Islam for Muslims
- THE FAITH OF MUSLIMS
- GOOD DEEDS IN PERSONAL LIFE
- GOOD DEEDS IN SOCIAL LIFE
God at the Center of Religious Universe
Introduction: God is not only the Creator but also the Center of the Universe. This means everything in the Universe is ‘by God, of God and for God’. Accordingly, God has put in place a system in which “all beings in between the seven heavens and the earth declare His glory: there is not a thing that does not celebrate His praise”, even if you do “not understand” how they do that (17:44). In fact, God is the Center of the Universe. The human beings, by virtue of their rationality, are better qualified to accord this position of centrality to God and fashion their religious and other related roles revolving around Him. In God’s words, “Who can be better in religion than the one who submits his whole self to God?” (4:125). Now let us see how that can translate into reality.
(1) All Good Deeds for Pleasing God: Numerous verses urge dedication of good deeds like” prayer” (18:28), “charity” (2:177), “feeding” (76:9), “patience” (74:7) etc. to God. This means when you do something good, you will “only desire satisfaction” of God and no “favor from anyone with expectation of a return reward” (92:20; 92:19).
If you do something simply because you like to do it in loyalty to “the lusts (of your hearts)” or your personal instinct or ‘nafs’ (4:135), you are at risk of being deviated to a selfish and harmful course. Similarly, if you do a good deed to match the choice of others (like your ignorant elders, selfish spiritual adviser etc.), then possibly you may be misguided and condemned for conflicting with the divine purposes. If, on the other hand, you do anything ranging from devoted prayers to day-to-day actions (like halal earning or befriending a Muslim) in divine pleasure, you will get promised reward.
(2) Subordinating Your Personal Desire to God’s: Doing things suited to God’s desire may not always be an easy job particularly when your choice to do something may be quite the opposite of God’s. This means oftentimes you have to struggle to subordinate your desire to that of God as He forbade you from taking your “own passion (or pulse) for a god” (25:43). For example, in a wintry morning, you would never like to get up for morning prayers but you bend your wish for religious mandate. Likewise, you force yourself to continue praying at the mosque despite your verbal exchanges with its leaders. These are examples of your sacrifice that qualify you for matching reward.
It will therefore be worthwhile to adapt your wishes to divine pleasure, matching with more examples cited below. If you like to steal money from employer’s fund or vent your anger through excessive revenge, you would abstain under fear of God. Similarly, you will rein in desire for food while fasting or curtail your excessive love for money through donation in His pleasure. Likewise, out of love for God, you will be kind to the religious people and hard on the tyrants. In this way, you will profit by allowing God to be the sole determinant of your religious life and by doing things that best fit for a loyal servant.
(3) Putting God Ahead of Your Personal Interests: If your personal interest competes with that of God, you will give way to His purpose by entirely submitting yourself to God, viewing “nearness to God as the best of goals” (3:14). For example, if summoning for prayer reaches your ear, you may choose to suspend your works on hand in order to attend prayer in mosque. In other examples, you will not miss a compulsory prayer even during the happiness of your marriage or sadness for your father’s death or you cannot drink alcohol for looking smart while partying. Similarly, you will not make your prayer a victim of your anger from quarrel with your wife or you will not withhold compulsory charity to your poor neighbor as a punishment for his past bad behavior.
Considering God as pivotal, mental, physical and financial sacrifices may often be called for. For example, you will give up the prospects of huge profits in an illegal business only because God does not like it. Similarly, you will work hard in His worship or you may set aside a regular share of God as charity (say 1% of your income) despite your tight family budget. In this way, you will cultivate a love for Him that should weigh heavier than that for your dearest family members or even for yourself.
(4) Placing God above Any Human Beings: God is the High over everyone. He is the Lord of all human beings whom He created as His servants. Some of them are ranked higher for their pious services to Him. Few of them were appointed as prophets with their own domain of following and others are holy persons or saints who may command public respect. None of them, however, deserves more attention and honor than God. Because not only are they the humble servants of God, but also their existing high status owes much to His guidance. Even if they have any miraculous powers, that does not justify your action of venerating them by overshadowing God’s importance, because these miracles have no origin other than from God. It will therefore be a smart idea to place God above any persons (however pious they might appear to you) in respect of your beliefs and practices.
Examples: It is imperative that you show consistent behavior by avoiding any excessive love for anyone other than God. For example, when any good news come your way, if you give one thank to someone who helped you with ‘dua’ or otherwise, you should give at least 2 thanks or more to God as the root cause. You should thus try to glorify God by focusing on the supremacy of His Attributes and Blessings. Likewise, you cannot promote the idea that your beloved holy person can independently award you salvation nor can you imagine him in a position of sharing power or prestige with God. You will turn away from beloved family members or kins including wives, children, parents or siblings if they love infidelity over faith. Inspiring are the examples like Prophet Abraham’s ending of relationship with his father Azar, Prophet Noah’s with his son Kenan and Lut’s with his wife only for their rejection of God.
God’s Supremacy over Prophets in General: It is therefore important that you do not put the cart before horse by reversing the order of God’s priority, “Do not put yourselves forward before God and His Messenger” (49:1). This moral also applies to any Prophet who comes after and not before God. Notable are the verses like “Obey God and follow His Prophet” (24:54) and “show gratitude to Me and to your parents” (31:14) where God is cited ahead of all others. God stated crystal clear that He did not instruct you to take “the prophets (e.g. Jesus) for Lord” (3:80).
Accordingly, out of zeal for your prophet, you cannot invent theories like God created the Universe only because of any particular prophet, or that your prophet existed in different form before creation of the Universe and so on. In fact, God is the only One to be worshipped and the right to prostration is reserved only for Him. His house Kaaba in Mecca (and not any other mosques including Masjid Nabawi in Medina or Baitul Muqaddas in Jerusalem) is the only direction (Qibla) for us to face during prayer. As an Ever-living, only He will exist beyond our earthly life when He will become the Lord of “the (Supreme) Throne” (2:255) and we all will return to Him. If there is any conflict between His Quran and the Prophet’s Hadith, then we need to follow only the Quran. Thus everyone is for Him and He is not for anyone.
Status of the Prophet Owes to God: God revealed that “Mohammad is no more than a Messenger” (3:144). Similar to other prophets, he was typical of a regular man like having appetite for “food”, being created from “earth” and having no “exemption from death” and so on (21:8; 15:26). As a Law-giver, God subjected to His laws every servant not excluding even the Prophet. For examples, on different occasions, God told the Prophet, “even if you ask seventy times for their (non-believers’) forgiveness, God will not forgive them. Do not incline to the wrong-doers. If I had not given you strength, you would nearly have inclined to them a little bit” “when you would not found any help against Me” (9:80; 11:113; 17:74/75). God also affirmed “without His permission, no intercessor (can plead with Him)” for salvation in the Afterlife (10:3). Thus He fell short of directly naming the Prophet for the job for which he was best fitted and eventually he will get it Inshallah. The Prophet also recognized the divine supremacy by saying “I have no power over any good or harm to myself except as God wills. If I disobey my Lord, I should myself fear the penalty of a Great Day. I do not know what will be done (or happen) with me or with you” (7:188; 10:15; 46:9).
Status of the Prophet for His Perfection: God gave the Prophet the highest position among human beings and the messengers not because of him as a person but because of his model character. In fact, he was “the first of those who bowed to (God’s) will”, (confirming his loyalty to His) “revelations” and (finding pleasure in stating) “my prayer, and my service of sacrifice, my life and my death are (all) for God” (6:163; 46:9; 6:162). In the religious system, God towers over any man or messenger as He is the Lord of His every creation. Next to God, however, you should show highest respect to the Prophet because (i) he is the best model for humanity as certified by God and (ii) God mandates your respect for him. As for example, He urged upon the believers to “send blessings on him and salute him with all respect” as He Himself and His Angels also do the same (33:56). He then warned “Do not (disrespectfully) raise your voice above that of the Prophet, nor should you talk to him loudly” the way you talk to ordinary people (49:2). Then came His conclusion “The Prophet is (and should be) closer to the believers than their own selves (life)” (33:6).
(5) Making Direct Links with God: Since God is central to your religious life, you will build direct relations with Him and that is exactly what He wants. If, otherwise, you set up indirect means like a spiritual leader as a bridge to God, then you may expose yourself to the risk of partnership sin. You will, therefore, live up to the orders of God that came directly through the Quran or indirectly through the Hadith. Do not forget that God keeps the door of blessings open for everyone and you can enter that through prayer and dua.
Conclusion: In the above light, you should prepare your mind for giving a central position to God and His divine system whereas the world of creations would be revolving around Him with flexibility to adjust with His system. In this manner, if you make God pivotal in shaping your religious life, you will have enormous benefits to gain therefrom.