22. DUTY TOWARDS PARENTS

God says:

O our Sustainer, Grant Thy forgiveness unto me, and my parents, and to all believers, on the Day on which the [last] reckoning will come to pass! - Q.14: 41

thy Sustainer has ordained that you shall worship none but Him. And do good to [thy] parents. Should one of them, or both, attain to old age in thy care, never say “Ugh” [or "Uff”] to them or scold them, but always speak unto them with reverent speech, and spread over them the wings of thy tenderness and say: “O my sustainer! Bestow Thy grace upon them, even as they cherished and reared me when I was a child!” -Q.17: 23,24

Now [among the best of deeds which] We have enjoined upon man [and woman] is goodness towards his parents Q.31: 14….[hence, O man,] be grateful towards Me and towards thy parents...- Q.31: 14
Thus, gratitude towards parents, who were instrumental in one’s coming to life, is here stipulated as a concomitant to man’s gratitude towards God.

[Revere thy parents;] yet should they endeavour to ascribe divinity, side by side with Me, to something which thy mind cannot accept [as divine], obey them not; but [even then] bear them company in this world with kindness, and follow the path of those who turn towards Me. - Q.31: 15


Prophet said:

1. When asked about the rights of parents over their children the Prophet said:“They are your paradise and your hell” – H: Ibn Majah. N: Abu Omamah.

2. A man asked whether his dead mother would be rewarded if he gave alms for her. “Yes” replied the Prophet. – H: Bukhari and Muslim. N: Bibi Ayesha.

3. A man came and asked whether any obedience was possible to parents after their demise. “Yes” replied the Prophet, “ to offer prayer for them, to seek forgiveness for them, to fulfill their promises, to keep affinity with those who are related to you through them, and to honour their friends” – H: Abu Daud and Ibn Majah. N: Abu Osaid-as-Sayedi.

4. “May his nose cleave to the ground” – the Messenger of God said this three times. They asked: Whose O Apostle of God? He replied, “He who got the opportunity to serve his parents in old age – one or both of them – but failed to get himself enter the paradise.” – H: Muslim. N: Abu Hurairah.

21. Action For God

God says:


And strive hard in God’s cause with all the striving that is due to Him: It is He who has elected you [to carry His message], and has laid no hardship on you in [anything that pertains to] religion - Q.22: 78
The absence of any “hardship” in the religion of Islam is due to several factors: (1) it is free from any dogma or mystical proposition which might make the Qur’anic doctrine difficult to understand or might even conflict with man’s innate reason; (2) it avoids all complicated ritual or system of taboos which would impose undue restrictions on man’s everyday life; (3) it rejects all self-mortification and exaggerated asceticism, which must unavoidably conflict with man’s true nature “And thus have We willed you to be a community of the middle way, so that [with your lives of moderation] you might bear witness to the truth before all mankind..” (2 :143) ; and (4) it takes fully into account the fact that “ human being has been created week” (4 : 28)

I have not created the invisible beings (which include angels) and men to any end other than that they may (know and) worship Me. - Q.51: 56
Thus, the innermost purpose of creation of all rational beings is their cognition (ma`rifah) of the existence of God and, hence, their conscious willingness to conform their own existence to whatever they may perceive His will and plan: and it is this twofold concept of cognition and willingness that gives deepest meaning to what the Qur’an describes as “worship” (ibadah)… . As the next verse shows; this spiritual call does not arise from any supposed “need” on the part of the Creator, who is self-sufficient and infinite in his power but is designed as an instrument for the inner development of the worshipper, who by the act of his conscious self-surrender to all pervading Creative Will may hope to came closer to an understanding of that Will and, thus, closer to God, Himself.

Prophet said:

Whoever (acts in order to) seek pleasure of God (even though it invites) displeasure of people, for him God will be sufficient as a protector; and whoever seeks pleasure of people even though it would displease God, God (does not protect him and) hands him over to people (to face their displeasure) – H: Tirmizi. N: Bibi Ayesha.

Whoever loves for the sake of God, hates (e.g., sin) for the sake of God, gives alms for the sake of God, and withholds (himself) for the sake of God has indeed perfect faith.” – H: Abu Dadud and Tirmrzi. N: Abu Umamah.

Worship of God is very wide term of which understanding of the Qur’an, our guide-book, is naturally, of great importance. In order to understand the Qur’anic message it is necessary that one should not be hasty with the Qur’an, as has been advised in 20:14 containing the famous supplication: “O my Sustainer, cause me to grow in knowledge,“ Instead, one should act upon what God says in verse 73:4 “…recite the Qur’an calmly and distinctly, with thy mind attuned to its meanings.”

The Message of the Qur’an is addressed to every representative of God, men and women irrespective of cast, creed or colour. Muslims, by and large, have forgotten their responsibility towards the fellow representatives: “You are indeed the best community that has ever been brought forth for [the good of] mankind: you enjoin the doing of what is right and forbid the doing of what is wrong, and you believe in God” Q.3:110. Therefore, don’t you think, that by way introduction to the Qur’anic message, you should inform about the Friday Post to your friends, Muslims as well as Non Muslims. (Make sure they read the introduction, Makers of Tomorrow, to begin with. You know the title is always mentioned on the right side. Click it and its there.)

(Yellow text is by Asad. Green text is by me.)

20. FATE AND FREE WILL OF MAN

God says:

Behold, as for those of you who turned away [from their duty] on the day when the two hosts met in battle [of Badr] – Satan caused them to stumble only by means of something that they [themselves] had done. But now God has effaced this sin of theirs: verily, God is much-forgiving, forbearing - Q.3: 155
This is an illustration of a significant Qur’anic doctrine, which can be thus summarized: “Satan’s influence” on man is not the primary cause of sin but its first consequence: that is to say, a consequence of a person’s own attitude of mind which in moments of moral crisis induces him to choose the easier, and seemingly more pleasant, of the alternatives open to him, and thus to become guilty of a sin, whether by commission or omission. Thus, God’s “causing” a person to commit a sin is conditional upon the existence, in the individual concerned, of an attitude of mind which makes him prone to commit such a sin: which, in its turn, presupposes man’s free will – that is, the ability to make, within certain limitation, a conscious choice between two or more possible courses of action.

Whatever good happens to thee is from God; and whatever evil befalls thee is from thyself - Q.4: 79
There is no contradiction between this statement and the preceding one that “all is from God”. In the world-view of the Qur’an God is the ultimate source of all happening: consequently, all good that comes to man and all evil that befalls him flows, in the last resort, from God’s will. However, not everything that man regards as “evil fortune” is really, in its final effect, evil – for, “it may well be that you hate a thing the while it is good for you, and it may well be that you love a thing the while it is bad for you: and God knows, whereas you do not know ” (2: 216). Thus, many an apparent “evil” may sometimes be no more than a trial and a God-willed means of spiritual growth through suffering, and need not necessarily be the result of a wrong choice or a wrong deed on the part of the person thus afflicted. It is, therefore, obvious that the “evil” or “evil fortune” of which this verse speaks has a restricted connotation, inasmuch as it refers to evil in the moral sense of the word: that is to say, to suffering resulting from the actions or the behavior of the person concerned, and this in accordance with the natural law of cause and effect which God has decreed for all His creation, and which the Qur’an describes as “the way of God” (sunnat Allah). For all such suffering man has only himself to blame, since “God does not wrong anyone by as much as at atom’s weight.” (4: 40).And they who give the lie to Our messages are deaf and dumb, in darkness deep. Whomever God wills, He lets go astray; and whomever He wills, He places upon a straight way - Q.6:39 God invariably shows the right path to everyone who is willing to follow it…. Since concept of morality is linked with man’s God-given-freedom of choice between good and evil, God does not “impose” His guidance upon man but leaves to him to accept or reject it.

Nothing shall be accounted unto man but what he is striving for - Q.53:39



Prophet said:

1. “No servant of God (truly) believes until he believes in four (things): he bears witness that there is no deity but God who sent me(Muhammad) with truth; he believes in death and resurrection after death; and he believes in pre-destination” – H: Tirmizi and Ibn Majah. N: Ali.

2. “(God said:) O my servants, it is but your deeds that I reckon up for you and then recompense you.” – H: Qudsi: Muslim. N: Abu Zarr.

Several traditions and Quranic verses confirm pre-destination, while several others confirm freedom of will. Followers of Sharia should, therefore, believe in co-existence of both. We ,the representatives of God, should turn our attention to 59 :1 “All that is in the heavens and all that is on the earth glorifies God’s limitless glory : for He alone is almighty, truly wise.”

19. The holy words

God says:

Your God is the One God: there is no deity except Him,- Q2: 163

Muhammad is the Apostle of God. - Q48: 29

Prophet said:

1. (Anas reported that the Prophet told Mu’aaz) “Whoever testifies (with utmost sincerity at heart) that there is no deity but God and Muhammad is the Apostle of God, God will make hell unlawful for him.” Mu’aaz asked whether he should inform the people who would be happy to know. He said, “(No) as in that case they will sit idle.” Mu’aaz innocently communicated it at the time of his death. – H: Bukhari and Muslim.

2. “A Muslim, when he will be asked in the grave, will testify that there is no deity but God, and that Muhammad is the Apostle of God. That is because of the saying of God: ‘God will set those firm who sincerely believed in the establishment of (the holy) Word in the life of this world.’ ” – H: Bukhari, Muslim and others. N: Bara`a bin A’zeb.3.

“…. Acceptance* of Islam eliminates whatever (sin) was previously (committed)…” --H: Muslim. N: Amr bin al-‘Aas

*Acceptance takes place only after one sincerely testifies the Holy Words: LA ILAHA ILLALLAAHU MUHAMMADUR RASOOLULLAAH (pronounce ‘ U ’ as in the word ‘put’). It means: ‘ There is no deity except God and Muhammad is the Apostle of God.’