O Human Being!

O Human Being!

The religion is a Law and a Method. As the Companion Abdullah ibn Abbas (may God be well pleased with him and his father) explained: “The Law is conveyed by the Qur’an and the Method 19 [al-Minhâj] is conveyed by the sunna.” The Law addressed the human being and the Method realized the human model.

The Method is an application that is practical, detailed, organized and gradual. The purifying and teaching of the Prophet-Messenger (God bless him and give him peace) were not aimless or haphazard.

The first thing that Revelation and the Prophet instructed was the affirmation of the Uniqueness of the Creator (Glorious and Exalted is He) and the reality of Resurrection, Recompense or Punishment, Paradise and Hell.

The Noble Qur’an forcefully addressed the illiterates who were responsive to the appeal of the Messenger on this matter. It addressed, and still does, the fitra of man as a human being and a creature. The major difference between the first illiterates and all human beings throughout the ages is that the former were virtually not beguiled by the lure civilization. In an age like ours, however the human being has his sensory and intellectual horizons eclipsed by the parasites of progress, philosophy, business and prosperity, and aggravated by the sight of paraded opulence.

The Method is still valid, so long as the missionaries have the requisite qualifications of purifying and teaching, and scrupulously follow his model in the transmission of the Appeal.

Over a period of thirteen years, the Qur’an revealed in Mecca addressed the human being with a strong and serious tone. It told him, among other things:

O human being, verily you are painfully toiling on towards your Lord, and you shall meet Him. Then he who is given his Record in his right hand, he will surely receive an easy reckoning, and he will return to his people in joy. But he who is given his Record behind his back, he will surely cry for perdition, and he shall enter a Blazing Fire. He once lived among his family joyfully; he surely thought he would never revert. But indeed his Lord was ever Watchful of him. (Q. 84:6–15)

It warned him against the delusion of this world and forgetfulness of his being a creature of God. It thereby opened for him a door to recognize the secret of his existence and destination after death:

O human being! What has deceived you concerning your Lord, the All- Generous, Who created you, then shaped you, then fashioned you in symmetry? In whatever form He willed, He arranged you. No indeed; but they deny the Doom! And yet over you there are watchers, Noble Recorders, who know whatever you do. Surely the pious will be in bliss, and the wicked will be in a fiery furnace, roasting therein on the Day of Doom, and they will not be absent therefrom. And what will teach you what is the Day of Doom? Again what will teach you what is the Day of Doom? A day when no soul can do anything for another soul; on that day the command belongs to God. (Q. 82:6–19)

It addressed humankind as whole, saying:

O humankind, be careful to observe your duty to your Lord! The earthquake of the Hour [of Doom] is a tremendous thing indeed. On the day when you behold it, every nursing mother will forget her nursling and every pregnant one will be delivered of her burden, and you will see humankind as drunken, yet they will not be drunken, but the doom of God will be strong. (Q. 22:1, 2)

It warned the human being immersed with his kinsfolk in the frivolities of this world, forgetful of his Afterlife:

O humankind, God’s promise is true, so do not let the life of this world beguile you, and do not let the Beguiler beguile you concerning God. (Q. 35:5)

Such are strong signs that move the human being to wake up from heedlessness, to turn away from the playful, foolish path and from oppressing and fighting his brothers in humanity.

O humankind, We have created you male and female, and have made you nations and tribes so that you may know one another. Surely the noblest among you in the sight of God is the one who is most truly devout. God is All-Knowing, All-Aware. (Q. 49:13)

Such a Qur’anic verse prescribes for that illiterate and for the human being, in every time and place, the ideal course to follow in order to crown his progress in this life here below with winning God’s grace and sight in the Hereafter.

To be male or female, no one chooses his or her gender or knows when, where and how he or she will emerge from nonexistence into existence. “Nations and tribes,” “colors, languages and history.” The human being has found himself ephemeral and progressing towards a certain Destiny.

He does have freedom of choice, in that he may use the capacities he has been endowed with for doing good work, promoting mutual understanding among peoples and nations and performing what is right and proper. Gratitude for being faithful is expressed by conveying to all tribes and nations the mercy of Islam, and the glad tiding that the human being was not created in vain.

The Muslim Mind on Trial, P 18-20