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Compiled by: Azeem Ayub |
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Reflections |
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When Death shall Die
We are all born to die.
Death is the greatest and perhaps the most neglected reality of life. Some
fleeting moments and then off we go. We may fall to the deception of this
transience -- but not for long: the dawn of life relentlessly gives way to
the dusk of death everyday only to herald the advent of a new dawn, a new
life. The process continues and life goes on under the shadow of death.
Inexorable is this practice, unrelenting this law.
And then one day, the
glorious sun and the milky moon, the dazzling stars and the stormy seas
–would also meet their fate:
At the time [O People!]
when the sky is rent asunder, and when the stars are scattered, and when the
seas burst forth, and when the graves are opened, at that time each one [of
these people who have wronged their souls] will come to know what he has
sent forward and what he has left behind. (82:1-5)
And then, as this verse
says, man would be made to stand before his Lord. He who was vanquished by
death would now forever be free from its claws: ‘Death shall be no more:
death thou shalt die’.
But realize he should:
Death he may have overcome – but now he would face a dilemma more critical:
the blissful life of Paradise or the torment of Hell.
Before such a time comes,
would that we all remember that on that fateful day: The disbeliever would cry out: ‘Would that I were dust’. (78:40)
Topic URL: http://www.monthly-renaissance.com/issue/content.aspx?id=386
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In this Issue |
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Reflections
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Read & Reflect
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Debate & Discuss * Discussion Forum: The Directives of Jihad | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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* General Discussion Forum: Arguments regarding the Existence of God
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Read and Reflect |
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Subject Matter of the Holy Qur’an
Author Javed Ahmad Ghamidi (Tr. by Tariq Hashmi)
A very basic fact regarding the Holy Qur’ān – one that can be very easily detected by a more general reader of the book- is that it introduces propositions, believing in which and meeting the requirements entailed by such a belief decide the question of man’s success in the afterlife. It is only these propositions the Qur’ān aims at proving through psychological, natural and historical evidence. It is only these facts the Qur’ān calls the human beings to submit to, warns them regarding the consequences of rejecting them and explains what entails professing faith in them. The Book does not deal with anything beyond these points. Though at times it refers to the laws of the physical, world in order to explain these facts without contradicting the reality, yet the discoveries in the realm of physics made thus far and the ones which human intellect is bound to penetrate in future, are not discussed in the Qur’ān at all. Such knowledge is not the subject of the Qur’ān in any way.
But alas, during the course of Muslim history, people have repeatedly failed to acknowledge this true position of the Book. Consequently we see that they first imposed a premise external to the Qur’ān on it proposing that being divine in origin, the Book must moderate all the possible human disciplines. Having imposed such a condition on the Book they tried to base all the human disciplines in it. Therefore, this endeavour led them discover the illusions of Greek philosophy from its verses at one time and to ground the current scientific knowledge in its text at another. At one time, the prevalent knowledge of medical science and theories of astrology and astronomy were extracted from its verses and the mention of the atomic bomb and man’s conquest of Moon at another. In such adventures they opted to ignore grossly all rules of linguistic expression of the Book and the bright light of the context of its verses.
All this trouble owes itself to the erroneous conclusions about the Book. They failed to grasp the fact that the Lord has blessed mankind with intellect before He revealed the Book to them. Just like this Book is a blessing of God bestowed upon them so is the intellect a manifestation of His profound generosity. Therefore, the Book does not concern the matters in which intellect suffices as a guide for them. Similarly in matters the Book deals with, the intellect, when functional, is compelled to submit to its dictates.
The fact also holds true in the case of the teachings of the Prophet (sws). He has explained this reality to his adherents in no unclear terms. The Mother of the Faithful, Ḥaḍrat Ā’ishah narrates that when the Prophet (sws) noticed people engaged in cross fertilizing the date palms trees he said: “It would be better if this exercise is abandoned.” Consequently, the people did not cross fertilize the dates palm trees that year. As a consequence the produce dropped considerably. The people mentioned the state of affair to the Prophet (sws) who responded: “You understand these matters better than me. I have come to explain to you the religion of God. Therefore, turn to me for guidance only in religious matters.”1
If we really intend to be guided by the Holy Qur’ān we are obligated to turn to it for guidance in nothing except the religious truth and facts. We may not knock at but our intellect in matters such as how to carve a bed out of wood to avail us a comfortable sleep and how to conduct research on the heavenly bodies. It is an unquestioned fact that intellect has never failed us in its own spheres. The Holy Qur’ān has been revealed to make plain to us what we are expected to believe in and what to practice in order to please God in the life of this world. We should bend our desires to submit to the dictates of the Book rather than basing our cherished concepts and issues in its verses. The Almighty has repeatedly explained in the Holy Qur’ān that making our desires submit before its dictates is crucial to seeking its guidance. It is but possible that one desire to seek the foundation of the worldly disciplines and fields of knowledge in this book alone yet his desire cannot alter the fact to a slight degree that this book deals only and only with the kind of knowledge upon which our afterwordly salvation depends.
(Translated from Maqāmāt by Tariq Mahmood Hashmi)
Read URL: http://www.monthly-renaissance.com/issue/content.aspx?id=1220
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Course Forums:
The Directives of Jihad
Topic: Forcing to Islam, Right or Wrong?
Kaiser5
This course
said that the Almighty's scheme in this world is to test man by giving him
the right to freely chose his religion. Can u please provide me with
verses from the Qur'an or Hadiths that led to this conclusion? Another
thing, it says that Jihad to spread the truth or force Islam on others
isn't our job but that of the prophets b/c unbelievers deliberately deny
it. Again, i need to be provided with verses or ahadiths that led to this
conclusion.
And my
question here is, forcing Islam by persecution or any other violent way on
other non-Muslims right or wrong? Please use verses or ahadiths to prove
it. Me personally, i think its wrong but i see a lot of people in the
Muslim world that try to force Islam on non-Muslims through violent ways
and consequently tarnish Islam's image. And i can't stop wondering as to
where they got the idea that they need to force it on others. Furthermore,
can Jihad apply from Muslims against other Muslims that persecute
non-Muslims ? Thanks, your answers will be much appreciated!
AbdullahRahim (Moderator)
Thanks for
your question.
1. The verse
2:256 sets a general rule about freedom of choice when it comes to
religion. Every other verse and every Hadith has to be seen and
interpreted with this verse (as a principle) in mind:
"There is no
compulsion in relation to His religion: The right path has now become
completely distinct from the erroneous ones. Therefore, whoever rejects
the arrogant [Satan] and believes in God, he indeed has gripped a firm
handle that shall never break apart. And God is all-hearing, all-knowing."
(2:256)
Accordingly,
no one can attempt to force others into Islam. Those Muslims who believe
otherwise should explain how they justify their belief in the light of the
above verse of the Qur'an. Also rationally they need to justify how it is
possible to call some one Muslim when the person only behaves like a
Muslim to remain safe and unharmed while in his heart he is not convinced
about Islam.
2. You asked
for an evidence from the Qur'an that says "Jihad to spread the truth or
force Islam on others isn't our job but that of the prophets b/c
unbelievers deliberately deny it".
The module
does not say that. It says:
"once the
truth is communicated to the addressees of a Messenger to the extent that
none of them is left with an excuse to deny it and they still deliberately
deny it, then they are punished in this very world by the Almighty in
either of the following two ways:
i. through
natural calamities like storms and earthquakes
ii. through
the swords of the believers".
The Jihad you
are referring to is not to force people to religion, but is in fact the
punishment of God that is taken place through the swords of believers,
after giving enough ultimatum, against people who are convinced about the
truth but do not accept it because of their arrogance.
With regard to
Jihad (that in this context basically means attempting to kill others), we
first need to bear in mind a general rule of the Qur'an about killing:
"Whoever
killed even a single soul - not being a punishment of murder neither that
of spreading unrest in the land - is as if he killed the whole of
mankind." (5: 32)
Accordingly
only two reasons for killing can be justified, these are punishment of
murder and punishment of those who spread unrest in the land.
While Jihad
against persecution can be justified in the light of the above rule, Jihad
to force them to accept a religion will not be online with the above.
Therefore any
one who claims that we can kill people in an attempt to force them to
accept religion needs to justify how this can be seen as punishment for
either unjust murder or spreading unrest in the land, referring to verse
5:32.
There can only
be exception from the above rule for those who have special permission
from God to carry out Jihad for another reason (other than curbing
persecution).
This special
permission is only given to the Prophet (sws) and his companions:
If you read
the beginning of the Sura of Taubah you will see how the verses in this
particular chapter of the Qur'an (as an example) relate to the time and
the direct addressees of the Prophet (sws).
Again if any
one claims that these verses are addressing all Muslims of all time then
the burden will be on him to reason how he has come to this conclusion.
It is
referring to this very rule of God's punishment through his Messengers
(and his direct followers) that we read in the Qur'an:
"Indeed those
who are opposing Allah and His Messenger are bound to be humiliated. The
Almighty has ordained: ‘I and My Messengers shall always prevail’. Indeed
Allah is Mighty and Powerful. (58:20-1)
Also:
“Fight them
and God will punish them with your hands.” (9:14)
3. The word
“Fitna” that is used in the Qur'an has a general meaning of “persecution”.
Therefore we do not have any reasons to introduce limiting conditions for
Jihad against persecution, on the basis of people involved being Muslims
or Non-Muslims.
Yes even if a
non-Muslim group is being persecuted by Muslims, other Muslims with the
directive of their respective state may start Jihad against those
oppressing Muslims.
Please do let
me know if this needs further clarification.
AR
samra
As I have read
in the Jihad reading that a Muslim state can wage war against a state
which is causing violence and oppression to the human beings anywhere in
the world to protect and support the oppressed. It sounds like this itself
will create more violence and war where war has also been commercialized
for selling and buying war equipment as a business. We see today that
there are other ways of stopping oppression and war in the world for
example by calling out world peace summits and conferences for dialogue
and finding alternatives in order to reach an agreed peaceful way out.
Just like
there was a time when beating a spouse was a norm of the society and
culture in order to keep the peace and stability in the family, husband
would beat wife and wife's brothers would beat husband-even today it
happens in many places including Pakistan and India- but today in an
educated and groomed society there are many alternatives for both the
spouses to come to an agreed plan where both the parties assess their
attitude and intentions for the peaceful running of this small but most
important individual state of a family in a society as a whole.
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General Discussion Forum:
aijaz47 Dear Mr. Hanif
Existence does not necessarily have to be physical. As regards Mermaids, their existence is imaginary or fictional. Thus if it has a name it exists.
Secondly, denial does not mean that that particular thing does not exist. One shall have to provide the prove for the denial. Physical existence is an attribute. So far it seems Mermaids do not have that attribute. Their existence is fictional. Can you deny the fictional existence of Mermaids?
Thirdly, Allah is The Creator of Universe and Claims to be so. I have not heard of anyone claiming to be the creator of The Creator. Answer shall be provided when the question arises.
student1 This is your reply to Mr. Hanif but I would like to present my comments on your reply and I hope you wont mind.
quote:
Dear Mr. Hanif
aijaz47
So you agree that
denial does not mean that a particular thing does not exist. Thanks for
accepting my point.
aijaz47
aijaz47
This is in reply to
your question "who created Allah?"
aijaz47 Kindly go to Forums> History of Quran> Collection under Abu Bakar ( may Allah be pleased with him).
Jhangeer Hanif (modeator)
I think you want to
say that existence does not have to be 'actual'. Because we know that
mermaids do not actually exist; they are fictitious in contrast to
reality. We are not taking about the nature of God's existence -
spirirtual or physical; we are talking about whether it is actual or not.
Hence when we talk about mermaids, we know that their existence is not
actual or real. Is this the case with God?
In the second
response, you are again confusing 'actual or real' with 'physical'. I am
not talking about the nature of existence. I am talking about whether
something really exists? Hence the stress is on real. I had written
Comments:
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Pause
and Ponder |
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Question: I have heard a Muslim speaker say that the Qur’ān contains guidance on everything. He was speaking with reference to the following verse:
Answer:
Whether the Qur’ān contains guidance on everything or not is another issue.
However this much is certain that this verse cannot be presented in support of
this popular view. The context of the verse shows that the verse has a specific
connotation. I’ll try to explain it to you briefly.
URL: http://www.studying-islam.org/querytext.aspx?id=895
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