Street Prophets

Ramadan Day 25: Verses from the Quran

by lauramp

Sat Oct 29, 2005 at 07:52:18 PM PDT

Each day during Ramadan, I am presenting a verse from the Quran with a few thoughts or comments. An introduction to this series is here. Inshallah (God willing), I hope that this may be of benefit to any who are interested in learning a bit more about Islam and Muslim belief.

Quran 43:33, 34, and 35:

And if it were not that humankind would become a single community, We would give to whoever rejects the Most Compassionate [i.e., God] silver roofs for their houses and (silver) stairways to climb up to them and (silver) doors to their houses and (silver) couches to recline on. And golden ornaments. But this is nothing but the pleasure of the life of the world. And the Hereafter, in the sight of your Lord, is for the God-fearing
A few days ago, Rain mentioned a theme in the Quran about people being tested by abundance as well as hardship and loss.

This verse approaches the same issue from a different angle, and one getting more at the theme of the diary where Rain mentioned this. What does it mean when good things happen to bad people? Is the bestowal of wealth a sign of God's favor?

This passage says no. It suggests as a hypothetical if God gave great wealth (houses of silver, and gold ornaments) to all those who reject the truth. If God did this, the Quran says, it would unite the people in rejection. The traditional commentary explains that this is because people would take the bestowal of wealth as a sign of God's pleasure and therefore act in the same way as the people who receive it, even if those people are wrongdoers.

In fact, the bestowal of wealth in the world is not a sign of God's favor. It is "nothing but the pleasure of the life of the world". The Quran contrasts this with the Hereafter.

In another verse, the Quran says that what God provides is better and more abiding. So we have the transitory pleasures of wordly wealth contrasted with the lasting joys of God's reward.

As presented in the Quran, the choice between these two should be obvious - it's in everybody's self-interest to go for the lasting reward not the one that will vanish. The difficulty is that people lose sight of this. They go for the wealth they can see (in the world) and not the wealth that they can't see (in the Hereafter).

Other verses in the Quran address more directly the question that Rain raised, that wealth is often given as a test, to see if we remain grateful. If I find the time (I've been swamped with work lately and putting in a lot of extra hours), I'll try to hunt down some of these verses, inshallah.


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  • Thank you (0 / 0)

    So very much for continuing this daily meditation during Ramadan

    You are giving me at least a feast every evening

    Thanks!

    by A Missionarys Kid on Sat Oct 29, 2005 at 07:15:35 PM PDT

  • Assalamu Alaikum (0 / 0)

    Peace be upon you.

    Join http://www.soulforce.org Soulforce -seeking Justice for God's GLBT children.

    by its simple IF you ignore the complexity on Sat Oct 29, 2005 at 07:53:38 PM PDT

  • peace unto all (0 / 0)

    This way of thinking about things has really been helpful to me, in both good times and bad. In the good times, it reminds me not to get too caught up in the surface pleasures.

    In the bad times, it also means "this too shall pass". It makes it easier to persevere through difficulties when remembering that a little patience now may pay off with a great reward in the Hereafter.

    Another thing this means to me, is when I see Muslims doing things that are wrong because they think it's justified to gain a victory in the world (for instance, by committing a terrorist act). But the victories of the world are fleeting and we don't want to throw away a victory in the Hereafter, by doing something God has forbidden, in the name of these fleeting things of the world.

    Better to remain patient than to do wrong and end up in a loss that lasts forever.

    "Riches does not mean having a great amount of property, but riches is self-contentment." (Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him)

    by lauramp on Sat Oct 29, 2005 at 08:36:06 PM PDT

    • And peace to you, Lauramp. (0 / 0)

      Thank you so much for highlighting this theme in your diary series!  

      In the body of your diary, you link to the thread of comments where I made the request.  I posted some quotations from the Q'uran downthread a bit -- both from Sura 2.

      I think there is another passage that restates the concept in an even firmer way.  I haven't located it yet.  I hope it will leap to your fingertips.

      by Rain on Sun Oct 30, 2005 at 02:06:16 PM PDT

      [ Parent ]

      • dervish to the rescue! (0 / 0)

        Dervish has listed some further down in the comments here. All of the verses (the ones you found before, the ones I cited in my diary, and the ones that dervish lists below) approach the same thing from different angles.

        "Riches does not mean having a great amount of property, but riches is self-contentment." (Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him)

        by lauramp on Sun Oct 30, 2005 at 05:40:23 PM PDT

        [ Parent ]

  • Islamic scholars have said (0 / 0)

    that if God wants to curse someone, one of the common methods is by granting them wealth and abundance. It requires extra effort and faith to overcome the complacency and temptations to sin that wealth can bring.

    The Qur'an addresses a bit of this as well, in the story of Qarun, beginning in sura 28, ayah 76.

    To God belong the east and the west: Whereso ever you turn, there is the face of God. For God is all-Embracing, all-Knowing.

    by dervish on Sun Oct 30, 2005 at 03:45:38 AM PDT

    • I find this so interesting (0 / 0)

      and I feel the truth of it.

      Trials by hardship are simpler than trials by abundance, aren't they?  A person who has the abundance may forget the responsibility to others that comes along with it.  His or her ego may also mistake the abundance as proof of something superior in their makeup or deeds.

      It is an error of shallowness, I think, because this world is not the real deal -- it's more of a classroom.

      Peace!

      by Rain on Sun Oct 30, 2005 at 02:13:07 PM PDT

      [ Parent ]

  • Here are some passages that might be relevant:: (0 / 0)

    Qur'an 64:15
    Your possessions and your children are only a trial, and God it is with Whom is a great reward.

    Qur'an 9:85
    Nor let their wealth nor their (following in) sons dazzle thee: God's plan is to punish them with these things in this world, and that their souls may perish in their (very) denial of God.

    Qur'an 102:1
    Abundance diverts you,
    (really the whole sura Takathur)

    Qur'an 4:29
    O ye who believe! Eat not up your property among yourselves in vanities: But let there be amongst you Traffic and trade by mutual good-will: Nor kill (or destroy) yourselves: for verily God hath been to you Most Merciful!
    (then it continues through 33).

    Qur'an 17:29-30
    Make not thy hand tied (like a niggard's) to thy neck, nor stretch it forth to its utmost reach, so that thou become blameworthy and destitute. Verily thy Lord doth provide sustenance in abundance for whom He pleaseth, and He provideth in a just measure. For He doth know and regard all His servants.

    Qur'an 63:9-11
    O ye who believe! Let not your riches or your children divert you from the remembrance of God. If any act thus, the loss is their own. and spend something (in charity) out of the substance which We have bestowed on you, before Death should come to any of you and he should say, "O my Lord! why didst Thou not give me respite for a little while? I should then have given (largely) in charity, and I should have been one of the doers of good". But to no soul will God grant respite when the time appointed (for it) has come; and God is well acquainted with (all) that ye do.

    Qur'an 57:20
    Know that this world's life is only sport and play and gaiety and boasting among yourselves, and a vying in the multiplication of wealth and children, like the rain, whose causing the vegetation to grow, pleases the husbandmen, then it withers away so that you will see it become yellow, then it becomes dried up and broken down; and in the hereafter is a severe chastisement and (also) forgiveness from God and (His) pleasure; and this world's life is naught but means of deception.

    Also the first part of surah Qalam (#68 ...one of the the oldest sections of the Qur'an), and surah Humaza (104) are relevant.

    I have probably missed some, my apologies.

    To God belong the east and the west: Whereso ever you turn, there is the face of God. For God is all-Embracing, all-Knowing.

    by dervish on Sun Oct 30, 2005 at 02:47:31 PM PDT

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