Think!
For, Islam Is about Thinking.
And It Is about Understanding!
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?)
Among all the other things it is, Islam is also about thinking.
And it is about understanding.
Much more so than most people think – or understand.
So, if you don't do any or much thinking, chances are you don't do any or much Islam.
And chances are you will be hard pressed to get into the fold of Islam if you are not already a Muslim.
Even though God Almighty is full of Grace and Rahmah and accepts even an iota of good that anybody does in his name and for his sake.
Says the most amazing God in his most amazing book the Qur'an:
Wa Man Ya'amal Mithqaala Dharratin Khairan Yarah.
Paraphrase:
"God Almighty shall take into account even an atom of good that anybody does."
But thinking and understanding?
That is part of the core of qualifications for Islam and within Islam. That means for coming into Islam and for making most of Islam if you are already inside its bounds.
The most amazing Al-Qur'an asks:
"Don't you understand?"
A-Falaa T'a'aqiloon.
And then the Qur'an goes on to declare:
Wa Maa Yaddhakkaru Illa Ulul Albaab.
Paraphrase:
"Only intelligent and smart people will draw the right and appropriate lessons from the Qur'an."
That is an Aayat from Surah Al-Baqarah, Chapter Two. The number of the Aayat is 269.
Mind you now, an Aayat of the Qur’an is not a “verse” as Muslims call it. It is a most miraculous, clear and clinching argument, and a marker if you will, for God and for the divine nature of the Qur’an, directly from God.
No, not satisfied?
Then go to Surah Three, Surah Aal Imran that is, and read the same words in Aayah number seven: Wa Maa Yaddhakkaru Illa Ulul Albaab (3:7).
How much more proof or how much more clarity can you possibly want from your God – the one who made you; the one who keeps you alive; and, as a result, the one, and the only one, who owns you lock, stock and barrel as they used to say?
Albaab, in Arabic language, is plural for the word “Lubb,” which could be roughly rendered in English as “Brain Power.”
So, the clear-cut and inescapable meaning of that part of the Aayat (or Aayah) then is: Only those people will learn the right lessons from the Qur’an who possess “brains” in the first place and are trained and able to use them.
Meaning, people of knowledge, learning and understanding.
The basic root word in Arabic language for understanding is “'Aql.” And the most amazing Al-Qur’an uses that glorious and earth-shaking expression – “'Aql” – in its pages more frequently than you would imagine in your wildest dreams.
Go and comb the Qur’an for derivatives of that word 'Aql – words such as Ta’aqiloon (“you understand”) and Ya’aqiloon (“they understand”) and see how often the Qur’an makes use of those expressions.
If after all this, you still don’t get it, what can I say?
My comment or question, if you will, is directed not just at Muslims, but at non-Muslims as well. For, if use of one’s God-given brain power, and knowledge and understanding, are the core requirements to come to God then those are by no means a Muslim monopoly.
As a result, any comment or question in this regard has to be addressed to all of humanity, Muslim as well as non-Muslim, and not just to Muslims.
In fact, a case could be made that maybe non-Muslims these days are more privy to these things than Muslims. By and large, they seem to be more educated and, as a result, more enlightened and capable of using their brainpower, and more capable of understanding, than Muslims in general.
So, People, if you really care about your Islam, whether you are already Muslim or not, or about your God, for God is everybody’s God, or about your own well-being right here in this world as well as in the next world, then: think, think, and think some more.
And think well; and think hard; and think right.
And try to understand.
And if you don't know how to think, then go acquire the skills, the tools and the training needed to think and think well and think right and think in a critical and productive manner.
Allah will open up the pathways of Islam before you, which would mean success and happiness for you both in this world as well as the next world.
END
