surah xi: hud

"and ALLAH's is the invisible of the heavens and the earth, and unto Him the whole matter will be returned. so worship Him and put thy trust in Him." (xi : 123)

in ayurveda it is believed that everything stems from the great nothingness, the supreme consciousness, which is understood as brahma. the subtlest of essences that emanates from this consciousness is akash (ether/space), and from this descends the gross elements of vayu (air), pitta (fire), jala (water), and prithvi (earth).

in the dao, the ancient chinese believe that all arise from this nothingness - that which cannot be known - the wuji, and the opposing forces -yin yang, and from this the seasons or the wu xing (the five phases)... and all return to the wuji. it is an endless cycle.

ALLAH is that from which all descend and that to which all return. the duality of the Creation and the Creator becomes nebulous, a point of speculation in this framework.

surah xi tells the story of hud in relation to the anecdotes of prophecy before hud and after hud. each of the messengers, people like noah, and shuyaeb, and salih and abraham, were all ordinary men. they were persons from amongst the people. they carried forth a message. the majority of their people denied it and in turn the disbelieving supercilious lot felt the wrath of ALLAH, which can be understood as karma - action/reaction.

but the question for me is, why the intervention? what does ALLAH want? why does ALLAH need us to follow the message? if ALLAH is almighty, why is our adherence necessary?

lets begin with the first question - why the intervention?

the message carried forth by the prophet muhammad is to "serve none but ALLAH" (xi :2). the qur'an, as the seal of scriptures, as revealed by the seal of prophets, serves as a point of clarification on the messages brought forth by the messengers of the past - "this is a scripture, the revelations whereof are perfected and then expounded" (xi: 1).

the revelations of surah xi as revealed by the prophet muhammad, reviews the attempts of the prophets before him and how more often than not, their work was futile but their message accurate and the losers, the people who denied it. this message throughout history is redundant, is as clear as the sun in the arabian dessert.

hud came to the tribe of aad with the message to "serve ALLAH" and ALLAH only - "ye have no other God save Him" (xi: 51). he encouraged them to seek guidance and "ask forgiveness of your Lord, then turn unto Him repentant; He will cause the sky to rain abundance on you and will add unto you strength to your strength" (xi: 52).

unto the tribe of thamud, the messenger salih came with a similar message - to believe in the One, in ALLAH and to act accordingly. one of the messages that salih brought is to be kind not just to others but to extend compassion to animal life: "this is the camel of ALLAH, a token unto you, so suffer her to feed in ALLAH's earth, and touch her not with harm lest a near torment seize you" (xi: 64). the message, the intervention of salih was to hold compassion, to be mindful of how we interact with life, that all life, whether it be human or not, is sacred and a creation of ALLAH, the One we are all responsible to .

among the messengers was shuyeb, who came with a message to the people of midian. "he said: o my people! serve ALLAH. ye have no other God save Him! and give not short measure and short weight. lo! i see you well-to-do, and lo! i fear for you the doom of a besetting day." (xi: 86).

the warnings were time and again shunned, denied, laughed at and for each was a consequence. on behalf of the people of Lot, the father of jacob and isaace, abraham intervened. "he mistrusted them and conceived a fear of them" (xi: 70). the people among lot sought to disgrace him and his family and refuted the message. "so when our commandment came to pass We overthrew (that township) and rained upon it stones of clay, one after another (xi: 82).

in each instance, whether it be with the waters parted for the people of moses, in exodus of the reins of pharoah, or the ark of noah and one of each species carried forth, there is a doom that settles on the disbelievers, the wrongdoers. they are warned by the interventionist, the messenger, to serve, be compassionate, humble, and focus not on self-gain but on the greater good by lowering their arrogance and prostrating to the One-ness - ALLAH. they refuse and continue to beat their chests and act with the sense of invincibility and disbelief. they are fuels by a confidence in their god of small things - cattle, plots of land, utensils, etc., which they believe will protect them from, as these gods are separated, divided, and in turn easier to conquer by the human. and each instance, their act of arrogance is met with doom.

in  real life we have gaza and the terrorizers of gaza are glorified and revised as victims. in real life we have mumia and the move 9 and shawn bell and trayvon martin and the terrorizing police are portrayed as victims, as the sufferers. in real life we have sweatshops and exploited laborers and third world and the exploiters of labor lionized as fashion gurus - versace, sean jean (puff daddy), donna karen, tommy hill, rocawear (jay z), etc. in real life - incarceration, unemployment, scarfaces, war, emigrate, urbanization, deforestation... the warned hold the canon of sacred texts and rewrite them. they are kings of arabia and morocco and prime ministers of india and bangladesh and presidents of the u.s. and france. they run this. they eat at restaurants with only a helipad entrance.

the message, surah xi reminds us, is that all will pass. this is not permanent. any act of exploitation has a consequence, and that even if you don't see that justice, even if you are losing your patience because rent, because cut-throats, rat race, gossipers, haters... maintain focus. thus the prescriptions of prayer and ritual:

"establish worship at the two ends of the day and in some watches of the night. lo! good deeds annul ill deeds. this is a reminder for the mindful." (xi: 114). this will get you through. this will keep you anchored. this keep you from losing your mind and joining the cacophony. this will tune you in to the greater Frequency.

"and have patience, for lo! ALLAH loseth not the wages of the good." (xi: 115).