Moses, the children of Israel, and cows

I can't believe I didn't see this til now! The story of the cow in the second Surah of the Qur'an (Verses 67 to 73). In brief: Moses instructs his people that God commands them to slaughter a cow, and they are reluctant, going off and coming back each time asking for specifics - what type of cow? what colour cow? what size cow? and so on and so forth. I passed this off, as I'm sure most people do, as his people simply being petty, slightly rebellious in nature perhaps.

However! This story and its real significance takes on a whole new meaning when understood in the context of other stories involving Moses, his people and cows! When Moses leaves his people to meet the covenant of God (at a time later to the above-mentioned story), what did his people do? Construct an idol, right? And what shape did that idol take? Exactly! That of a cow. You'll see that Moses' people had been freed from Pharaoh in person but they had yet to be freed from Pharaoh intellectually. A part of them still held those things deified by Pharaoh and his leadership as sacred. Another example of this of course is, after leaving Pharaoh and passing a group of people worshipping idols, they asked Moses to make for them a "God" like these people had "Gods".

So! Going back to the story under discussion: The coming back-and-forth of Moses' people and their questioning for specifics was not simply down to pettiness, or a rebellious nature. It was to buy time. In hope perhaps that Moses, or his God maybe, would change his mind! And, likewise, the command from God for Moses' people to slaughter a cow was not random. It was to be for them a step towards liberation.

Be, like the world around you

Generous, like the river from which you drink.
Bountiful, like the sun by which you see.
Hospitable, like the earth on which you tread.

(Play on words of something I saw in Maulana Muhammad Mian's 'The Prisoners of Malta')

Jesus

He ate.

He slept.

He prayed.

He was, a man.

Is my God different to your God?

"Say, 'He is Allah, [who is] One. Allah, the Eternal Refuge. He neither begets nor is born. Nor is there to Him any equivalent'." (Al-Qur'an, Chapter 112, Verses 1-4)

It's pretty fundamental, one's understanding of God. There are those who don't believe in God and those who do. As for those who do, do they each believe in a different God or the same God, or multiple Gods even? It's a question often put forward by those of no faith, or of uncertain faith: "Let's say I am to believe in God, which do I believe in?!"

The problem, like a lot of things in life (!!), lies in a dependence on names over definitions. Call a God "God" or "Allah" or "Jehovah" or "Krishna" or whatever, but it matters little as compared to what one takes these names to mean. So, let's try our hands at a definition: God is the Originator of creation (the "universe" as we know it and the "angels" and so forth of which we know little), Who has no beginning and no end. What do you think? You like? You agree?

Now, let's work with that definition - of God being the Originator, Who has no beginning and no end - it's then impossible for there to be multiple Gods or for each of us to believe in a different God, i.e. assuming there is such a God, there can only be one such God and we each believe in and call out to that one same God. From this basis does all interesting discussion begin: is there such a God? Did God then create us and the world around us with a purpose? Are we to figure out this purpose ourselves or has God communicated it to us? Of those to have claimed such revelation ("prophethood"), how can we distinguish the truthful from the opportunist from the mistaken? How do we know that the teachings with us today attributed to these "prophets" are indeed the teachings of these prophets? And so on and so forth...

Mathaabah - a place of returning

wa idh ja3alnaa-al-bayta mathaabatan-li-nnaasi...

"And when We made the House (the Ka3bah at Makkah) a Mathaabah (a place of resort) for mankind..." (Al-Qur'an, 2:125)

The word 'Mathaabah' in the verse above is used denote a place to which one returns again and again. And how fitting this word is when one of the undeniable privileges the Ka3bah enjoys is its being a place where people assemble from all over the world, and to which they long to return to timelessly.

Indeed, a person never has enough of visiting the Ka3bah and he parts every time with a greater desire to return. How spectacular this power to draw millions of people is when one thinks how little Makkah has to offer by way of landscape, and how little the Ka3bah has to offer by way of architecture and artistry!

Some even go on to say that a sign of one's Hajj being accepted is that, on parting, they find in their heart this desire to return and to present themselves at the Ka3bah once more.

(Paraphrased commentary of Mufti Muhammad Shaafi'ee's Ma3aariful Qur'an)

Hajj 2013 for me insha-Allah!!

When his Lord put Abraham to test

"And when his Rabb put Ibrahim to test with certain Words, and he fulfilled them. He (God) said, 'I am going to make you an Imaam for the people'..."

(Al-Qur'an, Surah al-Baqarah, part of verse 124)

Sweet commentary in Mufti Muhammad Shaafi'ee's Ma'aariful Qur'an about this verse! Boiled down...

We see in this verse the purpose of the many tests and trials which the Prophet Abraham was made to pass through. It was not punishment for a crime or anything like that! The attribute of God - Rabb - used in the verse conveys the purpose finely: it was to develop and nurture him, gradually, in stages, for his role, his reward you could say, to be an Imaam, a guide, a leader, for his people.

Envy vs Contentment

"... Contentment is a treasure that never exhausts.
Know that that which has been allotted for you, it will reach you..."

(Quote from the chapter on envy in the 'Purification of the Heart' audio series)

Envy: a want aroused on sight of someone else's possessions, qualities or luck.

Contentment: satisfaction in what one is and has.