For People who use their Reason

Notes from our Tafseer lesson at last night's usrah - Surah Al-Baqarah ayats 163 - 166



Muhammad Asad Translation (to be read together with his explanation)

(2: 163) AND YOUR GOD is the One God: there is no deity save Him, the Most Gracious, the Dispenser of Grace.

(2: 164) Verily, in the creation of the heavens and of the earth, and the succession of night and day: and in the ships that speed through the sea with what is useful to man: and in the waters which God sends down from the sky, giving life thereby to the earth after it had, been lifeless, and causing all manner of living creatures to multiply thereon: and in the change of the winds, and the clouds that run their appointed courses between sky and earth: [in all this] there are messages indeed for people who use their reason.

*This passage is one of the many in which the Qur'an appeals to "those who use their reason" to observe the daily wonders of nature, including the evidence of man's own ingenuity ("the ships that speed through the sea"), as so many indications of a conscious, creative Power pervading the universe.

(2: 165) And yet there are people who choose to believe in beings that allegedly rival God,* loving them as [only] God should be loved: whereas those who have attained to faith love God more than all else. If they who are bent on evildoing could but see - as see they will when they are made to suffer** [on Resurrection Day] -that all might belongs to God alone, and that God is severe in [meting out] punishment!

* Lit., "there are among the people such as take [to worshipping] compeers beside God". Regarding the term andad, see note 13 on verse 22 of this surah.
** Lit., "when they see the suffering" (or "chastisement").

(2: 166) [On that Day] it will come to pass that those who had been [falsely] adored* shall disown their followers, and the latter shall see the suffering [that awaits them], with all their hopes** cut to pieces!

*Lit., "followed" -i.e., as saints or alleged "divine personalities".
** Asbdb (sing. sabab) denotes, in its primary meaning, "ties" or "attachments", and in a tropical sense, "means [towards any end]" (cf. Lisdn al-'Arab, and Lane IV, 1285). In the above context, asbdb obviously refers to means of salvation, and may thus be rendered as "hopes".
___________________________________________________________________


There are 3 differences between the attributes of Rahman and Rahim

Rahman - Beneficent

1. is bestowed upon all mankind,
   
2. is limited to life on earth only,
   
3. and is mainly based on justice, as per the Arab proverb Man jadda wajada which is the equivalent of As you sow so shall you reap
   

Rahim - Merciful

1. is bestowed only on people who had attained the faith (mukminin)
2. extends to the hereafter
3. and is based on nikmat (joy), although those who were not bestowed Rahman on Earth is not necessarily precluded from Rahim in the Hereafter
   

The orders of love in Islam:

1. Muhabbatul Usla - the highest; that is love for Allah and his Rasul
2. Muhabbatul UsTa - love for duniawi and its contents for the sake of Allah
3. Muhabbatul Adna - love for duniawi and its contents but not for the sake of Allah

In the Hereafter, intercessors will intercede for the sinners. The major intercession (syafa'at) will be from Allah whilst minor syafa'at can be from:

1. Rasulullah to his ummah
2. Child to his parents
3. Teacher to his pupil
4. Deeds to the do-er
   
5. Istighfar and Taubah to the repentant

Allahu a'lam