Is It Not Yet Time?
Analyzing the Complex Message in an Aayat Karimah!

Is it not yet time?

That is not me. It is Allah talking. In the Qur'an.

Here are the words:

A-Lam Ya'ni Lilladheena Aamanoo
An Takhsha'a Quloobuhum Lidhikrillah?

Paraphrase, and it is by no means an easy or simple one:

Is it not yet time, 
that the hearts of Those Who Believe, 
should turn in fear to Allah's Dhikr?

Notice, the address is to those who have voluntarily and consciously -- and rationally -- chosen to become Believers.

And it is an indirect address. Not a direct one.

And the address is in the form of a Question.

The Aayat does not say: Hey, you! 

As: Ya Ayyuhalladheena Amanoo!

It says instead: To All Those -- Believers -- Whom It May Concern!

And it is a complex message.

First Part of the message asks, indirectly addressing the Believers: Is it not time yet? That is: Has the time not yet come?

Second Part of the message says: For their hearts to melt and be overcome by Fear of Allah.

Third Part of the message says: In a way that would allow this Fear of Allah in their hearts to manifest itself in the form of Allah's Dhikr.

There is no literal "Translation" for any of this. Only attempted paraphrases.

Some of the key concepts in the Aayat are:

a) Time Element -- Awaan.

It is now time, seems to say the Aayat.

Time may already be running out, the Aayat seems to suggest.

b) Belief -- Iman as Act of Conscious Decision Making.

Aayat does not say "O, Believers!" which could be interpreted as fairly general and inclusive. The Aayat seems to says: O Those Who Have Chosen Iman.

Those who have made a conscious and rational decision to embrace Iman.

A very different Ball Game altogether.

Does this exclude those who pass for Believers based on nothing but Accident of Birth in a Muslim home and involving no conscious and reasoned Decision Making on their part? I don't know.

c) Fear of Allah -- Khushoo'.

It is one of the driving concepts in the language and lexicon of Islam.

d) Hearts -- Quloob.

Well, whatever Allah knows to be the locus of Belief in a human being: heart; mind; brain; soul; breast.

e) Allah's Dhikr -- Dhikrillah.

Perhaps one of the most central elements in Islam's architecture of ideas and concepts and tenets.

And it is as simple or as complex as you would want it to be. Allah's Dhikr is a finely calibrated Spectrum or Scale with as many dimensions and points as you have instruments to count.

For, Dhikrullah could be a simple thought in your mind -- an electromagnetic impulse in your brain strong enough to register on your radar of consciousness.

Or a simple but Earth-Shaking word out of your mouth like "Allah!" Measured, according to Hadith, based on the movement of your lips: 

Wa Taharrakat Bihi Shafataahu.

Or all the other forms of Oral Dhikr taught by Sayyidina Muhammad, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam: Subhanallah, Alhamdulillah, Allahu Akbar, La Ilaha Illa Allah, and so on.

Or a word or Aayat from the Qur'an.

Or Tilawat -- Reading Aloud -- of Qur'an, even though this enters into a special category all by itself.

Or serious, deliberate, systematic, focused, productive contemplation of the Aayaat (Plural) of the Qur'an.

f) Applied Dimensions of Allah's Dhikr.

Muhammad, Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam, did not sit inside a Cave and recite Allah's name all his life with his mouth.

Nor did he ask or expect or teach Sahaabah Kiram to do so.

The moment he received Wahy -- Marching Orders -- from Allah, he came out of the Cave of Hira and started to preach his message to the world.

First to those closest to him. Then to everyone else.

And the Wahy was insistent. The Wahy relentlessly kept after him to do so.

Qum Fa-Anzir, said the Wahy: "Get up and go and warn the people."

Fasda' Bima Tu'mar, commanded the Wahy: "Go Public with Your Message!"

No time to lie low! Not now. Not any more. The Wahy said.

Can't stay home -- or hide inside a Mosque or Cave -- all wrapped up in a blanket. 

Go out and change the world. Make it a better place for all.

Build a better system on every front of human life and activity.

Put in place economic arrangements that will reduce the chokehold of Ribaa -- Interest -- on individuals and societies.

Create social and political organizations that will mitigate opportunities and incentive for Zinaa and Immorality in society.

Take organized steps to reduce the influence of Alcohol in the lives of the individuals and societies.

Establish institutions to combat corruption in society on every level at which it exists, whether it is at personal level, or political level, or in businesses, or elsewhere.

And use the Dhikr in the Qur'an to do so.

Fa-Dhakkir Bil-Qur'ani!

So, the question to all those who have made a decision to be Believers is:

Hasn't time come yet that you show your Fear of Allah by getting out of your Comfort Zones and Hiding Places, in your houses and in your mosques, and do active and organized work to change the World of Allah for the better -- using the Models and Methods given to you by the Qur'an?

And on November 22, 2020, isn't this Exponential Surge in Coronavirus a powerful and compelling enough warning for you to change your ways, and get out there, and do all you can, as Believing individuals, groups, organizations and societies to put the Qur'an to Work in the world?

Fa-Dhakkir Bil-Qur'ani!

END