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 is ayah 12 of Surah Luqman.

وَلَقَدْ آتَيْنَا لُقْمَانَ الْحِكْمَةَ أَنِ اشْكُرْ لِلَّـهِ ۚ وَمَن يَشْكُرْ فَإِنَّمَا يَشْكُرُ لِنَفْسِهِ ۖ وَمَن كَفَرَ فَإِنَّ اللَّـهَ غَنِيٌّ حَمِيدٌ

“Certainly We gave Luqman wisdom, saying, ‘Give thanks to Allah; and whoever gives thanks, gives thanks only for his own sake. And whoever is ungrateful, [let him know that] Allah is indeed All-Sufficient, All-Laudable.”     

This ayah and the following ayahs speak about Luqman the Sage in the form of his advices to his son. According to Islamic texts, Luqman was not Prophet but was a very wise person, whose mind God had enlightened because of his deep faith in monotheism and abstinence from all sorts of evil. As is evident by the ayahs, real wisdom is given by God Almighty, although people can strive to become wise. Luqman was always grateful to God and imparted valuable advice to his son, regarding belief in the One and Only God, negation of polytheism, ethical virtues and other important issues. This proves that anyone who is firmly attached to the path of God and abstains from vain hopes and carnal desires, could be bestowed wisdom by the All-Merciful Lord. Yes, when a person’s heart is enlightened by the light of wisdom resulted from purity and piety, the divine words will be uttered by his tongue and he will say the same thing that Allah pleases and he thinks in the same way that Allah approves. It is worth noting that Allah marked out Luqman for greatness by setting his admonitions to his son, in a row with His Own words, so that he real meaning of wisdom is clarified for us as well as the duty of the wise in guiding others. It is clear from his admonitions to his son that each of these concepts is counted as one of the branches of the vast concept of wisdom and they are not in contrast with each other. Luqman thanked God for having granted him wisdom. He knew the aim of the Divine bounties and their usage. He used to apply them just in the same way that they had been created for, and this very thing is the meaning of wisdom that: ‘everything is used in its own place’. Thus, both ‘gratitude’ and ‘wisdom’ converge on the same point.

From this ayah we learn that:

1. God is the Giver of wisdom, and real wisdom means being grateful to the Lord Most High.
2. It is important to give proper education to children, and bring them up on the solid base of monotheism and ethical virtues.  

Now we listen to and read ayah 13 of Surah Luqman:

وَإِذْ قَالَ لُقْمَانُ لِابْنِهِ وَهُوَ يَعِظُهُ يَا بُنَيَّ لَا تُشْرِكْ بِاللَّـهِ ۖ إِنَّ الشِّرْكَ لَظُلْمٌ عَظِيمٌ

“When Luqman said to his son, as he advised him: ‘O my son! Do not ascribe any partners to Allah. Polytheism is indeed a great injustice.”

The ten admonitions of Luqman, which have been stated in an interesting way through six ayahs, contain both some ideological matters, and the principles of religious duties and ethical subjects. The first advice of Luqman to his son is to be keep from polytheism whether in idea or in practice. Worship of idols, the sun, the moon, the stars and even animals, is deviation from the path of God. It is also important to note that many of those who claim to be monotheists, taint their faith with shades of polytheism by being servants of wealth, power, carnal desires, and the serving of those in power, however wicked. The Sage Luqman thus by giving precious advices to his sons, cautions the seekers of truth against the plague of polytheism or ascribing partners to the One and Only God. He considers polytheism to be a great injustice and a kind of oppression on one’s own self. It is noteworthy that this ayah expresses indirectly the duty of parents for bringing up children and teaching them proper ideas. Also the manner of expression is also very important. Advice is more effective than orders and it is better accepted by children, especially when such expressions as “my son”, or “my dear child” are used.

From this verse we learn that:

1. All humans are in need of advice. 
2. We should learn the ways of bringing up children from persons of faith and wisdom, so that we prevent them from the pitfalls of sins and blunders in life.
3. Children are in need of advices. One of the best ways of the proper brigning up of children is to treat them sincerely and kindly.

AS/ME/SS