Even if we say that everyone has been given a chance, have some people being given a better chance? It still seems like Muslims have been given a better chance than non-Muslims at accepting and practising Islam.

Answer:

A simple example answers this question. Imagine to different people. One of them is given a book. The other is asked to decide between three different books. Yes, the second man had to take the extra step of choosing a book.  Who then is more likely to open and read the book? To open the book and to read it requires thinking, reflection, assessment, appreciation. Full dedication and commitment. One cannot be a minimalist or an imitator. A true worshipper of God must always be advancing in the knowledge of God. But God is also aware of our individual levels. The exam is tailor made and he gives us everything we need to pass. Some people are given the book because God knows that they would never find it by themselves. The true exam is not trying to hold onto the book. It is that reading and studying the book. It is how we can increase our faith.

We do not choose the circumstances in which we are born. When a child is born, before the age of rationality, it is  considered innocent. Should they die before the age, they are guaranteed to enter paradise. This is true for Muslim and non-Muslim families. But what happens to the children who will grow up in non-Muslim families? There is no randomness in the world. Everything is under the control of God. There is infinite justice. There is equal chance.

So turn your vision again, do you see any flaw?[4]

there is no sign of confusion. That means not so much as a finger can interfere.

3 The members of some of those groups, even, are more numerous than all the members of the human race from the time of Adam up to the Last Day.
4 Qur’an, 67:3.

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This is part of a new series where we will be going through each of the Thirty-three Windows of the Thirty-third Word. Each week, a new Window will be posted to the {Read and Discuss} section. 

Question:

Why do we have other religions that worship God, like Judaism and Christianity?

Answer:

A comparison can be made to the educational levels that a child progresses through. They begin kindergarten than progress into primary school and high school. Universities and even higher education follow after. From the kindergarten through to the University there is a clear line of development. As a child matures, they have more awareness, more capability and therefore they are given more knowledge. At each stage of their learning, they are being taught what is true and what is right. But when the time comes, they need to advance to the next level and then the next level. If you want to find a 40-year-old man still content at attending primary school, you would question his sanity.

What is true for the child is also true for the history of mankind. As human beings advance through history, over 124,000 prophets were sent to advance mankind to the next stage of worshipping God. We can still see the remnants of their message in the current time today. However the purity has not been preserved and corruption has crept in. However, these messages, these religions were true when they were revealed back then.

Being aware of this truth also informs us of our everyday choices. Everyday we need to choose to live according to the pure and true law of God, or do we compromise, do we negotiate with corruption? Do we dilute the purity of God’s message with a like human choices? Our task is to adhere to the purity of the message, accept our weaknesses and strive for perfection. The final message from God, the Quran, has been preserved and kept pure so that we can strive for perfection.

O denier! To what workshop can you refer these stamps which can in no way be imitated, and the stamp of Eternal Besoughtedness which is on the totality?

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This is part of a new series where we will be going through each of the Thirty-three Windows of the Thirty-third Word. Each week, a new Window will be posted to the {Read and Discuss} section. 

Are Muslims responsible for those who are not on the path of faith?

Answer:

As an analogy, what is the parents’ responsibility to their child? A parent may provide a food, shelter and money, but that is not enough. The parens are also expected to be a teacher of the child through examples. The parent must be able to teach good morals and also live those morals.

This very basic example is only an indication of a Muslim’s responsibility. The concept of Nur, the light of belief, is crucial in understanding the depth of Muslim responsibility. Just like sunlight changes cells and seeds beyond our perception, so the study of the Quran changes a person. It infuses them with Nur and allows them to radiate Nur. This light of belief allows other people to be more receptive to the message of God. Similar to radiation, people are affected by Nur beyond their perception.

O ignorant unbeliever and dissolute heedless one! With what can you explain this wise, percipient, compassionate activity? Deaf nature? Blind force? Senseless chance? Can you explain it through impotent, lifeless causes?

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This is part of a new series where we will be going through each of the Thirty-three Windows of the Thirty-third Word. Each week, a new Window will be posted to the {Read and Discuss} section. 

In seeking rewards from Allah, do we pollute our sincerity since we are seeking a reward that is pleasurable in some way?

Answer:

All rewards and all pleasures have been given to mankind by Allah. However, within each person there is also the Nefis, the seek of immediate pleasure. Should this faculty misdirect a person, then the sincerity of the person will be affected too. They may forget about Allah and move away from the “Manevi” (the spiritual) and towards the “Madi” (the materialistic).

For example, a brilliant lecturer in a university strives to teach his students well. He is given various tools, a lecture hall, a projector, a laser pointer, a microphone to do so. However, if he becomes obsessed by the tools, and begins to pursue a larger lecture hall, a brighter projector, a larger microphone, then he has lost sight of his original goal of helping the students.

Islam is a comprehensive religion with a highly developed set of laws stating different levels of rewards and punishments. These rewards and punishments are not the ends themselves. They represent only a small percentage of the entire religion. The rewards should serve to heighten our abilities and strengthen our resolve towards Allah. This is measured by our sincerity.

Sincerity has many different levels. Each person has their own level of sincerity and the levels can fluctuate from the most despicable hypocrite to the best of men, Prophet Muhammed (PBUH). Our level of sincerity cannot compare to his. Even though particular action may be identical, such as prayer, the rewards received by the Prophet are infinitely greater than our small share. The difference in reward is in sincerity. On one hand we have Kesbih, the rewards from our effort, limited. On the other hand we have Vehbih, inspiration from Allah, unlimited.

Falling into the trap of calculating rewards ruins the essence of faith. If Islam is reduced to a halal/haram calculation then the aim of faith is lost.

Recorded in 2008

Also, it is important to understand that we are not born just to be well-fed and prosperous. Our existence is for worship, and Allah, as the Sustainer, ensures that we receive the minimum amount of nutrition required to function effectively and do our worship. Thus, it is absurd to compare ourselves with a billionaire and complain that we receive little sustenance.

A person asks why many innocent children also have to suffer hunger although they are not inflicted with bad habits, and how Allah’s sustenance is manifested here.  To answer this question, it is crucial to remember that because this world is the exam, a calamity happens to both the innocent and the evil ones. It does not matter how long we live or how we die, but what we should focus on is the quality of faith. In that lens, those who suffer from hunger are actually given opportunities (40 days) to rise significantly in their level of faith and earn Allah’s pleasures. Recognising their powerlessness and impoverishment, they direct their mind to Allah and offer their worship in such sincere manners that we, who live with multifarious distractions, should envy them.  This reality affirms that Allah, as the Sustainer, never forgets and abandons us; hence, we should trust him and rely on Him totally.

Is any danger if we corporate critical skills in approaching the science of the Quran at the outset, just as we usually do for other sciences?

Answer:

To answer this question, it is imperative to understand that for all fields, phd students have to immerse themselves in their researches before making any criticism. If the student criticizes his topic or his field right at the onset of his research,  it will be extremely difficult for him to rise further in his knowledge of that particular aspect. Furthermore, only people of authority and profession should have the rights to criticize, for their expertise give their opinions weights and reliability. For example, a truck driver’s criticism of a formula that is used by all financial specialists around the world, cannot be deemed highly  or even published in scientific journals. Similarly, in the matter of faith, only those who have authority and reach high level of faith should be able to criticize. Yet, like a phd student, what we should do is that we can utilize the scholar’s perspectives to compare and analyze critically. It is  impossible for us, who are impotent and supreme ignorant, to chastise based on our intuition and limited rationality. All we can do is being critical in a controlled and appropriate manner.

Hesitation (a consequence of criticism) is also a barrier for learning about Allah. The following allegory accentuates this truth. Imagine a person who travels a long way before reaching a magnificent and luxurious palace. The generous king offers the traveller a variety of fruits, drinks and dishes. Yet, the traveler hesitates, agonizing that the food is poisoned and lethal. Feeling offended by the traveller’s disrespectful behaviors, the king orders to take his bounties back. Here, the traveller is any of us; the king is Allah, and the bounties are the light of faith that is allowed to enter our mind and heart. Because we exist for such light of knowledge, there is no reason for us to hesitate and fall for our own illusion that we still have time to wait. If we hesitate, then expect that Allah will push us further away from him.

This reality also applies to the reading of Risale-I-Nur. Don’t criticize when you are not at the level to offer evaluation. Don’t hesitate to read the droplet of the Quran to learn about Allah, and don’t approach the knowledge with arrogance. That is the way to raise the veils between you and Allah (although it is entirely up to Allah when they are put up).

Recorded on March 27th 2012.

Each day a stone from the building of my life falls to the ground;
Heedless one! You slumber, unaware that the building is in ruins!

My body, my spirit’s dwelling, was becoming dilapidated with every day a stone of it falling away. My hopes and ambitions which bound me strongly to the world had begun to be broken off from it. I felt that the time I would be separated from my innumerable friends and those I loved was drawing near. I searched for a salve for that deep and apparently incurable spiritual wound, but I could not find one. Again like Niyazi Misri I said:

While my heart desired its immortality, Reality required the passing of my body;
I am afflicted with an incurable ill, which even Luqman could not cure![2]

Then suddenly the light and intercession of the Glorious Prophet (UWBP), the tongue, model, exemplar, herald, and representative of divine compassion, and the gift of guidance he brought to mankind, soothed and healed the wound I had supposed to be incurable and endless.

Yes, respected elderly men and women who feel their old age like I do! We are departing, there is no use in deceiving ourselves. Even if we close our eyes to it, we will not remain here. There is a mobilization. The land of the Intermediate Realm, which appears to us to be dark and full of separation due to the gloomy delusions which arise from heedlessness and in part from the people of misguidance, is the meeting-place of friends. It is the world where we shall meet with foremost God’s Beloved (Upon whom be blessings and peace), and with all our friends.

We are going to the world of the one who every year for one thousand three hundred and fifty years has been the ruler of one thousand three hundred and fifty million people, and the trainer of their spirits, the teacher of their minds, and the beloved of their hearts; to whose book of good works, in accordance with the meaning of “the cause is like the doer,” is every day added the equivalent of all the good works performed by his community; who is the means by which the elevated divine purposes in the universe are accomplished and the high value of beings are realized. When he came into the world, according to authentic narrations and accurate divining of reality, he exclaimed: “My community! My community!” So too at the Last Judgement when everyone thinks only of themselves, he will again declare: “My community! My community!”, and with sacred, elevated self-sacrifice hasten with his intercession to its assistance. We are going to such a world, illuminated by the stars of countless saints and purified scholars revolving around that Sun (UWBP). Thus, the way to share in that Being’s (UWBP) intercession and profit from his light, and be saved from the darkness of the Intermediate Realm, is to follow his glorious practices.

That is to say, although with all its strength my heart wanted my body to be immortal, divine wisdom necessitated its destruction. I was afflicted with an incurable ill for which even Luqman the Wise could find no solution.

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Our Readings for Read and Discuss will be chosen on Friday night at our discussion circle, so if you have any suggestions or recommendations, please send them across to us in time via our Contact Page. Thank you!