Surah Al Kahf - Ayah No 5

 Assalam o Alaikum. Juma Mubarak. We are a forgetful specie, so we need reminders. And I take this opportunity to remind you that Friday comes with countless Barakat and we never needed as much protection as Al Kahf offers. And as far as timing of its recitation is concerned, it preferably starts from sunset on Thursday to sunset on Friday. However, we may recite it on any day of the week. As a break from the norm, this blog post is also being shared after  sunset on Friday though reason was inability to find time to write despite being able to recite the Surah before Fajar today. This is just to assure you that I recite the Surah on preferable day like the way I propagate it every week. Always thought I lacked persuasive marketing skills but now it dawned upon me that I never came across a product as worthy as Al Quran/ Al Kahf and it is a sheer privilege to be a volunteer marketing agent of it. The owner of the product doesn't need to sell it, the users do. It doesn't cost anything except some conceptual clarity and straightening of thought process. What a profitable proposition? May Allah accept. Ameen

Today's Ayah is in sequel to Ayah 4 wherein Allah swt expressed His disapproval of some people of the book who mistakenly took His beloved Prophet Isa Ibn Maryam AS as His son.

Continuation of the subject into next Ayah also reflects gravity of this conceptual error. Difference between The Creator and the creation is like comparing a photon with the sunlight or  droplet with the Pacific or a particle of sand with the Sahara Desert. Also keep this exception in view that despite no comparison the sun, the Pacific and Sahara are finite entities with fixed shelf life. 

There are two important lessons for us to take home from this Ayah. Human understanding of issues changes from generation to generation and at times gets distorted. Like anthropologists claim that early humans believed in One God but over time their knowledge decayed and they started looking for answers of prayers in sun, trees, stones and fire. In short, whatever is taught to us as part of religious ideology, we must question its efficacy. And we are so lucky that our God is the only God who incites reflection and inquisitiveness. More lucky are those people who question ills in religious practices. Religion is perfect. Its God is perfect but us the executioners are imperfect rather ignorant of its real spirit. Secondly, the word Kibr is used by ALLAH swt for those who followed their forefathers' religious practices without doing their own homework on it. Also note that Kibr is derived from Takabbar i.e. Arrogance. And arrogance is direct outcome of ignorance. The same mistake committed by Iblees at the time of human creation. It is also pertinent to note that whatever we utter becomes binding on us. It is Allah's special blessing that He swt taught us speech and we must exercise extreme caution for what we say. It may appear that speech is given to us for free and we can make use of it freely but its double edged. Every freedom comes with a price and we ourselves are setting the standards. The lesser, calculated, soft and well weighed the speech, the lesser the accountability and vice versa.  

In nutshell, two lessons to take home from this Ayah: must question the form in which the religion is being passed on to you and watch your words.

kids' addiction of mobile devices - 1

For parents with growing kids, mobile devices are becoming a nuisance. I shall share my experiences of handling this pendamic (way bigger than COVID-19), concerns and way forward. It was a mistake buying kids mobile phones. Furthermore, letting them use cells unsupervised. Idea was self tutoring. Keeping pace with changing times. Before they pined to put their hands on peers' handsets, take the game to them. Equip them with marvel of human invention. Turn their palms into gateways to the oceans of info. But curiosity killed the cat. Presumed boon became a bane. Self tutoring quashed by Pubg. Marvel of human inventions turned its generation next into zombies. Aloof, engaged, embroiled & absent despite physical presence. Information diluted wisdom and it turned out to be the gateway to confusion.

In hindsight, we too were VCR generation. Fascination of watching Indian Nautankis in drawing rooms was way higher than its deep rooted ills. Hats off to Maulvi sahab who called it a tool of devil but never told us how a machine could decide what should it play. It was always us who consciously watched Indian & other nonsense. Which had short & longterm damaging effects. Yet, there were checks, supervision & deterrence. Whereas, handing over kids cell phones means hurling them into the sea of obscenity. Letting their purity of soul be contaminated. Making us accountable for this gross negligence. Rationing was the way out to control further damage. Hence, limited number of hours of daily mobile use followed by couple of hours on werkends only. It had to be gradual because during the process the urge to lay hands on a device was no less than that of highly addictive drugs. 

Protracted school closure & Zoom classes under COVID-19 circumstances gave kids an excuse to keep these devices for longer hours. And in no time, all the effort went down the drain because it doesn't take much to revive old addiction in same age bracket. 

So having explained the problem and method to contain this madness, we shall meet soon in Part-2 with some practical solutions. 

Surah Al Kahf - Ayah No 4

Juma Mubarak. A gentle reminder for recitation of Al Kahf or at least its first and last ten Ayahs on this Mubarak day. Although, Allah is privy to the deepest corner of our hearts. He swt knows it all, yet a reliable confidant. It is His mercy that He swt, despite knowing it all, keeps a veil over our failings. Let's take this opportunity & make a prayer, ' Dear Lord, I beg you to veil my failings in this life and shield me from shame in the next in front of Makhlooq'. This is a fair request. However, before we get carried away by our own wishes, the concept of Allah's rights and rights of others may be understood. This is really interesting and totally logical that Allah swt may forgive any oversight towards His obligations but He won't interfere in Human to Human dealings. Allah's mercy shall overpower His wrath and that is our only hope. However, we are not getting away rights of others, hence, the settlement of rights between the Humans is their own problem. Allah swt has made every single being the best of His creation and unique in identity. By giving us this grace, He swt made our salvation conditional with fulfilling rights of other fellow beings. So it seems that when Allah's anger is overcome by His mercy, our further survival on the Day of Judgment is in the hands of fellow beings. We need to keep our balance clear with fellow beings. This life is our only opportunity to do that. 

How do we fulfil this obligation towards fellow human beings? Firstly, keep our thoughts clean about others. Whoever, we come across, we must believe that he/ she is better than us. This absolves us from sin of arrogance/superiority committed by our arch enemy at the time of creation. Secondly, keep forgiving everyone. Say it in their face and ask their forgiveness. Taking opportunity, I ask your wholehearted forgiveness. Thirdly, instead of criticizing, pray for Hidayat of the person or resolution of their/ your own issues. Just these three steps shall make wonderful change in your lives and lives of the ones around you. 

Coming over to today's Ayah No 4, it would be pertinent to look at Ayah 3 & 5 as well to keep the things in context

How can Creator have offspring? Its insulting. Its beyond logic. It didn't go down well with the Creator that his most beloved Prophet Isa Ibn Mariyam (Jesus, son of Mary) was declared son of God or God incarnate in some cases. This is insult of human intellect as well. The one who created Adam AS without father, created Isa AS without father. In his control are the heavens and earth and everything in between them. Since, these are executive instructions of warning to those who mistakenly took Nabi Isa AS as Allah's son, so all we can do is to convey the message and pray for them because in final showdown, our Christian brothers shall stand by us as Jesus Christ shall also descend from heavens to settle the issue with the anti christ. What we need to understand is the hierarchy of the universe. I have drawn a simple sketch for everyone's understanding as under:

 We only know that the Lord of Universe controls everything but with our finite capacity we can't imagine infinite. Hence, we can only identify Allah through this arc of an immense circle way way beyond the limits of our imaginations. Then is His Vicegerents. Top slot goes to Prophet Muhammad PBUH and then the remaining Messengers of Allah. Followed by Shuhada, Siddiqin, Salehin and in the end, common people like us. Though Sibghat Ullah i.e. Colors of Allah shall be visible in each one of His creations but remaining within the confines of distinct hierarchy. It is important that we remain aware of our place in this hierarchy. It will keep us on right spot and right path, and above all, humble. 

Only Allah knows the whole Truth.

Surah Al Kahf - Ayah No 3

 Juma Mubark. A polite reminder for reciting Al Kahf or at least first and last Rukuh.

Choices we make are the reasons of rest or unrest in our lives. Choices like earning. How do we earn? Like spending. How do we spend? Like eating. How do we eat? Like dealing. How do we deal? Our greatest gift is freedom to choose, at the same time, our greatest plight is freedom of choice (wrong ones). It is this freedom of choice that makes us the best of creations or the lowest of the low. It’s all about choices. If we make clean choices, we live clean. If we earn halal, we spend wisely. If we don’t, we don’t need any guidance, desires take over the spending part of our brains. Desires above necessities are the real problem. Above basic needs, rightful desires could only be helping fellow beings. And when we follow desires whispered by our Qareen, we develop fears. Fear of means. Fear of unknown. Fear of losing. Fear of being left behind. Fears affect our choices. A vicious cycle of wrong choices begins. We begin to tely on means (increase or lack of) than the Provider of means. We get occupied by the fear of unknown than the Unseen Known. Fear of losing what we’ve got overtakes gratitude. Fear of being left behind consumes our time and abilities in unending material rat-race. And before we know, times up.

All basic Fards are designed to give us relief from all the fears. Tauheed from unknown. In the manual, on need to know basis, all relevant information about unknown is given from creation till the end. Fear of losing sight of true path is addressed by Salat. Prayer is otherwise such immense gift that it was given in one-on-one meeting up there on 27 Rajab (today’s Islamic date). As specie, we have overwhelming capacity to forget, hence, we need reminder five times a day to submit and remain humble. Besides, discipline is a special gift of Salah. Fear of losing material possessions is subsided by Zakat. By dedicating some amount out of our rightful earnings, we acknowledge the source of our belongings. Consequently, a remarkable social welfare system takes effect. Roza cleanses body and soul. Teaches us to tame our desires and refine our choices. It is an amazing feeling to shun the urge to eat for the commitment to fast till dusk. Finally, Hajj or Umrah are the special privileges of chosen ones for firsthand spiritual experience. It combines all other Faraiz of Tauheed, Salah and cleansing of wealth, body and soul.

Coming over to today's Ayah No 3. It is continuation of Ayah 2, hence, it shall be understood in conjuctiin with it.

In second ayah, buildup by warnings of retribution is followed up by glad tidings for those who did good deeds. All good deeds are derivatives of overriding desires above needs. Fear could only be overcome by hope. And hope reigns supreme in religion of peace. Death is the only philosophical challenge where all human progress appears helpless. This Ayah being dedicated to these three words ‘Will live there forever’. So the mystery of death is resolved. Hoping to live forever in the best of the places, in best of the health and age is the logical reward for overcoming our desires and doing the good deeds in this limited window of opportunity (70/80 years of life span).

Please note that for a short period of time Dajjal will give false impression of controlling life and death. This must be the greatest test of the faithful. The only way we could prepare ourselves and equip our next generations is through Quran and Al Kahf in particular. May Allah protect us from this fitna. Ameen.

Only Allah knows the whole Truth.

 

 

 

Surah Al Kahf - Ayah 2

Juma Mubarak. Rajab 21, 1442 AH

Words بأسا شديدا has also been interpreted as extremely difficult times when deception will be at its climax i.e fitna of dajjal. In scribe's humble reckoning, if we keep the sequence of Al Kahf stories in view, we are in the later half of phase 3. Story 1 about Tauheed under attack. Atheism is becoming a popular deen since last century. Story 2 about reliance on material means instead of the Creator of these means which has already peaked. Story 3 about fallacious human claim of having too much knowledge is already here. We have been hit & swept by so called information revolution which is phase 3. We as specie are so naive that we confuse information with knowledge, whereas the man who had the knowledge of the Book, claimed & brought throne of Queen Saba much faster than a powerful jinn. So, Googling or Wikipediing & giving pearls of wisdom on almost everything is our misconception about knowledge. And last story of Zulqarnain gives us hints about appearance of Dajjal and his fitna. Time wise, we are almost there. 

When Allah swt warns of punishment, it must be understood that the punishment starts right here in this life and continues in hereafter. Such a poor deal that small span of life that we think is big, gets miserable and severe punishment awaits for us in an unending life in hereafter. 

This problem with our understanding is the greatest deception our eternal enemy can play upon us i.e.deception galore (Dajl). Like, not understanding our purpose of life. Anxieties of material needs resulting in pressures of work translating in poor interpersonal dealings starting from home, relations, friendships, social and professional lives. Resultantly, self-centric life, seclusion, distancing & depression. What happens is that inadvertently, a beautiful gift of Allah swt, this short sojourn on earth, slowly and gradually becomes miserable.Why because the trailer of that severe punishment mentioned in this ayah begins right here and we don't even know of it. 

So what is the way out of this gloomy scenario sketched on this magnificent spring morning? Simple, be thankful. Acknowledge what we've got. Stop counting Bill Gates' billions, start counting his Boss's blessings you have been bestowed upon. This should be the start point and then you may see floodgates of more blessings opening up for you. It is Allah's promise that He (swt) will increase us (in everything Imaan, health, wealth, offspring & so on), only if we are thankful. And the good tidings in second half of the ayah begin. 

Final word, whatever has to happen in hereafter: right or left, pass or fail, good or bad, it will all start here in this life only if we are lucky enough to escape the deceptive snares of our enemy every step of the way. 

Only Allah knows the whole Truth.