Taraweeh Reflections - Night Sixteen
Posted: 15 Ramadan 1434, 24 July 2013
Here are selected verses from the taraweeh recitation for each night with lessons for our lives today.
Juz Seventeen - Surah Anbiya and Hajj
Surah Anbiya
This surah narrates the stories of many prophets to highlight the central message of Islam and the urgency with which one must turn to it. This is captured in the following ayahs.
اقْتَرَبَ لِلنَّاسِ حِسَابُهُمْ وَهُمْ فِي غَفْلَةٍ مُّعْرِضُونَ
CLOSER DRAWS unto men their reckoning: and yet they remain stubbornly heedless [of its approach]. (Anbiya, 21:1)
The moment of reckoning will come unannounced to everyone of us. And for the entire humanity also it keeps coming closer. Yet we are too preoccupied with all the distractions to pay attention.
كُلُّ نَفْسٍ ذَائِقَةُ الْمَوْتِ ۗ وَنَبْلُوكُم بِالشَّرِّ وَالْخَيْرِ فِتْنَةً ۖ وَإِلَيْنَا تُرْجَعُونَ
Every human being is bound to taste death; and We test you [all] through the bad and the good [things of life] by way of trial: and unto Us you all must return. (Anbiya, 21:35)
Both the good and the bad things in life are just a test. Those who remember Allah all the time, are grateful in the case of the first and patient in the case of the second, and never cross the boundaries set by Him in all situations in life will be winners. Others will be losers.
وَنَضَعُ الْمَوَازِينَ الْقِسْطَ لِيَوْمِ الْقِيَامَةِ فَلَا تُظْلَمُ نَفْسٌ شَيْئًا ۖ وَإِن كَانَ مِثْقَالَ حَبَّةٍ مِّنْ خَرْدَلٍ أَتَيْنَا بِهَا ۗ وَكَفَىٰ بِنَا حَاسِبِينَ
But We shall set up just balance-scales on Resurrection Day, and no human being shall be wronged in the least: for though there be [in him but] the weight of a mustard-seed [of good or evil], We shall bring it forth; and none can take count as We do! (Anbiya, 21:47)
Nothing will escape this accounting. We should never belittle a good deed, nor be careless about committing a seemingly minor sin. For all our good and bad deeds, big and small, will be in our books of accounts.
Surah Hajj
The Mission of Islamic State
الَّذِينَ إِن مَّكَّنَّاهُمْ فِي الْأَرْضِ أَقَامُوا الصَّلَاةَ وَآتَوُا الزَّكَاةَ وَأَمَرُوا بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَنَهَوْا عَنِ الْمُنكَرِ ۗ وَلِلَّهِ عَاقِبَةُ الْأُمُورِ
(They are) those who, if We give them power in the land, establish Salāh, pay Zakāh, enjoin the right and forbid wrong And with Allah lies the fate of all matters. (Hajj, 22:41)
This is the mission statement for the Islamic government. As Yusuf Ali writes: “‘Enjoining the right and forbidding the wrong’ is an essential duty of the Muslim Ummah and one of the main purposes for which it has been raised.” In contrast the secular democracy, far from making these the main goal of government, would not even permit their pursuit.
(Taken from the book: Listening to the Qur'an: Insights, Commands, and Guidance for Our Life)