Among the community of believers , some are superior to others and this superiority is a direct result of their own strivings.
This superiority is linked to Emaan ( the strength and depth of faith). A living faith unsuscribe from whatever displeases Allah. In Arabic we call it " Taqwa" also translated as " fear of God", " piety" or " God-consciousness". Allah expressed clearly the superiority of Taqwa as follows : " Verily the most noble among you is the one with the most Taqwa" ( Surat al Hujuraat ( 49:13) So , as understood , a believing man or woman is only superior to another by the level of Taqwaa. Taqwaa is the driving force behind living faith and without it faith is only a meaningless jumble of memorized words and phrases and righteous "deeds" only shells of pretence and hypocrisy. The Messenger of Allah said : " A woman is married for four reasons : her wealth , her nobility , her beauty and her piety. Choose the pious one and be successful. No matter how beautiful , rich a woman might be , if she is not pious , she is totally inferior to a pious , ulgy and a poor woman. There is also the converse for man , as the Prophet said " If a man whose practise of religion satisfies you , asks you for your daughter in marriage , you should marry them , otherwise there will be a corruption in the land". Once the Prophet reprimanded Abu Dharr for calling Bilal ( The Prophet's muezzin) " son of a black woman" and then He went on to say " Look! Surely you are not better than a brown man nor a black man exept by fearing Allah more than them". Even before his death , Allah's Messenger lectured the people on the insignificance of racial differences and the all importance of Taqwaa. Therefore , the most pious individuals are only known by Allah , because the seat of Taqwaa is the heart. Us , Men , can only judge by each other's outward deeds which may or may not be misleading ( deceptive) . Allah said in the Qu'ran " There is among people in this life , he whose speech will dazzle you , and he will call on Allah as a witness to what is in the heart ; yet he will be among the most vicious of enemies" ( Surat al Baqara ( 2:204) Hence , it is not permissible for humans to designate certain people as being particularly saintly and pious to a degree beyond the reach of ordinary humans. This shows us not to be fooled by people's actions. Our Prophet Muhammad ( peace be upon him) specified among his companions some whom he gave glad tidings of paradise in this life. Howerer let's not misunderstand that such pronouncements were based on his ability to judge the hearts but obviously they were based on Revelation. Similarly , he judged some whom everyone thought were diestined to Paradise to be among those destined for the hellfire. In Christian tradition , some individuals were highly praised for their supposed " spiritual achievements" . Miracles were attributed to them and the rank of " saint" was bestowed on them. In pre-Christian Hindu and Buddhist tradition , teachers were given the titles of Avatars or Guru because they were supposed to have cimbled the ladder of spiritual exellence. These designations have led the masses ( people) to either seek intercession through them or to worship them too. Consequently , these religion 's tradition have saints whom the masses pray massively. On the other hand , In Islam, opposes the excessive praise of our Prophet Muhammad who said " Do not praise me excessively as the Christians did to 'Eesa ibn Myriam ( Jesus son of Myriam) , verily I am a slave only , so call me instead the slave of Allah and His Messenger" (Reported by Umar ibn al Khattab and collected by al Bukhari) |
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AuteurAs salam aleykum dear visitors ! Archives
October 2016
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