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"It were a bold assertion that the Koran is any less studied than it used to be, or that its haunting rhythms have lost their power over men's minds".This appraisal, made by the orientalist Gibb in 1950 holds even more true today. The Qur'an, in the minds of many Muslims, has met and risen above the challenge of the West and is the driving force behind a world-wide Muslim awakening. It continues to be, for approximately one billion believers, "the ultimate manifestation of God's grace to man, the ultimate wisdom, and the ultimate beauty of expression: in short, the word of God."
But what about the Western convert to Islam, who is far removed from the cultures, traditions, and languages that this scripture helped to shape and preserve, what does he or she find compelling about the Qur’an?
This is not an obvious or necessary question, for not every religion’s converts are familiar with its scriptures. It probably would not be asked so readily of converts to Buddhism or Hinduism or Christianity, for examples. Yet practically every Western convert to Islam speaks of the primacy of the Qur’an in his or her life.
The initial recipients of this revelation were the inhabitants of seventh century Arabia. When they heard it recited in their own tongue, its style was so sublime and its language so powerful that, as the Qur’an points out, even the disbelievers called its effect “spell-binding magic”.
The Arab of that era did not have to struggle to translate the images he was hearing into categories of thought to which he could relate, for he already had an intimate and direct association with them. When the Qur’an teaches us to ask God to “show us the straight path” , the Western reader may understand this to refer to the delicate and subtle distinction between truly serving God and someone of something else. Or perhaps he may be asking to be guided to that fragile equilibrium between materialism and spiritualism. The desert traveler of the seventh century may have had a similar understanding, but it also must have provoked something of a psychological reflex, because, in his travels, knowledge of the sometimes illusive “straight path” was also a matter of life and death.
The Qur’an’s references to books, balances, debts, and rewards on the Day of Judgment, the making of a loan to God that will be repaid with manifolds increase, and to the bargain that God has struck with the believers have obvious links to the commercial lifestyle of Makkah, the centre for trade in Arabia during the lifetime of Muhammad. When the Qur’an compares the state of disbelief with that of dying of thirst in the desert, or when it draws a parallel between resurrection and the restoring of life to dead earth after rain, or when it describes Paradise in vivid sensual terms, we can imagine how immediate and alive these images must have been for those who first heard them from the lips of the Prophet.
The Arabs of Muhammed’s time were not atheists or agnostics, but neither were they deeply religious. Their attitude towards religion was a little like that of many people today: religious. Faith was one part of a larger tradition, a cultural appendage that had its limited time and place and could be called upon when needed. In technical terms, they were idol worshippers, for they believed in a plurality of less superhuman deities who had a limited ability to affect an individual’s life. The Qur’an’s problem with the Arabs was not their lack of belief in God, but that their false beliefs about God permitted and fostered depravity.
The Qur’an sought to reform, not to destroy and start from scratch, to salvage what was useful and then to modify and build on it. The task was to get the Arabs to think about religion in a novel way, to inculcate in them a new conceptual frame of reference, to transfer them from one worldview to another, and higher one. This process of transformation took them from traditionalism to individualism, from impulsiveness to discipline, from supernaturalism to science, from intuition to conscious reasoning and, in the end ideally, harmonized the whole.
In contemporary Western society, the situation is almost the exact opposite. With theories of natural selection or evolution by chance, religion, is no longer needed to explain existence. The belief that modern psychology has succeeded in showing that values, spiritual inclination, virtues. and morality are the result of social and evolutionary dynamics, and therefore not “real” or “absolute” but only “relative” and mainly a product of our imagination, is widespread. God is no longer necessary as an answer, for science and logic can now fulfill this function. As a result, the Western convert finds himself or herself traveling a path that is in many ways the opposite to that followed by the initial Muslims fourteen hundred years ago.
Many attitudes toward religion are similar, but their origins are different. Conversion to Islam today is often a journey from individualism to traditionalism. from learning to illumination, from the sensible to the unseen, from reason to intuition, in the end, ideally, harmonizing the whole.
A Challenge to Reason
The Muslim inclination and preference for polemics in interfaith discourse is better undrstood in light of two considerations. First, a Muslim has no experience in dividing his or her life into "sacred" and secular" aspects. All of life is a sacred experience, as can be seen in the fact that even the most mundane acts are consecrated by the almost ceaseless invocation of the divine names. If this seems too formalistic to non-Muslims, Muslims see it as appropriate and natural, for if God's influence in our lives is continuous and pervasive, how could it be otherwise? So when a Muslim is asked to relate his or her experience of belief, he or she is being asked to do something unfamiliar, to dissect and think about faith in a way that is outside of the Islamic perspective. Second, Muslims believe that religion must make sense, that there must be a wisdom and a rationale behind everyone of its elements. While admitting the limitations of human thought, they nonetheless see reason as playing a vital role. The source of this insistence is undoubtedly the Qur'an. Which leads us to discuss one of the most common first impressions readers have of the Muslim scripture.A central Qur'anic concept is the extreme importance of reason and contemplative thought in the attainment of faith. almost every modern day Western orientalist has noted this. For example. Rodinson writes,
" The koran continually expounds the rational proofs of Allah's omnipotence, the wonders of creation, such as the gestation of animals, the movements of the heavenly bodies, atmospheric phenomena, the variety of animal and vegetable life so marvelously well adapted to man's needs. All those things "are signs (ayat) for those of insight." (3: 190)H. Lammens wrote that the Qur'an "is not far from considering unbelief as an infirmity of the human mind."
The Qur’an insists that it contains signs for those who “are wise, are knowledgeable, are endowed with insight, and who reflect” .The very first revelation to Muhammad, consisting of the first five verses of the ninety-sixth surah (Chapter), stresses the acquisition and transmission of knowledge in the human quest for advancement:
"Read, in the name of your Lord, who created--created man from a tiny thing that clings. Read, for your Lord is the Most Bountiful, who taught [man] the use of the pen taught man what he did not know".Thus the first command revealed to mankind through the Prophet was quite literally, "Read!" And the ability to do so is proclaimed as one of the great divine gifts. Asad comments:
(Qur'an - 96:1-5)
"The pen" is used here as a symbol for the art of writing or, more specifically, for all knowledge recorded by means of writing: and this explains the symbolic summons "Read!" at the beginning of verses 1 and 3. Man 's unique ability to transmit, by means of written records, his thoughts, experiences and insights from individual to individual, from generation to generation, and from one cultural environment to another endows all human knowledge with a cumulative character; and since, thanks to this God-given ability, every human being partakes, in one way or another, in mankind's continuous accumulation of knowledge, man is spoken of as being "taught by God" things which the individual does not and, indeed, cannot--know by himself.These last three verses characterize the attitude of modern man, who, because of the achievements of science, has come to believe that he is independent of the need for God. From the Qur'anic perspective, he "transgresses all bounds" in his abuse of the divine gift of intelligence. The Quran's dual challenge to test one's own positions against those of the Qur'an according to the standards of reason, coherence, and accepted truths is well-suited to this attitude and, moreover, its acceptance has been the first step for many who eventually converted to Islam. However before proceeding further, a note must be made concerning the style and the translations of the Qur'an.
(This double stress on man's utter dependence on God, who creates man as a biological entity and implants in him the will and ability to acquire knowledge, receives its final accent, as it were in the next three verses which read: "No, truly, man is rebellious, seeing himself as independent. Surely unto your Lord is the return")
Interpretations and Distinctive Features of Qur'an
When a Muslim reads the Qur'an in Arabic, he discovers transcendent beauty, coherence, and wisdom. Many non-Muslim readers, relying on translations, describe the Qur'an as incoherent, uninspiring, and profane. One source of such radically different perceptions is that most of the previous and present translators are either Western orientalists or scholars of Arabic who have mastered Arabic grammer. For many of these translators, Arabic never became a living language. And here is the source of the entire problem, for mastery of grammar and acquaintance with Arabic literature "cannot render the translator independent of that intangible communion with the spirit of the language which can be achieved only by living with and in it"For all Muslims, the Qur'an represents the revealed word of God. Therefore, any translation of it into another language is a priori imperfect and, in the final analysis, is neither the Qur'an or a translation of it, but merely an interpretation.
A reader who comes from a Jewish or Christian background, as most western converts do, initially is faced with three significant features of the Qur’an that contrast sharply with what he has come to regard as scripture. The first is that the Qur’an is a personal revelation, in the sense that, outside of the first seven verses that form a petition for divine guidance, the perspective of the Qur’an is always that of God addressing humanity. For example, even when the Qur’an teaches the reader a supplication, it most often begins by instructing him to literally “say” it, as in, “say: I seek refuge with the Lord of mankind”.
Another feature is that the Qur’an, unlike the Bible, has no specific chronology. While the Bible contains history and biography, it is virtually impossible to date or place Qur’anic passages without referring to outside source. One can read the Qur’an in nearly any order and, as long as all of its contents are covered, a through understanding of its major precepts can be obtained without additional references. Thus, in a practical sense, the Qur’an has no real beginning or end. For Muslims, this is a very relevant symbol demonstrating that the message contained in the Qur’an transcends the limitations of space and time, and that it has existed in the knowledge and wisdom of God beyond the confines of creation.
As Islam does not divide reality into “sacred” and “secular” compartments, the Qur’an interweaves diverse facets of the human experience throughout its discourse ----- the rise and fall of nations and individuals, observation of the natural world, the making of society and laws, and human psychology.--- both to guide the reader in this earthly life and to enlighten him or her concerning the existence and the oneness of God. As these elements merge together in life, so it is in the Qur’an. It is as if all history, life, and creation is a witness to and convergence toward a single supreme reality: that God is the Sustainer, Regulator, and Master of it all. This is a major departure from the scriptures of all other major religions.
The Qur’an asserts that, in the course of history, each nation has received the same essential message through divinely inspired human beings, that man must submit his will to God’s. While differences existed in terms of ritual and law, according to the exigencies of the individual communities, mankind would continue to develop and progress until it was prepared to receive and preserve without alteration a universal guidance -the Qur’an - that would be revealed through Muhammad, the final prophet. This descendent of the patriarch Abraham (the Makkan tribe of Quraysh, to which Muhammad belonged, having long prided itself on its descent from the prophet Ishmeal) is, according to the Qur’an the fulfillment of the divine promise and the long awaited prophet “like unto Moses” from the “brethren” of the Hebrews.
The Qur’an presents the mission of Muhammad as the restoration and culmination of the missions of each prior prophet, and in so doing, narrates various episodes from their lives. While it mentions prophets who were indigenous to the Arabian peninsula and others who are of untraceable identity and origin, the great majority are also found in the Bible.
One obvious reason for this is that most of the prophets, including Muhammad, have a common ancestry through Abraham. More importantly, because the Qur’an assumes at least at limited familiarity with many of the Biblical prophets, we many surmise that some of their histories were known to the Arabs, and consequently to many of those who would embrace Islam in the years immediately following Muhammad’s death, many of whom were originally Christians and Jews. Thus, these familiar accounts were an effective means of catching and holding their attention.
The usual Christian approach at interfaith debates is to suggest that Muhammad was, for the most part, a plagiarist who concocted Islam from the various religious and ideological currents that existed in Arabia during his time. While this concepts has lost its currency among contemporary orientalists,10 the interesting thing is that virtually every argument used against Islam by Christian could be used with much greater force and effect against Christianity. One positive impression that does emerge from such confrontations is that the Qur’an appears virtually devoid of factual inconsistencies. This is not to say that the Qur’an avoids metaphors, legends, and allegories, for this is not the case, as is explicitly stated, but the kinds of contradictions that led Christian scholars to reformulate their position on the revelation of the Bible are extremely difficult -the Muslim would say impossible - to find in the Qur’an. While the Muslim stance on the inerrancy and infallibility of the Quran might seem extreme and perilous, and a more moderate position less susceptible to attack, the Muslim is constrained from changing his stance by Qur’an itself: “ Have they not considered this Qur’an? If it were not from God, surely they would find in it many a contradiction”.
Qur'an and Science
A topic that has received more attention from Muslim lecturers in the West during the last two decades is the comparison of modern scientific findings with Qur'anic references to natural phenomena. The work of two non-Muslim scientists, Bucaill and, to a lesser extent Moore, are most often cited. However, this subject has been in vogue among Muslim writers since the turn of the twentieth century.Muslim religious scholars are somewhat wary of this topic, however. This may in part be due to the fact some have little education in modern science. It may also be because they have a more critical and justifiable concern: that although the Qur’an frequently invites us to consider various facets of nature as an indication of God’s beneficence and wisdom, it is far from being a textbook on science. I believe that many Muslim scholars would agree with Schuon’s statement that, “God’s principal aim is to save, not to instruct, and His concern is with wisdom and immortality, not with external knowledge, still less with satisfying human curiosity.”
Accepting this caution, we cannot deny that these references to the workings of nature are there and that they deserve consideration as signs or evidences of the Qur’an’s divine origin.
The “signs” accomplish exactly what their designation suggest: they act as guideposts capture one’s attention, assists in guiding one to deeper reflection and sometimes, to belief. Their power lies not in giving explicit and precise descriptions of natural phenomena, but in their ability to inspire man’s curiosity and awe throughout the ages. Although we may argue about the true meaning of any of these passages, the topics discussed, lead to the definite impression that the author of Qur’an anticipated an evolution in the mentality of man, culminating in an age when reason and science would be viewed as the final criterion of truth.
The above observations, to the dismay of many Muslims, are unlikely to convince non-Muslims that the Qur’an is the word of God. Genius, however great, is always mysterious but not necessary divine. They may, however, stimulate further investigation. At some stage the Qur’an must arouse in the reader the eternal questions: “Is there a God, and if so, then what is our relationship to Him and the purpose and meaning of life?”
There is an underline loss of meaning when a sacred scripture is translated. But if the translator is motivated by commitment and devotion, there may survive something of divine effulgence that cannot be restrained by human limitations. Though surely more powerful in the original, something of the wonder and horror, the beauty and brilliance of the Qur’an’s imagery and description may survive to provoke deeper reflection. The graphic and terrifying visions of Hell, for example, that seem to outweigh the description of the glory and splendor of Paradise impel us to consider its possibility. Due to this emphasis, some have seen the God portrayed in the Qur’an as more vindictive than forgiving. However, within the total context of the Qur’an, He emerges as more intent on saving than on reassuring. Certainly this matter requires further investigation, which we will take up later.
Although they are forced to depend on interpretations, I feel sure that nearly all Western converts would characterize the literary style of the Qur’an as its most compelling feature, for it infuses in the reader that intangible sense that he/she is an active participant in divine revelation. Denny’s testimony puts it best:
“There comes a moment in the reading of the Qur’an, as for example in personal study focused on understanding the meaning, whether reciting out loud or reading it silently, when readers start feeling an uncanny, sometimes frightening presence. Instead of reading the Qur’an, the reader begins feeling the Qur’an is “reading” the reader! This is a wonderfully disturbing experience, by no means requiring a person to be a Muslim before it can be felt. This expression of the Qur’an’s inherent power has been a major factor in the spread of Islam, as well as Muslims’ continuing loyalty to the Straight Path, as the Qur’an itself characterizes the religion.
PurposeOfTheLife.com
The Role of Reason
"Will you not then us your reason"? (Qur'an - 2:44)The Qur'an enjoins us to study critically our behaviour and beliefs. Salvation is obtained through searching out and surrendering to the truth. One of the aims of the Qur'an is to teach us to approach religious questions with discipline, to reason accurately, in order to uncover contradiction and inconsistencies within ourselves. Embedded in many of the Qur'an's parables, stories, and admonitions are lessons that deal with correct and incorrect reasoning. Characteristically, the Qur'an accentuates the importance of proof and evidence in argument;
And they say: "NO one will Paradise unless he is a Jew or a Christian. Those are their desires. Say: "Produce your proof if you are truthful." (Qur'an - 2:111)
The idolaters will say: "If God had wished, we would not have ascribed partners to Him, nor would our fathers, nor would we have prohibited anything." Thus did their ancestors argue falsely, until they tasted Our might. Say: "Have you any (certain) knowledge? If so, produce it for us. You follow nothing but conjecture." (Qur'an - 6:148)In several places, the Qur'an exposes the logical flaws of some common approaches to religious questions:
"The Jews said the Christian have nothing to stand on, and the Christians say the Jews have nothing to stand on, while both recite the (same) Book! Thus, like what they say, say those who do not know". (Qur'an - 2:113)
"When they are told, "Spend of that which God has provided you." the ungrateful say to those who believe, "Shall we feed those whom, if God had willed, He would have fed (Himself)? You are in nothing but manifest error." (Qur'an - 36:477)The first of the above verses illustrate the "glass house syndrome," whereby arguments used against another religion apply equally to one's own. The implication in the second is that a response such as that quoted not only denies man's charitable impulse, but, if this reasoning is adopted, there is no need to pursue any human endeavor, including self-preservation.
There are marvelous lessons in wisdom in the Qur’anic narratives. As the tale of Moses and the sage unfolds, the reader finds himself attempting to anticipate the solution of a timeless riddle: who can ostensibly evil things serve a greater good? As he tries in his own mind to resolve it, he is in fact teaching himself about divine justice and the nature of good and evil. Similarly, in Surat Yusuf, we learn about the subtle workings of God’s will and the meaning and purpose behind life’s adversities. In the story of David and Solomon, we are given a lesson in sound judgment. With the Qur’an’s persistent attack on errors of disbelief, either directly or in its many accounts of believers - disbeliever showdowns, the reader, regardless of his position, becomes engaged in an ongoing debate. He is in fact receiving instruction by almost critical episodes in other people’s lives.
Man's Purpose in Life
We may admit that there are existents beyond our perception or that time is illusory, but to accept that our virtues and ethics are delusive and tell us nothing about God is either to deny His existence or to say that our surrender to Him has no real purpose. If we are to believe in God, then we must assume that our perceptions of justice, love, compassion, forgiveness, truth, and mercy are perhaps but are nevertheless composed of something real that emanates from God. This is why life, with all of its suffering and adversity, trial and error, is so anti logical. What possible purpose can such difficulties serve? Why did life not begin in Paradise? And yet the Qur'an insists that, in the design of God, our earthly life is a necessary stage in human existence:"And We did not create the heaven and the earth and whatever is between them as a game. If We wished to take a pastime, We would have taken it by Ourselves, if We were to do that at all" (Qur'an - 21:16-17)
"Do you think that We created you for nothing and that you will not be returned to Us? The true Sovereign is too exalted above that" (Qur'an - 23:115-116)It is reported that Prophet Muhammad said, "Your deeds will be judged according to your intentions."
We have our first intimation concerning the purpose of life when this understanding is combined with the Qur’anic affirmation of the inextricable interdependence of true belief and good works, and happiness in this life and hereafter. Faith should produce good works and abiding happiness; righteous deeds, when performed with pure intentions, should nurture deeper faith, peace, and well-being. God does not need our works, and salvation is not obtained by mere adherence to rituals and formalism. In human relations, true faith translates into deep concern for fellow man and social activism:
“It is righteousness that you turn your faces toward the East or the West: but it is righteousness to believe in God and th Last Day, and the angles, and the Book and the messengers; to spend of your sustenance, out of love for Him, for your kin, for orphans, for the needy, for the wayfarer, for those who ask, and the ransom of salves; to be steadfast in prayer,and to give the zakha; to fulfill the covenants you have made; and to be firm and patient in pain and adversity and peril. These are they who are true, those are the God-conscious”. (Qur’an - 2:177)
The Qur’an ties our happiness or suffering, both in the present and in the hereafter, to our beliefs and to their actualization in our human relationships. Thus, we find trials and tests in every aspect of our lives: in our spouses, children, parents, kindred, the indigent, the orphan, the wayfarer, our wealth, and our conflicts. We know that it is better to give than receive, to forgive than to seek vengeance, to love than to hate, to have compassion, to be just, for these are the things that bring us real happiness and serenity. The Qur’an maintains that, although our attachment to material things is necessary, we should not lose sight of the fact that “the most beautiful of all goals is with God.”
“Attractive to man is the love of things they covet––spouses and sons, and heaped up piles of gold and silver, and horses of mark and cattle and cultivated lands. That is stuff of the life of this world––but the most beautiful of all goals is with God. Say: “Shall I tell you of better things than those?” (Qur’an - 3:14-15)
The Qur’an then goes on to describe the bliss of the next life for the patient and the truthful and the devout and those who are generous and those who pray for forgiveness from their innermost hearts.
And so the purpose of life begins to emerge. We are to grow in virtue, wisdom, justice, mercy, for forgiveness, righteousness, concern and love of our fellow man, compassion, patience, and generosity through our personal striving. In the Qur’an, these qualities are mentioned as being among the attributes of true faith. We are to pursue them not only to make the world a better place, but out of the conviction that they exist as transcendent realities that emanate from the One and Only Eternal Absolute--God. By developing such attributes, we simultaneously grow in our ability to receive and experience God’s mercy, forgiveness, compassion, justice, and love. In this way, we are increasing in nearness to God.
The Day of Judgment is depicted in the Qur’an as a moment of immeasurable intensity, when the reality of our earthly striving becomes clear. On that day we will face the truth of what we have become, as all temporal distractions and illusions are stripped away and we are left alone with only our core beliefs and moral – spiritual achievements:
“Then anyone who has done an atom’s weight of good ill see it. And anyone who has done an atom’s weight of evil will see it”. (Qur’an - 99:7-8)
If (to use Qur’anic terminology) in the “balance” we are good, we will experience extreme joy and well-being. If we are essentially evil, then ours will be terrible loss and suffering. This joy or suffering is not arbitrary, but is intimately connected to our spiritual-moral growth. Just as there are differing levels of piety and goodness, wrong-doing and evil, so do the Qur’an and the Prophet’s sayings assert that there are varied levels of Heaven and Hell. As the growth of the fetus in the womb decidedly effects the next stage of its existence, our moral-spiritual evolution in this life is bound inseparably to our condition in the next. Then obviously, “no one will be able to bear another’s burden”.
With this great potential for growth and happiness comes the parallel danger of moral decay and suffering. But why? One may admit that love, compassion, truth, and other qualities bring the greatest joy -so why were we not created with these qualities from the start? It seems that we have arrived at where we began. Why were we not put into Paradise from the start? Why were these virtues not simply programmed into us?
The answer is almost obvious: if programmed , is not true virtue; it is always something less. You can program a computer to never make an incorrect statement but it does not thereby become a truthful computer, nor does a CAT scanner posses compassion, although it is made to help the sick. The Qur’an presents angels as non-discriminating beings, while man is a potentially much greater and alternatively much worse creature. It emphasizes three essential components of this stage of man’s moral-spiritual evolution: Free will, or the ability to choose; intellect, the tool for weighing the consequences of one’s choices and learning from them; and third and equally important, an environment of adversity.
This idea of the necessity of suffering, adversity, and struggle to prompt our quest for moral-spiritual evolution, as well as our need to remember life’s ultimate purpose in difficult times, recurs, throughout the Qur’an.
“Assuredly We will try you with something of danger and hunger and the loss of worldly goods, and of lives and the fruits of your labor. But give glad tidings to those who are patient in adversity--those who, when calamity befalls them, say, “Truly, to God we belong and, truly, to Him we shall return,” (Qur’an - 2:155-156).
Thus, life is a continuous process of growth and decay. Although God presents us with innumerable opportunities to receive guidance, He also allows us to err stray. Its by trial and error, and by realizing and rising above our mistakes, that we learn and progress to higher levels of goodness, In this way, error, if realized and repented of sincerely, can lead ultimately to a higher state: “Excepting the one who repents and believes and does righteous deeds--then for those, God will change their evil deeds into good deeds, for God is Most Forgiving, Most Merciful. (Qur’an - 25:70).
Denial of God, for example, is no doubt, one of the gravest sins, but to have done that and known the terrible loss and emptiness, to have been crippled by that error and then to have found faith, is an extremely valuable albeit painful experience, for the consequence of the rejecting belief has now become more than warnings--it has become internalized lesson. Our spirituality would stagnate without the potential for error, realization, and reform. So vital are these to our development in this earthly stage, that the Prophet reported that if mankind ceased sinning, God would replace it by another creation that would continue to sin and repent and gain His for giveness.17
According to the Qur’an, the principal beneficiary of our seeking guidance and of our good deeds, as well as the primary casualty of our evil acts, is no one but ourselves:
“And the one who strives, he strives only for himself. Surely God is independent of all creation”. (Qur’an - 29:6)
“We have revealed to you the Book for mankind with the truth. Then the one is guided, it is for his own soul, and the one who strays, his straying is only upon himself” (Quran - 39:41)
The Straight Path
The spiritual as well as physical world is composed of obverse forces, a reality that we find expressed in Qur’an: “We have created everything in pairs”. Together these forces make up a universe of complements, held in tension according to a “balance” and a “law” willed by God Himself (qadar). The Muslim strives to find and keep to the “Middle Way” between the extremes of creation – between the spiritual and material, the lofty and the base – through guidance, work, struggle, and trial and error. He attempts to grow in what the Qur’an calls “taqwa”, which is usually translated as fear, but has the literal meaning of vigilance or defensiveness and in terms of Islam, a state of self – critical awareness and readiness to submit to the demands of faith.In many depictions of hypocrites, liars, cowards, and misers, the Qur’an warnes the believers of his potential for ruin. The underlying intent of the admonitions is that of the believer take an honest accounting of himself, checking his true intentions. It is also a “reminder” that awakens the reader to the real self.
The ritual prayers (salah), fasting, paying one’s financial obligations (zakat) and pilgrimage support the individual throughout his life’s journey. They remind him of his purpose and help him build the inner strength, resolve, and character needed to see it through . New believers report that they find these rituals to be a powerful test and strengthener of will. Later they will say, the rituals become less of a discipline and more of an experience of peace and becomes their primary motivator in praying, fasting and observing other aspects. At a further stage, and this is in conjunction with their persistent daily striving to better themselves, they will say that the rituals especially the prayers have become a very powerful emotional and spiritual encounter – a time during which they are acutely alert to God’s presence, wherein the ritual is more an act of love, a divine embrace, and it is that love, that comes to dominate their lives. For Muslims, the rituals are a door to a breath of life, a life more real and meaningful than anything on earth, and eventually this thirst for divine life and love conquers them.
However, worship in Islam extends beyond the rituals. As with so many Islamic concepts, its essence is contained in its Arabic root form. The Islamic term for worship is a total commitment to serving God.
The vital implications of this are revealed in its negation. Shirk, the acceptance of anything other than God as an object of worship, is to enslave oneself to that which is other than the Creator, and its consequences are self-ruination. When the Qur’an says “Have you seen the one who takes his desires to be his god?” (25:43), it is describing a person who has become the slave of his passions. It presents many similar examples of individuals who have become enslaved to power, greed, tradition, pride, wealth, lusts of various types, as well as to human lords. To be enslaved to any of these false deities, to let the desire for these rival the worship due to God alone, is to turn away growth and fulfillment, and begin moving toward self-oppression and destruction. Man’s true peace and happiness lies in channeling his potential toward the service of God, and in never losing sight of this goal.
A Muslim does not view his or her surrender to God as a defeat or a humiliation; he or she sees it as the only way to real freedom and becoming a human being in the full sense of the word. Thus, for the Muslim, Islam is more than a religion. It is a system of guidance: inward toward his true self and outward toward his fellow creatures, with his return to his Lord as his ultimate goal. At least seventeen times a day in the course of the five daily prayers the Muslim asks God to “show us the straight path”--the middle way which leads to inner peace. If its found, then a passage is unveiled to a powerful, beautiful, and serene felicity in this life and to an infinitely greater one in the next. Man’s life is a struggle and a search for a wonderful, sublime, and most sweet surrender, and fortunate are those who attain that, for every human personality, whether it realizes it or not, yearns for submission--that is, Islam.
PurposeOfTheLife.com
INNER CONSIDERATIONS
Scriptures have a discomfiting way of exposing us, of disclosing our secrets and weakness. They can be painful to read, imposing questions on us that we would prefer to ignore or postpone. Gradually and imperceptibly, the Qur’an begins to weaken our resistance. Unexpectedly, those verses that reveal our humanity begin to take their toll:“And those who reject faith, their deeds are like a mirage in a desert, which the thirsting one deems to be water, until when he comes to it, he finds it is nothing, and there indeed he finds God and He pays him his account in full; and God is swift in the reckoning. Or like darkness in a deep sea; there covers him a wave above which is a wave, above which is a cloud–– darknesses, one above another , when he holds out his hand, he is barely able to see it. And the one to whom God does not give light, he has no light”. (Qur’an - 24:39-40)
The atheist well recognizes this desperate searcher. His life is a futile quest for happiness in pursuit of one empty illusion after another, with each frustration only increasing his thirst as he gasps at darkness and drowns in temporality. He rationalizes and argues his case with conviction and challenges God in the process. Thought he swears that he has the noblest of aims, he continues to hurt and be hurt. He is being enveloped slowly, encompassed by his own ruin.
“And among people there are some whose speech concerning the life of this world pleases you, and he upon God to witness what is in his heart, while he is most adept at argument. And when he turns away, he hastens about the earth. to work corruption upon It”. (Qur’an- 2:204-205)
Should he enter the race to accumulate more than he can consume? To what end? Is there the perfect romance, family, or endeavor that will meet his needs? He longs for perfection, as if he contains an infinite void the no earthly pleasure can fill. The Qur’an assures him that he will come to realize the fruits of his striving at the moment of death, and then more keenly when he is resurrected. But if he could see now with the vision of reality, he would certainly see the hell he is already in:
“The rivalry for worldly gain diverts you until you come to the graves. No, but you will soon know; thereafter you will soon know! No, but if you could only know with the knowledge of certainly, you will see Hell-fire; thereafter , you will see it with the eye of certainly! Then you will be questioned, upon that Day, concerning the favors (of God to you)”. (Qur’an 102;1-6)
When the Qur’an describes the coward, the hypocrite, the arrogant denier of truth, the tyrant and his cronies, the one who desires to be seen by the men in his worship while he ignores the suffering of the needy, the reader knows that each of these, to some degree, lives within him. We read how the hypocrites, when it is time to pray, do so only grudgingly and how there are those who pray but refuse acts of charity and ignore the needs of the poor , and we see a mirror of our own selfishness and lust for glory. When it comes to those who try to find excuses when asked to fight in a just cause, we have to admit to ourselves how often we have turned our back on the despair of others.
“What ails you that you do not fight in the cause of God and the helpless men, women, and children who say, “O our Lord, bring us out of this land whose people are oppressors, and appoint for us from Yourself a protector, and appoint for us from Yourself a helper.” (Qur’an - 4:75)
In these we discover our worst potentialities. They measure and reveal us to ourselves.
We are given examples of the best that man can be: the prophets Abraham. Moses, Jesus and Muhammad ; such woman as Mary, the mother of Jesus, Asiya, the wife of the oppressive Pharaoh, and the Queen of Sheba, who converted from paganism to belief in one God; the repentant magicians of Pharaoh, who announced their belief in the God of Moses at the risk of crucifixion; the stranger among the Egyptians who emerged to defend the truth of the message of Moses; and the People of the pit, who were thrown into the fire for their beliefs. They are young. like the People of the Cave, and old, like the aged Jacob in Surah Yusuf. We see men and women parents and children, and husbands and wives, of both believers and disbelievers--practically every type of social perspective is seen in the unveiling of an unending conflict and mandatory choice: “Will I surrender to what is right, or will I turn away?”
These narratives develop at a rapid pace. We are thrust into a confrontation between a denier and a defender of the truth. The tension builds to the point at which a decision must be reached quickly, for a life is in the balance. In almost all these showdowns, there looms the threat of persecution and violence to the believer. The Qur’an covers these conflicts from differing views: that of the prophet and those who believe in him, that of the tyrant and his followers, given each other support and justification, and that of the man in the street . Unavoidably, we begin to ask: “Where would I fit in ? Which of these people am I?”
As one reads the Qur’ans descriptions of humanity , and the stories of so many different kinds of individuals, a remarkable transformation takes place. From Qur’an’s images, verses and surahs (chapters) a more vivid picture starts to emerge. The Qur’an has somehow sneaked up on you and has become a mirror in which you see your flaws, weaknesses, pain and loss, potentials and failures. Peering deeply within yourself, you come to recognize something that you have always really known: that there is no god but God --La ilaha illa Allah.
However, recognition is not the same as commitment; there is still a barrier of fear and apprehension separating belief from submission. But there are verses in the Qur’an that come to the aid of one wrestling with this choice. Like a hand from Heaven reaching out to a stricken heart, they speak as much for the soul as to it. When you need most to know that God is with you, that He hears you, He confirms it:
“And if my servants call on Me, tell them that I am near. That I heed the call of every caller. So let them hear my call. And believe in Me, that they may walk in the right way”. (Qur’an - 2:186)
When you doubt, He assures you that there is always hope:
“O My servants who have sinned against yourselves, do not despair of the mercy of God. Surely God forgives all sins. Indeed, He is the Most Forgiving, the Most Merciful”. ( Qur’an - 39:53)
And at that moment of surrender, as you call out to your Lord from the depths of your anguish, He embraces you:
“And their Lord accepted of them their prayer, and answered: “Never will I suffer to be lost the work of any of you, be he male or female, You are members one of another. Those who have left their homes, Or were driven out there from, or suffered harm in My cause, or fought or were slain--Truly, I will blot out from them their iniquities, and admit them into gardens with rivers flowing underneath; A reward from the presence of God, and from His presence is the best of rewards”. (Qur’an - 3:195)
And there are others that comfort and reassure one that God does not abandon those who seek Him. The first time I read the ninety-third surah of the Qur’an, I was so struck with its promise of God’s nurturing love that I wept for what had to be at least a half hour. I felt like a lost child who had finally been rescued by his mother, for it tells us that through the brightest and darkest times, God does not forsake us, if we only turn to Him.
Earlier I had remarked that, in effect, the Qur’an has no beginning or end, that its fundamental concepts can be ascertained regardless of the order in which it is read. But for one who is about to respond to its call, the arrangement of the Qur’an is pivotal, for the further you progress through it, in the correct order, the more intense and emotive is expression. As a result, the closer one comes to conversion, the more magnetic is the summons.
The short surahs at the end of the Qur’an recapitulate its major themes and intensify the exhortation. After one last reminder of the awful price of arrogance and a stubborn rejection of faith, one arrives at the last three surahs, which literally teach the reader what to say, placing the words before him that he yearns to speak to his Lord.
For those whom Islam has embraced, the greatest witness to God’s unremitting, pursuing, sustaining, and guiding love is the Qur’an. Like a vast, magnificent ocean, it lures you deeper and deeper into its dazzling waves until you are swept into it. But instead of drowning in a sea of darkness, as described above, you find yourself immersed in an ocean of divine light and mercy.
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