Surah Al A'raf , 7

 Surah al A'raf , 7

[ The Height ]

Justice and fairness are the best guarantee for peace and harmony among all members of the human race, and no one could have any reason to disregard or belittle the merits of these qualities. For success and salvation everyone should turn to God and obey Him.

Say: My Lord enjoineth justice. And set your faces upright (toward Him) at every place of worship and call upon Him, making religion pure for Him (only). He brought you into being, so return ye (unto Him). (29) A party hath He led aright, while error hath just hold over (another) party, for lo! they choose the devils for protecting friends instead of Allah and deem that they are rightly guided. (30)

False religious orders and teachings often advocate austerity, asceticism, obscurantism, and harsh disciplines in order to gain control over their followers and instill kindness and the love of God in their hearts. They encourage the tattered appearance and stern boorish ways of living. However, the teachings of Islam are a clear departure from this because they aim, first and foremost, at a person's heart and soul. They purify people's inner being, suppress their greed and selfishness and instill in them humility and kindness through pure unadulterated belief in the total submission to the one God. It is far more respectable that one dress decently and appropriately for prayer, for example, than appear in tattered clothes. The surah endorses that, saying: " O Children of Adam! Look to your adornment at every place of worship, and eat and drink, but be not prodigal. Lo! He loveth not the prodigals." (31)  The Prophet is reported to have advised: " Eat what you wish to eat, and wear what you wish to wear, but avoid excess and ostentation. "

Excessive consumption and extravagant living and appearance lead to vice and encourage overindulgence.Religion ought not to become a game of sport or a mean for showing off one's wealth or possessions.  In seeking success in the life hereafter, one would be much better off not to allow oneself to be so strongly attracted or attached to worldly enjoyment and aggrandizement. On the other hand, austerity and the wearing of rags for their own sake will not bring one closer to God. either. God question the wisdom and use of misplaced austere tendencies saying: " Say: Who hath forbidden the adornment of Allah which He hath brought forth for His bondmen, and the good things of His providing? Say: Such, on the Day of Resurrection, will be only for those who believed during the life of the world. Thus do we detail Our revelations for people who have knowledge." (32]

God, in other words, has provided these good things and it pleases Him that people should enjoy them and use them for their happiness and pleasure. This is emphasized by:  

Say: Who hath forbidden the adornment of Allah which He hath brought forth for His bondmen, and the good things of His providing? Say: Such, on the Day of Resurrection, will be only for those who believed during the life of the world. Thus do we detail Our revelations for people who have knowledge. (32) Say: My Lord forbiddeth only indecencies, such of them as are apparent and such as are within, and sin and wrongful oppression, and that ye associate with Allah that for which no warrant hath been revealed, and that ye tell concerning Allah that which ye know not.  "(33) 

So there we have it. God has allowed humans the use and enjoyment of all He has created on this world, but has forbidden excessiveness and acts that are harmful to people personally and collectively, or to the environment around us. We have seen people wearing certain type of clothes to show piety and religious rectitude but are very haughty and arrogant, even rude, in their behavior  and attitudes. The prophet has pointed out that God dislikes a person who displays arrogance and conceit. The emphasis in Islam, is on purity of heart and sincerity of motives that drive us to selfless action. These, to millions of people, can only come as a result of unwavering belief in the one God and total  devotion and submission to Him alone. Left to their own religious instincts and common sense, people would not seek to worship several gods. Polytheism is the byproduct of ignorance and lack of religious maturity and enlightenment. Thus, we read that the things God has forbidden include taking, " Say: My Lord forbiddeth only indecencies, such of them as are apparent and such as are within, and sin and wrongful oppression, and that ye associate with Allah that for which no warrant hath been revealed, and that ye tell concerning Allah that which ye know not." (33) 

The surah makes it clear that people's instinctive religious tendencies have been instilled in them ever since they are created.

And (remember) when thy Lord brought forth from the Children of Adam, from their reins, their seed, and made them testify of themselves, (saying): Am I not your Lord? They said: Yea, verily. We testify. (That was) lest ye should say at the Day of Resurrection: Lo! of this we were unaware; (172) Or lest ye should say: (It is) only (that) our fathers ascribed partners to Allah of old and we were (their) seed after them. Wilt Thou destroy us on account of that which those who follow falsehood did? (173) 

This indicates quite clearly that one cannot blame one's society or environment, no matter how overpowering they might be. When it  comes to belief and faith, one must listen to one's own inner feelings and instincts which will lead one to believe in the one God and reject all other false creeds and ideologies. Rational thinking and common sense reject the idea that something can exist or come about without an instigator or an initiator behind it. A " zero option " of creation, that the world is created out of nothing, simply does not add up or make sense. People have always felt a need to identify the origins of life and the world around them. Their feelings and their minds have always led them to long for the "Supreme Power " which commands and control all. But who or what is this " Supreme Being?"

In the Qur'an, God strongly reprehends those who seek to identify God through pure speculation and conjecture: :"  Who doeth greater wrong than he who inventeth a lie concerning Allah or denieth Our tokens. (For such) their appointed portion of the Book (of destiny) reacheth them till, when Our messengers come to gather them, they say: Where (now) is that to which ye cried beside Allah? They say: They have departed from us. And they testify against themselves that they were disbelievers." (37)

Habit and social and cultural conditioning can be responsible for one's confusion and perplexity over the recognition and appreciation of God. A well-fed person living in luxury can forget the pain of hunger and starvation just as a healthy person forgets the suffering of illness or disease. Both fail to appreciate the harsh realities of life and become self satisfied and complacent. Modern-day strident existentialist-positive-empiricist civilization, which is the legacy of past God-denying cultures, has lead to people to ignore past human experience and pretend that existence is a self-generating phenomenon in which there is no place for a Creator or a supreme Omnipotent God.

Hence the need for divine revelation. Its role has been to remind people of God and steer their thinking and their lives back on the track of His path. God says:

Lo! your Lord is Allah Who created the heavens and the earth in six Days, then mounted He the Throne. He covereth the night with the day, which is in haste to follow it, and hath made the sun and the moon and the stars subservient by His command. His verily is all creation and commandment. Blessed be Allah, the Lord of the Worlds! (54) 

As people go through life, they will experience happiness and grief, success and failure. They will ever be in need of God's help and sustenance and support. The surah calls to humankind thus:

(O mankind!) Call upon your Lord humbly and in secret. Lo! He loveth not aggressors. (55) Work not confusion in the earth after the fair ordering (thereof). and call on Him in fear and hope. Lo! the mercy of Allah is nigh unto the good. (56) 

Excerpt from " A Thematic Commentary On The Qur'an "
Muhammad al-Ghazali
[ 1917 - 1996 ]








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Commentary and Reflection by Prof Quraish Shihab :

ayat 37 - ayat 43

Part 1 :  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMLNGPWXi38

Part 2 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2wUogMKY7k

Part 3 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KjhXb6GyHw


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ayat 44 - ayat 51

Part 1 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KjhXb6GyHw

Part 2 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1smSYDvjc4

Part 3 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSAjI3gtuPI


ayat 52 - ayat 58

Part 1 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7OiOoS2iDM

Part 2 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5FvdAUN4k4

Part 3 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbC-vA9loks