| THE BELIEVERS (AL MU'MINUN) | |||||||||||||||||
| REVELATION | INTRODUCTION | ||||||||||||||||
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IN THE NAME OF ALLAH, THE MOST BENEFICENT, THE MOST MERCIFUL. INDEED, SUCCESSFUL ARE THE BELIEVERS. WHO ARE HUMBLE IN THEIR PRAYERS. AND THEY KEEP ALOOF FROM WHAT IS VAIN. AND WHO ARE ACTIVE IN DEEDS OF CHARITY. AND WHO GUARD THEIR PRIVATE PARTS; EXCEPT FOR THOSE JOINED TO THEM IN THE MARRIAGE BOND, OR (THE CAPTIVES) WHOM THEIR RIGHT HANDS POSSESS, FOR THEN THEY ARE NOT BLAMEWORTHY. BUT WHOEVER SEEKS TO GO BEYOND THAT, THESE ARE THEY THAT EXEED THE LIMITS. AND THOSE WHO FAITHFULLY OBSERVE THEIR TRUSTS AND THEIR COVENANT. AND WHO GUARD THEIR PRAYERS. THESE ARE THE HEIRS, WHO WILL INHERIT THE HIGHEST PARADISE; THERE THEY WILL ABIDE. |
In this chapter, there is an invitation towards belief in God and the Hereafter. It distinguishes the believers from nonbelievers by mentioning about the decent and dignified charactristics of the believers and demoralizing and bad deeds of the other groups. After this there is naration of good news and bad ones as appropriate to the situation. Also is mentioned about the punishments of the Hereafter. How ignorant were the nations and groups who denied the invitation of the Lord towards truth and then got inflicted with the Divine wrath. This Divine Invitation dates from the very past of the human race to the present and then extends into the future also. Hence for instance is mentioned about the times of Noah and of Jesus Christ as lessons from History. And there is much more for the ones who try to understand and practice the truth with a pure heart. | ||||||||||||||||
| TAFSEER | |||||||||||||||||
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"INDEED SUCCESSFUL ARE THE BELIEVERS" Success, victory and achievement of the desired aims is of two kinds; successes in this world and the successes in the Hereafter. The examples of the successes in this world revolve mostly about getting happy regarding living, wealth, honour. For comparison consider about four achievements of the hareafter such as; living without death, contentment and satisfaction without deprivation, honour and dignity without disgrace and knowledge without attribution of ignorance. That is why it is said; the real life is only the life in the Hereafter. In fact the real success knows no failures and is ever destined to achieve its aim. The verse comments on one of the very basic concepts of human Psychology about the wish to lead a life full of success. It is important to avoid satanic allusions about success and be committed for the real success that can shape our lives. Righteous, pious and God-fearing deeds, noble moral characteristics and Belief and Faith based on Truth and Revelation are the real successes of a man in this life . Life is a divine gift not to wasted just for gaining worldly achievements and enjoyments without a full committment towards Allah. The BELIEF and FAITH (Iman) is submission and affirmation with committment to its requisites. In Quranic revelation the belief in Allah is affirmation of His Unity, His Messengers, the Day of Judgement and the holy revealed scriptures including following them in all. That is why we find in the Quran that wherever it narrated about the believers with decent merits or blessed rewards, it adds Virtious Deeds along with the mentioning of Belief e.g [an-Nahl 16:97] "Whoever does Good whether male or female and he is a Believer, We will most certainly make him live a happy life, and We will most certainly give them their reward for the best of what they did." and also in [ar-Ra`d 13:29] "For those who Believe and work Righteousness, is (every) blessedness, and a beautiful place of (final) return." Just mere opinion about something without commitment and apparent after-effects is not called Belief and Faith (Iman). Belief is knwledge about something accompanied by certainity and assurance in such away that there is full expression of the committment to its requisites. But in contrast some people separate knowledge from its accompanying certainity and committment as in the case of wrongdoers committing ugly and harmful deeds. They know,at their hearts, the ugliness and harmfulness of their deeds but make lame execuses just to decieve themselves e.g. that these are just their bad habits. Allah said about them : [an-Naml 27:14] "And they denied them unjustly and proudly while their soul had been convinced of them; consider, then how was the end of the mischief-makers." "WHO ARE HUMBLE IN THEIR PRAYERS" Humbleness is a specific effect on aperson standing in front of a superior authority with particular reference to reverence of attention to anything else. It is the feeling of Godly devoutness and total committment just as if standing in the presence of Allah and asking for His Mercy. It is apparant that it is primarily a function of mind and then it is referred to other body parts ...as the Holy Prophet has said: Whose mind and heart have developed humbleness, his body parts follow that. Similarly it is mentioned in another place in the Holy Quran in chapter Taha 20:108 " On that day they follow the summoner, there is no crookedness in him, and the voices shall be humble before the Beneficent Lord so that you shall not hear aught but a soft sound." Humbleness in this context includes all the meanings referred to it like reverence, awe ( fear and standstillness of the body parts), restrcted movements of eyes and lowering of shoulders, bending of head, not moving right or left, accepting the magnificence of someone, complete attention, humility and submission. The first eight verses of this chapter narrate the virtues of the Believers as essential expressions of thier living and active Faith. These merits are rooted in their Belief in God and result in the achievement of desired goal of real success. For example Prayer (Salaat) signifies submission with humble devoutness in the Dignified and Exalted Presence of the Lord recognizing Him as a source of Honour and Blessings. A person cognizant of this fact gets immersed in the feelings of the true reality of his poor and dependant being. He uproots from his mind everything that deviates him towards vain discourses and distracts his attention away from the Lord. Only the truthfulness of his belief can let him achieve this goal of the purity of the soul. The reality of this humbleness is a logical consequence of his understandings like What else an absolutely deprived, dependant and poor person can do on meeting with the All-Giving Lord. He surely can never show that much of obediance as The Beneficent Lord really deserves. How can a low being avoid this when facing the Absolute Honour and Light. By this way a man get rewarded with a divine light. The fact is best illustrated in a saying from the Holy Prophet in the enlighted book 'al-kafi'as; Every truth has a reality and every reward has a light. PRACICAL IMPACTS OF BELIEF Religion is a social norm practiced by men in the societies of this world. We know that traditions of a social structure are related to the actions based upon their beleifs about themselves and the world around them. Hence these social norms differ as the tenets of faith and belief differ. The fact that this world has its beginning and an end from and towards the Lord is definitely evident and always proved. So for us there is an everlasting life. That is why virtues and all other deeds are not destined to meet extinction but will last as a perpetual bliss and comforts or vice vesa in the forever wolrd of the Hereafter. The one whose belief is pure works and plans confidently keeping in mind the pleasure and displeasure of his Lord. The main objective of his life is getting nearness to his Lord and seeking His pleasure. He struggles for the success of the Hereafter while using and dealing with the blessings of this world. In contrast is the one who has broken down his affair with the Lord despite the manifest warnings from revelation. He obstinately rejects revelation and says that there is only this life that ends by death. He does not believe in the Hereafter and then tries to live just for enjoyment as much as he can. He gathers knowledge of some working physical laws with a distorted faith .....so then he is destined to meet an utter disappointment. Religion is something very practical which stems out from our views about the Lord, the world and the man. It is not just a theory or philosophy without practice. As we know that theoretical knowledge deals with mere deductions and calculations, hence practical rules that come out from a belief system can be labelled as Practical Knowledge. That is why a man worshipping God and obeying His commands during life is acting in this world but remains connected with the Hereafter. So our Religious Invitation is a practical mode of life based on Faith. Faith here stands for being careful and devout about practical commandments that are demands of Belief in the Exalted truth of the Lord, His messengers, The Resurrection and the Divine Word brought by His prophets. The modes of our practices differ in their significance according the forces of reason operating behind them. That is why we as a rule do not act unless there is some attraction of any benefit or a fear of its harm or hazard. And then sometimes we are going to do a thing due to a primary valid reason but then change our decision on finding another reason that stops us proceeding further e.g. it is natural to eat something when you are hungry. This primary desire to eat when hungry is not absolute because we do not eat somthing which is harmful to our health. In reality our belief about the harmfulness of this particular thing operates in our minds and stops us from eating it. Our Faith in Allah manifests itself as virtous deeds and noble morals like Godly devoutness, humbleness and truthfulness. But this happen only when we loose all connections with the bad deeds and satanic discourses. THe desired state is loyality in Belief with full committment and nothing less than that e.g. the Holy Quran warns about certain deviant states like; "AND THEY KEEP ALOOF FROM WHAT IS VAIN." Vain is an act which has no benefit. It refers according to the situation because sometimes an act may be of no benefit with reference to one thing but may be very useful with reference to the other. In divine language, vain acts are those ones, which although not prohibited strictly, neither result in any benefit of the Hereafter primarily nor produce such an advantage of this world that ultimately supports a divine cause. The example of the second category is eating and drinking, which although regulated by hunger and thirst, result in gaining energy for performing acts of piety like obediance of the Lord and worship. Hence an act which does not result in the benefit of the Hereafter (directly or indirectly) is considered vain. And upon deep thinking, everything other than Wajibaat (compulsory)and Mustahibbaat (recommended), as explained in Islamic Jurisprudance, is vain. The Beneficent Lord promises help to the believers while practicing refrain from what is vain in the verse of al Nisa :31 "If you shun the great sins which you are forbidden, We shall expel out of you all the evil in you, and admit you to a gate of great honour." This keeping aloof from vain is very beneficial for the growth and progress of an individual. It keeps an individual concentrated about his affair with God and stops him moving along satanic discourses as well as deviations of his own self from the right path. It necessarily results in exaltation of his self above and away from the bad deeds. It also gives him time, energy and concentration for performing dignified acions and working on sublime causes. The reality of Belief dictates that as a believer establishes his relationship with the Lord of Magesty, Dignity and Exalted Being, he is rewarded an everlasting life full of bliss, from this Source of Honour, Grace and Blessings. Then he is not distracted from the Exalted Truth and do not respect the foolish ones acting in ignorance from the Gracious God. And when these ignorant call on him, he passes them by with grace and respectful integrity. | |||||||||||||||||
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