In the Holy Book, the Exalted Allah presents juxtaposition between two groups of people:
-The first group receive knowledge from Allah. Consequently, they believe in Him, trust Him and surrender to Him.
-The second group are detained by their self-interest. Consequently they lose their relationship with Allah.
This issue is referred to in Surat Mariam in which the Exalted Allah presents a lot of Messengers (PBUTH) who are made good examples and lights for mankind. But these examples are not mentioned for mere historical documentation. They are rather presented to people so that the latter follow their examples and learn lessons from their states.
In this text, the Exalted Allah addresses the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) and whoever follows and supports him. He said:

-Also mention in the Book {The story of} Abraham: He was a man of truth, A prophet.
- Behold, he said to his father: O my father! why worship that which heareth not And seeth not, and can Profit thee nothing?
- O my father! to me Hath come knowledge which Hath not reached thee; so follow me. I will guide thee to a Way that Is even and straight.
- O my father! serve not Satan; for Satan is a rebel against {Allah} Most Gracious.
- O my father! I fear lest a penalty affect thee From {Allah} Most Gracious, so that thou become To Satan a friend.
- {The father} replied: dost thou hate my gods, O Abraham? If thou forbear not, I will Indeed stone thee. Now get away from me For a good long while!
- Abraham said: peace be On thee, I will pray To my Lord for thy forgiveness;for He is to me Most Gracious.
- And I will turn away from you {all} and from those whom ye invoke besides Allah. I will call on my Lord; perhaps, by my prayer to my Lord, I shall be not unblessed.
- When he had turned away From then and from those whom they worshipped besides Allah, we bestowed on him Isaac and Jacob, and each one of them we made a prophet.
- And We bestowed of Our Mercy on them, and We granted them lofty honor on the tongue of truth.
- Also mention in the Book {the story of} Moses; for he was specially chosen, and he was a messenger {and} a prophet.‏
- And We called him from the right side of Mount {Sinai}, and made him draw near to Us, for mystic {converse}.
- And, out of Our Mercy, We gave him his brother Aaron, {also} a prophet.
- Also mention in the Book {the story of} Isma`il: He was {strictly} true to what he promised, and he was a messenger {and} a prophet.
- He used to enjoin on his people Prayer and Charity, and he was most acceptable in the sight of his Lord.
- Also mention in the Book the case of Idris; he was a man of truth {and sincerity}, {and} a prophet.
- And We raised him to a lofty station.
- Those were some of the prophets on whom Allah did bestow His Grace of the posterity of Adam, and of those whom We carried {in the Ark} with Noah, and of the posterity of Abraham and Israel; of those whom We guided and chose; whenever the Signs of {Allah} Most Gracious were rehearsed to them, they would fall down in prostrate adoration and in tears.
- But after them there followed a posterity who missed Prayers and followed after lusts; soon, then, will they face Destruction (Mariam, 41-59).

After mentioning the two types, the Holy Qur'an summarizes the juxtaposition in the Exalted Allah's words: "Those were some of the prophets on whom Allah did bestow His Grace of the posterity of Adam, and of those whom We carried {in the Ark} with Noah, and of the posterity of Abraham and Israel; of those whom We guided and chose".
Then, common description of all the righteous is presented in the following statement: "whenever the Signs of {Allah} Most Gracious were rehearsed to them, they would fall down in prostrate adoration and in tears".
Then the opposite group is presented: "But after them there followed a posterity who missed Prayers and followed after lusts; soon, then, will they face Destruction".
It is incumbent on us to make a hasty consideration of this Qur'anic text to meditate upon some of these samples and their meanings.
The Exalted Allah said: "Also mention in the Book {The story of} Abraham: He was Siddiqan {a man of truth}, A prophet". Siddiq is the one who has surrendered to Allah, Exalted He is. He is the one in whose heart there is neither hesitation nor doubt. He is inwardly and outwardly surrendering to the Exalted Allah.
The Exalted Allah said: 'prophet', not 'Messenger', to draw our attention to the meaning of knowledge, for prophethood is related to Allah's knowledge, whereas the mission is connected with Shari'a (the religious law) that the Messenger has to convey to people so that it becomes a disciplining law for them.
In this verse, there are two qualities attributed to our master Ibrahim (PBUH):
1-the quality of surrendering to the Exalted Allah, inwardly and outwardly;
2-the quality of knowledge by Allah that leads to submission and fear of Allah.
"Behold, he said to his father" (i.e., when he called him to Allah), "O my father! why worship that which heareth not And seeth not, and can Profit thee nothing?" Because of the fatherhood relationship between Ibrahim and his father, he found his father in need for the Exalted Allah; he found him cut from the mercy of Allah and is ignorant of Allah, therefore he wanted to guide him to goodness, as goodness cannot be attained but when one becomes related to Allah; whereas the result is all evil when one becomes cut from Allah.
"O my father! to me Hath come knowledge which Hath not reached thee". Notice how the Holy Qur'an emphasizes the description of knowledge. After mentioning prophethood, the Holy Qur'an confirmed it by knowledge that is the quality of prophethood, but what is aimed at in this context is only presenting the description.
"O my father! to me Hath come knowledge which Hath not reached thee", i.e., 'I have received knowledge by Allah Who is characterized by perfection. He is Allah Who has no partner. He is Allah Who controls the affairs of the heavens and the earth and the affairs of everything, while you are cut from Him and engrossed in the possessions that belong to Him'.
"so follow me", i.e., follow me by being acquainted with this knowledge by Allah.
"I will guide thee to a Way that Is even and straight", i.e., 'I shall guide you to a way that leads you to the knowledge of Allah'.
"O my father! serve not Satan". Ibrahim (PBUH) cautioned his father against the ornaments of Satan that might enter man's heart to upset the good principles by making good appear falsehood, and falsehood appear good.
"for Satan is a rebel against {Allah} Most Gracious", i.e., 'and if you befriend him and appreciate his embellishment, he will lead you to disobedience of Allah, for long comradeship of Satan results in adopting his bad qualities. When you follow the steps of Satan, Satan's characteristics will be moved on to you because Satan is disobedient to the Exalted Allah. The fact that Ibrahim's father followed Satan is mentioned in the following verse:
"O my father! I fear lest a penalty affect thee From {Allah} Most Gracious, so that thou become To Satan a friend".
See how the marvelous arrangement of this meaning is presented. The Exalted Allah did not say: 'If you are obedient to Satan, you will face penalty by the Exalted Allah', He rather said: 'If you suffer penalty by the Exalted Allah, you will be a follower of Satan'.
Consequently, the connotation of this verse is really marvelous to man. It implies the lesson that man, who is one of the creatures of the Exalted Allah, will be disgraced when he is away from Allah, when he is cut from Allah, and when he becomes heedless of Allah, for disgrace is the very same penalty. Thus, the Exalted Allah wants to make you understand the meaning of penalty. The Exalted Allah summarizes penalty by saying that it is man's disgrace. There is no greater happiness than that of prosperity, and no greater misery than that of disgrace. What is the meaning of disgrace?
If man does not follow the orders of Allah, and the Exalted Allah does not sponsor him, man will be cut from Allah, and the result will be man's disgrace. But when man obeys Allah and has communication with Him, Allah will bestow His favors upon him by being his sponsor and by making him prosperous. On the other hand, when man turns away from Allah, he will be disgraced, and when he is disgraced he will follow Satan.
Then, Ibrahim's father said rebelliously, talking by his own tongue, and by the tongue of Satan who makes him appreciate disobedience:
"{The father} replied: dost thou hate my gods, O Abraham?", i.e., customs and traditions they have inherited from their forefathers.
"If thou forbear not, I will Indeed stone thee". Ibrahim's father moved from verbal and abstract threatening into a concrete one of using violence, then he followed it by another abstract threat saying:
"Now get away from me For a good long while".
"Abraham said: peace be On thee". Ibrahim (PBUH), who represents one of the samples that are favored with the blessings of the Exalted Allah, said to his rebellious, ungrateful unbeliever: "Peace be upon you", because the believer does not requite people wrong for wrong. He rather says nothing to the others but what is good.
"I will pray To my Lord for thy forgiveness", i.e., 'I shall ask Allah's help in invocation, so that this might be of any help for me and for you'.
"for He is to me Most Gracious", i.e., He is kind and generous with me.
Ibrahim's knowledge by Allah makes him get the knowledge that Allah is most kind to his slaves, and that He is the Benevolent Who bestows His favors on people day and night.
" And I will turn away from you {all} and from those whom ye invoke besides Allah". Ibrahim (PBUH) announced his complete denial of the paths that were against the method of the Exalted Allah.
"I will call on my Lord; perhaps, by my prayer to my Lord, I shall be not unblessed", i.e., I shall turn to Him so that I may be happy, for happiness can be found only in turning to Allah. When I turn to Allah, I live in bliss, but when I turn away from Him I live in misery.
"When he had turned away From then and from those whom they worshipped besides Allah, we bestowed on him Isaac and Jacob, and each one of them we made a prophet". When Ibrahim (PBUH) turned away from his father who antagonized Allah, the Exalted Allah supported and honored him by giving him a child who was a saint. This is a matter that should be well understood by the believer.
The Exalted Allah usually bestows a substitute for goodness. He said:
Say: Verily my Lord enlarges and restricts the Sustenance to such of His servants as He pleases: and nothing do ye spend in the least (in His Cause) but He replaces it: for He is the Best of those who grant Sustenance (Saba', 39). ‏
When you bestow something for the sake of the Exalted Allah; when you are truthful and become steadfast on the straightway, you will find that He, Exalted He is, will support you in all cases. This rule and this frequently repeated equation in the text are well noticed. The Exalted Allah said:
" And We bestowed of Our Mercy on them, and We granted them lofty honor on the tongue of truth".
"Also mention in the Book {the story of} Moses; for he was specially chosen, and he was a messenger {and} a prophet.‏
And We called him from the right side of Mount {Sinai}, and made him draw near to Us, for mystic {converse}."
The Exalted Allah refers to the truthfulness of Moses, to his closeness and his surrendering to Allah. He describes him as the one who did not turn away from Allah, for he was of the chosen who were close to Allah.
Then the Exalted Allah uses a method that aims at emphasizing the previous exposition, not only presenting it. He said:
"And, out of Our Mercy, We gave him his brother Aaron, {also} a prophet".
I used to say: When the Exalted Allah related the story of Ibrahim (PBUH), he made us understand that He recompensed him by bestowing him the son instead of the father, but where is the substitute here?
The one who reads the story of our Master, Moses (PBUH), finds that Pharaoh was as a brother to Moses, for the Pharaoh to whom Moses was sent was the foster brother of Moses. He was the son of Pharaoh who took Moses from the river after his mother threw him in it by the order of the Exalted Allah. Thus, Moses lived with his foster brother, and they both grew up in the same house. Consequently, Moses was used to him and considered him as a brother.
When the Exalted Allah relates the story of Pharaoh's wife, He refers to Pharaoh, the father. He said:
The wife of Pharaoh said: (Here is) a joy of the eye, for me and for thee: slay him not. It may be that he will be of use to us, or we may adopt him as a soon. And they were doing)!Al Qasas, 9).
Pharaoh's wife treated Moses as her son. Thus he was reared in the palace with Pharaoh, the son. They used to play together, and each one treated the other as a brother.
This case needs a detailed social study because the Exalted Allah made Moses get out of the frightened environment, and live in a secure environment void of horror and fear. This is not related to our subject today. But what we are concerned with is that Moses went out of the palace after he became a young man and thus, he lost Pharaoh, the son, who was as his brother. Then he was sent to him after he had become a Messenger. In this story, there is an aspect similar to that of Ibrahim presented in the Holy Qur'an. Ibrahim (PBUH) addressed his father, and in fact, Moses addressed the one with whom he lived most of his life considering him as a brother.
"And, out of Our Mercy, We gave him his brother Aaron, {also} a prophet". Here, a brother is substituted for a brother.
Then the Exalted Allah said:

"Also mention in the Book {the story of} Isma`il. He was {strictly} true to what he promised". In this verse, there is reference to one of the characteristics of the Exalted Allah, that is, the Exalted Allah wants to indicate that Isma'il adopted one of the characteristics of the Exalted Allah that is strictness of promise. There is synecdoche in this statement where the part represents the whole.
"and he was a messenger {and} a prophet".
" He used to enjoin on his people Prayer and Charity".
Look at the points of similarity in this scene: our Master Ibrahim (PBUH) called his father to Allah, our Master, Moses (PBUH) called the one who is as his brother to Allah, and our Master, Isma'il (PBUH) called his wife to prayer. The Exalted Allah related the story of Isma'il's wives in the sound Hadith (most of you must have read about) when Ibrahim (PBUH) visited his son Isma'il (PBUH), he found that Isma'il's wife was bad-mannered and dissatisfied with her life. When he asked her about Isma'il, her answer was not in concordance with the prophetic manner, he said to her: "Tell Isma'il to change the threshold of his house". After Isma'il understood the purport of this statement, he divorced his wife and married another one. He obeyed the order of his father. When Ibrahim (PBUH) came to visit him for the second time and found the second wife good-mannered, he said to her: "Give my greetings to Isma'il and tell him to fix the threshold of his house".
He Sunnah (Prophetic tradition) that clarifies the Qur'an reveals to us what is hidden in this Qur'anic text.
"He used to enjoin on his people Prayer and Charity". Isma'il (PBUH) was not a mere passive onlooker. He carried out the responsibility of the mission. He was not passive when he found a bad attitude. He used to continue calling to the Exalted Allah.
"and he was most acceptable in the sight of his Lord".
"Also mention in the Book the case of Idris; he was a man of truth {and sincerity}, {and} a prophet". In this verse, our Lord, Exalted He is, relates the story of Idris briefly, not in detail. This is the method of the Holy Qur'an, that is, when the Exalted Allah wants to refer to the purport of the text, he uses the method of brevity more and more. Thus, He presents to us the story of Idris briefly telling us that it is like the story of Ibrahim. The statement "He was a man of truth and a prophet" is mentioned in two states, Ibrahim and Idris (PBUTH) to summarize the case for us.
The Exalted Allah does not want to tell us about the details of Idris' life, nor does he want to tell us about whom he called and their story. He rather wants only to present a supported example. He said: "Also mention in the Book the case of Idris; he was a man of truth {and sincerity}, {and} a prophet". Consequently, the story of Idris is similar to that of Ibrahim regardless of details.
"And We raised him to a lofty station" i.e., he was raised to heaven. In this verse, heaven is exchanged for the earth.
In all the examples presented by our Lord in the above mentioned examples, when the Prophet gave up something for the sake of the Exalted Allah, He, Exalted He is, recompensed him with something better. When he relinquished the father, he was given instead the son, when he relinquished the brother, he was given a brother, when he relinquished the wife, he was given a wife, when he relinquished the earth, he was given heaven instead, thus he left the people of the earth to accompany the people of heaven.
The Holy Qur'an concludes in the following statement:
"Those were some of the prophets on whom Allah did bestow His Grace", i.e., His support.
Those people followed Allah, thus He sponsored them. Briefly speaking, those people were supported by the Exalted Allah because they were His pious saint. The Exalted Allah said:
For my protector is Allah, who revealed the book (from time to time), and he will choose and befriend the righteous (Al A'raf, 196).

"Those were some of the prophets on whom Allah did bestow His Grace", i.e., they followed the Exalted Allah, consequently, He sponsored them.
"of the posterity of Adam, and of those whom We carried {in the Ark} with Noah, and of the posterity of Abraham and Israel; of those whom We guided and chose". In this verse, the Exalted Allah presents a great number of examples. It is a continuous phenomenon.
"whenever the Signs of {Allah} Most Gracious were rehearsed to them, they would fall down in prostrate adoration and in tears".
The statement "they would fall down in prostrate adoration" summarizes the meaning of truthfulness, for prostration refers to surrendering, and "in tears" summarizes the meaning of religious knowledge. Truthfulness necessitates 'falling down in prostration', and knowledge necessitates 'falling down in tears'.
And so amongst men and crawling creatures and cattle, are they of various colours. Those truly fear Allah, among His Servants, who have knowledge: for Allah is Exalted in Might Oft-Forgiving (Fater, 28).
Truthfulness makes them fall prostrate and surrender to the Exalted Allah, and knowledge makes them get fear of Him.
Then the Exalted Allah said: "But after them there followed a posterity who missed prayers". Herein the opposite type, who missed prayer, is mentioned, i.e., their relationship with Allah is cut. They are interested in the objects and the created, consequently, they are cut from the Exalted Allah.
"and followed after lusts", i.e., they followed self-desires. When man is cut from the Exalted Allah, he finds himself waiting for him to be his Imam, so that he follows whatever his self recommends him to do.
"soon, then, will they face Destruction". Destruction refers to aberration. How does the Exalted Allah say 'they will face destruction', that is their torture in the Hereafter will be aberration, though they live now in aberration?
Certainly, ignorance in this life will lead to ignorance in the Hereafter.
The first thing the people of ignorance would say after resurrection will be: "Ah! woe unto us!", for in this life, they used to deny this fact and they were completely ignorant of the One Who is going to resurrect them. The first statement they would say: "Who hath raised us up from our beds of repose?" (Yasin, 52).
In another place in the Holy Qur'an, the people of aberration would confess their sin saying:
-But the sects differ among themselves; and woe to the Unbelievers because Of the {coming} Judgment Of a momentous Day!
- How plainly will they see And bear, the day that they will appear before us! but the unjust to day Are in error manifest!‏ (Mariam, 37-38).
On that horrible Day, the oppressors would be in great aberration.
In another text that states this matter more clearly, the Exalted Allah said: "Truly those in sin are the ones straying in mind, and Su'ur (blaze)". In medical language, Su'ur means the one who has lost direction. It is one of the symptoms that physicians discover in some patients who are unable to know the direction of place and time. They are like the one who gets astray in aberration. Thus, the one who loses the right direction in this life, will be punished by losing the right direction in the Hereafter too.
- Truly those in sin are the ones straying in mind, and mad.
- The Day they will be dragged through the Fire on their faces, (they will hear:) Taste ye the touch of Hell! (Al Qamar, 48-47).

We are passing through the Holy months. They are the months of Allah during which one should turn to Him. They are the months of the right direction. The aim of pilgrimage is to direct to Allah the one who is in the state of ritual consecration present in the place of pilgrimage, and the one who is not in that place should not be deprived of being directed in the month of direction and in the other months to turn to Allah, the One Who is the Lord of heavens and earth, to the Worshipped God everywhere.
How much we need direction through which our hearts become communicated with the Exalted Allah, and our souls become attached to His Presence.
Allahum… do not direct our hearts but to You, and do not make our dependence in all our affairs but on You, and protect us from the disgrace of this life and the torture of the second. Make us from those who listen to wisdom and follow the best of it.
I say my words and ask Allah's forgiveness.