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Boundedness: Secret to Life on Earth

So, boundaries provide order and predictability to life. And life without boundaries is anarchy, confusion and chaos – and headed toward self-destruction. A boundary-less life is an anachronism and a virtual impossibility.

It is amoebic and pre-amoebic. It is little more than a blob. It is just a blotch on nature’s wall. Even those have boundaries.

That means no shape; no form; no boundedness; no life.

That is why Allah calls Qur’an and Islam and the message of Prophet Muhammad, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallaam, the pathway to life itself. For, they teach you the secret to life on earth – and to life in the hereafter.

Here are the words of the Qur’an. Read them and enjoy them. And pass them around.

Istajeeboo lillahi wa lirrasooli idhaa da’aakum limaa yuhyeekum.

Paraphrase:

Respond to Allah and to the Rasul, Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, when he calls you to that which will give you life.

Also important is the nature of those boundaries. Human life sinks into tyranny when the boundaries are unfair, arbitrary and unduly restricting, just as life turns into a free-for-all fracas when boundaries are vague, ill defined or porous.

On the other hand when boundaries are fair, just, reasonable, meaningful, necessary, clearly defined and almost predictable – as Allah’s boundaries are with regard to everything – they protect, enhance and enrich life.

They add the essential elements of zest, fun and excitement to life.

They provide security and add to human wellbeing. They reduce anxiety and uncertainty. And they optimize the experience of a tranquil, peaceful and truly meaningful life on earth for everybody.

And how much of a better world would we have built if we had only embraced and respected God’s boundaries and steadfastly adhered to them!

A great many problems we experience in the world today are almost all a direct result of people disregarding and transgressing Allah’s boundaries in one way or another. Are they not?

Imagine how much better our land, water and air would have been today if human beings had done a better job of respecting Allah’s limits and directives – Hudoodullah – with regard to their consumption of energy; their discharge of pollutants in air and water; and their profligate and wasteful ways in general.

Hudoodullah would have saved countless animal and plant species from extinction. They would have saved our planet from global warming and impending peril. And they would have saved our global financial systems from bankruptcy and collapse.

And they would have kept our planet safe from all kinds of rapacious wars many of which were waged to feed and appease individual as well as collective excess, greed and aggressive tendencies in the hearts and minds of so many human beings around the world.

And how much of a better world our world would have been overall!

Divine Boundaries vs. Human Boundaries

Furthermore, human boundaries are for some, whereas Allah’s boundaries are for all.

Human boundaries are generally meant to protect some people, and often their privileges, against encroachment by the many. Allah’s boundaries, on the other hand, protect all human beings against all harm and evil. And often against their own worst nature as it were.

Human beings set up boundaries out of concern for their own claims, interests and possessions. Allah, on the other hand, sets up boundaries out of concern for the welfare of human beings – all human beings.

What a magnificent difference!

Allah’s boundaries are there to protect people from what their creator knows will hurt and harm them and diminish the experience of life for them on this earth. Allah’s boundaries, therefore, are part of the unfolding of Allah’s Rahmat and love and mercy for his creation on his earth.

And it is a tremendous blessing from Almighty Allah that he defines his boundaries clearly and fairly. And that he openly warns human beings about them. Allah says in the Qur’an: “Those are Allah’s boundaries, don’t go near them.”

Tilka hudoodullahi fa-laa taqrabooha!

What a Loving, Caring, Doting God!

What a loving, caring God – a most doting God, as I have described him elsewhere. Himself Rahmaan and Raheem. Sends his man Muhammad, Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, as Rahmat.

So, what else do you expect to come out from the source of all Rahmat if not Rahmat?

And not just for this or that chosen or privileged part of his creation but for all his worlds, whatever and wherever they may be and in whatever form and shape they may be.

Where is the surprise then if Rahmatal lil’aalameen is how God Almighty describes his messenger of love, peace, mercy and blessings? What else do you expect from the master of all the worlds – Rabbul ‘Aalameen?

What a clear and powerful miracle, every Aayat of this Qur’an! How can an unlettered man, from an illiterate culture, sitting in a cave 1400 years ago, in a barren desert full of rock and sand, and an occasional palm tree, design a perfect equation like this?

Is this proof enough that this Qur’an is indeed from God Almighty? If it is not, then maybe you should work a bit more on learning the basics about the nature of proof in this world.

What Happens When We Break Allah’s Boundaries

So, Allah created his boundaries – Hudoodullah – out of his immense and abiding concern for your wellbeing and not because he wanted to protect something that belonged to him or to take away all fun from your life.

Below is a partial list of all the terrible things that happen to us when we break Allah’s boundaries. They are just a few of the problems that afflict human life today. Almost all of them are the product of human beings violating the boundaries of God Almighty on earth – Hudoodullah!

• A punctured ozone layer.
• Global warming.
• Air and water pollution and toxification.
• Many forms of cancer.
• Heart and lung diseases.
• Widespread poverty and hunger.
• Famine and growing water shortages.
• Drug and other harmful and dangerous substance abuse.
• Alcoholism and its widespread corrosive effects on human life, family, workplace, society and the world in general.
• Unsustainable weight gain and obesity in some parts of the world.
• AIDS and other killer diseases – what the Hadith calls Sayyi-il Asqaam.
• Wars, wars, even more wars and the devastation they cause.
• You cap all that with Allah’s wrath and displeasure, you have a real disaster on your hands – in this world as well as in the next world.

How can we reverse the clock on many if not all of these problems? The answer: Hudoodullah!

That is the unfailing formula for building a better world. Respecting the laws and bounds of Allah in his creation.

Hudoodullah! is the answer to many of our problems.

You respect them, and Allah will respect you and give you a better life – both here in this world as well as after death in the next world.

Every Aayat of the Qur’an a Miracle

Governments of this world pursue, penalize and punish those who violate their boundaries: their laws and the legal boundaries they set up. God Almighty’s government issues warning notices – and often lightly punishes in this world itself – those who persistently disregard his laws and violate his boundaries – hudoodullah.

God Almighty’s forgiveness is great, his patience immense. But so is his wrath – and his punishment.

He says in the Qur’an:

Nabbi’ ibaadee annee anal Ghafoorur Raheem. Wa anna ‘adhaabee huwal ‘adhaabul aleem.

Paraphrase:

Inform my slaves – (you and I and every other human being that is) – that I am indeed the most forgiving and the most merciful and loving, and that my punishment is indeed the most severe and painful punishment of all.

Now do we understand why after every Aayat – not verse, Muslims, Aayat – I feel like saying: Subhanallah, what a beautiful Aayat. What a miracle! Each single Aayat!

What a wonderful proof that this Qur’an can only be from Allah.

And now do we see why Allah himself refers to the passages of the Qur’an as Aayaat – miracles? And proofs? For, that is what they are – a miracle, each one of them.

And a standing proof each one of them that this Qur’an and this Deen and this prophet, Muhammad, Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, are all directly from Allah. And they could not have emanated from anywhere else.

And that is what the Qur’an itself calls them – Aayaat: miracles.

Or proofs!