Salaam and welcome to another episode of our weekly series titled “Path towards Enlightenment” which is an endeavour to make you and us familiar with an easy and fluent explanation of God’s Final Scripture to all mankind, the holy Qur’an that was revealed to the Last and Greatest of all Messengers, Prophet Mohammad (blessings of God upon him and his progeny).

As you know, we have taken up explanation of Surah Hadeed”, which is number 57 in the serial order of compilation of the holy Qur’an and mentions the heavy metallic element called Hadeed or “Iron” as being sent down by God to endow the earth itself with mighty force, and provide humanity with the many benefits of its structural strength, as well as all the great tests of faith that arise from this. The Surah presents several Divine Attributes, then proceeds with the grandeur of the Holy Qur’an, the state of believers and hypocrites on the Day of Resurrection, accounts of the past nations, and spending in the way of Allah for establishment of social justice. It criticizes monasticism and social seclusion, and mentions the response received from the public by the previous prophets,

We continue from where we left you last Friday, and here is Ayah 21:

“Take the lead toward forgiveness from your Lord and a paradise as vast as the heavens and the earth, prepared for those who have faith in Allah and His prophets. That is Allah’s Grace which He grants to whomever He wishes, and Allah is Dispenser of a great grace.”

If you remember, last week in our explanation of the previous Ayahs of this Surah we said the transient life of the mortal world is not the end, but is a passage towards the Hereafter and Resurrection for the Day of Judgement, on which the believers will be rewarded and the disbelievers condemned to eternal punishment. This means, it is the proper cognizance of the world and its characteristics that make a person immune from the dangers of disbelief and sins, since excessive attachment to materialistic life is nothing but drifting away from truth and the realities of creation. In other words, life without faith in God and failure to observe spiritual values is just a childish play. It is true that all human beings enjoy the life of the world to varying degrees, including the believers who consider as gifts of God Almighty, but the real bounties are those of the Hereafter where bliss is achieved because of faith and good deeds, while disbelief and sins lead to permanent punishment.

The Ayah that we recited to you now emphasizes hastening toward Divine Forgiveness through repentance, self-reform, expiation for missed obligations, obedience to God Almighty and refraining from sins. Thus Divine Forgiveness is actually the key to Paradise, whose vastness encompasses the heavens and the earth and is prepared for the believers. Divine Forgiveness is necessary before tidings of Paradise because unless a person is absolved of sins, he/she will not be admitted to Paradise. A point to note is that Paradise with its numerous bounties is not obtained through our good deeds which are indeed insignificant, but it is Divine Grace, Mercy, and Favour that multiplies a believer’s virtuous acts and makes him/her deserving of the bliss of Paradise.

This Ayah teaches us that:

1. If the life of the world is amusement and pleasures of the flesh for the sinners and disbelievers, it is an excellent opportunity for obeying God’s commandments and abstaining from forbidden acts and things for the believers who strive for Divine Mercy and Forgiveness.
2. The faithless and the materialists compete with each other for acquiring wealth and worldly possessions, while the true believers strive for God’s grace.
3. Paradise is for the upright believers who have never disobeyed Allah, as well as for those who repent and are forgiven by Allah, Whose grace and favours multiply the rewards of our good deeds which are indeed insignificant.

Now let us listen to Ayahs 22 and 23 of the same Surah:

“No affliction visits the earth or yourselves but it is in a Book before We bring it about; that is indeed easy for Allah,

“So that you may not grieve for what escapes you, nor exult for what comes your way, and Allah does not like any swaggering braggart.”

These Ayahs mean to say that all things happen as consequences that follow in accordance with the laws made by Allah the All-Wise, Whose Decrees of occurrences or their postponement and cancellation are pre-recorded in a Book from which the announcement has been made to mankind, so that distress could be avoided through good deeds and precautionary measures. This, however, does not mean that the good ones will not suffer disasters or those afflicted with disasters are bad persons.

As Ayah 23 means to say, both misfortune and good fortune are Divine tests and may turn out to be illusory, since these are designed to test and ascertain the degrees of faith or the lack of it. Therefore, true believers do not envy those who have material possessions, neither do they exult if they themselves possess worldly assets, nor do they boast and covet. If the true believers are blessed with material bounties, they share them with others as they consider wealth and possession to be gifts of Allah.

1. The events and occurrences of the transient life of the mortal world are known to Allah the All-Wise and take place at His command.
2. A faithless person is dejected when misfortune befalls and exults in wild joy when fortune favours him/her, while a true believer is patient in calamities and is thankful to God for whatever they gain.
3. Allah the All-Merciful, Who tests the degrees of faith or the lack of it, through both disasters and bounties, at times averts many a calamity, whether accidental or natural – such as storms, earthquakes, epidemics, and the like – because of earnest prayers and supplications to Him.

In conclusion of this week’s episode here is Ayah 24 of Surah Ḥadeed:

“Such as are the stingy and bid (other) people to be stingy; and whoever refuses to comply [should know that] indeed Allah is the All-Sufficient, the All-Laudable.”

This Ayah points to the misers and the niggardly who not only do not give to the needy from the wealth that God has granted to them, but dissuade others from spending in God’s way. In other words, the avaricious and the niggardly not only keep the gifts of Allah from others in society but also dry up the streams of charity in others.

From this Ayah we learn that:

1. Persuading others to be stingy is worse than being stingy.
2. God has given wealth and possessions as a trial to determine how a rich person behaves – whether he/she helps the needy and spends for a good cause or keeps on accumulating riches by being stingy and arrogant.

RM/AS/SS