Earth Hour & the message of Islam (special topic)

God says
O children of Adam! Beautify yourselves for every act of worship ; and eat and drink [freely], but do not waste: verily, He does not love the wasteful! - Q. 7:31

Prophet said

“(God disliked that you) squander possessions”– H: Bukhari and Muslim. N: Mughirah.

Once the Prophet passed by his companion Sa`ad who was performing ablution (ie washing before prayers). As Sa'ad was washing himself more than required, he asked, “Why this extravagance?” Sa`ad enquired: "Is there any extravagance in ablution? “Yes” said the Prophet, “Even though you may be doing it from a flowing rivulet.” ‘Manage your resources and do not waste even if a resource is in plenty’ is the message of Islam for the people to remember during, and after the Earth Hour (Saturday 29th of March 2009 between 8:30–9:30, local time, wherever you are).
Let us make every hour for the Earth by living moderately and avoiding waste.Here are three areas, as an example, where waste of resource should be stopped in homes. Electricity, Food and Water. Please visit http://tinyurl.com/EcoCal

This being a topical message, we will resume the series next Friday.

2.11. HUMILITY

God says

Call your Sustainer humbly, and in the secrecy of your hearts…. Q.7: 55

Behold, [only] those who attained to faith and do righteous deeds and humble themselves before their Sustainer -- [only] they are destined for paradise, and there shall they abide! ---Q.11: 23

….And give thou [O Muhammad] the glad tidings [of God’s acceptance] unto all who are humble – all whose hearts tremble with awe whenever God is mentioned, and all who patiently bear whatever ill befalls them, and all who are constant in prayer and spend on others out of whatever We provide for them as sustenance.* -- Q.22: 34,35 *Ar-rizq (“provision of sustenance”) applies to all that may be of benefit to man, whether it be concrete (like food, property, offspring, etc.) or abstract (like knowledge, piety, etc.). The “spending on others” is mentioned here in one breath with God-consciousness and prayer because it is precisely in such selfless acts that true piety comes to its true fruition.

And [God renders Satan’s aspersions null and void] so that they who are endowed with [innate] knowledge might know that this [divine writ] is the truth from thy Sustainer, and that they might believe in it, and that their hearts might humbly submit unto Him…. Q.22: 54

Prophet said

1. “God revealed to me: you shall be modest towards each other till nobody can boast over the other and oppress him”-- Hadis Qudsi: Muslim. N: Iyaz-b-Himar.

2. “Whoever humbles himself for God, is elevated by Him”-- H: Muslim. N: Abu Hurairah.

3. A man came to the Prophet and said: O the best of creation! The Prophet said, “That was Abraham”* --H: Muslim. N: Anas.

*This was said by the Prophet out of his sheer modesty because only the messenger of Islam was the world prophet: “We have sent you as (an evidence of our) grace towards all the worlds” (Q21:107), The significance of prophet Abraham is that Judaism, Christianity as well as Islam are Abrahamic religions because Moses, Jesus and Muhammad were his decendants.

4. “Don’t praise me too much just as the Christians praised the son of Mary, because I am only His servant. So say: Servant of God and His Messenger.” –H: Bukhari and Muslim. N: Omar.

2.10. FALSEHOOD (concluded)

God says

Not even a word can he utter but there is a watcher with him ever- present. -- Q.50:18

… and He bears witness that the hypocrites are indeed false [in the declaration of their faith]. -- Q.63: 1

Nay, but their hearts are corroded by all [the evil] that they were wont to do!* Nay, verily, from [the grace of] their Sustainer shall they be debarred; … ” – Q.83: 14-17

*Persistence in wrong doing gradually deprives one of all consciousness of moral responsibility and, hence, of the ability to visualize the fact of God’s ultimate judgment.

Behold, this [divine writ] is indeed a word that cuts between truth and falsehood* and is no idle tale. Q. 86:13,14

*Lit., “a decisive word, or “word of ditinction”, i.e., between the true and the false.
Q.89:14 – for, verily, thy Sustainer is ever on the watch! -- Q.89:14

Prophet said

1. “Whoever gives up falsehood which is void, there is built a mansion for him in a corner of paradise”-- Fragment of a Tradition quoted by Tirmizi on the authority of Anas.

2. “Liar is not he who makes peace among men, speaks good and promotes good” – H: Bukhari and Muslim. N: Umme Kulsum-b-Oqbah. Muslim added: she said that she did not hear the Prophet giving permission of false-speaking except in three (situations) : war, restoring peace among men, and discourse between husband and wife (in order to please each other).

2.10. FALSEHOOD (continued)

God says

….Shun, then, [all that God has forbidden and, most of all,] the loathsome evil of idolatrous beliefs and practices; shun every word that is untrue,* [inclining] towards God, [and] turning away from all that is false …. Q.22: 30

*I.e., not merely actual, concrete images of false deities but also, in its widest sense, everything that is associated with false beliefs and practices or with a tendency to “worship” false values.

And [know that the true servant of God are only] those who [also] never bear witness to what is false and [who], whenever they pass by [people engaged in] frivolity, pass on with dignity; -- Q.25: 72

And who could be more wicked than he who invents lies about God,* and gives the lie to the truth as soon as it is placed before him! …. Q.39: 32

*Here, the “inventing lies about God” alludes to the attribution of a share in His divinity to anyone or anything beside Him, whether it be a belief in a plurality of deities, or in an imaginary “incarnation” of God in human form.

Prophet said

1. “Whoever persists with falsehood both in speech and action should know that God is not in need of his giving up his food and drink * ” - Bukhari. N: Abu Hurairah.

*I.e., “does not care for his fasting,” the object of performing fast being spiritual conquest by defeating the forces of passion, false talk and judgements, backbiting, blasphemy, slander, curse etc.