Author: Harris Abdullah
Link: Grand Imam Sheikh Al-Tayeb Interview 2013 (شيخ الأزهر : أتغنى بموعظة المسيح على الجبل وتدمع عيني وأنا أقرأها .. روعة )
From one site’s translation of this video interview: “Sheikh Al-Tayeb explains to his host that the Messiah came to “save societies from the throes of materialism, unbridled passions and deadly selfishness, and to prepare them for a new paradigm.”
In our previous study of the Sermon on the Mount (1), if you could understand what ‘poor in spirit’ meant, what others might put it as a experience of poverty of the heart, if you have that experience, you will likely mourn as well. We can see this in the following verse in Matthew 5:4.
Matthew 5:4
Μακάριοι οἱ πενθοῦντες· ὅτι αὐτοὶ παρακληθήσονται.
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”
First of all, in this world, there are many people who mourn and cried for various reasons. What kind of mourning/crying, shall we say the kind that could save us in the end? What kind of mourning that will receive comfort?
I remembered when I attended a church for the first time, the people in the church were singing a traditional song called “Great is thy faithfulness” and strangely in the midst of their singing, my heart was deeply touched by the song and I wept terribly. I was genuinely touched by the song about Allah’s faithfulness and love to us. That was my first experience of mourning or crying to Allah’s love and mercy. And as I recounted, one of my friends who brought me to the church mentioned that he too had wept before while singing that song. This first time experience of mourning was not unusual, there were a few people who had this same experience of being deeply touched by the same song and wept incessantly. Well, I believe some people might want to say that it’s more of an emotional kind of thing. Honestly speaking, exactly what had happened? Looking back on the first experience, the question to ask was: did any changes take place in my life? Truthfully, there were no changes and I knew I was still the same person as before, maybe having a little bit more awareness of God’s kindness and love. Hence, the very important question to pose: could I be saved by this type of mourning/weeping/emotional kind of experience? Personally, I did not think so; maybe one could say that I was in the process of being saved or transformed since my heart was more open than before.
As we have mentioned many times in this site that we must have experience in our faith; faith is not something that you believe in your head or having some kind of head knowledge about a truth but most importantly having the experiential faith and must be in line with the Holy Scriptures. Looking at our religious friends (Jews, Christians & Muslims), we can almost say that many of them are in a state of spiritual bankruptcy. They only think they know the truth because someone told them, or it was passed down through traditions or just believe without asking deeper questions, and many have zero experience of the reality of Allah in their lives. As I again examined my first experience of crying in the church, it was some kind of experience but I did not really receive any tangible comfort apart from the emotion that affected my state of being which neither changed my lifestyle nor my bad habits (I will share about this later).
If one examines carefully about the matter of mourning in the Holy Scriptures, you could see that the word “mourn” is talking about a person/people who mourn(s) for his/their sin(s) as a result of conviction of sin, a state of realization through some kind of disasters brought to them by Allah S.W.T/Yahweh and following from this – a true repentance from the person(s). It was only then the person(s) would experience Allah’s mercy. Therefore, we could see that the word “mourn” is related to repentance. Here are some verses in the Hebrew Bible.
WTT Nehemiah 1:4
וַיְהִ֞י כְּשָׁמְעִ֣י׀ אֶת־הַדְּבָרִ֣ים הָאֵ֗לֶּה יָשַׁ֙בְתִּי֙ וָֽאֶבְכֶּ֔ה וָאֶתְאַבְּלָ֖ה יָמִ֑ים וָֽאֱהִ֥י צָם֙ וּמִתְפַּלֵּ֔ל לִפְנֵ֖י אֱלֹהֵ֥י הַשָּׁמָֽיִם׃
When I heard this report, I began to weep and continued mourning for several days, fasting and praying before the God of heaven.
WTT Nehemiah 1:6
תְּהִ֣י נָ֣א אָזְנְךָֽ־קַשֶּׁ֣בֶת וְֽעֵינֶ֪יךָ פְתֻוּח֟וֹת לִשְׁמֹ֣עַ אֶל־תְּפִלַּ֣ת עַבְדְּךָ֡ אֲשֶׁ֣ר אָנֹכִי֩ מִתְפַּלֵּ֙ל לְפָנֶ֤יךָ הַיּוֹם֙ יוֹמָ֣ם וָלַ֔יְלָה עַל־בְּנֵ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל עֲבָדֶ֑יךָ וּמִתְוַדֶּ֗ה עַל־חַטֹּ֤אות בְּנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵל֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר חָטָ֣אנוּ לָ֔ךְ וַאֲנִ֥י וּבֵית־אָבִ֖י חָטָֽאנוּ׃
May your ears be attentive, and your eyes open, to hear the prayer that I, your servant, now offer in your presence day and night for your servants the Israelites, confessing the sins we have committed against you, I and my ancestral house included.
WTT Job 5:11
לָשׂ֣וּם שְׁפָלִ֣ים לְמָר֑וֹם וְ֜קֹדְרִ֗ים שָׂ֣גְבוּ יֶֽשַׁע׃
He sets up the lowly on high, and those who mourn are raised to safety.
WTT Isaiah 61:1-3
ר֛וּחַ אֲדֹנָ֥י יְהוִ֖ה עָלָ֑י יַ֡עַן מָשַׁח֩ יְהוָ֙ה אֹתִ֜י לְבַשֵּׂ֣ר עֲנָוִ֗ים שְׁלָחַ֙נִי֙ לַחֲבֹ֣שׁ לְנִשְׁבְּרֵי־לֵ֔ב לִקְרֹ֤א לִשְׁבוּיִם֙ דְּר֔וֹר וְלַאֲסוּרִ֖ים פְּקַח־קֽוֹחַ׃
2 לִקְרֹ֤א שְׁנַת־רָצוֹן֙ לַֽיהוָ֔ה וְי֥וֹם נָקָ֖ם לֵאלֹהֵ֑ינוּ לְנַחֵ֖ם כָּל־אֲבֵלִֽים׃
3 לָשׂ֣וּם׀ לַאֲבֵלֵ֣י צִיּ֗וֹן לָתֵת֩ לָהֶ֙ם פְּאֵ֜ר תַּ֣חַת אֵ֗פֶר שֶׁ֤מֶן שָׂשׂוֹן֙ תַּ֣חַת אֵ֔בֶל מַעֲטֵ֣ה תְהִלָּ֔ה תַּ֖חַת ר֣וּחַ כֵּהָ֑ה וְקֹרָ֤א לָהֶם֙ אֵילֵ֣י הַצֶּ֔דֶק מַטַּ֥ע יְהוָ֖ה לְהִתְפָּאֵֽר׃
1The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me; He has sent me to bring good news to the afflicted, to bind up the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, release to the prisoners,
2 To announce a year of favor from the LORD and a day of vindication by our God; To comfort all who mourn;
3 to place on those who mourn in Zion a diadem instead of ashes, To give them oil of gladness instead of mourning, a glorious mantle instead of a faint spirit. They will be called oaks of justice, the planting of the LORD to show his glory.
WTT Psalm 4:5
רִגְז֗וּ וְֽאַל־תֶּ֫חֱטָ֥אוּ אִמְר֣וּ בִ֭לְבַבְכֶם עַֽל־מִשְׁכַּבְכֶ֗ם וְדֹ֣מּוּ סֶֽלָה׃
Tremble and sin no more; weep bitterly within your hearts, wail upon your beds,
Let’s look at some Quranic verses regarding repentance:
1) Surah 4: 17
إِنَّمَا التَّوْبَةُ عَلَى اللّهِ لِلَّذِينَ يَعْمَلُونَ السُّوءَ بِجَهَالَةٍ ثُمَّ يَتُوبُونَ مِن قَرِيبٍ فَأُوْلَـئِكَ يَتُوبُ اللّهُ عَلَيْهِمْ وَكَانَ اللّهُ عَلِيماً حَكِيماً
Allah accept the repentance of those who do evil in ignorance and repent soon afterwards; to them will Allah turn in mercy: For Allah is full of knowledge and wisdom.
From this we could make the first conclusion on why “mourning” is supposed to be a blessing. If you mourned and it didn’t result in a genuine repentance, then your “mourning” became more of a remorseful feeling; nothing more than regret rather than a genuine repentance; then you definitely would not be able to experience what the Holy Scriptures said of Allah/Yahweh that He would turn to you or come to you in His mercy. The meaning of receiving comfort in Matthew 5:4 – is a direct experience of Allah’s mercy because your mourning has led to a genuine repentance. Otherwise, mourning would become meaningless as it came from an emotion of self-pity, an emotional trip that didn’t lead to any direct experience of Allah’s/Yahweh’s comfort.
2) Surah 2:160
إِلاَّ الَّذِينَ تَابُواْ وَأَصْلَحُواْ وَبَيَّنُواْ فَأُوْلَـئِكَ أَتُوبُ عَلَيْهِمْ وَأَنَا التَّوَّابُ الرَّحِيمُ
Except those who repent and make amends and openly declare (the Truth): To them I turn; for I am Oft-returning, Most Merciful.
Secondly, if you mourned but didn’t result in a genuine repentance which involved making amends/restitution or a 180-degree change, you would not receive any experience of Allah’s mercy. This is clearly mentioned in all the Holy Scriptures and stressed quite strongly in Surah 2:160 that two important elements must be present : a) repentance; and b) make amends (restitution).
Finally, it is a conclusion of a terrible warning; if one repented and did not mend his/her ways and still continue to do evil, Allah would prepare a terrible punishment, as mentioned in Surah 4: 18:
3) Surah 4:18
وَلَيْسَتِ التَّوْبَةُ لِلَّذِينَ يَعْمَلُونَ السَّيِّئَاتِ حَتَّى إِذَا حَضَرَ أَحَدَهُمُ الْمَوْتُ قَالَ إِنِّي تُبْتُ الْآنَ وَلاَ الَّذِينَ يَمُوتُونَ وَهُمْ كُفَّارٌ أُوْلَـئِكَ أَعْتَدْنَا لَهُمْ عَذَابًا أَلِيمًا
Of no effect is the repentance of those who continue to do evil, until death faces one of them, and he says, “Now have I repented indeed;” nor of those who die rejecting Faith: for them have We prepared a punishment most grievous.
This is very clear that if you say that you repented but did not determine to change, make amends/ restitution but instead thinking that you could commit/repeat the evil/sin(s) all you like and wishing that you could wait until your death bed to repent, then you had better wake up from your slumber. Allah/Yahweh is not mocked by all this trickery or deception; He could look into your heart and know very well who you are.
Learn to mourn for your own sin, then learn to mourn for others’ sin. Pray for their repentance. Mourning is not a self-centred/inward activity; the pious way is to look away from yourself and to look at other people differently in that process. Lastly, a very important question: In this process of mourning, would you be able to consistently turn away from sin? The Quran would call these people ‘the success’ who successfully turn away from sin and the Injil mentioned countless time that those who are truly from Allah S.W.T/Yahweh are those who consistently experience victory.
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Note:
1. All Al-Quran verses are sourced from English Translation of Al-Quran by Abdullah Yusuf Ali, with thanks.
2. The Greek verses are sourced from Scrivener 1894 NT, with thanks.
3. The Hebrew verses are sourced from Leningradensis Hebrew Text, with thanks
4. All Injil and Torah verses are sourced from The New American Bible (Revised Edition 2011), with thanks.