Ever since I was a little girl, I had always been fascinated by the wonder of nature. I vividly remember how, every time it rained, I would rush to stand by one of the tall windows of my parents’ wooden house to watch the flow of water on the ground streaming towards the tiny river just about 100 meter away from our house.
There would always be two streams of different color, one was blackish and the other one was reddish and these two streams will flow alongside each other all the way into the river. I was so fascinated by that. I kept wondering why the two streams of water did not merge. I finally got the answer to that question after many years along the road when I learned about the physical properties of fluids in my fluid mechanic class.
And when I started to seriously learn (as opposed to just read) the al-Quran, I found this verse: “He has unloosed the two seas (the salt water and the sweet) meeting together. Between them is a barrier which none of them can transgress. So then, which of the Blessings of Your Lord will you both (jinns and men) deny?” (Surah ar-Rahmaan: 19-21)
Indeed, which of the Blessings of Your Lord will you deny? In his Tafseer, Ibn Katsir interpreted this question by stating, “In other words, you can clearly witness His bountiful gift and your life is loaded with it, and there is no room for you to deny or lie about it. Because of that, we shall say as stated by the Jinns who are Believers: “O Allah, there is none of your Blessings that we deny. All praise belongs to You only.””
And in the al-Quran, Allah taught us a beautiful du’a that we should recite whenever we examine the wonder of His Creation.
“Behold! In the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the alternation of night and day, there are indeed Signs for men of understanding,- men who celebrate the praises of Allah, standing, sitting, and lying down on their sides, and contemplate the (wonders of) creation in the heavens and the earth, (with the thought): ‘Our Lord! Not for naught hast Thou created (all) this! Glory to Thee! Give us salvation from the penalty of the Fire.’” (Surah Ali ‘Imran: 190-191)
When interpreting this verse, Ibn Kathir included the following hadith:
Ibn Marduwyah recorded that `Ata' said, "I, Ibn `Umar and `Ubayd bin `Umayr went to `A'ishah and entered her room, and there was a screen between us and her. She said, `O `Ubayd! What prevents you from visiting us' He said, `What the poet said, `Visit every once in a while, and you will be loved more.'
Ibn `Umar said, `Tell us about the most unusual thing you witnessed from the Messenger of Allah.' She cried and said, `All his matters were amazing. On night, he came close to me until his skin touched my skin and said, `Let me worship my Lord.' I said, `By Allah I love your being close to me. I also love that you worship your Lord.'
He used the water-skin and performed ablution, but did not use too much water. He then stood up in prayer and cried until his beard became wet. He prostrated and cried until he made the ground wet. He then laid down on his side and cried. When Bilal came to alert the Prophet for the Dawn prayer, he said, `O Messenger of Allah! What makes you cry, while Allah has forgiven you your previous and latter sins?'
He said, ‘O Bilal! What prevents me from crying, when this night, this Ayah was revealed to me. “Behold! In the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the alternation of night and day, there are indeed Signs for men of understanding,- men who celebrate the praises of Allah, standing, sitting, and lying down on their sides, and contemplate the (wonders of) creation in the heavens and the earth, (with the thought): ‘Our Lord! Not for naught hast Thou created (all) this! Glory to Thee! Give us salvation from the penalty of the Fire.’ Woe to he who recites it but does not contemplate it.’
Woe to the one who recites this verse but fails to contemplate it. Woe to the one who witnesses and derives pleasure in the wonder of Allah’s creation but denies it and fails to submit himself to Him.
There would always be two streams of different color, one was blackish and the other one was reddish and these two streams will flow alongside each other all the way into the river. I was so fascinated by that. I kept wondering why the two streams of water did not merge. I finally got the answer to that question after many years along the road when I learned about the physical properties of fluids in my fluid mechanic class.
And when I started to seriously learn (as opposed to just read) the al-Quran, I found this verse: “He has unloosed the two seas (the salt water and the sweet) meeting together. Between them is a barrier which none of them can transgress. So then, which of the Blessings of Your Lord will you both (jinns and men) deny?” (Surah ar-Rahmaan: 19-21)
Indeed, which of the Blessings of Your Lord will you deny? In his Tafseer, Ibn Katsir interpreted this question by stating, “In other words, you can clearly witness His bountiful gift and your life is loaded with it, and there is no room for you to deny or lie about it. Because of that, we shall say as stated by the Jinns who are Believers: “O Allah, there is none of your Blessings that we deny. All praise belongs to You only.””
And in the al-Quran, Allah taught us a beautiful du’a that we should recite whenever we examine the wonder of His Creation.
“Behold! In the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the alternation of night and day, there are indeed Signs for men of understanding,- men who celebrate the praises of Allah, standing, sitting, and lying down on their sides, and contemplate the (wonders of) creation in the heavens and the earth, (with the thought): ‘Our Lord! Not for naught hast Thou created (all) this! Glory to Thee! Give us salvation from the penalty of the Fire.’” (Surah Ali ‘Imran: 190-191)
When interpreting this verse, Ibn Kathir included the following hadith:
Ibn Marduwyah recorded that `Ata' said, "I, Ibn `Umar and `Ubayd bin `Umayr went to `A'ishah and entered her room, and there was a screen between us and her. She said, `O `Ubayd! What prevents you from visiting us' He said, `What the poet said, `Visit every once in a while, and you will be loved more.'
Ibn `Umar said, `Tell us about the most unusual thing you witnessed from the Messenger of Allah.' She cried and said, `All his matters were amazing. On night, he came close to me until his skin touched my skin and said, `Let me worship my Lord.' I said, `By Allah I love your being close to me. I also love that you worship your Lord.'
He used the water-skin and performed ablution, but did not use too much water. He then stood up in prayer and cried until his beard became wet. He prostrated and cried until he made the ground wet. He then laid down on his side and cried. When Bilal came to alert the Prophet for the Dawn prayer, he said, `O Messenger of Allah! What makes you cry, while Allah has forgiven you your previous and latter sins?'
He said, ‘O Bilal! What prevents me from crying, when this night, this Ayah was revealed to me. “Behold! In the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the alternation of night and day, there are indeed Signs for men of understanding,- men who celebrate the praises of Allah, standing, sitting, and lying down on their sides, and contemplate the (wonders of) creation in the heavens and the earth, (with the thought): ‘Our Lord! Not for naught hast Thou created (all) this! Glory to Thee! Give us salvation from the penalty of the Fire.’ Woe to he who recites it but does not contemplate it.’
Woe to the one who recites this verse but fails to contemplate it. Woe to the one who witnesses and derives pleasure in the wonder of Allah’s creation but denies it and fails to submit himself to Him.
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