Don’t be sad, and study Allah’s Signs in the creation

 

If you study Allah’s signs in the world and universe you will find such things of wonder that will remove your worries and anxieties: the soul finds delight in the strange, the wonderful, and the bizarre.

 

Bukhari and Muslim narrated a hadith from Jaabir ibn ‘Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said, "The Messenger of Allah sent us on a mission and appointed Abu ‘Ubaydah to be our leader.

 

We were to meet with a caravan from Quraysh. Since he could find nothing else, the Messenger of Allah (bpuh) provided us only with a container of dates for the journey. So from the day we left onward, Abu ‘Ubaydah would give us (each) one date for each day."

 

The narrator of the hadith asked Jaabir what they would do with the dates. He said, "We would suck on one of the dates the way a child does. Then we would drink water over it. This was enough for us until the night fell. We would then strike at the leaves of trees with our sticks, wet the leaves, and then eat them. We were hiking on the shores of the sea when we saw something that looked like a huge sand-hill from a distance. As we came nearer, we realized that it was a large sea creature called Al-Anbar (whale fish). Abu ‘Ubaydah said that it was an animal that died without being slaughtered (therefore it was not lawful). He then said, ‘No, we are the messengers of the Messenger of Allah, we are in the path of Allah, and now we are in a dire situation ---- so eat, all of you."’

 

"We, all three hundred of us, lived off of this creature for one month until we became fattened. I remember how we took spears and thrust them into the eye socket of the creature. From inside the socket we scooped out pieces of fat, the size of a bull. So large was the creature that when Abu ‘Ubaydah asked thirteen of our men to line up in the eye socket of the creature, there was enough space to accommodate them all. He also took one of its ribs and erected it on the ground. Then he found the tallest camel, made our tallest man to ride on it, and they were able to pass underneath the rib. Finally, when we left the site, we took provisions from the meat for the return journey. When we arrived in Madeenah, we went to the Messenger of Allah (bpuh) and told him what happened, and he said,

 

‘This is sustenance that Allah has taken out (of the sea) for you. Do you have any of its meat with you to feed us from it?’  We sent some to the Messenger of Allah and he ate from it."’

 

(‘Our Lord is He Who gave to each thing its form and nature, then guided it aright.)                                          (Qur’an 20: 50)

 

When a seed is placed in the ground, it will not grow until the ground shakes ever so slightly. The Richter scale picks up this minor jolt. The seed then splits and begins to grow:

 

(We send down water [rain] on it, it is stirred [to life], it swells and puts forth very lovely kind (of growth).)                   (Qur’an 22: 5)

 

(‘Our Lord is He Who gave to each thing its form and nature, then guided it aright.)                                        (Qur’an 20: 50)

 

Dr. Zughlool an-Najjar, a researcher in cosmology, mentioned in one of his lectures that there is a comet that began its journey eons ago. Though it travels at the speed of light, it still has not reached earth.

 

(So I swear by Mawaqi [setting or the mansions, etc.] of the stars [they traverse].)                                       (Quran 56: 75)

 

(‘Our Lord is He Who gave to each thing its form and nature, then guided it aright.)                                         (Qur’an 20: 50)

 

An amazing incident that was reported by the newspaper Recent Happenings in 1953 is the story of ‘Ona’. Ona, entering Paris guarded by many policemen, was a gigantic Norwegian stuffed whale that weighed more than 80,000 kilograms. Eight tractors carried the mammoth-sized monster, all tied together to a transport trailer. The whale was to be put on display for a period of one month, and visitors were going to be allowed to enter its electrically illuminated belly.

 

The organizers and police were unable to agree on a venue for the display since the size and weight of the creature posed a threat to the structure of any building or street that it was going to be displayed in.

 

Despite the young age of this whale (eighteen months) it reached a prodigious length of twenty meters. It was caught in Norwegian waters in the previous year and it was to be transported for display via train from one city to another. Due to the problems of its size and weight, it had to be transported by a special trailer that was thirty meters in length.

 

(‘Our Lord is He Who gave to each thing its form and nature, then guided it aright.)                                          (Quran 20: 50)

 

Abdur-Razzaaq as-Sana’ni related from Ma’mar ibn Raashid al-Basri that he said, “I saw in Yemen a cluster of grapes that was the size of a full load that is placed on a mule."

 

(And tall date-palms, with ranged clusters.)              (Quran 50: 10)

 

All trees and plants are nourished by the same kind of water:

(Yet some of them we make more excellent than others to eat.)

(Quran 13: 4)

 

Every plant is endowed with a defense system that is specific to it. Some are strongly built; some have thorns with which they protect themselves; and yet others are bitter and sting.

 

(‘Our Lord is He Who gave to each thing its form and nature, then guided it aright.)                                           (Qur’an 20: 50)

 

Astronomers say that the Universe is still expanding little by little, similar to the way that a balloon expands.

 

(With power did we construct the heaven. verily We are Able to extend the vastness of space thereof)                           (Qur’an 51: 47)

 

Others say that while dry land is constricting, the oceans are expanding.

 

(See they not that we gradually reduce the land [in their control] from its outlying borders?)                                (Qur’an 21:44)

 

(‘Our Lord is He Who gave to each thing its form and nature, then guided it aright.)                                         (Qur’an 20: 50)

 

ln 1982, Faysal magazine reported the story of a cabbage that weighed 22 kg and was l m in diameter. In the same farm, they found an onion that weighed 2.3 kg and was 30 cm in diameter, as well as a tomato that was 60 cm in circumference. All of these anomalies were found on the farm of a single Mexican fanner.

 

(‘Our Lord is He PW1o gave to each thing its form and nature, then guided it aright.)                                         (Qur’an 20: 50)

 

in the head are four liquids: sweetness in the mouth that mixes well with food and drink; stickiness in the nose that prevents dust from entering; saltiness in the eyes that prevents dryness; and sourness in the ears that protects one from insects and from harm in general.

 

(And also in your own selves. Will you not then see?)

(Qur’an 51 .21)

 

(And [Allah] taught you that which you knew not.)       (Qur’an 4: 113)

 

(Allah Has taught man that which he knew not.)          (Qur’an 96: 5)

 

(And Allah has brought you out from the wombs of your mothers while you know nothing. And He gave you hearing, sight and hearts….)        (Qur’an 16: 78)

 

(And we taught hint the making of metal coats of mail [for battles]...)  (Quran 21: 80)

 

 

(Nay, they deny that; the knowledge whereof they could not compass and whereof the interpretation has not yet come unto them)

(Qur’an 10: 39)

 

(And not an Aayah [sign, etc.] We showed them but it was greater than its fellow.)                                         (Qur’an 43: 48)

 

(‘Our Lord is He Who gave to each thing its form and nature, then guided it aright.)                                         (Qur’an 20: 50)

 

The heart does not feel deserted except when it disobeys its Lord. Hasan al-Basri said: "O’ son of Adam, when Prophet Moosa (Moses) objected to Khidr (i.e., to his actions) on three occasions, the latter said, ‘This is the parting between you and me.’ Then how will it be with you who disobey your Lord many times in a single day? Do you feel so secure (and sure) that He will not say to you, ‘This is the parting between you and Me."’