Welcome to our weekly program “Path Towards Enlightenment” in which we present you a fluent and easy-to-understand explanation of the ayahs of the holy Qur’an.

We start from where we left you last Friday and here are ayahs 56 and 57 of Surah Ankabut:

يَا عِبَادِيَ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِنَّ أَرْضِي وَاسِعَةٌ فَإِيَّايَ فَاعْبُدُونِ

كُلُّ نَفْسٍ ذَائِقَةُ الْمَوْتِ ۖ ثُمَّ إِلَيْنَا تُرْجَعُونَ

“O My servants who have faith! My earth is indeed vast. So worship [only] Me.”

“Every soul shall taste death. Then you shall be brought back to Us.”

One of the interesting instructions of Islam is emphasis on migration for the sake of preserving faith when being persecuted and when there is danger to one's dignity, beliefs, and life. At the advent of Islam, Muslims were under severe persecution of the pagan Arabs who had made life miserable for the monotheists and were preventing them from performing religious duties, because of their enmity with Prophet Mohammad (blessings of God upon him and his progeny). This was the reason, the Prophet instructed a group of his companions to migrate to the safety of Abyssinia or present day Ethiopia across the Red Sea in Africa, so that they could safeguard their faith perform their religious duties in the atmosphere of security created by Negus the Christian king of that land. Soon another, larger group of Muslims migrated to Abyssinia and when the pagan Arabs sent a delegation to force their return home, King Negus, summoned the two sides to his presence, heard their argumentation, and ruled in favour of the Muslim migrants. Some years later, on the death of his uncle and guardian Abu Taleb, when the pagan Arabs became emboldened and plotted against his life, the Prophet of Islam decided to leave his hometown Mecca and migrate to the city of Yathrib where several people had accepted the truth of Islam. On the grand welcome accorded to the Prophet in Yathrib, many Muslims of Mecca migrated to that city, which soon became known as Medinat-an-Nabi or City of the Prophet.

Thus, these ayahs, as a general rule, say that attachment to one's homeland and city should not be a negative factor for your faith and worship of God, and if the persecution increases, you ought to migrate to safer places. Do not think that you will live forever in this world. Your goal in life and the purpose of your creation is not accumulation of wealth and power and how to preserve them, but it is the strengthening of your faith and moral virtues, which bring lasting benefits for you, while alive and in afterlife. So never feel unnecessarily attached to your hometown or your native land when faith is under threat.

From these ayahs we learn that:

1. In choosing the place of domicile, pay serious attention to the preservation of your religion and faith.

2. Among the duties of true believers is to migrate for safeguarding of faith when the situation warrants.

3. Those who sacrifice their faith for the sake of undue attachment to their hometown or homeland, their excuse will not be accepted by God on the Day of Judgement.

4. Everyone soul tastes death and none can escape it; so it is necessary to plan for the lasting benefits of faith in afterlife for preserving your faith.

Now listen and read ayahs 58 and 59 of Surah Ankabut:

وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ لَنُبَوِّئَنَّهُم مِّنَ الْجَنَّةِ غُرَفًا تَجْرِي مِن تَحْتِهَا الْأَنْهَارُ خَالِدِينَ فِيهَا ۚ نِعْمَ أَجْرُ الْعَامِلِينَ

الَّذِينَ صَبَرُوا وَعَلَىٰ رَبِّهِمْ يَتَوَكَّلُونَ

“Those who have faith and do righteous deeds, We will surely settle them in lofty abodes of paradise with streams running in them, to remain in them [forever]. How excellent is the reward of the workers!”

“Those who are patient and who put their trust in their Lord.”

In these ayahs, God promises those who tolerate hardships and migrate from their hometown and homeland for safeguarding their faith, the will be granted in afterlife the bliss of paradise where streams of fresh water flow and where fruits are abundant, with the most excellent of abodes for eternal residence, coupled with numerous other blessings. These ayahs points to three important characteristics of the faithful which make them deserving of the bliss of paradise namely. These are firm faith with complete trust in God, patience in the face of hardship without letting difficulties to shake their faith, and doing of righteous deeds. It is to be noted that faith without righteous deeds is worthless.

From these ayahs we learn that:

1. The condition of access to paradise and its blessings is doing of righteous deeds.

2. What the faithful sacrifice in this world for preserving their faith, God compensates them in afterlife with blessings and benefits that are everlasting and more excellent than what was available during the transient life of the mortal world.

3. Patience and perseverance are the keys for overcoming problems and achieving successes in various stages of life. It is evident that the faithful who are always subjected to harassment by the enemies endure more than others.

Now we listen and read ayah 60 of Surah Ankabut:

وَكَأَيِّن مِّن دَابَّةٍ لَّا تَحْمِلُ رِزْقَهَا اللَّـهُ يَرْزُقُهَا وَإِيَّاكُمْ ۚ وَهُوَ السَّمِيعُ الْعَلِيمُ

“How many an animal there is that does not carry its own provision. Allah provides for it, and for you, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing.”

In continuation of the previous ayahs regarding the necessity of migration for preserving faith, this ayah means to say to the believers that should not fear the losing of job and wealth, since it is Allah the Omnipresent Who has decreed for every soul its provisions in any land to which it migrates. If migration is necessary, leave your hometown and homeland with full confidence that God provides sustenance. The same God who gives sustenance to animals does not forget you. Even the animals who cannot take their food to their nest and are forced every day to go out in search of food, do not return empty handed, since the Almighty Creator provides their sustenance. God has created human beings as the best of all creation, and thus provides mankind with untold blessings, depending on work one does, and the efforts one makes by striving for improvement of the situation. Thus, do not be apprehensive of life in a safe land where you can preserve your faith, because if you stick to your hometown and homeland, you will be persecuted by the polytheists and the atheists, whom might force you to become like them, by abandoning faith in God and monotheism.

From this ayah we learn that:

1. Migrants for the sake of preserving their faith should not worry about their sustenance, because God has promised them their livelihood, wherever they might be.

2. The true believer always relies on God and does not neglect his duties.

3. God, the One and Only Creator of the whole universe, has guaranteed the sustenance of all animals and humans.

AS/ME