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Today's Reminder

March 29, 2024 | Ramadan 19, 1445

Living The Quran

Saba (Sheba)
Chapter 34: Verse 36

Wealth & Property
"Say: My Lord gives in abundance, or gives in scant measure, to whomever He wills; but most people do not understand."

The question of wealth and property, and how much someone has of the means of luxury and pleasure, is one that many people wonder. They are troubled when they see that the wicked, the corrupt and the perpetrators of evil have whatever they wish for of wealth and power, while those who are virtuous, good and honest are deprived of it all.

Some tend to think that God only gives in abundance to someone who enjoys a privileged position with Him. Others may even doubt whether goodness, honesty and virtue have any real value, since they often go hand in hand with poverty and deprivation. Therefore, the Quran separates the riches and luxuries of this world from the values which God approves of. It states that God grants sustenance in abundance or scant measure to whomever He wills, and this has nothing to do with Him being pleased or displeased with anyone.

A person's wealth, position or offspring in this life bear no indication of that person's standing with God. Such standing is determined on the basis of how people behave.

Compiled From:
"In The Shade of The Quran" - Sayyid Qutb, Vol. 14, p. 169-171

From Issue: 508 [Read original issue]

Understanding The Prophet's Life

Earning Love

Intelligent people are always hunting for opportunities to earn people's love.

Once Abdullah ibn Masud - may Allah be pleased with him - was walking with the Prophet, peace be upon him, and as they walked by a tree, the Prophet asked him to climb the tree and break off a twig to clean his teeth with. Ibn Masud climbed up the tree, since he was very slim and small, and began to break off a twig. Meanwhile, the wind blew, blowing his garment and exposing his shins that were very thin and bony. When people saw this, they laughed.

At that point, the Prophet said, "What are you laughing at, the thinness of his shins? By Allah, they are heavier than Mount Uhud in the Scales!" [Ahmad]

How good must Abdullah ibn Masud have felt when the Prophet defended and praised him after the people had laughed at him?

Compiled From:
"Enjoy Your Life"- Muhammad 'Abd Al-Rahaman Al-"Arifi, pp. 440, 441

From Issue: 549 [Read original issue]

Blindspot!

Conscience and Consistency

Defending one's principles, exercising a duty of conscience or consistency, and asserting one's independence in the face of all blind loyalties (be they ideological, religious or nationalist) certainly demands an ethics, but it also takes willpower and courage. We have to face the criticisms from within, from men and women who regard this attitude as an act of desertion or betrayal that plays into the hands of the 'other' or the 'enemy'.

In the new fictitious relationships between 'civilizations' that are 'clashing', emotions run high and blindness runs deep: Jews who denounce Israeli policies or the silence of their co-religionists, Muslims who denounce the attitudes of countries with a Muslim majority or the behaviour of certain extremists and the Americans and Europeans who denounce the inconsistencies and lies of Western politicians are seen as men and women who, respectively, nurture self-hatred, act against the interests of the umma or have a guilt complex and outdated 'leftist' ideals that lead them to declare their guilt endlessly, and dangerously. The virulence of rejection from within, by one's own community of affiliation, is proportional to its lack of self-confidence and sense of insecurity: a critical attitude is seen as a betrayal from within, and as marking the emergence of a 'fifth column' that is working and plotting on behalf of the 'enemy'. When we are faced with this fear and hyper-emotionalism, it is difficult to argue rationally that this independence is based on a rational ethics, and that it is not a matter of 'playing into the other's hands', but of 'being reconciled with oneself' and one's ideals. It is a matter of conscience and dignity.

Compiled From:
"The Quest for Meaning" - Tariq Ramadan, p. 107

From Issue: 777 [Read original issue]