2.38. SILENCE AND REFLECTION (to be continued)

God says

Consider the daybreak and the ten nights!* Consider the multiple of One!** Consider the night as it runs its course!*** Consider all this – could there be, to anyone endowed with reason, a [more] solemn evidence of truth?**** -- Q.89: 1-5
*The “daybreak” (fajr) apparently symbolizes man’s spiritual awakening; hence, the “ten nights” is an allusion to the last third of the month of Ramadan, in the year 13 before the hijrah, , during which Muhammad received his first revelation and was thus enabled to contribute to mankind’s spiritual awakening.
** Lit., “the even and the odd” or “the one”: i.e., the multiplicity of the creation as contrasted with the oneness and uniqueness of the Creator. The concept of “even number” implies the existence of more than one of the same kind: in other words, it signifies everything that that has a counterpart or counterparts and, hence, a definite relationship with other things (cf. the term azwaj in 36:36, referring to the polarity evident in all creation). As against this the term al-watr or al-witr – primarily denotes “that which is single” or “one” and is, hence, one of the designations given to God – since “there is nothing that could be compared with Him” (112:4) and “nothing like unto him” (42:11).
*** An allusion to the night of spiritual darkness which is bound to “runs its course”— i.e., to disappear as soon as man becomes truly conscious of God.
**** Lit., “a more solemn affirmation”: i.e., a convincing evidence of the existence and oneness of God.

Consider the human self, and how it is formed in accordance with what it is meant to be,* and how it is imbued with moral failings as well as with consciousness of God!** -- Q. 91:7,8
*…The reference to man and that which constitutes the “human personality”, as well as the implied allusion to the extremely complex phenomenon of a life-entity in which bodily needs and urges, emotions and intellectual activities are so closely intertwined as to be indissoluble, follows organically upon a call to consider the inexplicable grandeur of the universe – so far as it is perceptible and comprehensible to man – as a compelling evidence of God’s creative power.
** Lit., “and [consider] that which has inspired it with its immoral doings (fujooraha) and its God-consciousness (taqwaha)” – i.e., the fact that man is equally liable to rise to great spiritual heights as to fall into utter immorality is an essential characteristic of human nature as such. In its deepest sense, man’s ability to act wrongly is a concomitant to his ability to act rightly: in other words, it is this inherent polarity of tendencies which gives to every “right” choice a value and, thus, endows man with moral free will.


Prophet said

“Ponder over the creation of God. Don’t ponder over God…” – Ihya of Imam Ghazali. H: Abu Nayeem. N: Ibn ‘Abbas.

The wise and the foolish:
“A wise person is one who keeps a watch over his desires and passions, checks himself from that which is harmful and strives for that which will be of benefit after death; and a foolish person is one who submits to the cravings and desires of his self, and (then) ask God (for their fulfillment)”. – H: Tirmizi. N: Abu y‘ala bin Shaddad bin Aus.