In the Name of God, the All-Merciful, the All-Compassionate, welcome to our first episode of our special series this year titled Ramadhan – Springtime of the Holy Qur’an. Please stay with us__
One of the miraculous aspects of the holy Qur’an is the unmatched eloquence of this heavenly scripture. It was revealed to Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) at a time when Arabic literature had its peak.
Famous Arab poets would compose verses in those days, which are still regarded as masterpieces of Arabic literature. The pagan Arabs were proud of their language and the intricacies of its words and phrases.
Under these circumstances, God Almighty revealed to His Messenger, who was not taught by any person, the holy Qur’an, which paled into significance the works of the Arabs of Jahiliyya. The Arabs were astounded. They had not seen or heard such flawless eloquence, coupled with timeless wisdom. They admitted the superiority of the phrases of the holy Qur’an, and despite the challenge thrown to them by this heavenly scripture, failed to bring even a few lines resembling its eloquence. The Arabs were dumbfounded, and today also, even the Christian literati of the Arabic language have confessed that the holy Qur’an is above the words of human beings. In Surah Isra, ayah 88, God says:
“Say, ‘Should all humans and jinn rally to bring the like of this Qurʾan, they will not bring the like of it, even if they assisted one another.”
In ayah 13 of Surah Hud, God says:
“Do they say, ‘He has fabricated it?’ Say, ‘Then bring ten sūrahs like it, fabricated, and invoke whomever you can, besides Allah, should you be truthful.”
Now we listen to ayah 120 of Surah Al-Imran to become familiar with another way of the holy Qur’an for achieving peace and tranquility. In part of the ayah, God says to the faithful:
“Yet if you are patient and Godwary, their guile will not harm you in any way. Indeed Allah comprehends what they do.”
In this ayah, the Prophet’s companions who upon being harassed by the pagans, are told that if they are patient and Godwary, the enemy will not harm them and they will be in peace and safe from the enemy’s designs. Patience during hardships is among the characteristics of the believers. Patience is the result of strong belief, and full confidence in the Lord Most High that whatever troubles that one encounters are merely tests and tribulations. Thus, it is only through peace of mind and tranquility of heart that one preserves patience. Some 70 ayahs of the holy Qur’an speak of patience. The holy Qur’an has promised great rewards for the patient, In ayah 24 of Surah Ra’d, we read:
“Peace be to you, for your patience.’ How excellent is the reward of the [ultimate] abode!”
The phrase of peace be to you is the greetings of angels to the people of Paradise. It means peace to the patient ones who while alive endured all sort of difficulties but never complained. Their reward is the eternal bliss of paradise. This ayah shows that the status of those who were patient when alive, is so high that of all good deeds, God directs the angels to greet the true believers in this manner.
The blessed month of Ramadhan is a wonderful opportunity for the believers to give a practical demonstration of patience through fasting. In ayah 200 of Surah Aal-e Imran, God says:
“O you who have attained to faith! Be patient in adversity, and vie in patience with one another, and be ever ready (to do what is right), and remain conscious of God, so that you might attain to a happy state!?
In ayah 155 of Surah Baqarah, God Almighty says:
“Most certainly shall We try you by means of danger, hunger, and loss of worldly goods, of lives and of (labour’s) fruits. But give glad tidings unto those who are patient in adversity.
The emphasis laid upon is basically on any kind of fear of loss of sustenance, children and suffering. The more an individual rises in his/her faith in God, his personal virtues and the quality of patience, more he/she is beset with trials through calamities to prove his personal excellence, and as he/she passes through trials successfully, he/she is raised into higher and higher elevations of the excellence of divinity and promoted to be nearer to God. Those who do not suffer these calamities at all in this life are not much to be congratulated for it might be that these souls are not considered fit to be tried. It was only once in the history of the creation that all the kinds of trials mentioned in the ayah that we presented happened all together to the maximum degree conceivable, concerning the Prophet’s grandson, Imam Hussain (AS) and his small group of devoted and dedicated persons in the plain of Karbala. This ayah, therefore, could better be understood only in the suffering and the martyrdom of Imam Husain (AS), as well as the sufferings of the other Infallible Imams at different times of history, under the tyrannical Omayyad and Abbasid Caliphs.
Let us now present you some examples from a few Hadith Qoudsi, which are actually the Words of Allah to Prophet Mohammad (SAWA).
“A person who is not happy with My orders, not patient with My afflictions, not thankful for My bounties, not content with My gifts, then he should look for another Lord other than Me and he should get out of my Universe.
“A person who does not get what he wants in this world and becomes sad by it, is as if he is angry with Me.
“A person who complains of calamities to another, which has befallen upon him, is as if he has complained about Me.”
What you heard were some examples of Hadith Qodsi, which are words of God revealed to the Prophet. Hopefully, in the month of Ramadhan, the faithful, while fasting and praying, will ponder on these words of wisdom. Goodbye
