EVEN THE SMALLEST WORDS UTTERED WILL NOT BE FREE FROM THEIR CONSEQUENCES (SURAH AL-BAQARAH AYAH 103-104)

 

   The Jews had preferred magic over faith and didn’t follow the Messenger. “And had they but believed and been conscious of Him, reward from Allah would indeed have brought them good had they but known it!”(Quran 2:103). If they would have believed in Allah and His Messenger, had avoided the prohibitions, and would have the perceptual consciousness of Allah along with rational, aesthetic and moral consciousness then Allah’s reward for the good deeds would have been better for them than what they chose and preferred for themselves. This reward which is absolutely good cannot be conceived, and only if they had known it, they would have acted like people of true knowledge and understanding. Since the Jews considered prophet hood to be a legacy, which only belonged to them so they were unwilling to accept that prophet hood has descended into any other lineage so they remained jealous and had prejudice. It was the habit of the Jews to mock the commands of Allah, ridicule His Prophets and change the words that they were instructed to say. Allah forbade the believers from uttering the word “Ra`ina”- Hear, let you hear nothing. As a replacement, the word that Allah chose for the believers to use was “unzur’na” which means ‘to see, to look at glance, to listen to, to be patient towards or to show kindness. “Nazara” is an affectionate look. This word was more befitting to be said to the Prophet than the one that the Jews had chosen. “O YOU who have attained to faith! Do not say (to the Prophet), "Listen to us," but rather say, "Have patience with us," and hearken (unto him), since grievous suffering awaits those who deny the truth” (Quran 2: 104). The Companions were called upon to approach the Prophet with respect and to subordinate their personal desires and expectations to the commandments of the Faith revealed through him: and this injunction remains valid for every believer and for all times. The ayah also announces dire punishment for whoever claims to be a believer and does not watch his speech, especially in the assembly of the Prophet.

        Usually when we recognize the power of something that we don’t want to exist, then we start mocking at it. This depicts our distance from the moral values. Even the smallest words uttered can transform into a term of reproach and weaken the true spirits. Though we are all free to choose but we are not free from the consequences of our choices.  So better hold ourselves to the standards of grace and perfection by choosing the vocabulary very carefully (Salim, 2007).

 If we feel Allah’s constant presence throughout the various routines of daily life, then that’s the real faith. Though a true believer finds Him in everything and everyone but his own heart is the place where He resides. In fact, respecting, obeying and loving Allah are all related - one really do not have one without the others. Our love for others in fact is a bridge to the Divine love. What if this love is for the best person ever in the face of earth? That is the last and final Prophet (pbuh) who was not only the epitome of humanity but a perfect human (Nadwi, 2015).  And if we love him the way love should be, then it has the power to change the priorities; the color of this feeling will become evident in our feelings, words and actions.  Like all precious things love demands guarantees and sacrifices to keep it flourishing so is the need of this love that we have for our Prophet (pbuh). It’s not about how much we say that we love him, but how much we can prove it. This love needs to be watered, looked after and nurtured and if we are willing to go for this commitment with each passing moment, only then this love would have a meaning.