Translation
If any soul, that is guilty of injustice, owns all that is on earth, it will offer up, all of it, to save itself. Such people will be full of regrets once they see the consequence of their conducts. Their affairs will be decided with justice for them and no injustice will be done. Don’t you know that all that is in the universe and on earth belongs to God and God’s promise (of due process and consequences for conducts) are true though most of them dispute or are unmindful. He [God]creates life and causes death and to Him you all will be brought back.
O Mankind: Certainly, a cautionary reminder [mawyizatun] has come to you from your Sustainer God and a solace [shifaaun] for the heart; it is a guidance and a source of grace for the faithful. Tell them: “It is the grace of God and His mercy that should be the source of your joy and contentment, not what of material things you (work so hard) to hoard.” 474
Say: “See what God has gifted you all for sustenance, yet some of it you make lawful (keep to yourself) and some of it you make unlawful (to deprive others).” Ask: “Did God made such determinations, or you are lying about God’s word? What would be the condition of such people on the Day of Resurrection, who lie against God while God is ever Bountiful to mankind, but many are not thankful. 475
Interpretation
474 The Qur’an is declared as a reminder from God and a source of solace and peace for the heart and soul. It is a grace from God that He gifted us with such a resource, which we should value and follow its teaching to attain true success, in which our hearts and souls take comfort and contentment. But distorting its meaning deliberately and to give preference to earthly gains through greed and haste and to deprive others by hoarding such materials and wealth to themselves go counter to the teaching of God and ultimately lead to the demise and destruction of human dignity and the essence of faith.
475 To elaborate further on how one distorts God’s guidance is to make things lawful or unlawful that goes counter to truth and justice. Lot of people think that such verses refer to the Arab practice of designating certain meats of camel or sheep to God versus themselves, or for male versus female. While this is true, such practices have long disappeared, but in their place, other more ominous, unjust, and widespread practices have appeared that we need to reflect on and consider in our generation. When our financial and economic system favors wealthy people and ignores poor people, that is unlawful in the eye of God, while it may be legal. While large businesses thrive through profiteering, creating monopolies, failing to pay living wages to their employees, and bringing corrupt influences in public policies and political institutions, that is unlawful, even though it breaks no laws in the country. While we destroy the environment and pollute our water and air through fracking and mining, that is unlawful, while it may not break any law in the land. When we have such moral clarity and show equal respect for all human beings, only then we will see what is lawful and what is unlawful in the eyes of God and can begin to address our current systems to make them aligned with the truth and justice that the Qur’an demands, and people of conscience lose their sleep on.
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REFLECTION
As verse 56 repeats, the reality is that it is God who creates us, causes us to die, and then will bring us back to Him to account for our life. This is reality, even if we fail to acknowledge it as a matter of faith. The real question for the faithful is to what extent it shapes our day-to-day life and our longer-term priorities as human beings and as God’s representatives on this earth.
ACTION
Our accountability to God is of a higher order than any legal system or social norm that may not fully conform to God’s guidance or, at worst, contradict such guidance. We need to develop policies, social norms, and our social, political, and economic governance in accordance with such guidance from God, and that can happen only if we study, contemplate, and collectively pursue the establishment of such systems and ideals, even if we fail to achieve full conformity, and where such imbalance exists, we struggle to correct and amend. This needs to be one of life’s higher pursuits while we take care of our families, raise our children, and navigate our life on this planet.
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Key Arabic Term
140. mawyizatun: admonition, caution (10:57)
141. shifaaun: comfort, healing, solace, grace (10:57)