A GREAT SPIRITUAL COMPETITION
VERSE NO. 21-24
In the above verse, people are invited to take part in a great spiritual competition in order to attain that kind of life which is everlasting, and leave adhering to the fleeting fortune and enjoyments of this temporary life:-
``Vie with one another for the forgiveness of your Lord and the Paradise,the extent of which is like the extent of the sky and the earth prepared for the believers.''
As a matter of fact, God's forgiveness is the key to Paradise which is already created and prepared for entertainment.
The next reference is to the afflictions:-
``No affliction afflicts you in the earth or in yourselves, except that it is in a book, before they are created.''
If we collate the above verse with the following:-
``And whatever of affliction may afflict you, it is the earning of your own hands, and He forgives a lot.''
S-42:30
We may conclude that there are two kinds of afflictions or calamities:-
1-One kind of affliction is directly the outcome of our hands and our deeds.
2-The second kind of afflictions and misfortunes are those that God has inscribed them in a Book of fates and destiny before they occur, or are met with.
In other word, all the afflications, fortunes, and misfortunes are registered in the Book of God's Knowledge. Note that alone, that every event that will come to pass, be it a small event or a great incident, they are written in the Book,which is also called the knowledge of God. The events, good or bad, have all been predestined in the knowledge of God.
We therefore should not grieve for inevitable happenings, neither should we become proud or overjoyed for what happens to our benefit.
We must avoid the afflictions that are the outcome of our hands and deeds, and when we encounter with those misfortunes and calamities that we have played no role in creating them; we must make sure that God has a wise and useful purpose beyond them.
In this physical world what we may consider to be a good fortune or a misfortune, are all unreal, misleading and deceiving.
A man of God does not grieve for what he has missed, nor he becomes overjoyed when he gains something. When he gains something he becomes more thankful to God, and shares his advantages with other people, particularly the poor and needy. He has not a strong desire for possessing that which belongs to another nor does he boast; and shows not too much of himself.
Whoever the people are and whatever they can do, they do not hurt God's cause, because Allah is Self-sufficient and independent of all needs. God can always help His servants in many other ways.