surah xxiii: the believers

there is a fear that abounds. religion causes people in my circle to stir nervously. to cook up new convo on the weather and last spring. the anti-religion fervor is so great that when God is mentioned - terror. 

it makes sense. i can see it now. when capital is god, when the notion of freedom is wanton consumerism - buying jeans n polos to match every sneaker, boot, sandal, mood and song; buying everything from culture and dates and water. talk of God, striving for Higher, is terrorism.

surah xxiii makes flagrant the issue at hand - between those who prostrate to condos, cars, status, and those who believe, those who prostrate to Higher:

"successful indeed are the believers

who are humble in their prayers,

and who shun vain conversation,

and who are payers of the poor-due

and who guard their modesty" (surah xxiii 1-5)

i would imagine that this definition of belief, of worship, as laid out in surah xxiii, may threaten the bourgeois, who are wont to take charge of the cannon of intellectual culture, including islam.

the god of many of the muslims i come across seems to be status, seems to be their sense of pride in their degrees and their property, and their sense of distinction from others of a lower class. odd, seems to be in contradiction to the spirit that the surah's of the qur'an speak of. do they believe? in what? is there a striving there?

messenger after messenger has been sent down, and yet, "whenever its messenger came unto a nation they denied him (xxiii: 44). why? 

surah xxiii seeks to explain that the reason many may disbelieve is that they are too engrossed in this reality, in feeling good in a superficial way. in doing so, they seek to justify their perspective by ridiculing those who may not be arrogant, those who may bow down to the Higher, those who place less emphasis on material. "they say: when we are dead and have become dust and bones, shall we then, forsooth, be raised again? we were already promised this, we and our forefathers, lo! this is naught but fables of the men of old." (xxiii: 80-81)

how should believers respond? humility. focus. meditation. prayer. "repel evil with that which is better." (xxiii: 95) spend time with nature so that you can see how the Essence works to "send down from the sky water in measure, and We give it lodging in the earth, and lo! We are able to withdraw it." (xxiii: 18). in doing so, in seeing how nature works, in spending time with the Mother, ALLAH becomes clear, the evidence abounds. 

the proof of why we should live a life of modesty, of work, driven with a devout purpose in getting Closer, abounds. death may be one of the clearest proofs. "deemed ye then that We had created you for naught, and that ye would not be returned unto Us?" (xxiii: 115)

have u forgotten that you were born? do you recall that process, of being born, of being in a womb and coming forth from it, of ageing, of illness, of people around you dying? 

under a microscope, cells can be seen, atoms that make up the elements, can be distinguished. yet, we still have not been able to prolong youth, even though we have grown more childish. we have accomplished a lot but there is more. 

belief is the ability to let go, to allow yourself to get Deeper by bowing down, by humbling yourself. this takes work. this takes a lot of work, because belief is meaningless without work. without work nothing is possible. but work, i'm learning is more than just doing. it's doing full-heartedly, it's striving for Higher, for Deeper. in whatever you do, get Deeper by striving. Work. all praise is due...