O Muslims - 50

 

In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

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

77. Ya ayyuha allatheena amanoo irkaAAoo waosjudoo waoAAbudoo rabbakum waifAAaloo alkhayra laAAallakum tuflihoona

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22:77. O you who believe! Bow and prostrate to and worship your Lord. And do that which is good so that you may achieve success.

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Mohammad Shafi

Friday, the 22^nd of January 2021.

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.

Fundamental Article

In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

Fundamental Article of Islamic Faith

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

18. Shahida Allahu annahu la ilaha illa huwa waalmala-ikatu waoloo alAAilmi qa-iman bialqisti la ilaha illa huwa alAAazeezu alhakeemu

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3:18. Allah bears witness that there indeed is none worthy of worship but He; and so, do the angels and those with right knowledge, based on truth and justice. There is none worthy of worship but He, the Omnipotent, the Wise.¹⁶

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16. This fundamental article of Islamic Faith is witnessed and certified by Allah Almighty Himself and by the angels who are the first amongst His creations to know the absolute Truth of the article of Faith. And among mankind, only those endorse the fundamental article, whose acquisition of knowledge is the result of their quest and enquiry based on truth and justice. Their knowledge is not based on unverified guesswork like Darwin's Theory of Evolution. Had his theory been true, we ought to have seen at least some signs of monkeys/chimpanzees evolving into humans, during this historical period of well over a thousand years. Protagonists of the theory try to hide behind the anonymity and haziness of the pre-historic ages. There too they encounter their 'missing links'.

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Mohammad Shafi

Friday, the 18^th of October 2019.

Worship

In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

Extract from Chapter 2 of QUR’AANIC STUDIES – A Modern Tafsir:

163. Wa-ilahukum ilahun wahidun la ilaha illa huwa alrrahmanu alrraheemu

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163. And the Being worthy of your worship is the One, and Only! None is worthy of worship other than He, the Gracious, the Merciful.²⁶³

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263. Allah, as we Muslims know, is the One and Only Being worthy of worship (Ilaah). 'Worship' connotes unquestioned obedience. We worship Allah if, and only if, we obey all His commands given in the Qur'aan. But we need to introspect, deeply and sincerely, whether we really do so. We need to introspect whether we do not have ilaahs, other than Allah, in the form of our own carnal desires and in the forms of other forces, human or otherwise, imagined or real, in the influence of which we often do things contrary to divine commands.

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Mohammad Shafi

Friday, the 14^th of July 2017.