Quran Garden

Session 432

Chapter 3

Verse 102

You who believe, be mindful of God, as He is rightfully due, and make sure you devote yourselves to Him and do not die except as Muslims.  (Chapter 3: Verse 102)

When you hear the phrase "be mindful of," you understand that there may be something to watch out for or be concerned about.  Listen to the following verses, for example:

And be mindful of the Fire which has been prepared for the faithless.  (3:131)

O you who believe!  Guard yourselves and your families against a Fire whose fuel is human beings and stones.  (66:6)

God is asking you to protect yourself from Hellfire and distance yourself from it.  Yet, in another verse, He says:

You who believe!  Be mindful of God, and let every soul consider carefully what it sends ahead for tomorrow; and be mindful of God, for God is well aware of everything you do.  (59:18)

Here we have two kinds of verses: in one we are asked to be mindful and shield ourselves from Hellfire, and in the other, to shield ourselves from God.  Both are translated from the same Arabic word اتَّقُوا (Itaqoo), but how can this be?  How can the same term apply to both God and Hellfire?

The answer is simple. To shield yourself from Hellfire, you would avoid that which angers God.  Mindfulness and good deeds are your best tools to build this shield.  The third verse in our examples advises "to be mindful of God."  Again you may ask, am I supposed to shield myself from my Creator?  How can I fear the One I love?  We answer that Allah has attributes of majesty and attributes of beauty.  His attributes of majesty are apparent in some of His names like the Mighty, the Compeller, the Avenger, and so on.  On the other hand, the attributes of beauty are expressed through names like the Most-Forgiving, the Most-Compassionate, the Most-Merciful and many more.  Hence, you should fear God's attributes of majesty because they could result in punishment in Hellfire.  And you should seek His attributes of beauty through mindfulness and good deeds.  Allah's love is your protection from His anger.  Thus, the phrases "be mindful of God," and "be mindful of the Fire" share one meaning. 

This brings us back to the verse.  God says, "You who believe, be mindful of God, as He is rightfully due."  What does "as He is rightfully due" mean?  The word "rightfully" is translated from the Arabic origin حق (Haq), which is something true, firm, and ever-constant.  And so should be your mindfulness and faith in God.  You should follow the teachings of your Lord during easy and hard times, while you are healthy or sick, rich or poor.  His provisions should never distract you from Him, and the lack of provisions should never divert you from His path.  Allah is our Creator, and we are forever grateful for all He sends our way.  We always say, "This is God's will, and there is no power except with Him."   

Some scholars interpreted the phrase "as He is rightfully due" to mean that you should follow the right path even if it is harmful to your interest.  God says:

You who believe, uphold justice and bear witness to God, even if it is against yourselves, your parents, or your close relatives.  Whether the person is rich or poor, God can best take care of both.  Refrain from following your own desire, so that you can act justly.  If you distort or neglect justice, God is fully aware of what you do.  (4:135)

When the companions of our beloved Muhammad heard the verse "You who believe, be mindful of God, as He is rightfully due," they felt the heavy burden of this command and feared that they could never be able to deliver God His due right.  Who can be mindful all the time?  Can you ever repay the Lord for His bounties?  Thus, God revealed the following verse afterwards:

Be mindful of God as much as you can, hear and obey, be charitable -it is for your own good.  Those who are saved from their own meanness will be the prosperous ones.  (64:16)

Does this mean that Allah initially gave an order that cannot be fulfilled and then re-adjusted with "Be mindful of God as much as you can"?  Of course not.  Allah does not ask anyone to do more than they can.  He says in the last Aya of Surah Al-Baqarah:

Allah does not task any soul beyond its capacity.  Whatever good it earns is to its benefit, and whatever evil it incurs is to its harm.

Thus, I caution you against using verses such as "Be mindful of God as much as you can" to play games and say, "This obligation is too hard, so I do not have to do it because God says, 'Be mindful of God as much as you can.'" This is a faulty understanding.  The verse means that you should do your very best to the maximum of your ability because Allah is inviting you to excel and not giving you an excuse to be lazy.  He is the best judge of what you and I are able to do.  So, when He assigns a duty to you, rest assured that it is well within your ability because "God does not burden any soul with more than it can bear."

For example, Allah permitted skipping the fast of Ramadan during travel.  This is because of travelers need to acclimate to a new place, new people, and new time zones.  Some argue that travel in our time is totally different from those in the olden days.  We have cars, planes, and comfortable hotel accommodations.  Sadly, such people want to prevent others from skipping the fast.  In other words, they want to disallow what Allah, the All-Merciful, had permitted.  Prophet Muhammad saw a man being helped and shaded by other people while traveling.  He asked about him and was told that the man needed help because he was fasting.  The Prophet, peace be upon him, said, "It is not a part of piety to fast while traveling." We obey our Lord fully, both in His obligations and their easing.  More importantly, we measure our ability based on Allah's commands, not our own thinking. 

The verse concludes with "and do not die except as Muslims." Here we find ourselves before an impossible prohibition!  Can anyone tell you not to die?  It is a matter in which you have no choice.  Death can come at any moment.  Infants die in the mother's womb.  Children die from diseases and accidents, and we have all seen perfectly healthy athletes drop dead for seemingly no reason.  The only part under our control in this command is "except as Muslims." Therefore, the true meaning of God's command "and do not die except as Muslims" is that you should be faithful to Allah at every moment in your life.  It is the only way to reconcile death, which is totally out of your control, and faith, which is.    

It is of God's wisdom that He does not inform you of your time on earth.  It is said that the concealment of your lifespan is the loudest form of declaration of death.  Let me explain this further.  Allah concealed the time, cause, and place of death from every man and woman.  Now, you have to anticipate death at every moment because uncertainty makes death omnipresent.  This, in turn, should make any life desire -whether for the opposite sex, money, or property- of very little value.     

Perhaps, the best indicator of the insignificant value of this world is its name in the Noble Quran.  God calls our life in this world "Al-Dunya," which translates literally into "the lowest." Its opposite, then, must be the highest.  God calls the afterlife "Al-Akhera," which means "the destination" or "the true goal."