A Divine Equation Unlike Any!
Dr. Pasha
(Bringing Islam to the World One Concept at a Time!
Taking the Qur'an to Every Home and Heart that Needs It --
And which One Does Not?)
Who but God could come up with a plan, with an equation, like this?
Which human mind or which Committee or Council of any kind could imagine it or conceive of it?
What are the chances, as it were, what is the probability, that it could happen?
For, don't forget ours is a world of probability. And every moment of our life is steeped in a network of interwoven probabilities!
And there is no such thing as 100 percent certainty and Absolute Proof in the world in which we live.
That is how God Almighty created his world for us: with room for doubt, and dispute. With a Margin of Error with regard to everything, no matter how slight or small the Error Component may be!
Always challenging us to think, to research, to investigate, to question, to reason, to agonize, and then finally to make up our mind: one way or the other.
That is the test: To see who decides what and who goes where. To find out who comes to God and who uses this as an excuse to turn away from God.
Li-Yabluwakum Ayyukum Ahsanu 'Amalaa (11:7).
This is how Good Things and Bad Things figure in God Almighty's plan: what the world calls Virtue and Sin.
And these are some of the things about Islam, and about God, that brought a natural-born skeptic and doubter like me into the fold of Islam -- and sealed the deal as it were.
Even though it is Divine Mercy -- nothing but Divine Mercy and always Divine Mercy -- that is responsible for it: in each and every case, including mine.
As the Qur'an so clearly and repeatedly makes it clear. Here is Aayat 272 of Surah al-Baqarah:
Wa Laakinnnallaha Yahdee Man-Yashaa-u!
Paraphrase:
"But it is Allah that guides whoever he wishes!" (2:272).
When someone decides to do something good, I will even say, when someone thinks to do something good, Allah credits one full act of goodness to that person: one full "Virtue" or "Righteous Deed," as Christians and most Muslims would call it.
When that person goes ahead and actually does that good thing in practice, Allah then credits 1 to 10 times to 700 times "Good Deeds" to that person -- and multiples of that to whom he wishes.
Hear the Qur'an say it in its own words:
Wallahu Yu-daa-ifu Liman-Yashaa-u!
Paraphrase:
"And Allah doubles the reward to whom he wishes" (2:261).
On the other hand, when someone decides -- thinks or intends-- to do something bad, nothing, no bad action, no Sin is credited to that person's account. The slate remains clean and free from sin.
The record stays unblemished!
But when that person goes ahead and actually carries out the intention, and the decision, to do the bad thing that person was thinking about, then Allah credits one Negative Act -- one Bad Thing or one Sin -- to the account of that person.
So, this is how I paraphrase the equation of Infinite and Boundless Divine Mercy, to the extent I am able to recall at this time the Hadith of Sayyidinaa Muhammad, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam:
Think well, get rewarded.
Act well, and do the right thing, receive up to 700 times the reward.
And multiples thereof to whom God wills and pleases.
As for the so-called Bad Deeds, Sins that is, a very different scale is used to measure them. And here is how that scale seems to run:
Think of doing something bad -- and it is part of human nature to do so, all too often, all the time in fact -- then your record remains clean and free from blemish and Sin. That is, till you actually go ahead and do it.
Do that Bad Thing in actual practice, translate that thought, that inner intention, into outward action, Commit that Sin in real life that is, then you are held accountable.
And when that Bad Act, that Sin, is actually committed, then Allah writes it down as one Sin, one lapse, one Bad Act, on your part.
And no more!
And when he pleases, with regard to whom he pleases, God Almighty decides to give that person a break and forgives that Bad Deed -- that Sin.
Wa Yaghfiru li-Man Yashaa-u (5:40).
What a kind and merciful God: Ar-Rahmaan!
And Ar-Raheem!
Full of love and mercy and forgiveness -- all the time.
And so ever ready to accept people's repentance whenever people turn to him in genuine contrition and remorse: At-Tawwaab!
And so full of forgiveness: Al-Ghaffaar!
And even more so: Al-Ghafoor!
And Al-'Afuvv!
True, there is no God like God. There is no God but God!
Just like the Old Testament says!
And just like the New Testament says!
And just like the Qur'an says (2:163)
La Ilaaha Illa Huv!
Ar-Rahmaan Ar-Raheem!
And then how beautifully, definitively and tantalizingly the Qur'an states it:
Fa-Dhaalikumullahu Rabbukum!
Paraphrase:
"Now that is your God!"
Hear the whole thing in Surah Yunus, chapter 10 of the Qur'an:
Fa-Dhaalikumullahu Rabbukumul Haqqu!
Fa-Maa-Dhaa Ba'adal Haqqi Illad Dalaal?
Fa-Annaa Tusrafoon?
A very inadequate paraphrase of some kind:
"So, that is your real God,
The one true God!
And what is there after truth except the quagmire of folly, error and getting lost?
So where are you all running away"(10:32)?
So, that is the one and only God worth having if you ask me.
And, what is more, you have God's own testimony on that account:
Shahidallahu Anaahu Laa Ilaaha Illa Huvv!
Wal Malaa-ikatu,
Wa Ulul Ilmi Qaa-iman Bil-Qist!
Laa Ilaaha Illa Huwal Azizul Hakeem!
Here is a paraphrase -- of sorts:
"Allah testifies and bears witness that there is no God but he!
And so do the angels testify and bear witness!
And so do those among people of knowledge and scholarship,
Who are motivated by a sense of justice, honor, integrity and truth!
They all testify, and they all provide testimony, that there is no God but he,
The All-Mighty, the All-Wise!"
(Aal-Imraan -- Surah 3 -- Aayat 18)
Now, after this kind of a testimony, coming from so many different sources and directions, and then finally from God All-Mighty himself, what other evidence or testimonial could anyone want?
These are some of the things about Islam, and about God Almighty, and about the Qur'an, that over the years and decades past have driven and dragged me into Islam -- all too often kicking and screaming, and pulling my hair!
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