“O People, there has come to you a direction from your lord, and a healing for (the diseases in) your hearts.”

(Qur’an 10:57)

People have started changing their hearts- literally. Still it is not easy for them to change their hearts- idiomatically.

Transplantation of an organ of a human body reflects the progress of science within the past few decades. But it also reminds us to the vast gap between our material progress and spiritual poverty. Nothing shows this more vividly than the fact that the first successful transplantation of heart was accomplished in the ‘Republic’ of South Africa- the standard –bearer of racialism.

Now is the time to reflect upon the healing power of a heavenly book like the Holy Qur’an. The above –quoted verse describes it as a ‘healing for (the disease in) your hearts.’ Nobody can guess how much change of heart has this book effected in how many people in all these long centuries.

I think the best explanation was given by one of my non-Muslims friends when he glanced through a few pages of a translation of the Holy Qur’an and said: “The key-word in this book is Allah.”

He was right. This book creates a confidence in Allah, which subdues every other feeling. A Muslim should not long for anything but the love of Allah, he should not fear anything but the displeasure of Allah.

Once an enemy of the Holy prophet (s.a.w.) found him asleep under a tree. He drew his sword; then thought it un-manly to kill a sleeping man. He awakened the prophet, advanced towards him with sword in hand and asked contemptuously : “Tell me, who can save you now from me?” Calmly, the Holy prophet replied: “My Allah.”

This claim confidence in Allah unnerved the pagan, and the sword fell from his hand. Deliberately, the Prophet picked the sword up, and it was his turn to ask: “And who can save you from me now?” The pagan said: “No-body.”

The prophet threw his sword away and said: “No, you are wrong. The same Allah who is my protector is also your protector: He would save you too.”

The enemy of a few minutes ago was now a faithful follower of the Holy prophet. This is the change of heart, which really matters.

On modesty

“Islam is naked; modesty is its garment.”

(the Holy prophet)

Modesty is a virtue for men and women both, though it is more commendable in women. But in our days, thanks to the modern civilization, man appears to be more modest than the women. This industrial age has turned woman into a piece of merchandise. No advertisement is eye-catching unless it has a woman’s body in it, exposed to the various degree of nudity. Films and televisions are flop unless they have sex-appeal, and plenty of it. Magazines and books flourish on the lustful desire of man, by providing a lot of erotic material in written words and painted photos. Hotels and restaurants, in gone-by days, used to boast Of their excellent food and superb service. Now they arrange dances and strip-tease performances to satisfy the customers. Commercial firms expressly say that their receptionists must have a “presentable appearance.” Even in political life a modest wife is considered a liability!. Woman has been selling her body since time immemorial. But never before was shamelessness given the glittering label of “art”. Never before was immodesty the accepted norm of life. It is in this age that woman has lost her sense of self-respect. There was time when she was a coveted prize, to be pursued by man. Now she has put herself in show window. No more is she a hidden treasure to be discovered by her rightful husband. She is now a piece of beauty to be seen, selected and admired at every shop. And this hoax has been given a blinding name: “Freedom of woman”.

But, as I see, it is man, not woman, who has made himself free to exploit the woman in every conceivable manner. Now in the name of freedom, she has been persuade to discard all “superfluous cloth” and appear in public in bikini only, thus providing the man chance to feast his eyes. In the last century, when the Westerners penetrated in the heart of Africa they found some tribes who were roaming naked. Those pioneers of “civilization” forced the tribes to wear clothes. One often wonders if the “primitive tribes” of last century were not more civilized than the rest of the world. After all, it is rest of the world, which is now imitating the ways of that so-called “primitive society.” On Backbiting

“O ye who believe, nor backbite each other. Would any of you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother, ye lothe it!”

(Holy Qur’an 49:12).

Backbiting, in Muslim language, means to mention or allude to the actual defects (physical, moral or otherwise) of a person in the absentia (provided the victim of that back biting prefers to hide that defect). If the alleged defect is not found in him actually but was the invention of the imagination of the backbiter, then it is false accusation and its sin is far graver than the backbiting.

Personal bitterness and enmity is caused by backbiting, false reports and baseless accusations, which are the stock-in trade of the flatters. The analogy given in the Qur’an is very apt. It is an act similar to eating one’s dead brother’s flesh. He is like a dead body because he is not present and the tale-bearer is feasting on his flesh because he is babbling at his prestige.

But the flesh of dead man is a source of physical harm for the partaker himself. Likewise the backbiting creates spiritual disease to the tale-bearer. It is the worst bane of human life and makes a man enemy of his brothers. It is the backbiter who sows the seed to bitterness, hatred, intrigue and enmity. It is he who causes disruption in the homes, disloyalty in the office, disintegration in the social, and religious institutions, it is he who spells the downfall of society and tears apart the fabric of social harmony. A back biter becomes the worst type of hypocrite. In order to save his own prestige, he poses as a friend of very man whom he actually tries to destroy. When he is suspected o evil designs, he takes refuge behind false oaths. Thus he damages his own spirit and, more often than not, when he falls, nobody comes there to lift him up.

On Obligations

“O ye believe! Believe! Fulfil all obligations.”

(Holy Qur’an 5:1)

This verse is admirable for its comprehensiveness and clarity. The word here is “Uqud”. Its literal meaning: ‘Bondages’. This word is used in the Islamic language, for every kind of obligation. And by using it God has reminded mankind that every promise, agreement and undertaking is a kind of bondage from which man cannot free himself except by its fulfillment. That is why we find in the Islamic traditions that “Man is a slave of his Promise”.

Obligation can be of various kinds. There are some involuntary obligations: Obligation towards God, obligation towards our fellow human beings, towards our family, towards our neighbour, towards our friends, and our enemies. We have no option but to fulfil them. There are other obligations, which we impose upon ourselves-between employer and employee, ruler and ruled. There are obligations between trading partners. a nation concludes a treaty with another nation. All such obligation are self- imposed.

Islam has laid down, in clear words, all the obligations and responsibilities, which a man has to face with in his life. And it has put, real emphasis on the spoken word. It knows that written documents are nothing but a symbol to convey the message of he spoken words. If a man cannot be trusted about his spoken agreement, he cannot be trusted at all. It is a sign of decay in our society that the real thing (spoken word) has ceased to have any importance. Everybody insists on writing. And once man reaches this stage, even the written documents and agreements become worthless. In our present society, agreement are made to be broken, treaties are concluded with an eye on the loopholes, which may provide escape in future. The first victim is not the party wronged, it is the morality of mankind, which suffers the mortal blow.