Pious Ones Keep Their Faith, Their Self
Quran interpreter Mohammad Ali Ansari in an online session elaborated on some of the lessons one can learn from verses of Surah Qaf. Excerpts from his speech at the session are as follows:
Verses 31 to 33 of Surah Qaf say: “And Paradise, which is not far away, shall be brought closer to the pious ones. (And they are told: ‘This is what was promised for you,- for every one who turned (to Allah) in sincere repentance, who kept (His Law). Who feared (Allah) Most Gracious Unseen, and brought a heart turned in devotion (to Him)’”.
In the last session we talked about what leads some men to the fire of hell. And now the second group is mentioned, about whom the Quran says paradise is close to them, namely to the pious ones.
God then mentions four attributes for the pious people. He first says the paradise has been promised to those who have kept His Law. These are people who always think about the final destination. They choose their path of life in a way that leads them to God, the Almighty.
In this verse there is the word Hafeez, meaning one who constantly and strictly keeps. But what does he keep? According to the Quran, it can be two things. First is keeping one’s Nafs. One example of keeping Nafs is controlling sexual desires. Keeping Nafs means having the ability to control desires. One’s Nafs should be trained and purified, or else it would invite one to bad and evil things. If one is to move on the path of salvation and perfection, he must fully know his Nafs, which is a great treasure, and recognize its advantages and its weaknesses.
The second thing that Hafeez refers to is maintaining one’s religion and faith. Our relation with God is two-way. So is our relation with the religion of God. That is to say, faith keeps men (from evil) and men keep their faith. This is also true about elements of the religion. For example, the Quran says about prayers: “And those who keep a guard on their prayers.” (Surah Al-Mu’minun, verse 9) We observe the conditions and rituals of prayers and, in return, our prayers keep us away from indecency and vice. Our prayers keep us as much as they are true prayers.
This is the overall nature of religion. Religion is a path that keeps us from going astray. If we move on the path of religion, it will guard us against mistakes and sins. For example, in economy it guards us against earning Haram (unlawful) money, in politics it guards us against tyranny and corruption, and so on. So religion keeps us but provided that we also keep our religion. How can we do that? There are two aspects. We should both try to understand all aspects of the religion and act upon what it says steadfastly.
