Atheist vs Believer

In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

Atheist vs Believer

Extract from QUR’AANIC STUDIES – A Modern Tafsir PART 1:

109. Walillahi ma fee alssamawati wama fee al-ardi wa-ila Allahi turjaAAu al-omooru

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3:109. And to Allah belongs all that is in the heavens and in the earth. And to Allah, the matters return.¹²⁶

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126. Here's a crucial point of difference between an atheist and a believer believing in an Entity consciously creating and sustaining the entire Universe. For an atheist, this worldly life is the 'be-all' and 'end-all' of all things. To him, a man is just a superior type of animal. Nothing more. Like all other animals, he is born, he lives for an uncertain number of years, and he dies. During his span of life in this competitive world, if he uses his intelligence shrewdly in out-manoeuvring others in the games of life, he can enjoy the fruits, although temporary, thereof. Otherwise, his life would be miserable. For him, there is none to sit in judgement on the propriety or impropriety of his actions. For a believer in Allah, on the other hand, death is not the 'end-all'. Life for him here is only a test. The matters he is involved in are referred to his Creator for final adjudication. Along with the matters, he too is returned to the Creator, after death, for facing His judgement on his performance in this life. He is accountable to Allah for all his acts of omission and commission.

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Mohammad Shafi

Friday, the 29^th November 2019.

Good Deeds

In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

Extract from QUR’AANIC STUDIES – A Modern Tafsir PART I:

            

115. Wama yafAAaloo min khayrin falan yukfaroohu waAllahu AAaleemun bialmuttaqeena

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3:115. And whatever good they do, nothing will be suppressed there from.¹³¹ And Allah knows those who fear Him.

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131. There is a general apprehension, in the minds of those who do not have a strong belief in Allah, that the good one does is not adequately appreciated and, therefore, wasted. They are thus inclined to give as much publicity as possible to their good deeds, whereby they hope to get good names and other benefits for themselves. Had their belief in Allah been strong enough, they wouldn't hanker after such mundane benefits. They would be sure that Allah, their Lord, wouldn't let their good deeds go waste.

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Mohammad Shafi

Friday, the 22^nd of November 2019.

Attaining Righteousness

In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

Extract from QUR’AANIC STUDIES – A Modern Tafsir PART I:

92. Lan tanaloo albirra hatta tunfiqoo mimma tuhibboona wama tunfiqoo min shay-in fa-inna Allaha bihi AAaleemun

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3:92. Never shall you attain to righteousness unless you spend from what you love. And Allah is indeed aware of anything you spend.^{105 to 107}

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105. Man loves wealth. He thinks it could bring him comfort in this worldly life. His thoughts do not go beyond, to the life in the Hereafter. But Islam teaches him that this worldly life is temporary and only a test; it is the everlasting life in the Hereafter that really matters. And the Verse 92 here tells us that unless we overcome our love of wealth by spending from it, we cannot be righteous enough to deserve comfortable lives in the Hereafter.

106. We can of course incur necessary expenses, from our own wealth, on our own selves. But we cannot waste the wealth on our own selves beyond our genuine needs. Allah would be aware of it, when we do it. And Verse 2:215 tells us on whose genuine needs to spend our wealth that is more than our own individual needs.

107. Man loves other things also, besides wealth. He loves his spouse and children, for example. Verse 92 here could be extended in its implications to cover these other objects of love too. Our love for our own children, for instance, should not come in our way of standing firmly for justice in any matter involving them.

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Mohammad Shafi

Friday, the 15^th of November 2019.

Prophet Worship

In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

Extract from QUR’AANIC STUDIES – A Modern Tafsir PART I:

79. Ma kana libasharin an yu/tiyahu Allahu alkitaba waalhukma waalnnubuwwata thumma yaqoola lilnnasi koonoo AAibadan lee min dooni Allahi walakin koonoo rabbaniyyeena bima kuntum tuAAallimoona alkitaba wabima kuntum tadrusoona

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3:79. A man, whom Allah has given the Book and the Command and the Prophethood, cannot say to the people, “Be worshippers of me besides Allah.” But be you all faithful worshippers of your Lord in accordance with what you have been teaching from the Book and in accordance with what you have been studying/learning from it.⁹⁴

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94. The Verse is a direct indictment of the Christians. They worship Prophet Jesus (peace be upon him) as God Himself or as Son of God. This tendency to worship God's Messenger as God Himself is not restricted, among mankind, to the Christians alone. Worshipping of Rama and Krishna in India appears to be a result of the same tendency. Why blame other communities? There is a palpable tendency among the Muslims themselves to give their own Prophet (peace upon him) some of the divine powers. They have already 'given' him the power of intercession, as the Christians have given Jesus, to ensure their safe entry into Paradise despite their sins committed here on earth. There is nothing in the Qur'aan to show that Allah has given the power of intercession to any of His Messengers/Prophets. The Qur'aan, in fact, categorically states that there shall be no intercession on the Day of Judgement (Verse 2:254)

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Mohammad Shafi

Friday, the 8^th of November 2019.

Qur'aan Seldom followed

In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

Extract from QUR’AANIC STUDIES – A Modern Tafsir PART I:

23. Alam tara ila allatheena ootoo naseeban mina alkitabi yudAAawna ila kitabi Allahi liyahkuma baynahum thumma yatawalla fareequn minhum wahum muAAridoona

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3:23. Have you not seen those who have been given a share from the Book? They are called upon to refer to the Book of Allah to settle things among themselves. A section of them then back out and turn hostile.²⁴

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24. Initially, at the time of revelation, this Verse obviously referred to the Jews or the Christians as being those given a share of the Book. But in our present times, it very well refers to Muslims who have been given the Qur'aan. The Muslims seldom refer to the Qur'aan, for settlements of disputes among themselves. At the time of writing of these comments, the Muslim Ummah is faced with the unseemly spectacle of Muslims celebrating EidulFitr on different days, not only in the different parts of the world, but also in different parts of the same country! The Muslim Ummah is not at all bothered to follow what the Qur'aan says in this regard. They would rather follow a hadeeth, no matter it leads them to follow a calendar, untenable and impracticable in the present circumstances when Islam has become a fast-growing world Religion. Please refer to my article The New Moon in this context.

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Mohammad Shafi

Friday, the 1^st of November 2019.