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Islamic Creed- Creed and Quran Inimitability- Lesson (14-36): The Constituents of the Divine Assignment – Al Fitrah (man's nature) -6- The Difference between Al-Fitrah and AsSibghah (Attribut
   
 
 
In the Name of Allah, The Most Gracious, Most Merciful  
 

 (1) The difference between Al-Fitrah and As-Sibghah

 Dear brother, this is lesson No. 14 of the series Aqeedah and the Inimitability in Quran, and today's topic is derived from the main topic "Al-Fitrah" and it is about the difference between Al-Fitrah and AsSibghah (The word "Sibghah" indicates "Color", and in particular, "dye"...like we dye a piece of cloth in various colors to match our outfits. Thus it is used for an attribute that has been adopted by man), and between the Divine Assignment and man's disposition. 

1- Al-Fitrah accords with the Divine Method:

   Dear brother, Al-Fitrah is the religion of man installed in him by Allah, and it is manifested in the characteristics of the soul, Allah says: 

﴾So set you (O Muhammad, peace be upon him) your face towards the religion of pure Islamic Monotheism Hanifa (worship none but Allah Alone) Allah's Fitrah (i.e. Allah's Islamic Monotheism), with which He has created mankind.﴿

[Ar-Rum, 30]

Therefore, the characteristics of the soul are in perfect harmony with Allah's Method and with Shari'ah: 

﴾So set you (O Muhammad, peace be upon him) your face towards the religion of pure Islamic Monotheism Hanifa (worship none but Allah Alone)﴿

[Ar-Rum, 30]

This means that if you set your face towards the religion of Tawheed, (namely, you abide by all the orders and refrain from all the bans of your religion) you will be acting upon your Fitrah which is installed in you.

﴾So set you (O Muhammad, peace be upon him) your face towards the religion of pure Islamic Monotheism Hanifa (worship none but Allah Alone) Allah's Fitrah (i.e. Allah's Islamic Monotheism), with which He has created mankind. No change let there be in Khalq-illah (i.e. the Religion of Allah Islamic Monotheism), that is the straight religion﴿

[Al-Baqarah, 30]

 One might assume that since Fitrah is perfect then man is perfect, but this is not true, because loving perfection is one thing, and being perfectionist is another thing. Loving to be merciful is one thing and being merciful is another thing. The believer, who got acquainted with Allah, followed His Path, established a connection with Him and derived his mercy from the Divine Mercy, is merciful. Thus, mercy is Sibghah given to man by His Creator, because he strives to earn it. In other words, even though man might not be a believer, might not know Allah, might not reconcile with Him and might not follow His Straight Path, he loves mercy in his Fitrah. Even those who are very far from Allah, they love to see mercy manifested in sh3er' actions, and they love justice, because they are molded like that. The proof of this fact is that man loves perfection in his Fitrah, because the minute he deviates from it, he will be hunted down with compunction.

 Pay attention to this point, had Allah not molded man to have exalted Fitrah, no one would have repented from his sins. Why do you think the sinner repents? If man's Fitrah had got along with sinning, with committing crimes and with oppression, he would have sinned, committed crimes, oppressed sh3er and taken what does not belong to him with complete self-content, but since man is molded to have an exalted Fitrah and he is programmed (by Allah) to long for perfection, any act which contradicts his Fitr ah will bring him to compunction.

 In fact the psychological diseases are the effect of Fitrah's punishment for whoever deviates from its values. Furthermore, Fitrah is the main deterrent (from sinning) and the most effective motivation to repent from sins. Also, it is the reason behind obeying Allah. Why the one who sins becomes depressed? This is because his Fitrah is punishing him for leaving its principles. We can say when man disobeys Allah and when he acts in a way that contradicts his Fitrah, the result is the same.

2- As-Sibghah is the perfection lies in man:

  Al-Fitrah is one thing and As-Sibghah is another, for the latter entails that you are perfect without seeking any help from anyone, without requesting anything from anyone and without fearing anyone, because you are perfect. Consider the following example: when the Europeans conquered Al-Quds, they slaughtered 70.000 Muslims in two days, but when Salah Ad-Deen, may Allah have mercy on his soul, liberated Al-Quds (from them), no one drop of blood was shed, because the Sibghah of the one who is connected with Allah manifests in the perfection derived from the Divine Perfection, and so he is very certain from his depth of what to do unlike the one who is not connected with Allah, for he always swings between keeping in the Right Path or deviating from it, and between audaciousness and faintheartedness.

 

 Believe me, and I am not exaggerating when I tell you that as long as you are connected with Allah the Almighty, your actions and behavior are the same whether you are alone or in public. You will keep perfectionist, because perfection becomes Sibghah in you (due to your connection with Allah).

﴾[Our Sibghah (religion) is] the Sibghah (Religion) of Allah (Islam) and which Sibghah (religion) can be better than Allah's?﴿

[Al-Baqarah, 138]

 Dear brother, if faith does not make the believer clearly different from the disbeliever, then this is not the true faith. The true faith is not about offering the acts of worship, but rather, it is the one that is embodied in all your actions and manners. Hence, it is present in your honesty when you talk, in your fairness when you judge and in your forgiveness when you are given control over other people.

 Nothing attracts people to religion more than perfection which should be the Sibghah of the believers. Be sure that your Salah, Siyam and Hajj are not the reasons behind attracting people to Islam, rather it is your honesty, trustworthiness, mercy, fairness and moral stance which attract people to Islam and which influence them. What did the Prophet, peace be upon him, do to make Abu Sufian (before embracing Islam) say, "I have not seen anyone loves his friend the way the Companions of Muhammad love him."

 The Prophet, peace be upon him, was honest, trustworthy, merciful and modest. Moreover, he never asked people to do anything before starting with himself. The deep faith in his heart is shown in his words, and whatever he, peace be upon him, said is true since it is Haqq. Accordingly, having true faith entails tremendous effort, but after striving, getting acquainted with Allah, applying His Method and establishing a connection with Him, things will become easier, for you will never oppress sh3er and you will never take things which belong to sh3er, whether you are alone or in public and whether you are under sh3er' observance or not.

 Once Ibn Umar wanted to test the faith of a shepherd, so he asked him, "Would you like to sell me this sheep and take the price of it?" "No, I cannot, because it is not mine", he answered. Then Ibn Umar said, "Say to its owner that it died". The shepherd said, "By Allah, I am in desperate need for its price, and if I told its owner that it died or a wolf ate it, he would believe me because he knows how honest and faithful I am, but can I escape Allah's Punishment then?". One might think that I am exaggerating while I am trying to explain to you what true faith is, but believe me if people do not full heartedly love you, as a Muslim, then there is something wrong with your faith.

Stories which manifest the moral Sibghah in the life of Sahabah:

 I always used to say, had the Companions, may Allah be pleased with him, understood Islam the way we do, they would never have been able to spread it outside Makkah. What made people embrace Islam in crowds back then? What made people accept Islam as a unique religion? It is the good examples set by the Companions, may Allah be pleased with them, who adopted the most moral principles and who followed Allah's Path. 

 Ghasasena's King called Jabala Ibn-Al-Aiham embraced Islam, and Umar was pleased, and he admired him for that, but while Jabalah was performing tawaf (circumambulating the Ka'bah) one of Fazara's Bedouins stepped on his garb, and it fell down. Keep in mind that he was a king, and the man who stepped on his garb was one of the low class people, so the king hit him and broke his nose, but because this Bedouin lived in a society where principles were sacred he complained to Umar who called for that king. A poet wrote the dialogue that took place between the two in verse:

 -Umar: Is it true what this hurt Fazari has claimed?
 -Jabala: I am not one of those who deny what they do. I disciplined this man with my hands.
 -Umar: Make it up for this man that is a must, since your nail is still hooked to his blood, or else he will break your nose, and you will get what your hands committed.
 -Jabala: How so, O Commander of the Believers? He is a mob and I am thrown and crown. How do you accept for a star to come down to earth?
 -Umar: Caprices and insolent arrogance of Jahiliyyah (pre-Islamic era) have been buried. We have built an edifice on them. According to us (we Muslims) the slave and the free are alike.
Jabalah: I thought I am stronger and more precious, and if you ask me to apologize I will apostatize.
 -Umar: We are building a new world trying to mend every crack, and the noblest man and the vagabond are equal.

 This is the true religion.

The story of conquering Samarqand:

 After the great army of Islam conquered Samarqand and had the upper hand over there, a delegation from the people of Samarqand went secretly to the Khaliphah Umar Ibn Abdul Aziz. They complained to him that conquering Samarqand was not legal, for the legal way to conquer any country should have started with telling people about Islam first and upon accepting to embrace it, they would be Muslims like any other Muslims with the same duties and rights, but if they declined, they had to pay Jiziyah (a poll tax levied on those who did not accept Islam, but were willing to live under the protection of Islam). If they refused to do neither of those conditions, only then it was permissible for the Islamic army to fight them.

 It seemed that the Islamic army jumped to the third step leaving the first two steps when they conquered Samarqand. According to books of history, our Master Umar Ibn Abdul Aziz wrote on a piece of paper his orders to the commander of the army to get out of Samarqand, and he gave it to that delegation who had their doubts, for such a thing was too good to be true. However, when the orders reached the commander of the Islamic army, and he read the Khaliphah's words ordering him to retreat and to get out of Samarqad, he carried out the orders. Upon watching that, the people of Samarqand embraced Islam, because they witnessed justice.
 By Allah dear brother, over reading history we find some incidents which are very hard to believe. Countries embraced Islam in the past, because they noticed how just, merciful, honest and trustworthy Muslims were. Also, many countries embraced Islam, because of the knowledge, the Ihsan (benevolence) and the mercy of Muslims. The Companions of the Prophet, peace be upon him, used to serve the captive the best food they had, while they used to eat the worst, so some captives embraced Islam because of that.

 The difference is substantial between them and us. Do not expect sh3er to be convinced of Islam if you are not perfect, just, merciful and wise. You may claim that you have intellect, but they have intellect too, you can deliver a speech, and they can deliver a speech too and you are able to write a book, and they are able to write 100 books. Thus, Islam is not an easy matter, such as having information, having discussions or having dialogues, but it is a matter of having morals and heroic stances.

The story of a Companion who stood up to his promise:

 A notable Companion was captured by the infidels upon emigrating to AlMadinah Al-Munawarah, so he said to his confiners, "I promise you if you set me free, I will not fight you." They let him go, and he told the Prophet, peace be upon him, about his story which brought joy to the Prophet's heart, peace be upon him. Two years later, Muslims engaged in a Ghazwah (battle), so that companion enrolled himself as a soldier in the Islamic army forgetting about his promise, but the Prophet, peace be upon him, reminded him of it and asked him to fulfill it.

 This is the true religion; it is the religion of honesty and trustworthiness. People will be attracted to Islam when they see your honesty, trustworthiness and uprightness. Before the Mission, the Prophet, peace be upon him, was honest and trustworthy. Some extremist Muslims nowadays say, "We are permitted to take Kufar's money". Who told them so? The Prophet, peace be upon him, left his cousin Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, in Makkah (before he emigrated to Al-Madinah) to sleep in his bed, but do you know what was his real mission? The Prophet peace be upon him, left him behind so that he would render the trusts back to their owners, and whose trusts are these? They are the trusts of the infidels.

 The Prophet, peace be upon him, did not say that those were infidels and so the Companions were permitted to take their money.

﴾And let not the enmity and hatred of sh3er make you avoid justice. Be just: that is nearer to piety﴿

[Al-Ma'idah', 8]

 By Allah dear brother, you should consider your actions and manners before you deal with a non-Muslim, because when you wrong him, he will accuse Islam of wronging him, not only you:

((You are a corner among the many corners of Islam, so do not let Islam be attacked from your side!))

[Mentioned in the relic]

 When you wrong a Muslim, he will say, "So and so man wronged me", but when you wrong a non-Muslim, the latter will say, "Muslims are bad", and he will blame Islam for being bad and accuse it of being bad.

A contemporary story of an Imam (scholar):

  Dear brother, I always repeat the following story because of its moral:
  An imam used to lead prayers in London, where he lived, but after a period of time he was asked to lead the prayers in Manchester. Therefore, every day, and this is a true story, he used to commute by a car driven by the same driver. One day, he paid the driver a high-denomination banknote and the driver gave him the change. When he counted it, he found he had been given 20 pence more. As a pious person, he said to himself that he should return this money. However, when he was seated, he had a satanic idea. He said to himself that it was a huge company with a huge income and he needed this money more than its employees, so why he could not take it. As the Imam was about to get out of the vehicle, he spontaneously put his hand in his pocket and gave the driver the 20 pence. At that moment the driver smiled and asked if he was the Imam at that Masjid. He answered that he was, and then the driver declared, "Two days ago I was thinking about meeting you in the Masjid to worship Allah, but I wanted to test you first." The person who sent me this email said, "This Imam passed out when he realized the deadly mistake he would have been committed if he had kept this money. When he came round he said, "O Allah! I was about this close to selling the whole Islam for 20 pennies"."
  When Muslims outsold their religion for a forged signature or a false statement, and when Muslims started oppressing one another whether at home or at work, they no longer belong to Islam. If we take Islam as ideas, there are ideas in the Kufr's side, if we take Islam as books, there are books published by the other party and if we take Islam as lectures, there are lectures given by the non-Muslims. Therefore, unless you, as a Muslim, show your good conducts, your honesty, your trustworthiness, your fairness and your mercy, no one will take Islam seriously.
  The path to Islam is very clear and people should see the greatness of Islam through your behavior, as a Muslim, and you should be a beacon. Moreover, people should say about you, "How wonderful this man is! How exalted his conducts are!" Unless people say so about you, then you can never convince sh3er of Islam. 

A story of a leaseholder with the landlord:

 Let me tell you a story about two friends who shared one desk in the classroom. One of them is a Muslim, but the other is not. When they grew up, the Muslim worked as a grocer in a small grocery, whereas the non-Muslim became one of the richest building contractors. When the Muslim was about to get married, it crossed his mind to ask his friend to find him a house for rent, but his friend apologized and told him that he did not rent houses, but he sold houses. He asked him again and for the second time he apologized.

 Under the pressure of the need for a house as he was getting married, the Muslim said to his non-Muslim friend, "I give you my pledge, if you lease me a house of yours, and someone come to buy it, I will leave it in three days" The non-Muslim friend was touched, and he leased him a house in Damascus. Time passed and the prices of houses went up, so the house became very expensive and someone wanted to buy it. Accordingly, the non-Muslim came to his friend and said, "You promised me to get out of the house in three days, and I have a buyer for this house, so I will give you six months to leave it". The Muslim said, "I will leave it."

 After three days, the Muslim came to his friend and brought him the key of the house.
  Astonished and surprised, the owner of the house could not believe his eyes, because according to the leasing laws, it was very hard to find a house for lease, so he had to buy a house. Thus, his chances were almost zero in finding a house to live in, yet he gave him the key in three days. The owner of the house went to his house, and he was stunned, for the house was empty, clean and neat, and it was ready to have people moved to live in. Upon leaving the house, one of the neighbors opened his door and asked the owner, "How much did you pay the man to leave the house?" The owner said, "Nothing, but he promised me to leave the house when I need it, and he just fulfilled his promise. Why are you asking?" The neighbor said, "He sold his furniture at low prices and he lived in a hotel." This Muslim fulfilled his promise and his story is like fiction. The non-Muslim friend paid him a visit and said to him, "This house is yours, and I will sell it to you at the same price when you leased it. Also, I will cut off all the rents you paid all these years from its price and I will buy you new furniture." If only Muslims behaved like this man, we would never reached deadlock in housing and trust.

As-Sibghah is the practical side of what you know:

 By Allah dear brother, if only we apply this great religion, our lives will become like Paradise on earth. Read the history and read the stances taken by the Companions, may Allah be pleased with them. Read about the followers of the Companions and read about their piety, mercy and benevolence.

 

 Islam did not spread on earth because of giving information, giving lectures and holding conferences, for this is not the way to spread the word of Islam, yet Islam spread when Muslims' good examples were very distinguished and obvious. In fact herein lies the difference between Al-Fitrah and As-Sibghah. Al-Fitrah makes people appreciate success, justice and mercy, but they are not successful, just or merciful. In contrast to Al-Fitrah, AsSibghah is to adopt the good conducts and moral values that you admire. We will be impressed only by the stories which manifest the adherence of the Muslim to his religion.

 We have contemporary experiences like that. I mentioned once that an Islamic country, whose laws are secular ones, hanged one of the ministers when he gave his orders that Azan should have been in Arabic, also the citizenship of a female member in the Parliament was withdrawn from her upon putting Hijab on, and she was fired from the assembly. This is but violence practised against Muslims. However, the good Muslim members in that country started to serve Muslims very well through the municipalities which made people convinced of Islam, for this group of devoted Muslims eliminated any kind of bribery, they built dams and they offered people great services. It is a long a story, and as a result of their actions, prices went down, the country lessened its debts and the value of their currency went up, and because of them 13.000prostitutes repented and got married. That group of good Muslims made a breakthrough, and now they have the upper hand, they have been able to change the constitution and to promulgate laws. They did all that without saying one word about Islam, but all they said was, "We are secular just like you, so chill out". However, their Islamic example was like the sun in the middle of the day. Words, conferences and books about Islam will not impress people, but when the Muslims keep upright, and when they refrain from violating Islamic limitation, only then they will be able to defeat the other party.

 Dear brother, do not ever assume that Allah will lift this hardship we, as Muslims, are in unless we go back to the gist of Islam, and all our striving in media, in politics and in economics are not enough reasons to be victorious by Allah. I would like to repeat that Al-Fitrah is different from As-Sibghah, for the latter is to adopt the moral stance, to apply justice, to be honest, to be trustworthy and to be pious.

((Two Rak'at (of prayer performed) by a pious person are far better than a thousand Rak'at by someone who mingles (good deeds with evil ones).))

[Ash-Shirazi and Baihaqi, by Anas]

 AsSibghah comes from establishing a connection with Allah, it is derived from the Perfection of the Almighty Allah and it is all about piety, mercy, justice, love and good deeds. Whereas Al-Fitrah is to love good conducts. Even the thieves love good conducts, so when they steal something what do they say to their leader? They say, "Be just with us and distribute the loots fairly among us", given they are thieves, but Al-Fitrah is installed in all of them and no one would brag about it, because all mankind are molded to love good conducts. However, man will become superior upon adopting all these conducts, and making them his Sibghah. Thus, the difference between Al-Fitrah and As-Sibghah is very big; it can be noticed in the difference between loving goodness and adopting it, between loving justice and being just and between loving fairness and being fair to sh3er.

The justice of the Prophet, peace be upon him, at its best:

  The stories about true faith are so many and here is another one about a corrupted Ansari and a Jew. There was a man from the Ansar (Taimah) who stole a suit of armor from a neighbor (Qatadah Ibn An-Nu'man) of his. The suit of armor had been in a sack in which there was some flour, and some of the flour leaked out of the sack through a hole, leaving a trail to his home. He hid the suit of mail in the home of a Jewish man. When people searched for the stolen suit or armor they followed the trail to his house but could not find it there. Yet, at the same time, the owners of the suit of armor swore that they had recognized this Ansari, that he broke into their home at night, and that they had followed the trail of flour that had led them to his house. The Ansari swore to them that he did not take it they left him, searched for more clues, found the trail of flour again and arrived at the house of the Jewish man. The Jewish man said that the Ansari had left the suit of armor with him, and some of the Jewish people who were there at the time collaborated his statement. 

 When news reached the tribe of this thief, they sent a few of their tribesmen to Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, and they asked the Prophet, peace be upon him, to defend their man. They said, "If you do not defend him, our clansmen will lose his reputation and be punished severely, and the Jew will go free." Under pressure, the Prophet, peace be upon him, believed them and was about to punish the Jewish man. However, Allah intervened and sent down the Quran to absolve the Jew from the crime:

﴾ so be not a pleader for the treacherous. ﴿

[An-Nisa', 144]

 This is Islam, for the Revelation defended the enemy and accused the Muslim, and this is but justice. Unless we are just, we should never wait for Allah's Promise of victory, because victory has a price which must be paid.

The summary of the difference between Al-Fitrah and As-Sibghah:

  Al-Fitrah is manifested in loving goodness, whereas As-Sibghah is to be good, and Al-Fitrah is to love justice, whereas As-Sibghah is to be just. As-Sibghah is the best fruit of faith, because you are dyed by the perfection that is derived from the Divine Perfection.

 

 Dear brother, Allah says:

﴾ And (all) the Most Beautiful Names belong to Allah, so call on Him by them ﴿

[Al-A'raf, 180]

 This means that you will not draw closer to Allah with a means better than adopting the Divine Perfection. For example, you should have mercy on those who are weaker than you if you really want to adopt Allah's Mercy. The Prophet, peace be upon him, said:

((You are given help and provision because of your weak))

[Al-Bukhari by Sahl bin Sa'd]

 You have the ability to neglect the one who is weaker than you, you can crush him or keep him in the shadow, as he owns no support of any kind whether a support from media or powerful parties, but he is an oppressed person. Therefore, as a believer, you are supposed to be just to the weak man, to feed him when he is hungry, to cloth him when he is worn-out, to teach him if he is ignorant, to give him a shelter when he is homeless and to honor him by helping him as you are powerful. You dispense with such a man because you are powerful, and you help him, because he needs your help, manifesting by your support the exalted conducts you have adopted. Furthermore, Allah will compensate you with a reward of the same nature of your deeds, so Allah will make you victorious over the ones who are more powerful than you, because you protect the one who is weaker than you. This is the path towards victory.

((You are given help and provision only because of the weak amongst you.))

 When you support and help the poor, when you meet his needs and protect him, Allah will grant you victory.

((You are given help and provision only because of the weak amongst))

 The Prophet, peace be upon him, taught us a lot through his Sunnah: Once a Companion, may Allah be pleased with him, brought to the Prophet, peace be upon him, an intruder who entered his garden and ate from it without getting his permission, so the garden's owner accused him of being a thief; do you know what the ? The Prophet, peace be upon him, said to him? He, peace be upon him, said:

((You did not teach him when he was ignorant, nor did you feed him when he was hungry (hungry or tired).))

[Mentioned in the relic]

 Pay attention how the Prophet, peace be upon him, taught us through this Hadith to look for the reasons of any problem. Before you punish someone for a mistake he made, before you get angry with him and before you threaten him, do you ask yourself why he did it? One might say, "I caught that man red handed stealing", but have you given it any thought that you give him a salary which suffices him for two days only. How can he meet his needs till the end of the month with such an income?
  There is a reason behind his wrongdoings, and I am not justifying them, but every bad deed or wrongdoing has a reason. You, as a believer, should look for the reasons, and when a reason of any error is known, nothing will surprise you anymore. Some managers oppress their labor by giving them low salaries, and they accept because of their need to the job, but those with weak faith will not miss any chance to take what does not belong to them. Thus, when you catch someone red handed, then what he does is a big mistake, but you too will be accused of making a mistake since you do not give him the income he deserves. Therefore, you should reconsider the way you treat him and the income you give him.

 Dear brother, there is a big defect in our life, and we, as Muslims, are suffering great danger as we are lurked by fierce enemy and all the big countries are racing with one another to despoil our treasures. Narrated Thawban, he said that the Prophet, peace be upon him, said:

(("The people will soon summon one another to attack you from every horizon as people when eating invite sh3er to share their dish." We asked: "Will that be because of our small numbers at that time?" He, peace be upon him, replied: "No, you will be numerous at that time, but you will be scum and rubbish like that carried down by a torrent, and Allah will take fear of you from the breasts of your enemy and last wahn (enervation) into your hearts." They asked: "What is wahn (enervation)?" Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, replied: "Love of life and dislike of death."))

[Abu Dawood]

 Unfortunately, this already happened to Muslims, for there are 30 Islamic states under occupation, among which are Iraq, Somalia and Palestine.

(("The people will soon summon one another to attack you from every horizon as people when eating invite sh3er to share their dish." We asked: "Will that be because of our small numbers at that time?" He, peace be upon him, replied: "No, you will be numerous at that time, but you will be scum and rubbish like that carried down by a torrent, and Allah will take fear of you from the breasts of your enemy and last wahn (enervation) into your hearts." They asked: "What is wahn (enervation)?" Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, replied: "Love of life and dislike of death."))

[Abu Dawood]

 This is the problem we have, and Muslims' situation is very obvious. We are the Ummah of Islam, the Ummah of the Noble Quran and the Ummah of the two Revelations (the Quran and Sunnah). Thus, upon turning back to this great religion, we will be fine again. Though the majority of Muslims pray, fast and perform Hajj (4 millions every year), and despite of what the Prophet, peace be upon him, said, Muslims are not victorious as they used to be:

((Twelve thousand men will not be defeated as a result of smallness of number.))

[Abu Dawood, At-Tirmizi and AlHakem in AlMustadrak by Ibn Abbas]

What really counts is quality, not quantity.

(2) The Divine Assignment and man's disposition:

1- There is a severe contradiction between the Divine Assignment and man's disposition:

 Dear brother, the contradiction between man's disposition and the Divine Assignment is what left for us to discuss. The disposition has been installed in you. For example, man loves sleeping, especially in chilly days of winter where the bed is cozy, and it is very hard to remove the blanket and offer Wudu using cold water then offer Salah. In this case the disposition of man inauthors him to stay in bed, whereas the Divine Assignment orders him to leave bed and wake up in order to offer Salah. 

 Also man's disposition makes man love taking money, whereas the Divine Assignment encourages him to give it to the needy. Moreover, man's disposition urges him to set his eyes at women, while the Divine Assignment asks him to lower his gaze. Man's disposition encourages him to spread scandals, whereas the Divine Assignment forbids him from doing that. Thus, man's disposition contradicts the Divine Assignment.

2- The disposition is physical, whereas the Divine Assignment is Fitrah-oriented:

  The tendencies of man's disposition are related to his physical needs, whereas the Divine Assignment is closer to his Fitrah. In other words, the body gets rest in sleeping, so if man hears Azan Al-Fajr, but he does not offer Salah, he wakes up distressed and bothered although his body is in best shape, because it gets some rest. On the other hand, if he wakes up and offers Fajr then goes back to sleep, his soul is at peace and indescribably comfortable upon waking up at 9.00 AM, for instance, because he offers Fajr on time. 

 Hence, the disposition goes along with the physical tendencies of man, whereas the Divine Assignment goes along with his spiritual ones. When someone has the power which enables him to take astronomical sum of money that is not his, and without the knowledge of anyone, he can spend this money on buying a new car or changing his house, yet he will become distressed because he takes ill-gotten money. He will have the same feeling if he violates sh3er' rights by taking bigger share of inheritance, for example, instead of distributing it fairly between the heirs. On the other hand, when man gives the rights to their owner, he will be granted rest in his heart. Therefore, the Divine Assignment accords with man's Fitrah, whereas man's disposition accords with his physical needs.

3- Contradiction between the Divine Assignment and man's disposition:

 The price one pays to be admitted to Paradise is the contradiction between his disposition and the Divine Assignment.

 

﴾ But as for him who feared standing before his Lord, and restrained himself from impure evil desires, and lusts. Verily, Paradise will be his abode. ﴿ 

[An-Nazi'aat, 40-41]

 Because of this contradiction between the disposition and the Divine Assignment, man deserves to be admitted to Paradise (upon fulfilling the Divine Assignment at the expense of his disposition). Allah, Glorified and Sublime be He, tests His servants on important matters. For instance, man can be tested when he is tempted to accept a profitable bargain which is suspicious. In this case, if man refuses it, his decision makes him pass the Divine Test, and Allah will compensate him for that missed bargain by granting him manifold profits.

 Allah's tests are very difficult and success lies in passing them with flying colors. As I said earlier, man's disposition contradicts the Divine Assignment, and it fulfills his physical needs, while the Divine Assignment fulfills man's spiritual needs. Thus, when man carries out the Divine Assignment, he will be at peace, he will please Allah and will gain Allah's Love, but when he fulfills his physical needs at the expense of the Divine Assignment, melancholy will be his fair punishment.

 Let me tell you this: The true believer never ever needs to see a psychiatrist, because he is blessed with tranquility from Allah as a reward for obeying Him. This tranquility brings happiness even though man might lose everything else, and without this tranquility man will be in misery even though he might own everything. This is the difference between man's disposition and the Divine Assignment, and between As-Sibghah and Al-Fitrah. In one of the coming lecture insha' Allah, I will continue tackling the topics of the constituents of the Divine Assignment which are closely related to Aqeedah.

The scientific inimitability of Quran:

1- "And We turned them on their right and on their left sides":

Let us move to some topics indicating the inimitability of the Quran: 

 Dear brother, when man sleeps in his bed, what exactly happens? Man's skeleton has a weight, so do his muscles and the other bones like the spinal column, the thigh bone, the shinbone, the thoracic cage and the skull. All this weight applies pressure on the skin beneath the sleeping person, and this pressure causes poor blood circulation in the area which causes numbness. This also happens when someone sits on his knees for quite a time, for his legs will become numb, and he might not feel them for a while.

 The Almighty Allah created this complicated mechanism in man's body, and He puts in every inch of the body sensitive points to pressure, so in case these points are under pressure while man is sleeping on his right side, for example, they send signals to the brain while man is sleeping, which in turn sends orders to the body to reposition. As a result, the sleeping man turns to his left side though he is in deep sleep. Man repositions his body when he is on his left side and so forth. Imagine, man repositions his body 38 times during 8 hours of sleep. Allah the Almighty says:

﴾ And We turned them on their right and on their left sides ﴿

[Al-Kahf, 18]

 Had the people of the cave never been turned from side to side, their bodies would have completely decomposed. Some people go into coma, and if the patient is not repositioned by his family, his flesh will fall off his body because of bedsores, and this might lead to death if he is not repositioned.

﴾ And We turned them on their right and on their left sides ﴿

[Al-Kahf, 18]

 What is the wisdom behind turning them on their right and left sides?

﴾ And We turned them on their right and on their left sides ﴿

[Al-Kahf, 18] 

 The wisdom is to save their bodies from becoming decomposed. When man is asleep, the brain is awake, and his pressure points work. Therefore, they send signals to the brain in case they are under pressure, and the brain in turn sends orders to the sleeping person to reposition his body. This Ayah about the people of the cave manifests the inimitability of the Noble Quran:

﴾ And We turned them on their right and on their left sides ﴿

[Al-Kahf, 18]

2- Swallowing the saliva whilst sleeping:

  While man is in deep sleep, his saliva accumulates in his mouth, and this accumulation sends signal to the brain that there are excessive amounts of saliva, so the brain in turn sends his orders to the epiglottis which clears the path to the esophagus and closes the path of the bronchus. As a result, the sleeping person swallows his saliva every 15 minutes, as the epiglottis opens again the breathing path allowing the sleeping man to breath. This process is repeated every 15 minutes. Who created this process? Who designed it like that? Whose Knowledge is this? Whose Wisdom is this? Whose Power is this? Allah created this mechanism. 

 Dear brother, Allah says:

﴾ And We turned them on their right and on their left sides ﴿

[Al-Kahf, 18]

 In another Ayah, Allah says:

﴾Verily, We created man of the best stature (mould)* Then We reduced him to the lowest of the low,﴿

[At-Tin, 4-5]

3- The ability of man to know the direction of any sound:

  When you walk in the street you jump to the left side upon hearing the horn of a car coming from your right side, but how does this happen? Man has the skill of recognizing the direction of any sound because of a mechanism in his body that is called binaural hearing, which essentially means "hearing with two ears". Because the ears are on opposite sides of the head, the sounds heard with either ear varies in timing, volume, and frequency balance. These differences are the clues your brain uses to decode a sound's location. 

 Hence, for example, when a sound comes from the left, the travel distance to your left ear is slightly shorter than the travel distance to your right ear by 1 to 620 parts of a second, and the brain interprets this difference and knows the direction of the sound. Thus, it gives the orders to the body to move to the other direction. Allah says:

﴾And also in your ownselves. Will you not then see?﴿

[Adh-Dhariyat, 21]

You think you are an insignificant creature
Whereas in you lies the greater world

 Allah's wonders in human body are obvious and among which are the ability of man to disposition his body and the ability to swallow his saliva while he is asleep, which is the reason why the dentist uses intake pipe to suck the excessive saliva while man opens his mouth for a long time, but while man is asleep he does not use any pipes to suck the excessive saliva since Allah created a complicated mechanism in his body to swallow these amounts of saliva by closing the breathing path and opening the path of the stomach by the epiglottis.

﴾This is the creation of Allah. So show Me that which those (whom you worship), besides Him have created﴿

[Luqman, 11] 

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