Reading the Quran Here and Now: Chapter Lahab
What was important for the Messenger of God as opposed to the Meccan culture in his time? Meccan people did not have the concept of resurrection. Let’s see how we can relate to this.
What guidance am I getting from the Speech?
I need guidance within the context of this civilization. How are we going to deal with the historical events narrated in the Quran and deal with our conditions right now? It’s not difficult but we need to have an understanding of narrations of the revelation of the Quran. From one aspect the revelation of the Quran is historical which cannot be denied. That is, the “revelation” of the Quran took place within a historical context. The Quran itself is meaning through Eternal Speech. Also taking lessons from narrations cannot be that beneficial than applying the meaning from the narration to our life conditions. As far as the narrations are concerned, the Quran presents us with an example which we learn from but as soon as we learn, we should ignore its historical relevance. In other words, we need to learn how to universalize the meaning since the Quran is an Eternal Speech of the Creator addressing to human beings right now. It is as if you learn something from its historical context and as soon as you learn it, you ignore it because you apply it to your own live conditions under the witnessing of the universe. (refer to verse 111:4 on page 2)
- See similarity of the Quranic message within your conditions right now.
- Lessons are not Eternal Speech because anything time limited cannot be the Speech of God.
- Quran speaks individually to everyone at any time as it spoke to Muhammad of Arabia (peace be upon him).
- Peace be upon him (salawaat) can only be realized when after receiving and internalizing the message, you are being pleased with it and supporting it.
- Belief is an individual matter: I can only believe as much as I worked on my capacity to understand the Speech of God.
- Freedom is the Source of responsibility for human beings. It’s up to me to misuse it. My responsibility is to sit in front of the Quran and have a right understanding as much as I train my human capacity.
Comment: Since I am not a scholar, I cannot make interpretations on the Speech of God.
In order to protect the society from falling into confusions, most religious people encourage following an expert. Just as a Professor works you through how to solve an equation and but responsibility is to confirm the procedure by doing exercises on your own to confirm the formulas. You cannot imitate the Professor blindly without understanding the procedure and knowing which formula to apply. Similarly, everyone has to work on their own belief. One’s understanding of the Quran depends on their comprehension of the nature of the Quran. Also, asking which formula to use from your Professor does not make you an expert. You have to learn from the Professor and as much as you train yourself, that much you learn.
Before delving into the verses, it is important to understand that the non-believing attitude is what is cursed, not the person himself or herself. Example: you may not like an atheistic idea but the person is created by God. You are not opposing his personality rather you are not in agreement with his/her ideology.
111:1 “Perish the hands of the Father of Flame! Perish he!”
- The one who places value on objects/events such as material goods and capital making this life as the only existence that is given. Such an attitude tries to make the most of life here without realizing the purpose of the existence of this transient universe.
111:2 “Neither his wealth benefits him, nor what he earns.”
- The one who works for the sake of objects is bound to perish. If I expect any benefit from my status and family, I perish. The one who works for the sake of objects is bound to perish. Who knows you besides a handful of people among your family circle? Is it really worth to destroy yourself for the sake of family and people? What benefit do the things bring to you as far as fulfilling the purpose of your existence is concerned? As long as the things are being utilized as a means to get to know the Source of their existence and connect your being to it, then it brings value.
111:3 “He shall have to endure a flaming fire.”
- The perished one keeps engulfing himself/herself in the path of meaninglessness. Nothing will help him, neither his wealth nor what he earned. If we adjust our lives according to the societal values, we lose our human reality and we suffer from flame (meaninglessness ) and as a result there is no freedom in our existence. We need to reflect on this as we may have occupied ourselves with worldly affairs without connecting anything to an Eternal life.
111:4 “And also his wife who carries the fuel.”
- IGNORE: The wife supports the idea of ownership of property.
- LEARN: What is your wife? It could be anything, an event, object that influences you to get the most of this world and ignore your relationship with the Creator. Example: following norms set up by society such as revamping your wardrobe with the latest style.
111:5 “around her neck is a rope of thorns.”
- We all know that we are bound to die. A person with thorns around the neck is the one who knows deep down that s/he will die and leave everything behind. There is no Eternal happiness in such way of life and there is no way of experiencing Paradise.
Tags: Al-Masad, Here-and-Now