Ethical Lessons from the Quran, part 11

Ethical Lessons from the Quran, part 11

وَعِبَادُ ٱلرَّحۡمَٰنِ ٱلَّذِينَ يَمۡشُونَ عَلَى ٱلۡأَرۡضِ هَوۡنٗا وَإِذَا خَاطَبَهُمُ ٱلۡجَٰهِلُونَ قَالُواْ سَلَٰمٗا

Furqan, 25:63 “The worshipers of the Lord of Mercy are those who walk humbly on the earth, and who, when the foolish address them, they only respond with the word “peace”.”

Our purpose in these series of discussions is to learn how to apply the verses (ayaat) of the Quran in our practical life.  We are trying not only to get to know the surface meaning, but also a deeper understanding of these verses.  Great Islamic Scholars spent their time discovering endless layers to its meanings writing volumes of books.  It is unimaginable how they dedicated their lives to understanding the message of the  Qur’an!  In our case, we are only touching the first few layers of the endless meanings to these Quranic verses.

The term ‘ibadur-rahman is referred to as “the worshipers of the Lord of Mercy”.  Why does the verse not refer to the worshipers of God only but specifies “Lord of Mercy”?  We must at least pay attention to such small details when reading the Quran.  The word “‘ibad” is usually translated as the one who worships.  We think that human beings are only worshiping in ritualistic prayers.  Practically speaking, human beings stand, bow down and prostrate before whom?  There is nothing in front of them.  What are they doing and why are they doing that?  The bowing down and prostration is a form of the essence of worship, and it must mean something.  What can such an essence of worship mean?  

While expressing, “we worship You alone and no one else, we praise You alone and no one else”, who are we speaking to when we worship?  Nothing in this world is worth prostrating to as they are all created.  I am saying thank you very much, to whom?  Nothing of this universe- “lailaha”, I do not see anything who has the power to know, to create, to be merciful and adjust this universe perfectly, but I see that things are made, prepared, arranged and presented to human beings, animals and plants.  Who is doing it?  Inevitably, human beings say, if there is something made, then there must be a Maker.  If there is something existing, then there must be a One who gave existence to it.  Otherwise, I cannot come into existence by myself.  Everything is continuously changing and therefore, cannot be eternal.  To claim that something is changing and it is eternal, this claim contradicts my human mind.  I say: “Whoever is continuously changing things and giving each of them a new existence at every moment, is the source of existence, the Creator of this universe. So, I am expressing all my thanks and grace to Him”.  Do I know Him?  No. Have I met Him?  No.  I am not expected to meet Him physically in my transient existence, because He is the Source of my existence.  Can you imagine that the laptop was conscious and says that I want to see my Engineer.  You would say to the laptop, “your existence capacity is not at the same level as your engineer for you are a made being, and the engineer is a conscious being.  Similarly, my existence is not at the same level as the existence of my Creator.  We must understand this.  That is why in the language and teaching of the Quran, when it comes to belief (imaan), the Quran qualifies the Source of our existence as “ghaib” or the unseen.  What does Unseen mean?  It means that there must be something that gives existence and it cannot be like a part of this universe, therefore, I cannot comprehend His Essence, but I comfortably comprehend His Existence.   

We always live in this world as believers in “ghaib”.  Even the Atheists believe in “ghaib”.  For example, when they see a laptop, they say who made this?  There must be a maker for this laptop, hence we all believe in “ghaib” as human beings.  Just as you look at this chair, you know that it is perfectly designed and must have a Designer.  Every human being is intelligent enough to understand that the elements of wood cannot make themselves into a table. Have you seen the Designer of the chair?  No. I do not have to see it; the way the table is obviously demonstrates and witnesses that it is made by a conscious and able being.  For example, John parked his car in front of his house, and in the morning, he saw that someone damaged his car and left it with a dent.  He calls the police where the officer asks John if he has seen the person who damaged his car.  John says that when he woke up, he saw his car was damaged but does not know who did it.  (In the practical situation we live in, the police would look for some evidence to believe such because there is a possibility that John damaged his car and now is making up a story to blame someone else.)  But as far as John is concerned, he knows that someone damaged his car overnight because he left it in good condition.  Similarly, belief in “ghaib” is like this, where we are sure as human beings that there must be something that creates this universe and gives existence to human beings.  Therefore, as human beings, we are not believing in God in a strange or a mythological way, rather, that is a very logical human rational conclusion to say that “there must be something creating this universe and human beings”.  Again, human beings believe in “ghaib“.  However, when it comes to submitting to this “ghaib” i.e. God; some people say that I am not going to “submit” for I do not want to believe in a supernatural thing.  How can we have confidence in believing in the Source of existence i.e. the Creator of the universe since it is not definable within the created nature of this universe?!  The One who gives existence to this universe is not something strange or a superstitious thing.  It is just our logical conclusion that there must be something giving existence to this universe and this Existence Giver must of necessity for us exist; He must have His Essential Existence that we cannot define or imagine.

The word “‘ibad” means the one who acknowledges the Source of existence of this universe and declares it in his consciousness, understanding and makes it clear in his behavior.  For example, the air is provided by Him, water is provided by Him, my clothes are provided by Him. Who made the materials for the fabric, and created the human beings to design the clothes in a specific form?  It is all given existence by Him!  That is why this verse says, “worshipers of the Lord of Mercy”.  Why Mercy?  The Quran introduces God with many qualifications and titles, referred to as “asma-ul-husna” in the Qur’an and used by Islamic scholarship in their literature.  That is, the names of God, not in a sense of our proper names such as Joe or Jake, rather as in qualities of God.  Some Islamic Scholars refer to it as “attributes of God”. Sometimes, depending on the context, the Quran refers to God as “the Lord (Raab)”, sometimes, the Merciful One (Rahman), sometimes “the Creator (Khaliq), and the list goes on and on. When we see such various qualities mentioned throughout the Quran within different contexts, the meaning of the verses referring to God changes slightly.  For example, in this verse, “the Lord of Mercy”, Al-Rahman, the Merciful One is used, which means that there are ingredients of Mercy in the subject.  This calls our attention towards emphasizing on “Mercy”, am I worshiping the Creator, who is a Merciful One?  Why a Merciful One?  Now, the content of the verse will demonstrate it.  That is, since your Creator is Merciful, you must treat others in a Merciful way.  

Most of us read the Quran from an English translation; regardless, the word “unseen” needs as much explanation as the word “ghaib” is used in the Qur’an.  There is no real difference if we are aware of the conceptual meaning.  Every discipline has their own terminologies. For example, the same word that is used in daily life has a different meaning in Physics.  Similarly, all the words in the Quran are “terms” and “concepts”, therefore, we must have a dictionary for the Quranic terms.  Please note that we are not referring to the Arabic language, rather the Quranic language, which is surprisingly different.  The commentators of the Quran study the various meanings to see which one fits better under a particular context i.e. verse.  One must be an expert for that unlike us, we are just trying to go beyond the surface level of the meaning of these verses.  However, the more you study, the more familiar you become with the Quranic language.  

Mercy-”Rahman” is used for a specific purpose.  Let us expand the meaning of worship and “‘bad” a bit more.  We think that only human beings worship whereas everything in the universe such as the sky, trees, atmosphere are all worshiping.  To worship for me means to have a state of mind acknowledging that things must be created by someone.  As much as we can remember, we must keep in mind that I am created and everything else is provided for me by the Creator of the universe as far as I am concerned.  For example, you can say that the universe is yours, and I too can say that the universe is mine, for we are all benefiting from it equally.  That is human capacity.  Any being who has the capacity to declare the capacity of their Creator, that declaration is called “glorification of their Creator” and “takbeer”, i.e. “declaring the greatness of God”.  All this is a state of mind.  The more I expand my human capacity to acknowledge my Creator through “takbeer” and declarations, the more I stay with my state of mind. As a result, I see that all qualities in this world belong to Him.  For example, in the laptop, the qualities that we interact with belong to its Engineer.  The very existence of the laptop is glorifying its Engineer.  But materialist people think (as crazy as it may sound) that the laptop for example happens to work by itself naturally as a result of billions of years of random choice of unconscious matter.  We have the freedom to claim anything, but we will suffer the consequences of it.  In the language of the Quran, in its widest sense, the English translation of the Quran translates “‘bad” as “My servants”.  It is not wrong, for everyone serves to declare the qualities of their Creator.  That is, we are serving God through our existence and, as conscious beings, by announcing His qualities through our behavior and tongue.  However, in English, serving means that someone is at your service, serving you, like a waitress in a restaurant.  For that reason, the translation “servant” can have a negative connotation and is not preferable to be used in English translations.

The word “‘ibaad” includes every being according to their capacity.  Animals make their declarations in the way that they are created, the plants are the same, but human beings have a huge capacity.  However, the human beings make declarations within how much they have worked on their capacity of being in a declarative state of mind with glorification of their Creator.  The human capacity is the spirit, which is infinite and conscious.  That is, something unimaginable!  We are conscious of ourselves, we are conscious of our problems, our questions, our past, our present, and we are worrying about the future.  That is how huge human capacity is.  But ultimately, everything is God’s worshiper, declaring its Creator’s infinite qualities.

1. What does “walk humbly on the earth” mean?

It is a state of mind, not to be arrogant. Without claiming to own anything that we ourselves created, being conscious of “I am a created being, and I am created by the One who creates the universe and everything“.   For example, if someone drops water on you accidentally in a crowded train, rather than getting angry, just be kind.  Try to be conscious of who you are in this universe and what your position is in this universe?  How are you locating yourself and seeing yourself in this universe?  For example, if you are the CEO of an organization, you should not pretend to be the owner of the company.  Know your position.  Let’s say that you are the janitor in that company, and someone approaches you about something unpleasant that needs to be cleaned in the bathroom, is that a reason to get angry?  No. You just say thank you for letting me know, I will clean it.  You are ready to fulfill your mission.  What is my main mission in this world?  Be conscious that I am a worshiper of my Creator and I am expected to keep this consciousness. I am always indebted to my Creator in every sense, whatever He creates is a favor from Him to me.  Again, in the example above, if an employee of a company forgets that he is an employee there, do you think that he can fulfill his duty perfectly?  No. He must bear in mind that “I am an employee, and I must do this job because my position requires that I am expected to do it”.  This consciousness must always be awake!  

Let us take another example, why do we go to the grocery store?  To buy produce.  If you just go there and walk around aimlessly, is that right?  No.  Similarly, when we are in this universe, we are expected to fulfill our mission i.e. express our thankfulness and gratefulness to our Creator.  We cannot be journeying in this universe aimlessly as if we have no mission to accomplish.  For example, you are waiting for the train to come.  Your body is waiting for the train, but your spirit is waiting for something else i.e. I am here created in this position to acknowledge and thank my Lord for the opportunity to travel.  When the train comes in, rather than saying that the train is on time, say Alhamdulillah, “thank You my Creator, You arranged this and employed this for me to get to work, for example”.  This consciousness needs to be always kept alarmed.  Walking humbly on earth means knowing who you are and who your Lord is, and what your mission is!  This should not only be practiced in prayers, but also in our normal life as well. We must be aware that we need to be created and we need to be given life, and everything bestowed in this world is provided for me.  I must always be in a state of thankfulness and recognition all the time. 

2. Who might the “foolish” people be (Think about people who say mean things to you or don’t respect others’ beliefs).

If someone speaks to you in a disrespectful way, how are you going to respond?  Are you going to respond back aggressively or are you going to take into consideration what the Merciful Creator is suggesting i.e. say Salaams- peace, not in a literal sense, but embody that in your speech and action.  For example, if a child says something nasty to you, what do you do, you just smile and go.  Foolish is someone who would start arguing with a child.  If a foolish person speaks to you in an inappropriate way, just be kind to them, without accepting what they are saying.  Let us take another example: if a dog bites you, what do you do in response?  Do you bite the dog?  No, you just defend yourself, because you cannot be a dog.

The above two examples teach us that if someone does something wrong, you cannot respond back in the same way because it was already wrong.  You already know that it was wrong, so why would you respond back in the same way, which is wrong? The Qur’an uses the word  “Jahil”,  which means someone who does not know i.e. is ignorant and acts without thinking, just reacts.  In the Quran, an uneducated person is referred to as “ummi” and this does not mean “Jahil”.  If someone is ignorant of human reality, human honor and how to behave with other people in an appropriate way, then you cannot respond to this person in the same way.  Just practice the embodiment of “peace”, it means that I am not going to be like that, there is going to be peace between you and me, and I am not going to belittle myself as you are doing.  That is how we must establish our relationship with other people.  Unfortunately, most of the people aggressively react, something that is noticeable especially with certain sensitive events happening on a global scale.  Rather, the Quran says that we need to calm down and be realistic, for that embodies peace-Salaams.  

• Islam is not a religion that encourages reactionary emotional attitudes, for the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) never manifested such behavior.

3. What does the Quran suggest saying “peace”?  Are we expected to say “Salaam” only or any other way of saying is possible?  What response do we expect from others?

We see lots of debate shows in the media, as it seems to be a challenging way for people to express their opinions, and young people, including the emotional and sensitive people seem to enjoy it.  Debates cannot be encouraged in Islamic teachings, because a debate is a discourse between two people standing up against each other defending their stances.  Rather than trying to understand what the truth is, debate means to defeat the opposite, hence no one benefits from learning from each other, which creates enmity and anger grows.  A better option is to organize a panel, where two opposing views can present their ideas for learning, which seems to be more of the Prophetic way (sunnah).  

It is narrated that a group of Christian missionaries came to the Prophet (pbuh) in Medina, with the intention to debate.  The prophet (pbuh) took a positive attitude, and had no problem in accepting them as guests and presented them with the message of Islam, had them entertained in the facilities and services that were available at the masjid-e-Nabawi (the Mosque of the Prophet), which was the hub where all Islamic administration and affairs took place at that time, and everything was discussed in the masjid.  This underscores that Islam is a transparent religion and Muslims should have nothing to hide.  Islam is a transparent religion indeed. (Even in this discussion held at the heart of NYC, everyone is welcome to come and join to learn more about how the Quran explains to human beings the purpose of our existence).  These missionaries were asking questions to the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), and the Prophet was answering them.  At one point they said that they do not believe in Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) to be the messenger of God.  The Prophet (pbuh) was fine with that and bid them farewell respectfully. As the tradition was, he (pbuh) asked them to come together at a particular place and pray together (as monotheist brothers) for the curse of God on the one who is lying, that is, knows what the truth is but declares that it is false.  The Prophet (pbuh) showed up with his family at that place and those missionaries never showed up to pray because they knew that Muhammad (pbuh) was indeed the messenger of God, and they did not want to submit to his teachings of God. They were aware that if the Prophet asked God to curse on the liars God would definitely respond to the prayers of the Prophets.

Going back to the verse, if a foolish person argues with you, then take the example of the Prophetic way and respond back in a peaceful way, not necessarily uttering the word “salaams”, rather, the behavior should manifest kindness and peace.  This will help the foolish person to calm down, and it is the more mature way to handle situations.   The way that we believe should not cause the other person to feel that they must defend themselves and react.

4. Are we not supposed to defend the truth?  Shall we let it go?  Is defending the truth important?  Can we do that without being aggressive or unkind?

Can anyone be kind to their opponent while having a debate?  No. In a debate, people try to be defensive, aggressive and try to defeat the opponent.  Unfortunately, emotional people love this, and it is a problem.  We must try to communicate with people kindly and try to understand the motives behind their behavior, not cause any reaction.  Try to welcome them and help them so they feel comfortable speaking to you as a Muslim person.  You must present your religion of peace, Islam to others with your behavior manifesting it.

Once the Prophet (pbuh) told his companions that you should help the oppressed and the oppressor. Companions responded “We understand that we should help the oppressed, but how can we help the oppressor?” The Prophet told them that they should help him/her not be an oppressor by giving him advice and calming him/her to behave nicely.

Let us say that John is driving by following the rules i.e. not speeding, following the traffic lights and not disturbing anyone.  Suddenly, a police officer signals behind him, does John panic? He should not, because he must be confident enough to know that he has been following the rules.  When the officer speaks, John should be as calm as possible, because if he panics then it will mess him up and show a sign of weakness.  Similarly, when you speak with anyone about your belief, you should be as calm as possible presenting your ideas, thoughts, evidence and conclusions.  Now, let’s say that Jake is a criminal and the officer stops him.  The first thing that comes to Jake’s mind is that they will catch him.  What a big difference in the psychological states of both drivers?!  Similarly, there is a difference between the behavior of a confident person in their belief and the behavior of a superficial believer.  If someone reacts and gets a defensive attitude, it means that s/he is not satisfied with himself/herself in his/her belief.

Let’s say that someone comes to you saying that they are not sure about their belief in God.  Now, if you have enough evidence to present to them, then you invite them for a tea conversation to try to solve their query.  But if you are not confident and fully satisfied within your belief, then you will try to defend yourself in a negative, defensive and emotional way.  Yes, you must defend the truth, but only when people listen to you, but never in a negative way, always with respect and peacefully.  If people do not listen to you, rather than getting frustrated and upset with yourself, God says to leave these people to Him (Qur’an, 74: 11), because our duty is only to convey the message, leave the result to God’s hands and will, which is applicable for belief matters.