Surah Al-Qasas

Trying to understand the flow of Surah Al-Qasas up till Ayah 50:
1. God tells to the Prophet s.a.w. the story of Moses a.s. up to the point where He gave Moses the book as guidance and mercy after He had destroyed previous generations so that they (who are the "they"? The Quraisy?The Jews of Madinah?) will remember.
2. There is a switch here when God addresses the Prophet s.a.w. directly, noting how he wasn't a witness at certain points in the story and ended that with it (I hazard a guess that "it" refers to the story) was a mercy so that the Prophet could warn those who have not had any warners, hopefully they would remember (the Quraisy?) and not they blame God for not sending them a Messenger for them to follow
3. Another point of view switch to the truth coming to them (are "they" here the "they" of 1 or of 2) and they would say it was not like what was given to Moses a.s. yet they rejected both
4. Another switch where now the Prophet s.a.w. was commanded to say/challenge the people in 3 to bring a book from God which would be a better guide than the two messages/books.  Then back to addressing the Prophet denoting that these people could never do that because they only followed their desires and that God would not guide those who oppress.  (Interesting, the link between the following of desires and oppression)

From Ayat 51-60:
1. A switch to back God saying that He sent the Word so that they (a different group presumably) will remember as these had been sent previous scriptures, gladly accepting the message as the truth because they had already surrendered/submitted before.  This group also had the characteristic of repelling evil with good, patience, and charitable.  They turn away from idle chatter in a good manner. 
2. A switch back to the Prophet s.a.w. who was reminded that not even he can guide; only God has the power.
3. Another switch to yet another group of they (or perhaps the original group - looks like these were the Meccans) who were concern about losing material wealth and power if they were to follow the Prophet.  God reminded them that He established them in the sanctuary (the haram) and brought the fruits and food to them.  Also a reminder of how being arrogant and reckless of their wealth has brought many towns and villages their downfall. But before the destruction, messengers would have been sent.  Lastly their destruction were due to their wrongdoing.  It seems to imply being concerned with material things, placing pride in them will lead to wrongdoing while actually these things are actually temporary and as adornment in this world.
4. Then there is a switch when God address them directly to use their reasoning.

Ayat 61 onwards

1. Shift focus to the hereafter.  A transition ayah in 61 where God compares the person who will meet the good promise and the person who enjoyed the good life
2. The next set of ayat until 67 will about God calling with a set of questions and the people who were not guided responding.
3. Then there is a shift in the theme to a description of God's abilities, commanding the Prophet to ask people to ponder about night and day
4. Then back to the scene on the Day of Judgement again in ayah 74
5. Then the story of Qarun in ayah 76 onwards with the message that wealth is a test but most people did not see what is with God is better.
6. Back to the hereafter where God encourages people to come with good deeds (by not specifying the reward) but that for those who come with evil deeds will be recompensed with the same in ayah 84.

Surah Ar-Rahman Part 6

In the Name of God the Most Gracious, the Dispenser of Grace

Part 6

خلق النسان من صلصال كالفخار 

و خلق الجان من مار جمن نار

فباى آلاء ربكما تكذبن

رب المشرقين و رب المغربين

فباى آلاء ربكما تكذبن

He created Man from clay like the pottery
And He created Jinn from flame of fire
Which of the favours of Your Lord will you deny?
Lord of the two sunrises and the two sunsets.
Which of the favours of Your Lord will you deny?

Remember in Part 1, I asked the question of who did God teach the Qur'an to other than Man?  Also in the refrain فباى آلاء ربكما تكذبن, it is addressed to you in the dual sense (the Lord of you both).  Well, here the mystery is solved when God describes the creation of Man and Jinn.

After the beautiful verses describing the Earth and the Universe, the lens shifts to the creation of the two beings highlighted in this Surah.  These are the two amongst all of God's creation with free will, i.e. they are given the freedom of choice whether to obey or not to obey.  Here God is reminding us and the Jinns of our creations; that we come from 'humble' beginnings.

If in the third verse of this Surah, God said He created Man and taught him al-Bayan (speech/ language/ communication), this verse continues by saying we were created from basically the humble clay which when dry become like fragile pottery and when broken, is basically useless.  So however great we think we are, with all the education, sophistication, powerful and persuasive communication, we are basically being told - remember your humble beginning and that Time is ticking.  Sooner than you think, you will be like that broken pottery.  While we may not know much about the Jinns' creation, I would hazard a guess that there is a similar reminder for them too.

How does this tie back to the rest of theme of this Surah, i.e. that we cannot deny His favours and that it is part of His mercy?  

My late mother used to worry about me being a bit arrogant and proud.  Her deathbed advice to me is "Be humble."  Humility is a virtue that is difficult to maintain the higher up you go and the more you are successful.  You start to think that all the accolades, the success, the things that you own, the respect people give to you as your due.  That you are entitled to them.  You start to forget your origin - you lose sight of yourself, instead you create a construct/image of yourself that does not reflect the reality.

Be humble, have humility - God's reminder of our humble beginnings is exactly the force we need to knock down that construct and take a serious look at ourselves before time runs out.  A reminder from Ar-Rahman because He does not want us to fool ourselves into thinking we are going to get A+ when the results are revealed when we are actually failing miserably.

After that reality check, He then reminds us of His dominion over the two Easts (points of sunrise) and two Wests (points of sunset).  There are many other places where God states that to Him belongs the East and the West.  But I believe that this is the only verse mentioning about two Easts and Wests.  Scholars have slightly varying interpretations but the general consensus is that wherever you turn and look across the horizon, there is God. (In fact there is a verse in Surah al-Baqarah that mentions this very idea by linking the directions with the Face of God.)

What is quite interesting is His choice in describing Himself as Rabb, which means Sustainer.  It implies that the points of rising and setting of the sun (and the moon) are being maintained by Him.  It implies power and at the same time mercy.

Juxtapose that with the reminder of our humble beginnings and the universe that He described earlier, we see a clearer picture of ourselves in relation to everything else.  If that is not a favour, then there is nothing left to say.

Surah Ar-Rahman: Part 9

In the Name of God, the Most Gracious, the Dispense of Grace

Part 9

يسءله من فى السموت و الارض كل يوم هو فى شان

فباى آلاء ربكما تكذبن

سنفرغلكم آيه الثقلن

فباى آلاء ربكما تكذبن

بمعسكر الجن و الانس ان استطعتم ان تنفذوا من أقطار السموت و الارض فانفذوا لا تنفذون الا بسلطن

فباى آلاء ربكما تكذبن

يرسل عليكم شواظ من نار و نحاس فلا تنتصرن

فباى آلاء ربكما تكذبن

Asks Him whoever is in the skies/heavens and the earth.  Everyday, He is in (attending to) a matter.
Then which of the favours of your (dual) Lord will you deny

Soon We will attend to you (all), oh you two classes

Then which of the favours of your (dual) Lord will you deny

O assembly of Jinns and Man, if you are able to pass beyond the realms of the skies/heaven and the earth, then pass.  You cannot pass it except with authority.

Then which of the favours of your (dual) Lord will you deny

Will be sent against you (all) a flame of fire and smoke, but you will not be able to defend yourselves.

Then which of the favours of your (dual) Lord will you deny

In Part 8, we talked about our dependencies on God.  Here God explicit states it - Nouman Ali Khan mentioned that يسءله does not just mean 'Asks Him' but also connotes dependency.  That everything depends on Him, in whichever realm there is.  Nouman Ali Khan also commented that شان denotes a matter to which only the person can do.  So not only is everything dependent on Him and asks Him (for which He answers the call of those who asks), but He is also busy attending to matters that only He has the capability of doing every single day.  Like maintaining the sun, moon, stars.  Like growing the fruits and vegetation.  Like letting the oceans meet and maintaining the barriers.  Like creating human beings and Jinns anew (each day there are so many being birthed).  Like keeping the ships afloat.  In our little minds, we think that God can't possibly be paying attention to us if He is so busy.  But then God says "Soon We will attend to you..." implying that He has been paying attention after all.  When the Hour is here, He will free Himself and attend to us and the Jinn.  

The next verse is where the explanations of some contemporary commentators were not quite convincing.  They said it predicted that men could only get out of Earth's atmosphere with power because they translated the word Sultan as power.

In actuality, if we consider the narative of the whole Surah, this verse is meant to be sarcastic.  With the Hour now here and God has "freed" Himself, where can either Jinns or men really run to escape.  Especially with fires raining down from above and hitting the ground.  On this day, will we still be denying God's favours all this while (which included the temporary respite He gave us)?  Should we not be grateful for this reminder while we are still in the respite phase?

Surah Ar-Rahman Part 10

In the Name of God, Most Gracious, the Dispenser of Grace

Part 10

فإذا انشقت السماء فكانت وردة كالدهان

فياى آلاء ربكما تكذبن

فيومءذ لا يسءل عن ذنبه انس و لا جان

فياى آلاء ربكما تكذبن

يعرف المجرمون بسيماهم فيؤخذ يالنواصىو الأقدام

فياى آلاء ربكما تكذبن

هذه جهنم التى يكذب بها المجرمون

يطوفون بينها و بين حميم ان

فياى آلاء ربكما تكذبن

So when the sky is rent asunder and it become red like (burning) oil.

Then which of the favours of your Sustainer will you deny?

Then neither man nor jinn will be asked about his sins

Then which of the favours of your Sustainer will you deny?

The sinners (criminals) will be known by their marks and seized by the forelock and the feet

Then which of the favours of your Sustainer will you deny?

This is Hell that the sinners (criminals) denied

They will go around between it and the burning water.

Then which of the favours of your Sustainer will you deny?

This is a very graphic scene about the Day of Judgement and Hell painted by Ar-Rahman.  Questions some would ask:
1.  Why did God describe such a horrible picture and still describe Himself as Ar-Rahman and also calls it a favour?
2.  Why would God create Hell in the first place if He is so merciful?

Let's tackle the second question first - this was my question when I was young and adults (other than my parents) would always threaten me with Hell when I was naughty.  So, in my childhood, I never really connected God with Mercy or Grace.  Today, there are many childhood me out there, I am sure - some are even adults.  

I think I had the wrong concept of mercy/love at the time.  I thought that a God that love would/could not punish.  But that would violate another important aspect of God, that of justice.  Let's not even go on to the topic of God - let's just look at the dynamics of a parent and a child.  No one can ever say that a (normal) mother never love her child - she would literally give up her life for her child.  But when the child misbehave, does she not punish to administer discipline?  All for the benefit of the child - basically, if the child has no discipline, he will be spoilt.  Thus on this Earth too, do we find that God teaches us discipline through various tests and hardships.

But there will always be those who refuse to learn and continue to violate the laws of God.  I am reminded of this old Malay film "Anakku Sazali" where a man spoilt his child so much that the child grew up to be a criminal and the law caught up with him.  When a criminal breaks the law, we expect justice to be served but quite often, criminals escape justice here on earth and quite often the wrong people get punished.  In order to maintain balance (mizan) and establish justice (qist) when we failed to do so, the Day of Judgement is established.  Did we and the Jinns think we were going to escape (in the previous post) God's justice and accounting?  

Unfortunately for the criminals (those who wronged themselves and others), there is no escape from the balance of God's justice.  The Hour comes when the sky is rent asunder.  In that Hour, even before the accounting starts, we already know what each of us has sent forth.  And that is why God said there will be no questions to be asked of our sins - guilt will be evident on our faces.

Nouman Ali Khan said that the line about seized by the forelock and the feet was to remind the people at the time of how they used to roast animals - tying the head and the feet to a pole which is turned over the fire pit.  It is definitely graphic but that, I believe, is exactly why it is able to convey the message effectively.  The message that if we continue to deny God's favours and therefore are ungrateful and turn away from Him, and are not willing to establish the balance and justice, then this is going to our fate.  

He then reinforces the message by describing Hell - "This" emphasise the nearness of it and its reality - a reality which criminals deny, not wanting to face the fact that there is no escape from the divine justice.  But not only is the criminal threatened with Hell but that he will move from the fire of Hell to the boiling hot water and back - running back and forth trying to escape from one to the other as these are their only two choices.  

Hell, to some scholars, is not a permanent place because of some verses in the Qur'an seem to indicate that.  But it is still a reality.  Because as much as God's mercy, God's justice has to be established as who else can stand up for those whose voices cannot be heard and whose very souls would otherwise go unacknowledged.  Without justice, mercy has no meaning.

That comes back to the first question of why did God describe such graphic scenes and call it a favour?  Precisely because of its shock factor, most of us will recoil and step back to ponder whether we really want to continue in our denials and persist in our wrongdoings.  It helps deter those of us who are willing to accept its message from going down the path to destruction.

May we be amongst those who stop in their tracks and turn back towards God.

Ramadhan Reflections 2015

In the Name of God, the Most Gracious, the Dispenser of Grace.

As fast as it came, Ramadhan is departing, leaving behind those who yearn for its return.  This year, I have had a scare when my aunt was in ICU.  I also heard news of the deaths of many a friend's relatives.  There is no guarantee that anyone, much less me, will meet the blessed month again or even meet the end of this Ramadhan as tonight marks the 29th night.

Unlike the past few years, alhamdulillah this year, I have been more settled as I have been blessed with a place to call my own.  It also means that quite a number of the Iftars are spent in solitude.  I, therefore, decided to take the opportunity this Ramadhan to vary my routine - or perhaps create a new routine.  I decided that I would focus on a particular Surah (memorise it, understand its meaning, internalise its teachings) and also continue the previous tradition of striving to finish a book.  Alhamdulillah, this year, I managed to finish a book - Reasoning with God by Khaled Abou El-Fadl and am three quarter into memorising Surah Ar-Rahman.  Inshallah, I will finish what I set out to do with Surah Ar-Rahman because Ramadhan is only the start of the journey.

What lessons have I learned from this Ramadhan, I ask myself as I prepare to bid goodbye to this cherished companion?  I think the one main lesson is 'Mizan' or balance.  Before I go into all sorts of philosophical rhetoric, the most recent thing about balance that God taught me is about physical balance.  I fell ill the last two days because I was so exhausted these past weeks - a combination of no sleep at night, 19 hours fast during the day and working (also travelling part of it) - I wasn't practising balance.  There has to be balance - my physical self has as much a right on me as my spiritual self.  And that was the wisdom of why God gave dispensation to travellers with regards to fasting.

Surah Ar-Rahman talks about God setting up the balance so that we shouldn't transgress the balance.  Not only that, we are urged to establish the balance in justice.  If not, then God will balance it for us (like when I fell ill) because Balance is a feature in all of God's creations and that Balance should be maintained.  I look at the world around me today and wonder if we have actually upset the balance and if reactions to our actions are actually God's way to redress the balance before the Final Hour.  I was watching a documentary a few days ago regarding how animals are adapting to our interference and encroachment of their territories.  By upsetting the ecological system, we upset the balance and yet the ecological system is adapting to compensate for it.  Being physics trained, I remember Newton's laws of motion - one of them being: for every action is an equal and opposite reaction, thus maintaining the balance demanded by God.  And so, you can see today with all the various extremism, it just breed more extremism in its counterparts.

Muslims are called by God to be the people of middle path (2:143):

And thus We made you a community of the middle way,  so that you should be witnesses over the people, and the Messenger a witness to you.

And what is beautiful is in the preceding verse, God talks about the straight path (2:142):

Say, "To Allah belongs the east and the west. He guides whom He wills to a straight path."

The straight path is therefore linked to the middle path - a path of balance.  Whenever I read this, I am reminded of the tightrope walker I saw earlier this month in the park, swaying slightly to one side then another as she walks across the rope.  Suddenly swaying too much, she fell off the rope.  Like a good tightrope walker, we need to maintain balance, perhaps leaning slight one way or another but never too far that we fall from that middle/straight path.

Today, there are many issues confronting the community - we cannot afford to forget this importance of a balanced response, that is grounded in justice and mercy.  As I finish reading the book "Reasoning with God," I was struck by a few passages he wrote on the importance of balance:

 Shari'ah is an ongoing discourse on how to be a good Muslim within a communal system and a metanarrative on being a good human being within a human society.  As the history of Islamic law guilds demonstrates, it is not important that Muslims agree on the same legal determinations or laws.  What is important is that they recognize shared common standards of virtue and godliness.  Ultimately, the constituent elements of these common standards are a subject for another book, but at a minimum, the ultimate objective is peace, repose, and tranquility (i.e. salam).  But this salam cannot exist without justice (qist), balance and proportionality (mizan and tawazun), and compassion, love and care for one another (tarahum, tahabub, and takaful)...A Shari'ah-oriented society reasons with God - it consistently visits and revisits the rational and textual indicators to stay on the sirat al-mustaqim (straight path) knowing full well that anyone who claims to have an exclusive claim over the sirat has by definition deviated from it.  As the Qur'an points out, the blessing of the sirat comes as an act of grace that can never be taken for granted.  Therefore, reasoning with God means endlessly searching and engaging the divine with the hope and belief in God's continued guidance and grave.

 The balance must comes from our continued interaction with God through 'rational and textual indicators' - which I take to mean interacting with and pondering over the Qur'an, the Sunnah and also the world around us, bearing in mind that the objective is 'salam' for and with all beings, including our own selves.  As Ramadhan, the month of the Qur'an, draws to a close, I remind myself that the balance within and without can only come through active participation and interaction with God, primarily through His Book, but also through every reminder He extends my way.  Passivity will only lead to the loss of balance...just as the tightrope walker lost her balance when she didn't correct herself after leaning too far.

May God continue to guide us to be on the middle path as we move beyond this blessed month.  Ameen.