Tooth for a tooth

“Tooth for a tooth. 

An eye for an eye. And a life for a life.”

This is the Mosaic Law, and yet in his youth Musa (as) [Moses] killed a man in anger and in defence of another. 

We should then contemplate his life, in the light of our revelation. 

The birth and subsequent protection of Musa (as) in the household of Pharaoh was indeed preparation for who he was destined to become. 

And yet the choices that he made, and that we make, are always our own and belong to us. It is what we take from them that defines who we are to become. 

When Musa (as) killed in anger one of the Egyptians in defence of one of Bani Israel, he knew that he had committed a hated crime and fled from the city. 

He was one of the household of Pharoah and we can see that he was clearly recognised as such on his return, out of the wilderness, to confront his step brother. 

We know that Pharoah’s wife was barren, and unable to conceive, and it is for this reason that his cries in the Ark drew her to him. And their bond was one of compassion and love. 

In so many like cases it is the Barakah of looking after, and loving, someone else’s child that brings the fruit of the womb to the normally barren woman. 

And so a son must have been born. 

It is this son, the heir of Pharoah, who himself then became Pharoah in his own stead, that Musa (as) was sent to confront. 

This is then his younger step brother. 

And this explains why Musa (as) was allowed an audience with Pharoah, and then the whole conversation of what took place between them, that we have clearly delineated in our own revelation. 

After fleeing from all of the strappings of power, that being of the Pharoah’s household meant, he went into the dessert. 

He must have been full of regret, and rightly so. And so he wandered in the dessert for long. 

We must then ask ourselves what is it that caused for God to look again with favour upon him?

For whilst it is clear that he was chosen to be the one to confront Pharoah and then lead the Children of Israel out of Egypt. 

God chooses His people because of the quality that He knows is latent within them. 

There is a circularity here that we find within the revelation itself, and it is apparent within the cosmos and our destinies that are written and yet to be fulfilled. 

That we each have a choice. 

That much is apparent even within the Seerah, which God calls the wisdom and that which He sent down alongside the revelation. What is the wisdom then, if it’s not how we seek to interpret the greater book of our lives? And those who are best, are those with the best interpretation. 

So what is this latent quality that we find within the life of Musa (as) for which God forgave him and then raised him as one of the five greatest Prophets sent to mankind. 

We know the story of how he came to a well, and there helped two unwed sisters to the water. How he came to their father, and how the father contracted for him to work for him for a number of years after which he would wed one of his daughters to him. 

Here we find the quality of Musa (as), for he fulfilled the contract and then some too. That is that he went further than what was asked from him. 

The Messenger of God (saw) was known as al-Amin, the trustworthy, before revelation descended upon him. 

Our religion is unique in its appreciation of the importance of keeping trusts and contracts, so much so that even our marriages are at core simply a contract between a man and a woman. 

And when we enter into a treaty of Peace with an adversary we will not break the treaty even when we suspect foul play. 

For that is not our way. 

I recall a former member of staff of mine who in his year of contractual employment with me took his Hajj. I impressed on him the need to fulfil the contract he had with me, but he thought the religion more important than the contract he had entered into Little did he understand the importance of fulfilling your contract, for he left on bad terms probably feeling hard done by. 

That the religion is for us, and for our benefit. But when you enter into a contract with another, you fulfil your trust first and then look after your fardh next. 

This may sound controversial to most. 

But ponder then the story of Musa (as) and what turned God to favour him, if it was not in his scrupulously fulfilling his contract. 

These are my opinions and I write to stimulate for you to contemplate and think. 

For knowledge is sought through study and contemplation. 

Not lectures and talks, nor this above. 

Is Rhetoric ever Justified?

Is rhetoric ever justified?

(^1)

Rhetoric is that which appeals to men’s base characteristics using the facade of argument. (^2 for an alternate definition)

The rhetorician either has it that every argument can be justified, and because of this every argument has the right to gain airtime, so that it can compete in the marketplace of ideas. Or he revels in his ability to pull the wool over the eyes of his fellow man, never once seeking to disclose his skill to scrutiny. 

Politicians who use rhetoric to gain ascendency may also believe that the are justified in doing so, because if they did not then another, without the wherewithal to affect real change for the better, would gain ascendency over them. 

In all cases rhetoric is used to exert control, those are its means, and not to educate nor uplift another. 

It is only very few who espouse rhetorical ideas that actually believe them. Except for those that repeat them verbatim without thought, or ability to scrutinise them. 

Did Hitler really believe that Jews were the source of all evil, or did he simply espouse so out of revenge, for a perceived injury, and to spite them?

Before Zionism adopted the Star of David for its symbolism, and conflated anti-Semiticism with anti-Zionism, did they really see their Arab hosts in the Holy Lands as inherently evil?

It was only with their adoption of “the chosen People” (^3) status that their espoused World-view (amongst themselves) changed to one of evil, before that everything was about operational necessity. Even that is Zionist sanctioned terrorism that saw them bomb a hotel housing British servicemen, that eventually saw Britain quitting from the Palestine. 

Rhetoricists may argue that they pander to the needs of the people. 

People naturally want answers, and the blame game is an easy escape, and an all too easy answer, as is all rhetorical argument that simplifies things. 

But it is because of that, that it’s just to easy, that rhetoric can never be justified. 

Except by men (to themselves) who want to turn other men’s will to their own. 

Who seek power for themselves, and are not for the greater good. But even when they seek it not for themselves, they are not aware that any concentration of power carries with it the commensurate risk of actual and real tyranny. That rhetoric, in general, is used to appeal to and thereby cements power and authority. 

Indeed all social organisations, from the family upwards are made up of individuals. 

And each individual person carries a moral responsibility. Rhetoric does nothing to help them in discharging that moral duty, and in fact deadens them to it. 

So yes rhetoric does need airtime, but only sufficient and within the context of debaunching them.  

Only within the context of making us alive to it’s threat. 

And the threat of those that justify exploitation and oppression. 

When Churchill raised England to fight against facist Germany, did our boys (and the whole country) fight against facism because of facism, or because it threatened our Nation?

When our very survival is threatened can we justifiably use Nationalist argument, that, when the immediate threat is over, would cause us to descend down the same route that Hitler took?

Are arguments that appeal to our Nationalist sensibilities, that we are better and more deserving than others, ever justifiable?

The short answer is not if you are a believer, and believe in the Oneness of God and the commensurate oneness of Mankind. 

END

^1 This has only just become a pressing question for me because of late I have Conservative Politicians that I like. And that on a personal level. And yet we are all equally capable of good, as we are to wrong. The question then is about whilst you can good on an individual level, can that really justify harming people’s ability to think for themselves?

^2 It’s dictionary definition may well be that it is argument that purposely uses logical fallacies, aimed at pulling the wool over the eyes of fellow men, stymieing them into stupidity. 

Or according to the Oxford Dictionary...

TBC 

^3 The question of who copied who is a moot point. 

How do you not know that God hasn’t already forgiven them?

*”O Allah show us the truth as the truth and bless us that we might follow it, and show us falsehood as falsehood and bless us that we might refrain from it” A true supplication of the Messenger of God.*

Such was one of the supplication that the Messenger of God (saw) used to make for himself. 

Many will rightly interpret the supplication as being there to teach us to follow the truth and leave off from falsehood. 

Just as the Messenger (saw) used to do one hundred istighfar, to teach us the importance of it and yet he was masoom- innocent of all wrong. 

When we think deeply about the religion, and not superficially, then we would see that istighfar is more about creating a humble mindset than anything else. 

That we ask because we each have the capability to wrong, and asking forgiveness helps to prevent us from that. Because istighfar nurtures humility in us, and also opens for us the doors to God’s mercy. ^1

 Indeed contemplation is the gateway to closeness to God. For our religion is rich with such opportunity. It’s in the signs of God, evident in His greatest handiwork (the cosmos), ourselves and the revelation, and His religion that are ripe with such opportunity. 

So when we consider the supplication at a deeper level we would recall that “truth is clear from falsehood”, a verse that follows on from the greatest of verses in the Quran (Ayat’ul Kursi).^2

And that the Messenger of God had both Worlds opened for him, and so cosmological truth would have been self evident and natural to him. 

So since the above supplication was for himself we have a duty to think deeply to plume the depths of it’s meaning. ^3

And indeed the supplication of a Messenger is always answered. 

This means that to find the answer to this conundrum we might first look to the Seerah of the Messenger (saw) and his life. 

It is unfortunate that many of our scholar whilst well versed in the Quran, and in fuss’at Arabic neglect contemplating the Seerah. 

For did not God call it the Wisdom in His revelation. But for most of them they do not contemplate, nor think deeply. 

Then you must ask yourself who would you rather follow the whole World and their interpretation, or the Messenger of God (saw) and his interpretation? ^4a & ^4b

[What I mean by this is that how the Messenger (saw) interpreted the supplication would be present within his action. For supplication is not simply that, it is also action that is inspired by that supplication. And that is ripe and ready for you to contemplate.]

The truth that is referred to in the Messenger’s (saw) supplication is not so clear as day and night. 

Rather it is the reason we have been given life, and free will, in the first place. 

For did not God say “indeed we created death and life to know which of you is best in deeds” and “This is a day on which the truthful will profit from their truth”. (S Mulk v1) (S Maedah v119).  

And it is this truth which becomes clear at times of tribulation and hardship. 

Contemplate then the case of a man who betrayed the Messenger (saw) of God?

For when Quraysh broke the Peace treaty between them, and the Messenger (saw) concluded at the behest of one of his allies, that he must take action against this breach of trust, he determined to march on Mecca. 

Jibreel (as) (the Angel Gabriel) came and informed him of a message sent to Quraysh to warn them of their imminent danger. 

The message was intercepted. 

And Umar (ra) asked of the Messenger (saw) permission to go and cut off the head of the traitor who had dispatched the message. He had done so because part of his family yet remained in Mecca and he wanted either for them to be protected, or for them to curry favour with their people. 

Now look at the Messenger (saw) and his response to Umar’s (ra) enquiry. 

O Umar, he was one of those who fought a Badr. What makes you not think that God hasn’t already forgiven his future sins?

Indeed the battle of Badr was a great trial from God, where 300 scantily clad, and poor mainly Muhajir, stood against 1000 well armed warriors of Quraysh with steeds of war. 

Those who fought there were worth their weight in gold, and even more than that; for they had proved their truth. 

And this then is the supplication of the Messenger (saw), for to know the truth of men is a difficult thing. 

But when you find one who is true, then his worth is like that man who betrayed the Messenger (saw) and was forgiven because of his words- “how do you not know that God hasn’t already forgiven him?”

They are like jewels on the Earth. 

And such people, you should take them as your friends and be good and kind to them, for their worth is immeasurable, no matter who they are. 

And so we also see the Messenger (saw) desperately wanting to find the truth of his people at the battle of Tabuk. 

For that was one of the hottest months on record, and Rome threatened Medina from the North. So the Messenger determined to muster his warriors to the North at Tabuk. There were no standing armies and each man was responsible for his own ride, armour and weaponry. 

The Messenger (saw) arrived at the oasis of Tabuk. And there we find him eagerly looking to the horizon. He did not look nor worry about the threat from Rome. Rather he looked south, and was eager to see Abu Dharr al-Gofari (ra). 

Read the Seerah, and read about how Abu Dharr fulfilled his obligation and made it to Tabuk. And feel how the Messenger (saw) must have felt pleased that his truth had been proved. ^5

And so we also find this quality of the Messenger mentioned in v128 of S Taubah:- full of compassion and concern for the believers, that they would not fall into hypocrisy because of the trails that will be meted out to them once or twice a year. (Read Taubah- from v 123).  

Then this is the meaning of show me the truth as the truth, and bless me that these people are part of my life. 

(I’m not a linguist but the root of the word used in the supplication appears to be risq- sustenance- then it is- O Allah let them be part of the ways through which you sustain me, and me them. Aameen). 

For in the last verse of Taubah we see the Messenger indirectly admonished as to his compassionate character and then asked to rely on Allah. For the words used are those that we us when a trial is upon us.

Clearly the believers are a trial for the Messenger. ^6

That when we appreciate his words, then we are a blessing for him. 

And so the meaning of the supplication is also, that when you find one who is false and their falsehood is verified because it is no mere mistake that you can overlook, and forgive, know that that person is false. 

And then may God give us the courage to leave off from them. ^7

O Allah bless each of us that You may find the truth in each of us, and protect us from the falseness within each of us, that we may be constantly vigilant against it. 

Aameen. 

END. 

*Knowledge is sought through study and contemplation. Not this above, nor lectures, nor talks*

^1 And so in Surah Nasr which was revealed after the conquest of Mecca, we were commanded to make istighfar (ask God for His forgiveness). 

And at that conquest no one was harmed, and Mecca was taken peaceably, and with the respect it is due. 

^2 So clear that as the verse reads, “There is no compulsion or force in the religion”, because the truth of it is so evident that God does not need to compulse you to believe. 

^3 Indeed when we do think deeply then we appreciate that truth is a cosmological quantity pertaining to the reality of all things as they are. And we learn in the Qur’an that all things do bear witness to God in truth. And God offered freedom of choice and of all things it is, the essence that is, man that accepted it. 

^4a The Sufi pay particular heed to this supplication believing that it talks about the hidden knowledge. 

It is a cornerstone of true Muslim belief, that is mentioned in S Takwir, the Messenger (saw) withheld naught of what he knew. 

We can see this at Israa and Miraj. That the event happened and though people would have rightly scoffed at it, the Messenger (saw) immediately told us concerning the event. 

Indeed a few Muslims left the religion of Islam on hearing about Israa and Miraj. 

 ^4b For when you contemplate then you realise that God’s protection of the Quran extends to His religion, that understanding it is an ever present conundrum. 

So that it has not been fully explained and is fresh for each new generation, as if it had been born yesterday. 

^5 Abu Dharr (ra) took the Shahadah whilst the Messenger (saw) was still at Mecca and before the Hijra to Medina and the establishment of the a Muslim polity. 

He was from a dessert tribe and was not present at the battles of Badr, Uhud or Khandaq. 

If you peruse Shia sources then they will say otherwise because they say that he was one of three who did not leave the religion when Abu Bakr (ra) became Khalifatul RasulAllah. 

^6 And that is also referenced in the last verses of S Hajj. 

^7 it’s as if this is a circular argument that the supplication that we are concerned with is a direct result of the last verse of Taubah. But as with everything to do with the religion, linearity is never so simple. 

That the supplication may predate the verse and explain it. 

How Small Their Interpretation

How small their interpretation 

When a trial touches you

Do you feel that it be an education- 

A refutation of your goodness 

That you might be tamed in the ways of the World 

How small is your interpretation 

That you would accept poverty 

For a richness of soul. 

Do you not think that God’s care extends to you even there?

Then that trial is not a trial of remonstration 

But a trial of your heart to see how much you would believe 

They might up the stakes 

Chase you from wall to wall 

But you know that you are a door 

And because of you 

Not only one will be saved

But many too

Then would you not believe?

In the vastness of God’s mercy 

And that none can touch you 

Except by His leave. 

Then a champion be. 

And do not stop until the many are free 

For God’s intervention and care 

Are not things to be hid

But things to glory in 

And be shared 

So that others can know 

That this is an attainable state 

Strive, 

think, 

live 

and contemplate

And you are half way there. 

Shafees

1st November 2021