Al-'Ankabut

The question of whether a man is a true believer is decided on the basis of how he conducts himself in extraordinary rather than in ordinary circumstances. It becomes clear, on such occasions through a man’s overt actions whether he is in actual fact what he claims to be. Those who prove to be steadfast in their belief and convictions under extraordinary circumstances, will be treated by God as believers in the true sense. To pass the divine test means to become a man of faith by adopting the way of sacrifice, that is to say, to accept and confirm the Truth when people in general reject it; to be staunch in one’s beliefs when people harbour doubts; to be a believer even at the cost of curbing one’s ego; to accept the Truth even when rejection of it does not entail any loss; to spend when restraint would appear to be more prudent; to be steadfast and firm when circumstances warrant fleeing; to surrender when the occasion demands that one save one’s skin; to bow down in submission when there is an occasion for arrogance; to support and co-operate when it amounts to surrendering and sacrificing everything. The inner man is revealed on such extraordinary occasions. Thereafter, no one is left with the opportunity to make fictitious claims about what in actual fact one is not.

To be a believer is often synonymous with going against the trend of the times. This amounts to being a God-worshipper in an atmosphere of hero-worship; to subscribe to principles in an atmosphere where importance is given to desires; to endeavour to live for the Hereafter in an atmosphere where people live for worldly interests. This kind of life requires an earnest struggle, and only those who have absolute faith in God and who have made God’s expected reward their sole focus, are capable of remaining steadfast on this thorny path.

Of all the creatures, a man’s parents have the greatest right over him. But, just as everything has a limit, so also do the parent’s rights have a limit, in the sense that—according to the Prophet’s tradition—‘no obedience may be shown to any creature if it means disobedience to the Creator.’ The rights of parents must be observed, but only so long as they do not clash with the rights of God. The moment a parent’s order clashes with God’s order, it becomes as necessary at that time not to follow his or her order as it is necessary to follow his or her order in ordinary circumstances. In Islam the rights of parents means service being due to them, but not worship.

When one who calls himself a believer, or mu’min, shows himself to be such only when some advantage is to be gained, but otherwise recants, he reveals himself to be what the Quran calls a hypocrite, or munafiq. A believer in name only, he is not prepared to pay the price of his faith. He and other people like him fail at the very juncture where they are most required to prove their moral worth.

Inventing a lie, or iftira, consists of saying something of one’s own concoction and then attributing it to God. All manner of wrongful innovations in religion, or bid‘ah, and wrong interpretations are included in this definition. One of the forms of iftira is prominent people among the deniers of God asking the less enlightened to follow their path and reassuring them that they will be responsible if the latter are questioned before God. But God has not given this kind of right to anybody. Therefore, to make such a statement amounts to uttering a falsehood in the name of God. Human beings say many things for the sake of saying them. But if they were to understand the consequences of their words, they would not utter them. When such people who have spoken idly see the horror of the Day of Judgement, their condition will be entirely different from what it seems to be in today’s world.

Noah lived for nine hundred and fifty years. Even before he was given prophethood, he was a righteous person and followed the Shariah or religious code of Adam. After receiving prophethood, he became a regular missionary of God and issued warnings to his people. But, even after he had put in efforts for hundreds of years, his people rejected him. In the end, the whole community, barring a few reformed individuals, was destroyed in a terrible flood. There is a high mountain known as Ararat in the mountain ranges of Eastern Anatolia on the border between Russia and Turkey. Its height is more than five thousand metres. The pilots of planes flying over this mountain say that they have seen a boat-like object on the snow-clad peak. So, constant efforts are being made to reach this boat. Scholars hold the view that this is that very boat known in religious traditions as Noah’s Ark. If this information is correct, it means that Almighty God has preserved Noah’s Ark till today, to serve as a sign to show that, in order to save themselves from a storm which will destroy them all, human beings required the special protection of a prophet’s boat. Nothing else could save them from His wrath.

Making anybody other than the One God the centre of one’s noble feelings is a sin, because it amounts to presuming that divine attributes inhere in beings other than God. It is this attribution of the lofty qualities unique to God to some thing other than God, that makes it possible for a man to become the worshipper of some entity other than Him. In the earlier days of polytheism, man used to presume that idols possessed such qualities. Today man is behaving no differently. It is just that the names of the idols of the present day vary from those of yore. The sole difference between ancient and modern times is that ancient man used to attribute the lucrative produce of his field to the kindness of some imaginary god, while the man of today says, ‘Our green revolution is a miracle of our agricultural science’.

Man was non-existent and came into being only at a certain point in time. In view of this, why should it not be possible for the creation which occurred once, to take place once again? Shah Abdul Qadir Dehlavi has written this meaningful observation, ‘You have seen the beginning, you can now guess that it can be repeated in future.’ Each man himself is an example of the First Creation. If he needs further examples, he should observe and study this wide world of God. He will see that the whole world is replete with living examples of this event. God has provided these examples in this world so that man may understand what the Second Creation means and then perform such deeds as will be of avail to him in the next stage of existence.

Any social custom, which assumes the position of a national tradition, soon becomes a standard requirement for every individual of the society in question. It is solely on this basis that mutually good relations are formed. All interests are linked with it and a man’s worth is assessed in accordance with it. In ancient times polytheism had assumed the status of such a national tradition. Abraham told the people of Iraq that the polytheism practiced by them was only a national custom and not based on actual Truth, and that its importance would vanish as soon as the present life came to an end. But his only support came from his nephew Lot. His own people became so hostile to him that they threw him into a fire. However, God saved him. He was blessed not only with the supreme reward of the Hereafter, but also with righteous descendants among whom the institution of prophethood continued for the next four thousand years. His son Isaac and his grandson, Jacob, were also prophets and thereafter the chain of prophethood continued in that family down to Jesus. Among the descendants of Madyaan (another son of Abraham), yet another prophet, Shu‘yab was born. Similarly, Abraham’s son, Ishmael, was himself a prophet and among his descendants was born the Prophet Muhammad, whose prophethood will continue undiminished in its influence till the Day of Judgement. In this history of Abraham, there is a lesson for the worshippers of falsehood, as well as there being a source of light for those who stand on the firm base of Truth.

Lot left Babylon and settled in Jordan. God made him a prophet and assigned to him the task of reforming his community. This community inhabited the town of Sodom near the Dead Sea and was addicted to the unnatural habit of sodomy. Through this evil, other evils had become prevalent among them. But they would not reform themselves. The words, ‘Bring down God’s punishment upon us’ were directed at Lot and not at God. Lot’s people so looked down upon Lot that, according to them, it was impossible that, on disobeying him, they would have to face God’s scourge. So, they challenged him to bring God’s punishment down on them if what he said was really true.