Families and extended families are bonded together by mutual love, respect and inter-dependence. As families grew in numbers, tribes were formed who congregated together in one area or moved around together providing mutual protection for their interests.
“Among His Signs is this: that He created you from dust, and then behold, you are men scattered far and wide.”
A fundamental principle in Islam is that all Muslims say in words and deeds ‘We hear and we obey’ the Commands of Allah and His Messenger because we believe in the wisdom, justice and goodness of such Commands.
The popular belief is that if a young person grows up used to doing something, he or she shall grow old doing the same thing and if he or she grows old doing that same thing, he or she will die doing it.
‘Then will Allah send down upon you water from under the Throne known as the Water of Life. The heavens will rain on you for forty years until water rises above you some twelve arms lengths.’
Sometimes whilst reciting certain ayaat or listening to a recitation the ayaat acquire a specific, perhaps new, significance. They may acquire a greater proportion than we had hitherto realised.
The opening ayat of Surat Qaaf represent an impossible challenge to the unbelievers and the doubters. To be able to evaluate its huge impact, let us imagine that we are hearing these ayat for the first time.
“And among those around you of the wandering Arabs there are hypocrites, and among the townspeople of Al-Madinah, there are some who persist in hypocrisy whom you (O Muhammad) know not, We know them and We shall punish them twice, then they will be relegated to a painful doom”
