O Muslims - 2

In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

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

153. Ya ayyuha allatheena amanoo istaAAeenoo bialssabri waalssalati inna Allaha maAAa alssabireena

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2:153. O you who believe! Seek help with patience and prayer. Certainly, Allah is with those who are patient! ²⁴⁶

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246. Allah does certainly not promise a bed of roses for the believers in this world. In order that they enjoy the Utopia in the Hereafter, they must go through a test by fire, so to say, in this life! Only two Verses later, in Verse 2:155, Allah tells us that we will be tested with fear, hunger and with losses in property, life and produce! And He asks us to seek His help with prayers, while on trial in this world, but that we shouldn't expect an immediate reward. We must wait patiently for it. Life on earth is indeed a severe test of our Faith! But happiness is a state of mind. We can be happy even in the most trying circumstances, if our Faith is so strong as to make us certain that our very Creator and Lord is with us.

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Mohammad Shafi

Friday, the 21^st of February 2020.

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.

Divine Guidance on Governance

In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

After the death of Prophet Moses (peace on him), Allah Almighty continued to send other Prophets to the Children of Israel for their guidance. The extract below from QUR’AANIC STUDIES – A Modern Tafsir PART I is related to one such Prophet. The Children of Israel (Jews) had asked him to get a divinely appointed King for them.

247. Waqala lahum nabiyyuhum inna Allaha qad baAAatha lakum taloota malikan qaloo anna yakoonu lahu almulku AAalayna wanahnu ahaqqu bialmulki minhu walam yu/ta saAAatan mina almali qala inna Allaha istafahu AAalaykum wazadahu bastatan fee alAAilmi waaljismi waAllahu yu/tee mulkahu man yashao waAllahu wasiAAun AAaleemun

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2:247. And their Prophet informed them, "Allah has decreed Tuaaloot to be king for you!" They said, "How could he get precedence over us in getting the kingdom, when we were the ones more deserving? And neither is he endowed with abundance in wealth!" The Prophet said, "Allah has chosen him over you; and has given him much more knowledge and physical strength.^{467, 468} And Allah grants dominion over His land to anyone He wishes. And Allah is All-encompassing, Wise!"⁴⁶⁹

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467. Tualoot was a divinely chosen king. He was divinely appointed on the request of the people (Verse 246 above). Once such appointment was made, there was no question of the people questioning that appointment. But the Chiefs of the Children of Israel did question the propriety of the divine appointment because of their own satanic pride.

468. In today's world, however, there can't be such direct, obviously divine appointments. Allah had made the above such appointment through one of His prophets. But Allah has ended prophethood with Prophet Muhammad, peace and Allah's blessings be upon him. What then is Allah's guidance for us now, in the matter of governance of a country? In Verse 42:38, Allah appreciates those who conduct their affairs by mutual consultations. And therein lies the divine guidance. We must conduct our public affairs by mutual consultations. In the case dealt with in these Qur'aanic Verses, the choice of Tuaaloot gives us the further guidance that there ought to be an executive head of state. The head of state must be chosen based on his abilities, and not because he belongs to a ruling dynasty or class. It is thus clear that Islam does not favour a dynastic rule. And, in view of Verse 42:38 quoted above, the chosen head of state cannot work autocratically, but by mutual consultations with an advisory council. In an Islamic state, the Qur'aan must be the Constitution; and the subsidiary rules for implementing the Constitution must be framed by a legislative body consisting of persons chosen by the people. The USA pattern appears to be in line with Islamic requirement, except of course for the Constitution.

469. Even though, in today's world, the rulers are generally chosen by the people, it is a fundamental Islamic faith that no one can become a ruler – nor, for that matter, anything happen in this world – against Allah's Will.

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Mohammad Shafi

Friday, the 6^th of September 2019.

The Last Messenger

In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

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

35. Wa-in kana kabura AAalayka iAAraduhum fa-ini istataAAta an tabtaghiya nafaqan fee al-ardi aw sullaman fee alssama-i fata/tiyahum bi-ayatin walaw shaa Allahu lajamaAAahum AAala alhuda fala takoonanna mina aljahileena

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6:35. And if their aversion is hard on you, then, if you can, seek an opening deep into the earth or a ladder [link] up into the heavens, and then bring them a sign. And if Allah had so willed, He would certainly have gathered them all on guidance. Be not then of those who are ignorant.⁶

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6. This is an obvious reprimand from Allah to His Messenger. HE has put this on record here to let mankind know that His Messengers too are His creatures, and not His partners in Creation. The Messengers too, being human, were prone to errors. What this Verse reveals to us is that the Prophet (peace be upon him) ardently desired Allah to give him a sign to show to his people to convince them of his being His accredited Messenger. But Allah had other plans. HE did not want His last Messenger to mankind to be recognised based on any obvious sign like those given to his predecessors, Jesus and Moses. Those signs, in any case, had yielded little results. HE, in His Wisdom, knew that His last Messenger was being sent at the threshold of an era of proliferation of knowledge. Allah now wanted His last Messenger to be recognised based on the intellect He had granted mankind. HE wanted the people to use this intellect, and the knowledge they are now getting, to scrutinise the character of the person sent as the last Messenger and to scrutinise the Message he was conveying to them. Allah here reminds His Messenger that He knows what to do to guide His creatures. Nothing – not even the ardent personal desire of His Messenger – can come in the way of His plans.

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Mohammad Shafi

Friday, the 8^th of March 2019.

The Qur'aan

In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

I was born to Muslim parents. But that fact by itself did not make me a real Muslim.

As a child, I just followed what my parents told me to do or to believe. For me then whatever they said was the gospel truth!

But as I grew up, it slowly dawned on me that my parents were not my makers. They were just instruments used in my making. My Maker ought have been a Being of superhuman intelligence, Who has also made everything necessary for my sustenance for a limited period in this world.

I could get this realisation by using the intelligence my Maker had given me. But my intelligence and all the knowledge that I could acquire in this world failed to inform me about the purpose of my short life here.

Only the Qur'aan could give me that information satisfactorily. My Maker did not just leave me alone, with my intelligence and my worldly knowledge, to fend for myself to get that information. HE has given me His Book of Guidance, which tells me what that purpose is, and what I should do to attain it.

So, I spent over 20 years to study this Holy Book, word by word. I humbly present my QUR'AANIC STUDIES for my readers’ perusal. Hopefully, these may lead them to their own studies of the Divine Scripture.

Mohammad Shafi

Friday, the 22nd February 2019.

Why Islam

In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

I have a parrot at home. I often find myself comparing her (it’s a she-parrot) life with mine.

She is caged. But does she ever worry about her loss of freedom or about her future? Obviously not! All day long, she chirps, mimics the humans around her, meticulously cleans her body feathers, eats & drinks and goes to sleep soundly when she has nothing else to do. And I don’t think she has ever worried about the inevitable death that should come to her one day, or about what would happen thereafter. Worrying about anything appears to be utterly foreign to her nature.

Her life and mine are poles apart in that respect! I worry about my future in this world, and about what would happen to me after death.

That, and a distinctively superior intellect, differentiates mankind from other creatures we find on this earth.

What is the significance of this difference?

Science fails to give a satisfactory answer.

And in an earlier post Why Do I Believe In Islam, I have explained why Islam gives a satisfactory answer.

The Creator of the Universe, and of everything therein including human beings, has from time to time appointed Messengers, from among humans themselves, to inform them of the Reality. HE has sent down divine Scriptures too with some of the Messengers for the purpose. Besides, the Creator has impressed upon every human soul, at birth itself, what the Reality is! The human being has just to search his own soul to find It!

It is this self-search, without references even from divine scriptures and depicted just with the bare aid of commonsense, that this booklet, Why …. Islam, projects.

I take the liberty of presenting the booklet again as a page of my website. Click here to get it free online.

Mohammad Shafi

Friday, the 25^th of January 2019.

Why Do I Believe In Islam

In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

If we have a form to fill in, in which personal particulars are required to be given, we generally mention our religion to be the same as that to which our parents are supposed to belong. We do not give much thought to the question whether we really believe in that religion or not. It is as if we automatically inherit our religion from our parents as we inherit some of our physical features and mannerisms from them.

But religion, as a matter of fact, is not a thing to be inherited. It should strictly be a matter of our own individual consciences irrespective of the religious beliefs of our parents. Freedom is our birthright and freedom includes religious freedom. We cannot be the captives of the religious beliefs of our parents or guardians.

It was with these sentiments that I started my journey into my soul to probe whether it really believed in the declared religion of the family in which I was born and, if so, why. It was a long journey and not an easy one at that. On several occasions along the way I was beset with doubts and pitfalls. And it is only in these evening years of my life that I have been able to gather my thoughts on the subject and put them in this booklet.

Through this booklet I wish to share my thoughts with all those who would like to have such sentimental journeys into their own respective souls. They may not all agree with my beliefs. That is not my intention. My intention is to induce my readers to discover their own honestly felt faiths and beliefs and then to have the courage of conviction to act accordingly. One essential word of warning though. Freedom is of course our birthright, but it has its limits. We cannot have freedom to spread chaos, anarchy and corruption in this world.

One other motivating force inducing me to write this booklet came from my friends, non-Muslim ones particularly. Their impressions about Muslims and Islam were not good. Muslims were not fit to live or make friendship with, some of them had thought. “But you are different”, they used to tell me. I tried to explain to them the real position, but it was of no use. Occasionally given oral and impromptu explanations can hardly erase any deep-rooted misunderstandings. This booklet is my humble attempt to give a more detailed written explanation about the reality of Islam.

Above is the first Preface – written way back in 1999 – to the booklet Why Do I Believe In Islam. PDF version of the booklet is freely available at this link. I shall feel richly rewarded even if only a few among this vast human populace in this world are inclined to turn to genuine Islam by reading it.

Mohammad Shafi

Friday, the 28^th of December 2018.