Salam alaikum w.b.t,
in this short reminder I want to share with you something from ayah 67 of Suratul Baqarah in which Allah s.w.t talks about the incident of the cow, of course Suratul Baqarah is called the cow.
When Musa a.s said to his nation, no doubt that it is Allah in fact that commands you that you should slaughter a cow. Their first response was at that occasion: “Do you take us for a joke? Are you kidding us? You want us to slaughter a cow? A murder just happened… and God’s response is that we should slaughter a cow? That sounds kind of ridiculous!”
And I’m sharing this as my first reminder because Allah made it a point to mention what their reaction was to Allah’s instructions. A prophet is telling you on Allah’s behalf “slaughter a cow” whether that makes logical sense to you or not. It’s God’s command and it’s validated because it’s coming through his messenger Moses a.s. But your responses: “are you kidding? you’re taking us as a joke?”
And you know what this is mentioned because this is a timeless problem. So to this day you’re gonna have people, even Muslims, who will hear of an instruction that is clearly from Allah as messenger s.a.w and said “What? Are you kidding me? Are you serious?” and it’s gonna be their reaction, you know. “You can’t be serious. That’s what Islam wants? That’s what the shari’ah says? That’s what the hadith says? That’s what the ayah says? No way that doesn’t make any sense. Etc.”
This kind of reaction and this kind of reaction would make Moses a.s extremely upset.
So within the same ayah he said “Auuzu billaah (I seek Allah’s refuge).” From what? “Keep me away from being one of those who lose their emotional control.” ‘Jahil’ is actually the opposite of “aqil”. Aqil is someone who controls their emotions, jahil is someone who loses them.
This final minute I want to remind you that this ayah isn’t just a warning to those who make a mockery out of Allah’s
Commandments. On the other hand it’s also a warning to those who deliver the message, who try to do the work of the prophets, who when they say something on behalf of Allah, and it’s marked and it’s ridiculed, that they should not lose their cool because Moses says “I seek refuge of Allah, that I should be away from those who are jahil who lose their cool”.
In other words this would really enrage him and he doesn’t he does not want to lose his temper because then he will not be able do do his job.
You know carrying the message of Islam and giving advice for the sake of Allah requires a thick skin and you’re gonna have to deal with some very obnoxious people who’ll say really ridiculous things and you’re gonna have to say “A’uuzu billaahi an akuuna minal jaahiliin.”
May Allah make us of those who, one, never make fun of Allah’s Commandments, and two, when they do give advice to each other and they hear things that are inappropriate in response are able to control their emotions and control their temper.
Barakallahu li walakum wa-salaamu, assalamu alaykum w.b.t.
Source: Nouman Ali Khan, Quran Weekly
*Tadabbur meaning: learning and appreciating
