al baqara verse 26 to 27 ======================== 26. Hakika Mwenyezi Mungu haoni haya kutoa mfano hata wa mbu na ulio wa zaidi yake. Ama wale walio amini hujua ya kwamba hiyo ni haki iliyo toka kwa Mola wao Mlezi, lakini wale walio kufuru husema: Ni nini analo kusudia Mwenyezi Mungu kwa mfano huu? Kwa mfano huu huwapoteza wengi na huwaongoa wengi; lakini hawapotezi ila wale wapotovu 27. Wanao vunja ahadi ya Mwenyezi Mungu baada ya kwisha ifunga, na wakayakata aliyo amrisha Mwenyezi Mungu kuungwa, na wakafanya uharibifu katika nchi; hao ndio wenye khasara.------- ----------------------------------(2:26) Well, Allah is not ashamed to cite the similitude of a gnat or of something even more insignificant than this *28 . As for those who believe, they come to know from the same similitude that it is the Revelation from their Lord; but those who disbelieve, say, What does Allah mean by such similitudes? *29 Allah leads astray many and guides many to the right way by the same thing *30 . And He leads astray only those who disobey Allah; (2:27) who break Allahs covenant after ratifying it *31 ; who cut asunder what Allah has ordered to be joined *32 , and who produce chaos on the Earth *33 . These are the people who are indeed the losers. ====================== MEANING ========= *28. Here an objection is indirectly refuted. At several places in the Quran, spiders, flies, gnats and so on are mentioned in order to elucidate certain points. Opponents objected to this on the grounds that such objects were too lowly to find a place in the Book of God. They indicated that had the Quran indeed been a revelation from God it would not have mentioned such trivial objects. ------------------------ *29. Those who do not wish to understand things and are not motivated by the urge to seek the truth become enmeshed in superficial questions relating to the Book of God, draw altogether erroneous conclusions when they encounter references to apparently insignificant things such as gnats, and are thereby thrown further and further away from the Truth. Those who seek the Truth and possess true perception, on the other hand, penetrate through these superficialities and perceive the gems of wisdom that they embody. This appreciation makes their hearts attest that such wisdom could have no other source than God Himself. ------------------------- *30. Fasiq means transgressor, disobedient. (See also n 33 below ) ============= MEANING ========= *31. The injunctions or ordinances issued by a sovereign to his servants and subjects are termed ahd in Arabic since compliance with them becomes obligatory for the latter. Ahd has been used here in this sense. The ahd referred to signifies Gods eternal command that all human beings are obliged to render their service, obedience and worship to Him alone. After its binding refers to the promise made by mankind to remain faithful to the injunctions of God at the time of Adams creation. (For details see verse al aaraf verse: 172) -------------------------- 32. That is, the transgressors strike their blows at those very relationships upon which the individual and collective well-being of mankind depends, and which God wants maintained on a sound basis.This small sentence is of great import as it embraces the whole of human morality and social life, and extends from relationships between individuals to those between nations. To cut asunder what Allah has commanded should be joined does not merely signify the disruption of relationships between man and man; it forbids the establishment of all forms of human relationship except the right and permissible ones. For wrong and prohibited bonds between people have the same consequences as the disruption of the bonds of human relationship as such ----------------------------- *33. In these three sentences the nature of transgression and the attitude of transgressors is fully defined. To debase the relationship between man and God, and between man and man necessarily leads to mischief. Those who spread this mischief on earth are transgressors. ************************************************* **please see below verse 172 of al aaraf.** ************************************************* ----------------------- * =========== ATTENTION *********** *********** (7:172) And recall (0 Prophet) *133 when your Lord brought forth descendants from the loins of the sons of Adam, and made them witnesses against their ownselves. asking them: Am I not your Lord? They said: Yes, we do testify. *134We did so lest you claim on the Day of Resurrection: We were unaware of this. ************ MEANING ********** *133. The preceding discourse concluded with the note that God made the Israelites enter into a covenant with their Lord. In the following passages all men are told that a covenant with God is not the exclusive privilege of Israel. In fact all human beings are bound in a covenant with God and a Day will come when they will be made to answer how well they were able to observe that covenant. ------------------ *134. This event, according to several traditions, took place at the time of the creation of Adam. Apart from the prostration of the angels before Adam and the proclamation that man would be Gods vicegerent on earth, all the future progeny of Adam were gathered, and were endowed with both existence and consciousness in order to bear witness to Gods lordship. The best interpretation of this event is found in a statement by, Ubayy b. Kab, who has probably given the substance of what he had heard from the Prophet (peace be on him): God gathered all human beings, divided them into different groups, granted them human form and the faculty of speech, made them enter into a covenant, and then making them witnesses against themselves He asked them: Am I not your Lord? They replied: Assuredly you are Our Lord. Then God told them: I call upon the sky and the earth and your own progenitor, Adam, to be witness against you lest you should say on the Day of Judgement that you were ignorant of this. Know well that no one other than Me deserves to he worshipped and no one other than Me is your Lord. So do not ascribe any partner to Me. I shall send to you My Messengers who will remind you of this covenant which you made with Me. I shall send down to you My Books. In reply all said: We witness that You are Our Lord and our Deity. We have no lord or deity other than You. (Ahmad b. Hanbal, Musnad, vol. 5, p. 135 - Ed.) This event has also been interpreted by some commentators in a purely allegorical sense. They are of the opinion that the purpose of the Quran is merely to emphasize that the acceptance of Gods lordship is innate in human nature. However, this was narrated in such a way as to suggest that the event did actually take place. We do not subscribe to this allegorical interpretation of the primordial covenant of man with God. For both the Quran and Hadith recount it not only as an actual happening, but also affirm that the covenant would be adduced as an argument against man on the Day of Judgement. There remains, therefore, no ground whatsoever to interpret the event in terms of mere allegory. In our own view the event did take place. God caused all human beings whom He intended to create until the Last Day to come into existence. He endowed upon them life, consciousness and the faculty of speech, and brought home to them that there is no god or lord besides Him, and that Islam alone is the right way to serve Him. If someone considers calling all human beings together in one assembly impossible, that shows, more than anything else the woeful paucity of his imagination. For if someone accepts that God has the power to create countless human beings in succession, there is no reason to suppose that He did not have the power to create them all at some given moment prior to the creation of the universe, or that He will be unable to resurrect them all at some given moment in the future. Again, it stands to reason that at a time when God wanted to designate man as His vicegerent on earth after endowing him with reason and understanding, He took from him an oath of allegiance. All this is so reasonable that the actual occurrence of the covenant should not cause any wonder. On the contrary, one should wonder if the event did not take place. ========= (7:173) Or say: Our forefathers before us who associated others with Allah in His divinity; we were merely their offspring who followed them. And would You destroy us for that which the unrighteous did? *135 ================ m e a n i n g ============== *135. The verse describes the purpose of the primordial covenant. The purpose is to make every person responsible for his deeds so that if he rebels against God he will be held fully accountable for that rebelfion. Because of the covenant, no one will be able either to plead for acquittal on grounds of ignorance, or blame his misdeeds on his ancestors. In other words, this primordial covenant has been mentioned as the reason for the inherent awareness in every single person that God is the only Lord and Deity. Thus, none can totally absolve himself of his responsibility on the plea that he was altogether ignorant, or transfer the blame for his error to the corrupt environment in which he was brought up. >> Now, it can be argued that even if the covenant did take place, no human being remembers its occurrence. No human being is aware that a long time ago, at the time of creation, he had affirmed, in response to Gods query, that God indeed was his Lord. This being the case, it can be further argued that no charge can be legitimately brought against man on the ground of a covenant with God which he no longer remembers to have made. In response to this it can be said that had the covenant been made fully in mans conscious memory, it would be meaningless for God to put man to the test in this world. Hence, there can be no denying that the covenant is not preserved in mans conscious memory. But it has doubtlessly been preserved in mans sub-conscious mind. In this respect the primordial covenant is no different from other pieces of knowledge in mans sub-conscious mind. Whatever man has so far achieved in the way of culture and civilization can be attributed to his latent potentialities. All external factors and internal motivations simply account for helping the actualization of those potentialities. Neither education nor training nor environmental factors can bring out anything which is not potentially found in the human mind. Likewise, external factors have no power to root out mans latent potentialities. External factors may, at the most, cause a person to deflect from the course dictated by sound human nature. However, mans sound nature is inclined to resist the pressure of external forces and exert itself in order to find an outlet. As we have said earlier, this is not peculiar to mans religious propensity alone, but is equally true of all his mental potentialities. In this regard the following points are particularly noteworthy: (1) All mans potentialities exist in the sub-conscious mind and prove their existence when they manifest themselves in the form of human action. (2) The external manifestation of these potentialities requires external stimuli such as instruction, upbringing. and attitudinal orientation. In other words, our actions consist of the responses of our inherent potentialities to external stimuli. (3) Mans inner potentialities can be suppressed both by false urges within him as well as external influences by trying to pervert and distort those latent potentialities. The potentialities themselves, however, cannot be totally rooted out. ------------------ The same holds true of mans intuitive knowledge regarding his position in the universe and his relationship with his Creator. In this connection the following points should be borne in mind: (1) That man has always had such intuitive knowledue is evident from the fact that this knowledge has surfaced throughout history in every period and in every part of the world, and which no power has so far been able to extirpate. (2) That this intuitive knowledge conforms to objective reality, is borne out by, the fact that whenever this knowledge has influenced human life, it has had beneficial results. (3) That in order to manifest itself in his practical life, mans intuitive knowledge has always required external stimuli. The stimuli have consisted of the advent of the Prophets (peace be on them), the revelation of the Heavenly Books, and the striving of those who have tried to follow them and invite others to do the same. It is for this reason that the Quran has been desienated as mudhakkir (the reminder): dhikr (remembrance); tadhkirah (admonition). and the function of the Quran has been characterized as tadhkir(reminding). What this suggests is that the Prophets, the Heavenly Books and those who invite people to the truth do not seek to provide human beings with something new, something which exists outside of them. Their task rather consists of bringing to the surface and rejuvenating what is latent, though dormant, in man himself. Throughout the ages man has always positively responded to this Reminder. This itself is testimony to the fact that it is embodied in a knowledge which has always been recognized by; mans soul. Forces arising from ignorance and obscurantism, lust and bigotry, and the erroneous teachings and promptings of devils - human as well as jinn - have always attempted to suppress, conceal, and distort the fact that the truth preached by the Prophets is embedded in mans soul. These attempts gave rise to polytheism, atheism, religious misdirection and moral corruption. Despite the combined efforts of the forces of falsehood, however, this knowledge has always had an imprint on the human heart. Hencel, whenever any effort was made to revive that knowledge, it has proved successful. (Sadaqt :salim as: abjad) Doubtlessly those who are bent on denying the truth can resort to a great deal of sophistry in order to deny or at least create doubt and confusion about the existence of this knowledge. However on the Day of Resurrection the Creator will revive in man the memory of the first assembly when man made his covenant with God and accepted Him as his Only Lord. On that occasion God will provide evidence to the effect that the covenant always remained imprinted on mans soul. He will also show how from time to time man tried to suppress his inner voice which urged him to respond to the call of the covenant; how again and again his heart pressed him to affirm the truth; how his intuition induced him to denounce the errors of belief and practice; how the truth ingrained in his soul tried to express itself and respond to those who called to it; and how on each occasion he lulled his inner self to sleep because of his lust and bigotry. However a Day will come when man will no longer be in a position to put forth specious arguments to justify his false claims. That will be the Day when man will have no option but to confess his error. It will then be impossible for people to say that they were ignorant, or negligent. In the words of the Quran: ...and they will bear witness against themselves that they had disbelieved (al-Anam 6: 130). ================ (7:174) And thus do We expound the signs *136 that they may turn back (to the right path). *137 =================== mening ======== *136. Signs here refer to the imprints made by knowledge of the truth on the human heart which help towards cognition of the truth. --------------- *137. To return here signifies giving up rebellion, and reverting to obedience to God.
Posted on: Fri, 08 Nov 2013 18:51:55 +0000
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015