As the global recovery phase from the Corona pandemic begins, everyone who is eager to travel starts planning for their next trip. All tourist destinations globally, including hotels and restaurants began taking deliberate steps to safely bring back their activities, by implementing new protocols designed to ensure everyone’s health. Everyone can learn the latest tips and guidelines for global health and travel, and take the necessary precautions.
The obsession with being safe occupies an essential aspect of our lives. It represents an urgent need that people strive to obtain.
Each of us desires a plane trip in first class, a theater ticket in first class, and a first degree in academic achievement. But he may accept nothing when talking about the afterlife.
I remember that during my travels with my husband around the world, I was keen to memorize the meaning of the term “exit” in the language of every country I was visiting. This is because my husband is keen to drive the car himself on some solo trips outside of work. Memorizing the meaning of this term was out of my great fear that we would lose the way. I used to memorize the words that indicate the “exit” in difficult and funny languages for me, such as Chinese for example.
During special missions with the United Nations, they always provided us with guards who accompanied us, as they were keen to provide us with safety. In addition to countless brochures about safety and security instructions, along with the degree of danger in the country we travelled to. In addition to impose the necessary vaccinations on us before each trip.
Not to mention registering with insurance companies in case something happened to us or the car, or to be able to depart from the country in case natural disasters or war happens.
Almost no place in the world doesn’t contain safety and security measures, such as fire extinguishers, securing emergency phone numbers, and exit signs. Especially after the Corona crisis and its repercussions, from imposing sterilisation, masks, and urging on hand washing.
We find safety and security tips and tricks at:
- Airplanes and transportations.
- Space Shuttles.
- International conference rooms.
- Theaters and cinemas.
- Residential buildings.
- Schools and universities.
- Mosques and places of worship.
- Restaurants and entertainment venues.
- Football fields.
- Hospitals and outpatient clinics.
And many more.
We get in the car and look for the seat belt.
We get on the plane and fasten the seat belt.
The doctor always talks about the safety of the pregnant woman and her newborn.
Despite all this, I still hear a strange answer from some atheists when I tell them about the importance of obtaining safety after death. They say:
We don’t need this safety.
In an interview with a British atheist one day, she had said that she does not need to be safe even before death.
I told her:
When you leave this place and get into your car to head to your next destination, do you not need to arrive safely?
She said no.
I told her:
Then why do you wear a mask while you are talking to me even though the Corona pandemic restrictions have been lifted?
The woman then felt very embarrassed.
From the supplications of the Noble Qur’an:
And say, “My Lord! Grant me an honourable entrance and an honourable exit and give me a supporting authority from Yourself.” (Al-Isra:80)
We get on the plane, the train or the bus knowing where we came from, the purpose of the trip, and the destination.
Without knowing the answers to these questions, we cannot enjoy the trip.
One of the most amazing things I hear from those who deny the existence of a Creator of the universe is that they do not care about knowing these facts.
A person does not accept to be nothing in this world. But he may be convinced of this idea when talking about life after death, and say I will be nothing.
The word “security” and its derivatives are mentioned in the Holy Qur’an in many places. It is security, which means safety and psychological reassurance, and the absence of fear for human life or for his interests, that is, what includes the security of the individual and the security of society.
The Creator says in the Holy Qur’an:
Indeed, those who abuse Our revelations are not hidden from Us. Who is better: the one who will be cast into the Fire or the one who will be secure on Judgment Day? Do whatever you want. He is certainly All-Seeing of what you do. (Fussilat:40)
The means of obtaining safety in this worldly life and after death are represented in these verses:
Say: “Come, I will recite what your Lord has forbidden to you; that you do not associate anything with Him. And show kindness to your parents. Do not kill your children for (fear of poverty)”. We provide sustenance for you and for them. Do not approach wickedness that is apparent or concealed. Do not kill which Allah has forbidden except for a just cause. This He has enjoined you with that you may be mindful. (Al-An’am:151)
Security will not be achieved unless justice is established on the face of the earth.
Islam came to establish justice on earth.
It is the religion that all the prophets of God brought to all nations; the correct faith that most followers deviated from by sanctifying their prophets and the righteous among them led to the emergence of many religions.
But what justice?
Justice that puts things right and gives everyone his right.
- Giving the Creator (the Power in heavens) His right by worshiping Him alone, bearing witness that He is the One. He has no parents, no child, no equal. Knowing and understanding that God (Creator) is beyond incarnating in the form of humans, animals, idols, etc.
- Giving every human his right to communicate with his Creator directly, personally, without any intermediary (priest, saint, idol, etc.). Seeking refuge when needed and in adversities directly in the Creator, not in any prophet, including the Prophet of God Muhammad.
- Establishing equality among humans and helping humanity get rid of abhorrent racial intolerance. There is no difference between an Arab and a non-Arab except for piety.
O mankind, indeed We have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another. Indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of God is the most righteous of you. Indeed, God is Knowing and Acquainted (Al – Hujurat:3).
- Providing freedom of choice to allow people to choose their religion and practice its rituals freely.
Let there be no compulsion in religion, for the truth stands out clearly from falsehood. So whoever renounces false gods and believes in Allah has certainly grasped the firmest, unfailing hand-hold. And Allah is All-Hearing, All-Knowing (Al-Baqara:256).
- Ending oppression and injustice on earth.
- Giving the prophets and messengers their right to believe in all of them, including Christ and Moses, peace be upon them. And to worship the Creator as the Messenger worshiped the Creator, not by worshiping the Messenger himself.
Say: “We believe in Allah, and in what has been revealed to us and to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob and the descendants (of Jacob) and in what was given to Moses and Jesus and in what the other Prophets received from their Lord. We make no distinction between any of them, and we are those who submit to Allah.” (Al-Baqara:136)
The Creator may deprive people of safety because of their sins, their unbelief, their worship of others, or their denial of His blessings and lack of gratitude for them, as what happened in the Corona pandemic.
And Allah sets forth the example of a society which was safe and at ease, receiving its provision in abundance from all directions. But its people met Allah’s favours with ingratitude, so Allah made them taste the clutches of hunger and fear for their misdeeds. (An-Nahl:112)
Security is the opposite of fear.
And [mention] when We made the House a place of return for the people and [a place of] security. And take, [O believers], from the standing place of Abraham a place of prayer. And We charged Abraham and Ishmael, [saying], “Purify My House for those who perform Tawaf and those who are staying [there] for worship and those who bow and prostrate [in prayer].” (Al-Baqara:125)
Which means: Security from the enemy, and security for those who enter the sacred house.
The Almighty said:
Then when they entered the presence of Joseph he provided a home for his parents with himself and said: “Enter ye Egypt (all) in safety if it please Allah.” (Yusuf: 99).
Which means: you are safe from what you were suffering from (effort and drought).
And in His saying:
And they used to carve from the mountains, houses, feeling secure. (Al-Hijr: 82).
Security here means: You are free of needs.
That is, they carved houses out of the mountains without fear or need, but in arrogance.
Man does not obtain in this worldly life absolute security.
No matter how blessed a person is, safety of soul and body, and abundance of sustenance, he does not feel complete and absolute security that negates every fear, whatever its causes.
Absolute security is only found in the abode of bliss that God has promised to His righteous servants.
God said:
˹It will be said to them,˺ “Enter in peace and security.”(Al-Hijr: 46).
In Heaven, there is no fear, no panic, no interruption, no annihilation.
As for the world; absolute security is not achieved, as it is marred by fear of interruption of security, and fear of the demise of life itself.
No one feels secure from the plan of Allāh except the losing people.
God Almighty says:
Then, did they feel secure from the plan of Allāh? But no one feels secure from the plan of Allāh except the losing people.(Al-A’raf: 99).
As for the true believers, their situation is between hope for the mercy of God Almighty, and fear of Him, Glory be to Him, which is considered necessary for the believer to be safe from his oppression to himself, and from his oppression to others, and from the oppression of others.
The fear of God is the key to security for the believer in this world and prosperity in the next.
God has made fear a kind of torment for the liars and unbelievers. The Almighty says:
Nothing keeps Us from sending the ˹demanded˺ signs except that they had ˹already˺ been denied by earlier peoples. And We gave Thamûd the she-camel as a clear sign, but they wrongfully rejected it. We only send the signs as a warning.(Al-Isra: 59)
He made being afflicted with fear a kind of test that a person might be exposed to:
We will certainly test you with a touch of fear and famine and loss of property, life, and crops. Give good news to those who patiently endure.(Al-Baqarah: 155).
Finally, God sends a message to everyone who fought His Messenger and the message of monotheism, even if he was blessed in this life.
God Almighty says:
let them worship the Lord of this ˹Sacred˺ House,Who has fed them against hunger and made them secure against fear. (Quraysh: 3-4)
Ibn Qayyim says:
“Beware of yourself, you will never suffer any affliction except from it. Therefore, do not make peace with it. I swear to God that no one shall respect it until he abases it, and none shall honor it until he humiliates it, none shall reconcile it until he breaks it, and none shall comfort it until he exhausts it, and none shall assure it until he frightens it, and none shall rejoice it until he grieves it.”
With this accurate description of the way of dealing with the soul by Ibn Al-Qayyim, we can obtain safety in this world and the hereafter.
Notes:
The reference of God to Himself as WE or US in many verses of the Qur’an denotes Grandeur and Power in Arabic. In the English language this is known as the royal WE, where a plural pronoun is used to refer to a single person holding a high office, such as a monarch. For the avoidance of doubt, the Qur’an has consistently reminded us of the SINGULAR pronoun in reference to God, when called upon by His servants.
The Christians, Jews, and Muslims in the Middle East use the word “Allah” to refer to God, which refers to The Only True God.