THERE ARE MANY LESSONS TO BE LEARNED FROM
THE STORIES OF THE MESSENGERS
Allah transmits important lessons in the accounts of the prophets in
the Qur'an, and stated, in Surah Yusuf:
We tell you the best of stories in revealing this Qur'an
to you, even though you were unaware of it before it came. (Surah Yusuf,
3)
In another verse, Allah outlined the following, with regards to the accounts
of the prophets:
There is instruction in their stories for people of intelligence.
This is not a narration which has been invented but confirmation of all
that came before, a clarification of everything, and a guidance and a
mercy for people who believe. (Surah Yusuf, 111)
As Allah revealed in this verse, the purpose of presenting the accounts
of the messengers is to learn from them. Many, who lack a proper understanding
of the Qur'an's message, regard the lives of the prophets as mere myths,
or legends. They do not consider the manner in which they live their lives,
or how impeccable are their characters, as examples to follow. When considering
the examples of the prophets, they do not recognize the vigilant effort
they made to inform the world of the morality of the Qur'an, dedicating
their whole lives to promote it, and fail to take a lesson from their
unshakeable faith and devotion to Allah. However, for Muslims, from whatever
era, many lessons are to be learned from the lives of the prophets.
For instance, Muslims can educate themselves by reading about Prophet
Muhammad's (saas) struggle against the unbelievers, pagans and hypocrites
of his nation; Prophet Ibrahim's (as) struggle against his people committed
to idolatry, and the manner in which he reasoned with them, to convince
them not to worship idols; Prophet Musa's (as) courageous fight against
the oppressive and tyrannical Pharaoh, and even against the ignorance
of his own nation; Prophet Ayyub's (as) patience and submission to Allah,
Who tried him with illness and distress; and, Prophet Yusuf's (as) faith
in Allah, despite every stratagem conspired against him, from the time
of his youth, and on into his later years.
A sincere believer can learn much about good conduct from the prophets'
accounts presented in the Qur'an. For instance, despite being among those
who believe, being of sincere, honest, and good character, and of those
who invite others to the morality of the Qur'an, he will be faced with
other people's hostility and slander. But, he will never be taken off
guard when subjected to such injustice, because of his genuine efforts
in the cause of Allah, and will not feel despondent. Because, as he has
learned from the Qur'an, throughout history, sincere people, who lived
according to the morality of the Qur'an, and invited others to the same,
have been subjected to this sort of treatment. Another fact believers
learn from the Qur'an is that all sincere believers who have experienced
such difficulties and hardship have confronted it with patience, faith
and submission.
For instance, when Prophet Muhammad (saas) was forced by the idolaters
to leave Mecca with his friend, and sought refuge in the cave, he said:
"Do not be despondent, Allah is with us" (Surat at-Tawba, 40), thereby
showing his faith and devotion. Therefore, when encountering the same
kind of difficulties, Muslims must remember to show similar devotion,
not forgetting that Allah is with them.
Prophet Shu'ayb (as) called his people to believe in Allah, and warned
them against His punishment. However, out of both arrogance and ignorance,
the leaders of his nation responded by threatening him and those who followed
him. The discussion that took place between Shu'ayb (as) and these leaders
was revealed in the Qur'an:
The ruling circle of those of his people who were arrogant
said, "We will drive you out of our city, Shu'ayb, you and those who believe
along with you, unless you return to our religion." He said, "What, even
though we detest it? We would be inventing lies against Allah if we returned
to your religion after Allah has saved us from it. We could never return
to it unless Allah our Lord so willed. Our Lord encompasses everything
in His knowledge. We have put our trust in Allah. Our Lord, judge between
us and our people with truth. You are the best of judges." (Surat al-A'raf,
88-89)
Shu'ayb's (as) determination, despite the threats and aggression issued
against him, is another quality Muslims need to learn from prophets. Shu'ayb's
(as) nation, on the other hand, was acting like all nations throughout
history, who have denied Allah's religion. Therefore, a Muslim, who has
learned these lessons from the Qur'an, will not be taken aback, or saddened
by the belligerence, calumny, and threats of the unbelievers.
Prophet Ibrahim (as) too is portrayed in the Qur'an as a role model,
by his determination against the unbelievers. In order to convince them
not to worship idols, Ibrahim (as) told them about Allah's existence and
unity, and demonstrated to them that the idols they worshipped were powerless
objects carved from wood. Ibrahim's (as) people responded by attempting
to burn him in the fire:
They said, "Build a pyre for him and fling him into the
blaze!" They tried to outwit him but We made them the lowest. (Surat as-Saffat,
97-98)
Ibrahim (as) responded to this aggression as follows:
He said, "I am going towards my Lord; He will be my guide."
(Surat as-Saffat, 99)
As we can discern from the accounts of the prophets related in the Qur'an,
messengers and sincere Muslims were always confronted by their nation's
leaders who refused to believe. Despite the fact that believers merely
call people to do good, throughout history, such leaders have shown hostility
towards the believers, and especially to messengers, and tried to obstruct
their mission. And, despite the passage of years, their methods have not
changed. They accused these devout individuals of madness, corruption
and greed; sought to discredit them in the eye of the people; and threatened
them with imprisonment, exile and even death. Of the verses relating to
the stratagems of these conspirators against the devout believers are
the following:
They said, "Are we to follow a human being, one of us?
Then we would truly be misguided, quite insane! Has the Reminder been
given to him of all of us? No indeed! He is an impudent liar." (Surat
al-Qamar, 24-25)
There was a group of nine men in the city causing corruption
in the land and not putting things right. They said, "Let us make an oath
to one another by Allah that we will fall on him and his family in the
night and then say to his protector, 'We did not witness the destruction
of his family and we are telling the truth.'" They hatched a plot and
We hatched a plot while they were not aware. (Surat an-Naml, 48-50)
Before them the people of Nuh denied the truth. They
denied Our servant, saying, "He is madman," and he was driven away with
jeers. (Surat al-Qamar, 9)
When those who disbelieve were plotting against you to
imprison you or kill you or expel you: they were plotting and Allah was
plotting, but Allah is the Best of Plotters. (Surat al-Anfal, 30)
The unbelievers have often resorted to imprisoning the messengers and
the sincere believers, in order to prevent them from teaching Allah's
religion. The people were duped in assuming their guilt, despite their
innocence, through the false accusations assailed against them. The purpose
of imprisoning them was to prevent them from having contact with other
people, and to suppress their activities. Yusuf (as) was a prophet imprisoned
for such reasons. Musa (as) as well was threatened by Pharaoh with imprisonment.
Musa (as), however, told him of Allah's existence and said:
He said, "The Lord of the East and the West and everything
between them if you used your intellect." (Surat ash-Shu'ara', 28)
Pharaoh responded with the following:
… "If you take any deity other than me, I will certainly
throw you into prison." (Surat ash-Shu'ara', 29)
The reason Pharaoh threatened Musa (as) with imprisonment was for his
faith in Allah, and his rejection of Pharaoh's divinity, clearly not instances
that would justify a prison sentence.
The following pages will demonstrate in detail that there was no crime
to justify Yusuf's (as) imprisonment. He was a victim of false accusations,
and even though all recognize his innocence, "they thought that they should
nevertheless imprison him for a time." (Surah Yusuf, 35) Thus he spent
many years in prison. For this reason, all the believers who, after Yusuf
(as), were slandered and subjected to the unjustified attacks by the unbelievers,
and then imprisoned, did not despair, but appreciated its educational
opportunities and aspired to "graduate" from the School of Yusuf.
The subject of this book is imprisonment, which has become a form of
education for believers, who have been subjected to it through the conspiring
of the unbelievers. There, they are educated by our Lord. At first, those
imprisoned for pursuing Allah's path of righteousness, would appear to
be punished, while in reality they are receiving an education, and gain
insight that is beneficial both worldly and spiritually. It must be clearly
remembered that such hardship is a means for attaining the blessings of
Paradise.
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