Qur'an=Love

Assalaamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatu everyone!

Once again, I apologize for my lack of posts. Honestly, I haven't even been that busy; it's more just that I haven't really had anything interesting to say. Alhamdulillah, maybe this is a good thing in that it means that I don't have anything bad happening in my life (Insha'Allah).

So last week after work I decided to go to the lovely, well-stocked downtown library. I was dorking around in there, not really looking for anything in particular. As I always do, I headed over to the religion section and looked to see what books they had on Islam. They actually have a pretty good collection of books, written by both Muslims and non-Muslims, critical and not critical. As I was browsing through the shelves, I noticed a tiny book hidden between two others. I picked it up, and it was entitled "My Mercy Encompasses All", by Reza Shah-Kazemi. The front of the book had an introduction that said that the author had heard of a book that had excerpts from the Bible about love, peace, and mercy, and he was inspired to compile a similar collection using the Qur'an. The book contained many passages from the Qur'an (Pickthall's translation of the meaning), as well as some commentary on the meanings of the verses. Subhanallah, the verses that were in the book really touched my heart, as the words of ALLAH should. I know there are many critics of the Qur'an out there that say that it is filled with nothing but evil, violence, and inequality, but these verses prove them very wrong. Alhamdulillah, it was a great iman booster for me. I wrote down some of the verses that I found especially beautiful. I will post the Pickthall translation of the meaning because that was what was used in the book, and then my thoughts on the verses.

"It is not righteousness that ye turn your faces to the East and the West; but righteous is he who believeth in Allah and the Last Day and the angels and the Scripture and the prophets; and giveth wealth, for love of Him, to kinsfolk and to orphans and the needy and the wayfarer and to those who ask, and to set slaves free; and observeth proper worship and payeth the poor-due. And those who keep their treaty when they make one, and the patient in tribulation and adversity and time of stress. Such are they who are sincere. Such are the Allah-fearing." (2:177)
-Subhanallah, this is such a good reminder to us all. I especially like the first part of the ayat that says that it is not righteousness that we "turn our faces to the east and the west"; i.e. doing all the rituals of Islam. The rituals, such as salat, are no doubt important, but in order to be truly GOD-fearing and righteous, we must also strive to truly live in service to ALLAH by serving others (e.g. giving money to those who need it, keeping treaties, being patient rather than angry and hasty, etc.). On one of LK's recent posts on her new blog (wheelsamsara.blogspot.com), I wrote how important it is for Muslims to always remember the essence of Islam (i.e. the shahadah) in all that we do, rather than only get caught up in rituals and forget exactly why we are doing them (to glorify ALLAH).

"And when My servants question thee concerning Me, then surely I am nigh. I answer the prayer of the suppliant when he crieth unto Me. So let them hear My call and let them trust in Me, in order that they may be led aright." (2:186)
-When I encountered this verse for the first time, I started tearing up. Subhanallah, ALLAH is always with us no matter what happens, and as long as we follow Him, He will always be there for us. To me, this verse is a beautiful confirmation of ALLAH's Great Love.

"O ye who believe! Be steadfast witnesses for Allah in equity, and let not hatred of any people seduce you that ye deal not justly. Deal justly, that is nearer to your duty. Observe your duty to Allah. Lo! Allah is Informed of what ye do." (5:8)
-Anyone who supports terrorist acts against innocent people, or even prejudice against a certain group of people, must read and reflect on this verse. It clearly says that we must always treat people fairly and with justice, even if we hate the person or people in question. If we ignore this, it does not go unnoticed by ALLAH, and we will be called to account for any unfairness or injustice that we have done. Before you go speak out or make negative generalizations about an entire group of people, keep this verse in mind.

"...Verily in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find rest!" (13:28)
-I can definitely attest to this; I feel the most peace of mind whenever I intimately think about ALLAH, whether through dhikr, reading about His marvelous creations, or even a special, personal du'a.

"Lo! men who surrender unto Allah, and women who surrender, and men who believe and women who believe, and men who obey and women who obey, and men who speak the truth and women who speak the truth, and men who persevere (in righteousness) and women who persevere, and men who are humble and women who are humble, and men who give alms and women who give alms, and men who fast and women who fast, and men who guard their modesty and women who guard (their modesty), and men who remember Allah much and women who remember - Allah hath prepared for them forgiveness and a vast reward." (33:35)
-This is one of my all-time favorite ayahs in the Qur'an, because it establishes, without any doubt, that men and women are on equal terms in the religion and neither can claim that they are "better" or "more important to ALLAH" than the other.

"O ye who believe! Remember Allah with much remembrance. And glorify Him early and late. He it is Who blesseth you, and His angels (bless you), that He may bring you forth from darkness unto light; and He is ever Merciful to the believers. Their salutation on the day when they shall meet Him will be: Peace. And He hath prepared for them a goodly recompense." (33:41-44)
-I love this whole section, but I especially like the phrase "that He may bring you forth from darkness unto light"; it's very poetic, and it's true that submitting oneself to ALLAH is like transitioning from darkness (uncertainty, fear, etc.) into light (knowing that ALLAH is Supreme and is the Most Merciful).

"Allah forbiddeth you not those who warred not against you on account of religion and drove you not out from your homes, that ye should show them kindness and deal justly with them. Lo! Allah loveth the just dealers." (60:8)
-Again, another verse that people who are inclined towards violence and intolerance should look at. When we are told to hate for the sake of ALLAH, ALLAH means for us to hate the ideas, not the people. It's like the old Christian expression "love the sinner, hate the sin". We can hate that someone is an alcoholic, and hate alcohol for what it does to people, but that doesn't give us permission to hate alcoholic people. Similarly, we can hate that someone is a disbeliever, and hate the sins that they may commit, but that doesn't mean that we are to hate the people themselves and be unfair and/or unkind to them. As long as others exhibit peace, we are to do the same.

"Hast thou observed him who belieth religion? That is he who repelleth the orphan, And urgeth not the feeding of the needy. Ah, woe unto worshippers Who are heedless of their prayer; Who would be seen (at worship) Yet refuse small kindnesses!" (107:1-7)
-This surah also touches on the importance of essentially "practicing what you preach". ALLAH condemns those who not only don't pray, but also those who only pray just to show off, yet they won't even do little good deeds for others.

Do you have any verses from the Qur'an that shoot down this "bad image" the Qur'an has among some people?