5. Al-Maaida

It is the way of God that He chooses a group in order to convey His message to the people. He sends His prophet and His Book to this group and assigns them the task of conveying this message to others. Just as a particular person is the recipient of revelation, similarly a particular group is made the bearer of the revelation. In ancient times this special position was enjoyed by the Children of Israel and after the advent of the last of the prophets, his followers (ummah) were appointed to this position. Just as God requires of a community that it should represent His religion, similarly He also wants the community representing His religion to enjoy honours and high position in this world, so that it should be demonstrated to the people that in the new world coming into existence after Doomsday, prominence and distinction will be conferred only upon the ‘People of the Truth’. All others will be subdued and distanced from God’s blessings. However, this worldly benefit is not conferred on this group unconditionally: the group has first to face the test of entitlement. It has to prove that it has full faith in God under all circumstances and bows to His will and pleasure even if that tries their patience to the very limits.

It is the way of God that He chooses a group in order to convey His message to the people. He sends His prophet and His Book to this group and assigns them the task of conveying this message to others. Just as a particular person is the recipient of revelation, similarly a particular group is made the bearer of the revelation. In ancient times this special position was enjoyed by the Children of Israel and after the advent of the last of the prophets, his followers (ummah) were appointed to this position. Just as God requires of a community that it should represent His religion, similarly He also wants the community representing His religion to enjoy honours and high position in this world, so that it should be demonstrated to the people that in the new world coming into existence after Doomsday, prominence and distinction will be conferred only upon the ‘People of the Truth’. All others will be subdued and distanced from God’s blessings. However, this worldly benefit is not conferred on this group unconditionally: the group has first to face the test of entitlement. It has to prove that it has full faith in God under all circumstances and bows to His will and pleasure even if that tries their patience to the very limits.

It is the way of God that He chooses a group in order to convey His message to the people. He sends His prophet and His Book to this group and assigns them the task of conveying this message to others. Just as a particular person is the recipient of revelation, similarly a particular group is made the bearer of the revelation. In ancient times this special position was enjoyed by the Children of Israel and after the advent of the last of the prophets, his followers (ummah) were appointed to this position. Just as God requires of a community that it should represent His religion, similarly He also wants the community representing His religion to enjoy honours and high position in this world, so that it should be demonstrated to the people that in the new world coming into existence after Doomsday, prominence and distinction will be conferred only upon the ‘People of the Truth’. All others will be subdued and distanced from God’s blessings. However, this worldly benefit is not conferred on this group unconditionally: the group has first to face the test of entitlement. It has to prove that it has full faith in God under all circumstances and bows to His will and pleasure even if that tries their patience to the very limits.

It is the way of God that He chooses a group in order to convey His message to the people. He sends His prophet and His Book to this group and assigns them the task of conveying this message to others. Just as a particular person is the recipient of revelation, similarly a particular group is made the bearer of the revelation. In ancient times this special position was enjoyed by the Children of Israel and after the advent of the last of the prophets, his followers (ummah) were appointed to this position. Just as God requires of a community that it should represent His religion, similarly He also wants the community representing His religion to enjoy honours and high position in this world, so that it should be demonstrated to the people that in the new world coming into existence after Doomsday, prominence and distinction will be conferred only upon the ‘People of the Truth’. All others will be subdued and distanced from God’s blessings. However, this worldly benefit is not conferred on this group unconditionally: the group has first to face the test of entitlement. It has to prove that it has full faith in God under all circumstances and bows to His will and pleasure even if that tries their patience to the very limits.

At the time the Children of Israel left Egypt under the leadership of Moses and reached the Sinai desert, a tyrant community, the Amaliqa, was ruling Syria and Palestine areas. God informed the Children of Israel that the tyrant people had come to the end of their epoch, that they should enter that country and that with the help of God they would overcome the tyrant people after some negligible resistence. But, the Israelites were so terror-striken by the tyrant community that they were not prepared to enter its country. This meant that they were more afraid of human beings than of God. Thereafter, they became worthless in the eyes of God. God then decided that for forty years (1440 B.C. to 1400 B.C.) they would wander in the desert, by which time all those who were of the age of twenty years or more would have died and during this period a new generation living under new conditions would have grown up. And it actually happened like that. In the forty years spent in the desert, all the people of advanced age died. Thereafter, their new generations under the leadership of Yusha‘ bin Nun (Joshua) conquered Syria and Palestine. This Yusha‘ was one of the the two righteous Israelites who had previously advised their community to trust in God and enter the Amaliqa’s country. The Children of Israel had told Moses that if they invaded that country (of the Amalekites) they themselves would be defeated and their children would be treated as so much loot. But, these very children, after growing up, entered that country and captured it. The children acquired this strength because, for a long period, they had faced the hardships of desert life. Those very conditions which had been considered by the fathers of the children to be so dangerous as to spell death for their children actually held for them the secret of life. To live in favourable conditions is evidently very pleasant. But, the fact is that the best latent talents of a man emerge when he has to struggle with circumstances for his life. In Egypt, the Children of Israel had been living in peace for centuries. The result of this was that they had become a dead community. But after their exile, the desert life which they had to live was a total challenge for them. Those who spent their lives from childhood to youth in such circumstances were naturally a different kind of people. The desert conditions had fostered in them simplicity courage, diligence and realism; and these are the qualities which infuse life into a community. If a community becomes ‘dead’ as a result of the prevailing circumstances, then it is placed in extraordinary circumstances in order to revive it.

At the time the Children of Israel left Egypt under the leadership of Moses and reached the Sinai desert, a tyrant community, the Amaliqa, was ruling Syria and Palestine areas. God informed the Children of Israel that the tyrant people had come to the end of their epoch, that they should enter that country and that with the help of God they would overcome the tyrant people after some negligible resistence. But, the Israelites were so terror-striken by the tyrant community that they were not prepared to enter its country. This meant that they were more afraid of human beings than of God. Thereafter, they became worthless in the eyes of God. God then decided that for forty years (1440 B.C. to 1400 B.C.) they would wander in the desert, by which time all those who were of the age of twenty years or more would have died and during this period a new generation living under new conditions would have grown up. And it actually happened like that. In the forty years spent in the desert, all the people of advanced age died. Thereafter, their new generations under the leadership of Yusha‘ bin Nun (Joshua) conquered Syria and Palestine. This Yusha‘ was one of the the two righteous Israelites who had previously advised their community to trust in God and enter the Amaliqa’s country. The Children of Israel had told Moses that if they invaded that country (of the Amalekites) they themselves would be defeated and their children would be treated as so much loot. But, these very children, after growing up, entered that country and captured it. The children acquired this strength because, for a long period, they had faced the hardships of desert life. Those very conditions which had been considered by the fathers of the children to be so dangerous as to spell death for their children actually held for them the secret of life. To live in favourable conditions is evidently very pleasant. But, the fact is that the best latent talents of a man emerge when he has to struggle with circumstances for his life. In Egypt, the Children of Israel had been living in peace for centuries. The result of this was that they had become a dead community. But after their exile, the desert life which they had to live was a total challenge for them. Those who spent their lives from childhood to youth in such circumstances were naturally a different kind of people. The desert conditions had fostered in them simplicity courage, diligence and realism; and these are the qualities which infuse life into a community. If a community becomes ‘dead’ as a result of the prevailing circumstances, then it is placed in extraordinary circumstances in order to revive it.

Whatever a man receives in this world is bestowed by God. Therefore, being jealous of a person on seeing him well situated in life and then inflicting harm on him amounts to trying to nullify God’s plan. Such a person is to some extent given the scope to do whatever he likes in this world of trial, but in the eyes of God, he is the worst sinner. Abel drew the attention of his elder brother, Cain, to this fact. This created some hesitation in his mind. He realised that he was bent on killing his younger brother without any justification. But the feeling of jealousy in him did not cool down. He invented excuses to justify his action. Ultimately, his inner struggle resolved itself and rest in his self-devised justification and he proceeded to kill his brother. The voice of conscience is the voice of God. A question arising in a man’s conscience about any action of his amounts in fact to his facing a test. A man is successful if he gives a positive response to the voice of his conscience, but if in taking the shelter of false excuses he suppresses the voice of his conscience, then he has failed.

The real reward for the deeds performed for the sake of God will be given in the Hereafter. However, sometimes even in this world certain occurrences show whether human actions have gained God’s approval. This happened in the case of Adam’s sons, Abel and Cain (Habil and Qabil). Abel’s offerings from his flocks of sheep and goats were accepted by God and he was duly blessed, but Cain’s offerings of his agricultural produce were not, and he remained unblessed. Cain then became so jealous of his younger brother that he threatened to kill him. Abel said that Cain’s offering had been rejected because Cain had no heartfelt fear of God and should, therefore, reform himself instead of threatening him. But, jealousy and enmity blur the truth and one can think only of how to eliminate one’s supposed enemy. Abel told Cain that he might raise his hand to murder him, but that he would not retaliate, because God had prohibited any fighting between one Muslim and another. Even if a Muslim wanted to assassinate his brother, the brother should not consider it legitimate to kill his attacker. This obviated the mutual clash which was otherwise inevitable, as well as the resulting endless chain of action and reaction in Muslim society. If two Muslims are bent on each other’s destruction, the guilt is divided between the two. But if one Muslim carries out his intention, while the other remains immersed in prayer, the attacker will not only shoulder the burden of his own sin, but also that of any sin which his victim might have commmitted had he not remained patient and prayerful.

The real reward for the deeds performed for the sake of God will be given in the Hereafter. However, sometimes even in this world certain occurrences show whether human actions have gained God’s approval. This happened in the case of Adam’s sons, Abel and Cain (Habil and Qabil). Abel’s offerings from his flocks of sheep and goats were accepted by God and he was duly blessed, but Cain’s offerings of his agricultural produce were not, and he remained unblessed. Cain then became so jealous of his younger brother that he threatened to kill him. Abel said that Cain’s offering had been rejected because Cain had no heartfelt fear of God and should, therefore, reform himself instead of threatening him. But, jealousy and enmity blur the truth and one can think only of how to eliminate one’s supposed enemy. Abel told Cain that he might raise his hand to murder him, but that he would not retaliate, because God had prohibited any fighting between one Muslim and another. Even if a Muslim wanted to assassinate his brother, the brother should not consider it legitimate to kill his attacker. This obviated the mutual clash which was otherwise inevitable, as well as the resulting endless chain of action and reaction in Muslim society. If two Muslims are bent on each other’s destruction, the guilt is divided between the two. But if one Muslim carries out his intention, while the other remains immersed in prayer, the attacker will not only shoulder the burden of his own sin, but also that of any sin which his victim might have commmitted had he not remained patient and prayerful.

Whatever a man receives in this world is bestowed by God. Therefore, one who, out of being jealous inflicts harm upon another who is better situated in life attempts, in effect, to nullify God’s plan. Such a person is to some extent given the scope to do whatever he likes in this world of trial, but in the eyes of God, he is the worst sinner. Abel drew the attention of his elder brother Cain to this fact. This created some hesitation in Cain’s mind. He realised that if he was bent on killing his younger brother, it was without any justification. But the feeling of jealousy in him did not cool down. He invented excuses to justify his action. Ultimately, his inner struggle resolved itself by returning to his self-devised justification and he proceeded to kill his brother. The voice of conscience is the voice of God. A question arising in a man’s conscience about any action of his amounts in fact to his facing a test. A man is successful if he gives a positive response to the voice of his conscience, but if, in taking the shelter of false excuses, he suppresses the voice of his conscience, then he has failed. It has been recorded in a tradition of the Prophet that transgression and the killing of kindred are sins for which punishment starts right here in this world. The punishment for the unjustified atrocity committed by Cain against his brother was given to him not only in the Hereafter but in this very world where he was immediately plunged into misery. It has come to us through Mujahid that Cain, after committing the murder, was afflicted by his lower leg becoming stuck to his thigh. He remained lying on the ground, unattended and uncared for, until he died in ignominy and distress. (Tafsir ibn Kathir). Cain was instructed by means of a crow how to bury the dead body under the ground. This points to the fact that man was less knowledgeable than the animals about the ways of nature. And, if he follows his emotions, there is no worse transgressor than he. Furthermore, it is implied that if, rather than committing a crime, a man buries the intention in his heart, he will not have to face the shame of it afterwards. A man should curb and bury his bad intentions in his heart and not allow them to emerge and become a reality. A man, before bringing his evil designs to fruition, has simply to bury the intention. If, not, he will be confronted with the problem of burying the dead body, which, even after burial, will be treated by God as not having been buried.