Creation, Obligation and End of Man

Friday Sermon Presented by
Dr Mahmud Abul-Huda Al Husaini
1\5\2009
Once, there was an old man who held a lamp in his hand and walked in the darkness looking for something. People asked him: "What are you looking for?" He said: "I am looking for 'the man' ". They said: "It is impossible to find him". He answered saying: "I shall go on looking for the impossible".
It seems as if this old man had come back to our time holding a lamp in his hand looking for 'the man' at a time in which 'the man' has become rare.
This type of man who has open intellectual abilities, distinguished physical aptitudes, spiritual superiority that goes beyond the limits of heavens and earth, and a compassionate heart that is full of mercy and good manners, this man has become rare nowadays. Is not this man rare at a time in which humanity is going down the precipice of chaos and has become more misled than cattle?
Therefore, I want to hold the lamp, but I find no lamp but that of the Qur'an. I want to look for 'the man' through the lamp of the Qur'an and its illumination.
As the Holy Qur'an mentions man for many times, in this short meeting, I'd like to present to you some extracts taken from the Holy Qur'an to classifying this subject into three parts:
The first part talks about man's creation; the second about charging man with the responsibility of obligation by the Exalted Allah; and the third about man's end.
Man is the great value. He is "the fruit in the cosmos tree" as Gnostics said. What is valuable in the fruit tree is its fruit, though the tree exists before the fruit.
Man was created last among the creatures, because he is the yield of the cosmos tree, like the fruit of the tree that comes last.
1-Man's Creation

The Holy Qur'an talks about the creation of man indicating the fact that man consists of two parts: the material and the abstract. The Exalted Allah said:
"He began the creation of man with {nothing more than} clay, and made his progeny from a quintessence of the nature of a fluid despised". Both elements 'clay' or 'despised fluid' are material substances. Then He, Exalted He is said: "Then He fashioned him in due proportion", i.e., He completed his creation, that is his manufacturing, which is a process that deals with the material, a physical substance. 'Due proportion' is the completion of the physical creation. After this stage, the exalted Allah draws the attention to the abstract part in man. He said: "and breathed into him something of His spirit". Religious scholars know that this is an honoring affiliation for man, i.e., the Exalted Allah breathed into man a created spirit and ascribed it to Him.
Then He, Exalted He is, said: "And He gave you (the faculties of) hearing and sight and hearts (understanding): little thanks do you give" (As Sajdah, 7-9).Book of Enlightenment "We created man from a quintessence {of clay}. Then We placed him as {a drop of} sperm in a place of rest, firmly fixed. Then We made the sperm into a clot of congealed blood; then of that clot We made a {fetus} lump; then We made out of that lump bones and clothed the bones with flesh".
then We developed out of it another creature". Man is distinguished from the other creatures because of his spiritual aptitude after the Exalted Allah formed him in the best way: So blessed be Allah, the Best to create!The Exalted Allah said: "{Allah} Most Gracious! It is He Who has taught the Quran. He has created man. He has taught him speech {and Intelligence}" (Ar Rahman, 1-4). In referring to the creation of man, the Exalted Allah adds something else in preparing man in the process of his creation. In spite of the physical and abstract aptitudes of man, he is valueless without knowledge. He is in need for learning from Allah. Consequently, teaching man is part of perfecting his abstract creation.
The Exalted Allah said: "Taught man that which he knew not.He also said: "Nor shall they compass aught of his knowledge except as he wills" (Al Baqarah, 255).Consequently, this distinguished created man, becomes perfect by being physically and abstractly distinguished, in addition to his getting knowledge from Allah.
After being prepared by the three mentioned elements, man becomes ready to receive the trust and a special distinguished mission. Hence, let us move to this stage when the Exalted Allah charged man with the trust.
:2-Man, the entrusted:
"We did indeed offer the Trust to the Heavens and the Earth and the Mountains; but they refused to undertake it, being afraid thereof: but man undertook it; he was indeed unjust and foolish
After the Exalted Allah prepared man by distinguished creation, He also made him distinguished by holding the trust. The Exalted Allah refers to another important fact saying that, in spite of the three elements bestowed by the Exalted Allah to man, i.e., physical and abstract creation, in addition to the knowledge taught to him by the Exalted Allah, man is still weak because he is in need for his Lord's support all the time. The Exalted Allah draws the attention to this fact saying: "For man was created weak" (An Nisa', 28). However perfect man's physical and abstract creation are, and however great the knowledge he has, he is still weak. He is still in need for the Powerful, Who is the Exalted Allah.

Allah is the only Powerful, while man is always weak however distinguished he is. The Exalted Allah refers to man's weakness so that the latter should feel needy to his Lord. The Exalted Allah helps man in this responsibility of the trust by making him consider this fact and think thoroughly about it.
Read the following verse that is an example of how the Exalted Allah guides man to reflect upon this fact: "Then let man look at his Food {and how We provide it}. For that We pour forth water in abundance, and We split the earth in fragments, and produce therein Corn, and Grapes and nutritious Plants, and Olives and Dates, and enclosed Gardens, dense with lofty trees, and Fruits and Fodder for use and convenience to you and your cattle" (Abas, 24-32).

The Exalted Allah instructs man to be meditative on the fact that the Exalted Allah has made the other creatures that surround man serviceable to him.
utilization
After all the Exalted Allah's bounty presented to man, can the rational accept the fact that man should be indifferent, and that he will not be responsible to pay the account?
This is contrary to the logic adopted by man, himself.
Hence, the Exalted Allah makes man realize clearly that his value, as a human being, is derived from the mission entrusted to him. In other words, his value is derived from his applying religion. Man cannot renounce the concept of trust unless he gives up religion. Consequently, man's value is derived from religion and from the trust. So, the trust is religion itself.
Read the following verse in which the Exalted Allah refers clearly to man's value. He said: "We have indeed created man in the best of moulds". Man is the distinguished creature among all other creatures.
"Then do We abase him {to be} the lowest of the low". Man is debased when he follows his own whims, his own lust, and his own self-desires. In other words, he is debased when he realizes the desires of the material, and forgets about the specialty of his abstract part. Consequently he will be abased to the lowest of the low. This state is the result of his deception and fraud through which he becomes in the lowest of the low, the worst of the worst, and the most beastly of the beasts. He becomes worse than animals and more cunning than devils. He plots against the others and deceives them so that he may devour them all, thus becoming worse than them all.
Then the Exalted Allah said: "Except such as believe and do righteous deeds; for they shall have a reward unfailing" (At Tin, 4-6). This is a brief statement that summarizes religion. Religion includes abstract belief, as well as material good deeds.
Man's real value is related to his application of religion. However great the status or value he claims to have, that status or value is questionable until he applies religion properly.
The world should wake up from slumber to realize this truth, so should the secularists do.
Man's value is related to his applying religion. However much they desire to marginalize religion, however much they try to make man remote from religion, in the long run, man should wake up from his heedlessness to realize his abstract value and status that should be based on religion.
However hard the secularists try to keep man away from religion, the Exalted Allah, Who created man and the universe, draws the attention of all the world to the high status and value of man that is considered only by applying religion.
Except such as believe"and do righteous deeds", i.e., apply Shari'a ( Islamic law). 'A good deed' is not only appreciation in the mind. It is also appreciationThe Exalted Allah said: "By {the Token of} time (through the Ages, Verily Man is in loss". His being distinguished among the other creatures, man will be a loser unless he applies the following:

"Except such believe (in Islam), and do righteous deeds". In this verse, there is emphasis of what is mentioned above, but one more condition is added here. This condition is an element of support, not a complementary one. The condition that completes the felicity of man and makes him more valuable is man's application of religion, but the supporting one is the following:
"and recommend one another to perform all kinds of good deeds", i.e., to remind one another of being steadfast on religion, however the rejecters try to shake man and get him away from the path of religion.
"and recommend one another to be patient" (Al 'Asr, 1-3).invitation and intimidation "and recommend one another to perform all kinds of good deedsand recommend one another to be patientOh Muslim, if you have the illusion that you will find comfort in this world, you are mistaken, for the Exalted Allah said to His Beloved, Muhammad (pbuh): "Therefore, when you are free {from your immediate task}, still work hard" (As Sharh, 7), i.e., you will never taste the joy of comfort till you meet your Lord.
The Exalted Allah decided this truth in the Holy Qur'an when He said: "O you man! Verily you are ever toiling on towards your Lord painfully toiling, but you shall meet Him" (Al Inshiqaq, 6). This is a brief statement decided by the Holy Qur'an. The hard work referred to is emphasized in the following verse too: "Therefore, when you are free {from your immediate task}, still work hard".
There is no comfort for man till he meets his Lord. Namely, man is in continuous obligation. Oh youth, do not have the illusion that this life is the abode of enjoyment and pleasure. It is the abode of hard work and toil. You will find comfort and pleasure only in the Paradise that is as large as the width of heavens and earth. But if you hold the trust faithfully, you will not find comfort in this life.
The Exalted Allah points out to the psychological side in man. In obligation, there are two sides, a concrete practical side and a refining one. This idea is referred to in the following verse:
"Truly he succeeds that purifies it. And he fails that corrupts it" (Ash Shams, 9-10). Hence, obligation is not related only to the concrete and physical activity. It is of two parts: practical and refining, because within the human soul, there is dispute between the good and the evil.
Consequently, among the principles of the Divine address, there is reference to this side of refinement. Read the following verse as an example: "It was We Who created man, and We know what dark suggestions his soul makes to him" . It is the problem of the inner dark prompting of the soul, not only the prompting of the devil. Gnostics said that "the soul is harder on man than seventy devils". Accordingly, you face a great problem. It is that your own self prompts you to do evil and pushes you to realize its desires, but the Exalted Allah points out to the remedy in the following verse: "for We are nearer to him than {his} jugular vein" (Qaf, 16), i.e., the Exalted Allah is nearer to you than your own soul.
premonition, and its driving man to the low bottom, read the following verse:
"for man is {ever} niggardly" (Al Isra', 100), i.e., man is miserly. He dislikes spending money, and Allah likes him to spend in charity. The Exalted Allah said: "The evil one threatens you with poverty" (Al Baqarah, 268). The soul cooperates with the devil to suggest dark thoughts to man.
"But man is, in, most things, contentious" (Al Kahf, 54). In order to achieve his self-desires, man argues a lot so that he may get out of the responsibility of obligation.
"And man invokes {Allah} for evil as he invokes {Allah} for good and man is ever hasty", i.e., as man is ignorant, he seeks the evil as he seeks the good, that is because his soul is lost in the midst of its desires. When the soul seeks the realization of its desires, it makes man get away from the balance of distinguishing between the harmful and the beneficial.
"And man is ever hasty"Truly man was created very impatient. Fretful when evil touches him". In the state of impatience, man becomes greatly worried. "Fretful when evil touches him", i.e., he becomes immersed in grief, solicitude and gloom.
When man fails to realized the nearest to him, the One Who is nearer to him than the jugular vein, and when he does not have trust in Allah and what is with Allah, his psychologically state becomes confused.
And niggardly when good reaches him". When man becomes wealthy, he refrains from spending charity; when he is in distress, he becomes impatience as a result of his confused state; and when a tribulation befalls him, he feels fear because of the great grief he suffers from, "Not so those devoted to Prayer. Those who remain steadfast to their prayer" (Al Ma'arej, 19-23).
"Not so those devoted to Prayer. Those who remain steadfast to their prayer". How can prayer be perpetual unless it is the prayer of the soul? The prayer of the body is temporary and is performed at certain times, but during all the time that remains, prayer is changed from the known form of prayer (i.e., kneeling and prostration) into other forms (i.e., remembering Allah in all activities and thoughts). Thus, the soul becomes in perpetual prayer. The Exalted Allah said: By men whom neither traffic nor merchandise can divert from the remembrance of Allah, nor from regular Prayer" (An Nur, 37). The believer buys and sells, but his soul is in perpetual prayer as long as he remembers Allah. Truly Man is, to his Lord, Ungrateful" , i.e., man does not admit the bounties of Allah and does not thank the Beneficent. And to that {fact} He bears witness {by his deeds}". Man realizes his ungratefulness and insists on it, And great is he in his love of wealth" (Al 'Adiyat, 6-8).The Exalted Allah said: "When trouble touches a man, he cries unto us {in all postures} lying down on his side, or sitting, or standing. But when we have solved his trouble, he passes on his way as if he had never cried to us for a trouble that touched him" (Yunus, 12). When man is inflicted with a tribulation, he hurries to prayer and invocation, but when distress comes to an end, he goes back to himself. At distress, man appeals to the One Who is nearer to him than the jugular vein, but when his plight ends, he quits appealing to Allah and appeals to his soul that prompts him to do evil.
The Exalted Allah said: "Nay, but man transgresses all bounds. In that he looks upon himself as self-sufficient. Verily, to your Lord is the return" (Al 'Alaq, 6-8). When man finds that he owns material means, he does without his Lord. Verily, he is ignorant of the fact that his Lord is the One Who provides him with sustenance, and makes him wealthy. It is Allah Who makes him laugh and cry. Soon man exchanges the Creator of the material for the material, and is satisfied with the subsistence instead of the Provider of subsistence.

The Exalted Allah said: "Yet when we bestow our favors on man, he turns away and becomes remote on his side {instead of coming to us}", i.e., he become ignorant and haughty. Don't you see how the haughty turns away from you?
When the arrogant speaks to you and wants to humiliate you or disrespects you, he speaks to you turning his face away from you?
"And when evil seizes him he gives himself up to despair" (Al Isra', 83), i.e., he loses hope of the mercy of Allah and distrusts His bounty.
Recommending man to be kind to his parents is the clearest verse in the Holy Qur'an.
Glory is to Allah!
old-age hospitals and nursing houses are built there.On the other hand, according to Islam, old-age hospitals or orphan houses should not exist, as children are obliged to serve their parents, and orphans are put under the care of families.

Islam establishes a human society, whereas the machine produces a mechanical society.
Nowadays, we find no people walking. They are rather mere robots.
Before manufacturing the iron man, there has already been a robot that exists and moves among the machines. He is not called man. He is rather called a robot because he is void of humanity.
What can you say about the pilot who throws tons of explosives on children? Can you call him 'man'?
No, by Allah. He cannot be called a human being, nor is it possible to call him so.

The Exalted Allah said: "Your Lord has decreed that you worship none but him, and that you be kind to parents. Whether one or both of them attain old age in your life, say not to them a word of contempt, nor repel them, but address them in terms of honor. And, out of kindness, lower to them the wing of humility" (Al 'Sra', 23-24).
Ash Shafi'I was seen in the dream with his beard all threaded with pearls. When he was asked about that, he wept and said: "I am rewarded by this embellishment because when I was alive, I used to put my beard under the feet of my mother".
This was the behavior of the predecessors.
At the time of the Ottoman Caliphate, the Sultan never entered into the council of ruling until he passed by the First Lady, his mother, to kiss her hand and ask her to be satisfied with him and invoke Allah for him.
In Istanbul, I visited the center of caliphate in Asitana (the house of Sultanate) and was acquainted with the protocols of the Ottoman state. There, I saw the place when the Sultan's mother used to sit, , (Mercy be upon the last Sultan Abdul Hamid, who was the last actual sultan, even if he was followed by other sultans).
I used to say to myself: "The Sultan was deposed from his Sultanate in the year 1909, C.E., and now we are in the year 2009, and as one hundred years have elapsed, I am optimistic because the cycle of the appointed time for a change for the better (that is a hundred years) has been perfected. The Exalted Allah said: "But Allah caused him to die for a hundred years, then raised him up {again}" (Al Baqarah, 259).

Since the establishment of the Caliphate, the Sultan used to visit his mother and ask her to invoke Allah for him, and entreat her to be pleased with him, then he entered the council of ruling.

We have enjoined on man to treat his parents kindly" (Al 'Ankabut, 8).He also said: "We have enjoined on man to be benevolent to his parents" (Al Ahqaf, 15).aestheticalThe Exalted Allah said: "But if you count the favors of Allah, never will you be able to number them. Verily, man is given up to injustice and ingratitude" (Ibrahim, 34).
He also said: "He has created man from a sperm drop; and behold this same {man} becomes an open disputer" (An Nahl, 4). The origin of man is a mere sperm, but when the Exalted Allah favors him with creation, he becomes disputant.
The Exalted Allah said: "O man! what has seduced thee from your Lord, the Most Beneficent?
Man has become so disputant that he ascribes to his Lord the son, the wife and partners… . The Exalted Allah said: "Yet they attribute to some of His servants a share with Him {in His godhead}! Truly is man a blasphemous ingrate avowed!" (Az Zukhruf, 15).
The third part presented by the Qur'an is:
3-End:
The Exalted Allah presents the issue of creation, then obligation, and finally the end, to draw the attention of man to the fact that this life is nothing but a passage to the second one, that is the eternal abode. But man is always suspicious due to his adherence to the material.
The Exalted Allah said: "Man say: what! when I am dead, shall I then be raised up alive? But does not man call to mind that we created him before out of nothing?" (Mariam, 66-67).
The Exalted Allah said: "Does man think that We cannot assemble his bones? Nay, We are able to put together in perfect order the very tips of his fingers. But man (denies Resurrection and Reckoning, so he) desires to continue committing sins. He questions: 'When is the Day of Resurrectionط? At length, when the Sight is dazed, And the moon is buried in darkness. And the sun and moon are joined together, on that Day Man will say: 'Where is the refuge?' By no means! No place of safety! Before your Lord {alone}, that Day will be the place of rest. On that Day Man will be told {all} that he put forward, and all that he put back. Nay, man will be witness against himself, Even though he were to put up his excuses" (Al Qiyamah, 3-15).
Oh man, there will be no excuse for you on that Day after you have committed sins. You are supported by the means and tools of getting knowledge, but you intend and choose to be worse than animals. It is you who have chosen to be a slave to your instincts, to your desires, and to your lusts. On that day, you will have no excuse to be justified.
The Exalted Allah said: "Does Man think that he will be left uncontrolled {without purpose}? (Al; Qiyamah, 36). He also said: "Did you then think that We had created you in jest, and that you would not be brought back to Us {for account}? Therefore exalted be Allah, the King, the Truth; there is no god but He, the Lord of the Throne of Honor" (Al Mu'minun, 115-116).
He also said: Verily We have created man into toil and struggle", i.e., man is fond of toil and struggle. " Does he think that none has power over him? " (Al; Balad, 4-5). By his natural human disposition, man is disputant. He is impertinent enough and has the illusion that he is able to contest with his Lord.
"Verily We have created man into toil and struggleAbu Bakr (Abpwh) was of middle stature and very lean. In spite of that, he shook Omar, the giant, and said to him: "Oh Omar, are you mighty at the Time of Ignorance, and coward in Islam?
Oh Omar, Who made you strong?
It is the truth…, it is the toil and struggle by which man can frighten the giants only when he is glorified and supported by Allah.
The disposition of sternness is not dispraised when it is employed for the service of truth.
Abu Bakr (Abpwh) stood on the pulpit and said: "The strong among you is weak till I take the right from him, and the weak among you is strong till I make him get his right".
If you are stern by nature, employ this sternness in being strong for the right so that you do not be like submissive and humble sheep that are led to be slaughtered.
I conclude my speech by the Exalted Allah's words: "Woe {be cursed} to man! What has made him reject Allah? From what stuff has He created him? From a sperm drop He has created him, and then moulds him in due proportions. Then He makes his path smooth for him. Then He causes him to die, and puts him in his Grave. Then, when it is His Will, He will raise him up {again}. No, he has not fulfilled what Allah has commanded him" (Abas,17-23).
This text implies three matters: creation, obligation and end of man all joined together.
"From what stuff has He created him? From a sperm drop He has created him, and then moulds him in due proportions. Then He makes his path smooth for him". "No, he has not fulfilled what Allah has commanded him
"Then He causes him to die, and puts him in his Grave".guide us to You favorably; and make us from those who listen to wisdom and follow the best of it.
I say my words and ask Allah's forgiveness.