Page 37 - Beauties for Life in the Qur'an

PRUDENT MEASURES IMPLIED BY THE QUR'AN 35

velop a sharp awareness and alertness. Their resoluteness in liv-
ing by Islam's principles and spreading Allah's message, how-
ever, was met with great hostility on the part of their
communities. In some cases, this hostility led to attempts to
murder several prophets.
Believers acknowledge that everything happens because
Allah wills it to happen. If they are attacked, they understand
that some good is contained within it, for the Qur'an states that
there is good in every event. Thus believers, who fear no one
but Allah, take rational and elaborate precautions to foil any
plots directed against them.
One such precaution involves making their dwellings and
towns safe and secure. The Qur'an informs us of two litigants
who came to the Prophet Dawud (as):
Has the story of the litigants reached you? How they climbed over
the walls of the sanctuary (in which he prayed). (Surah Sâd: 21)
This verse, which relates how they sought to see the Prophet
Dawud (as), also provides us with the features of his residence:
It might be a secure and sheltered place surrounded with high
walls and thus invulnerable to attack.
Another precaution mentioned in the Qur'an is to keep dogs
at the residence's entrances to enhance security. As we read:
You would have supposed them to be awake, whereas, in fact,
they were asleep. We moved them to the right and to the left,
and, at the entrance, their dog stretched out its paws. If you had
looked down and seen them, you would have turned from them
and run, and have been filled with terror at the sight of them.
(Surat al-Kahf: 18)
These young people, whom the Qur'an calls the
"Companions of the Cave," took refuge in a cave to protect
themselves from the tyrannical ruler of that time, who had a