Doing Nothing But Our Duty -- 
And Falling Abysmally Short!

Dr. Pasha

(Bringing Islam to the World One Concept at a Time!
Taking the Qur'an to Every Home and Heart that Needs It --
And which One Does Not?)

Human life is funny. That is American slang for "interesting." 

Not the least how we use language. 

And of course language is an index of our thinking. And it is often a clue to our beliefs and convictions. Not to say our understanding of things.

And of our motivations -- and desires and purposes.

That means when we do something -- whatever that may be -- that could be considered Charitable or Good by any definition, some of us may think we are being nice. And perhaps we are.

And our friends and associates may suggest it is very kind and generous and noble of us to do it. 

And it probably is.

But the real story is a bit different. 

And it is something like this: 

Nothing we own in this world is our own. It is all given to us by God Almighty.

Nobody denies or disputes that. Sure, people can question whether it was God or Mother Nature, as they say, that gave us all this stuff. But no one argues that we are our own makers and creators.

And this world is God's World. Not ours. Obvious stuff: We did not make it. God did.

And things in this world happen as and when and where God Almighty decides they should.

That means:

Neither the body, nor the mind, nor the world in which we live, is of our making, since it is all loaned to us by someone else -- by God Almighty that is.

Neither the opportunity nor the occasion to do Good is created by us, since we have no say in the functioning of the solar system.

So, any good any one of us might do, at any time, happens because God made us do it. 

Besides, God says in the Qur'an we are God's slaves -- fully owned and completely controlled and most pathetically and irredeemably dependent.

And that he created us all to do his bidding; to carry out his commands; and to serve and worship him, as the Qur'an puts it.

Wa Maa Khalaqtul Jinna wal Insa Illaa Li-Ya'budoon!

That being the case, if one of us uses the body, and the mind, and the resources, and the world, and the opportunities and occasions given to us by God, then what we are doing is not "service," but our "duty." 

It is not a sign of our generosity, as it were, but a token of our slavery to God Almighty.

So, from this point of view, from a realistic point of view that is, the greatest Good any of us may do, and the most wonderful Service any of us may perform, are likely to fall short by a factor of 1,000,000,000,000 X Infinity -- if there can ever be such an equation.

Or more or less.

For, I don't know what the going rate is for one single human eye.

Or for one single human brain.

Or for one complete and functioning human body.

Or what the normal rent is for use of God's earth, and air, and water, and everything else, for one day -- or for one hour.

So, all we do, when we do the best we do, is nothing more than our merest duty to God -- and to our fellow-creation.

END