Summary
Before Nuh: Beginning of Shirk (Idolatry) when people started worshipping righteous people after they died
Ten Generations of Muslims between Adam & Nuh
Nuh was the first Prophet to the people of the world
Da’wah Methods of Nuh: open, private calling, but people ignored him
Quranic Lesson to the Prophet* from the life of Nuh: SABR (patience)
Storytelling in the Qur'an: Recording Conversations between people
The Monkey and Ladder Experiment ~ How a paradigm is formed
“…because we found our Forefathers doing this…”
Prophet Nuh (Noah) ~ Before Nuh: Beginning of Shirk
Noah's People - Idolaters
For many generations Noah's people had been worshipping statues that they called gods. They believed that these gods would bring them good, protect them from evil and provide all their needs. They gave their idols names such as Waddan, Suwa'an, Yaghutha, Ya'auga, and Nasran, (These idols represented, respectively, manly power; mutability, beauty; brute strength, swiftness, sharp sight, insight) according to the power they thought these gods possessed. Allah the Almighty revealed: "They (idolaters) have said: "You shall not leave your gods nor shall you leave Wadd, nor Suwa, nor Yaghuth, nor Ya'uq nor Nasr (names of the idols)." (TMQ 71:23).
Originally these were the names of good people who had lived among them. After their deaths, statues of them were erected to keep their memories alive. After sometime, however, people began to worship these statues. Later generations did not even know why they had been erected; they only knew their parents had prayed to them. That is how idol worshipping developed. Since they had no understanding of Allah the Almighty Who would punish them for their evil deeds, they became cruel and immoral.
Various Hadith describing the Origin of Idolatry
Ibn Abbas explained: "Following upon the death of those righteous men, Satan inspired their people to erect statues in the places where they used to sit. They did this, but these statues were not worshiped until the coming generations deviated from the right way of life. Then they worshipped them as their idols." In his version, Ibn Jarir narrated: "There were righteous people who lived in the period between Adam and Noah and who had followers who held them as models. After their death, their friends who used to emulate them said: 'If we make statues of them, it will be more pleasing to us in our worship and will remind us of them.' So they built statues of them, and , after they had died and others came after them, Iblis crept into their minds saying: 'Your forefathers used to worship them, and through that worship they got rain.' So they worshipped them." Ibn Abi Hatim related this story: "Waddan was a righteous man who was loved by his people. When he died, they withdrew to his grave in the land of Babylonia and were overwhelmed by sadness. When Iblis saw their sorrow caused by his death, he disguised himself in the form of a man saying: 'I have seen your sorrow because of this man's death; can I make a statue like him which could be put in your meeting place to make you remember him?' They said: 'Yes.' So he made the statue like him. They put it in their meeting place in order to be reminded of him. When Iblis saw their interest in remembering him, he said: 'Can I build a statue of him in the home of each one of you so that he would be in everyone's house and you could remember him?' They agreed. Their children learned about and saw what they were doing. They also learned about their remembrance of him instead of Allah. So the first to be worshipped instead of Allah was Waddan, the idol which they named thus."
The essence of this point is that every idol from those earlier mentioned was worshipped by a certain group of people. It was mentioned that people made picture sand as the ages passed they made these pictures into statues, so that their forms could be fully recognized; afterwards they were worshipped instead of Allah.
Commentary - Idolatry
Worshipping anything other than Allah is a tragedy that results not only in the loss of freedom; its serious effect reaches man's mind and destroys it as well. Almighty Allah created man and his mind with its purpose set on achieving knowledge the most important of which is that Allah alone is the Creator and all the rest are worshippers (slaves). Therefore, disbelief in Allah, or polytheism, results in the loss of freedom, the destruction of the mind, and the absence of a noble target in life. (By worshipping anything other than Allah, man becomes enslaved to Satan, who is himself a creature and becomes harnessed to his own baser qualities). Into this environment Allah sent Noah with His message to his people. Noah was the only intellectual not caught in the whirlpool of man's destruction which was caused by polytheism.
Ten Generations of Muslims
The Prophet* says in Bukhaari, between Adam and Nuh, there were ten generations, all of them were Muslim. Qarn means either a century or a generation. If it means ten centuries, then that is a millennium (1,000 years). If it means ten generations, it can mean more than a 1,000, because we know that people used to live a longer life during those times. Between Adam and Nuh, there were many generations, but ten of them were Muslim. Out of the many generations, ten were Muslim, and then disbelief and shirk slowly started to creep in. Ibn ‘Abbaas says (in Bukhaari), the descendants of Adam started to slowly lose their religion and committing sins, but they still believed in tawheed – the unity of Allah. Ignorance was spreading amongst them. And the righteous amongst them were few.
Prophet Nuh
Nuh was the first Prophet* to the people of the world. And this is mentioned in the authentic hadith of Shafa’a. People will go to Nuh and tell him on the Day of Judgment, “You are the first Prophet* to the people of the world.” He is also one of the five ulil ‘azm minar Rasul – the greatest five ambiya of Allah. The other four are: Muhammad, Ibraheem [Abraham], Musa [Moses] and ‘Eesa [Jesus]. The greatest of them was Muhammad*. What was the message of Nuh? Allah says, “And indeed We sent Nuh (Noah) to his people (and he said), ‘I have come to you as a plain warner. That you worship none but Allah […]’” (TMQ 11:25-26) This is the message that every prophet has presented to the world – tawhid.
Da’wah Methods
What were the methods of the da’wah of Nuh? Allah says: “He [Nuh] said: ‘O my Lord! Verily, I have called my people night and day.’” (71:5) Then [Nuh] said: “Then verily, I called to them openly (aloud); Then verily, I proclaimed to them in public, and I have appealed to them in private.” (71:8-9) So Nuh used announcing in public and speaking privately. He varied his methods; he tried every way possible. Similarly, in our da’wah, we should take advantage of every resource we have: telephone, CDs, cassettes, speeches, through akhlaaq [manners], books, internet, apps, TV etc. Use any method for the sake of Allah.
Allah says: [Nuh said]: “But all my calling added nothing but to (their) flight (from the truth).” (71:6) Allahu Akbar. The more da’wah Nuh gives to them, the further away they become. Allah says: “And verily! Every time I called unto them that You might forgive them, they thrust their fingers into their ears, covered themselves up with their garments, and persisted (in their refusal), and magnified themselves in pride.” (71:7) Nuh would be speaking to them and they would do these things! If we are speaking to someone and they start putting their fingers in their ears and behave like this, could we continue talking to them? We would barely be able to talk to him for half an hour [or two minutes, if you are like me!]. You would become fed up and you would leave and never talk to them again! Nuh did this for hundreds of years. Nuh lived for 950 years and Nuh made da’wah night and day; publicly and privately; and the more da’wah he gives, the more animosity is created between him and the people. He [Nuh] is speaking to closed ears. But he had patience for 950 years.
A Quranic Lesson to the Prophet from the life of Nuh
The story of Nuh has been mentioned in many places in the Qur’an, but the longest version is in Surah Hud. [The 11th Surah]. It starts with ayah 25 and goes until ayah 49, and concludes like this: “This is of the news of the unseen which We reveal unto you (O Muhammad SAW), neither you nor your people knew them before this. So be patient. Surely, the (good) end is for the Muttaqun. (11:49)
Allah is telling the Prophet* after this story – and this is the conclusion of the story of Nuh – that this is the true news of Nuh that is revealed to you; neither you nor your people knew before. What was the lesson? Allah is saying, Be patient. The entire story leads to this. 950 year of patience, he never gave up. Be patient, for the winners in the end will be those who have taqwa. Nuh did win, but he won after hundreds of years. And he couldn’t have won if he didn’t have patience. The road is long, and it needs a lot of energy, and that energy is sabr. We ask Allah to give us the patience that we need.
Storytelling in the Qur'an: Recording Conversations
An important aspect of stories written in the Qur’an is that these are not fairy stories, or purely morality stories. Allah is actually selectively recounting events that actually happened. Conversations that occurred thousands of years ago are recorded by Allah and printed in the Qur’an for us. Whether these are conversations between Prophets and their people or leaders, or conversations between Prophets and Allah – these are all recorded and written down for us to learn and contemplate.
Main Topic: The Monkey and Ladder Experiment
(How a paradigm is formed)
“…because we found our Forefathers doing this…”
- A group of scientists placed 5 monkeys in a cage and in the middle, a ladder with bananas on the top.
- Every time a monkey went up the ladder, the scientists soaked the rest of the monkeys with cold water.
- After a while, every time a monkey went up the ladder, the others beat up the one on the ladder.
- Scientists then decided to substitute one of the monkeys. The 1st thing this new monkey did was to go up the ladder. Immediately the other monkeys beat him up.
- After several beatings, the new member learned not to climb the ladder even though never knew why.
- A 2nd monkey was substituted and the same occurred. The 1st monkey participated on the beating for the 2nd monkey. A 3rd monkey was changed and the same was repeated (beating). The 4th was substituted and the beating was repeated and finally the 5th monkey was replaced.
- What was left was a group of 5 monkeys that even though never received a cold shower, continued to beat up any monkey who attempted to climb the ladder.
- If it was possible to ask the monkeys why they would beat up all those who attempted to go up the ladder…..
- I bet you the answer would be….
- “I don’t know – that’s how things are done around here”
- Does it sounds familiar?
Stephenson's study did not involve a ladder or a banana (this aspect of the story is inspired by experiments with chimpanzees conducted by Wolfgang Kohler in the 1920s), that the monkeys were not replaced in the group they way he described it in the story, that the monkeys did not attack the individual who tried to climb the ladder]
Children’s Feedback
Tawakkul Allah (putting Trust in Allah)
Course on Chillin’ – focus on the Halal
News Topic:
Nil
Homework
Prophets ~ Who controls a society?
How should people change society? The Prophet's of Allah worked hard to change the Kufr (disbelief) in their society to get the people to believe in Allah - from Prophet Nuh (Noah) onwards. How did they do this?
Main Topic ~ Explore the Islamic opinions on issues like music, TV, photos, birthdays, clapping - for when we discuss ijtihad (and fatwa)
Feedback:Trust in Allah.
ReplyDeleteStory of Pencil and Pencil Maker:
The Pencil Maker took the pencil aside, just before putting him into the box. There are 5 things you need to know, he told the pencil, before I send you out into the world. Always remember them and never forget, and you will become the best pencil you can be.
ONE: You will be able to do many great things, but only if you allow yourself to be held in someone’s hand.
TWO: You will experience a painful sharpening from time to time, but you’ll need it to become a better pencil.
THREE: You will be able to correct any mistakes you might make.
FOUR: The most important part of you will always be what’s inside.
FIVE: On every surface you are used on, you must leave your mark. No matter what the condition, you must continue to write.
The pencil understood and promised to remember, and went into the box with purpose in its heart.
Now replacing the place of the pencil with you; always remember them and never forget, and you will become the best person you can be.
ONE: You will be able to do many great things, but only if you place your Trust in Allah.
TWO: You will experience a painful sharpening from time to time, by going through various problems, but you’ll need it to become a stronger person.
THREE: You will be able to correct any mistakes you might make.
FOUR: The most important part of you will always be what’s on the inside.
FIVE: On every surface you walk through, you must leave your mark.
No matter what the situation, you must continue to do your duties. By understanding and remembering, let us proceed with our life on this earth having a meaningful purpose in our heart.