Page 87 - Perfected Faith

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EXAMPLES OF PERFECTED FAITH IN THE QUR'AN

think that this will ever end. I do not think the Hour will ever
come. But if I should be sent back to my Lord, I will definitely
get something better in return." (Surat al-Kahf, 35-36)
As Allah stresses in this verse, the owner of the gardens attributed
near-permanence to his gardens and dared to openly state that they
were not vulnerable to any kind of devastating disasters. He yet
failed to recognise the drastic end this outlook would bring about.
His ignorant arrogance and his feelings of self-sufficiency made him
one who "wronged himself."
Allah mentions another man who also owned gardens. This indi-
vidual was also wealthy, though not as much as the first one… Yet, his
wealth did not change his faith or personality, for which reason, he
noticed his friend's disbelief and answered him thus:
…Do you then disbelieve in Him Who created you from dust,
then from a drop of sperm, and then formed you as a man? He
is, however, Allah, my Lord, and I will not associate anyone
with my Lord. Why, when you entered your garden, did you not
say, "It is as Allah wills, there is no strength but in Allah?"...
(Surat al-Kahf, 37-39)
In the latter part of the verse, he immediately warns his friend not
to be insolent towards Allah on account of his possessions and ad-
vises him not to grow arrogant:
..."Though you see me with less wealth and children than you
possess, it may well be that my Lord will give me something
better than your garden and send down upon your vineyard
thunderbolts from heaven so that it turns into a barren waste, or
drain its water deep into the earth, so that you will find none of
it." The fruits of his labour were completely destroyed and he
wrung his hands in grief, rueing everything that he had spent
on it. It was a ruin with all its trellises fallen in. He said, "Oh, if
only I had not associated anyone with my Lord!" There was for