Something I've struggled with generally, and
maybe recently more than before, is balancing between Allah's will, and what I
infer it to be, and the solid, daily decisions I'm supposed to make. Some
actions or decisions are completely rational, while others sometimes seem
completely irrational but feel right. I try to frame everything within the
perspective of Islamic teachings and the concepts of right and wrong, what
we're generally supposed to do and what we're not.
This is all very vague, but the point is that
there's an every-day quality to some things that make thinking about them
outside the rational and pragmatic context seem like overdoing it, while other
things are completely out of our hands and maybe don't make sense, but we do
them, whether out of duty, some sort of inspiration, or because they're part of
the teachings of the religion.
Even though the plan of this blog is to go
through the Ayat of the Quran in a linear form, reading Surah Al Kahf last week
brought my attention to just three verses that, after analysis and reflection,
I found I could use to understand the process of decision-making and
action-taking in a way that both reinforces the differences between types of
decisions we make in life and actually allows me to relax, knowing that some
things are completely in the control and wisdom of Allah, a thought that calms
me down even further.
I'm not going into the mythologies surrounding
this character, but I'm calling him Al Khidr based on common (and, I
believe, generally accepted) identification of this character. Also, I am
relying for basic tafsir (exegesis and explanation) on Tafsir
Ibn Kathir in its English translation [1], and he explains that the
man that Musa and his servant (Yusha) meet is "Al-Khidr, peace be upon
him, as is indicated by the authentic Hadiths narrated from
the Messenger of Allah" [1]. In any case, anything
beyond the story in the Surah is not really relevant here.
The Story
Prophet Musa and his servant, Yusha, set out to
find Al Khidr, who Musa is told is by Allah is a man more learned than he is.
The story covers part of their journey, but moving on to the part I wish to
focus on, they eventually meet Al Khidr: "Then they found One of our
servants, on whom We had bestowed mercy from Us, and whom We had taught
knowledge from Us" (18:65). Musa explains that he has traveled to Al Khidr
so that Al Khidr "may teach [him] something of that knowledge which [he
had] been taught" (18:66).
Al Khidr's reply is an immediate warning as he
tells Musa: "You will not be able to have patience with me" (18:67),
meaning that Musa would not be able to understand Al Khidr's actions and would
thus question them. He explains the reason to him, saying, "O Musa! I have
some of Allah’s knowledge which He has bestowed upon me but you do not know
it; and you too, have some of Allah’s knowledge which He
has bestowed upon you, but I do not know it" [1]. Musa's reply is that,
Allah willing, he would be patient with and he would not disobey Al Khidr.
Accepting his companionship, Al Khidr sets one condition "if you follow me,
ask me not about anything till I myself mention it to you" (18:70).
What Al Khidr warns of eventually happens: on
their journey, Al Khidr does three things that Musa cannot understand and thus
questions and denounces. Eventually Al Khidr stops, explains what he has done
and why, and thus ends their journey. Al Khidr's three actions are: pulling the
planks out of the floor of a ship they had been allowed to board free of charge
when the crew recognized Al Khidr, killing a boy they found playing after they
disembark, and setting up a wall that was about to collapse in a town whose
people refused to help when they asked them for food (18:70-77).
Musa denounces Al Khidr's actions each time for
practical and moral reasons, causing Al Khidr to reply with "Did I not
tell you that you can have no patience with me" (18:72, 75), until after
the third incident and Musa's comments, he explains what he has been doing and the
reasons for his actions:
"This is the parting between you and I, I
will tell you the interpretation of (those) things over which you were not able
to be patient./ As for the boat, it belonged to poor people working in the
sea. So I wished to make a defective damage in it, as there was a king behind
them who seized every boat by force. / And as for the boy, his parents were
believers, and we feared he would oppress them by rebellion and disbelief./ So
we intended that their Lord should exchange him for them for one better in
righteousness and nearer to mercy.'/ And as for the wall, it belonged to two
orphan boys in the town; and there was under it a treasure belonging to them;
and their father was a righteous man, and your Lord intended that they should
attain their age of full strength and take out their treasure as a mercy from
your Lord. And I did them not of my own accord. That is the interpretation
of those (things) over which you could not be patient." (18:78-82)
My Analysis
The subject of the verb that Al Khidr uses
in this explanation of what "he" has done differs from incident to
incident, specifically the use of singular and plural as well as first and
third person. First, when he describes the boat incident, he justifies it
saying that "I wished to make a defective damage in it."
However, when explaining killing the boy, he says "we feared
... so we intended that their Lord...". Here the first
person plural pronoun acts as the subject of the verb. In the last incident, Al
Khidr does not even include himself in the subject of the verb, saying, "your
Lord intended."
This shift in subject of the verb means there is
a shift in who has decided to do this action and where the reason for doing it
comes from: whether it is a decision made by Al Khidr alone, a decision
inspired by Allah but perhaps planned by Al Khidr, or a command that is
entirely from Allah. Interestingly, Al Khidr clarifies that "[he] did them
not of [his] own accord" and that they are all inspired by Allah and in
the service of Him, regardless of the "subject" of the verb.
The choice of subject for each action can be
seen as relative to the amount of knowledge Al Khidr has about the situation
and to what degree he is exercising his own will and judgment based on that. In
the first case, it is possible for him to have known about the king who takes
boats by force and could thereby exercise his own judgment to damage the boat.
In this case, the use of the singular form of the verb to indicate that this
was a decision made by Al Khidr alone is telling. At the very least, the reason
is present and can be proven.
As for the second incident, Allah alone could
know for sure that this boy would have turned out a non-believer for certain,
but at the same time there are observable traits that Al Khidr could have
observed. This duality thus necessitates the use of the plural first person
pronoun as the subject since his knowledge alone could not have
allowed him to make that judgment.
As for the third incident, in which the deceased
father had buried the gold without anyone's knowledge and in a town that Al
Khidr presumably had not visited before (he does not seem to know the people
there), he could not have known that there was any gold under that wall since
it had already been demolished. In this case, the decision to rebuild the wall
was not his at all, and the subject of the verb is "your Lord" or
Allah.
This is not to say that Al Khidr was not acting
in the service of Allah the whole time or that his actions were not shaped by
the service of Allah or with the niyyah of serving Allah. His
statement makes his entire goal definite: "I did them not of my own
accord". Indeed, he was a person who Allah says: "We had taught
knowledge from Us". As a prophet or messenger, he would have received
directions and knowledge through the angel Gabriel. Therefore, I am not
necessarily arguing that in the first case he was acting completely on his own
judgment, but that distinctive use of different grammatical cases and subjects
in each of the stories sets up an interesting trilogy for his behavior and
actions and can serve as a framework for all actions and decisions that we take
and make in our lives.
Rational, Spiritual, and Something in Between
The first action can be seen as based on pure
reasoning and logic, worldly wisdom so to speak. The second combines between
worldly wisdom and inspiration, guidance, and direct command from Allah. As for
the third it is completely commanded and inspired from Allah.
Translating this into our own lives, I find that
this is an interesting analogy or parallel for all things we do. Our actions on
a daily basis, whether for worldly or after-worldly gain, can be categorized
into these three groups. First, as Muslims or even religious people in general,
we believe that everything we do in life is for the purpose of pleasing Allah
and serving Him. Within that context, some actions and some decisions we make
based purely on our own judgment. These are based on practical intelligence and
signs we see in the real world. However, we try to make sure that they fall
within the framework of pleasing Allah.
The second type is one that combines worldly
intelligence as well as the commandments from Allah that we've received through
the Quran and Sunnah. These things fall somewhere in between things that make
sense or are logical in a worldly sense and being purely commandments that we
do for the sake of pleasing Allah, even if we do not necessarily always
understand the real reason behind them. For example, taking care of ourselves
and trying to stay as healthy as possible is both something we decide to do while
it is also commanded by Allah.
Finally, there are some actions we do that are
completely from Allah and are completely based on commandments from Him. For
example, paying Zakat from a completely worldly and logical point of view does
not make sense. You are essentially losing money. However, Allah command
Muslims to pay this amount and we do, knowing that we do it to please Allah and
that the reward is not worldly or material. There are of course worldly
rewards, but they are not always tangible or even material.
At the same time, this also translates into the
results of what we do. Some things, the completely worldly ones, we see the
logic of and results of immediately. However, the closer the decision is to the
Allah's decrees, the harder it is to always see the direct implications and
results of those actions. However, there are indirect and spiritual results
that we feel and of course the knowledge that, Allah willing, the afterlife is
where we reap these rewards.
So this makes our view of the world interesting,
and inspired in my opinion. We don't have to trust only in our own judgment,
but we have Allah's judgment reinforcing our own. It makes life less hopeless,
I think, and a lot more certain. It is certain because you know that what you do
does not need to yield results that make sense logically or even results that
you need to see with your own eyes. Even if we cannot explain beyond that
spiritual good feeling why we do certain things, we know there is a hidden
meaning. We wait for no one's payment or gratitude except Allah's because
we know there is a hidden reward, just like the boat the poor crew would get to
keep despite some loose floorboards, or the good child that would make the life
of his parents happier despite having lost a son, or the hidden treasure the
children would find when they grew older.
References:
[1] Ibn Kathir, Alama Imad ud Din. "Al Kahf
(The Cave)". Quran Tafsir Ibn Kathir (English). Quran4u.
<http://www,quran4u.com>
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