Post 59--Rights of Men

There is this website < www.fridaynasiha.com > that is published every Friday and publishes basic Qur'anic teachings in a positive way. It shows the best face of Islam and leaves you with thoughts to ponder. If you're a Christian, as I am, then it leads you to comparisons with your own faith. All in all, I find much of it very uplifting, even though at almost every turn I am tempted to counter the teachings with my version of Christianity, which is "Reformational."  If you want to know what that means, you will have to go to my website < www.SocialTheology.com > where it is explained in a few places but, more important, where it is displayed and woven into the text. I plan to fill more posts with these Friday Nasihas and hope thus to instigate personal Christian dialogue with Islam.  In terms of Reformational theology, you will find traces of both "common grace" and "antithesis." Perhaps these terms are useful tools for such dialogue. 

Here then the first of the Nasihas with more to follow as we go along.:

                                                         Rights of Men
Hud (Hud) - Chapter 11: Verse 117

"And your Lord would never destroy human habitations wrongfully, while their inhabitants are righteous."

The verse implies that Allah does not destroy a people even if they commit association in His divinity so long as their dealings between themselves are carried out in justice. It is only when they begin to wrong each other on a large scale that they meet with their destruction. Hence it is said that a dominion lasts despite disbelief but not despite justice. [Zamakhshari, Shawkani]

God's chastisement does not afflict any people merely on account of their holding beliefs amounting to shirk or kufr, but afflicts them only if they persistently commit evil in their mutual dealings, and deliberately hurt other human beings and act tyrannically.

Hence those who are learned in Islamic Law hold that men's obligations towards God rest on the principle of [His] forgiveness and liberality, whereas the rights of man are of a stringent nature and must always be strictly observed - the obvious reason being, that God is almighty and needs no defender, whereas man is weak and needs protection. [Razi, Asad]

It is imperative that there should always be a good number of righteous people in every society. A community that is prepared to put up with everything except a group of righteous people in its midst is certainly destined for self-destruction. God's final decision, whether to punish a community or not, depends on the extent to which that community possesses the elements that would enable it to respond to the call of truth.

If we truly love the society we live in and don't want the punishment of God to come down upon us, we should try our best to develop a group of people who will call people to do good and forbid them from evil.

Compiled From:
"Ishraq Al-Maani " - Syed Iqbal Zaheer, Vol. 5, pp. 294, 295
"Towards Understanding the Quran" - Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, vol. IV, pp. 138, 139