WHY & HOW IS MAN THE SUPERIOR MOST OF ALL BEINGS /  ALL CREATIONS OF ALLAH 

STUDY CIRCLE ADDRESS FOR

“PIB & LINES AREA SECTOR'S WORKERS”

November 13, 2006.

When Allah Almighty decided to create Adam, He made his effigy in clay and commanded all His Angels, Jins and all that was present to bow their heads before the effigy of Adam. The command of Allah to bow before Adam was by no means to be taken as a message that they should accept Adam as their idol god because those who had been previously created and that which was being created were all the creations of Allah Himself. The true spirit or essence of the command was to impregnate the fact to all present that what was being created was superior to His other creations and as such shall carry the status of being the superior most of all His creations. All the creations of Allah obeyed the command and bowed to the effigy of Adam except the angel Iblis, who had worshiped Allah the most. Iblis had become proud and arrogant because of his veneration and refused to submit to the command of Allah. His claim was that he had been created from fire and it was not possible for him to bow his head before this effigy of clay. It was the pride, the arrogance and ego of Iblis, which led him astray to deviate and disobey Allah’s command whom he worshiped the most. Allah dislikes pride and arrogance and as a result of disobedience Allah struck off all that Iblis had accumulated by way of worship and declared him as the accursed one. When Allah asked the devil as to what he will do? The devil replied that he would now mislead and allure the mankind. It is very thought provoking that on the one hand Allah has driven out the accursed devil Iblis and gave him a free hand whereas on the other hand, had Allah so willed – then in the creating of man all His affection is so evident when He commands that all should bow before His superior most creation, yet, He could have created man pure & virtuous, cleansed of all evil and sin.  However, if devil would have been on the one hand and the pious and virtuous human beings on the other hand then which factors could have come into play to determine the superiority of His superior most creation. Allah in his wisdom created man with both good and bad traits, the positive and negative qualities and with an all important intellect to be exercised to sift the right from the wrong, to be intelligent enough to know which trait, the good or bad the negative or the positive would become the strength of each individual. It is for us to see and to ponder to know how the Wisdom of Allah The All Knowing comes into play. Had Allah created man totally pious and had He provided him with the strength to shield himself against all evil then he would have remained safe from the devil but what would have then be the excellence of man in his own right? How would man test his ability and power to sift and to find which path he would want to tread on? How on earth could he be tested for his strength to abstain from the evil & the devil? How would it be substantiated whether he is meeting the standards of being classified as the superior most being? Greatness lies in the fact that even though good and bad exist in man and the power of the intellect has also been endowed, it is now for man to determine what is good or bad for him. It is for the man to decide whether he wants to associate himself with the devil or wants to be elevated to the ranks of the superior most of being. Allah alone is the all knowing in His wisdom. No doubt Allah has gifted man with an intellect but for guidance, teaching & warning man of the Do’s and Don’ts He has sent one lac twenty four thousand Messengers/ Prophets in different periods of time to disseminate His instructions to human beings to make them distinguish between right and wrong. The Don’ts such as spite / malice, animosity rancor, greed / avidity, temptation and jealousy have also been designed in the mechanism of man. Allah through the guidance of His messengers’ has also warned man that these are negative traits and as such only, those who abstain from exercising these evil characteristic will be in a position to be ranked as the superior most of His creation.

The presence of these negative characteristic are very evident in human nature and give rise to negative behavior and thinking, such as, how come my neighbor or a certain individual in the locality has amassed so much wealth and is so affluent ? Greed and temptation over power man’s senses and he now thinks of all dishonest and corrupt ways to match his neighbor’s wealth and joins in, in the rat race because he knows that by means of hard work and honest earnings he cannot become rich and affluent overnight. He thinks of all illegal and corrupt ways to achieve his goals and adopts means, which are in the list of the Don’ts of Allah and His Prophet (peace be upon him). All this evil activity results in his having joined hands with the devil and this man now stands in the row of the sinful in the list of evil doers. This man has now dislodged himself from the ranks of being the superior most creation of Allah. How on earth can such a man be blessed by Allah?       

UNITARIANISM / DECLARING GOD AS ONE

Oneness of Allah:    There are five pillars of Islam; first to declare Allah to be One and Only, second prayers, third fasting, fourth zakat, fifth Hajj. It is a sad state of affairs that the significance and the essence of these divine commands is not conveyed in the sermons given, instead fear and temptations are preached for the fulfillment of the above mentioned obligations. To be able to understand the Oneness of Allah simply means to be able to have an absolute, firm belief that there is no god but Allah. The Qualma in Arabic starts with the word ‘La’ meaning ‘No’ as such ‘La-e-La-ha-Il-La-Lah’ there is No god but Allah. When there is firm faith and absolute belief in the entirety of Allah we stand assured that the entire universe and all that exists in it are the sole creations of Allah; verbal acknowledgement alone doest not suffice because we must capture the spirit of our faith and as such demonstrate it as well through actions. This demonstration alone will help us to perfect and strengthen our faith. Thus to prove our firm belief in the Oneness of Allah, will be, to act in accordance with the commands of Allah and strictly refrain from what Allah has forbidden us to do. If at all, we are intelligent enough to take advantage of the gift of the intelligence bestowed on us we will stand in the row of the superior most of His creations & thus we will undoubtedly abstain from the evil and devilish acts. Our faith in the entirety of Allah gives us the strength to be steadfast and helps us draw courage such that we need not be subdued by other forces, we would not be kneeling down and practicing vagary because these are the brand-marks of non-believers.

It has been invariably perceived that weak forces buckle under pressure of powerful forces and strength there by simply negating there strength in the belief of the entirety of Allah and the belief of being the superior most of His creations. If can be argued that powerful, nations possess nukes, weapons latest offensive and defensive equipment plus technology where as weak nation have no such facilities, then, in the face of such pressure they have to submit to the pressure from stronger nations. The above-mentioned argument definitely negates our faith and belief in Allah and in our being the superior most creation. If we face the truth and see ground realities, we will realize that the nations, which enjoy the latest facilities, are not made up of individuals any different to those as us or any other nation.

What is the spirit of IQRA?

The very first word of the very first revelation to the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was IQRA, a command meaning READ. “Iqra-Bisme-Rubb-e-kallazi khalaq” i.e. “Read in the name of Allah who created you”. The literal translation of IQRA is read. When reference is made to this word in the revelation the meaning is invariably confined to its literal meaning i.e. Read and that too only for the purpose of religion and the religious books; in doing so we strangulate & squash the entire spirit, essence, explanation and the very depth of in the meaning of this all-important word. No efforts whatsoever seem to surface to get to the profundity of the deep-rooted wisdom borne in this extremely substantial word. Traditionally, it is narrated that at the time of first revelation when the Prophet (peace be upon him) was commanded by Allah through the angel Jibrael (Alahe-Salam) to read the Prophet replied “I can’t read”; then (according to most legends) Jibrael (Alahe-Salam) asked the Prophet (peace be upon him) to repeat after him.  The Prophet (peace be upon him) started repeating and the so-called mullahs say this is how he learnt to read, which is totally false and untrue. The word ‘READ’ has never meant to be-taken for its literal meaning only and that too only a particular script and a particular language; in all its wisdom, the word “read” carried a very exhaustive message. To read would mean to think to mediate and to be able to discover the hidden secrets of the bounties bestowed so that man could progress and scientific fact-finding be delved into. Those of us who were intelligent enough to grasped the essence of the word ‘Read’ did read with the true understanding of the word of Allah. They thus emerged as strong super powers and unfortunate for those who couldn’t capture the depth of the meaning of the word landed up being slaves, subjects and dependents of the powerful nation. If the word ‘READ’ means only religious education then can a scholar having knowledge only the teachings of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) the Islamic Jurisprudence and related Islamic subjects be in a position to make atom bombs, missiles, rockets, satellites, computers, TV’s, or other latest equipment and technology. Can any nation acquire all the above mentioned by simply marginalizing themselves to the study of religious Islamic disciplines?

In the words of Allah as revealed in a verse of the Holy Quran He says “And he has subjected to you, as from Him, all that is in the Heavens and on Earth, behold in that are signs indeed for those who reflect”.[1] If we were to reflect and understand the profundity of the message quoted above then Allah wants man to probe to unearth. Only when, man will dig and probe, will he be able to unearth and have the know-how of the wealth of the innumerable minerals, gasses & various bounties stowed away and gain the knowledge of how they can benefit man. It is only when we have the knowledge to be able to decipher what iron, brass, copper or gold is will we be able to put them to their proper use. It is the knowledge and know-how about iron that man was able to make different weapons and instruments. As the process of intellectual fact-finding progressed and the know-how was put to use it helped in the developing of cannon guns, tanks, missiles which are used for offensive and defensive purposes against the enemy as and when required by man. It is for us to reflect & assess the situation that the super powers which have acquired the latest technologies and atomic weapons are in possession of equipment such as atom bomb, missiles, fighter jets, automatic weaponry; has Allah gifted these to them from the heavens above or is it there intellectual advancement and relentless scientific fact-finding that has set the stage for them? If we acknowledge countries to be super powers on the basis of scientific knowledge and technology then what is holding us back? The Quran is a fountain flowing with knowledge for those who want to climb the ladder to success and walk the road to power. Successful and powerful nations are proud of their achievements. How ill–advised and unfortunate we stand that we do not seek guidance from the Quran which is prolific with clues to all types of knowledge and science, we don’t understand and we don’t try to ponder on the wisdom of the words of Allah. We recite the Quran only for reward for the hereafter without even knowing the literal meanings of the words we recite.

The meaning and the philosophy of the word IQRA that is ‘Read’ is decidedly profound. Thus, whosoever is fortunate enough to capture the essence and spirit of this word, irrespective of his religion, cast or creed he places himself on the road to the heights of success and prosperity. It is by means of this very word that Allah has presented man with a formula such that when he says the word Read it implies to read to understand, to learn, to know and there by make use of the gift of the intellect to ponder, contemplate, go find and achieve. It is but an established fact that knowledge has no boundaries, no limitations & its scope and magnitude is beyond measure. The knowledge about different sciences & faculties regardless of their place of origin know no worldly boundaries because knowledge flows and flows extensively. Quiet fascinating is the invention of the computer, which has helped in completely wiping out the distance factor. Is it the Invention of the Muslims or is it the invention of the non-Muslims? For the preservation of all educational materials, books & literary works huge libraries were required but now all this can be easily preserved on a small hard disk in the computer. If we take the example of the printing of the Quran before the invention of the computer we would understand that it was a long process to assemble the verses, then write, proof read, print, bind and then market it. If it was to be sent overseas then transportation was also required either by road, sea or by air and it had to be marketed and sent to different destination for sale through distributors. The computer technology has eased the situation to the extent that the entire Quran has been made available on the website for each and everyone all over the world irrespective of one’s destination, thus wiping out what we call distance and time. If we have not been able to produce a computer; we can always better it and make the best and proper use of this machine. Various quotations of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) are available as regard to the achieving of education, “it is the duty of every Muslims male & female to receive education” where as a certain sect of the so called mullahs preach that a Muslim female does not have the right to receive education. Another quotation of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) states “Receive education even if you have to travel to China for this purpose”. Strangely enough, it makes one wonder was China of that time offering Islamic education. The answer is a firm NO, but China at that point in time had made long strides in literature and arts as compared to the Arab nations.

Once again, when we reflect on the word ‘Read’ it is again not restricted to worldly subjects however it is privy to the ways in which we live; it embodies etiquette, character building, our routine habits, our ways of eating, drinking and healthcare as well. Lentils were supposed to be the staple food of the poor man but latest research now shows that Lentils are far better and healthier food as compared to meat hence fancy hotels now happen to be serving lentil soups. Meat was considered to be a good source of food but science has proved otherwise and has put lentils and vegetables on the top of the list as healthy food for healthy living and for the prevention of many ailments.   

Last but not the least, we are fully aware of the fact that Adam’s children spread all over the world hence different areas got populated and as such in different periods of time 124,000 Prophets were sent to teach man and to deliver the message of Allah. Each one of us worships and prays in their own fashion and way as taught to them by those Prophets. Allah simply loves His creation ‘Man’ and therefore states that “the murder of one individual is the murder of all mankind” but unfortunately our standards of the delivery of messages is such that we preach the stoning of mosques, destroying of Imambargah’s & killing for sectarian reasons. This type of attitude, behavior in sermonizing is totally against the teachings of Islam and negates all that Islam stands for. One and all worship Allah; whose faith and belief is righteous and whose is not, is not for us to judge.  Who will be rewarded to live in paradise in the hereafter and who will be denied this reward is for Allah to judge and decide. Our duty as human beings is but to love all mankind, to love humanity and shun spite, animosity, rancor, greed, temptations, jealousy and other such vices. We must strive hard to follow the right path, to be kind and virtuous such that we are not ranked to be put in the rows of those who will be judged as the associates of the devil but are mercifully ranked as the superior most of His creations to befit the title He so affectionately honored us with.