The Grand Imam cried while reading Isa Al Masih’s Sermon on the Mount (1)

Author: Harris Abdullah

First of all Happy New Year to all who have found this site and may all of you be blessed for your journey of faith in the coming year(s).

Link: Grand Imam Sheikh Al-Tayeb Interview 2013 (شيخ الأزهر : أتغنى بموعظة المسيح على الجبل وتدمع عيني وأنا أقرأها .. روعة )

From one site 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.” Let’s look at the first teaching:

Matthew 5:3
Μακάριοι οἱ πτωχοὶ τῷ πνεύματι· ὅτι αὐτῶν ἐστιν ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Would there be anywhere in the Quran that points to the first blessing of Matthew 5:3. Here is one verse in the Quran quite remarkably stated:

Surah 42:20
مَن كَانَ يُرِيدُ حَرْثَ الْآخِرَةِ نَزِدْ لَهُ فِي حَرْثِهِ وَمَن كَانَ يُرِيدُ حَرْثَ الدُّنْيَا نُؤتِهِ مِنْهَا وَمَا لَهُ فِي الْآخِرَةِ مِن نَّصِيبٍ

To any that desires the tilth of the Hereafter, We give increase in his tilth, and to any that desires the tilth of this world, We grant somewhat thereof, but he has no share or lot in the Hereafter. –

I would like to hear how the scholars would exegete this passage. Is the choice very clear? Could we say that you either choose the ‘harvest/tilth’ (حَرْ ثَ hartha) of later or you choose what it is now? In addition to that, it is very clear that you cannot have both; does this sound very familiar to those who have read the Injil, the teaching of Al Masih Isa? Here the words are a very straightforward statement, you have a choice, and which do you choose? Choice is a matter of desire ( يُرِيدُ yuridu) and the desire of your heart depends on how you perceive this world and the world to come. Isn’t Surah 42:20 echoes so much with Matthew 6:24 (No one can serve two masters…), which is the reasoning for preceding verses in Matthew 6:19-23. Just this one Surah 42:20 reminds us of the bountiful riches in Matthew 6:19ff which reads as follows:

19 Μὴ θησαυρίζετε ὑμῖν θησαυροὺς ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, ὅπου σὴς καὶ βρῶσις ἀφανίζει, καὶ ὅπου κλέπται διορύσσουσι καὶ κλέπτουσι·
20 θησαυρίζετε δὲ ὑμῖν θησαυροὺς ἐν οὐρανῷ, ὅπου οὔτε σὴς οὔτε βρῶσις ἀφανίζει, καὶ ὅπου κλέπται οὐ διορύσσουσιν οὐδὲ κλέπτουσιν.
21 ὅπου γάρ ἐστιν ὁ θησαυρὸς ὑμῶν, ἐκεῖ ἔσται καὶ ἡ καρδία ὑμῶν.

¹⁹ “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and decay destroy, and thieves break in and steal. ²⁰ But store up treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal. ²¹ For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be. (Mat 6:19-21 NAB)

Are you able to see the connection? The desires of your heart really depend on how you perceive the world. Hence, the later verses in Matthew 6:22-23 point to your eyes simply means ıt has to do wıth your perception, your heart’s eye. Where your hartha/treasure is, there will your heart be also. Hence, the passage concluded with Matthew 6:24 that no one could serve two masters.

So, how do these words in Surah 42:20 relate to Matthew 5:3 ‘poor in spirit’? It would be much enlightening especially for those who truly seek the truth. It is like this; you could be poor externally/physically:

1. But your heart’s eye or heart’s desires pursue the earthly treasures.
2. But you could be as greedy and as self-centred as anyone else.

Therefore, that’s the reason why there is a qualifying word ‘in spirit’ to refer to this type of person who is poor in spirit of whom is consıdered blessed/happy. Who is this type of person?

1. His whole life’s direction is doing Allah S.W.T./Yahweh’s will. To put this clearly- Allah/Yahweh is his/her Master/King. Could you say that for yourself? Allah/Yahweh truly concerns with your well-being contrary to what majority of Muslims believe that Allah is so transcendent that He does as He wishes. Many accounts in the Holy Scriptures and the testimonies of many true believers even up to the present day contained the goodness of Allah/Yahweh in taking care of the needs of His servants/people.
2. But you would love to say, Allah also gives me ‘rezeki’ and riches, no? Just like Abraham who was rich because Allah gave him ‘rezeki’. Well, the truth is if you don’t read all of Allah’s scriptures you are the most pitiful of all for the fact that you won’t come to know that Syaitan can also give you rezeki; in fact, he could give you much more. Just like the story of Isa Al Masih in the Injil who was tempted by the Devil who had offered him the whole world on a platter. Let’s get to the heart of the matter:
3. a) Who do you actually desire/serve – mammon/worldly riches or Allah?
   b) Do you have the faith of Abraham, whose life is a complete obedience to Allah/Yahweh?
   c) Therefore, are you called by Allah just as Abraham was called the friend of Allah?

I heard from an English teacher who was teaching English to the Middle Easterners comprising the Arabs, Iraqis, Iranians, etc. The Iraqis and the Iranians would never consider themselves as Arabs and sad to say that they blamed the Arabs for making their country backward, and you could hear them arguing and blaming what Islam had made their country what it is today. But look on the other hand, is this what an Islamic country supposed to be? It’s that they are trying to look poor as if they aren’t pursuing relentlessly any materialistic things of the world. For those from Iraq knows very well there is infighting with one another because of so much riches and money there to be gained and controlled and ironically most of them are rich as well. Furthermore, in another part of the world, a so-called political party claimed to be representing Muslims whose main concern is ‘money talks’ has treated money as ‘king’; hence they worship money more than genuinely serving the people. So you would rightly say, “Come on, what’s the difference between this and the prosperity gospel that some churches have been propagating?” and you could be absolutely right; the difference is only in the external form.

So, let us come to some conclusion as to what exactly Matthew 5:3 ‘poor in spirit’ means; this definitely doesn’t mean putting your life into the Stone Age or become backward. The ‘poor in spirit’ means:

1. There is a spiritual sense of poor. That is, your heart’s poverty/emptiness could only be filled/satisfied by Allah/Yahweh by doing His will.
2. Your life is Allah’s/Yahweh’s centred and not self/ego-centred.
3. You also have this deep awareness that your possession or hartha in this life, if you have any, doesn’t belong to you.  It all belongs to Allah/Yahweh. You are only a caretaker/steward of the possession(s).

Hence, we can make some sort of formulation for our conclusion: You can be poor without being spiritual/righteous in the eyes of Allah/Yahweh but you cannot be righteous in the eyes of Allah/Yahweh without being poor. I believe you need to ponder this a little bit longer; hopefully these words would go deeper into your heart and use it as a key to ‘open’ the rest of the message.

Finally, is the value of being ‘poor in spirit’ comes from man? It is definitely not from man because man do not function or think that way. If it is not from man, whence does this idea come from then?

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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. All Greek verses are sourced from  Scrivener 1894 NT, with thanks.
3. All Injil verses are sourced from The New American Bible (Revised Edition 2011), with thanks.