Blessed

I have seen many things in my life, for one who prides himself on his mathematical and rational ability, that are from the hidden world. 

When a Muslim sees the Messenger (saw), or for that matter any other Prophet in his dream then he knows that it is a true dream for the devils cannot impersonate any of them. 

And then those not in know, will ask “how do you recognise them?”

When you wake into the dream, you have already recognised them and know who they are. 

And the memory of the dream is oftentimes but the memory of what you thought whilst in that dream, and what the dream said to you. 

So over a decade ago I dreamt and saw with my eyes and knew with my mind that Jesus (as) was being sent down. 

The certainty of it was as clear as daylight. 

And furthermore he was not smiling. 

For his task is heavy. 

To declare the truth of Muhammed (saw), and to bring war.  War on his own people, for they dishonour him and belied all he brought. 

And I have seen in Ramadan’s past, Sakina, the wind with face visit within my front room whilst we all read individually, and loudly, from our own Qurans. 

Sakina is a creation of God, that used to be associated with Ark of the Covenant of Moses (as). And now he comes attracted to the recitation of the Quran. 

And for that matter I am not an expert in the recitation of the Quran. 

But how many Qaris can say that they have been blessed with such a visit. 

He came in the door, went about the room, and went out. And I was stunned. 

But so to did my father witness it, but to this day he will be hard pressed to acknowledge it. 

And I know he saw it, because of his stunned look. And I asked him if he saw it, which he acknowledged without a sound. 

The hidden realm can often put people out. 

And I know the waswasa (whispering) of the Jinn. And have felt the salutations of the angels saying peace right into the centre of your hearts. 

And I have seen the houri in a Ramadan dream long ago, and their beauty abashes you. 

I have heard birds bidding me wake for Tahhajud in Ramadan’s last nights. That is when I was younger and more of a sleepy head. And I woke and prayed and then having thought about it... where were those birds? There was no waking sound. 

But when I slept the birds song was incessant, insistent. 

And I have been protected twice from wrong, once I fell down asleep. 

Another time I was protected from taking and profiting from other peoples money when I organised something for my friends. And this by making an error and taking them all to the 02 to watch a film, when we got there I realised that we were on the wrong day. We did not lose the money, but instead any discount that we had was nullified. And no one lost anything, except me that I gained in understanding. 

And from that day I have been scrupulous in ensuring that I do not steal a penny from anyone. And I hold everyone’s trust as sacred. 

And I have seen the Messenger (saw) thrice in my dreams. The first he (saw) sent salaams to me through a proxy. 

The second he came towards me arms extended wanting to hug me, from which I fled for fear of offence. 

The third I appeared already seated with my left shoulder touching his right shoulder, the both of our hands outstretched in supplication and he bade me ask. 

And I asked and he said Aameen. 

That what I had asked for, I had never told before - that I tell now- for I asked for happiness. 

On my second Hajj, on which I went by myself, I was unable to visit Medina and fulfilled the rights of Hajj before being flown back to the UK, because my father was in hospital and I wanted to be back before he woke. 

I fulfilled the incumbent trip to Medina a year or two afterwards with another Umrah to Mecca. 

Every time I visit the Messenger’s (saw) I am acutely aware of my responsibility. That as with the companions I cannot leave without taking leave of our master, the Messenger of God, sent to the whole of mankind. And so I will not leave unless I pass by his resting place and offer my salutations to him. 

The walk past his resting place is at the front of the Mosque, from which you pass through two gates, entering at the South East corner and exiting at the South West corner. There are always two lanes, the Mosque faces Mecca which is to its South. 

The walkway closest to the southerly wall of the Mosque is the furthest away from the Messenger’s resting place, and is consequently less busy and mush more easier to go through. 

I always take the furtherest walkway as I am aware that there are special angels appointed to take our salutations of peace to the Messenger (saw), even that is when we are so close. 

The other walkway closest to the Messengers resting place is more busy and crowded because people leaving the old Mosque tend to leave that way in order  to also pay their respects. 

In times of extreme business and crowd the further walkway is closed and we are bidden to wait whilst the pressure from the closer walkway is diverted into our lane. 

That is normal. 

On this one occasion as i was walking in the further walkway, three security men came directly in front of me and blocked my passage. I understood that as usual they wanted for us to wait, so I stopped. 

And they bade to enter the nearer walkway. 

I looked and another set of three guards had stopped the nearer walkway so that the flow from the further walkway was uninterrupted. And then I looked again and the nearer walkway was completely clear. 

I went unhindered to the resting place of the Messenger (saw), I said my salutations and looked inside. 

I saw movement within. 

Those that die as Shaheed, they are not dead. And the Messenger said that when he sleeps, his eyes are shut and yet his heart is open. And is not sleep the brother of death. And when you send salutations upon the Messenger (saw) do you not think that he responds in kind. 

I did not wait to see what would happen next, but promptly left. 

On my third and last Hajj, I took with me my sons so that they could experience that phenomenal event. And it coincided with my 50th. 

There I was blessed we ascended Mount Arafat and there I answered the question that the Messenger (saw) had posed to his people over 1400 years ago. 

He asked: “have I delivered the Message?” To which the countless responded in one voice - “yes” And then he (saw) said “O Allah, bear witness”. 

And so I stood on the mount and bore witness to Muhammed (saw) having delivered the Message. And that we believed because of him, and asked for God to bless him without count or measure. 

And then the heavens opened up, there may have been spitting before. But the torrent fell during the summer season within Arabia, in the dessert. 

And there were flashes of lightening and rolling thunder. But for a Muslim, rain is ever a blessing. Symbolism of God’s great and powerful mercy.  

And the rain continued for three days of Hajj, and there was no let up. That was indeed a great blessing. 

My Arabic is not good, and my knowledge of it is poor even in regards to the supplications. But Allah t’ala has blessed me at times with the right words, that come when most needed. 

I have never had any I could call an enemy. Until very recently when one out of jealousy and spite sought to destroy me. 

And then God blessed me with the words and supplication of protection. 

On the second night of my greatest trial, as I supplicated to the Most Gracious, an angel spoke into my heart and said that my supplication had been heard. 

And I knew that my enemies had no power to harm me. For by God, I was protected in that matter, even whilst they tried their best. 

The question then becomes as to why I was given that knowledge. It is as if it was given to me so that I would not be daunted by their evil, and that I would not hesitate to show up their hypocrisy. And then also it is as if I given it so that I would know not to give up on one who was in need of my help and succour. And I will never do that. 

Allah t’ala has blessed me so that I did not fail into despair, no matter the hardship. And that I continued to believe in that ultimately truth and goodness would win out. 

But that does not make the feeling and less raw. Of what I have had to endure from them. 

And I cannot revenge against them, without bringing myself into disrepute. 

So I supplicate to my Lord, and the Lord that created and nourished them from far places - “O God, revenge for me against those that sought to destroy me. And even as they gave me no respite, give them none too, unless they return to you in forgiveness and try to make amends. Otherwise my Lord destroy them until they are nothing but a bad memory”. 

This intervention from God in this matter, is a thing beautiful. And is a thing that we as a Nation lack. 

Imagine the force for good and truth that we could be, if God’s intervention was ever close to us. 

And that can only come from a closeness to God, which is not born of seeking to be a Sheikh, but of living life and contemplating it. 

Alhamdolillah I do not fast each day. 

Nor do I fast the Sunnahs of Monday and Thursday. Nor do I eschew from enjoyment. 

Instead I know the remit of the religion and God’s right over us. And I enjoy the prayer. And when I ask from God, I ask in English - my only language. 

I know that the Messenger (saw) was sent for all time. And hence was sent to perfect our morals, to show us the perfect society and to clarify all things. 

And that he (saw) did with completeness. 

So that the religion is complete, and not in need of embellishments and for us that we should protect it in its original form. 

How astray are some of our illustrious Sheikhs, but it is no remit of mine to correct them. For they would fain listen to one who has not studied as they have studied. 

However on the night before my first Hajj I wondered in a dream dressed as a Sheikh with many wrapping and coverings about my body. I wondered through a see of similarly clad Sheikhs and they all looked at me in shock, for by my side was a friend scantily clad. 

Years later I learnt that coverings in a dream represent knowledge. 

How easily they err. 

For in a mosque I frequent for the Jumna’, they make the collection for the Mosque between the two Khutbahs. To do so they must have some Sheikhs opinion to allow that to happen. 

But did they never consider that clearly the Jumma’ is a religious ritual. And cannot be changed, nor altered for their convenience. 

Do they not ask themselves before they innovate, is this part of the religion or not?

The problem is that they see everything as the remit of the religion. 

Whereas Alhamdolillah I know that the religion has its bounds. 

And so I observe the religious obligations, and enjoy myself as well. 

I play football, enjoy games, enjoy company and don’t mind having a good time. 

And I have been blessed, because I understand that the religion does not ask that you be sombre. 

Lastly, how will you know if what I tell you here is true?

Then look to my death. 

For I have asked for an honourable death, honourable in the sight of all, and not just a few. 

So to know the truth of what I say here, look to my passing. If I have lied then may I be disgraced, but if I have given up the truth of what I have seen then may I held in honour on my passing, by all. 

O Allah t’ala send our salutations upon our Master, Muhammed (saw), and reward him with abundance, for without him we would be ignorant. Aameen. 

The MOTIVE

There is a natural hierarchy to the questions that we can ask about the Cosmos, and our place within it, that is given by those very questions themselves. 

And when we think deeply about it the study of Science, whilst talking the talk of trying to explain all things, only really scratches the surface to get to the How of Things: the mechanism and not the Purpose, the Hows and not the Whys. 

MAY YOU BE BLESSED WITH CONTEMPLATION 

Off course, Materialists will argue that the Whys only relate to the actions of cogent beings, like ourselves, that have and can exert free will. 

So for example when it is asked as to why we should be just, “do unto others as you would have done unto yourself” is a sufficient answer that clearly rings true. 

But that when we talk of the purpose of anything other than ourselves (or other cogent sentient beings), it is a reflection of an age old anthropomorphism that sees man as being at the centre of the Cosmos. 

A better word for this is personification, that we see ourselves in the other objects, and subjects, that populate our World.  

That they do not have a purpose, nor a moral compass and do not know neither truth nor falsehood. For there is no motive to their being, and nothing that drives them onwards. 

However in the Islamic Worldview, all things have a purpose. 

Indeed in the Qu’ran, God informs us that He created all things, in (with and from) Truth. And that therefore all things do testify to His existence, by their very existence. 

And then God also says in the Qur’an that He made the Sun and the Moon subservient to us. *1

Now that is a thing to deliberate. 

For sure the Sun and the Moon are distant to us, independent of us, and we cannot reach them nor harness their full power, nor turn them to our will. 

Some Mufasir will say that the Moon is made subservient to us by it’s phases, through which we know the count of time and the flow of years. Others that it is the sun’s energy that is harnessed by the plants that in turn we harness, through networks of energy flowing, for our benefit. 

But there is some deeper significance here that needs deliberating. 

And I suggest you do so without my input, for it is in contemplation that benefit lies. 

So look now away from my thoughts on the matter, and return back to my argument after the hashed lines. 

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The greatest purpose of man is to know God. For in a Hadith Qudsi we learn that God said that I created that I might be known. 

And that is how the Sun and the Moon provide the greatest utility to us. 

For in the contemplation of both, and how we are protected from the radiation and power that emanates from the Sun. And how the Moon provides for our tides, and allows us to count the passage of time. 

Therein are signs for Men, and Women, of Understanding. 

And in God’s saying that the Sun and Moon are subservient to us, there is itself, within that argument, a great boon. 

For through this we know that our greatest purpose is to come to know God, His Majesty and Grace, through His creations- both the Sun and the Moon and all else that are nourished through them. 

That those objects themselves have been made with a purpose, and have a motive. 

And that purpose is for them to be signs of contemplation that point to ONE Creator, full of majesty, mercy and grace. 

And this purpose is fully evident through the whole of creation, with it’s perfection. 

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And so we come to what is the main reason for the revelation of the Qur’an, and it’s main purpose. 

On the day of Arafat, in the final year of the Messenger’s life, on the plains of Hajj he (saw) received these words:

 الْيَوْمَ أَكْمَلْتُ لَكُمْ دِينَكُمْ وَأَتْمَمْتُ عَلَيْكُمْ نِعْمَتِي وَرَضِيتُ لَكُمُ الْإِسْلَامَ دِينًا فَمَنِ اضْطُرَّ فِي مَخْمَصَةٍ غَيْرَ مُتَجَانِفٍ لِّإِثْمٍ فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ

This day have I perfected your deen for you, completed My favour upon you, and have chosen for you Islam as your way of life. (al Maedah v3). 

The completion of God’s favour upon the whole of Mankind, was the creation of Muslim society, and a people who would uphold it and strive towards it being ever present. 

And then it should be clear that Muslim’s know that their society has a purpose, as do all things. 

And that purpose is to bring people, both Muslim and non-Muslim closer to God, closer to appreciating His Majesty and the perfection of His creation. 

And towards this end Muslim society strives to remove oppression, that which one men visits on another, or that which a state visits upon a citizen. 

So that all men, and women, are free. 

Free to believe. Free to contemplate creation. Free to draw closer to God. 

And thus the creation of a fully just Muslim society. Where men’s souls are not oppressed by imprisonment. But when they err, face the hudood and then afterwards are free to partake fully in Muslim society without fear of discrimination, without fear of class division. *2

For God informs us in the Qur’an that there is life in it. 

Men’s souls need freedom. 

And Muslim society is there to help them stay free from oppression. *3

So that they, and it, may fulfil each it’s purpose. 

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

The Fact of the Matter

In school we are taught that fact is unassailable. We learn “fact”, make arguments about “fact” and disseminate “fact”.  

Geobbels, the Nazi’s minister of propaganda and culture said in a speech in 1933, “German art of the next decade will be heroic... it will be factual and completely free of sentimentality... or it will be nothing”. 

Indeed there is no greater proponent of fact than Islam. For in Islam, God is al-Haqq, the absolute truth and al-Baatin, the hidden as He encompasses all. 

In the Qur’an we find a verse that says that “truth smashes the brains out of falsehood” (S The Prophets). And we learn in the sayings of our Messenger (saw), that a Muslim can be many things from an alcoholic to a thief, but there is one thing that a Muslim cannot be and that is a liar. 

Maybe it is in the constancy of seeking to be true that we do destroy ourselves, and make ourselves over. 

However whilst Islam is so clear in its advocation of truth and fact, it also recognised that unabashed truth when it is directed towards another, or for a poor reason, can be our route to perdition. 

Another saying of the Messenger reminds us that two things can take you to hell, and those are what is between your teeth and what is between your legs. Whilst the Messenger also informed us of the severity of backbiting, “must you eat the flesh of your brother” and when the companions asked “what about when it is true”, the Messenger informed us that if false it is slander. (And consequently backbiting is when you tell a true thing that is hurtful to another behind their backs). 

Islam is nothing if not nuanced and intelligent. And Islam is social. 

The search for being true is an ultimate goal, “who are we each really?”

But in that search let not another suffer because we cannot see the trees for the forest. 

Goebbels spoke the language of fact to destroy and not to make, to hinder and not to help. 

And whilst “fact” is highly promoted. 

We as Muslims must remember in our social conversations that facts can hurt. That it is better to be silent on those occasions. 

And much more importantly that it is our values, and our humanity, that make us Muslims in the first. 

That we value truth, honesty and sacrifice in order to help another. And we know that the truth that we talk about here, is about ourselves and not another. 

And we know that facts can promote values which are inconsistent with our own, and in those cases our values take precedence. Because it is our values that make us who we want to be. 

And so we see a similar occurrence with the revelation sent to our Messenger (saw). Nearly always revealed after the fact of what happened, to teach us the best interpretation of those facts,  so that we might be instructed in what to value. 

So that we might know that values trump facts at every corner. Because it Is our values that teach us how to appreciate facts, and that facts do not inform our values. 

That facts are tools, and not ends in themselves. 

And it is this revelation that moulded our community into the best of communities to walk the Earth. 

And we also know that facts are often not always what they seem. 

Sometimes they are propaganda, at other times they are mixed in with false values and facts to give the semblance of truth. And we know that those are the worst of lies and falsehoods. 

Islam is nothing if not nuanced, intelligent and discerning. 

So be intelligent and discerning. 

*Knowledge is sought through study and contemplation*

Not lectures, nor talks, nor this above. 

Every Waking Day, Say...

Every waking day, say 

Glory to God, 

who created, how perfect is His creation. 

All thanks be to God,

who allowed me to wake after a slumber, 

who provided for me and gave me again the opportunity to strive for His pleasure. 

There is no god but He,

and to Him I dedicate my every charity. 

And truly

He is the greatest,

The one that gives without measure. 

Dear Friend (a personal letter to my readers)

Dear Friend, 

This is a personal letter to you; the readers of my blog. 

I cannot tell the demographic of my readership beyond the normal demographic of those who are generally attracted to the message of Islam. 

So you are most likely to be young, attracted to novel and revolutionary ideals, and are not over wealthy with no vested interests that tie you to the status quo. 

And Islam is revolutionary, because it teaches the true brotherhood of man. That although we may be different, we have something that ties us stronger together than blood relationships. 

And if you have read my blogs and they have made you think, contemplate and deliberate then you are, for sure, my friend. 

And then Glory be to God, who made us friends in the first place and cemented our friendship with travail. 

For my blogs are not a breeze, and are generally not intended to be an easy ride. 

For the religion of Islam is hardship and struggle, and if there is no struggle then that is not the religion- except the empty shell of the true religion. 

However unlike our cousin brothers in Christianity, we do not see punishment as a necessary evil for the beautification of the soul. But rather that our bodies and minds need to struggle against oppression, both societal and physical, to free our souls to better appreciate the awe in which God should be held.

Struggle is not here a necessary evil. 

Rather struggle is our way, freedom is our goal and the love of all that is good is our driving force. 

Remember the Islamic narrative is that freedom naturally lends to appreciation and belief, whereas oppression in terms of false beliefs and societal conventions lend to disbelief. 

So thanks are due to God, who blessed us with gratitude, who enervated us with sense, and created us in need, so that He could fulfil that need. 

For I was in need, and you were sent to fulfil that need. 

I was in need of expression, and you were sent to be that expression- to be the driving force of that expression, to enervate me to write, to be and to feel. 

I believe in miracles. 

That God is in whose hands the Dominion belongs, has designed that we be separated so that I could pose the question of faith to you without facing being accused of unduly influencing you. 

For the distance of space and time is no barrier to the progression of ideas. 

And the demographic that I write for, will always be accused of being unduly influenced by people like me. 

People that talk to your hearts. 

People that make you feel alive and capable. 

And yet I cannot influence you other than through the words that I write, and the thoughts that I give expression to. 

And you are free to believe or disbelieve as is your wish. For that is the next step in our friendship. 

For if you believe as I do, then the greatest step is the declaration of faith. 

To bear witness to One True God, without partner, helper or son, and to the bear witness to Muhammed (saw) being His Messenger and Servant. 

This is a declaration that you can make privately to your own self, but it must be made loudly. It must be physical. 

And then later it must be made to those that you trust, and lastly to your family and community. 

It is a compact that you make with God, and God is not unmindful of your sacrifices and the hardships that you endure. 

And this testimony will not free you from hardship and travail, rather the opposite that you recognise that struggle is your way, freedom from oppression is your goal and that love is your driving force. 

And by God, I love you for God’s sake. 

May God bless and surround you with friendship, help, support and love, always and forever. Aameen. 

And God is the ever doer of good, the one that places love and camaraderie between us, the one that unites us and keeps us not divided. 

And material wealth is nothing compared to that. May God enrich us with each other’s company and support, and the company and support of our fellow believers. Aameen. 

And that is the far greater wealth. 

PP Shafees. 

The Pillars of Freedom and the everyday fight against the Status Quo

*We are each very much determined by the choices that we make, even past the daily choice to believe and submit*. 

A man may know everything that there is to know about the religion, but if God does not bless him with belief then it will not profit him. This because he does not choose belief, and so God does not confer on him the honour of it. 

Indeed even those choices that determine who we are, do not stop once we choose belief over disbelief. 

Look for example at Az-Zumar v18, and then read how several of our English translators have chosen to relay its message. 

And then look at the bare bones of the Arabic and see if you can yourself decipher it:

Those that listen to the speech (in reference to the Quran being God’s words and speech) so following the best (of or within) it. They are the ones guided by God, they are the doors (to understanding). 

The connective here “so” indicates that listening infers following or obeying. 

But the question that is posed by this verse is what does the “best” refer to. 

Surely we believe that the whole of the Quran is the best of speeches, and that therefore we follow all of it. 

In Yusuf Ali’s version we find that he interprets it as meaning. That it refers here to the meaning contained within God’s speech. And not the part of God’s speech which is best. 

Interestingly here we can see how the verse once again refers to itself. 

That we have a choice as to how we interpret it, since there is a best meaning, better meanings and therefore not so good meanings. 

That those are guided who interpret it as referring to the meaning contained within the speech of God. 

But what is most incredible here is that God is informing us that we must deliberate and think and choose the meaning which means the best. 

And how do we know what the best is. 

Well that is exactly your choice of what you feel is best. 

That it is our choice of what is best that will determine who we are. 

And then it is those who teach you how to deliberate and think about these things, God calls them “the doors”, “the conduits” to better meanings. In similar reference to how the Messenger (saw) said of Ali (ra) on returning from the farewell pilgrimage;

“I am the city of knowledge and Ali is it’s door (gate)”. 

There are many choices that we must consider and make when we consider the religion:

1- Was Muhammed (saw) sent to make things clear? And what does this mean?

2- Did Muhammed (saw) withhold ought of what he (saw) knew of the hidden world? Or did he (saw) relate to us all of what he knew? And what does this mean for us?

AND...

3- Is the religion by construction naturally against the status quo, against the accumulation of power or even those who claim “the best meaning” of it?

Our scholars knew well the influence of power, and avoided it like the plague. 

Lest they became a vessel for oppression and wrong, as opposed to understanding and freedom. 

Lest they could be accused of towing the line of power, or of being accused of being sell-outs. 

And that even where they stood to gain nothing of monetary value, for they knew well that nothing is free and every favour has a cost. 

In our times being politically correct and forgetting our great heritage, and the basis of our civilisation that brought the World out from the Dark Ages. 

Such are the worries that governed them, such are the worries that should be ours. 

For was not Musa (as) sent against the oppressive ruler Firawn, and Isa (as) against the Pharisee, Scribes and Priests of the Children of Israel, and Muhammed (saw) against the mercantile and wealthy custodians of the Holy Kaba. 

And are we not warned in our book against being like those that took their priests as gods other than God?

At the height of our civilisation the Qadis (judges) were fully independent from power and the executive. And each gave their opinion according to their understanding of the Quran and Sunnah and the people were free to take one and leave another. 

There was no compulsion upon the people except what their own conscience dictated. And the executive were free to make laws for the benefit of all, and were advised by the Most Gracious to first consult the Qadis. (S An-Nissa). 

Ours was a society full of freedoms and full of innovation (in worldly matters). 

Consider that at the time of the Messenger (saw), that the hypocrites were not stopped from building their own Mosque. They did not have to apply to gain a permit from any central authority. 

And that it was only when it was clear that that Mosque was a den of intrigue that the Messenger (saw) was commanded to move against it, and destroy it. 

Recall that the perpetrators remained free even after that, and were not brought to account. 

That they were allowed to build it in the first place is instructive to what our society is supposed to look like. 

The people should be free. 

And the religion is necessarily grassroots, open to all, to both seek to understand the better meanings, and to bring them to fruition. 

Just as is our society. 

Necessarily grass-roots, where the people are free to organise, and remain under the radar of man-made institutions. 

Whereas our institutions are God-sent, as ideas that we are each free to build to fruition. 

Recall  that the Messenger (saw) informed us that the sanctity of one Muslim life is more sacred than the bricks and mortar that constitute the Kaba. And that when we stand before God we are commanded to face the Qibla. 

Our institutions are our ideas and ideals that stem from the best of meanings contained within that which was sent down : the Quran and the Sunnah of Muhammed (saw). 

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

The Necessity of Our Distinct Nationhood

“And it is He Who has let free the two seas, one palatable and sweet, and the other salty and bitter, and He has set a barrier and a complete partition between them.” S Furqan

These are the days of Hajj when we recall and remember the first Muslim family, their trials and tribulations and how they met those with honour, patience and faith. 

Very much of what we have today emanates from that first family. 

For whatever Ibrahim (as), Abraham the intimate friend of God, supplicated and asked for, God granted (except for one).*1

From the supplication for each of his sons and their progeny:

1-Isaac (as) from whom came Yakub (as) and then the Children of Israel and a plethora of Prophets, that we homage to and correctly claim as our own. 

2-and his first born son, off the handmaiden Bibi Hagar (ra), Ismail (as) and Ibrahim’s supplication to bless his and their place of dwelling- Mecca. 

To his supplication to bless the Umiyoon (the unlettered dessert Arabs) with a messenger from amongst themselves, that laid the foundation for the coming of Muhammed (saw). A verbal message from God to the whole of the World through an unlettered Messenger. which has been kept alive 1400 years on the tongues of the Believers. 

One of his greatest other supplications was to make him not a trial for the people, and then for him also to have honourable mention on the tongues of truth. 

It is interesting then to note that the Quran is a Message from God to all of the Nations and all of the People, whilst at the same time being the foundation of our society and our faith. *2

And that in answer to that supplication of Ibrahim (as) to not be a trial for the people, that God made him a Messenger without a Nation. For a saying of Muhammed (saw) has it that Ibrahim will be raised as his own Nation. 

Then wonder at how much God honoured him. For the greatest of our worship is the Hajj, and the akham of Hajj (it’s rules and regulations) are the pinnacle of our Shariah (Law). 

So that whilst Ibrahim (as) had no Nation. God made him the father of the Nation of Muhammed (saw)- here read the last verse of Surah Hajj. And the rules that define that distinctly Muslim Nation find greatest expression in the rules of Hajj, and were the last to be made clear (during the farewell pilgrimage). 

And then in that same last verse of Surah Hajj, God talks about the characteristics of our distinctly Muslim Nation. 

So that we as a Nation are a trial to other Nations, holding them to account and exemplifying that which is better for them.  

That whilst Ibrahim (as) asked not to be a trial for the people, we who are his Nation were intended by God to be that trial for all of the Nations of this World. 

That there is something necessary in God separating us from them, even whilst we affirm the essential unity of Man. 

Then ponder at the verse in S Furqan given at the start. Look at the verse that precedes it. 

“So obey not the disbelievers but strive against them with it. (That is) a great striving.” (V52)

In former writings I have said that the Quran is replete with self reference, and that the pronoun it here is usually interpreted as the Quran. 

Suppose here that the pronoun “it” here refers to the striving itself:

“So obey not the disbelievers but strive against them with striving. A great striving.”

Directly following on from that we have the palatable sea and the unpalatable sea and the barrier that none can cross except by God’s leave. 

This sign of God in such a place means that we should seek to interpret it allegorically. Since we recall from Baqara that God disdains not to take the similitude of the gnat, it is clear that when God makes a similitude He uses things which are real and actual. 

Then the similitude of the two seas are belief and disbelief and the barrier is the Shahadah - the testimony of faith. 

We, as a Nation, recognise the ultimate unity of Man, and hold out for all Nations and all Men that goodness exists within them and only needs our help to find that expression. 

And our help is given best when we whilst recognising that all men are equal, erect a barrier between us and them. That they know that we are different, that we treat all equally and with justice and that to come within our brotherhood / sisterhood is solely one sentence that they need to declare: that there is no god except Allah, and that Muhammed (saw) is His Messenger. 

It is our society that perfectly exemplified that barrier, where we are duty bound to protect the non-believers and where the sacrifice is asked of us and not of them. That we are the ones that are expected to give to the utmost hilt, whilst they are the ones who are protected by virtue of the Jizya. A more perfect barrier there never was. 

Looking at the same sign from God is Surah Rahman, we find a different allegory waiting for us to contemplate. 

That the pearls amongst mankind can be found throughout all Nations. 

Then it is our requirement to erect that barrier, and make it both strong and yet porous. That the people might feel inclined to cross it and enter into the sweetness of true faith. 

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