In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent the Merciful'Oh! Allah do not make us a source of temptation for those who do not believe and forgive us O! Allah for you are the Mighty and owner of wisdom.'GIVE the above verse of the Qur'an any interpretation that catches your fancy. Endeavour to seek its meaning in Abdul-Qahir al-Jurjani's phrasing, 'meaning of meaning' from the exegetical posture of Al-Tabari or the hermeneutical postulations of Ibn Kathir.Whatever may be your approach, it is indubitable that the verse is hinged on the Divine recognition and affirmation of the possible existence of an uncanny hiatus in-between what Islam stands for and purport to call humanity to and the Muslims' exemplification and application of same. Thus in the characteristic style of the Qur'an, the last testament, Divine admonition is framed and reframed in supplication.In other words, in the above verse of the Quran (Q60), the perceptive Muslim reader is drawn into a spiritual-experiential labyrinth where supplication merges into admonition. He appropriates an uncanny scriptural style, which combines pedagogy with spirituality. In effect, the recognition of the existence of a threat means the invocation of the Divine protection against it; the affirmation of the existence of human error implies the request for spiritual correction.Brethren, in the above verse, Allah calls our attention to the ways of those who came before us. The latter, and you must constantly keep this in mind, featured men of inimitable spiritual conviction and vocation; men such as Prophets Ibrahim, Nuh, Musa, Isa and Muhammad (upon them be peace and blessings of Allah). These men, despite the catholicism of their character and carriage, despite the near perfection in their candour and conduct, were constantly aware of their humanity and by implication their frailty and inadequacies. Thus they used to supplicate thus: 'Oh! Allah do not make us a source of temptation for those who do not believe and forgive us O! Allah for you are the Mighty and owner of wisdom.'Brethren, each time I perused the Qur'an, each time I arrive at this shore in my daily interactive dialogue with the last testament, I always wonder how a Muslim could be a source of temptation for the unbelievers and, indeed the believers.How could I become like the violent crocodile in the only stream in the 'village' which prevents the weak and the strong, the young and the old, from accessing water' How could I become like the crocodile in the only stream in the village, which constantly threatens to pollute the stream with its venom' Or how could a Muslim who, in line with the normative precepts in the Qur'an, should be the salt of the world, become a virus, a poison'Face to face with these daunting questions, face to face with the violent Muslim, who, like Nimrud, appropriates the right of Allah to give and take life- Muslims, who operate with the notion that their understanding of Islam is the ONLY valid perspective available; face-to-face with the Muslim, who steals from public treasury and engages in corruption, the perceptive non-Muslim by-stander begins to wonder whether the necessity is actually there for him to consider the possibility of accepting Islam.He begins to evolve a link, though facetious and erroneous, between the grim existential reality of Muslim life and the scriptural foundations upon which the religion of Islam is predicated. Such a non-Muslim compatriot of mine consequently becomes the subject whose destiny is Quranised above. He begins to detest the Muslim's action as a preface to his detestation of Islam, he begins to abhor and anathemise the apparently evil actions of the Muslim as a prelude to his unwarranted anathemisation and the construction of Islam as a voyage of oddities, a culture of inanities and a theology of hara-kiri. But it is not only the non-Muslim, who suffers these temptations, it is not only the non-Muslim, who constantly runs the risk of conflating the sun with the sunlight, the smoke with the fire and the Muslim with Islam. Muslims equally do.In other words, face-to-face with Muslims, who forgot that Islam at peace has historically been more productive and attractive than Islam at war; face to face with his brother who kills his fellow brother without compunctions; face to face with a season of anomie where children are orphaned at dawn and one in which women become widows at dusk, the other Muslim begins to wonder whether his own understanding of Islam is right after all.He begins to ask himself: is this what my religion actually teaches' Is this wanton destruction of lives and properties not a complete negation of Islam and the Prophetic enterprise' Is it not true that it is the Will of the Almighty as enunciated in the Qur'an that humanity shall exist in a variety of culture, races and religions'Brethren, when a Muslim begins to raise questions such as the above, when a Muslim begins to seek to deny the actions of his fellow Muslim brother because the latter apparently have no justification in the Qur'an, then the above verse of the Quran equally finds exemplification. But in order to be certain that my reading of the text and the contemporary context is sound, I sought exemplification of the above verse from those, who were closer to the fountain of Islamic heritage.I pleaded my ignorance of the true import of this verse in the presence of my forebears. I asked Ibn Qayyim about the possible meanings of the above verse of the Quran. Lo and behold! He is of the opinion that when the action of a Muslim runs counter to the injunction of the Almighty he becomes a source of temptation for the unbelievers. Such a Muslim them becomes a source of fitnah for the other. He becomes the honey in chronic lack of sweetness, the salt, which has become sour to taste, the crocodile in the stream in the village.Brethren, the above reading is also relevant to the macabre dance in the National Assembly in Abuja. Not a few brethren are disappointed by the involvement of Alhaji Farouk Lawan in the bribery scandal over the probe into petroleum subsidy regime. After a public lecture in Lagos State University the other weekend, I engaged a brother on the issue. I told him about the depth of my disappointment over the whole saga and that I used to consider members of the House of Representatives as the torch-bearers for and of the future of the Nigerian nation. But my brother's response was sharp and ironic. He said, 'I wasn't disappointed at all. To be a member of the PDP is to lack integrity and modesty!'In closing, Ibn Qayyim was once asked about the signs of a diseased heart. He said, 'A diseased heart does not feel any hurt or pain when he commits evil deeds and sins, he finds both pleasure in committing sins and tranquility after doing them, he dislikes the truth and has difficulty accepting or submitting to it, he feels discomfort being in the company of the righteous and feels comfort in the company of the sinful, such individuals among men are not affected by any kind of admonition.'(guardianfridayworship@gmail.com)
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