Quran Garden

Session 371

Chapter 3

Verses 33 & 34

Indeed, God chose Adam, Noah, the family of Abraham, and the family of Imran over the worlds. (Chapter 3: Verse 33)

Allah chose Adam and his descendants to be the carriers of His teachings on earth.  Adam and Eve, peace be upon them, passed God's teachings to their children, who in turn passed them to their children, and so on.  One of God's messengers was Noah.  For centuries the elites and the disbelievers rejected him, so God sent the flood and drowned them while saving Noah and his followers.  The Almighty says:

When Our command came, and water gushed up out of the boiler, We said, "Place onboard this ark a pair of each species, and your own family -except those against whom the sentence has already been passed- and those who have believed," though only a few had believed with him. (11:40)

All those who survived with Noah were believers.  Allah gave humanity a fresh start! His teachings should have passed from this generation on unchanged.  However, some descendants did not uphold the values of their forefathers.  Corruption and disbelief crept in.  The big question to ask is: why? Allah created Adam and provided him with all the knowledge he needed to live peacefully on earth.  All we had to do was carry on this knowledge from generation to generation. 

We have always succeeded in passing on material knowledge.  People have used the wheel from the day of its invention without fail.  Every generation after Edison enjoyed light and electricity.  No one disregarded the invention of the phone and went back to using tin cans and strings.  Then we must ask, why did we fail over and over in passing on God's teachings to the next generation? 

The answer is simple.  Humans are short-sighted and look for instant gratification.  We value material progress because we can enjoy its benefits immediately.  But we often fail to see the advantages of God's teachings, even though ignoring them usually ends in wars and poverty.   

Sadly, we are all guilty of this.  Let me give you an example.  If the principal called you and told you that your child skipped school today, what would you do? Like most parents, you would be outraged and scold your son.  You would take away his phone, prevent him from seeing his friends for a week, and investigate where he spent his day.  Was he smoking? Drinking? Or following the wrong crowd?  You would do all this because your child's future depends on a proper education.  You do not want your son to be a loser.  

How about if someone called you and told you that your child did not pray the Isha night prayer before he went to sleep today? What would you do? Like most parents, probably nothing! You may have a small chat with him the next morning.  Doesn't your child's eternal future depend on his faith and prayers?  If your child does not care about his prayers today, his moral values could go next, and so on. 

The contrast between most parents' reactions to their child skipping school and their child skipping prayers has been the story across generations since Adam's time.  He, peace be upon him, conveyed to his children material and moral knowledge.  It was crucial for them to do the same.  But, with time, some of his descendants slowly disregarded their faith and then forgot it altogether.  

It is of our Lord's mercy that He renewed His message by sending new prophets and messengers.  Each new message perfectly preserved the creed from previous ones: there is no God but God.  In addition, each message had new rulings appropriate for the issues of its time.  As long as the society upheld God's values, the heavens would not interfere. 

How can a society preserve itself? We answer that, when a person commits sin, he or she may regret it later and then vow not to do it again.  This is the normal action of the righteous self.  However, sometimes individuals lose their moral compass and blindly chase after desires with no remorse.  If the people around the sinner step in to advise, correct the injustice and punish when necessary, the society remains upright.  Sadly, there are instances where the society as a whole is corrupted.  People follow their desires and even attack anyone who tries to stop them.  At that point, God interferes with a new prophet or messenger supported by miracles to bring people back to the path of their Lord.   

It was the will of the Almighty that made Prophet Muhammad the final messenger.  No new religion will come after Islam.  This is a testimony that Muhammad's nation is entrusted to uphold God's teachings till the end of time.  God says:

You were the best nation brought forth for humankind: you bid what is right and forbid what is wrong, and have faith in Allah. And if the People of the Book had believed, it would have been better for them. Among them are faithful, but most of them are transgressors. (3:110)

Allah's directive for us is to stay vigilant and uphold justice.  Even when evil is widespread, there will always be a few from the nation of Muhammad who stand up for the truth and invite people back to the path of their Lord.  This is the true inheritance of the prophets and messengers.  God says:

They are the descendants of one another, and God is the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing.

(Chapter 3: Verse 34)

What is the phrase "they are the descendants of one another" referring to? Is it genealogy or faith? God taught us from the stories of Abraham and Noah that lineage through bloodline does not apply to prophets.  It is only the lineage of faith and values that counts.  Listen to what God says in the 124^th verse of Surah Al-Baqarah:

When Abraham's Lord tested him with certain commandments, which he fulfilled, He said, "I will make you a leader of people." Abraham asked, "And will You make leaders from my descendants too?"

God replied to Abraham with,

"My pledge does not hold for those who are unjust."

Why? Because a leader is a role model for others.  Thus there is no inheritance by blood, only by values.  We find a similar case in the story of our beloved Noah.  God says:

Then it was said, "O Earth, swallow up your water, o sky, hold back," and the water subsided, the command was fulfilled. The ark settled on Mount Judi, and it was said, "Gone are those evildoing people!" Noah called out to his Lord, saying, "My Lord, my son is one of my family, and Your promise is the truth; You are the most just of all judges." He said, "Noah, he is definitely not of your family. He is someone whose action was not righteous. Do not, therefore, ask Me for something about which you have no knowledge. I admonish you lest you should be among the ignorant." (11:44-46)

Hence, in the verse under study, the phrase "they are the descendants of one another" refers to the inheritors of faith, not bloodline.  Similar is the case for the disbelievers.  God says:

The hypocrites, both men and women, are all the same: they order what is wrong and forbid what is right; they are tight-fisted. They have ignored God, so He has ignored them. The hypocrites are the disobedient ones. (9:67)

Whether related by lineage or not, the hypocrites are undoubtedly related by their values, and that is what matters.  Allah is fully aware of everyone's actions and intentions; He is "the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing."