7. Al-A'raaf

Lot was Abraham’s nephew. The community to which he was sent as a prophet was settled on the banks of the river Jordan in southern Syria. The prosperity of the community led its members into an excessive love of luxury, and evil behaviour which went to extremes in sexual promiscuity and even homosexuality. The prophet warned them against this open shamelessness. The universe has a scheme of nature. This scheme is called the reformed state (islah) in Quranic terminology. Going against this means a disturbance in the balance of things (fasad) in this universe. It is only man who takes undue advantage of his freedom and goes against the way of nature. The community of Lot also committed such a disruption of the divine order. The natural form of sexual relationship is that of a husband and wife. This means following the way of islah. As opposed to this, if a sexual relation develops between man and man, and a woman and a woman, this amounts to transgressing the limits fixed by God. This is what is called fasad in the Quran. Only a few people close to Lot had any faith in him. The rest of the people were sunk in debauchery. They even said: ‘When these people consider us dirty and want to keep themselves pure, why should the clean live with the unclean? They had better leave our town.’ This statement of theirs smacked of their haughtiness. They had the courage to say this because they were in the majority and enjoyed material superiority; they thus considered themselves safe. When God’s retribution visited Lot’s community, the Prophet Lot’s wife was one of the victims. This shows the unbiased justice of God in the matter of reward and punishment. In the judicial balance of God there is no regard for relationships or friendships. God’s decision was so unbiased that it did not spare even Noah’s son, Abraham’s father, Lot’s wife and the Prophet Muhammad’s uncle. On the other hand, when Pharaoh’s wife performed righteous deeds, she was admitted to Paradise.

Lot was Abraham’s nephew. The community to which he was sent as a prophet was settled on the banks of the river Jordan in southern Syria. The prosperity of the community led its members into an excessive love of luxury, and evil behaviour which went to extremes in sexual promiscuity and even homosexuality. The prophet warned them against this open shamelessness. The universe has a scheme of nature. This scheme is called the reformed state (islah) in Quranic terminology. Going against this means a disturbance in the balance of things (fasad) in this universe. It is only man who takes undue advantage of his freedom and goes against the way of nature. The community of Lot also committed such a disruption of the divine order. The natural form of sexual relationship is that of a husband and wife. This means following the way of islah. As opposed to this, if a sexual relation develops between man and man, and a woman and a woman, this amounts to transgressing the limits fixed by God. This is what is called fasad in the Quran. Only a few people close to Lot had any faith in him. The rest of the people were sunk in debauchery. They even said: ‘When these people consider us dirty and want to keep themselves pure, why should the clean live with the unclean? They had better leave our town.’ This statement of theirs smacked of their haughtiness. They had the courage to say this because they were in the majority and enjoyed material superiority; they thus considered themselves safe. When God’s retribution visited Lot’s community, the Prophet Lot’s wife was one of the victims. This shows the unbiased justice of God in the matter of reward and punishment. In the judicial balance of God there is no regard for relationships or friendships. God’s decision was so unbiased that it did not spare even Noah’s son, Abraham’s father, Lot’s wife and the Prophet Muhammad’s uncle. On the other hand, when Pharaoh’s wife performed righteous deeds, she was admitted to Paradise.

Lot was Abraham’s nephew. The community to which he was sent as a prophet was settled on the banks of the river Jordan in southern Syria. The prosperity of the community led its members into an excessive love of luxury, and evil behaviour which went to extremes in sexual promiscuity and even homosexuality. The prophet warned them against this open shamelessness. The universe has a scheme of nature. This scheme is called the reformed state (islah) in Quranic terminology. Going against this means a disturbance in the balance of things (fasad) in this universe. It is only man who takes undue advantage of his freedom and goes against the way of nature. The community of Lot also committed such a disruption of the divine order. The natural form of sexual relationship is that of a husband and wife. This means following the way of islah. As opposed to this, if a sexual relation develops between man and man, and a woman and a woman, this amounts to transgressing the limits fixed by God. This is what is called fasad in the Quran. Only a few people close to Lot had any faith in him. The rest of the people were sunk in debauchery. They even said: ‘When these people consider us dirty and want to keep themselves pure, why should the clean live with the unclean? They had better leave our town.’ This statement of theirs smacked of their haughtiness. They had the courage to say this because they were in the majority and enjoyed material superiority; they thus considered themselves safe. When God’s retribution visited Lot’s community, the Prophet Lot’s wife was one of the victims. This shows the unbiased justice of God in the matter of reward and punishment. In the judicial balance of God there is no regard for relationships or friendships. God’s decision was so unbiased that it did not spare even Noah’s son, Abraham’s father, Lot’s wife and the Prophet Muhammad’s uncle. On the other hand, when Pharaoh’s wife performed righteous deeds, she was admitted to Paradise.

One of the sons of Abraham was Madyan who was born of his third wife, Quatura. The people of Midian (or Madyan), his decendants, settled on the Arabian coast of the Red Sea. These people believed in God and professed to be of Abraham’s religion. But, five hundred years after the time of Abraham, they fell into wrong ways. They were a trading community; so their evil found expression in their dealings. They did not maintain the principles of honesty in weights, measures and transactions. Injustice in dealing with others is against the balanced system (islah) enforced by God. God has caused the system of this world to work on the basis of perfect justice. Here, there is nothing like taking more from others and giving less in return. Here everything functions on the principles of justice to the point of mathematical exactness. If this does not happen, then it would amount to creating a disturbance in the well-balanced world of God.

One of the sons of Abraham was Madyan who was born of his third wife, Quatura. The people of Midian (or Madyan), his decendants, settled on the Arabian coast of the Red Sea. These people believed in God and professed to be of Abraham’s religion. But, five hundred years after the time of Abraham, they fell into wrong ways. They were a trading community; so their evil found expression in their dealings. They did not maintain the principles of honesty in weights, measures and transactions. Injustice in dealing with others is against the balanced system (islah) enforced by God. God has caused the system of this world to work on the basis of perfect justice. Here, there is nothing like taking more from others and giving less in return. Here everything functions on the principles of justice to the point of mathematical exactness. If this does not happen, then it would amount to creating a disturbance in the well-balanced world of God.

When the people of Midian went to extremes in their wrongful ways, God sent Shu‘ayb to them with His message. He exhorted them to adopt the way of righteousness and honesty in their dealings. With the help of clear arguments, He made them fully aware of the necessity for honesty. But they were not willing to accept the admonition. Not only that, they were not ready to accept the mission of Shu‘ayb. They distorted his preachings and created misunderstanding among the people about him. They even resorted to violent means to dissuade the people from supporting him. In the end the retribution of God descended upon them and they were destroyed. In the eyes of God, matters relating to the consideration of the rights of fellow human beings and honesty in mutual dealings are so important that a community, in spite of claiming to be believers, was destroyed. God is the best Judge and His judgement cannot be biased.

When the people of Midian went to extremes in their wrongful ways, God sent Shu‘ayb to them with His message. He exhorted them to adopt the way of righteousness and honesty in their dealings. With the help of clear arguments, He made them fully aware of the necessity for honesty. But they were not willing to accept the admonition. Not only that, they were not ready to accept the mission of Shu‘ayb. They distorted his preachings and created misunderstanding among the people about him. They even resorted to violent means to dissuade the people from supporting him. In the end the retribution of God descended upon them and they were destroyed. In the eyes of God, matters relating to the consideration of the rights of fellow human beings and honesty in mutual dealings are so important that a community, in spite of claiming to be believers, was destroyed. God is the best Judge and His judgement cannot be biased.

When the people of Midian went to extremes in their wrongful ways, God sent Shu‘ayb to them with His message. He exhorted them to adopt the way of righteousness and honesty in their dealings. With the help of clear arguments, He made them fully aware of the necessity for honesty. But they were not willing to accept the admonition. Not only that, they were not ready to accept the mission of Shu‘ayb. They distorted his preachings and created misunderstanding among the people about him. They even resorted to violent means to dissuade the people from supporting him. In the end the retribution of God descended upon them and they were destroyed. In the eyes of God, matters relating to the consideration of the rights of fellow human beings and honesty in mutual dealings are so important that a community, in spite of claiming to be believers, was destroyed. God is the best Judge and His judgement cannot be biased.

When the people of Midian went to extremes in their wrongful ways, God sent Shu‘ayb to them with His message. He exhorted them to adopt the way of righteousness and honesty in their dealings. With the help of clear arguments, He made them fully aware of the necessity for honesty. But they were not willing to accept the admonition. Not only that, they were not ready to accept the mission of Shu‘ayb. They distorted his preachings and created misunderstanding among the people about him. They even resorted to violent means to dissuade the people from supporting him. In the end the retribution of God descended upon them and they were destroyed. In the eyes of God, matters relating to the consideration of the rights of fellow human beings and honesty in mutual dealings are so important that a community, in spite of claiming to be believers, was destroyed. God is the best Judge and His judgement cannot be biased.

Shu‘ayb’s community was not guilty of denying God, but of misrepresenting Him, i.e. it had attributed to God a religion which was not sent by Him. This has been the position of the communities of all the prophets. The communities of the prophets were no different from those to whom God had earlier revealed His religion. But, by means of self-made changes and additions, they made it into something else. They changed the religion of God into the religion of their desires and started calling it the religion of God. The religious leaders of today, who have the support of the people and are in power, do realize that they cannot argue with the prophets, as they would not succeed. But since they do not want someone to usurp them of their importance, they look for a way to silence them. Allowances can be made for a person so long as the Truth is not clear to him. But after the Truth has been made clear, and if a man still chooses to be arrogant, he loses any right to sympathy. In this world, punishment is given on this basis; and on this same basis, punishment will be decided according to the guilt of the people in the Hereafter.