In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful…
Juz Rubama, the fourteenth part of the Holy Quran, contains 227 verses focusing on the blessings from Allah, the necessity of faith and warnings to disbelievers. The juz is an eloquent reminder to me to reflect on Allah’s creations and His warnings of punishment to those who disobey Him.
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful…
Juz Rubama, the fourteenth part of the Holy Quran, contains 227 verses focusing on the blessings from Allah, the necessity of faith and warnings to disbelievers. The juz is an eloquent reminder to me to reflect on Allah’s creations and His warnings of punishment to those who disobey Him.
Juz Rubama starts with Surah Al-Hijr (The Rock); in which, first, we are reminded of the signs of the Book, and a clear Quran. Then we are quickly reminded that those who disbelieve will wish that they had submitted, and that Allah never destroys a town until its appointed time. The beginning of the surah is about the ultimate destruction and inescapability of Allah’s decree due to disobedience and the rejection of Allah’s guidance to man through his prophets, messengers, and/or Warners.
The surah reminds us of the same way that Iblis refused to bow before Adam out of his arrogance is the same arrogance that causes rebelliousness of disbelievers and idolators to the truth brought to them in their time by prophets Ibrahim, Lut, and Shu’ayb. Then we are reminded of the people of Al-Hijr, the community to whom the Prophet Salih had been sent. The people bear the name, al-Hijr because they inhabited a rocky plain.
So, when on one of many journeys through a desert in Utah in September of 2015, I was reminded of the people of the Rock when I saw the picture you are seeing now. I imagined how the prophets Ibrahim, Lut, Shu’ayb, and Salih were mocked by their people and in the end, God destroyed those people for their mockery. I wondered, would I have been of those that mocked at the prophets of God, or would I have been of the obedient ones?
Now, since I am, like you are of those that are the people that were warned by the prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him and his Ahlul Bayt, I ask myself the same question as I continue to travel through the land. Am I mocking him or am I truly obedient to the guidance that he provides to me? Am I a good follower of the prophet Muhammad? These are the questions I ask myself regularly in my reflections.
Surah Al-Hijr ended by encouraging the Prophet to have forbearance, to worship, to be resolute in spreading the message, and to not grieve over his people’s rejection of the message. I am here at Masjid Nabi in Madina during my first Hajj, 1434 as a committed follower and witness bearer that There is no God, but Allah and Muhammad is His Messenger. I bear witness that Muhammad and His Ahlul-Bayt were perfect examples to me of how to worship, my Lord and this presentation is my reflection in this month of Ramadan.
My reflection today begins about ten years ago while traveling to Alaska. The pilot announced that we would descend to about 10,000 feet to allow passengers to see the glaciers and vast icefields that cover this part of the planet Earth. I looked out the window and saw something I never imagined my eyes would see, miles upon miles of bright white fields of snow and ice.
I had learned about glaciers in grade school, but never did I imagine when I was eight years old that thirty years later, I would see them for myself and yet there they were, and I was in awe. I just stared for a few minutes captivated by the beauty of mountains of snow.
Then I noticed something interesting, it looked like frozen waterfalls, there was the brownness of the earth’s crust and green-ness of a body of water like the waters in the Caribbean. I thought to myself; how is it that this water looks as green or blue as that which is in the Caribbean Sea, yet we’re in Alaska? Then it occurred to me to take a picture to capture what my eyes could see. Perhaps, this image can last a little longer and I can pull it out and look at again and remember this moment at any time. The more I starred the more complex the environment appeared, and I wondered how could there still be calmness and peace in all this complexity, extremity even? It has to be because there is one author, one creator, these glaciers, all these mountains of snow and ice were proof of their creator!
For only one could create so much vastness complexity diversity and yet no chaos, it was total peace, quiet, and calm. Allahu Akbar! He is glorious and He is Ahad! For, more than one would surely have led to chaos and yet there was no chaos. With movement of the glaciers, the earth, I would have expected chaos, violence and yet it was peace, calm, tranquility, this can only be a sign of its creator and His oneness! Look at it, see it for yourself…. , they were glaciers, and I was in awe of their Creator! It was my “Aha” moment, here is the proof and Allah told us this in Surah An-Nahl, the Bee, in verse 13 “And whatsoever He created for you on the earth of diverse hues – truly in this is a sign for a people who reflect.”
One scholar, Dr. Seyyed Hussain Nasr, the editor-in-chief of the Study Quran: A New Translation and Commentary, shared in the introduction of Surah An-Nahl (The Bee), that “This surah is one of the most important of those in the Quran that point out the spiritual significance of nature. Substantial parts of this surah are devoted to the wanders of the natural world and to rehearsing the specific blessings that God has bestowed on human beings through natural phenomena, including various kinds of livestock and their benefits and uses, crops, and vegetation, the celestial bodies, the sea and its bounties, and the mountains, streams, and other natural landmarks that guide human beings’ travel.”
While it is true both surahs address the idolators of the time and their denial of the message delivered by the Holy Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him and his Ahlul Bayt, and the arrogance toward and disobedience to the prophets Ibrahim, Lut, Shuayib, and Salih before the final Prophet; my reflection this month of Ramadan 1447, focuses on the testimony of the oneness of God given to me from my observation of nature.
Notice, on this slide are two images, one taken on a road to Jeddah in the desert of Saudia Arabia and the other taken over 7,000 miles away on a road in the bush of St. Ann Parish, Jamaica, I was reminded of verses 5 thru 7 of Surah An-Nahl… more proof…
There’s a three mile walk I like to take around Lake Johnson in Raleigh, NC. On my walk on this particular morning, I stopped to look out at the lake when it looked like a storm was coming and just like that, another moment of reflection, I remembered the verse “He it is Who sends down water from the sky….
“Therewith He causes the crops to grow for you, and olives and date palms, and
grapevines, and every kind of fruit. Truly in that is a sign for a people who reflect.”
Even in my garden at home, when I take the time to reflect, I see and hear the verses of the Holy Quran where Allah swt reminds us of the vegetation that comes forth from the rain He sends, I become overwhelmed in gratitude, and I remember that day in Alaska, I reflect and I see Allah’s proof right before my own eyes, look at the varieties He has created for you and me, look at the benefit of eating these tomatoes, green beans, and strawberries, not only nourishing but they are oh so tasty, thank you, thank you, Allah for such a blessing…
Subhanna’llah! This is a picture I took flying over Diamond Head. Scientists estimate that this enormous crater was formed about 300,000 years ago as the result of the explosive eruption of a volcano on Oahu, Hawaii. I hiked in and around the crater and reflected on the destruction that came to those that mocked at prophets Ibrahim, Lut, Shuyab, and Salih and thought the same way there is nothing left of those from the eruption thousands of years ago is the same way the mockers were destroyed with nothing left of them…
It makes looking at mountains a little different. I remember a time when I saw mountains as the giants in the land, however now I see mountains and I reflect on the verse…and I know that Allah swt out of His mercy has put even the giants, the mountains, here as a service to me and you…
On my walk on a trail in Minnesota, I followed the sound of the water and what did I see, I
saw another opportunity to reflect, “And He cast firm mountains in the earth, lest it shake beneath you; and streams, and ways that haply you may be guided…
On this occasion, the stream on the left guided me to the waterfalls you see on the right, while there I sat on a rock and listen to the sound of nature, the sound of the waterfalls, the birds sing, crickets chirping, frogs croaking, it was the symphony of nature and God was the Conductor, again more proof of the oneness of God, everything points back to Him…
Driving on the pacific coast highway in California, I had to pull over and just take a moment to take the scene all in and in so doing, look at how God gave me another opportunity to reflect, remember Him….
When I saw this scene, how could I not reflect and remember Him, He is the One, Who create this beauty….look at it….all I could hear was the water crashing into the mountain side, the birds singing as they flew over and the sounds of sea life, they were all bearing witness that there is no God but Allah, how did I hear all of that it’s simple, with so many different voices, the voice of the ocean, the voice of the birds, the voice of the sea life, many different voices and yet one harmonious sound, again all pointing back to the One, the Unity….Allahu Akbar…
One of my favorite reflections was in Jamaica, when, on this occasion, I took a boat ride out to another island off the coast of Jamaica and in the process was reminded of the verse….
And look at the varieties of the sea…while we don’t eat crab, and sting ray, or the jelly fish you see in this picture…I was humbled again, when at the aquarium in Monterey Bay, California….it was there that I could reflect more on the expansiveness of the ocean, this isn’t even a fraction of the aquatic life that Allah has created. Look at the varieties and they all live together in a system of peace and order, no chaos….if one is food for the other then another comes along and is fed and the cycle goes on and on….all a sign of on Creator!
One of the greatest times of reflection for me is at sunrise and sunset and when I look into the night sky and see a full moon, it is so bright that it lights up my whole backyard. In these moments I see the verse “He has made the night and the day subservient unto you, and the sun, and the moon, and the stars are subservient by His Command. Truly in that are signs for a people who understand.”
Sunrise…. Here, the sun is coming up over the horizon, looking out at the Atlantic ocean, all I see is water as far as my eyes can see, I love this image because this is when the ocean looks like it is meeting with the sky….this is when I can see the distinct between night and day as the sun comes up at Virginia Beach, Virginia.
This brings me to my last reflection, a few years ago, I was traveling in NY when there was
going to be an eclipse, I went to the observation deck of one of NYC’s many skyscrapers, this one stood at about 850 feet…I went there because I figured I would get a great view of the eclipse, and I did…I share this though because it has been narrated from the Ahlul Bayt that these phenomena, like an eclipse, are warnings or signs of the chastisement to come and since that time there have been several others….I pray that you and I are not the mockers of our time and that we are the true believers and followers of the Prophet Muhammad and the Nation of the Righteous, that we may escape the chastisement that is surely coming. This was my reflection for this month of Ramadan 1447.
Hope Copeland learned about Islam at boarding school and took her shahadah during her freshman year of college 20 years ago. She is particularly interested in the Ja’fari school of law and has found an unlimited amount of knowledge in the study of the Ahlul Bayt of the Prophet Muhammad (may Allah’s peace and blessing be upon him).
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