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Session 623

Chapter 4

Verse 44

a continuation

Did you not see those who were given a portion of the Book, purchasing misguidance and wanting you to be misguided from the way?  (Chapter 4: Verse 44)

Today, we study the phrase, "wanting you to be misguided from the way." To 'want' something implies that you have choices.  If I put two shirts in front of you and ask which you would like to wear today?  You would say, "I want to wear this one." But if there were only one shirt, you would wear it whether you wanted it or not.  The second part of the phrase concerns misguidance, translated from the Arabic ?al?l.  It refers to a person who is away from the truth.  Does this happen because he or she knew the truth but forgot it?  Because they do not know the truth but would like to?  Or because they know it but deliberately choose to leave it behind?  The person who forgot is excused.  God says in the 282^nd verse of Surah Al-Baqarah:

Call in two men as witnesses.  If two men are not there, call one man and two women from among those you approve as witnesses, so that if one of the two women should forget, the other can remind her.

The person who is on the wrong path, yearning for the truth but lacking the knowledge or guidance to return to the right path, is also excused.  God says,

Did He not find you an orphan and shelter you?  Did He not find you lost and guided you? (93:6 and7)

If you are genuinely seeking the truth, but matters are confusing, the Lord would step in and say, 'Don't wear yourself out.  I will help you to find the right way.'  Thus, misguidance or ?al?l has multiple meanings, but all of them carry the sense of being away from the straight path. 

When Allah presents a matter of creed or spirituality, He uses tangible terms to clarify it.  For example, every one of us, since we were kids, knows what a "path" is.  Even non-believers know that a road is made to reach a goal.  You, however, must know the destination first before choosing the best path.  Before taking a road, we ask: Where does it go?  Thus, the goal comes first; then we look for the shortest road to it.  Allah made the path to paradise clear to us.  It is a straight path, because a straight line is the shortest and easiest to follow. 

Most of the societal diseases we suffer from today stem from people living without knowing their final goal.  They only focus on small aspirations and partial objectives.  The student wants to learn so he can get a job, find love, get married, and establish a family.  The merchant trades so he can buy a new car and so on.  These are temporary goals, not true destinations.  More importantly, they are far from certain.  An intelligent person does not go for near, limited, uncertain goals, but looks to the big, final, and sure destination.  Why?  Because nothing about temporary goals is guaranteed.  Some people live fifty years, others sixty, and a few will die today.  The student above may succeed, get an amazing job, yet be miserable in marriage or unable to have kids.  Thus, you must look to the destination everyone will reach, which is the Hereafter.  Isn't it enough that our worldly life is called (al-duny?), meaning the lesser, or the lowest?  This means that there is something more, much higher, and final to aspire to. 

When you focus on the higher goal, you save yourself from the exhaustion of short-sightedness.  You will no longer drown in the day-to-day grind.  Let's say you want your son to be a doctor.  You send him to kindergarten, then primary, then good middle and high schools.  You help him apply to college and medical schools.  This takes about thirty years from birth.  It is an honorable goal as a parent.  But what if your teen follows the wrong crowd?  What if your son is not smart or hardworking?  The goal you invested years and money in has escaped you.  What a waste!  We want to chase the goal that cannot escape or change.  You live by the means Allah created for you; why not use them for the destination He chose for you?  Listen to this beautiful, sacred narration, Hadeeth Qudsi.  The Almighty says, "O son of Adam, I created you for Myself, and I created all things for your benefit.  So, by My right over you, do not allow what I created for you to distract you from the purpose I created you for."

In this world, you live by the means and causes God blessed you with.  But in the Hereafter, you will be with God Himself, the Creator of means and causes.  No matter how advanced science and technology are, you will not reach the level of the bliss of the Hereafter.  True, if you have money, you may press a button on your phone and a cup of coffee is delivered to you, or choose something to watch or listen to.  But tell me: No matter how advanced life becomes, is there advancement such that if something occurs to your mind, and it appears before you?  It is impossible.  If you have a massive headache, does any technology or luxury matter?  Thus, Paradise in God's company should be your goal, if you are smart. 

In fact, the means and causes of this Dunya world are so worthless that Allah has given them to both: the believer and the non-believer.  Any person, regardless of their faith, can plow the earth and reap crops a few months later.  If an atheist scientist works hard, some secrets of the universe will be revealed to them.  God says,

If anyone desires the harvest of the life to come, We shall increase it for him; if anyone desires the harvest of this world, We shall give him a share of it, but in the Hereafter, he will have no share.  (42:20)

We ask:  Who is best to determine the goal of an item?  The one who made it.  The engineer who designs a bicycle is the best person to tell you how, when, and for what to use it.  Who is best suited to define your goal?  Your Creator!  Allah created you; thus, ask Him, "Lord, Glory be to You.  You know my destination, so prepare for me the best path to reach it." Faith in your heart is the start, and Islam is the path.  God says,

This is My path, leading straight, so follow it, and do not follow other ways: they will lead you away from it.  This is what He commands you to do, so that you may refrain from wrongdoing. (6:153)

And in the 58^th Aya of Surah An-Nisaa,

How excellent is what God urges you to do; assuredly, God is All-Hearing, All-Seeing

If you want paradise, look to God alone.  Only God's path delivers you to the goal He set for you.  Manmade systems chase manmade goals and, even if they have the best intentions, will lead you to the wrong destination.  Take, for example, a train track.  When a train shifts from one destination to another, it does not veer off significantly all at once; instead, the track is shifted by only a couple of inches.  At first, this shift appears insignificant, but the more you travel on the track, the more apparent the difference becomes.  In fact, as the train travels, that tiny initial shift widens to the extent that the train ends up at an entirely new city hundreds of miles away.