her, had made available to him all that he needed. As a successful and reputed merchant, Muhammad had a comfortable income. It is ironic that the same man, after his mission as a prophet and because of it, becomes worse off materially.

Describing their life, his wife, Aishah, may Allah be pleased with her, narrated that a month or two might have elapsed before fire was lit in the Prophet's house (to cook a meal), while the household subsisted on milk and dates. (Riyad al-Saliheen) After eighteen years of his mission, when Muslims emerged victorious, we still find a kind of revolt in Muhammad's household in protest to the difficult life characterized by a considerable self-imposed material deprivation. This incident took place at the time when the Muslim treasury was under his disposal (Bukhari, Muslim). Asked about Muhammad's bedding Hafsah, may Allah be pleased with her, answered, "It comprised of a piece of canvas which I spread double folded under him." Bilal, may Allah be pleased with him, reported that the Prophet never kept back anything for future use, that he spent what he had on the poor and needy, and that on one occasion, Muhammad received a gift of four loaded camels, yet he took nothing for himself and he further insisted that he would not go home until the whole lot was given away to the needy. (Riyad al-Saliheen) At the time of his death, and in spite of all his victories and achievements, Muhammad, upon whom be peace, was in debt, and his shield was in the hands of a Jewish citizen of Madinah as a collateral for that debt! (Riyad al-Saliheen)

One may then inquire: Are there any materialistic motives behind Muhammad's  claim of Prophethood?

Compiled From:
Islam: A Way of Life and a Movement, "Muhammad's Prophethood: An Analytical View" - Jamal Badawi, pp. 69, 70

Blindspot!

Understanding "What is not extremism?"

The degree of a person's piety as well as that of the society in which he lives affect his judgment of others as far as extremism, moderation, and laxity are concerned. A religious society usually produces a person sensitively aversive to any deviation or negligence, however slight it may be. Judging by the criteria of his own practice and background, such a person would be surprised to find that there are Muslims who do not offer Ibadah during the night or practice siyam. This is historically obvious. When examining the deeds and practices of people, the nearer one gets to the time of the Prophet (peace be upon him), his companions and the Tabiun the less worthy seem the deeds and practices of the pious among the later generations. Hence the gist of the saying: "The merits of those nearest to Allah are but the demerits of the righteous."

This reminds one of what Anas ibn Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) used to tell the Tabiun of his contemporaries, "You do things you consider trifling. But during the time of the Prophet (peace be upon him) these same actions were seen as mortal sins."

On the other hand, a person whose knowledge of and commitment to Islam is little, or who has been brought up in an environment which practices what Allah has forbidden and neglects Shariah, will certainly consider even minimal adherence to Islam a kind of extremism. Such a person-who quite often feigns godliness would not only question and criticize, but would even deny the validity of a certain practice. He would also accuse those who are committed to Islam, and initiate arguments on what is haram and what is halal. His attitude would, of course, depend on his distance from the fundamentals of Islam.

Some Muslims-those who are influenced by alien ideologies and practices consider adherence to clear-cut Islamic teachings concerning eating, drinking, beautification, or the call for the application of Shariah and the establishment of an Islamic state as manifestations of "religious extremism." For such a person, a young Muslim with a beard or a young girl wearing hijab are both extremists! Even the commanding of the common good and the prohibition of evil are regarded as forms of extremism and interference with personal freedom.

Although a basis of faith in Islam is to believe that our religion is right and that those who do not believe in it are wrong, there are Muslims who object to considering those who take a religion other than Islam as kuffar (non-believers), considering this as extremism and bigotry. This is an issue upon which we must never compromise.

Compiled From:
"Islamic Awakening between Rejection and Extremism" - Yusuf Al-Qaradawi