Chapter A’raf – Part 16

Part 16

7:32 “Who is there to forbid the adornment and nourishment that God has provided for His worshippers?”  Say, they are given to those who believe during the life of this world, but they will be exclusively theirs alone on Resurrection Day.”  We clearly spell out these messages to people who understand.”

How many of us live with the awareness of the need for another type of creation?  Everything here has an appointed time as they are transient.    However, we all have the desire for eternal youth and eternal creational experience.  If that desire is there, then it must be given.

7:36 “But those who reject our messages and arrogantly disrespect them are destined for the fire, and they will be there forever.”

Every messenger is a prophet at the same time but not every prophet is a messenger.  Messengers bring messages from God, that is what we learn from scriptures.  They are given books.  Not only do they bring the messages, but also practice them as a demonstration for people.  The new message as a template needs to be adapted to the new condition of the people.  The practices and application of the message needs to be refreshed. But the prophets revive the previous messenger’s books or their messages only.

Comment: what is the difference between Messenger (Rasul) and Prophet (Nabi)?

Nebi (Prophet) is a person appointed by God to revive and convey the message of the previous Rasul (Messenger) who had received a message, maybe a book or some pages. When this message is ignored or distorted then God sends a prophet to revive it and spread the word. If there is no trace of the message then  God sends a Messenger with a Revelation of a new Scripture. 

The Jewish rabbis learned  from the companions of the prophet when they encountered them around the 8th century”, and were trying to make sense of their message, which is Torah.  As a result, they developed a new branch of religious science, called “theology.” Before they had the tradition of studying the Torah only for matters related to jurisprudence.  

Now, the Muslim community left behind the tradition of studying the belief matters introduced to us by the Qur’an and exaggerate on the jurisprudical rulings, however, we do not see that strictness in the life of the Prophet (pbuh).  The general public needed that settled down rulings, but the belief matters should not be neglected.  All scholars know that these rulings are subject to updates according to the Quranic teachings and prophetic examples.  God has employed the Prophets to provide a pattern for humans to follow, but the flexibility of the pattern is decided by the experts. The Prophets help others live a satisfactory life pertaining to their existence.  

As far as we are concerned now we need to do our best by whatever our capacity allows us to do, we do it in the best way.  You leave the rest to your Creator by asking forgiveness so that He may forgive your shortcomings, that is your expectations with the hope that you will not do it again. 

God’s mercy should not deceive you, i.e., you should be careful not to cheat yourself by not trying to work harder with avoiding your shortcomings.

The verses in the Quran refers to creation which we observe around us in the universe.  We must use creation as evidence to execute belief.  As a result, we can then share our experiences and conclusions with others.