Friday, March 20, 2009

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.