He Who Makes Mountains Move
Wednesday, September 2, 2009 at 10:29AM And so he cried out through the Depths of Darkness: "There is No god but You, Glory be to You! I was indeed [wrong]!"
So We listened to him, and delivered him from Distress; Thus do We Deliver those who have faith.
So now here we are, a third of Ramadan having disappeared behind us, the remaining two-thirds threatening quickly to follow. We are in the midst of it now: praying, fasting, struggling to fight off feelings of familiarity and routine; feelings that are the bane of a worshiper’s focus, the enemy of a dedicated heart. It is easier to be absorbed in our worship and sincere in our devotion when the pangs of our hunger are novel, when the energy in our mosques is new. The first 10 days of Ramadan are revival, the last 10 all energy and emotion, but here in the middle is where the work lies, where it might be easy to miss out on Ramadan’s opportunities and lose focus to repetitious routine.
Our blogging plan for Ramadan called for us to spend the first 10 days focusing on God’s mercy, grace and compassion (see here, here and here). These middle 10 are to be spent thinking and writing about forgiveness and prayer. The last 10 will, iA, be spent exploring themes of the Afterlife.
When I think about forgiveness, I think about two separate concepts: the first is God’s forgiveness of man (and man's prayers to God for same) and the second is man’s forgiveness of man. If you betray yourself or fall victim to your own weaknesses and desires but don't wrong or hurt anyone else in that process, you need only to pray for God's forgiveness. When you wrong others, you need both to pray for God's forgiveness and to reconcile with the person whom you've wronged. If that reconciliation does not take place in this life, it will be sorted out on the Last Day.
There are also a whole slew of tangential topics that we could—but won’t, iA—get into this month relating to concepts of comparative religion, original sin and God’s relationship with His worshipers in Islam vs. in Other Religions. Suffice it so say (for now) that, in Islam, everyone is born with a clean record (of sins and good deeds) but also with an innate weakness for error. People sin, wrong other people and make mistakes. No one will go through life without doing some or all of those things at one time or another, and it is only through perseverance, struggle, patience, constancy and prayer that people may overcome those sins and mistakes to attain the ultimate success of the Next World. Even prophets and messengers of God sin, betray themselves, wrong others and make mistakes. Even they sometimes had to ask for forgiveness [37:139-149]:
So also was Jonah among those sent (by Us).
When he ran away (like a slave from captivity) to the ship (fully) laden,
He (agreed to) cast lots, and he was condemned.
Then the big Fish did swallow him, and he had done acts worthy of blame.
Had it not been that he (repented and) Glorified God,
He would certainly have remained inside the Fish until the Day of Resurrection.
But we cast him forth on the naked shore in a state of sickness,
And We caused to grow over him, a spreading plant of the Gourd kind,
And we sent him (on a mission) to a hundred thousand (men or more).
And they believed; so we permitted them to enjoy (their life) for a while.
Jonah sinned, betrayed God's command, stormed off in frustration and abandoned his divine mission, found himself in a desperate state, repented and was forgiven. His people had rejected faith, but then were given another chance, embraced God's word and were forgiven. Their city, which was nearly destroyed for its sins, was left instead to prosper with God's blessings. God forgives. God accepts prayers. God redeems [21:87-88]:
And remember Dhu al Nun [“He of the Fish (or Whale)”], when he departed in wrath: He imagined that We had no power over him! And so he cried out through the Depths of Darkness: "There is No god but You, Glory be to You! I was indeed [wrong]!"
So We listened to him, and delivered him from Distress; Thus do We Deliver those who have faith.
No, not Jonah. This is Disney's version of Geppetto, from Pinocchio, circa 1940, which is currently, I believe, in the "Disney Vault" (whatever that is). Geppetto wanted a son and created a wooden puppet that came to life. The puppet got caught up in evil and wasteful excess after being duped into joining a traveling puppet show. Geppetto was swallowed by a whale when he went looking for his runaway puppet, but remained patient through his ordeal. In the end, the puppet, Pinocchio, was made real. I will leave the Jonah/ Job/ Zakariya parallels for others to explore.Jonah’s darkness was real: he was physically trapped inside the belly of a large fish (or whale), surrounded by depths of darkness, alone without light-- with nothing except his thoughts and regret. Jonah’s darkness was metaphorical: he was in a state of darkness, having disobeyed God and stormed off in wrath and frustration, lost in life, without guidance, alone without spiritual light--with nothing except his thoughts and regret. None of us, I feel confident in saying, will experience the real darkness of a belly of a whale, but how many of us can relate, either through our own experiences or through the experiences of friends or relatives, to dark periods in life; periods when the light of guidance, purpose or happiness is a distant memory, or a distant goal? How many of us can relate, in our own lives or in the lives of people close to us, to feeling the need to call out in utter despair, to seek help and guidance at a time when we can’t imagine any means of feasible deliverance? How many of us have experienced Jonah's spiritual darkness, where the light of hope seems distant or even unimaginable?
But God forgives. God delivers. God redeems. No sin you commit is so horrible that you can’t repent and be forgiven for it. Nothing is insurmountable. If darkness fills your soul, seek out the light of God. If you are ashamed, angry or scared, turn to God for a way out. When the walls are closing in on you, when your chest is about to burst from pain and stress and frustration, when you don’t know what to do, turn to Allah. He can make fire cold and mountains move. He can make the barren fertile and provide sustenance and deliverance through means you don’t think possible; through unexpected ways. He can turn hearts inside out and upside down, convince the obstinate, give sight to the blind and make the deaf hear a whisper.
Read, for example, the litany of examples God gives us in the same surah 21 (Al-Anbiya; "The Prophets") from which the lead-in ayahs were extracted:
(Abraham) said, "Do you then worship, besides Allah, things that can neither be of any good to you nor do you harm?
"Fie upon you, and upon the things that you worship besides Allah! Have you no sense?"
They said, "Burn him and protect your gods, If you do (anything at all)!"
We [God] said, "O Fire! be thou cool, and (a means of) safety for Abraham!"
Then they sought a stratagem against him: but We made them the ones that lost most!
But We delivered him and (his nephew) Lot (and directed them) to the land which We have blessed for the nations.
And We bestowed on him Isaac and, as an additional gift, (a grandson), Jacob, and We made righteous men of every one (of them).
And We made them leaders, guiding (men) by Our Command, and We sent them inspiration to do good deeds, to establish regular prayers, and to practise regular charity; and they constantly served Us (and Us only).
And to Lot, too, We gave Judgment and Knowledge, and We saved him from the town which practised abominations: truly they were a people given to Evil, a rebellious people.
And We admitted him to Our Mercy: for he was one of the Righteous.
(Remember) Noah, when he cried (to Us) aforetime: We listened to his (prayer) and delivered him and his family from great distress.
We helped him against people who rejected Our Signs: truly they were a people given to Evil: so We drowned them (in the Flood) all together.
And remember David and Solomon, when they gave judgment in the matter of the field into which the sheep of certain people had strayed by night: We did witness their judgment.
To Solomon We inspired the (right) understanding of the matter: to each (of them) We gave Judgment and Knowledge; it was Our power that made the hills and the birds celebrate Our praises, with David: it was We Who did (all these things).
It was We Who taught him the making of coats of mail for your benefit, to guard you from each other's violence: Will you then be grateful?
(It was Our power that made) the violent (unruly) wind flow (tamely) for Solomon, to his order, to the land which We had blessed: for We do know all things.
And of the evil ones, were some who dived for him, and did other work besides; and it was We Who guarded them.
And (remember) Job, when He cried to his Lord, "Truly distress has seized me, but Thou art the Most Merciful of those that are merciful."
So We listened to him: We removed the distress that was on him, and We restored his people to him, and doubled their number,- as a Grace from Ourselves, and a thing for commemoration, for all who serve Us.
And (remember) Isma'il, Idris, and Zul-kifl, all (men) of constancy and patience;
We admitted them to Our mercy: for they were of the righteous ones.
And remember Dhu al Nun [“He of the Fish (or Whale)”], when he departed in wrath: He imagined that We had no power over him! And so he cried out through the Depths of Darkness: "There is No god but You, Glory be to You! I was indeed [wrong]!"
So We listened to him, and delivered him from Distress; Thus do We Deliver those who have faith.
And (remember) Zakariya, when he cried to his Lord: "O my Lord! leave me not without offspring, though thou art the best of inheritors."
So We listened to him: and We granted him Yahya: We cured his wife's (Barrenness) for him. These (three) were ever quick in emulation in good works; they used to call on Us with love and reverence, and humble themselves before Us.
And (remember) her who guarded her chastity: We breathed into her of Our spirit, and We made her and her son a sign for all peoples.
Abraham was thrown into a blazing fire and should have died. Instead, God made the fire cool for him. It did not harm him, and he lived, and from his offspring emerged Jesus and his mother Mary, both of whom are, together, “a sign for all peoples,” and also Muhammad, the Seal of the prophet-hood, may God’s peace and blessings be upon the three of them. Not only was he delivered from a fire that should have ended his life, but his offspring also were showered with blessings. Abraham and Lot were together delivered from evil, then Lot himself was delivered from others given to evil and rebellion, as was Noah after suffering through generations (by our counting) of discomfort, failure and frustration. David felled a mighty enemy, and he and Solomon were blessed with miraculous facilities and inspiration to quell the evil they faced. Job, whom God tested with unimaginable pain, when he cried out in distress and remained constant and patient as he prayed to the Most Merciful, saw God's Grace envelope him, his distress removed and his blessings multiplied. And others of Abraham's line saw God's Mercy for being of The Righteous and practicing constancy and patience. Jonah, as he sat in his darkness, was eventually delivered, was eventually filled with God's Mercy and Grace, and became again God's agent to bless his people. Zakariya, who lived a long life without offspring at a time when the human race procreated at a rate much more advanced than our own, when offspring meant status and wealth and security, who suffered with his wife through barrenness and the pain of feeling inadequate and diminished, when he cried out to his Lord, was blessed with a son, Yahya (John), and he, his wife and Yahya were "ever quick in emulation and good works" and ever called on God "with love and reverence, and [humbled] themselves before [God]". And Mary and Jesus, from the line of Abraham, might nearly have never been, if Abraham had not been delivered, if God had not stood with The Righteous and performed miracles to aid His servants.
Is God then not able to deliver you from whatever problems you may be facing, to forgive you for whatever sins or wrongs you may have committed? Is your situation worse than being thrown into a fire pit (Abraham), or being swallowed by a whale (Jonah), or losing your wealth and family (Job), or failing for over 900 years to convince more than a handful of people of the truth of your message (Noah)? Are your sins so bad that God is unable to forgive them? Is your darkness worse than Jonah's? Does your situation equal Zakariya's in hopelessness, or Abraham's in desperation?
Trust in Allah and pray for forgiveness. Trust in Allah and pray for his deliverance from all that may trouble you. Trust in Allah. And beg. In your prayers tonight and during these next nine nights and beyond, beg.
When you are surrounded by Jonah's darkness, when you are alone without light or guidance, beg.
When you face a raging fire, when the need for help and deliverance is dire, beg.
We are taught in the Quran that one of God’s names is Al-Ghaffir, meaning “He who continuously forgives” or “He who forgives again and again.” God says in the Quran [20:82]:
But, without doubt, I am (also) He who forgives again and again, to those who repent, believe, and do right—who, in fine, are ready to receive True guidance.
God’s forgiveness is wide and encompassing. It is never too late, and nothing is impossible. Nothing is impossible.
Reader Comments (1)
SubhanAllah: When he was in the belly of the whale, he never asked Allah to relieve him from the pain of the whale's belly or to save him (literally from his physical distress). He submitted to his Lord and knew that whatever his fate may be, it is from Allah, and Allah knows best.
How hard is it to be in "darkness" and to not ask Allah to save you from it. The prophets have such a high level of faith that is so hard to comprehend. They don't think in terms of this world, but in terms of the afterlife. It is so hard (especially in difficult times) to think in light of the afterlife.
When the angels see humans going through a difficult test they are confused by are reaction to it. They see the test as a blessing from Allah and it raises us in levels, but we (humans) are so distraught when a test comes to us. We feel that we have lost so much, but in fact we are gaining even more. Jordan brand stole this idea and used it in a commercial, where they show athletes training hard and killing themselves to get into shape, and at the end of the commercial the screen goes white and the words "Break to Build" are shown in bold letters.
I swear Islam has all the answers. Such clarity in its explanation of life's concerns.