Page 8 The Islamic Bulletin Issue 18 by Aqil Abdul Baseer Imagine yourself driving along the road merely truing to get from point “A” to point “B”: You notice, with no more than a cursory glance, the usual billboard advertisements offering you n u m e r o u s goods or services in exchange for your well earned capital. Unmoved by the many “meet or beat” pricing slogans or the “no interest or payments until next year” marketing schemes, you continue to drive on. There is no large print offering you something free, until you read the fine print and notice that there is a catch. This one offers you much more than you ever dreamed or imagined. You say to yourself, “Only a fool would refuse such a deal.” You then decide learn more; in big, bold letters, the sign reads in part: “O you who believe! Shall I lead you to a bargain that will save you from a grievous chastisement?” (Holy Quran 61:10) Dear Believers, although imagery is used to introduce our topic, the offer is real. Allah praises and glorified is He, proposes a “business deal,” of sorts, to the believers. Most, if not all of us, have engaged in a business transaction of one kind or another at some point in our lives. It may have been as simple as trading baseball cards, buying some milk from a store, to negotiating a car deal, yet and still these are all forms of “business deal”. For many of us the impetus behind most of our “business transactions” is to make a profit. We desire to get more for our money. Unless we’re “impulse buying” we will shop around for the best deal or some of us go after bargains with such a zeal, that we are labeled as “bargain hunters”. Just what is a “bargain”? A bargain is commonly understood as an advantageous purchase. Webster’s 10th Edition Collegiate Dictionary defines the word bargain as an agreement between parties settling what each gives or receives in transaction between them or what course of action or policy each pursues in respect to the other. (Emphasis mine) But what if one of the parties seeks to make no profit whatsoever. He only wills to give the other patty the “better end of the stick”? This is the case with Allah. No matter what He gives or receives neither increases decrease what he has. In a Hadith Qudsi (Sacred Hadith) Allah says: “O My servants, you can not seek to harm Me, and you can not seek to benefit Me. O My servants, were the first of you and the last of you, the human of you and the jinn of you, to be as pious as the most pious heart of any one man of you, that would not increase My Kingdom in anything. O my servants, were the first of you and the last of you, the human of you and the jinn of you to be as wicked as the most wicked heart of any one man of you that would not decrease My Kingdom in anything. O my servants, were the first of you and the last of you, the human of you and the jinn of you, to rise up in one place and make a request of Me, and were I to give everyone what he requested. That would not decrease what I have, any more than a needle decrease the sea if put into it.” So the benefit is entirely ours. As mentioned above, Allah says: “O you who believe! Shall I lead you to a bargain that will save you from a grievous chastisement?” He says to the believers; “Hal adullukum alaa tijaaratin…” He puts it in the form of a question. He gives the individual believer the choice whether or not to choose to be led to the bargain - as with all choice. As with all things in the lives of men, Allah does not compel us to do anything. So He asks the believer, Shall I “adullukum,” lead you, guide you, or point out to you a “tunjeekun,” save you, rescue you and deliver you. Deliver us from what? “Adhaabin aleem.” The Arabic word “aleem” means excruciating, painful, grievous, and sad. The Arabic words “adhaabin” means: pain, torment, suffering, agony, torture, punishment, etc. Allah implies that acceptance and fulfillment of this bargain will save us from an excruciating punishment. This is no ordinary deal. So here we have it. Allah is proposing to us, a transaction that will prove to be so beneficial for us that it will delivers from the pain and suffering of the Hellfire. As with anyone faced with a deal that seems too good to be true, we want to know, “Where’s the catch?” What must we do? Allah says that there are essentially two basic things that we must do in order to reap the full measure of this deal. Allah says: “That you believe in Allah and His Messenger, and that you strive (you utmost) in the cause of Allah with your wealth and your persons.” Here Allah says: “tu’minuna billahi wa rasoolihi.” the Arabic word “tu’minuna” is derived from the word “amuna” which means: he was faithful, reliable, and trustworthy. In the above context it means to place our complete faith, reliance, and trust in the ability, strength, and truth of Allah. The belief in Allah is to believe that strength, and truth of Allah. The belief in Allah is to believe the He is one, having no partners. This is known in Al-Islam as “Tawheed”. “Tawheed” is the most important aspect of all the beliefs in Al-Islam. We must purify our hearts of any and all other “gods” or objects of worship. Once we have done this, faith in Allah can take root and blossom in our very souls. Knowledge of Allah and belief in Him is the first and most important aspect in the edification of Al-Islam. To establish and strengthen our faith in Allah we must learn and study His Attributes. We must come to know Him as He describes Himself. We cannot truly know Allah without becoming acquainted with His attributes. We must place complete faith is His attributes. When we come to know that He is all-seeing, all-hearing, all-knowing, and all-powerful, we must place full confidence in the fact that this is true. We must not doubt. Believing in Allah knows that all manners of worship and service are to be directed to Him and Him alone. Allah says, in this verse, that belief does not stop there. After saying: “tu’minuna billahi,” He says: “warasoolihi.” That we must also believe in His Messenger (PBUH). Notice that Allah said that believe in Allah and his messenger that means we must believe in Allah and his messenger together not separately. To deny one is to deny the other. This is not to say that Prophet (PBUH) has equal rank or status with Allah, no, it is merely suggesting that belief in Prophet Muhammad is so essential that disbelief in prophet, disbelief in Allah’s veracity, and also His Book, the Holy Quran. It is through His Holy Book that Allah tells us to believe in Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Disbelief as well as obedience in the Prophet (PBUH) amounts to rejecting faith. Allah says: “But know by thy lord they can have no Faith until they make thee judge in all disputes between them. And find in their souls no resistance against thy decision, and accept them with the fullest conviction.” (Holy Quran 4:65) “O you who believe! Believe in Allah and his messenger and the scripture, which he has sent to His messenger, and the scripture which He sent down to those before (him). And whosoever disbelieves in Allah, His angles, His books, Hismessengers, and theDay of Judgment, then indeed he has strayed far away.” (Holy Quran 4:136) “O mankind! The messenger hath come to you in truth from Allah: So believe in him, it is best for you. But if you disbelieve, then certainly to Allah belong all things in the heavens and on earth: and Allah is all-knowing, all-wise. (Holy Quran 4:170) “It is not fitting for a believer, man or woman, when a The Deal of a Lifetime
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