Session 53 Notes
We will explore some of the other areas where divine rules, Shari’ah laws are applied in our living conditions. Unfortunately, these divine laws which are meant for our benefit are highly misunderstood and politicized by many, including the so-called Muslim world. The aim of these notes is to clarify the misconceptions we have been indoctrinated with. As a reminder, the Shari’ah laws which are divine rules are only valid in a society that believes in the Absolute Creator and where people are willing to practice their belief according to the guidance of their Creator. The administrators applying Shari’ah rules are to be freely elected among the believing societies who would be honest to administering the divine laws which they practice themselves. The Shari’ah does not allow any self-interest, politics to play a role in such an administration. One’s accountability in their use of free will is first and foremost to God alone. Our dependence and reliance must also be on God alone.
Let’s examine the following verse related to one’s usage of their given free will and doing justice to others:
وَلَا تَكْسِبُ كُلُّ نَفْسٍ إِلَّا عَلَيْهَا ۚ وَلَا تَزِرُ وَازِرَةٌۭ وِزْرَ أُخْرَىٰ ۚ
“…Whatever any human being commits rests upon himself alone; no one will bear the burden of another…” (6:164)
Let’s say a person is from country A and this person did something wrong. One cannot claim that all people from country A are like this person having bad behavior. The general principle being mentioned is that one may dislike certain characteristics of a person but the person must be respected, as they also have some other respectable characteristics. We must do justice to the creation of other beings and must not put them down.
Doing justice to animals
وَمَا مِن دَآبَّةٍۢ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ وَلَا طَـٰٓئِرٍۢ يَطِيرُ بِجَنَاحَيْهِ إِلَّآ أُمَمٌ أَمْثَالُكُم ۚ
“All living beings roaming the earth and winged birds soaring in the sky are communities like yourself…” (6:38)
The Qur’anic understanding of justice is completely different from the secular animal rights understanding. It says that all beings roaming on earth including winged birds are “communities like yourself”. This is a beautiful way to teach on how to respect other beings such as ants even though we may not want them inside our houses. The animals and insects are a community like the community of human beings. One must treat them with respect. Has anyone seen any civilization treating animals like the way the Qur’an is bringing our attention to?
Let’s examine another verse:
أَلَمْ تَرَ أَنَّ ٱللَّهَ يُسَبِّحُ لَهُۥ مَن فِى ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ وَٱلطَّيْرُ صَـٰٓفَّـٰتٍۢ ۖ كُلٌّۭ قَدْ عَلِمَ صَلَاتَهُۥ وَتَسْبِيحَهُۥ ۗ وَٱللَّهُ عَلِيمٌۢ بِمَا يَفْعَلُونَ
“Do you not see that all those who are in the heavens and earth praise God, even the birds as they spread out their wings? Each knows its [ own way] of prayer and glorification; God has full knowledge of what they do.” (24:41)
Did we ever think that the animals are praying like human beings pray? Similar to how human beings pray according to their living conditions, the animals also pray and glorify God according to their living conditions. The Qur’an gives the same respect to animals as human beings where the animals are praying, worshiping consciously according to their capacity.
The verse concludes with “God has full knowledge of what they do”. This means that God knows but I may not know. I am reminded to pay attention and behave with respect to all beings. The One who created the bird knows what they are doing. By telling us this, the Qur’an is inviting us to pay attention to discover how they pray and glorify their Creator with their given qualities. Human beings sometimes may be distracted in their prayer and glorification but the animal kingdom is not. We must pay attention and watch out.
Interestingly, the same words “صَلَاتَهُۥ وَتَسْبِيحَهُ”, meaning prayer and glorifications that is used for human beings is also being used for the animal kingdom. The bird is just one example mentioned as the representative for the many other creatures performing their prayers and glorifications.
Doing Justice to Plants
۞ وَهُوَ ٱلَّذِىٓ أَنشَأَ جَنَّـٰتٍۢ مَّعْرُوشَـٰتٍۢ وَغَيْرَ مَعْرُوشَـٰتٍۢ وَٱلنَّخْلَ وَٱلزَّرْعَ مُخْتَلِفًا أُكُلُهُۥ وَٱلزَّيْتُونَ وَٱلرُّمَّانَ مُتَشَـٰبِهًۭا وَغَيْرَ مُتَشَـٰبِهٍۢ ۚ كُلُوا۟ مِن ثَمَرِهِۦٓ إِذَآ أَثْمَرَ وَءَاتُوا۟ حَقَّهُۥ يَوْمَ حَصَادِهِۦ ۖ وَلَا تُسْرِفُوٓا۟ ۚ إِنَّهُۥ لَا يُحِبُّ ٱلْمُسْرِفِينَ
“It is He who produces both cultivated and wild – gardens, date palms, crops of diverse flavors, the olive, the pomegranate, look like each other yet different. So when they bear fruit, eat some of it, paying what is due at harvest, but do not be wasteful. God does not like wasteful people.” (6:141)
The verse is mentioning that the Creator of the universe also is the Creator of the plants, trees and fruits. How is this related to justice? One may say that they plant the seeds and then go harvest the crops. However, no one has any share in creation which can only be by their Creator. One is just asking Him, asking for His permission to create the result for him. We are not the owners but they are Owned by their Creator. I must never forget that God is the true Owner and gives me the permission to utilize it. I should be aware that I am benefitting from the harvest with His permission and I should use it as He wants me to use it.
The verse mentions to eat some of it paying what is due at harvest. The literal meaning of this is to eat some and give some as zakat or charity out of it. The verse continues on not to be wasteful. One may say that: “I only eat what I need, I am not wasting food by throwing it”. The whole concept of wasting in the Qur’an is important which we will understand along with the next few verses.
۞ قُلْ يَـٰعِبَادِىَ ٱلَّذِينَ أَسْرَفُوا۟ عَلَىٰٓ أَنفُسِهِمْ لَا تَقْنَطُوا۟ مِن رَّحْمَةِ ٱللَّهِ ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ يَغْفِرُ ٱلذُّنُوبَ جَمِيعًا ۚ إِنَّهُۥ هُوَ ٱلْغَفُورُ ٱلرَّحِيمُ
“O you servants of Mine who have been wasteful towards their own souls!! Do not despair of God’s mercy. God forgives all sins: He is truly the Most Forgiving, the Most Merciful.” (39:53)
How is one wasteful towards their own soul? We know about wasting material things, wasting time, but here wasting your own soul. This is teaching us that humans are given great potential for some important mission. This human potential must not be wasted. Do we think that our brain is given to us to make our worldly life better? The Qur’an teaches us that the brain is given to think of the signs of God in the universe. Connect those signs to one’s human feelings. We are given endless feelings to reflect on the signs in creation giving news of their Creator. When one doesn’t use their brain, their feelings, their potential for the purpose they are given for, then they are wasting themselves. For example, one buys a very powerful computer but uses it only for emails and writing documents. He is wasting the tremendous potential of that computer. Similarly, my brain, eyes, ears, nose, tongue, are all given not to be wasted for nonsensical things. We must use them for the purpose they are given to me for. We must use our mind to understand the reality of the meaning of life, the message in creation and the message of the Qur’an. We must use our tongues to spread the message of the Qur’an. We must use all our human qualities, feelings to discover who gave them to us, and through them to get to know His qualities.
Why is a flower in the universe created so beautifully? To eat it and satisfy our stomach or cut it to put it in a vase? We must think about it. Beauty cannot happen by itself but created for the flower to fulfill a purpose. The beauty in the flower is telling us that we cannot attribute beauty to material causes which do not have a sense of beauty at all. The flower, as well as the quality of beauty, is a sign of its Creator. By displaying this beautiful flower, the Creator of the flower is demonstrating to us that He loves us and wants to entertain us. We must thus recognize Him as our Creator and be thankful to Him.
Now, if one looks at the flower and says: “wow, the flower is beautiful”. They just wasted the flower because the flower is a sign of its Creator declaring that its Creator must be appreciated and is the Beauteous One. The flower is not the owner of its color, smell, and beauty but points to their true Owner. Thus, the word wasting in the Qur’an has a real deep meaning.
The following verse is shocking:
…وَإِنَّ فِرْعَوْنَ لَعَالٍۢ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ وَإِنَّهُۥ لَمِنَ ٱلْمُسْرِفِينَ
“…And certainly Pharaoh was a tyrant in the land, and he was truly among the wasteful” (10:83)
If you ask anyone about Pharaoh they would likely mention that he was acting as if he is god. How come the Qur’an says that he was wasteful? We cannot imagine Pharaoh throwing out gold and diamond, wasting them. What is he wasting then?
Historically, and described by the Qur’an Pharaoh declared that he is god, the highest lord (79:24, 28:38, 26:29, 43:51) who owns the River Nile which is under his feet. When one uses their human qualities for worldly purposes only then they are wasting them. When we don’t use something for the purpose which it was created for, then we are wasting that thing. Let’s say one is looking at trees in a park and says: “look, they are beautiful, they have a nice appearance”. Isn’t that a waste? The trees are glorifying and praising their Creator through their existence by introducing His qualities to us. The prime character of Pharaoh as described in the Qur’an is that he was wasteful, i.e. he wasted his human potential. Because he ruined his own human values, he ended up with the absurd delusion that he was a god. This is a lesson for us not to waste our human qualities: This serves as a warning for us: if we waste our human qualities, we too will end up with foolish ideas about life and reality.
The sinking of Pharaoh in the river Nile which he claimed was under his control and administration, symbolizes the result of wastefulness of human qualities. Not wasting material such as food is just one small aspect of “waste” in the Qur’an, the major aspect is the wasting of human qualities, wasting the signs of God in creation, wasting the feelings in appreciating the qualities of the Creator. By giving every being their right, means acknowledging that they belong to their Creator, seeing the universe as signs pointing to the qualities of their Creator is the way to get out of waste. As a result of wasting his human potential by not using it for the purpose that they are created for and directing it to this world, Pharaoh surmised to think that he is the owner of the river Nile. God has shown him as a lesson for us that he was sunk in this river.
It is deeply humiliating to offer gratitude to unconscious, transient objects that cannot even comprehend our thanks. Servitude to anything lower than human dignity contradicts our human honor. It is humiliating for us to offer gratitude to an unconscious, transient object that cannot even comprehend or appreciate the gesture.
Conversely, recognizing the true Creator liberates us from servitude to the material world. We express gratitude to Him for creating us and bestowing His bounties freely, without expecting anything in return. Far from lowering us, being grateful to the Owner of the universe and recognizing oneself as belonging to Him confers genuine honor upon a person.
We must be careful not to be wasteful as portrayed by the Pharaonic attitude of being wasteful. There is a capitalist saying that “time is money”. The message of the Qur’an says, “time is paradise”. We should not waste scrolling through nonsensical social media for example, being preoccupied with things that are of no concern to us. We pray to God that we do not waste our human qualities, do not waste our preparation for the Hereafter in this life that we are given.
Summary:
The scope of Shari’ah can be understood in terms of its normative areas, along the following line:
Belief → Worship → Morality → Personal Behavior → Family → Social Relations → Economic Relations → Law → Public Order → Governance
Above and beyond all these areas is the human being’s servitude (ubudiyyah) to God.
For example, whenever we are doing an action, remember the Shari’ah rule as to who is the Owner of this thing that I am dealing with. I will use it in God’s name, and ask for His permission. When we apply the Shari’ah rules, we remember that we are created beings. Our relationship with other beings must be in accordance with our relationship to the Creator of the universe. We must do the act consciously for it to become the worship of God.
Important , Never forget
Shari’ah rules concerning family law, social life, economic relations, criminal law, and governance can only be fully understood within a society whose people freely believe in and practice its principles of faith, worship, morality, and personal conduct. Such a society would also be governed according to the Shari’ah by an authority elected by the believers themselves.
Trying to judge the wisdom and effectiveness of Shari’ah’s social rules within a secular or fundamentally different system — such as a secularist society — can therefore be misleading. A believer may follow Shari’ah in their personal life, but he cannot reasonably expect its full social wisdom to become visible when its rules are applied outside the social and governance framework for which they were designed.
For example, a believer really wants to practice Shari’ah including his wife and children. What they can do is govern their family life according to the Shari’ah. However, God forbid, if some family members do not want to apply Shari’ah, then it cannot be imposed on them. One cannot say that Shari’ah rules don’t work because it only works in a sincerely believing society. Shari’ah laws work in the context of a believing society only. If one applies Shari’ah when the society is not ready, not recognizing the Ownership and Authority of God, then they cannot blame the Shari’ah laws as not working effectively. Some people may fall into this mistake and claim that Shari’ah laws are not applicable anymore because it does not fit the conditions of our secular administrative systems. Because of this flawed comparison some people criticize Sharia – which was designed for a society of believers – instead of criticizing the secular structure of society. It is like taking a part designed for a telephone and putting it inside the mechanics of a cooking range and thus judging the part by how well the part works inside the cooking range.
We have gone through this journey of understanding the Qur’an from different aspects. The summary of those aspects is listed below.
The Qur’an is:
- Translator of the silent speech of the universe
- Interpreter of creation
- Speech of the Creator in this created world
- Discoverer of the Divine Names (Asma ul Husna)
- Educator of the human mind and senses
- Sacred Map of the Hereafter
- Revealer of truths hidden beneath social, political, and economic events
- Happiness guide for this world and the Hereafter
- Book of thought and Wisdom (Hikmah)
- Book of Prayer (du’a), Worship (ibadah), and Invocation (dhikr)
- Book of Law (Shari’ah)