Welcome Friends: Ahlan wa sahlan!
Our previous Reading had an important statement at the center of Verse 185. A statement indeed central to God’s Message and our interaction with it:
“….God wills every facility/ease for you and does not will hardship…”
Besides being a source of comfort to Believers, this statement helps us realize our great responsibility. As Cognizant Humans, we can choose to fulfill His purpose in an area He defined, or we can choose not to. This verse tells us that everything He mentions in the Qur’an is for our benefit, to provide us ease, not hardship. Indeed, if we were to pin-point the ‘hardships’ we encounter as Muslims, we would notice that they are mostly of our own doing. Also in HQ: 4:28:
“God wills to lighten your burden, and the Human is created weak.”
This beautiful concept assures us that the easing of difficulties (often self-imposed) and the lightening of burdens IS indeed part of God’s purpose in sending us His Final Message, and what God wills for us is the best, were we only to ‘be’ and ‘do’ the best.
COMMENTS:
- This is the first time the spousal relationship is mentioned. From a Qur’anic viewpoint, husbands and wives are ‘garments’ for one another, as explained by Yusuf Ali, note 195.
FURTHERMORE:
In HQ 7:26 the Qur’an shows us the THREE types of garments bestowed upon us:
A. Essential garments that protect us from hurt or harm by covering our vulnerabilities.
B. Non-essential garments, ‘rich/ريش’,[1] literally ‘luxuries’ in Arabic that embellish or adorn us.[2]
C. The garment that radiates from our Awareness, ‘Taqwa,’ referred to as “that is best, that is of the signs of God.”
“O children of Adam We have bestowed upon you garments to conceal your vulnerabilities لباساً يواري سوءاتكم and as adornment “ريشا” but the garment of Awareness (Taqwa) that is best, that is of the signs of God that they may remember/reflect.”
There is great significance in the Qur’anic description of mates ideally being ‘garments’ each to the other, describing a healthy spousal relationship which would generate self-fulfillment on physical, spiritual, and social levels for the spouses and their dependents. As always, there is interdependence between our Physical and our Spiritual well-being, a balance well-maintained throughout the Qur’an.
The parallel is therefore quite literal, seeing that the togetherness of compatible mates is a garment that: A. Protects each other physically and emotionally; B. Embellishes each other’s lives on this earth; C. Creates an atmosphere of calmness (sakeena) which generates Awareness–… all leading to a fulfillment of their physical, psychological and spiritual potential.
- But Verse 187 is about Fasting (spousal relationship was mentioned in passing) and so it continues, setting the time for abstention from food, drink and sexual relations, from before dawn till nightfall.
The purpose for Fasting is again mentioned: Awareness; Taqwa.
The rewards of Awareness are manifold, as mentioned in other verses:
“O you Who have attained Faith!
If you are aware of God, He will grant you a criterion (to judge between right and wrong), erase (all record of) your misdeeds and forgive you, for God is the Lord of grace unbounded.”
HQ: 8:29
“O ye who believe! Heed God, and believe in His Messenger: He will give you two portions of His mercy, and provide for you a light by which you will walk, and forgive you, and God is Forgiving, Merciful.”
HQ: 57:28
Since we are both body and soul, Fasting is designed as an exercise to help raise our spiritual awareness. As we focus on our spiritual well-being, we temporarily put our physical needs aside. This gives us greater strength to face decision-making, besides providing a boost to self-esteem. It therefore comes as no surprise that Ramadan is the time when many Muslims make their grand self-improvement decisions, whether by attempting to lose bad habits, or by gaining good ones. Children practice ‘Fasting’ too when they really want to, in a ‘make-believe’ exercise we call ‘Steps up the Minaret.’ They usually have a full meal during the day, then ‘fast’ till Sunset. This teaches them the value of delayed gratification. It also brings people together at ‘Iftar’ tables all over the Muslim world; hardly anyone is left by friends, family, or caretakers to break their fast completely alone.
A note to the novice: Adults who have not fasted growing up, may find it quite difficult at first.
- Verse 188 gives the community the responsibility of safe-guarding each other’s wealth and property, telling them to uphold what they know is just, and deny themselves what they know rightfully belongs to someone else –even when they can obtain it by legal judgment.
- And there is mention in this verse of the word ‘Ithm,’ which literally means ‘hindrance; delay,’[3] and is of great significance in today’s legal process. People should not unjustly drown one another in matters that could take years to be resolved. Moral responsibility guiding the legalities… how wonderful is that? (See Y. Ali’s note 201.)
Verse 189 is well-explained by both M. Asad and Y. Ali.
- Verses 190-194 discuss self-defense as justification for war, prohibiting aggression, for indeed God does not love aggressors. Read M. Asad’s notes 167-172.
We find in these verses a partial statement that is often taken out of context and misquoted thus:
“And slay them wherever you may come upon them..”
It is often misquoted (as seen above) by people whose intention it is to prove that aggression is ordained in the Qur’an. Check out the amazing TEDxRainier talk given by Lesley Hazleton on this very topic. Such misquoting goes on, despite the fact that the preceding verse has 3 anti-aggression indicators which are mostly overlooked, while the rest of the same verse makes it absolutely clear that, in response to driving people out of their land, oppressors deserve to be killed or driven out from where they do not belong; land must return to its rightful owners. Fitnah is literally a ‘trial by fire’ which causes the separation of ores,[4] here probably related to the separation of people from one another and from their own land. We can see this today all around us, where many displaced persons say they wish they had died with their loved ones:
“And kill them wherever you may come upon them and drive them out of where they drove you out, for displacement is even worse than killing, and do not fight them at the Holy Mosque until/(so as not to happen that they) fight you in it, but if they fight against you, kill them,
such shall be the recompense of the Deniers.”
- Verse 195 is about spending in God’s cause, but most Muslims will recognize this verse when it is partially quoted as follows:
“… let not your own hands throw you into destruction..”
If you ask anyone what it means, they’d say that God is telling you not to put yourself in harm’s way. Many do not realize that the statement is an excerpt from a longer verse, and that right before these familiar words is a call to spend freely in God’s cause. Furthermore, right after these words is a call to persevere in bountiful conduct.
Unfortunately, with partial quoting, a verse loses much of its meaning.
Misquoting, or partial quoting, has serious ramifications. We shall notice a lot of that throughout our study.
- With Verse 196 we begin a section that discusses the Hajj and Omra to Mecca (Pilgrimage and Visit), well-explained by both Yusuf Ali (notes 212-216) and Muhammad Asad (notes 174-179). There will be more on Hajj tomorrow.
But before we leave, we must note that the end of our section today says that God is “شديد العقاب” -the word ‘iqaab’ translated by Asad as retribution and by Ali as punishment, both correctly reflecting the common understanding of the word. The common understanding of the word ‘Iqaab/ عقاب’ as punishment however, is not accurate. A better way to understand that verse would be to say that God is ‘Severe in (meting out) consequence.’ That is because the word in all its forms (عاقبة/عقاب)is about something that comes literally at the ‘heels/عقب’ of something else, like night and day, each ‘in sequence’ after the other.[5] In fact, all our deeds have a ‘aaqibah’ which could be negative for negative deeds (see HQ7:103), and could also be positive (see HQ7:128). Each is followed by its own ‘consequence.’ That is a much better word to use as we raise our children.
Enough said!
Tomorrow’s reading is from verse 197-210.
Peace unto all!
[1] ” رَيَشَ: يَدُلُّ عَلَى حُسْنِ الْحَالِ، وَمَا يَكْتَسِبُ الْإِنْسَانُ مِنْ خَيْرٍ. فَالرِّيشُ: الْخَيْرُ. وَالرِّيَاشُ: الْمَالُ.
وَمِنَ الْبَابِ رِيشُ الطَّائِرِ. وَيُقَالُ مِنْهُ رِشْتُ السَّهْمَ أَرِيشُهُ رَيْشًا. وَارْتَاشَ فُلَانٌ، إِذَا حَسُنَتْ حَالُهُ.”
[2] Here too, we find English Etymology, which traces the development of words since earliest record, referring the word ‘rich’ back to sources such as Old High German, Norse, Celtic, adding: “The form of the word was influenced in Middle English by Old French riche “wealthy, magnificent, sumptuous…”
It seems to me that the complete disregard of Arabic cannot be justified seeing that the French ‘riche’ and the Arabic ‘reesh/ريش’ are of identical pronunciation and meaning; the word ‘rich’ is obviously of Arabic source, unless one seeks to overlook the history of Islam in Europe. I hope and pray that the recoveries shown in this study will interest our youth and open a field of research to be pursued, if only for the sake of ‘truth.’ They could start by highlighting the fact that the word ‘Etymology’ itself comes from the Greek word ‘etymos,’ which means ‘true.’ It is time for the truth to be told.
[3] أثم: البطء والتأخُّر. يقال ناقة آثِمةٌ أي متأخِّرة… والإثم مشتقٌّ من ذلك، لأنَّ ذا الإثمِ بطيءٌ عن الخير متأخّر عنه.
[4] The definition of fitnah is the smelting of minerals by fire to extract gold from lesser ores.
[5] عقب: أصلانِ صحيحان: أحدُهما يدلُّ على تأخير شيء وإتيانِه بعد غيره. والأصل الآخَر يدلُّ على ارتفاعٍ وشدّة وصُعوبة.
كلُّ شيء يَعقُبُ شيئاً فهو عَقيبُه …بمنزلة اللَّيل والنهار إذا مضى أحدُهما عَقَبَ الآخَر.
عاقبةُ كلِّ شيءٍ: آخره، ويقال: استعقَبَ فلانٌ من فِعلهِ خيراً أو شرَّاً…. ويقولون: ستَجِد عقِبَ الأمر كخيرٍ أو كشرٍّ، وهو العاقبة.
وأمّا الأصل الآخر فالعَقَبة: طريقٌ في الجبل، وجمعها عِقابٌ. ثمّ رُدّ إلى هذا كلُّ شيءٍ فيه عُلوٌّ أو شدّة. وكلُّ طريقٍ يكون بعضُه فوقَ بعض فهي أَعْقاب.
ومن الباب: العُقاب من الطَّير، سمِّيت بذلك لشدَّتها وقُوّتها، وجمعه أَعْقُبٌ وعِقبانٌ، وهي من جوارح الطَّير. ثمّ شُبِّهت الرّاية بهذه العُقاب، كأنَّها تطير كما تَطير.