Surah al-Ankabut [ The Spider ] , 29....A State of Loss and Bewilderment

Beautiful Recitation of Surah Al Ankabut-The Spider- By Shaykh Nadir al-Qallawi with English translation,read by, Bilal Abdul Karim

http://vimeo.com/5699784









LIFE IS A TEST, a trial, which we all have to undergo. Once we pass from this life into the next we will find out how we have fared and whether we have passed the test or not. Those who pass will go to Paradise and those who fail will go to hell. The terms and the severity of the trial vary from one person to another, depending on many factors. This is because our obligations, vary according to our aptitudes, capabilities, intelligence, and willingness to exert ourselves and make sacrifices.

When Muhammad first addressed humankind with the message of Islam, the world was in a state of loss and bewilderment. The Arabs were idol-worshipers with no religion of their own. The Israelites had become an ethnocentric community who thought of themselves as the chosen people of God, and claimed true religion as their exclusive prerogative. The Christians had also radically changed and distorted the message of Christ and transformed him from a mere mortal into the son of God, the Archangel Gabriel, and God himself. God had become one in three and then three in one.

In a hadith qudsi, God is reported by Muhammad to have said:

I have created all my servants in a pristine state, but devils have turned them away from their original religion, telling them what is right and what is wrong, and commanding them to take false gods besides Me.
[ recited by Bukhari ]

We are told that God was displeased by most of humankind except a remnant of Jews and Christians. God said to Muhammad:  " I have sent you to be tested, and to test them......". It was to this rudderless world that Muhammad was sent.

The Prophet was charged with great task of leading mankind back to God and steering it onto the right path to restore its sanity and balance. How could one man possibly change the whole world? Of course it would be impossible without the help and guidance of God. With the odds seemingly greatly stacked against him, Muhammad embarked on his difficult mission. He initially built a small group of  sincere and dedicated followers around him and, with this early group of Muslims, struggled to break away from Arab paganism and take on the two most powerful and antagonistic forces in the world at the time: the Roman and the Persian empires. The first generation of Muslims never rested or let up until Islam had prevailed across the whole of Arabia, and were in the end poised to take on the the Roman and the Persian empires on their own  turf. Such a heavy burden became harder and more demanding, some Muslims were liable to give up and retreat.



" A Thematic Commentary On The Qur'an "
Shaykh Muhammad al-Ghazali
[ 1917 - 1998 ]





Mufti Menk on ayat 26 onwards to ayat 40,[ part 2 ]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWyLNH5F5pM