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My Friends
Aftab
Chapter 2 - Surah Al-Baqarah (The Cow)
Ayahs 144-147
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Translation:
Indeed, We see you look repeatedly towards heaven. We will make you turn towards a qiblah that will please you. So turn your face towards the Sacred Mosque; wherever you are, turn your faces towards it. Those to whom the Book was given know this to be the truth from their Lord. God is not unmindful of what they do. But even if you gave those to whom the Book has been given every proof, they would not accept your qiblah, nor are you going to accept their qiblah nor would any of them accept the qiblah of the other. If, after all the knowledge you have been given, you yield to their desires, then you will surely become an evil-doer. Those to whom We gave the Book know Our apostle as they know their own sons. But some of them deliberately conceal the truth. This is the truth from your Lord: therefore never doubt it.
Tafsir (Commentary):
Not until the Prophet of Islam received divine revelation on a certain matter, did he change the pattern of previous prophets. Faithful to this principle, he initially made Jerusalem his qiblah, for prophets since the time of Solomon had prayed in that direction. The coming of Islam signaled the removal of the Jews from their position as torch-bearers of the true faith. The true faith had also to be separated and made distinct from Jewish tradition, so that it could appear in a new and unmistakably pure form. For this reason the Prophet was eagerly awaiting instructions to change the qiblah. In the second year after his emigration to Medina he received the commandment. The Prophets who had come among the Jewish people had been informed that one day God would alter the qiblah, and they had passed the knowledge on to the Jews. It was something, therefore, that Jewish theologians should have been expecting. Yet only a few of them, such as Abdullah ibn Salam and Mukhaireeq, confirmed the authenticity of this commandment and acknowledged that God had revealed the truth through the Prophet Muhammad. The reason for the majority’s refusal to follow the Prophet Muhammad was the fact that they were used to behaving as they saw fit. They had certain romantic notions about the special position occupied by their own people, and they had made these the bedrock of their life and creed. Those who give free rein to their own desires will never follow the path of reason. By denying God’s signs, they aspire, in their perversity, to the satisfactions that God wishes man to derive from their acceptance.
Whenever God reveals some truth to the world, he makes it absolutely clear that it is the truth. There can be no valid reason for people refusing to accept it. Those who do not make the truth their own, show that they have never come to know God, for, if they had, they would have recognized His word when they heard it. They summarily reject the truth, and think that these few words that they have deigned to utter are proof that they are standing on firm intellectual ground. But sooner or later they will see the weakness of their arguments and it will be borne in upon them that, all along, they had been laboring under a false sense of security.
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Chapter 2 - Surah Al-Baqarah (The Cow)
Ayahs 148-152
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Translation:
Each one has a goal towards which he turns. But wherever you be, emulate one another in good works. God will bring you all before Him. He has power over all things. Whichever way you depart, face towards the Sacred Mosque. This is surely the truth from your Lord. God is never heedless of what you do; whichever way you depart, face toward the Holy Mosque and wherever you are, face towards it, so that men will have no cause to reproach you, except the evil-doers among them. Have no fear of them; fear Me, so that I may perfect My favour to you and that you may be rightly guided. Indeed We have sent forth to you an apostle of your own people who will recite to you Our revelations and purify you of sin, who will instruct you in the Book and in wisdom and teach you that of which you had no knowledge. Remember Me, then, and I will remember you. Give thanks to Me and never deny Me.
Tafsir (Commentary):
When the House of God in Mecca was appointed as the qiblah, the People of the Book started discussing whether the east was God’s direction or the west. They saw the matter as one of direction alone, but there was more to it than that. The selection of the House of God as the qiblah was not merely the specification of a certain direction for prayer; it was a sign that the time had come for God to reveal His greatest favour to man. It had been decided a long time before, that, in answer to the prayer of Abraham and Ishmael (see 2:129), God would send a final Prophet to the world. The path to life everlasting was now being thrown open to all: God was consummating His favor to mankind. The bringing of religion to its final stage of perfection in Islam does not mean that previous religions were incomplete. They too were complete in themselves, but none of them was preserved in its original and authentic form. God had revealed true religion time and time again, but every time mankind rebelled against it and either distorted it or allowed it to fall into oblivion. Now it was revealed in its ultimate and indelible form. Divine religion had been allowed to deteriorate into a set of mythological tales; now it was incorporated into history in the form of solid facts. Up till then, no pattern of true religion had been preserved for posterity; now, in a permanent, dynamic and practicable form, it was placed before mankind. The change to Mecca was more than a change from one direction of worship to another; it was a clear indication that God’s design for the guidance of mankind had been perfected.
It was at the time of the construction of the House of God that Abraham and Ishmael prayed for a prophet to come among the people of Mecca. The prayer was answered, and the coming of the final prophet, whose focus would be Mecca, was decreed. God’s messengers who came to the world used to prophesy his coming.
Now that he had come the House of God in Mecca was made the qiblah for all nations. This was God’s sign, indicating that the prophet, whose coming had been anticipated, had finally arrived. As for the sincere—they needed no further proof, but even the conclusiveness of this sign was not enough to silence those who gave no thought to God. It is those who fear God who are guided on the path to Him. God remembers those who remember Him. Only those who are full of fear of Him are free of fear of all else besides Him.
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Ayahs 153-157
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Translation:
Believers, fortify yourselves with patience and prayer. God is with the patient. Do not say that those who are slain in the cause of God are dead; they are alive, although you are not aware of them. We shall test your steadfastness with fear and hunger, with loss of life and property and crops. Give good news to those who endure with fortitude, who in adversity say: ‘We belong to God, and to Him we shall return.’ God’s blessing and mercy will be upon them; they are rightly guided.
Tafsir (Commentary):
One who has adopted religion in the real sense of the word has truly discovered God. He lives in a permanent state of thanksgiving and remembrance of his Lord. Happiness and bliss come with such a life, though they are only to materialize in full and in their true form only in the next eternal world. This world has not been created for reward: it has been created for the trial of man. Here obstacles have been placed in the path of those who seek to serve their Lord, so that the earnest can be distinguished from those who are lacking in zeal. These obstacles present themselves in the normal situations of life—human impulses, family requirements, worldly interests, temptation, social pressure—these are the things that provide the real test of life. First one has to realize in what manner one is being tested; then one has to avoid the pitfalls by remembering God and thanking Him for the blessings of life.
There is only one way to succeed in the trials of life, and that is through patience and prayer. This entails attaching oneself to God and conscientiously adhering to the path of truth, enduring all the setbacks that afflict one on the way. Those who do not waver from the path despite its difficulties—who stay with God even when no worldly benefit seems to accrue therefrom—these are the ones who will finally emerge successful from the trials of life. God has reserved the eternal blessings of the next life for those who show themselves willing to sacrifice this life for the next.
Those who make the greatest sacrifices are the dedicated souls who attempt to preach the word of God. Suffering and affliction are their lot because of their hearers’ negative response to the criticism and admonition which are inseparable from such preaching. There are few in this world who en*** being reproved and warned. The sincere preacher also incurs the animosity of mercenary individuals who have used the name of religion to set themselves up as preachers in order to provide themselves with an income. The sincerity of the true preacher being a threat to the statics of the worldly ‘preacher’ the former has to suffer the latter’s adverse reactions. Becoming a preacher of God’s word, then, is tantamount to putting one’s hand into a fire. One who takes this task upon himself is exposing himself to prejudice, economic ruin and even expulsion from his own land. He is placing both his life and property in the utmost peril. It is inevitable that one who follows God’s path will be persecuted in this world. But it is those who lose all for God’s sake who are the true finders; it is those who give their lives for Him who inherit life everlasting. For those who do not seek to make their paradise in this ephemeral world, God has prepared an eternal paradise in the next.
Chapter 2 - Surah Al-Baqarah (The Cow)
Ayahs 158-162
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Translation:
Safa and Marwa are two of God’s beacons. It shall be no offence for the pilgrim or the visitor to the Sacred House to walk around them. And one who does good of his own accord should know that God is Appreciative and All-Knowing. Those that hide the clear proofs and the guidance We have revealed after We have proclaimed them in the Book, shall be cursed by God and shall be cursed by those who invoked damnation; except those that repent and mend their ways and make known the truth. Towards them I shall relent. I am the Relenting One, the Merciful. But the infidels who die unbelievers shall incur the curse of God, the angels, and all people. Under it they shall remain forever; their punishment shall not be lightened, nor shall they be given respite.
Tafsir (Commentary):
Abraham, on whom be peace, was a native of Iraq. Acting under God’s command, he took his wife Hajira and infant son Ishmael, and left them in the place now known as Mecca. No one lived there then, and there was no water. Thirst forced Hajira to go out in search of water. Distressed, she ran back and forth between the hills of Safa and Marwa. After seven unsuccessful journeys, she returned to their dwelling. There she found a spring, now known as the spring of Zamzam, flowing from the ground. This was a symbolic event, showing us how Almighty God treats His servants. If one presses on in service of God, eventually reaching a stage where there is nothing but burning sand beneath one’s feet, then God in His mercy will cause a refreshing spring to gush forth from the dryness of the desert sands. When Muslims perform the pilgrimage to Mecca, they repeat Hajira’s historic quest between these hills, thus commemorating the profound relevance of the event to everyone who struggles in the path of God.
God’s signs were displayed so clearly in the Prophet Muhammad’s words and actions, that it was not difficult to see that he had been sent by God. Yet the Jewish intelligentsia denied him. They were prevented from believing by the fear that if they accepted an Arab prophet, their religious hegemony would come to an end. People would stop looking up to the Jews as their leaders. Old established religious traditions and the interests which come to be associated with them, (the Jews being the main beneficiaries) would be destroyed. They deemed it wise to conceal the truth, for they thought that they would lose their worldly status were they to accept it, but it would have been much wiser for them to have proclaimed it. They forgot that God’s servants are required to put truth before their worldly interests. One who becomes destitute for the Lord’s sake gains succour from the inexhaustible pastures of divine grace.
Still, the doors of God’s mercy are always open to His servants. He will always forgive one who comes to his senses and mends his erring ways, proclaiming the truth as God wishes it to be proclaimed. Only those who persevere in their disbelief until death will be deprived of His mercy.
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