My Testimony I

  

LAGOUADER'S SPACE

FRENCH

MON TÉMOIGNAGE I

MON TÉMOIGNAGE II

My Testimony II

1

A capable MAN  

 

It’s Saturday afternoon. Jilali, a construction worker, gets his weekly pay (1000 dirhams), thanks his boss and mounts his old motorcycle. On his way home, he stops at the hairdresser’s. While waiting for his turn, he calls his wife, from his old smart-phone, telling her to prepare hot water for his ‘shower’. After getting a nice haircut, Jilali moves on to his neighbourhood's grocer’s. He pays his week’s debts and orders new stuff to please his wife. Hearing the familiar sound of his motorcycle, his children rush to open the door. The children and the wife are all smiles. Jilali is happy too. The children are jubilating: Father bought us biscuits and yogurt! The wife takes the bag into the kitchen.

 

Minutes later, Jilali is having a ‘shower’. He takes water from a bucket and pours it on himself. This is a shantytown, and there are no showers in shantytowns. But Jilali is happy.

After the shower, Jilali is sitting in the mrah, kind of tiny covered patio serving as a living-room but also as a dining-room and everything. The television is there. In front of him is a tea-tray with a hot teapot and bread. Jilali is delighted. He is waiting for the night to fall, and for the children to go to sleep, so that he too can go to sleep with his wife, so that his enjoyment can be complete.

 

Now count with me how many things Jilali enjoys. (1) Jilali has work, he enjoys that. (Not everybody has got work.) (2) Jilali gets his pay every Saturday afternoon. (3) Jilali has a motorcycle. (Some of his comrades come to work on foot.) (4) Jilali can afford a nice haircut. (5) Jilali has got a Smartphone. (6) Jilali has a wife. (7) Jilali has children too. (8) Jilali’s wife and children receive him with smiles. (9) Jilali has got a place to wash himself in his small abode. (Compare with homeless people.) (10) Jilali has got a television set. (11) Jilali has got someone to make him tea on his return from work. HOW CAN’T JILALI BE HAPPY?

 

Who could say bad things on Jilali? The grocer has never complained about him. Nobody has ever seen or heard him beg anybody anywhere. He is a MAN, a capable MAN. He can support his family without anybody’s help. He does not need anybody’s advice or preaching. His wife and children are always as nicely dressed as anybody else in the neighbourhood. His children go to school and get good marks. His wife goes to the weekly market every Sunday and to the Turkish bath once a week. Everybody knows that Jilali has many things to boast about. Jilali has no worries about his image.

 

Jilali has got a good image. But his cousin Larbi has a much better image than him. Unlike Jilali, Larbi went to school, and it’s at school that Larbi learned gypsum work. Larbi works for the same boss as Jilali, but he is paid differently. Larbi does not touch gypsum with his hands. He’s got three apprentices who do that for him. The boss pays Larbi for the whole gypsum work and Larbi gives weekly pays to his apprentices. That’s why Larbi comes to work by car, and he’s got a nice big smart-phone. He left the shantytown a long time ago and then bought a small apartment in an old building in an old neighbourhood, and now he lives in a three-storey house near downtown. And he married a second wife. His personal development has made several people jealous of him.

  

If Larbi is in a better situation than Jilali, he is far from being the best. If he’s got a three-storey house, there are many, many people who have got villas and even riyads. If he got a nice, new car, there are many, many people who have got much, much nicer and more expensive cars. If he got two wives, there are others who have four. His possessions do not really distinguish him from the rest of the crowd. To stand out, he got to do something outstanding. He should be like his boss’s brother-in-law, who rose from nothing to become President of the Municipal Council of the city. He became one of the important people of the city. Many people still marvel at his meteoric rise in local politics.

 

The story of the brother-in-law of Larbi’s boss is nothing compared to the story of Alejandro Toledo who, at the age of six, worked as a street shoe shiner, before he became a distinguished economist, then President of his country, Peru, from 2001 to 2006. Not every shoe shiner can hope to become President of his country.

 

And not only Jilali and Larbi live for enjoyment and image. We all do. We all aspire to personal growth. And maybe we all aspire to rise in esteem. In the nineteenth century, people moved away from horse-drawn carriages to trains, etc. To grind their wheat, some people moved away from windmills to steam mills. And who among us wants to miss the train of progress?

 

In those times one would boast that he invented a steam mill, one that he installed steam mills, one that he ground his wheat and barley at steam mills. One would boast that he invented the train, one that he drove a train, one that he travelled by train. One that he invented (produced) something, one that he used (consumed) something.

 

You can’t hope to talk a whole day without succumbing to the temptation of boasting to somebody or other about something or other. Every one of us needs to feel that he/she is important, that he/she is not less worthy than others. Then, why do we look at ourselves in the mirror? It’s a basic need for recognition.

 

You go in a crowded street, enter a hotel lobby, sit at a café, and all eyes are on you. All eyes will follow you as a snake would follow a snake-charmer’s pipe. You were born with a beautiful face and your beauty has stayed with you, dazzling people wherever you go. Or maybe you went to market and spent hours picking and choosing until you found a dream of a dress or suit. And you feel great when people look at you.

 

The more beautiful you are, the more stunning your dress is, the more people will look at you. You are aware of that, and so you seldom -if ever- go out before looking at yourself in the mirror.

 

But whatever you do, you can’t always be eye-catching. You may get completely eclipsed by the Rich and the Famous. Even beautiful people prick up their ears on hearing the jingle of coins or, where these are no longer used, when talking about money. No wonder if a beautiful girl preferred a rich, pimply-faced old man to a handsome youth with little or no income.

 

The problem is when we don’t have things to boast about while others around us don’t stop boasting. Unfortunately, we are exposed to boasting every day. Even when you shun people and stay at (your secluded) home, your television or Smartphone will bring you all the boasting of the world. Boasting in adverts, boasting in soap opera, boasting in music, plus undeclared boasting of all sorts.  

 

Sometimes everybody -including governments and corporations- go from bragging to begging. Once the crisis is over, everyone starts bragging again. The suffering quickly falls into oblivion. Little or no return to reason, to common sense. I am no exception. May God have mercy on us!

 

 

2

The Star of the day 

Can everybody be rich? Can everybody become a millionaire, as an influencer, for example? Then there would be no homeless person in Silicon Valey. If everybody were rich, who would work in the fields or in mines or in factories? Can any French native speaker be a good teacher of French Grammar? Can any good football commentator be a good football coach? Can any professor of Management make a good company manager? 

 

A car hits a motorcyclist and knocks him off his bike, seriously injuring him. The ambulance arrives right away, the police too. The victim is transported to the hospital as a matter of urgency. Doctors and nurses welcome him into the emergency room. His family learns the sad news by telephone and soon joins him in the hospital, offering him flowers. A lawyer comes to inquire about the facts. He wants to know whether the victim has the right insurance. Meanwhile, a mechanic arrives to repair what he can. Then a sweeper comes to clean the area of the accident. Is it not said that the misfortune of some makes the happiness of others? When someone works in an SME that manufactures cables, computer systems, or other, for military aircraft, does he think for a moment of the potential victims of the planes equipped with his cables, etc.? What would the doctors, nurses, pharmacists... do for a living if there were no sick people? What would the mechanics, the lawyers, the insurers, the paramedics, the courts, the flower vendors, the telecommunications operators, the sweepers, do for a living if there were no such problems?

 

Who can count how many people would “live off” a wedding or a funeral? Apparently, a lot of people live off that! 

 

We cry when we lose our father, we smile when we receive our share of the inheritance. It is because one knows that he’ll be hungry that he goes to the grocer’s. The hairdresser is there because there are necessarily people who will need a haircut. In Casablanca, the economic capital of Morocco, many people suffer during the period of the aïd-el-kebir, because many shopkeepers and almost all craftsmen (plumbers, mechanics, electricians, repairers of refrigerators, etc.) disappear from the city. They go and spend the holiday with their families in their native towns and villages. They return ten or fifteen days later to revive the white city. The barber (tooth puller) needs someone who has a toothache but does not have enough money to go to the dentist; the shoe repairer needs someone who has torn his shoes but cannot buy new ones; the mechanic needs someone who has had a road accident… When X or Y has such a terrible night-time toothache pain, does he think of all this?

 

Some men remain poor all their lives and some men remain disabled all their lives. But should a poor man accept his state of poverty as something fated for him and not try to improve his living conditions? Should I be like Jilali when I think I could be much better off?

If all men were like Jilali, for all his bliss and contentment, would there have been such men as Alexander the Great or such civilizations as the Roman Empire or such beautiful monuments as Taj Mahal in India and Alhambra in Spain. If all men were like Jilali, would it be possible to have breakfast in Paris, lunch in New York and dinner in the skies on the way back to Paris? If all men were like Jilali, would there have been such cities as New York or Tokyo or Dubai? Would there have been any star wars, space conquests, discoveries, science, literature, any development at all? If all men were like Jilali would there be any dreams?

 

We’re all tempted by the big-strong-and-fast kind of life. The funny thing is, whatever we do, however genius we are, there’s always somebody one step ahead of us, with something a little bigger, stronger or faster than we have. It’s a Tom-and-Jerry game!

 

I go to the outskirts of the city to change air and meditate a little. I go a little further and find not only large fields belonging to rich persons, but also dazzlingly beautiful homes. Each time I sigh (and say) “I wish I had such a beautiful dwelling!” I see another one, more beautiful, then another one, much, much more beautiful. It’s like a man obsessed with beauty looking for a beautiful woman in a big city, each one makes you forget all about the others. Then I go a little further and find an asphalt road. I stop for just a few moments and I see not one, but many cars I’d desire to have for myself. Who then would I be jealous of? That asphalt road leads me, past large farm houses, to a poultry factory. Will I be jealous of the owner of this factory too? How many people work in this factory? How many families do they support? How many people, jobless people, would be happy to find work, even seasonal work, in this factory? How many chickens and eggs does this factory produce every day? How many people will buy, transport, etc, these chickens and eggs before they land on my dinner table? How many other people will eat that factory’s chickens and eggs? That “poor” farmer and the “poor” owner of that poultry factory and the people working for them…………… are all servants of ME! They serve Me. I can’t count the people who are serving me every day! The clothes I am wearing, who made them for me? I did not sew them up myself? The watch I’m wearing, my mobile, etc, etc, etc.  Am I not a king? Who told me, for example, that the farmer is happy? Not every smiling person is happy. Even a happy-go-lucky comedian who makes millions of people “happy” with his gags may end up taking his own life, to everybody’s surprise.

I look at these poor women and children sitting on the ground, waiting for the potato harvest to be finished. To while away the time, some of the women chat and joke with one another. Others keep quiet, looking on as some seasonal workers, men and women, poor like themselves or even poorer, dig up the potatoes while others put them in wooden or plastic boxes. Other workers, men and women, carry the boxes on their shoulders to the trucks outside the field. Near the trucks are a few cars and a few men. One car and one man stand out. Anyone can tell who the eye-catching man is. He is evidently the farmer. The eye-catching car is his.

This man is the Star of the Day. I can well imagine that the men would wish to be like him, having what he has. The women would not easily refuse to marry him or accept him as an in-law. He has such a vast field worth a lot of money and such a splendid car and he wears such smart clothes and glasses and everybody is speaking to him politely and addressing him as Haaj ! Maybe he has got other things elsewhere. His wife might be shopping, at this time, at some mall or other, or maybe playing golf or perhaps having a sauna at a 5-star hotel. His children, if he has any, must be at expensive schools… How lucky he and his family are!

Yet, I stop to think. Starting with the land, it needs workers to prepare it; maybe others, men and women, to do the sowing, etc. The farmer may also need an engineer or specialized technicians. He certainly needs people to transport something or other, etc, etc. On the harvest day, there’s more work for more people. When the harvest is finished, those poor women and children sitting by and waiting patiently will be allowed into the field to glean the leftover potatoes … The “good” potatoes will be transported and delivered to markets, supermarkets and small shops. Some will be exported or processed, etc, etc. I say to myself: See? The farmer won’t eat all his potatoes! It’s people like me who’ll eat the potatoes. The children (and husbands) of those poor women will be happy to eat those “bad” potatoes. And who knows? Some of these poor women’s children may become, one day, maybe less rich, but much better, in one way or another, than the children of the Star of the Day. Then, part of the money that this one man will earn from the potatoes will go into other people’s pockets: hotels, restaurants, schools, hospitals, etc. I just can’t count how many people will benefit in one way or another from this farmer’s potatoes. I can’t count, for example, how many kids will be happy to eat the chips made of those potatoes. Not to mention the other “lucky person”, the owner of the potato chips factory and his employees…

I stand between two vast potato fields in order to meditate on all this. I think about the seasonal workers who were happy to find work in these fields. These workers, who have families of their own, were paid -whatever the pay.

This little casual meditation leads me to ask myself questions: do I want to succeed at all costs or to be happy? It's not the same thing, I suppose. I know that many people who have been successful are anything but happy, and many people who are happy have not been so successful. So what do I want? Be both happy and successful? Okay, but what should come first: success or happiness?

 

I have noticed that men remain men, after all. They are human beings. There's a limit to what they can stand, whatever the (high) level of their faith and (exceptional) degree of their sincerity. Even prophets experienced moments of weakness vis-à-vis society, because every man likes to be liked in society. No man would like others to speak ill of him, me first.

 

Sometimes I say my problem is not so much with God, or with the Government, it's with society. People keep asking me -or wondering- what I do; some want me to say I'm jobless. They lecture me on what I should do to get a (new) job -as if I were new to this world! They want to see weakness in my look, in my voice. They want me to feel small. They want me to feel ashamed of myself. That's my problem. But then I think and realize what most people have in common: greed, arrogance, impatience, envy, etc. What would people say if I had a good job, etc. etc.? Wouldn’t they envy me? Wouldn’t that be a problem too?

 

But it’s hard, it’s very hard to stand shoulder to shoulder with other men when I can't even find words to explain my situation without lying to them? How can I persevere? How can I be an ambitious man when I see that people with less qualifications than I are by far better off? What's left for me to dream of at this age? That's my problem. My problem is not with the Scripture or with the State, it's with society. Then, I keep on thinking to myself until I burst into laughter like a fool!

 

Gloom would enshroud me the moment I hear that I'll be laid off, or the moment I leave my workplace for the last time. I know then that I won’t be able to stand before people who are lucky to keep their jobs without feeling some kind of shame or guilt. These are always hard moments. Yes, it’s not always easy to think and laugh.

 

This is a very serious problem indeed -even in normal times. Even very highly educated people who find very demanding, very challenging job adverts in prestigious magazines, and reply to those ads and pass all interviews and are accepted and do start work with very good salaries…, they don’t know what may happen to them in the future. All the education and skills you got, that’s the past. You may still have to worry about marriage, if you’re not married yet, or about your children, if they’re still young, or about your health… and all that is in the future. In other words, problems never end.

You could go onto commercial websites and make some money without leaving your bedroom, but that’s only one part of life.

 

I may have good insurance. The insurance will only solve the money side. Insurance will not replace a lost eye or a lost limb. Insurance will not solve the immaterial side (feelings and emotions, affection, mental strength…). And all that is in the future. The best economic minds of the world were unable to anticipate, let alone to avert, the 2008, Financial Crisis and now the whole world is battling Covid and its consequences… I’m not sure my mind can anticipate (and avert) bad things for my humble self?

 

Now imagine I got a good job after a long period of unemployment. Probably the first thing I’d think of is to show that off. I would love other people to know what I’m worth. And when things go badly, what do I do? I might try to hide from people. But how long will I hide from people? People will end up knowing that I am jobless, that I am suffering. People will end up showing me their true faces. They will show me what I am worth in their eyes. I would feel small, unworthy. I would realize that I am worth what I have, what I possess. I would see how the people I thought good friends would react to my misery. I would see how members of my beloved family would react to my unending unemployment. I would see how people would let me down when I need them most. But how would I feel when I have the money again to buy what I couldn’t buy a year ago, or to go to places I couldn’t show up my face six months ago? That's the shepherd's answer to the shepherdess, isn't it?

 

When I think about these fragile people I see on the street (beggars, homeless people, prostitutes…), I realize how weak Man can become after all his strength and power.

 

When I go out on the street with a clean jacket and clean trousers, who will know that there’s no money in my pockets? Because I don’t beg, people will think I am self-sufficient. So nobody will come forward to help me even if I am over-laden with debts and probably cannot even afford my day’s food. I go on the street like a normal person -as if I were rich. Maybe I’m rich in my heart. That is to say, I am not impressed by what other people got. I don’t care who has what. I am not amazed at other people’s achievements. I respect everybody. I wish good to everybody. But -after all- I too wish to be a normal person just “like everybody else”! If other people are in a hurry to get everything in this world; if they want to get something at age 20, another thing at age 30, another thing at age 40, another thing at age 50… I just hope to get something before I die! And I’d do everything I possibly can to achieve that, as though I’m going to live forever.

 

At least, by talking to myself like this, if I'm lucky enough to have strong nerves at the right time, I might succeed in temporarily calming the ardour of my soul, which cannot accept the fact. Self-coaching can be more soothing than somebody’s counseling sometimes.

 

Now, if I had the means, would I give a thought to those people who would say the same thing, who would have the same emotions, who may be in the same situation and I probably do not know about them because they look alright when they go out on the street? Maybe many of these people found themselves in need of basic things. Maybe they tried everything they possibly could to get those basic things -all to no avail. And maybe they were finally convinced that there was nothing the matter with their personalities, or intelligence, or talent or physical ability to get work, for example, and therefore be able to acquire what they needed. Maybe they blame Fate. I don’t know.

 

I do follow the news. So I see that in many countries a lot of people are losing interest in politics. They are convinced that their vote has been rendered useless and that the democratic game no longer serves any purpose. For them, nothing will change. And so they only go to the polls when there are heavy fines. But I also see that many people still trust -or at least expect something from- the Government. Only, unfortunately, many governments are finding it increasingly difficult to meet people’s needs (jobs, healthcare, education…). Some people chose to revolt and topple rulers and bring down regimes. They want, they said, to have their Fate in their own hands. It is the fear of the future. Is this fear legitimate?

 

Well, even a great emperor would be afraid of losing his throne. More than fear, which may not always be justifiable, there are many undeniable realities. Age is a fact: nobody remains young and strong forever, and there's death at the end of the road. Even at the height of our youth and physical and mental strength there’s sleep, for example, and this sleep is a form of total helplessness. Do we think about such small things?

 

The world does not work in a mechanical or automatic way. Certainly, a wheat grain will always give a grain of wheat and an egg will always give a hen's chick. That's the rule. But it is not because a man slept with a woman that there will inevitably be a child. It is not because it rains that the land will yield fruit and vegetables. It's not because it's the same father and the same mother that the children will have the same size or the same facial features... In some places people are killed by floods, in other places by drought.

 

A baby could be born in the best birthing clinic or in the best palace in the world, but for him, at birth, it's not like in the womb. That's probably why he cries! What does this mean to me, anyway? It simply means that, as a human being, I should expect danger before quietude, problems before solutions, boos before applause, suffering before deliverance... We can all see that problems, danger and fear are part of our world, whether we like it or not. Calling it pessimism or realism makes no difference at all. Even if I started thinking about it in the most complex way I would never be able to understand everything. I can never know it all.

 

And yet the world isn't as nasty as that. There are so many happy people in the world. That’s a fact. There aren’t just poor people. So what do I do when I'm faced with any situation? Well, I choose, according to my personal beliefs, or sometimes depending on the conditions in which I live, and then I take responsibility for my choices. My choices, active or passive, free or coerced, can move me away from other people just as they can bring us together.  There are many people who convert to another religion without any problem. There are people who flee countries where they no longer feel free to do what they want or behave as they please. Others, on the contrary, leave the freest countries in the world to live where life can look like hell. It's a matter of choice. And it is also a question of possibility. It is not easy for a Sunni to convert to Shiism or for a Shiite to become a Sunni, for example. So it's not always easy to choose. Only, when you choose, you have to take responsibility for your choice.

 

I only have to make use of my intelligence to discern right from wrong. It’s up to me to see the beauty in humans, in birds, in streams, in animals, in the starry sky, in the sea, in poetry, in music, in arts, in people’s clothes, in their differences: physical, cultural, civilizational and other. It’s up to me to appreciate this chance I’ve been given to feel and sense the beauty of this world in all its forms. Certainly, there is so much misery in this world. There are plenty of problems. And there will be even more in the future. Who doesn't have one’s everyday little worries? However, and no matter how difficult and short, life is much more beautiful than it may look sometimes. If it is short and difficult it is certainly for a reason -as we will see in the second part of these reflections. When we are young, we often think of the good life. But even when you get it, life is not just the salary and the company car. We could end up facing a tasteless, utterly monotonous, meaningless life. We could find ourselves in a very nice situation, but in a city full of pollution, waste, crime, etc. So would we say that life is not beautiful? Life is felt, it is not lived. Whether you eat fish or meat, potatoes or caviar, it comes down to the same thing. You are no longer hungry. Whether you feel happy about it or not, that's the question!

 

Now, if I want to question myself in relation to existential realities rather than just my daily worries, should I be content to only be inspired by birds and not see the beautiful plumage of these birds or their incredible migration? Should I be content to distinguish colours and shapes and know their names and not think about where all these colours and shapes came from? Who created them? And why?

 

I’ve grown to believe that we're all human. But it is more than just a belief. It's a reality. We're all fragile. We have the same fears, the same aspirations. All eat vegetables and fruit, bread and cheese -if they can afford that. All want to grow up, work, get married. All will have -more or less- the same problems and the same pleasures. We all need water and oxygen. The same water from the Seine (River), or the Nile, is drunk by plants, animals, whites, blacks, Christians, Jews, Muslims, atheists... Provided there is water for all! Sometimes there is none, or not enough. People die from hunger or thirst. Others migrate to flee famine. Who would talk about beauty to these people? But what do we do when we have the rain, when we have the breeze and the poppies, when we have the butter and the honey? What do we do when life is smooth and easy? Well, we don't care about fate!

  

I see that our eyes do not always have the same colour. Even eyes with the same colour are not identical. Everyone is a separate being, regardless of his beliefs. Everyone has his/her own fingerprint and his/her own eye print, and that's not because he/she is Christian, Muslim or Buddhist. Everyone has his/her own voice, own heart, own brain, own life. Who designed all this?

 

We could all say that the world would have been a better place with neither poor nor beggar, no widow nor orphan, no war nor famine. But, I wonder, what would be our merit, we humans, if we did not show our humanity in the moment of earthquakes, droughts, floods, volcanic eruptions, economic crises, etc.? 

 

And that is the case, fortunately. In the worst adversity, I see incredible mutual aid, solidarity, compassion… Yes, I also see thieves and looters. In times of war, I see those who slaughter the innocent, who destroy everything in their path, and, at the same time, I see people who take incredible risks to save lives? Why should I not therefore see in these events and in my own personal problems kind of alert, a reminder that I have perhaps forgotten too much that I’m just passing through here on earth and that it is high time that I prepared for some eternal life after death?

 

It is man who dared to kill humans. A man killed his brother for a matter of jealousy. That same jealousy is still making war and putting on the road millions of refugees. It is not any deity who burns down hundreds of tons of wheat or throw them into the sea in order to raise prices. It is not any deity who imposed to anyone opting for the nuclear or allowed anyone to exploit people. The air is free for everyone. The sun is free for everyone. Life is free for everyone. Nonetheless, I always have to leave a place for the unexpected; I should always expect a climate-related disaster or a serious economic or social crisis. Pessimism or realism, it doesn't change anything. A good goalkeeper, you know, if we talk about football, must always be on alert even against the smallest team in the world! 

 

3

Glamour and power

Like anybody else I see the glamour of some people; I see how “lucky” people live; I see the growing gap between the poor and the rich...  I say to myself : there were before us, in ancient times, as well as in more recent times, people who enjoyed some glamour, too; there were handsome men and beautiful women who loved each other, who had children, who lived in beautiful mansions, who worked (for some), who listened to music, who walked in beautiful gardens, who said sweet things to each other, who made love, who dreamed of better days, who fell ill, who divorced, who waged war, who killed each other, who got injured, and who died. People just like us. Is it therefore simply a perpetuation of the human species? Where are we heading? Will we, humans, always have the same pleasures, the same frustrations? Why are we here on this earth? Will there not be a day when misfortune disappears forever? What’s life worth if one does not live it fully, in joy and quietude? What's the point of wasting time rehashing questions? What’s the use of History, what’s the use of philosophy, what’s the use of literature... if historians themselves, if philosophers, if male and female writers take their own lives sometimes to escape their terrible realities? I do not have answers to that. However, I just notice that there are many people who do not commit suicide. They confront life with the few means they have. That means that, at least for these people, life is worth living. Now, is life really worth living -whatever our sorrows? 

Question: why was I taught History at school?  I don’t know.  But when I now read History books or ancient tales or poems I can easily notice that people have always been more important than their dwellings, mounts, money or anything else they might possess. Man has always been afraid of sickness, death, poverty, among other things. Man has always needed to feel reassured, protected, safe. Man has always made peace after the war ; he has always created courts to do justice; he has always built schools to educate future generations; he has always built cities and villages to enable men to feel close to each other, to create all kinds of healthy relationships, to join hands, to exchange services, even when personal relations or between immediate neighbours or clans are not perfect. At times man may suffer from the cold, heat, hunger, thirst, fatigue, fear, loss of loved ones... But then he would enjoy the pleasure of eating after hunger, the pleasure of drinking after thirst, the pleasure of rest after getting tired, the pleasure of love, etc.

In the past people brought knowledge -in their heads- from their old people, and then passed it on to the next generations. Each time new palaces, schools, roads, gardens, factories, etc, were built. Man’s knowledge of the world expanded. And each time there was a new kingdom, good or bad. The question is, why didn’t those "good" kingdoms last forever? Why were there "bad" kingdoms as well? That’s a hard one to answer. But, interestingly, History gives us some clues.

Many of the things we use today were invented by different peoples in different places at different times. Bronze, for example, was invented by the Chinese, glass by people in Mesopotamia, paper by the Egyptians, alphabet by Phoenicians, and so on. Each people learned from the other peoples and made their own inventions, thus expanding man’s knowledge of the world. This knowledge spread through trade and conquest. The conquerors inherited the knowledge of the vanquished people and took it home or spread it to other places. At the same time, the conquerors brought in their own way of life, their thoughts, their arts and their religion.

The interaction between so many powers, so many civilizations and so many ways of life made it necessary for each people to defend their own existence. Each people had to defend everything that was at stake for them. That included their culture. So those who happened to believe in a deity, any deity, had to defend their own faith by using all the tools available, including those that had been invented or developed by nations who did not necessarily share their faith. Such tools may have included Phoenicians’ alphabet and Greek logic. Thus all nations (I mean good or bad) were anything but "redundant". They were just as useful to one another.

It is also interesting to notice that most of those early interactions between various contending nations took place just in or around Palestine. The Egyptians, the Babylonians, the Persians, the Hittites, the Greeks, the Romans, and many more in between -all had a foothold there at some point in history. And then came the Arabs, from Makkah. Those Arabs found themselves thrusting in every direction, going towards nations who had known impressive empires, and ended up building their own empire stretching across most of the then known world.

There followed a magnificent world interaction. The Arabs borrowed old, dormant knowledge from the Greeks, the Persians and other nations, and updated and enriched it, and then spread it in every direction. Baghdad emerged as the world capital of science. And in the West there was Cordoba, in Spain, where Arab science was passed on to Europe through translation. Averroes spoke to Muslims and non-Muslim Europeans of God using Aristotle’s logic.

Baghdad was destroyed, but Islamic knowledge survived. It survived because it was not only in the books that the Mongols threw into the Tigris River, but also in people’s hearts and minds. Like the destruction of the Alexandria Library in antiquity, the loss of Baghdad libraries could have been a much more awful tragedy had there not been what I called interactions. Marrakesh, which was built and made their capital by Morocco’s Almoravid dynasty, was deliberately and completely destroyed by their Almohad successors. These rebuilt the whole city in the most beautiful way possible, because they had already "received" the necessary knowledge from their predecessors.

Even the rebuilding of a whole nation is possible if there is the necessary knowledge and will. Europe made the best use of the early Muslims’ knowledge and rebuilt itself in a matter of generations because its own people had the will to do so.

In Europe the conflict between the Church and new scientists resulted in new thinking. Some clung to their religious beliefs, defending themselves by use of logic and philosophy. Others broke with the Church altogether and called their way "Secularism". They defended themselves by experimenting with their knowledge of the world, excluding any reference to the Unseen Realm.

The new knowledge of the world, based on experimentation, led to the Industrial Revolution. The boom in industry led to the spread of knowledge on a phenomenal scale.

Colonization made it possible for more people to go to more places. Africans "went" to America, taking with them their religions, including Islam. Other Muslims were taken into Europe, where they continued to practise their faith at a time when large numbers of Christians ceased to go to Church. Orientalists (from Europe) went to the Arab and Islamic world to "return" part of the Arabic and Islamic heritage to the newly awakening Arabs and Muslims.

Now that imported material is being re-exported with added value. It is done through the Internet and satellite TV stations. And so Islam has become the fastest growing religion in America. This was made possible by American technology and Arab oil money.

Arab oil money has contributed among other things, to the building of large mosques, big Islamic institutes and libraries, and to the printing of the Quran and other religious books in large quantities in many languages in many parts of the world.

Even within the poorest Islamic states Islam is growing as fast as demography. Wherever you go, there is a new mosque and a new school because there is a new village, town or suburb. Small towns are swelling into big cities, and so small mosques and schools are becoming bigger and bigger.

 

Modern means of communication and transportation together with modern education systems have made world interaction incredibly easier every day. More and more people are overcoming illiteracy. More and more people are learning more and more about each other. More and more people are coming towards each other. Migration, tourism, business travel and war are playing a great role in the ever-increasing exchange of human experience. Globalization has pushed this exchange even further.

When, in the 7th century AD, Islam reached the lands beyond the Arabian Peninsula, non-Arab Muslims (who learned Arabic for social, political, professional and scientific reasons) shared the Arabs' astonishment at the wonderful language of the Quran. If Romans and Persians had hitherto expressed their aesthetic tastes and know-how through the way they adorned their palaces, churches and temples, the Arabs had expressed beauty through poetic descriptions of every beautiful thing they could find or see around them : horses, camels, gazelles, human bodies and faces, landscape, feelings... Putting the same Arabic letters together, the Quran did unimaginably better than any Arab or non-Arab poet. The Quran came with something simple and sophisticated at the same time for both Arabs and non-Arabs. Those non-Arabs used tiny pieces of wood, glass, stone, etc, that they put together in basic geometric forms (in imitation of flowers, stars, etc) to adorn gates, domes, walls, floors, thrones, etc, in the best beautiful way possible.

In a way the history of Islam cannot be different from the history of ancient Egypt or Greece or any other civilization or empire. They all reflect human nature one way or another. Islam was a victim of its own success. Islam appeared in Makkah, then moved to Madinah, then spread in a matter of years to virtually the whole of the Arabian Peninsula. Madinah became the Capital. There was so much money coming in, an ever-expanding territory, and plentiful opportunities for ambitious people. This could only lead to rivalries even amongst Arab Muslims. This is human. This has happened in all nations throughout History. In all nations kings killed sons and brothers and princes killed their fathers and uncles -for the sake of power. The Prophet Muhammad’s grand-sons were both killed for political reasons : Hussein was beheaded and Hassan poisoned. That happened under the Umayyad dynasty, the same dynasty that built the beautiful Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem and brought Islam into Spain. The last Caliph of the Abbasid dynasty was, according to some historians, “rolled in a carpet and trampled to death” by the Mongols, the same Mongols who later built the beautiful Taj Mahal in India. The Mongols not only massacred countless people during their conquest of Iraq, they also destroyed the libraries of Baghdad, which contained books of Greek philosophy and sciences, books of Indian and Persian wisdom and arts, books of the Islamic theology: all was thrown into the Tigris River. But those “barbarian” Mongols gave birth to greatly civilized Mongol rulers who brought Islam to lands stretching from India to China to Russia… Most of the old mosques in those places were built by Mongols -the same Mongols who committed atrocities against not only Arabs, but many other nations as well. It’s them who sold into slavery free men from Central Asia, men such as Baibars, who became one of the greatest rulers in Egyptian and Syrian history. The Mamluks, Baibars’ dynasty, had their part of “barbarism”. They too committed atrocities, but people remember them more for their beautiful legacy than for their ‘barbarian’ side. Cairo, Jerusalem and Damascus are full of beautiful Mamluk monuments. The Mamluks were succeeded by the Ottomans, who brought Islam deep into Europe and built a great empire including most of the Arab world.

In my Baccalaureate year, I was assigned to give a lecture in Arabic on Mahmoud Sami Al-Baroudi, a prominent Egyptian poet of Turkish origin. Some classmates were avid readers and they read almost everything, especially philosophy and literature. I knew I would have hard time once they began asking me questions, no matter what my lecture might be like. Their questions were very hard indeed and I was embarrassed, but I had a trick up my sleeve. When I felt defeated, I offered to read excerpts of Al-Baroudi's poetry. I read out one of his love poems and there was loud applause in the classroom! Even those hard-talkers, who had never been convinced by anybody's answers, were bewitched by the beauty of Al-Baroudi's poem. Al-Baroudi was a soldier who loved the Arabic language. He gave it his heart and it gave him fame and glory. (He later became Prime Minister of Egypt.) His time marked the beginning of the Arab Renaissance. This Arab renaissance began with Arabic poetry. Ahmad Shawqi, who was nicknamed "Prince of Poets", was Egyptian of Turkish origin, too. His poems sung by Umm Kulthum 'united' the souls of so many Arabs and Muslims around the world. Those "new Arabs" realized how much important Classical Arabic was even in their time. Cairo, Beirut and Baghdad revived that beautiful Arabic language. As a student, I used to hear the saying: "Cairo writes, Beirut prints and Baghdad reads"! There were Arabic readers, writers and newspapers even in the Americas! Christian Arab writers, such as Jubran Khalil Jubran, Elia Abu Madi and Mikha'il Na'ima, who lived in the U.S.A., further enriched the Arabic literature with their poetry and prose in Arabic. So many old Arab and Islamic books were snatched from oblivion (by Arabs and Orientalists) and broke into print, for the first time. Cairo became the Makkah of Arabic-language writers and translators. The number of Arab schools and Arab literate people started to grow by the day. But not all Arabs were proud of their history, of their language, of their religion, of their civilization. Many Arabs were impressed by the colonizers. Ibn Khaldoun had pointed out in his Muqaddima that the vanquished peoples tended to ape the victors.

A century ago, most Arabs lived in the countryside, most were illiterate, most lived on agriculture and grazing. Under colonial rule, many Arabs drifted to towns, many gave up agriculture and grazing to work as blue-collars in factories or as artisans in small shops. Their children went to school and, when the colonizers went away, became white-collars in franchises. Some became state-employees in the new administration. More and more people tasted the pleasures of lifelong jobs; youths became financially independent, then socially independent. Anybody could lead the life he/she wanted in his/her new home. Within a few decades, villages became towns and towns became cities. A lot of jobs with the state, a lot of factories (mostly franchises), a lot of workshops, a lot of shops of all kinds and sizes. Prosperity was within reach for so many people, literate and illiterate. It was easy for many people to build or buy a home, to send children to school, to set up businesses, to live in the city. Those who went abroad, mostly as blue-collars, sent money back home, then built their own homes, set up their own businesses. Their children became very successful. In newly independent oil-rich Arab states opportunities were much, much more important. You could therefore dream of glamour and power.

Then, the first economic crisis (in the 1980s). Then, the ever-worsening problem of unemployment. Then, the ever-growing crisis of housing. Then, all sorts of problems. Life is no longer as rosy as it was. People are now worried about their retirement pensions, about the future of their children, about the consequences of pollution… Fewer and fewer people dream of lifelong jobs and comfortable retirement. And in the midst of all this, in the midst of the so many newly constructed neighbourhoods, apartments upon apartments upon apartments, you see a new mosque.

What happened in the Arab world also happened in other parts of the world. The Welfare State was created to give people a certain sense of stability, serenity and confidence. Unfortunately, the "Trente Glorieuses" (the 30 year post war boom) is over. Some are still nostalgic for the communist era when they could, at least, find with the state a safe haven: housing facilities, schooling for children, free medical care, etc. Neither the welfare state nor the communist state nor the best democratic state in the world can now reassure anybody any more. Globalization has conquered all aspects of our lives to the point that some have already started talking about de-globalization. Nobody knows anymore what the future holds or will be like. It's the same old story of the fear of the unknown. 

 

4

Social  justice

Someone said: "To solve the problem of unemployment of our youths we only have one solution: imperialism." This was possible in the 19th century. In all likelihood, it's increasingly difficult to think of such radical solutions. What to do, then? Multinationals are finding it increasingly difficult to compete with each other as purchasing power is not all that good in much of the world. Education systems are facing serious challenges even in many developed countries. The morale of households and young people in so many countries is not at all brilliant. Many young people went bankrupt even before they started working because they were too indebted for their higher education. Others turn to prostitution to finance their studies. In short, there is a problem.

A revolution broke out in Tunisia in 2010, then reached other Arab countries. The protesters called for a new constitution. But people didn't want a new constitution for the sake of a new constitution. They wanted social justice. But then they didn't want social justice for the sake of social justice. What they wanted, in fact, was a better life: safe jobs, decent housing, better schooling, better health services, better infrastructure, stadiums... and a lot of freedom. All these rights are now enshrined in the new constitution. As for a better life, a certain feeling of betterment and security…we are still waiting for that. This kind of prosperity is unfortunately hard to imagine in the foreseeable future in this part of the globe, North Africa.

Many, many thousands, if not millions, of people in my region have bought homes on credit and are purchasing all kinds of consumer goods on credit. Many of these people are living on a tight budget. What about those who don’t have money to spend? I often hear business people, economic analysts, and even government officials, say that if tens of thousands of youths can’t find work it’s because their training is inadequate for business. People with degrees in History and Geography, in Philosophy, etc., if they are not lucky enough to get a job in the public service, have nothing to do in the business world. They only wasted their time at University. Business wants competent people. It wants engineers, managers, specialized technicians, etc. So what to do? What if, for one reason or another, you can’t study what business wants? Will you then join sit-ins in front of Government buildings to pressure the Government to find you a job? (It worked for some, but not for everyone.) Will you wait for economic recovery or better economic growth? Will you use heroin or cocaine to forget all about these problems?

 

  That's a real puzzle. I have heard experts put forward all sorts of proposals, from the most serious to the most outlandish, and in the end they tell you: it is up to the government to make the decision, to find solutions. But which government in the world would expect proposals from anyone if it has the solutions? So who has the solution?

 

  What's the problem, first? Apparently, it's not just job seekers who are suffering. When there is a crisis almost everyone suffers. And when we suffer we do not want to think. But when we only have our eyes to cry, we have to think. We need a medicine at least to calm our pain a little. So let's think!

 

  One source of our unhappiness is our anxiety about the future. How long will I keep my job in this time of crisis ? What about my children? How will I be able to give them the appropriate education if I lose my job? Horrible nightmares. Childless people are anxious, too. Who will look after me when I grow old? I don’t have any social security, will I have anybody to feed me when I grow too old to work?

We live in a world where precariousness and vulnerability no longer really surprise anyone, with young people not knowing what to study, for how long, for what business opportunity; with parents who do not know what to make of their meager earnings, if they still have some. Chronic unemployment, divorce, children born out of wedlock, abandoned children, single mothers, homeless people, drugs, prostitution, pollution, fierce competition in all areas, excessive individualism, fear of the unknown... We are reduced to dreaming of what we are not or what we cannot be. But at the same time we do not want to resign ourselves to witnessing our helplessness, however helpless we are, however crushed, devoid of any tools of change. Even our cherished democracy guarantees us nothing more than what we can and should receive from our elected officials. Nothing can be done. The system is stronger than us. We only have to manage our anger, our weakness, our fear. And if only we could understand what is happening around us! But how can we understand a world full of wealth, full of castles and Limousines and where we are told that's it, it's the end of work. Your jobs today will be worth nothing soon. From now on you're on your own…! We are constantly being told about restructuring plans, job protection plans and unavoidable relocation to save national companies and jobs; we are being lectured on public deficit, public debt, global crisis... We are bombarded morning and evening with alarming statistics. Come on, you're on your own! Needless to mention "frantic" consumerism and inevitable loneliness. How to get out of this?

Well, anger and indignation do not seem to make sense any more. Even strikes and protests aren’t bringing forth any good fruit in recent times. And when a government spends some money to avoid or limit riots or breakage in the street, it is -in fact- only widening the budget deficit and increasing the public debt. In other words, it is creating problems for future generations. And we have seen what revolutions have brought about all around us. What to do, then? To endure one’s distress and depression without acting? To continue to suffer in silence? For how long?

 

  Imagine that some university teachers found themselves forced to strike in order to demand the payment of six months’ salary arrears! (This happens in Africa, but not impossible elsewhere.) How can these people live? It goes without saying that the people cannot be left to die. The State must act even if it means going into debt. This in no way contradicts what I said above. This has always been the case since ancient times. People even went to war for this. But sometimes the state can do nothing. And so, throughout history, entire tribes and peoples had to leave their native country to invade other lands. Unfortunately, this is no longer possible.

But -apart from bread and rice- what are we looking for, in reality? Well, we are looking for our well-being. Some pray to Buddha, others pray to Ram, others pray to Jesus or Allah, to get from them what we all aspire to: work, a spouse, good health, good children... But wait a minute! Why, one would say, endure the pain of patience and sacrifice for something which one is not really sure of? So people turn to those who they believe can provide them with what they want. Hence the WELFARE STATE.  We did not have this in our Oriental cultures before independence. Now, we are witnessing scenes of socio-economic miseries in countries that are supposed to be havens of social peace, where the destitute and the needy should not normally have to worry about their future, since there is a Welfare State that is out there to provide for their needs and to ensure that everyone is equal before the law. In Africa, not everyone has access to electricity. In Western Europe, many households make big sacrifices to pay their electricity bills. All this shows us that there is a certain limit to what man can do for man. There may be some need for a stronger force than Man : why not God? More and more people are looking for “the truth”, for a solution, on that side. States struggling with the burden of debt and deficits are powerless. How long can people wait to see an improvement in their lives? In this context that hardly inspires confidence, some people are ready to try out something else. But what?

The blame game is part of human nature. We all blame others for our misfortunes. When there’s nobody specific to blame, we blame bad luck. But let’s be objective for a moment! The best intentioned, most competent government can’t guarantee jobs for all. The most compassionate, most patriotic business establishment in the world can’t guarantee lasting economic growth. There will always be a minority of “unlucky” people. Even highly educated people (doctors, engineers, top executives…) in many countries around the world may be surprised not to find suitable jobs. Even governments of developed countries plead with other governments of developed countries to do better for their national economy. The French would want Germans to do more for German economic growth. The Germans would want the French to do more to reduce their budget deficit. The U.S. would appeal to Europe to do more to avoid or get out of recession.

Now, suppose we have work, we have a salary. Suppose we can purchase everything we want. Is that the end of ours problems? Well, pay is money received in exchange for work. Volunteers apart, every worker expects to be paid. As we all know, some even refuse to work unless they get holidays with pay, a right to sick leave and a pension. What more could an employee ask for?  It depends!

As we all know, some employees do negotiate their pay with their employers. Highly skilled people with prestigious university degrees usually get the best salaries. Some job hop for better pay or more comfortable working conditions. Less qualified workers may join unions to ask for pay rise or other rights. But, still, is that all?

Interestingly, some people downshift for the sake of peace. They give up positions where they were rightly paid and take jobs meant for people with less qualifications. The reason, they say, is stress. They were willing to sacrifice some of their original income so as to save their nerves.

There is yet another category of workers. These are people who do not “work” and yet get their pay each month. They just go to their place of work, report for work and sit idly in chairs while others work long hours so as to get the same salary at the end of the month. Curiously, those who “work” are much happier than those who “do not work”. The last-mentioned are not happy at all because their working colleagues tease them always, saying something like, “You useless people, we work to feed you. You steal our money…”

Many of those who do work before getting paid are not happy, either. The reason(s) could be stress, harassment, bullying or any form of injustice. The employer could be just and fair, but not thoughtful enough. He may not care if you have personal or family problems. Your problems are your own problem; they must not affect your work.

Other workers just take it easy and seldom, if ever, protest. Some almost never take a vacation. Some work in dangerous mines or in steel industry, where fire is a daily sight. Others work in the fields in the blazing sun. Others work far away from home, leaving spouse, children and relatives behind. Some are migrants, others are in the army or sailors on the high seas. They do all that as uncomplainingly as possible because they cannot be paid if they don’t.

Hard work is much better than unemployment. A worker can pay for things a jobless person cannot. It makes a big difference when you cannot borrow money to meet an urgent need because you cannot guarantee paying the money back, while a worker with a steady income can. Worse, it is absolutely painful when you see yourself unemployed at the age of forty or older, while younger friends and relatives are already well-off.

But once you get a job you become like other workers. You too start suffering from new/old problems. You start thinking of holidays, among other things.

Holidays are the opportunity for many to rest and have fun. In France, for example, as soon as people come back from the annual holiday, they start preparing for the next, which obviously won’t come before eleven long months. One reason might be the French like boasting about their holidays. Another reason might be they simply get fed up with work between four walls. But this is certainly not specific to the French.

What has stricken me all the time as strange is that most of those who fill sightseeing buses in my country are old folks. Far be it from me to suggest that senior citizens should stay at home and help their grandchildren with their homework. But this, however, sets me wondering whether a large number of people do not really look forward to old age and retirement. Couldn’t this be, for them, the time to make up for the “lost time” spent “between four walls”?

Now, why should one wait so long? After all, work is not a curse. Indeed, work is often something wonderful. Yet the pay that an employer gives to an employee is but a nominal -say, moral- compensation for the effort made at work. This pay just cannot compensate for all the effort that a worker invests in his work. Every physical, mental or psychological effort you make to fulfill whatever task your employer expects of you will certainly have some (negative) bearing on your body or on your psyche at some point in later life. Whatever money or privileges you may get in exchange for your work will not replace any part of your body once damaged. Money cannot replace a lost nerve or a damaged lung.

Smoking, obesity and high blood pressure are some work-related problems. If you add to this harassment or bullying, for example, what would your life be like? How would you behave towards your family? Would it be alright for you to shout at your loving spouse at home and smile at your bullying boss at work? How would you bear the stress of formality and etiquette if your child is suffering in hospital?

Things get worse when yours is not a steady job. As long as your work is precarious, anxiety will hardly let go of you. If you cannot provide for your pension in later life, what do you do?

Your children too will suffer if you lose your job. They will shun their close pals because they just cannot pay for the same little things, a sweet plus. What do you do then? Will you wait until the next elections to vote for the party promising more jobs?

Even if you do get a job after years of waiting, that will not “shake off” the effects of your unemployment. The fear of losing your job will stay with you. That fear will affect your health at some point in later life.

Almost all workers lose something as they do their work. The peasant working in the fields in the blazing sun will have to deal with his aching head one day. The constant fear of a bad crop year will add to his problems. Idem for so many other workers. 

 

  So, if that is what work is like, how could it be “something wonderful”, one would say?

 

  One might imagine that some “workers” do not have anything to worry about. One would imagine that, say, an artist, for example, is someone who is free, who can work at his leisure and have a successful, enjoyable work-life. But artists too do suffer. An artist may have to weep days and nights, maybe years, before making you smile for a few seconds. An artist too does experience such things as stress and anxiety. An artist too needs money and stability. He too has his own social relationships. He too fears poverty, if he is not poor already. (This is nothing new.) However, many artists consider themselves happy and fulfilled.

Even those stars out there have their own “work problems”. It is not easy to become a star. The glamour of fame and opulence may not last a lifetime. And, for artists, this is painful. As soon as a star becomes a has-been, his problems start piling up. But that's what happens to all of us somehow. As soon as we reach a certain age, we begin to have health concerns, among other things.

It’s not unusual to see a writer with a happy smile on his face after finishing a long novel. It’s not unusual to see a woman smile blissfully after delivering a baby. It’s not unusual to see a student on top of the world after obtaining a degree. But that novel has yet to be sold, and that baby has to be brought up, and that degree has to be accepted by an employer. Such is life. That's the charm of life.

Scientists say that if your head cools down after a heatstroke, that does not mean that you will escape the long-term effects of that heatstroke. The pain will go, but the effects of that and any subsequent heatstroke will pile up so that they may -God forbid- develop into something worse in the future. By analogy, all work-related problems will only accumulate over time. So what to do? Do not work? 

 

  This is why it is beneficial to take the time for introspection, to reflect in order to try to understand life and the world around us.

5

Upbringing

Can you imagine a world without problems? Can you imagine a world without poverty? Can you imagine a world without tears? Can you imagine a world without disorder? Then it wouldn’t be the world we know in the planet we know.

 

Problems, poverty, tears and disorder are all causes of unhappiness for some, of happiness for others. No political or economic system has ever been able to eradicate poverty or disorder forever. Historians relate that in the times of Caliph Umar Ibn Abdul’aziz (682-720) there were absolutely no poor at all. All men were married with their own money or with state money. The state funds were such that the Caliph said to his vizier: “If there are no poor, if all men are married, and there’s so much money left in our coffers, then purchase huge quantities of grain and feed all the birds in the country!” And yet only a few Umayyad caliphs succeeded Umar Ibn Abdul’aziz. His caliphate did not last long after him. The question is, why weren’t all rulers as good as Umar ibn Abdul’aziz? Why weren’t all rulers as just as Umar Ibn Al-Khattab (584-644)? Why weren’t all rulers as science-loving as Abbassid Caliph Al-Ma’mun (786-833)? Are the reasons for all that intrinsic or extrinsic? Did those good rulers do what they did just to stay in power or because each of them was what he was by nature? In other words, is it a question of upbringing?

 

Take, for example, a small city where unowned (stray) dogs roam freely, where people throw garbage just everywhere, where people drive or ride as they will. This is disorder, you agree. So where does one begin to end disorder? Certainly not by simply chasing the unwanted animals out of our cities or by fining people who pollute the streets or do not respect the Highway Code.

 

In the past, upbringing started in the family. And until recently upbringing started on television. A century ago kids would look at their parents and listen as they spoke. A few decades ago everybody looked at the television screen and all silenced one another if a handsome actor was speaking or a ravishing songstress was singing. Until then the Quran was television. The Bible was television. The Truth was television. Happiness was television. And if you didn't look like the people you liked on television, then you didn't belong to the world of today.

Even now, when the Smartphone and the iPad have become so essential and so overwhelming, while social media have made addicts of all ages and everywhere, television is still queen in many homes around the world. What do we see on television? Well, I have seen, among other things, TV shows where a girl could win in just half an hour by naming the maximum of songs and singers more than a distinguished engineer could earn in sixty days or more. I have seen stuff that gives the impression that it would be much better for a schoolboy to be a long-distance runner or a tennis player than a doctor in his own private hospital in the country's biggest city. I have seen illiterate female cooks and amateur teen singers become TV stars while the country's finest minds are "remembered" only when their death is announced to the press.

 

By watching television everyday one might get the feeling that “successful” people are already there -filling the TV screen with their glamour and beatific smiles, and there’s just nothing left for a poor televiewer to dream of. This happened even before the era of influencers!

 

 Is it television’s fault, though? Is television the only culprit? To speak just for myself, I have learned a lot from television just as I learned a lot from the Internet. So is it a problem of television or a problem of televiewers? In other words, should a televiewer have some kind of immunity when watching TV? How can he/she have this kind of immunity?

 

In old times, there was no television. But there were schools. People went to school to learn, but also to dream. When you are alone reading a book of history or a book of poetry or a novel, or any kind of book, you find yourself thinking of something as you read. But that can be true for many televiewers too ! Many people became movie stars or famous players or even distinguished scientists because they saw things on TV? Even at school not just anybody can hope to find the opportunity to dream at leisure.

 

Yes, at school a student could learn much about the World, about life, about problems and about ways of solving one’s problems creatively without relying on the State to do everything for him/her. But not everyone can do that. Life can be at times, and will increasingly be, complex and complicated even for people who, as kids, studied 40 hours of Maths per week or learnt computer programming at age 6. You can’t solve all your problems by hacking people’s computers or by making genius calculations. So knowing the world is a good thing, especially in our times when individuals take precedence over the group.

 

Now what if you went to school and got a degree and then a good job and saw a lot of TV, would you be happy? That’s not the impression I get when I listen to the radio, for example, or see things on the Web. In my country, at least, I hear a lot of people complain about society, neighbours, relatives and so on. Easy examples: many married people just don’t know how to solve their problems with their partners or with their children or with their colleagues at work or employers. Many people just can’t bear their health problems. Many people have psychological problems that they can’t deal with. Believe it or not, I heard a frequent guest at a respectable radio debate show say that he knew a number of psychiatrists and psychologists who themselves consult psychologists! Also many rich countries whose citizens are usually thought to be happy have loads of problems too, not the least of which is obesity. We’re all in the same boat!

 

Problems are just everywhere. That’s not the problem, as I said at the beginning of this chapter. That’s part of life. The problem is how to deal with our problems. Some people go to extremes: some take their lives, others change their religion or their way of life. Many Westerners have become Muslim and many Muslims have become Westernized. Is it a simple outlet, to overcome hard times, or escape any reality, or a real solution?

  

 

6

 Prejudice

 

Someone told me this story: “I met a European couple, who said to me, ‘When we wanted to come to Morocco as tourists we gave our bathing costume and trunks to our friends in Spain, because we assumed that we wouldn’t need them once we got into Morocco, which is a Muslim state. But as we arrived in Tangier we were floored. We saw Moroccans in their swim trunks at Tangier beach!’”

 

Also in Tangier, when I was a student there, I once got into my school library and found a white American woman in her early thirties dressed in a Moroccan jellaba and head-scarf. She was sitting at a table and reading the Quran. Around her were Moroccan female students in T-shirts and tight jeans."

 

“So what?” someone would say. “Where is the problem?”

 

The problem is that sometimes we judge before we know. Between prejudice and reality there is only one step to take. It is to know. So what do we know about our region? In my country, Morocco, there’s at least one magazine fully published in Moroccan Arabic. And you have Algerian Arabic, Libyan Arabic, Egyptian Arabic, Syrian Arabic, Iraqi Arabic, Yemeni Arabic, and everybody has his own Arabic. You needn’t wonder at it, since many of us have never been to school, for only at school can one learn the Arabic which our forefathers learnt at home as their mother-tongue and in which the Quran was revealed. Now that Arabic is nobody’s mother-tongue anymore. Moreover, there’s not just the Arabs in the Arab world. And so everyone has their beloved language That’s why most of us simply don’t know the Quran. And most of those of us who do read the Quran don’t understand it the way our forefathers did. So the Quran has had a limited impact on our lives for a long time now. Even now, for many of us, we only know some of it through our centuries-long customs and traditions.

 

This tenuous connection with the Quran is far from being over. Another thing is the struggle for power. Wars of succession have wreaked unforgivable havoc throughout our history. It’s the same old greed for authority, the same old love of the throne, the same old hunger for worldly glory. It is therefore quite natural if each Arab country has now its own Arabic, its own “caliph”, its own army, its own borders. Needless to say it's good or bad. Suffice it to say this is the world where we live in today.

 

For various reasons, this same Arab world, where I live, has long been very important for many people in other parts of the globe. As early as the 19th century, several renowned Russian authors, for example, wrote beautiful things about Arabs and Islam. Curiously, people in the West, too, began embracing Islam in their thousands after 9/11. America suddenly discovered that it had full-fledged imams who spoke Arabic better than many Arabs, and who knew the Quran and the Hadith by heart -which is not given to all Arabs and Muslims-, and who were duly authorized to issue  fatwas. Some American imams became stars and were invited to speak on American TVs. It was then discovered that American Muslims showed their fellow brothers and sisters in Islam how to create Islamic websites and how to run Islamic satellite TV channels. All this is to say how much it’s important to know before judging.

 

When, in 1995, the Qataries launched Aljazeera, many Arab regimes were afraid for their local audiences, afraid that these audiences might snub their propaganda-packed radio and TV stations. After Aljazeera came a myriad other Arabic-language satellite TV stations, mostly financed by TV ads. This inspired people in many Arab states to launch, if not “free, independent” TV stations, at least radio stations. (That is not a criticism though. You know better than I that even in the best democracies in the world there is less and less press freedom.) And so, in Morocco, for example, we have 13 independent radio stations, all funded primarily by advertising. At least half of these radio stations have religion-related shows. Some of these shows turned out to be so popular, so successful, that some of the best known preachers and religious scholars in the country were hired to boost the audience, to bring in more cash to the radios -although this money is never enough. On some of such radio shows you would hear an Islamist university professor discuss peacefully with a communist activist; you would hear people talk of their problems, of their sufferings, of their criticisms of the government without being persecuted. Similarly, other people became increasingly convinced that Islamic banks (also called participative banks) would have a huge success. Result: we have several of these banks right now. I’m not saying that’s good or bad. J’m just saying this is the world where I live.

 

For several decades our country was occupied by France. It was therefore quite normal that the French language was for some a means of social mobility and for others a means of social distinction. Speaking French in public has long been synonymous with belonging to a certain elite, to a certain class. School massification, television, gradual enrichment of certain sections of society through commerce or the civil service or by expatriation (in France, in particular) -all this made possible good command of French by a greater number of people- until public schools, increasingly Arabized, became, on the contrary, a brake preventing thousands and thousands of people from gaining access to this status of French-like elite.

 

Even before Independence (in 1956), the "conventional" elite, highly qualified, was already influenced by Western culture. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Karl Marx, Hegel, Weber, Montesquieu, Greek literature, Freud, etc. were common readings by these people, who would understandably jeer at those who read "yellow books", in Arabic language, printed locally or imported from  Mashriq (the Middle East). This elite, often politicized, was naturally able to take up positions of responsibility, opening the way to a certain like-father-like-son inheritance. And when new prospects, even more promising, opened up before the offspring of this elite, spoiled by the historic opportunity of the time, the development of events meant that, after Independence, the State had to Moroccanize the administration. This progressive Moroccanization meant that the Arabic language had to go in parallel or at the expense of the French language. The demographic factor has resulted, among other things, in the proliferation of faculties and universities, where, through the translation into Arabic, complete courses started to be taught in Arabic. And so more and more teachers no longer needed to master French, or even literary Arabic. A teacher of History and Geography in Arabic received the same salary and social advantages as a Physics-and-Chemistry teacher in French. Both could live decently, build a house or even a villa, buy a nice car and so on. One and the other was able to express himself as he saw fit, or read what he wanted, or join the political party of his choice, etc.

 

It just so happens that elites from here and everywhere else have always been associated with politics. And just like anywhere else, here too money has a say in politics. We have a lot of polyglot, very cultured entrepreneurs who contribute greatly both to the economy and to the management of the country. Everyone has their place.

 

Of course, here as elsewhere, there are problems every day. But what is beautiful is that there are solutions every day too. Almost always news programmes begin with the red of blood and end with the red of roses.

 

7

Solidarity

 

What does (or should) one feel when he/she watches on television gruesome pictures of an earthquake or volcano survivors mourning their loved ones or living skeletons of individuals who are victims of starvation or acute hunger? Many of us watch such scenes while eating or chatting with family or friends. The philosophers amongst us wonder why these things happen in the first place. The religious-minded would probably say it’s divine punishment.

 

Actually, many people dwell on such unfortunate events. and start meditating on life. Such meditation could lead to devotion just as it could lead to unbelief. But what could (or should) be learned from such calamities in which thousands of people lose their lives and thousands more are left maimed, orphaned, widowed or homeless; where whole towns and villages are flattened; where paradisiacal landscapes are turned into desolate places? Well, that has always been horrible. People who are safe and sound, ensconced in their warm armchairs, could moralize as much and as long as they wished -but would they say the same thing (in the same words, in the same tones, with the same strength of conviction) if they were in the midst of the disaster?

 

I remember seeing a programme featuring Australia’s tropical forests. The TV cameras moved gracefully among breathtaking trees, beautiful native flowers, exotic birds and animals. I thought there couldn’t be a more tempting place for a holiday. But then suddenly a hellish fire broke out and destroyed all the trees, the flowers, the birds and the animals. I sighed as the voice commenting the scene explained that such fires were sort of commonplace in these forests, and that it was a very natural phenomenon. It was good of the programme to give that warning to nature-loving tourists and that lesson to those who easily succumb to beauty. Unfortunately, natural phenomena cannot all be predicted. So many tourists (from all over the world) died in Tsunami in December 2004. No one -least of all the local people- could have predicted such a catastrophe. People -then and as always- asked a lot of (existential) questions. Some made some kind of change, others continued to live their lives as if nothing had happened. Personally, I do ask questions too. I read on the Web a question I had asked myself even before the Internet entered our country. Were WWI and WWII divine punishment? That was the question. I wondered why such a thing happened to people who were behind all the incredible technological development whose fruits we enjoy in our everyday life. Those people made great inventions, worked in coal mines, struggled for human rights, etc, etc. So why were they rewarded with two bloody wars? The curious thing is that during these two wars (and the subsequent Cold War) a phenomenal technological development took place -as if our (civilian) planes today couldn’t have been able to fly as far and fast as they do today, as if our mobile phones, Internet connections, televisions, etc, could have remained topics of science-fiction books, hadn’t there been two devastating (world) wars. The United Nations was born only after those wars. Democracy became widespread only after those wars, which claimed the lives of the children and grand-children of great inventors, engineers, teachers and patient workers who endured life in coal mines. Would it be superstitious to link that to the so-called separation of religion and state (as was the case in France in 1905)? Or would that be explained by people’s “increasing immorality”? (Some would argue, though, that “real immorality” became even worse in 1968, more than two decades after the War!) Others would argue that the War(s) had rather come as a result of then big powers’ struggle for supremacy and their rivalry over overseas territories. Whatever the reasons of this or that calamity, it’s never bad to ask questions about it.

 

Very often -but not always- it’s people who came within an inch of death in such disasters who DON’T ask the hardest questions, such as, “Why should there be such a thing in the first place?” I was moved by the story of a German young woman and her mother who happened to be in Sri Lanka during Tsunami. In a programme aired on Alarabiya TV, the young woman explained how a Sri Lankan young man had saved her, risking his own life. The young man himself spoke while the two women -who had come back to Sri Lanka to meet him and remember the incident- listened, their heads bowed in thought. This unexpected friendship is an instance of the paradoxically wonderful things that do happen during and in the aftermath of disasters. But the question remains, though: why should there be such a thing in the first place?

 

In other words, could there be a good side to disaster? Are earthquakes, hurricanes, cyclones, volcanoes, forest fires, floods, etc., just natural accidents that happen at random and spoil people’s lives? Even if scientists, who started developing serious theories about this only in the 1960s, proved through empirical evidence that the above-mentioned are essential to the overall equilibrium of the planet Earth, still some would ask, “Why should the Earth need such disasters just to ensure its equilibrium?" Those who would like “to settle a score” with God would ask, “If God is perfect, then why did He create such an imperfect earth? Why should a population in one part of the globe be callously sacrificed in order to save populations elsewhere?"

 

I don’t pretend to have answers to these questions. But let’s see things as they are.

 

The earth may not be perfect, but what would one say of those tourists who wait a whole year and spend a lot of money to get to a place? Why do they choose to go to a particular place rather than another? Do tourists go to heavenly places or to hellish corners of the globe?

 

Besides, scientists say, for example, that “most earthquakes cause little or no damage”. They also say that “most volcanic activity is submarine, forming new seafloors” -far away from our cities and villages.

 

So the “imperfection”, if any, was rather man-made. Scientists say “man-made pollution is largely to blame for global warming”, which, in turn, is responsible for at least some of such disasters as Katrina (2005) and tincreasingly frequent, wildfires in North America and flooding in Western Europe, in central China and elsewhere. Otherwise, why should there be The Paris Agreement and all conventions on climate?

 

The poor are now begging the rich to stop polluting the earth (thereby causing drought, floods, cyclones, El Niño and other disasters), whereas the rich are begging the poor to accept money in exchange for The Right to Pollute in their own countries. What logic!

 

So whether the earth is not perfect or whether it’s man who made it so imperfect, it’s never too late for man to try and make it perfect -or as perfect as possible. All the alarming scientific reports that come out from time to time are really only aimed at pushing politicians to act.

In normal times, one would find heavenly places all over the world. Otherwise, why should there be tourists? If many foreign tourists happened to be in South-East Asia during Tsunami (2004) it’s because they had been attracted to the beauty of that region.

 

Even after a place is totally destroyed in a disaster, man is always there to do something about it. This leads to talk about solidarity. Most recently, wildfires have ravaged Italy’s Sardinia region. Who’s going to help this devastated island recover if not Italian tax-payers?

 

When we speak of solidarity we also mean charity, compassion, altruism, volunteering to help for love, not money. When you see people from all walks of life rushing to help each other ; when you see thousands of students donating blood and running to the most affected areas to save lives, that is solidarity. Who will ever forget the help that the international community provided (or at least pledged to provide) to the Tsunami victims or the Syrian refugees or the current endeavours to help poor states with anti-Covid vaccination?

 

Of corse, all men are not alike. While world war-mongers are swearing at and fighting one another, the Red Cross and the Red Crescent join forces to save people of different faiths and origins. What matters is to put out the fire, no matter who started it.

 

When you learn that 200 rescue workers lost their lives as they were trying to help their fellow citizens in China (in May 2008), and many teachers died in the disaster after having saved their students, then you can only feel proud of being a human being. We humans are capable of making the world a better place -by serving one another.

 

Compare that solidarity shown by people from within and without the places affected by disasters to the looting that sometimes takes place in disaster-hit areas. Compare that solidarity to the rivalries that led to WWI and WWII. Compare the bloodshed of those wars to the spirit that led to the European Union. Definitely, man is capable of the best and the worst.

 

And what is more beautiful man can do than rebuilding shattered lives? Destruction is no doubt horrific. The repercussions may last for years and cost gold and life. But that’s part of life. What we tend to forget is that most destruction is man-made. Natural disasters had no hand in the unbelievable destruction that occurred in the heart of Europe in the first half of the twentieth century. Natural disasters have had no hand in the destruction that has taken place in Iraq, Syria and Yemen, for example, 

 

Practical-minded people get down to work at once to repair the destruction, leaving to God what is God’s and to Caesar what is Caesar’s. Sometimes the destructors themselves rush to reconstruction. The U.S., who helped bring down Hitler’s Reich and Japan’s empire, put in place the Marshall Plan to rebuild postwar Europe and Japan. A thriving Baby boomer generation enjoyed the fruits of that reconstruction, thus turning the page on the horrors of the War their fathers had witnessed. "The misfortune of some makes the happiness of others,” as the French proverb goes.

 

After every disaster, many people get a lot of work, a steady income for years. A lot of companies thrive during this period and a lot of trade takes place. Not only those demolished schools, but the whole (old) infrastructure becomes much better than before the earthquake. This gives the opportunity to newly graduated engineers and technicians to prove their worth and build their lives and to SMEs and VSEs to grow.

 

Now, what about divine punishment? Well, divine punishment means different things to different believers. Jews, Christians and Muslims, for example, know the story of Noah, according to which the world then was destroyed by the Flood. But then life went on with just a small number of people and a limited number of species. The God who made life possible after the flood is naturally capable of saving the planet earth from the worst consequences of climate change, if he wills. Whether He willss it or not probably depends on how humanity behaves. Hence the fear of divine punishment for some. The Quran, for example, is full of warnings in this sense.

 

Divine punishment or not, a growing number of young people are suffering from various forms and degrees of Climate Anxiety. They are deeply concerned not only about the future of the planet Earth, but more particularly about their immediate environment. Some simply believe that our planet is doomed, "on the brink". The fact is that extreme weather conditions are undeniable. We have all heard or read alarming reports from experts predicting the worst for certain part of the globe.

 

But tell that to those people who go to seek their fortune where the environment is most hostile, where illegal wildlife trade thrives, illegal logging, illegal mining, illegal fishing… where there are no schools, no hospitals, or even paved roads… where smilng means nothing.

 

Details abound. Who is not aware of the submerged coasts with all the consequences that this implies, of the rising waters that are threatening the lives and livelihoods of millions of people, of the scary wild dumps in many cities around the world? Of course there is cause for alarm. And you have people suffocating in the heat wave in the middle of spring, people who see their animals die of thirst before their eyes, goats which eat their excrement, camels which eat other camels, seasides which disappear under water each day a little more, non-renewable groundwater, dry or almost dry wells…? It is not easy to be mentally strong in the face of such misfortunes. But sometimes all it takes is rain, good weather, a good harvest... to lift your spirits and feel good. Except that, when one has everything, he could imagine himself touched by divine grace. Certainly, this happens in one's head, not only in nature.

 

But it's not just the consequences of climate change. Today, many people live in terror because of gangs or food insecurity. People eat every other day. Some big cities in safe countries import more than 90% of their food needs. In other cities 80% of the population lives solely from tourism. What would happen when the tourists don't come? And for those who depend on rain-fed agriculture, what if it doesn't rain? Right now uncontrolled urbanization is swallowing up uncountable irreplaceable agricultural land. It is reported that antibiotic resistance will kill 300 million people by 2050. But all this is not so new. In my country, Morocco, in the 18th and 19th centuries, there was a famine or an epidemic every 10 or 15 years! I don't know what might happen in the future, but, att least, in almost 60 years, there has been only one epidemic, it's Covid-19, and only one "famine", it was in the 1980s. In addition, we are slowly but surely moving towards an increasingly decarbonizes atmosphere, with the use of renewable energies, electric batteries, etc. All this to say, there’s still room for hope.

 

That's unfortunately not always the case, though. In any event, we will continue to see fires, for example, ravaging centuries-old trees that may never be replaced. Many people will also lose their livelihoods in the process.  The same goes for earthquakes and floods. Insurance companies are not prepared to cover everything for everyone. But that's what a disaster is. We are not in Heaven. A disaster remains a painful experience -whether it is natural or not, whether it is divine punishment or not. The right question to ask is: What if I was among the victims?

8

We are all smart.

 

We have all witnessed or heard of this: big farmers with vast agricultural lands had to kill their cattle with their own hands because of the drought; young businessmen who lost everything overnight in the wake of a sudden economic crisis; ordinary men and women who purchased for their small families homes on credit, then failed to pay their mortgages and then were forced out; hopeful students who took out loans too then went bankrupt even before being able to honour them; parents who lost their only child when they were so happy with it; people who were desperate for a loving partner and when they got him/her, divorce drove them apart for good. Can Mathematics solve such problems? Can the best software or AI solve such problems? Did such people get such problems because they were so dull? Or do these things need another kind of thinking? 

 

Of course, it is very easy to dismiss out of hand any desire to philosophize about all this under the pretext that all this talk is but catastrophism and that life is by nature full of unpleasant surprises and that everyone must take responsibility for their failure, period. But isn't that really worth a moment of reflection all the same?

 

Journalism students learn that "when a dog bites a man, that is not news"; “Man bites dog" is news. A woman called a doctor live on a Moroccan radio programme to ask why her three-year-old daughter still sucked at her baby bottle (even if it were empty!). THAT IS NOT NEWS,   one would say. And that's true. Another listener later called to advise that woman to put something bitter in the feeding bottle or on its teat to make it disgusting to the child. He said that he had tried that out on his own daughter when she was three and it worked. THAT IS NOT NEWS, either. But then the man conceded that there arose a much bigger problem. "Now my daughter is 27 years old," he explained. "She is a University professor in a foreign country and yet she still sucks her thumb!" THAT IS NEWS, isn't it? But is it odd enough to provoke wonder in everyone?

 

So what provokes wonder in us? A Kenyan newspaper exclaimed: "It’s a mystery: Africans can’t shoot Olympic arrows!" For the author of this article "it is puzzling that Africa doesn’t dominate archery yet no other continent uses bows and arrows for primary purposes as much."

 

In The Unique Necklace, Ibn Abd Rabbih (860-940) relates the story of a tabi'i (follower of the Prophet Muhammad's Companions) who was travelling with some of his students when they came across a drunken man singing a beautiful couplet in Arabic, something like:  My heart has become sick with love, But there's no way to reach my love.  (With rhyme, it sounds much prettier than that in Arabic.) The tabi'i then alighted from his horse and hastened to write down those lines. Amazed, his students asked, "You write down words said by a drunken man?" The tabi'i replied: "Haven't you heard the proverb that goes 'A pearl could very well be found in the garbage.' Well, this is a pearl in a garbage!"

 

Somebody was introduced to the Abbassid caliph Harun al-Rasheed as a man of genius who could make a hundred needles get into the eyes of each other in such a way that not a single needle would fall down. The caliph asked the man to show him how he could do that, and when the latter had done that in the most brilliant manner, the caliph turned to his men, and said: "Give this man one hundred dinars and one hundred lashes." Sstupefied, the genius man asked: "Majesty, I can understand why you give me one hundred dinars, but not why you give me one hundred lashes!" The caliph replied:  "I give you a hundred dinars for your genius, and a hundred lashes because you wasted your genius on trivialities."

 

We are all intelligent, aren't we, but do we always put our intelligence to good use?

 

As a twenty-year-old student, I was once standing alone, facing our classroom, when a classmate came towards me, and said, shaking with laughter: "On my way to Faculty, a group of little children stopped me, and said, 'Tell us, if you know: does a hen urinate?’' You know what, I had never thought about that before! Now I ask you the same question: does a hen urinate?

 

We tend to take so many things for granted -small things, I mean. How many times have you stopped to think about the tick-tock of your watch, about that tiny insect that you sometimes find scurrying across the page when you are reading a book, about the fallen leaves in your garden or in the woods, about the human mind that made all the inventions you're using every day? Like people in antiquity, who wondered at the Seven Wonders and forgot about the million small wonders around them, we still marvel at such big things as the Pyramids and forget to give a thought to small things in ourselves and in our environment.

 

People marveled at the Montgolfier Balloon, at the first solo nonstop transatlantic Flight in history, at the Airbus A380. They still marvel at the Great Wall of China, at the Guizeh Pyramids, at the Eiffel Tower and Lady Liberty. We still marvel at the breathtaking performances of circus animals and clowns, at the robots which might some day have feelings, at the stunning achievements of record-breaking athletes, at the extraordinary talents of our artists (that are sometimes taken for gods!). Almost every week, there's a new entry into the famous Guinness World Records.

 

When people think of something, they often forget something else -something more important. When we look at ourselves in the mirror, do we think of the mirror itself? When we use our computer, do we think of the mind which invented it in the first place? When we wonder at our (human) power of imagination, do we think of where the human mind came from in the first place? How many of us wonder at the fact that although we have the same father and the same mother, still, we are not identical. Even so-called "identical twins" are distinguished by their fingerprints and irises.

 

Sometimes you suddenly find yourself in a situation where you feel like a fool, when the most obvious things become hard to understand, when your life suddenly becomes a burden, void of any meaning. Should we wait until then to start meditating?

 

If exercise rids our body of its "poisons", isn't it the same for meditation? Could it not rid us of the "poisons" of our souls? Couldn't meditation on little things -those things that most people don't even think about- give us a light that most people don't have?

 

An American man went missing in Australia. After three months or so, he emerged from the other end of the Australian desert, wearing an ordinary shirt and a pair of trousers, with leather sandals on, and a water bottle in his hand. Asked why he had braved such a frightening desert alone and with so little equipment, the man said: "I just wanted to discover God." Personally, I couldn't believe my eyes and ears as I saw those TV pictures, having read about the times when Afghan cameleers took European settlers through the uncharted deserts of the Australian continent.

 

Now, do I need to go as far as the Australian desert just to mediatate? I can look up at the sun from where I am: isn't it the same sun everyone sees everywhere? Isn’t it the same moon all people all around the world know? Isn’t it the same sky, the same stars, the same earth, the same water, the same air, the same human body, the same human soul? So couldn't it be the same Creator, whoever it might be, who made all these things for us all? Shouldn't we be asyonished at the fact that people share the same things and yet worship different gods?

 

Is it easy to think, by the way? How could one "think" with so many images falling like an avalanche over one's mind from TV, the Web…? But how many people could go to the woods (with no cam, no Smartphone, no cigarettes), with just a mind and a heart, and two feet willing to go from place to place, and eyes willing to look at beautiful flowers -small flowers- hiding behind small rocks that few people care to glance at? Who these days would go into the woods and look at the fallen leaves, and touch them, scrutinize them; at the insects, at the migrant birds, and think about his whole life?

 

Who? How many? It is not easy. People will rather think about their daily lives, their declining purchasing power, their abysmal debts, their uncertain future. You have people who don't even have enough to buy something to eat. You even have medical students, who are supposed to treat us one day, who have the misfortune of dealing with burnout, depression and anxiety on a daily basis. You have people who, on top of that, live with fear in their shearts every day because they are not sure that their children will come back from school safe and sound. Under these conditions, how can one think in an upbeat mood? And yet, it is necessary to reflect. We have all seen that getting fed up with politicians will not solve problems.

 

There have been big farmers with vast farming lands in the times before us; there have been princes and nobility; there have been little country folk full of dreams; there have been people who were happy for some time then lost their happiness overnight. And the list is long. Maybe those people who lived before us did not have calculating machines, sophisticated computers and genius software, but they too were smart somehow. Maybe we, too, need to be doubly smart, by thinking about the big things and by meditating about the small things as well.

 

Take this example. We Muslims around the world have just celebrated Eed al-Adha (the Feast of Sacrifice). Does everybody enjoy eed in the same way? Well, many people sacrifice a sheep but can’t eat of its meat simply because they are ill. Other people, with healthy stomachs and bodies, can’t afford a sheep for eed. Too expensive for them. Who should envy the other: the one who can’t eat of his sheep or the one who can’t buy a sheep in the first place?

 

The problem is, feelings and emotions are sometimes stronger than knowledge and convictions. It’s not easy for anybody to deal with the feeling that his boss or superior is less qualified than him. It’s not easy for a handsome man to understand why his beautiful beloved should marry an “ugly” man. It’s not easy for a woman of colour to understand why she should be so, if that is a problem for her, or for a successful engineer to understand why his only son should be handicapped. Scientists can’t explain, for example, why a married couple should fail to have a child, despite all imaginable and unimaginable efforts. But they can evidently explain the physiological/pathological, thing that prevented the couple from begetting a child. Scientists don’t have problems with the physical world. That’s why they have been so kind as to make our physical world so easy : they developed for us wonderful transportation means, fairy-tale telecommunication means, unhoped-for medical services. Our kitchens, our living-rooms, our offices, our bags are full of technology gadgets that we owe to our venerable scientists. But scientists are like us, like you and me. They too have feelings and emotions. A scientist may remain disgusted all his life if one of his scientific discoveries or contributions is attributed to someone else. You and I are aware of the sufferings of so many medical personnel around the world during the current pandemic. And so on and so forth.

 

Scientists can easily come up with revolutionary techniques, treat human bodies and improve agriculture, etc, but could not prevent death, drought or floods. Scientists can send humans onto Mars but cannot ward off earthquakes or hurricanes, which do cause more destruction in a few hours than science can build in years and years. It’s again a problem of emotions. You can’t explain anything to a widow sitting in front of her home destroyed by flooding or to parents who have just lost their only son to Covid. What can you say to a person who can’t find an ICU bed or Oxygen to save his mother or daughter?

What about Faith? Some people believe in it. They cling to it in normal times and in times of crisis. They find therein explanations that can help them overcome a loss, a breakup, a weakness or a personal drama. This explanation is not fortuitous or trivial. It implies a commitment. If we ask a god for help, we should reasonably expect to have to give thanks in some way. This is the demarcation line between faith and unbelief. Some people can in no way accept the idea of being dependent on anybody or obedient to anybody. They see themselves as entirely self-made, self-dependent, self-sufficing, and that they don’t owe anything to anybody, to any deity. They have nothing to thank God for: because if they accept the idea of being much obliged to a deity, they fear they might be asked to behave according to that deity’s wishes, not as they see fit.

 

In reality, even the Quran, for example, does not say that if you do not believe in God and the Hereafter you will fail in this world. Worldly success is open to all. The problem is, when you fail, for any objective reasons, you may find it hard to explain your failure objectively to yourself. Because it’s human nature that man tends to blame others for his failures and to be arrogant in times of success.

 

Now, where does our arrogance come from? It comes from our desire to show off. We want to show people around us that we are self-dependent, we are the best. We want the world to know that we got our job because, as they say, "one Scotsman's worth 3 Englishmen". The same goes for one's spouse, one's children, one's fortune. It's all the fruit of our ambition. It's all a matter of merit.

 

This is also due to the fact that, most of the time, we think about one moment in our life. Or do we always take all our life into account? Do we think of the time when we grow old, when we can’t sing and dance, when we can’t play golf or tennis, when we can’t swim or even walk, when we can’t eat with a knife and fork, when we are put away in a nursing home, abandoned by both our children and the staff of our nursing home?

 

Many people divorce after retirement. This moment that they were looking forward to in order to rest and enjoy life suddenly becomes hell because of the spouse, the children or whatever. If we are not prepared for this, what’s the use of our brain?

 

Yes, I imagine a bit of History, a bit of philosophy, a bit of spirituality, a bit of "free" tourism (just a short trip on foot or by bike around our place of living), a bit of meditation -all that may be just priceless. We all know that many people have good insurance and yet are unhappy. Many people with the best retirement pensions are unhappy too. There are definitely other things in life that are just as important.

9

Who we are

Over time it becomes so obvious that many of us just don't care. But let's think about it a bit. Is it just a normal process that each people has to distinguish itself from other peoples by its own language, its own culture, etc.? Does a people knowingly and deliberately change its language and culture to look different from other peoples? Or is it part of human nature -kind of natural, historical development that takes place spontaneously over time?

 

How does this change/transformation occur, historically speaking? History has it that some people came to Europe from Central Asia. Others moved southwards to people present-day India, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan… That’s migration. Or call it "the drift to a better world". I don’t have to tell you that this migration phenomenon has always been caused by famine, war, military expansion… We Arabs and, before us, Berbers, came to this part of North Africa, for quite the same reasons, from the Arabian Peninsula. The United States of America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Latin and Central America are all obvious examples of how migration makes peoples what they are. Americans and Australians, for example, don’t speak with the same accent and they have different constitutions, etc., although they originally came from the same places. Many peoples have the same origins and yet you will hear talk of American culture, Australian culture, Brazilian culture… Is there anything wrong with that? Shouldn’t an American boast his culture is much more important than Moroccan culture, for example? How can a Moroccan convince an American that, no, it’s Moroccan culture that is more important? Even before agreeing on what culture means, it goes without saying that many more Moroccan youths would love to live in the U.S.A. than Americans would love to live in Morocco? Statistics speak for themselves. There are tens of thousands of Moroccans who became naturalized American citizens and thousands more of Moroccan immigrants in the US. The total number of legal immigrants in Morocco is about 100,000 and the number of illegal immigrants is around 40,000 -in a population of 34,000 000. More than 4,000 000 Moroccans live abroad. How can one explain this? Why do Moroccans go to America? Do they go for bread and honey or for American culture?

 

Many Moroccans who have been to America, or live there, talk about American democracy, American sense of organization, American sense of initiative and enterprise, American sense of risk-taking… In my home city of Mohammedia there’s a big MacDonald’s and several pizza huts. I have had among my tutors Americans who spoke Moroccan Arabic fluently. If many Moroccans in the USA went there for money, what do Americans (whatever their number) come to Morocco for? Yes, some of them come for work (in American schools, in more than 150 American companies operating in my country, etc.), but do they all come for money? I don’t know.

 

In Senegal, West Africa, for example, there are more than 4,000 Moroccans, some of them are based there since 1870. I'm not going to talk about their problems here. I just ask : why did they go there and not to America or Europe? Also thousands of Lebanese and other Arab migrants went to the Americas, but thousands of them, too, live in various parts of Sub-Saharan Africa.

 

In the wake of the 1990-1991 Pursian Gulf crisis, I was one of those who were surprised at the number of American and European migrants in Iraq, for example. For decades, in the sight of many of us, Arab Gulf states were synonymous with wealth and job opportunities more than anything else. Now I hear respectable Moroccan and Arab intellectuals speak with great respect of the “visionary policies” of, say, Qatari and UAE leaders, among others. Where do such visions come from? Can money alone explain everything? Doesn't culture have something to do with it?

 

Questions on culture lead us to questions on us, as human beings. What makes me write in English and French and what makes some English and French people learn Arabic?  Why shouldn’t I write in Arabic? If I write in a foreign language would I necessarily be influenced by the culture of the language I am writing in.

 

Is culture important to me as a person? Well, I need my way of thinking when I have a problem. I need the feeling of belonging somewhere, to something, even when I don’t have a problem. If I don’t feel that I belong where I am, that’s a big problem. That’s when I will need my way of thinking to help me overcome this problem. In other words, my identity is more of a psychological than social necessity. These identity aspects are all parts of my culture, or rather my collective culture that I share with millions of people in my country. But there’s a more specific part of my culture (my individual culture) which I share with far less people in my country and with far more elsewhere.

 

Personally, I eat with my hands and would never be comfortable with a knife and fork. (Besides, it is said to be healthier !) If I want to be modern (although I don't know what that means actually), should I necessarily eat in a certain way or dress up according to fashion or speak this way or that ? Well, I believe, for my part, that even if I consider my way to be the best, others are free to have their own way within a general legal framework accepted by all for the sake of a peaceful society. I should therefore be able to eat what I want like I want when I am alone or with people like myself. I wear what I want like I want without provoking or hurting anybody. I speak as best I can without aping anybody or pretending what I am not. This is my culture. My way of life is a "conspicuous" representation of my culture. If I liked a piece of American music, that would be part of my culture. If I liked a French radio station or magazine, that would be part of my culture. I am a Moroccan and I like a lot of Moroccan things. But I also like a lot of things that are not Moroccan. I like Americans’ sense of duty. I like Germans’ love for reading. I like nineteenth-century French literature, etc. And I am absolutely comfortable with what I like.

 

If I can afford what I like, that’s great. If not, no problem. I don’t need to have a car or even a laptop to be a modern person. I can very well work in internet cafes and travel by taxi or take a bus. No problem. If other people think I’m not a modern person, whatever that means, or that I’ve failed socially or professionally, that’s not a massive problem for me. What's important for me is that I work hard in order to achieve what I want. What's important to me is that I be a man of today. I need to know and understand what’s going on in the world. I need to understand History to see what was possible in past times that is no longer today and what can yet change in the future for better or for worse. I need to understand other people’s ways of thinking. I need to learn about other peoples’ traditions and ways of life. If I know how other people think and behave I will improve my own way of thinking.

 

Now, should I go to a specific foreign country only to see what its people are like? Why not? Yet, I can do it without leaving my home city. What’s more important to me is to know how that people became what they are, how they think, how they solve their problems, what their dreams and aspirations are... I can know that at school, by reading, through the media. When I know much about that, I push the boundaries of my culture a little bit further. French authors become my authors, my teachers, and so do American authors, Egyptian journalists, Arab poets… My culture would thus become as large as my knowledge. This is what I meant by “specific culture” or “individual culture”. I would not then make a difference between culture and civilization. But still I will make a difference between my culture as an Arab-Berber culture and Western culture, for example. They are not the same. And that’s very normal. I won't start comparing which is best. My culture is good as long as it suits me well, as long as I feel comfortable with it. I would not expect anybody to dress the way I do, or to eat the way I do (even if he were a Muslim like me)… I would only expect him to understand me -not even to accept me as I am. We are all human beings: we have more or less the same problems and different ways of dealing with those problems. When I write I am exposing my way of thinking, my way of solving my problems -based on my own (individual) culture, which is neither worse nor better than anybody's culture.

 

What would happen if I was invited to a special dinner where I had to respect a certain etiquette? Frankly, I would be very embarrassed and perhaps ridiculed. But once out, I would forget all about it and be myself again. Besides, I have already experienced that and I would not hesitate to do it again.

 

10

Spiritual security 

 

If you love your country, would you leave it? If you love your culture, would you give it up? We all know that thousands of migrants from war zones, fir example, pay thousands of dollars for boat trips to safe countries. But thousands of other migrants too pay thousands of dollars to smugglers and make harrowing and perilous journeys to distant destinations although they come from relatively safe countries.

In some places people don't feel safe because they fear floods. In other places people don't feel safe because they fear drought. Yet, is safety always physical? There are married people who don't feel safe about their marriage, employed people who don't feel safe about their jobs, healthy people who don't feel safe without proper health insurance, people who don't feel safe because of their colour, “race” or religion; people who don't feel safe because they are constantly being stereotyped, because other people are always judging them by their look, by their cast, by their holidays...

 

You may probably have seen TV pictures of Chinese people traveling on jam-packed trains on the eve of major Chinese holidays. People who left their villages and hamlets to work in far-away towns and cities are pining for their families, to whom they are bringing money and gifts. Who needs the other? The migrant worker or his family back in the village? Who is in need of safety? Isn't loneliness a form of lack of safety? Isn't feeling of safety worth money and gifts?

My younger brother invited me one day to share Eed Al Adha (The Feast of Sacrifice) with him in the Southern town of Essaouira. I went the day before eed. I arrived at the Casablanca motor coach station late in the afternoon. But I had to wait several hours for the Essaouira coach to leave the station. And I didn't get bored with waiting. I was delighted to see how people struggled to book their trips to nearly all places across the country. I saw several people carry sheep on their shoulders, others hoist up the sheep onto the coach roofs... And when our coach left Casablanca City, in the evening, a group of passengers burst out singing, some in Arabic, others in Berber... They sang and clapped their hands happily. They would have even danced had there been enough space. The coach was running on four (rubber) wheels, at night, but everybody felt so safe that many succumbed to sleep. Everybody put his trust in the coach driver. In a way, we are all that little child that runs into his mother's arms to feel safe.

For some people it's a quest for safety, for others a quest for happiness. Why did the Romans come to my country, Morocco, North Africa?  At that time there were no Arabs, no Islam, in this country. But it was not a no man's land. Volubilis, for example, the most famous Roman city in Morocco, was founded in the third century BC. It was then the capital of Mauretania, an Amazigh (Berber) territory. Also the Phoenicians had established their settlements on our coasts around the 12th century BC. The Portuguese built their first colony on our Atlantic coast in the early 16th. Then the Spanish and the French shared our country between them in the early 20th century, but many other European nations too wanted that privilege for themselves. Why? Well, they all saw opportunities in this land; they all saw the means of attaining some kind of happiness and prosperity for part of their respective populations. We all go where we see the possibility of happiness.

Some people are concerned about another kind of safety and happiness. I have listened to a few non-Muslim radio programmes in English. One frequently asked question was: "If I do this or that, will I be saved?" Do all people ask such questions?

When I lie on the grass in a beautiful park, in a wood, or in the greenery, I may take it for granted. I may not even think about it. When I sit in the sun and feel the sweet breeze I may take that for granted. When I have a glass of water on a hot summer day I may take it for granted too. When I bite into an apple I would also take that for granted.

I wonder whether you have ever seen a little child or teenager draw something on an old copybook that he wouldn’t show to anybody. The copybook is full of drawings of horses or pets or movie characters or imaginary or real persons -why? You, who can’t draw, would say WOW! You are amazed at the child’s creativity. But to him that’s quite normal, it’s natural. Even assuming that he wanted to show his "work", who would be interested? Don’t you know of painters/writers…who were recognized as such only after their death or very late in their life? Don’t you know of artists who died poor whereas their work brought lots of money to other people? Does such an artist necessarily have someone in mind (an audience) when he creates something?

The other day I was walking in the nearby wood when suddenly my eyes fell on a beautiful wild flower. As I was looking at that particular flower I noticed other flowers just beside it -maybe much less beautiful, but each with a different colour, each with a different shape. I was once leaving a school where I gave evening classes when a 17-year-old female student of mine waved to me and said in a voice filled with awe: "Teacher, look over there!" She pointed with an almost trembling hand at a car that was parked across the street from the school. I saw the car: it was just marvelous. So I understood why the girl was looking at it in such reverence. Well, I too went around in that wood, walking slowly, going from path to path, looking with such wonder at all those wild flowers, examining, like a passionate botanist, the shape, the colour, the peculiarities of each flower. When you are in such a place, looking with your heart rather than with your eyes, you can’t help asking: But why did God make this flower grow here, at this particular place, where nobody would see or care about it? How many people would come and spend half an hour going from flower to flower and looking at their colours and shapes? Well, is the number so important? Allah says in the Quran: "And though thou try much, most men will not believe." (12.103) "And most of them believe not in Allah except that they attribute partners (unto Him)." (12.106) "How many a portent is there in the heavens and the earth which they pass by with face averted!" (12.105) "None payeth heed save him who turneth (unto Him) repentant." (40.13) 

Imagine we just were not here. Imagine there were only dogs and pigs and donkeys roaming about where we now study, work, play, live. Imagine there was no such thing as the tele, the Smartphone, the car, the chair, the bed, the glass, the cooking pot, the bike, the knife, the book, the garden, the asphalt road, the neighbourhood, the people, the nation, the country, you name it. Imagine there was no such thing as the eyes, the ears, the mouth, the nose, the hands, the feet, the brain, the heart and all the rest. All the things we take for granted. Imagine there were only dogs and pigs and donkeys in this beautifj world. Our quest for spiritual security make us think about this at one time or another.

Now, in what is spiritual safety so essential? At least kings, dignitaries and rich people who lived 3,000 years ago had more wealth and comfort than many smart university graduates of the 21st century. We, people of the 21st century, have fast planes, gigantic ships, fairy-tale communication and transportation systems. Artificial intelligence is being developed every single day. 5 G is no longer a curiosity. Our present is for sure nothing compared to the future. But the Babylonians, who lived 4,000 years ago, were no less smart than us, given the means they had. The Maths of today owes so much to people who lived thousands of years ago. And then you have the Pyramids in Egypt, Petra in Jordan; you have Pythagore, Aristotle, Avicenne, Galileo and so on. And yet, even today, we still ask questions that people asked 6,000 years ago.

Some birds have very beautiful feathers, very beautiful colours, very beautiful twitters, which other birds don’t have. Why? Some people have all good and beautiful things, which other people don’t have. Why? 

Once you start questioning, well, you don't stop! Where should I stand between the quest for meaning and the quest for pleasure? Should I be pleased, satisfied or happy? Is happiness legitimate? Is pleasure legitimate? Can I be happy alone, indepently of others? Can I be happy in the midst of unhappy people? Can I be happy in the absence of a certain minimum of worldly things? Can I be happy while suffering a loss or lack? Can I be happy whenever and wherever I want without awaiting divine intervention all the time?

By asking such questions I may sound as if I am "judging" someone, judging God, as though he were a "presidential candidate". And yet the Quran, for example, gives me, as a curious person, the possibility of asking, of thinking -as long as I am doing it in good faith. But the Quran too has questions for me. The Quran calls on me to reflect. Allah said to the Prophet (pbuh): "Thou askest them no fee for it. It is naught else than a reminder unto the peoples." (12.104) "Thine is but conveyance (of the message). Ours the reckoning." (13.40)

The Quran is now available free online. Who's gonna read it? How many people are reading it online or on paper?  Allah only knows. "The Beneficent Hath made known the Qur'an." (55.1-2) For a believer, it's not from just anybody, any content creator; it's from the Lord of the Worlds. "It is no pleasantry." (86.14) "Nay, but it is a glorious Qur'an." (85.21) Allah says: "If We had caused this Qur'an to descend upon a mountain, thou (O Muhammad) verily hadst seen it humbled, rent asunder by the fear of Allah. Such similitudes coin We for mankind that haply they may reflect." (59.21) "Lo! We, even We, reveal the Reminder, and lo! We verily are its Guardian." (15.9) "And in truth We have made the Qur'an easy to remember; but is there any that remembereth?" (54.17) The Quran is now there, and then everyone is free to read or not to read. Noah (pbuh) said to his people: "O my people ! Bethink you, if I rely on a clear proof from my Lord and there hath come unto me a mercy from His presence, and it hath been made obscure to you, can we compel you to accept it when ye are averse thereto?" (11.28)

What is certain, though, is that millions and millions of people have read the Quran in the last 1,400 years in various parts of the world, in a number of different languages.

So why are some people interested and others in no way interested in the Quran? Let's not talk of those who have never heard about it. Allah will not hold them accountable for not reading it. "Allah tasketh not a soul beyond its scope." (2.286) But what about those who have the intellectual possibility of reading the Quran? It's to those people that Allah says : "O mankind! Now hath a proof from your Lord come unto you, and We have sent down unto you a clear light." (4.174) "Verily We have brought them a Scripture which We expounded with knowledge, a guidance and a mercy for a people who believe." (7.52) "If We willed, We could raise up a warner in every village." (25.51 "Is it not enough for them that We have sent down unto thee the Scripture which is read unto them? Lo! herein verily is mercy, and a reminder for folk who believe."  (29.51)

One may understandably question the veracity of the Quran as the Word of God. But only an ignorant would cast doubts on the fact that people who believed in the Quran as such did implement its teachings in the form of an undeniable civilisation, the Islamic Civilisation, to which contributed various nations over a number of centuries. Great Islamic empires were built on the basis of Quranic teachings. In other words, the Quran is not just words. It's a source of power and inspiration. If there's a problem, it's not with the Quran; it must be with the way people deal with it. It's a fact, for example, that many Muslims sold their souls to non-Muslim invaders and occupying forces, including the Mongols and the Crusaders, in return for gold and power.

 

Now, how should one deal with the Quran? Allah says: "Will they then not meditate on the Qur'an, or are there locks on the hearts?" (47.24) "And verily We have coined for mankind in this Qur'an all kinds of similitudes, that haply they may reflect." (39.27) "Will they not then ponder on the Qur'an? If it had been from other than Allah they would have found therein much incongruity." (4.82) "Falsehood cannot come at it from before it or behind it. (It is) a revelation from the Wise, the Owner of Praise." (41.42)

The Quran does not take the reader for an idiot. The Quran respects my intelligence as a reader -be I a believer or not. All I have to do is be both intelligent and honest, which means that I should first read and think before arguing. Allah says : "And verily We have displayed for mankind in this Qur'an all manner of similitudes, but man is more than anything contentious." (18.54) "…but most of mankind refuse aught save disbelief." (17.89) "In what statement, after this, will they believe?" (77.50) "Lo! this is an Admonishment, that whosoever will may choose a way unto his Lord." (76.29)

This is a serious matter. Believing means commitment. How can I make sacrifices for something I'm not sure of? I have to have yaqeen (faith which is sure). It is in this sense that Allah says in the Quran: "This is a clear indication for mankind, and a guidance and a mercy for a folk whose faith is sure." (45.20) "He detaileth the revelations, that haply ye may be certain of the meeting with your Lord." (13.2) The Quran speaks of "sure knowledge" (علم اليقين), "sure vision" عين اليقين) ) (102.5-7) and "certain truth" (حق اليقين) (56:95). It's only when I have this yaqeen that I can hope to reap the fruit of my belief. That's why the prophets were subjected to trial after trial until they acquired/developed absolute yaqeen (unbreakable faith). Allah says : "And when they became steadfast and believed firmly in Our revelations, We appointed from among them leaders who guided by Our command." (32.24) If you are not sure yourself, how can you guide others?

 

Whether Muslim scientists in the early centuries of Islam invented things or just copied the Greeks and other nations, they were nonetheless aware of the limits of men’s science. They did their best; they contributed as much they could to the development of science while they remained humble in their relation to Allah. They believed their science was a provision from Allah and not only the objective fruit of their brain and sweat. Were they to live today, they wouldn’t be greatly impressed by something like Metaverse or a manned space station on Mars or even the best instant translator app. People who believe in the Quran believe that there were at least two peoples who reached the highest levels in science and in the end their science availed them nothing when Allah waned to wipe them out. Aad and Thamud may be too far away, but who would argue concerning the early Egyptians, for example? Even today’s scientists have failed to unravel the mystery of the Saqqara tunnels in Egypt.

Now that I am convinced, how can the Quran be useful to me? Allah says: "Lo! this Qur'an guideth unto that which is straightest, and giveth tidings unto the believers who do good works that theirs will be a great reward." (17.9) "This is a declaration for mankind, a guidance and an admonition unto those who ward off (evil)" (3.38) "And lo! it is a guidance and a mercy for believers." (27.77) "And We reveal of the Qur'an that which is a healing and a mercy for believers." (17.82)

 

So if I am not a believer I cannot hope to get "a healing and a mercy" from Allah. But would this be enough for me as a reward if I believe? In other words, wouldn't I really need a healing and a mercy in a time of crisis? Can anyone other than Allah grant me a healing and a mercy in a time when nobody really feels safe?

 

But how can I believe? What should I believe?
First thing, I should believe that the Quran is the Word of Allah. Then, I believe that Allah is God. Then, I believe in Allah's promises and warnings.

The Quran says it's Allah who created the world. A scientific person may want material evidence that it's actually Allah who created the world. Therefore, Allah talks in the Quran about the earth, the sky, the mountains, the sea, the rain, the winds, and so on and so forth.

 

But why should a non-scientific person believe in all this? Allah created the world, and that's it. No. We are not made like this. We are forgetful. When we go to market to buy fruits and vegetables we think about prices, not about Allah who created them. We look inside our fridge with our stomach, not with our hearts and souls. When we open our wardrobe we don't think about (Allah who created) the wool, the cotton, the silk, etc. We don't think about our vision and hearing until our eyes and ears ache. We don't think about our heart until we are sick. So we need to be reminded again and again. We need to remember that Allah has something to do with our life and death. Forest fires need water to be put out. Only Allah can help us with rainfall -even though some wildfires are started by humans. Drought, which can also be caused by human activities, kills humans, animals and harvests. Only Allah can give or withhold the rain. Allah is present in every aspect of our individual and collective lives. Our livelihood depends on Allah. So we must listen to what Allah has to say to us about our world and ourselves. And all that is in the Quran.

 

In the end, it's a matter of choice. "Say: (It is) the truth from the Lord of you (all). Then whosoever will, let him believe, and whosoever will, let him disbelieve." (18.29) "Lo! this is an Admonishment, that whosoever will may choose a way unto his Lord. Yet ye will not, unless Allah willeth. Lo! Allah is Knower, Wise. He maketh whom He will to enter His mercy." (76.29-31) "Hath there come upon man (ever) any period of time in which he was a thing unremembered? Lo! We create man from a drop of thickened fluid to test him; so We make him hearing, knowing. Lo! We have shown him the way, whether he be grateful or disbelieving." (76.1-3) "Say: Believe therein or believe not, lo! those who were given knowledge before it, when it is read unto them, fall down prostrate on their faces, adoring. Saying: Glory to our Lord! Verily the promise of our Lord must be fulfilled. They fall down on their faces, weeping, and it increaseth humility in them. Say (unto mankind): Cry unto Allah, or cry unto the Beneficent, unto whichsoever ye cry (it is the same)." (17.107-111)

 

If I have to choose, I choose what exactly? Well, I have to choose between the way of Allah which is to say that there are two lives, actually: this one on earth and another one after death. I have to make a choice, because only those who believe and follow the way of Allah will be admitted into Paradise, the others will go to hell. There's no other possibility.

 

For there to be a Paradise, logically, there should be a life after death. In the Quran we are told: "Or (bethink thee of) the like of him who, passing by a township which had fallen into utter ruin, exclaimed: How shall Allah give this township life after its death? And Allah made him die a hundred years, then brought him back to life. He said: How long hast thou tarried? (The man) said: I have tarried a day or part of a day. (He) said: Nay, but thou hast tarried for a hundred years. Just look at thy food and drink which have not rotted! Look at thine ass! And, that We may make thee a token unto mankind, look at the bones, how We adjust them and then cover them with flesh ! And when (the matter) became clear unto him, he said: I know now that Allah is Able to do all things. And when Abraham said (unto his Lord): My Lord! Show me how Thou givest life to the dead, He said: Dost thou not believe? Abraham said: Yea, but (I ask) in order that my heart may be at ease. (His Lord) said: Take four of the birds and cause them to incline unto thee, then place a part of them on each hill, then call them, they will come to thee in haste, and know that Allah is Mighty, Wise." (2.259-260)

It wouldn’t be a problem for a good believer to believe this But a non-believer might not be satisfied with such words. He would ask for something concrete. He would like to see in order to believe. So the Prophet (pbuh) wanted to enlighten us all, believers and non-believers, on this, by saying: "Everything of the human body will perish except the last coccyx bone (end part of the spinal cord), and from that bone Allah will reconstruct the whole body. Then Allah will send down water from the sky and people will grow like green vegetables'."

 

We need to be reminded so as to calm our nerves in hard times like these. In the Quran we read: "Those who disbelieve say: If only a portent were sent down upon him from his Lord! Say: Lo! Allah sendeth whom He will astray, and guideth unto Himself all who turn (unto Him), Who have believed and whose hearts have rest in the remembrance of Allah. Verily in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find rest!" (13.27-28)

11

Divinity and humanity

 

What do we think we know about Allah? Not as much as He knows about us, anyway. The least we can say is that Allah is beyond compare. He does not change: the same power as ever, the same infinite knowledge, the same vigilance, the same readiness, the same Godness. Allah is God. Man is man. Allah is One. Man is too many. Man can’t even be master of the planet earth. And when he forgets this fact, and behaves as if he were God, Allah wouldn’t hesitate to remind him through all kinds of misfortune and suffering. And yet Allah remains "Merciful, Loving." (11.90) "Is not He (best) Who answereth the wronged one when he crieth unto Him and removeth the evil?" (27.62) "If Allah took mankind to task by that which they deserve, He would not leave a living creature on the surface of the earth; but He reprieveth them unto an appointed term, and when their term cometh -then verily (they will know that) Allah is ever Seer of His slaves." (35.45) "Allah is Full of Pity, Merciful toward mankind." (2.143) That's the rule. Allah even cares about our feelings, irrespective of our faith. In the Quran we read: "O ye who believe! Let not a folk deride a folk who may be better than they (are), not let women (deride) women who may be better than they are; neither defame one another, nor insult one another by nicknames. Bad is the name of lewdness after faith. And whoso turneth not in repentance, such are evil-doers." (49.11)

So it’s normal if Allah does not like us to be indifferent to Him. No matter what we do, our belief in Allah will remain limited, and so will our gratitude towards Him. We can never pay our parents back for their favours, what about Allah? But if we don’t try our best to be thankful to Allah, who should we thank?

Allah is great and wants man to be great too: by having more virtues than vices, by having great values, by living up to one’s values, by purifying oneself. Allah said to the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh): "And lo! thou art of a tremendous nature." (68.4) Gratitude is one great value. Prostration to Allah, for example, is an honour for man, not a belittling or a humiliation. Prostration is glorification of Allah and sublimeness of the faithful’s conduct and soul.

When I believe in Allah I only bear witness to an independently existing fact. I only acknowledge a fact -whether I exist or not, whether I believe or not. Before Galileo (1564-1642) most people believed the earth was flat. Before Hubble (1889-1953) most scientists believed there was one galaxy in the world. What should be amazing to us is that this small brain which Allah created in our (small) heads has already known so much about the world. That which we can’t know we have to believe. We should admit that "of knowledge ye have been vouchsafed but little." (17.85) And yet Allah does not want us to blindly believe in Him.  As we saw in the verses above, Allah calls on us to reflect, to meditate, to contemplate the world around us.

Even if we are lazy, or don’t have the time or the means, we don’t necessarily need to travel to faraway places in order to meditate. Just in the nearest market, we find innumerable varieties of homegrown and imported fruits of all colours, shapes and tastes. But we often take that for granted. A good believer of our times may not be able to dive into the sea and see for himself the incredible life of fish and sea plants. He may not be able to explore the Amazon forest and other jungles or walk and hike in the high mountains or the glaciers and see how people, animals and plants live out there. He may not be a neurologist or a cardiologist or a botanist, but when he is in front of his TV screen and the like and watches documentary films or reads books, he just can’t help chanting subhanallah (All praise be to Allah) with his heart and tongue. From his safe place at home he can meditate about the vast space above and about those weak creatures living in the wilderness among wild predators and those isolated people living in extreme weather conditions in an uncharted country, or about the cells in his own body… Lessons learned from these meditations can only boost the morale of "him who hath a heart, or giveth ear with full intelligence." (50.37) A believer who thus meditates on Allah’s infinite power and knowledge can only become stronger and stronger. And when the circumstances are stronger than him (personal drama, war, acute unemployment, illness, sudden inflation...) and the devil and the demons surround him on all sides, well, this precious knowledge of Allah saves him, if only to overcome a crisis the time it takes to recover his mental strength. And that’s what’s meant by "a healing and a mercy". Allah says: "And We reveal of the Qur'an that which is a healing and a mercy for believers." (17.82) Allah "guideth unto Himself all who turn (unto Him), Who have believed and whose hearts have rest in the remembrance of Allah. Verily in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find rest!" (13.27-28)

Think this through. How many times did you ever get tired, sick, demoralized or depressed? Maybe few or several times. But how many times did you ever succeed in stopping your days and nights from being eaten away like an unemployed person’s savings? Never. We are weak. We are mortal. Allah is God. Allah is not like us. That sounds obvious, to a believer at least, but we often tend to forget it when we are well off.

Suppose I got up in the middle of the night and thought about the whole picture, not only my daily worries and routine, what would I feel? Well, first thing, even if I worship Allah in the watches of the night, He is still occupied with the rest of the world -all the time. "Neither slumber nor sleep overtaketh Him." (2.255) For Allah it’s all DAY. Even if I make this kind of effort that many others wouldn’t care to make, what would that add to Allah? It’s all symbolic, and Allah likes that. "He is Forgiving, Responsive." (35.30) It’s a sign of love. "He is the Forgiving, the Loving." (85.14) Even the best expression of gratitude can’t pay Allah back for the slightest of His favours. I owe everything to Allah, my life plus. If I am beautiful, it’s Allah who gave me my beauty. If I am strong, it’s Him who gave me my strength. If I am smart, it’s Him who gave me my wits. If I am rich, it’s Him who provided me. If I become famous, it’s Allah who makes me so. If I belong to a rich, democratic and powerful state, that’s a favour from Allah too. Whatever I am, whatever state I am in, it’s by the grace of Allah. Whatever good I do, it’s thanks to Him, that's by Allah's leave. In the Quran we read: "And whatever of comfort ye enjoy, it is from Allah." (16.53) And that includes worshipping Allah! "...and of them are some who outstrip (others) through good deeds, by Allah's leave. That is the great favour !" (35.32)

To Allah I owe my life, so His Hymn I praise, and unto Him I prostrate. To Him and of Him I say: Glory is to Allah. Praise is to Allah. There is none worthy of worship but Allah. Allah is the Most Great. There is no might and no power except by Allah's leave, the Exalted, the Mighty.

QUESTION: if everything about me belongs to Allah, what is left to me to pride on? What am I doing in this world? What am I worth as a being on this earth? Well, I am a teacher. I don't own the school where I work. But I can do my job right; I can enjoy my life as a teacher; I get my pay and buy the things I need. And I can be happy with that. Many people don't own their homes and don't have a problem with that. See my point?

Do I "own" my vision and hearing, for example? Allah says: "Who owneth hearing and sight; and Who bringeth forth the living from the dead and bringeth forth the dead from the living?" (10.31) "Say: Have ye imagined, if Allah should take away your hearing and your sight and seal your hearts, Who is the God Who could restore it to you save Allah?" (6.46)

 

Do I own my body?  Allah says: "He whom we bring unto old age, We reverse him in creation (making him go back to weakness after strength). Have ye then no sense?" (36.68) "Allah is He Who shaped you out of weakness, then appointed after weakness strength, then, after strength, appointed weakness and grey hair. He createth what He will. He is the Knower, the Mighty." (30.54) "And Allah createth you, then causeth you to die, and among you is he who is brought back to the most abject stage of life, so that he knoweth nothing after (having had) knowledge. Lo! Allah is Knower, Powerful." (16.70) "Allah receiveth (men's) souls at the time of their death, and that (soul) which dieth not (yet) in its sleep. He keepeth that (soul) for which He hath ordained death and dismisseth the rest till an appointed term. Lo! herein verily are portents for people who take thought." (39.42)

Do we "own" "our" water? "Have ye thought: If (all) your water were to disappear into the earth, who then could bring you gushing water?" (67.30)

Do we "own" our crops? What if Allah sent against them the flood and the locusts and the vermin or just a few months' drought? Read, if you like: "So We sent against them the flood and the locusts and the vermin and the frogs and the blood -a succession of clear signs. But they were arrogant and became a guilty folk." (7.133)

"Say: Have ye thought, if Allah made night everlasting for you till the Day of Resurrection, who is a god beside Allah who could bring you light? Will ye not then hear? Say: Have ye thought, if Allah made day everlasting for you till the Day of Resurrection, who is a god beside Allah who could bring you night wherein ye rest? Will ye not then see?" (28.71-72) "Say: Who can avail you aught against Allah, if He intend you hurt or intend you profit? Nay, but Allah is ever Aware of what ye do." (48.11) "Or who is he that will be an army unto you to help you instead of the Beneficent ? The disbelievers are in naught but illusion." (67.20)

"And remember Allah's favour unto you." (3.103) "Remember (all) the bounties of your Lord, that haply ye may be successful." (7.69)

 

Yes, to many people Allah has nothing to do with our life or our success. But those who believe in Allah and the Hereafter want to know how they can best express their gratitude towards Him.

Well, if I cannot pay Allah back for His innumerable favours, I could still do my best. The Quran is full of examples of what I could do for worship. At the same time, I could pay it forward -to humankind- by serving people. "Allah is He Who accepteth repentance from His bondmen and taketh the alms." (9.104) Allah takes the alms, not for Himself, but for His bondmen -believers and non-believers alike. "Allah is Full of Pity, Merciful toward mankind." (2.143) "Allah giveth blessings without stint to whom He will" (24.38), that is to believers and non-believers alike. "Each do We supply, both these and those, from the bounty of thy Lord. And the bounty of thy Lord can never be walled up." (17.20) And yet Allah gives me, as a believer, the chance (and the honour) to do good, to give charity, if I can, to His bondmen, out of love for Him, as a sign of gratitude to Him, and I don’t say, like non-believers, who, "when it is said unto them: Spend of that wherewith Allah hath provided you", they "say unto those who believe: Shall we feed those whom Allah, if He willed, would feed? Ye are in naught else than error manifest." (36.47)

Also, I may do challenging high studies and accumulate interesting experience and then get a well-paid job and be proud about it. If I lose that job amid an economic downturn, what do I do?  I may have a serious social or health problem that prevents me from finishing my education and getting my dream job : what do I do, then?  Of course, faith will not bring me a concrete solution to a concrete problem, at least not right away, except in the case of the "wronged one" when he "crieth unto"   the Lord (verse (27.62)).  Just because I'm "a saint" doesn't mean I'm going to walk on water or go through a mousehole. But the fact that I believe that my livelihood (rizq) and age ('umr) and everything about me are in the hands of Allah, of God, the Lord of the Worlds, gives me some serenity. When somebody refuses to hire me or lays me off, I know that's only a trial for me, and that that person or that business cannot prevent me from getting what I want elsewhere, Allah willing. We all need some kind of protection. The work unions were created for that purpose. Health care and all kinds of social assistance were designed to this end. Besides, the most generous relief plan, the kindest state help, is limited in time. But when we are hard-pressed with rents to pay, with food to buy to one's kids..., it's normal, it's human, to seek help from humans. We all need protection. But what's the problem if Allah is my, our, Protector? On the contrary, it's our best insurance! Allah says in the Quran: "Lo! those whom ye serve instead of Allah own no provision for you. So seek your provision from Allah, and serve Him, and give thanks unto Him, (for) unto Him ye will be brought back." (29.17) "Say (unto them): If ye possessed the treasures of the mercy of my Lord, ye would surely hold them back for fear of spending, for man was ever grudging." (17.100) "Or have they even a share in the Sovereignty? Then in that case, they would not give mankind even the speck on a date-stone." (4.53) So everything that happens to me, good or bad, is supposed to be some kind of education, of good upbringing, a kind and thoughtful reminder for me. I should therefore think of others as much as I think of myself. If I manage to curb my greed and selfishness, that's good for me. Allah says: "And whoso is saved from his own avarice - such are they who are successful." (59.9)     

Have you ever seen a nest? Have you thought about it? If a man and a woman take care of their offspring, they may hope to benefit from them in their old age. But when a couple of swallows takes great pains to make a nest, and then takes pains to feed and protect their chiks, these will grow up and become fully fledged and fly away. Who will then pay back the parents for their kindness ? This is but a mercy from Allah. In the Hadith we read: "Allah divided Mercy into one hundred parts. He kept ninety nine parts with Him and sent down one part to the earth, and because of that, its one single part, His Creations are merciful to each other, so that even the mare lifts up its hoofs away from its baby animal, lest it should trample on it."

That's when I can give; what about when I am in need of help? Well, when you see a flock of swallows can you differenciate between them, can you tell who from who? Allah says: "There is not an animal in the earth, nor a flying creature flying on two wings, but they are peoples like unto you. We have neglected nothing in the Book (of Our decrees). Then unto their Lord they will be gathered." (6.38) Unless we use special cameras, we can't differenciate between them, but those swallows know one another, one way or another, and each knows its God. "Hast thou not seen that Allah, He it is Whom all who are in the heavens and the earth praise, and the birds in their flight? Of each He knoweth verily the worship and the praise; and Allah is Aware of what they do." (24.41) Likewise, when I get up in the middle of the night and go into the kitchen to get a glass of water, who is aware of that? If I pray to Allah in the middle of the night, who is aware of that? None but Allah, Who says: "Your Lord is Best Aware of what is in your minds. If ye are righteous, then lo! He was ever Forgiving unto those who turn (unto Him)." (17.25) "Those who avoid enormities of sin and abominations, save the unwilled offences - (for them) lo ! thy Lord is of vast mercy. He is Best Aware of you (from the time) when He created you from the earth, and when ye were hidden in the bellies of your mothers. Therefor ascribe not purity unto yourselves. He is Best Aware of him who wardeth off (evil)." (53.32) "And thou (Muhammad) art not occupied with any business and thou recitest not a Lecture from this (Scripture), and ye (mankind) perform no act, but We are Witness of you when ye are engaged therein. And not an atom's weight in the earth or in the sky escapeth your Lord, nor what is less than that or greater than that, but it is (written) in a clear Book." (10.61) "Ask pardon of your Lord and turn to Him repentant. He will cause you to enjoy a fair estate until a time appointed. He giveth His bounty unto every bountiful one." (11.3) Yes, one would say, but, still, that doesn’t answer the question! What about when I am in need of help?

Well, when I do something good I am establishing a direct connection with my Lord, with Allah Almighty. I show my care for Allah and He cares for me -even when, because of my seemingly unending woes, I get the feeling that Allah has forgotten all about me. The truth is nobody knows when salvation comes or what it will be like. Even prophets can't know. Allah says: "Till, when the messengers despaired and thought that they were denied, then came unto them Our help, and whom We would was saved. And Our wrath cannot be warded from the guilty." (12.110) "And (mention) Dhu'n-Nun, when he went off in anger and deemed that We had no power over him, but he cried out in the darkness, saying : There is no Allah save Thee. Be Thou Glorified! Lo! I have been a wrong-doer. Then we heard his prayer and saved him from the anguish. Thus we save believers." (21.87-88) Allah said that to His last Prophet! What about us, who are quick to fall into despair?

Trial is not easy. It's not easy to see people look down on you because you're jobless or single or sick or whatever. It's not easy to see people let you down in you hour of need. It's not easy to see all doors shut in your face. It's painful to see yourself like a wingless, tailless bird. It's not easy to feel lonely. But trial is not the same for all. As in the Hadith, a man said: "O Messenger of Allah! Which of the people is tried most severely?" He said: "The Prophets, then those nearest to them, then those nearest to them. A man is tried according to his religion; if he is firm in his religion, then his trials are more severe, and if he is frail in his religion, then he is tried according to the strength of his religion. The servant shall continue to be tried until he is left walking upon the earth without any sins." Also in the Hadith: "A believer does not receive (the trouble) of running a thorn or more than that but Allah elevates him in rank or effaces his sins because of that." Ibn Mas'ud, a companion of the Prophet (pbuh), reported: "I visited the Prophet (pbuh) when he was suffering fever. I said, ‘You seem to be suffering greatly, O Messenger of Allah.’ The Prophet (pbuh) replied, ‘Yes, I suffer as much as two persons.’ I said, ‘Is that because you have a double reward?’ He replied that that was so and then said, ‘No Muslim is afflicted by a harm, be it the pricking of a thorn or something more (painful than that), but Allah thereby causes his sins to fall away just as a tree sheds its leaves’". Ayeshah, said that the Prophet (pbuh) (her husband) said, "If a thorn pricks a believer or he is hurt more than that then that is an expiation for his sins." What can be clearer than the Hadiths above?

Allah does not try anybody except for a purpose that He alone knows. Trial (by ordeal) means loss and suffering. But does misfortune only happen to strong believers? What about ordinary people, believers or non-believers, who are tsruck by flooding, drought, fires, war, epidemic, unemployment, inflation...? Allah says: "He launcheth the thunderbolts and smiteth with them whom He will while they dispute (in doubt) concerning Allah, and He is mighty in wrath." (13.13)

 

Right now millions of souls have been lost to Covid-19. How many people learn a lesson from that? How many people lose not only an income or a loved one but their lives? In the Quran we read: "If ye are suffering, lo! they suffer even as ye suffer and ye hope from Allah that for which they cannot hope. Allah is ever Knower, Wise." (4.104) "Do men imagine that they will be left (at ease) because they say, We believe, and will not be tested with affliction? Lo! We tested those who were before you. Thus Allah knoweth those who are sincere, and knoweth those who feign." (29.2-3) "If ye have received a blow, the (disbelieving) people have received a blow the like thereof. These are (only) the vicissitudes which We cause to follow one another for mankind, to the end that Allah may know those who believe and may choose witnesses from among you; and Allah loveth not wrong-doers." (3.140) "What concern hath Allah for your punishment if ye are thankful (for His mercies) and believe (in Him)? Allah was ever Responsive, Aware." (4.147)

It is this hope (of obtaining Allah's love and pleasure) that one should treasure. Allah reminds the faithful that "…the mercy of thy Lord is better than (the wealth) that they amass." (43.32) "This life of the world is but a pastime and a game. Lo! the home of the Hereafter - that is Life, if they but knew." (29.64) That's for believers only. Even if I had everything I wanted my happiness wouldn't or shouldn't be total in a world where I am not alone, where there are millions of homeless people, of orphans, of single mothers without income...

 

Besides, trial has a prize. When you pass a test, you win –eventually- both the life of the world and that of the Hereafter. If I don't care about the Hereafter, if I only want social success and happiness and joy and eternal fun here and now, why should Allah care about me?

Allah says: "Say: Who hath forbidden the adornment of Allah which He hath brought forth for His bondmen, and the good things of His providing? Say: Such, on the Day of Resurrection, will be only for those who believed during the life of the world. Thus do we detail Our revelations for people who have knowledge." (7.32) "So Allah gave them the reward of the world and the good reward of the Hereafter. Allah loveth those whose deeds are good." (3.148)

Allah says in the Quran: "What have they (to fear) if they believe in Allah and the Last Day and spend (aright) of that which Allah hath bestowed upon them, when Allah is ever Aware of them (and all they do)? Lo! Allah wrongeth not even of the weight of an ant; and if there is a good deed, He will double it and will give (the doer) from His presence an immense reward." (4.39-40) "That is because they have chosen the life of the world rather than the Hereafter, and because Allah guideth not the disbelieving folk." (16.107)

If we are vexed because of our material living conditions, in the Quran we read: "How many were the gardens and the watersprings that they left behind, And the cornlands and the goodly sites And pleasant things wherein they took delight! Even so (it was), and We made it an inheritance for other folk." (44.25-28) These people, who lived thousands of years ago, had all signs of success. They had all the material comfort they expected. When they passed away they left all behind. Allah says: "Eat of that which Allah hath bestowed on you as food lawful and good, and keep your duty to Allah in Whom ye are believers." (5.88) "O ye who believe! Observe your duty to Allah. And let every soul look to that which it sendeth on before for the morrow. And observe your duty to Allah. Lo! Allah is Informed of what ye do." (59.18) "This life of the world is but a pastime and a game. Lo ! the home of the Hereafter - that is Life, if they but knew." (29.64) "On the Day when every soul will find itself confronted with all that it hath done of good and all that it hath done of evil (Every soul) will long that there might be a mighty space of distance between it and that (evil). Allah biddeth you beware of Him. And Allah is Full of Pity for (His) bondmen." (3.30)

This is preaching, yes. But the fact is that even those who don't believe in the Hereafter are not really so sure what may become of them after death. Allah says : "If thou obeyedst most of those on earth they would mislead thee far from Allah's way. They follow naught but an opinion, and they do but guess." (6.116) "Most of them follow not but conjecture. Assuredly conjecture can by no means take the place of truth. Lo ! Allah is Aware of what they do." (10.36)

Even if the ice-cream seller does not see you, you can't just take the ice-cream and go away. He gives you what you want, you give him his due. Even if Allah did not ask of us anything at all, we should still be grateful to Him for all He gives us -all the more so as "All that are in the heavens and the earth entreat Him. Every day He exerciseth (universal) power." (55.29) "See ye not how Allah hath made serviceable unto you whatsoever is in the skies and whatsoever is in the earth and hath loaded you with His favours both without and within?" (31.20)

How many people know of the Mississipi river? How many people know the tributaries that feed into the Mississipi, the Amazon or the Nile rivers? Most people either don't know or don't care. But Allah does know and does care. "Not a leaf falleth but He knoweth it, not a grain amid the darkness of the earth, naught of wet or dry but (it is noted) in a clear record." (6.59) Well, tell that to the experts who say they are worried that Data storage is becoming increasingly challenging due to Internet expansion.

 

Many may imagine the past and the future, but imagination is not equal to the truth. Allah says, for example: "Assuredly conjecture can by no means take the place of truth." (10.36) Allah not only "imagines", He knows. While writing a novel, for example, a novelist may forget a detail. He may forget that a character had a horse, a hat or a phone call. But Allah does not forget anything. "...and thy Lord was never forgetful." (19.64) "My Lord neither erreth nor forgetteth." (20.52) "And not an atom's weight in the earth or in the sky escapeth your Lord, nor what is less than that or greater than that, but it is (written) in a clear Book." (10.61)

Humans may never know the guy who started that devastating forest fire or the greedy guys who contributed to drought in one place because of savage deforestation and illegal logging. Allah knows them all. "Deem not that Allah is unaware of what the wicked do. He but giveth them a respite till a day when eyes will stare (in terror)." (14.42) The state may not know all the citizens who are in need of urgent assistance. Allah knows them all. He says: " (Alms are) for the poor who are straitened for the cause of Allah, who cannot travel in the land (for trade). The unthinking man accounteth them wealthy because of their restraint. Thou shalt know them by their mark: They do not beg of men with importunity. And whatsoever good thing ye spend, lo! Allah knoweth it." (2.273) "And let not thy hand be chained to thy neck nor open it with a complete opening, lest thou sit down rebuked, denuded. Lo! thy Lord enlargeth the provision for whom He will, and straiteneth (it for whom He will). Lo, He was ever Knower, Seer of His slaves." (17. 29-30)

Before asking why Allah does not come to the rescue of those in urgent need, one should ask: why does Allah bother to reckon every leaf that falls, every grain amid the darkness of the earth, every wet or dry in a place where nobody goes, where life is impossible? We may comprehend why Allah reckons our slightest thoughts and deeds. He says: "… each soul requited that which it hath earned; no wrong (is done) this day. Lo ! Allah is swift at reckoning." (40.17) "And He forgiveth much." (42.30) But which book can hold all this unimaginable amount of information about people, animals, plants, rivers, mountains, deserts, glaciers, clouds, crops, livelihoods -to speak only of our planet earth....? Which intelligence can process all this data? "Lo! Allah is swift at reckoning." (14.51) "Hast thou not known that Allah knoweth all that is in the heaven and the earth? Lo ! it is in a record. Lo! that is easy for Allah." (22.70)

And why all that? One probable reason is that this data is part of Allah's bounty, Allah "Who created the heavens and the earth, and causeth water to descend from the sky, thereby producing fruits as food for you, and maketh the ships to be of service unto you, that they may run upon the sea at His command, and hath made of service unto you the rivers; And maketh the sun and the moon, constant in their courses, to be of service unto you, and hath made of service unto you the night and the day. And He giveth you of all ye ask of Him, and if ye would count the bounty of Allah ye cannot reckon it. Lo! man is verily a wrong-doer, an ingrate." (14.32-34)

 

When I think about this I ask myself: hey, if Allah cares so much about so much, about so many, my humble person included, how can't I care about Him? With what face shall I return to Allah if He is not pleased with me? Will He be glad I returned to Him? Will He be happy to see me again? In the Quran I read: "Those are they who disbelieve in the revelations of their Lord and in the meeting with Him. Therefor their works are vain, and on the Day of Resurrection We assign no weight to them." (18.105) "Allah will neither speak to them nor look upon them on the Day of Resurrection, nor will He make them grow..." (3.77) Shouldn't I care for Allah NOW so that He'll care for me THEN? Allah says: "They forget Allah, so He hath forgotten them." (9.67) "He will say: So (it must be). Our revelations came unto thee but thou didst forget them. In like manner thou art forgotten this Day." (20.126) If I like a song, for example, I may be tempted to repeat it all day long, but what about Allah, who says: "Therefore remember Me, I will remember you. Give thanks to Me, and reject not Me." (2.152) "And be not ye as those who forgot Allah, therefor He caused them to forget their souls." (59.19) "And when ye have completed your devotions, then remember Allah as ye remember your fathers or with a more lively remembrance." (2.200) "Such as remember Allah, standing, sitting, and reclining, and consider the creation of the heavens and the earth, (and say) : Our Lord! Thou createdst not this in vain. Glory be to Thee!" (3.191)

 

When I have everything I want I may be complacent in my relation to the Lord; and when it's all over, when I can never come back to this world, I would probably say: "Ah, would that I had sent before me (some provision) for my life!" (89.24) "Would that I were dust!" (78.40) And it would be said to me: "Thou wast in heedlessness of this. Now We have removed from thee thy covering, and piercing is thy sight this day." (50.22) "Read thy Book. Thy soul sufficeth as reckoner against thee this day." (17.14) "Ye squandered your good things in the life of the world and sought comfort therein. Now this day ye are rewarded with the doom of ignominy because ye were disdainful in the land without a right, and because ye used to transgress." (46.20) "Did I not charge you, O ye sons of Adam, that ye worship not the devil -Lo! he is your open foe! - But that ye worship Me? That was the right path. Yet he hath led astray of you a great multitude. Had ye then no sense?" (36.60-62)

When we are being tried with ordeal we think right away of the way out. But trial is, paradoxically, in man's best interest. It's meant to open our eyes to the Truth of our existence in this world. That's why Allah says: "And if Allah were to enlarge the provision for His slaves they would surely rebel in the earth, but He sendeth down by measure as He willeth. Lo! He is Informed, a Seer of His bondmen." (42.27) In other words, Allah wants to save us from our lusts and illusions. He says: "Is he who relieth on a clear proof from his Lord like those for whom the evil that they do is beautified while they follow their own lusts?" (47.14)

 

Many things have changed in the world over time, but many things in man have stayed more or less the same. Man still kills and man still saves man from death. Think about this verse: "Allah (Himself) is Witness that there is no God save Him. And the angels and the men of learning (too are witness). Maintaining His creation in justice, there is no God save Him the Almighty, the Wise." (3.18) There is therefore human justice and divine justice. One aspect of this divine justice in this world is that we all see that Allah does not provide believers only. In the Quran we read: "And there is not a beast in the earth but the sustenance thereof dependeth on Allah He knoweth its habitation and its repository..." (11.6) (... bet it believing or not !) "Whoso desireth that (life) which hasteneth away, We hasten for him therein what We will for whom We please. And afterward We have appointed for him hell; he will endure the heat thereof, condemned, rejected. And whoso desireth the Hereafter and striveth for it with the effort necessary, being a believer; for such, their effort findeth favour (with their Lord). Each do We supply, both these and those, from the bounty of thy Lord. And the bounty of thy Lord can never be walled up." (17.18-20) That’s Allah's "justice", (in Arabic Al-Qist) meant in the verse "Maintaining His creation in justice". (3.18) Again that’s divine justice. In other words, it is an example for man. That's what Allah would like man to do on earth. Allah says: "Allah loveth the equitable." (49.9) "Lo! We offered the trust unto the heavens and the earth and the hills, but they shrank from bearing it and were afraid of it. And man assumed it. Lo! he hath proved a tyrant and a fool." (33.72) What's this "trust" (in Arabic amana)? It's the fact "...that mankind may observe right measure." (57.25) Explained in the Quran: "...and He hath set the measure, That ye exceed not the measure." (55.7-8) "Fill the measure when ye measure, and weigh with a right balance; that is meet, and better in the end." (17.35) "But observe the measure strictly, nor fall short thereof." (55.9) "Give full measure, and be not of those who give less (than the due). And weigh with the true balance. Wrong not mankind in their goods, and do not evil, making mischief, in the earth." (26.181-183) "Woe unto the defrauders: Those who when they take the measure from mankind demand it full, But if they measure unto them or weight for them, they cause them loss. Do such (men) not consider that they will be raised again Unto an Awful Day, The day when (all) mankind stand before the Lord of the Worlds?" (83.1-6) "O ye who believe! (...) help ye one another unto righteousness and pious duty. Help not one another unto sin and transgression, but keep your duty to Allah." (5.2) "O ye who believe! Be ye staunch in justice, witnesses for Allah, even though it be against yourselves or (your) parents or (your) kindred, whether (the case be of) a rich man or a poor man, for Allah is nearer unto both (them ye are). So follow not passion lest ye lapse (from truth) and if ye lapse or fall away, then lo! Allah is ever Informed of what ye do." (4.135) "O ye who believe! Be steadfast witnesses for Allah in equity, and let not hatred of any people seduce you that ye deal not justly. Deal justly, that is nearer to your duty. Observe your duty to Allah. Lo! Allah is Informed of what ye do." (5.8) "...But if thou judgest, judge between them with equity. Lo! Allah loveth the equitable." (5.42) "Lo! Allah commandeth you that ye restore deposits to their owners, and, if ye judge between mankind, that ye judge justly. Lo! comely is this which Allah admonisheth you. Lo! Allah is ever Hearer, Seer." (4.58) "And if two parties of believers fall to fighting, then make peace between them. And if one party of them doeth wrong to the other, fight ye that which doeth wrong till it return unto the ordinance of Allah ; then, if it return, make peace between them justly, and act equitably. Lo! Allah loveth the equitable." (49.9)

"O ye who believe! When ye contract a debt for a fixed term, record it in writing. Let a scribe record it in writing between you in (terms of) equity. No scribe should refuse to write as Allah hath taught him, so let him write, and let him who incurreth the debt dictate, and let him observe his duty to Allah his Lord, and diminish naught thereof. But if he who oweth the debt is of low understanding, or weak, or unable himself to dictate, then let the guardian of his interests dictate in (terms of) equity. And call to witness, from among your men, two witnesses. And if two men be not (at hand) then a man and two women, of such as ye approve as witnesses, so that if the one erreth (through forgetfulness) the other will remember. And the witnesses must not refuse when they are summoned. Be not averse to writing down (the contract) whether it be small or great, with (record of) the term thereof. That is more equitable in the sight of Allah and more sure for testimony, and the best way of avoiding doubt between you; save only in the case when it is actual merchandise which ye transfer among yourselves from hand to hand. In that case it is no sin for you if ye write it not. And have witnesses when ye sell one to another, and let no harm be done to scribe or witness. If ye do (harm to them) lo! it is a sin in you. Observe your duty to Allah. Allah is teaching you. And Allah is knower of all things." (2.282)

 

"Prove orphans till they reach the marriageable age; then, if ye find them of sound judgment, deliver over unto them their fortune ; and devour it not by squandering and in haste lest they should grow up Whoso (of the guardians) is rich, let him abstain generously (from taking of the property of orphans); and whoso is poor let him take thereof in reason (for his guardianship). And when ye deliver up their fortune unto orphans, have (the transaction) witnessed in their presence. Allah sufficeth as a Reckoner." (4.6) "Give unto orphans their wealth. Exchange not the good for the bad (in your management thereof) nor absorb their wealth into your own wealth. Lo! that would be a great sin." (4.2)

"And there may spring from you a nation who invite to goodness, and enjoin right conduct and forbid indecency. Such are they who are successful." (3.104) "Lo! comely is this which Allah admonisheth you. Lo! Allah is ever Hearer, Seer." (4.58)

Hence the importance of (STATE) law and order. Caliph Uthman Ibn Affan (576/573-656) said: "Allah takes away with the Ruler what is not taken away by the Quran." (That's because some people obey rules out of fear of the Ruler rather than the Quran.) Law and order are of paramount importance. If people can't live in peace and serenity, most of them cannot accomplish their two main missions in the earth : gratitude towards the Creator and solidarity between humans.

 

And this man has always done, both in tribal and state systems. Allah says: "And if Allah had not repelled some men by others the earth would have been corrupted. But Allah is a Lord of Kindness to (His) creatures." (2.251) So it happened that we have laws; we have a judiciary (formal justice) and we have, in principle at least, social justice.

One may ask: if Allah is so "adamant" about justice, why does He make people so different from each other in terms of colour, physical health and shape, material living conditions, etc., etc.? Yes, it's Allah Who is behind these differences. He says: "See how We prefer one of them above another, and verily the Hereafter will be greater in degrees and greater in preferment." (17.21) The differences are there, if not in the life of the world, then it'll be there in the Hereafer. So would you tolerate these differences in this world (which are only temporary) or those in the Hereafter (which are everlasting)? If you think about it a little more objectively, you will wonder whether these worldly differences are not really the best proof, the clearest evidence, that there is actually a life after death and that all our differences here are only a trial for each and every one of us.

Allah did not make me poor or weak to make others revel in my misery, but for you, when Allah gives you the means, to help me in a dignified way as a fellow human being with a human soul like you. By doing so you are expressing gratitude towards Allah and solidarity towards humankind. Of course, Allah could help me directly, He could have put you in my place, but what makes you a human if you don't help me? What makes me a human if I don't help you were you in my place? Would I say: "Shall we feed those whom Allah, if He willed, would feed?" (36.47)

Yet, one is not supposed to be “angelic”. An individual has his part of the job, the state/community has its own. Even if you have the means to help everybody around you, you are not supposed to give away all your money to people, that's not your job and your money is not entirely yours. So just do what you can, just show your humanity. Allah says: "And let not thy hand be chained to thy neck nor open it with a complete opening, lest thou sit down rebuked, denuded. Lo! thy Lord enlargeth the provision for whom He will, and straiteneth (it for whom He will). Lo, He was ever Knower, Seer of His slaves." (17.29-30) "And those who, when they spend, are neither prodigal nor grudging; and there is ever a firm station between the two." (25.67) Just be a human, treating the needy humanely. That’s all the point.

The Covid pandemic has shown how rich European states have asked for help, and nobody, me first, sees any kind of disgrace in that. "O mankind! Ye are the poor in your relation to Allah. And Allah! He is the Absolute, the Owner of Praise." (35.15)

Human solidarity, both on the individual and collective levels, makes humans beautiful; it spreads love amongst honest mankind. In Argentina, for example, many people swapped goods or services during the economic crisis. This is fabulous. The crisis may go, but good memories abide, stay with one for life. In Gruissan, a French fishing village, the fishermen established kind of a court to share the fishing zones in a fair way and they record everything concerning their fishing activities in special records, some several centuries old. This is amazing, and it's all human. In Morocco, too, we had a somewhat similar system for sharing water in the old medinas. Some kind people collect the unused food from restaurants and hotels, instead of letting it be thrown away, and use it to feed people in need. Others make great efforts to reduce plastic and other ocean and river pollution... In short, I can't enumerate all good work done by so many people around the world. All this is human and all this is wonderful!  Even during wartime you have health personnel who risk their lives in order to save people from danger. You also have many people who donate money or whatever to care for animals. As I said, Allah is great and wants man to be great too. Throughout Islamic history, many Muslims understood this perfectly well. There has always been the Waqf institution, which collects donations from voluntary donors and spends it, according to each donor's wishes, on schooling, bridge/road/water well projects, etc. The State itself is a form of solidarity in the sense that it collects taxes and so on and spends them as necessary. When a town is leveled by an earthquake or a tornado both poor and rich are affected. Not all rich people have private jets. Many need roads and bridges and schools for their children, and the state is there for help. But the state can't do everything. Calamities may be a (hard) way to remind man of this fact.

 

Thankfully, my state can give me Food Stamps, unemployment benefits or any kind of assistance as a compensation for job loss, etc. What if I lost my life to something like Covid-19 or a hurricane or flash floods, etc. ? Allan can give me another life after death. No state can do that. Many people are grateful just because they survived a disaster. In the Quran we read: "Bethink thee of him who had an argument with Abraham about his Lord, because Allah had given him the kingdom; how, when Abraham said: My Lord is He Who giveth life and causeth death, he answered: I give life and cause death. Abraham said: Lo! Allah causeth the sun to rise in the East, so do thou cause it to come up from the West. Thus was the disbeliever abashed. And Allah guideth not wrongdoing folk." (2.258) We also read this: "Is it they who apportion thy Lord's mercy? We have apportioned among them their livelihood in the life of the world, and raised some of them above others in rank that some of them may take labour from others; and the mercy of thy Lord is better than (the wealth) that they amass." (43.32) "This life of the world is but a pastime and a game. Lo! the home of the Hereafter - that is Life, if they but knew." (29.64) "That which ye have wasteth away, and that which Allah hath remaineth. And verily We shall pay those who are steadfast a recompense in proportion to the best of what they used to do." (16.96) "Knowest thou not that it is Allah unto Whom belongeth the Sovereignty of the heavens and the earth; and ye have not, beside Allah, any guardian or helper?" (2.107) "Allah is able to do all things." (18.45)"...and He maketh none to share in His government." (18.26) "As for these similitudes, We coin them for mankind, but none will grasp their meaning save the wise." (29.43)

 

Why does one read stuff like this? The best explanation can't convince everybody. The mind may be strong, the heart may be strong, but the psyche loses its strength, abruptly or gradually, in the absence of material or moral support; so the nafs ammara revolts against the nafs lawama, and it may take some time before the soul is soothed. Sometimes it takes very little for the soul to be calmed down if the mind is already prepared. Hence the importance of Quran reading. Sooner or later the Quran, if read correctly, does help to allay one's fears of unemployment, illness, loss... In the Quran we read: "...and will give them in exchange safety after their fear." (24.55) "Lo! thy Lord enlargeth the provision for whom He will, and straiteneth (it for whom He will). Lo, He was ever Knower, Seer of His slaves." (17.30)

So who should I lean on? By the way, during the reign of Caliph Umar (584-644) and some other Muslim leaders, Muslims and non-Muslims alike were entitled to state assistance. This was based on genuine Islamic principles, and did not depend on the goodwill of the leaders. It's only a question of state funds availability. It's public money. It is the duty of the State, when it can afford it, to help the needy, not a favour from the top leader. Very few leaders would give out of their own pockets. It may be an unfair move towards future generations if my state borrows excessively in order to help me without making sure it can repay it in the foreseeable future. Recent statistics show that public debt levels have never been so high since WWII. In many states around the world many people can't even get their monthly salaries or retirement pensions on time and many businesses go bankrupt because they are overwhelmed by state payment delays. Similarly, if Allah exhorts the faithful to help each other in a dignified way through zakat and alms, even in normal times and when the state's coffers are full, it's because, philosophically speaking, the only difference between the haves and the have-nots is that Allah gives the haves directly and the have-nots indirectly, through the haves. Allah gives me my salary through my boss. So, for this matter, I give thanks to Allah, not to my boss or whatever. I thank humans when they do good to me for the good they do to me “by Allah’s leave”, but I believe that it’s all from Allah. I vote for the person who did good to my community, because it is only natural to like and encourage people who do good. The problem is, when each and every time I have a problem I turn to the government/state for help. I could get the help I want, but the risk is that my Iman could weaken over time due to this dependence on the state. And then, every state has anything but unlimited means. If each government that comes starts spending with all its might, to ensure social peace or for any other reason, this could lead to socio-economic and even political disasters. Hyperinflation, default… all this comes from that. And then I may need Allah’s help, with illness, a loss, etc. After all, life is a feeling, it’s not all about money. "Lo! Allah! He it is that giveth livelihood, the Lord of unbreakable might." (51.58)

 

That's why Islam was accepted, at least in the beginning, as a way of life by non-Arab nations and became the Faith of great empires over a long period of time. If we Muslims of today are not that great, it's most probably because we don't want Islam as a way of life, but only as a religion, as rituals. The problem is therefore not with Islam. The problem is with us Muslims, me first. Think about this Hadith: "None amongst you believes (truly) until he loves for his brother" -or he said "for his neighbor- "that which he loves for himself." In the Quran we read: "If ye publish your almsgiving, it is well, but if ye hide it and give it to the poor, it will be better for you, and will atone for some of your ill-deeds. Allah is Informed of what ye do." (2.271) "O ye who believe! Render not vain your almsgiving by reproach and injury, like him who spendeth his wealth only to be seen of men and believeth not in Allah and the Last Day. His likeness is as the likeness of a rock whereon is dust of earth; a rainstorm smiteth it, leaving it smooth and bare. They have no control of aught of that which they have gained. Allah guideth not the disbelieving folk." (2.264) "A kind word with forgiveness is better than almsgiving followed by injury. Allah is Absolute, Clement." (2.263) "Know they not that Allah is He Who accepteth repentance from His bondmen and taketh the alms, and that Allah is He Who is the Relenting, the Merciful." (9.104) We are all poor in one way or another. You may be rich, but you would looked entreatingly at your doctor when you are sick. Would you then love it if a needy person look at you in a beseeching manner? If we believe in the Quran we should believe that money is Allah's money. Again in the Quran we read: "...and bestow upon them of the wealth of Allah which He hath bestowed upon you." (24.33) "And let not those who hoard up that which Allah hath bestowed upon them of His bounty think that it is better for them. Nay, it is worse for them." (3.180) "...If ye fear poverty (from the loss of their merchandise) Allah shall preserve you of His bounty if He will. Lo! Allah is Knower, Wise." (9.28) "And whatever of comfort ye enjoy, it is from Allah. Then, when misfortune reacheth you, unto Him ye cry for help." (16.53) "He it is Who hath placed you as viceroys of the earth and hath exalted some of you in rank above others, that He may try you by (the test of) that which He hath given you. Lo ! Thy Lord is swift in prosecution, and Lo! He verily is Forgiving, Merciful." (6.165) "Lo! thy Lord enlargeth the provision for whom He will, and straiteneth (it for whom He will). Lo! He was ever Knower, Seer of His slaves." (17.30) "And covet not the thing in which Allah hath made some of you excel others. Unto men a fortune from that which they have earned, and unto women a fortune from that which they have earned. (Envy not one another) but ask Allah of His bounty. Lo! Allah is ever Knower of all things." (4.32)

Most people don't seem to understand this. Allah says: "Verily Allah heard the saying of those who said: "Allah, forsooth, is poor, and we are rich!" (3.181) "And when it is said unto them: Spend of that wherewith Allah hath provided you, those who disbelieve say unto those who believe: Shall we feed those whom Allah, if He willed, would feed? Ye are in naught else than error manifest." (36.47)

 

"Lo! verily the friends of Allah are (those) on whom fear (cometh) not, nor do they grieve." (10.62) "Lo! power belongeth wholly to Allah. He is the Hearer, the Knower." (10. 65) "They measure not Allah His rightful measure. Lo! Allah is Strong, Almighty." (22.74) "And there is not a thing but with Us are the stores thereof. And we send it not down save in appointed measure." (15.21) "And there is not a beast in the earth but the sustenance thereof dependeth on Allah. He knoweth its habitation and its repository. All is in a clear Record." (11.6) "And how many an animal there is that beareth not its own provision! Allah provideth for it and for you. He is the Hearer, the Knower." (29.60) "In Allah let believers put their trust." (58.10) "And whosoever keepeth his duty to Allah, Allah will appoint a way out for him, And will provide for him from (a quarter) whence he hath no expectation. And whosoever putteth his trust in Allah, He will suffice him. Lo! Allah bringeth His command to pass. Allah hath set a measure for all things." (65.2-3) "And Allah was predominant in His career, but most of mankind know not." (12.21) "Your wealth and your children are only a temptation, whereas Allah! with Him is an immense reward." (64.14-15)

 

"Whoso desireth the reward of the world, (let him know that) with Allah is the reward of the world and the Hereafter. Allah is ever Hearer, Seer." (4.134) "No soul can ever die except by Allah's leave and at a term appointed. Whoso desireth the reward of the world, We bestow on him thereof; and whoso desireth the reward of the Hereafter, We bestow on him thereof. We shall reward the thankful." (3.145)

My Testimony II