WE SENT THE PROPHETS ONE AFTER ANOTHER
VERSE NO. 26-27
Following a series of general instructions and principles, now the immediate reference is to the fate of the ancient people:-
``We sent Noah and Abraham, and bestowed on their ...''
Not all the people of old did profit from the spiritual gifts of God. Some of them were guided, and most of them gave up to disobedience and sins.
Then Jesus Christ was sent with the GOSPEL(ENJEEL).
Some of the important subjects of teaching in the Gospel is humility, kindness and Mercy, which was set in the hearts of those who followed Jesus Christ the son of Mary, as the above verse testifies. We read in the New Testaments, MATTHEW-5:38:-
``You have heard that it was said: `An eye for an eye,and a tooth for a tooth.' But now I tell you; `Do not take revenge on some one who wrongs you. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, let him slap your left cheek too, And if someone takes you to court to sue you for your shirt, let him have your coat as well.''
The qualifications like Mercy and Kindness that are attributed to the true followers of Jesus Christ, is also mentioned elsewhere in the verses of QurÌn, such as, S6:82:-
``...and you certainly will find the nearest in friendship to those who beleive, being those who said:-``We are Christians. This is because there are priests and monks among them, and that they are not haughty.''
Then the verse alludes to the Christian Monasticism that it was not among the instructions of Jesus Christ, and that it was invented by those who came after him. Of course, at the beginning it was invented for the sake and pleasure of God, and yet they did not observe properly their own inventions too! This is a reason that Islam has severely condemned it by the most famous tradition that prophet said;there is no MONACHISM in Islam.
*****
CHRISTIAN MONASTICISM
MONASTICISM OR MONACHISM, generally is the way of a hermit who lives a severely simple life in seclusion from the whole world. Such a mode of life is found in many religious systems and among many races. In all its forms, monasticism involves a withdrawal from the world to achieve through asceticism or exercises of self-abnegation, the love necessary for full unions with God.
Christian monasticism appears as a spontaneous outgrowth of the Scriptural admonition:-``LOVE NOT THE WORLD, NOR THE THINGS THAT ARE IN THE WORLD- JOHN-2:15-17'' It arose as an attempt to escape the worldly and often sinful environments, into which the Christian was born.
By the third century, it was already common for Christian men and especially women to seek seclusion in caves, huts, and abandoned tombs, living a life of chastity and extreme poverty,dedicated to prayer, medition, and religious excercises. Their goal was maximum love of God made possible by the renunciation of all worldly loves.
At first without a rule or fixed standard practice, such ascetics were govered by tastes, or by the example of some noted hermit near whom they lived. His influence in this regard gave St. Anthony of Egypt the title:-
FOUNDER OF CHRISTIAN MONACHISM.''
In the 5th century, under the influence of St. POCHOMIUS, this purely heremitic life gave way to the less rigorous semisolitary form which St. Pochomius intended as preparatory to the solitary, but which became the prototype and original model of Monasticism as now understood. Then, a well organized and highly developed rule was introduced, governing in detail all phases of Monachal life. Prayer and meals became community functions. Physical labour replaced the leisure of the purely contemptative life.
The 11th century introduced a form of religious life frequently confused with the monastic, but marking an essential break with the monochal ideal.
Eventually, the great wealth and power which the monastic orders acquired throughout Europe, exposed the monks to corruption. Abuses of many kinds crept into the system so that the council of Trent found it necessary to curtail and reduce the power of abbots and abbeys and to enforce reform through return to more premitive standards. And the Protestant Reformation was responsible for bringing into existence other religious orders not monastic in character.
The 18th and 19th centuries saw the decline of the monastic system throughout Europe, with the suppression or expulsion of religious orders; but the 20th century has witnessed their revival, particularly in U.S.A.
Extracted from Encyclopedia International
TRANSLATOR'S NOTE