God's Grace

Surah Al Noor is 64 verses all together. Yet within the first 21 verses alone, God makes this same statement 4 times:

وَلَوْلَا فَضْلُ اللَّهِ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَتُهُ

If it weren't for Allah's favor and mercy on you

Take a look:

Verse 10:

وَلَوْلَا فَضْلُ اللَّهِ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَتُهُ وَأَنَّ اللَّهَ تَوَّابٌ حَكِيمٌ

If it were not for Allah's grace and mercy on you, and that Allah is Oft-Returning, full of Wisdom,

Verse14:

وَلَوْلَا فَضْلُ اللَّهِ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَتُهُ فِي الدُّنْيَا وَالْآخِرَةِ لَمَسَّكُمْ فِي مَا أَفَضْتُمْ فِيهِ عَذَابٌ عَظِيمٌ

Had it not been for the Grace of Allah and His Mercy unto you in this world and in the Hereafter, a great torment would have touched you for that whereof you had spoken.

Verse 20:

وَلَوْلَا فَضْلُ اللَّهِ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَتُهُ وَأَنَّ اللَّهَ رَءُوفٌ رَّحِيمٌ

And had it not been for the Grace of Allah and His Mercy on you, And that Allah is full of kindness, Most Merciful.

Verse 21:

 وَلَوْلَا فَضْلُ اللَّهِ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَتُهُ مَا زَكَىٰ مِنكُم مِّنْ أَحَدٍ أَبَدًا وَلَٰكِنَّ اللَّهَ يُزَكِّي مَن يَشَاءُ وَاللَّهُ سَمِيعٌ عَلِيمٌ

And had it not been for the Grace of Allah and His Mercy on you, not one of you would ever have been pure from sins. But Allah purifies whom He wills, and Allah is All-Hearer, All-Knower.

Only God knows the wisdom behind this repetitive statement, but it certainly makes you wonder why it was repeated 4 times so close to each other. Indeed, without God's grace, His favors on us, and His mercy, we would be no where. I would have not been able to write this. You would not have been able to read this. But He favored you and I, and all of us. Should we not be thankful? Alhamdulillah. All thanks and praise are due to Him. 

Where is your heart?

إِنَّ الَّذِينَ هُم مِّنْ خَشْيَةِ رَبِّهِم مُّشْفِقُونَ

Verily those who live in awe for fear of their Lord;

وَالَّذِينَ هُم بِآيَاتِ رَبِّهِمْ يُؤْمِنُونَ

Those who believe in the Signs of their Lord;

وَالَّذِينَ هُم بِرَبِّهِمْ لَا يُشْرِكُونَ

Those who join not (in worship) partners with their Lord;

وَالَّذِينَ يُؤْتُونَ مَا آتَوا وَّقُلُوبُهُمْ وَجِلَةٌ أَنَّهُمْ إِلَىٰ رَبِّهِمْ رَاجِعُونَ

And those who dispense their charity with their hearts full of fear, because they will return to their Lord;-

أُولَٰئِكَ يُسَارِعُونَ فِي الْخَيْرَاتِ وَهُمْ لَهَا سَابِقُونَ

It is these who hasten in every good work, and these who are foremost in them.

These are verses 57-61 in Surah Almu'minoon. God is describing a people in 4 specific traits. What are these traits? Take a look at the verses. Do you see a pattern of some sort? All of these verses have the word ربهم (their lord). Interesting. It could have easily said God, instead of their lord. But this shows us something. These people did not just fear God, obey God, love God, etc. They actually had a relationship with Him. He is THEIR lord, THEIR caretaker, THEIR #1 priority in life. You can sense that from the number of times it was mentioned in these verses. So aside from the qualities the verses mention, the way the verses were put together shows us how they lived their life. Their life was for God, their heart was attached to their creator. It's a truly beautiful quality to have yet how many of us truly have that?

And moving on to the last verse. What's their reward? It actually doesn't mention one! Usually when God describes people with great qualities in the Quran, He then describes their reward for having those qualities. Here, He doesn't. He describes another characteristic that is the epitome of their overall traits. He says that these are the people who hasten to every good and they prioritize it. They hasten to prayer, and are the first to pray it at its time. They hasten to give charity, and are the first to give it. They love their parents, they are the first to give them a kiss in the morning. May we be of those who hasten to goodness and be the first ones there. Ameen. 

Lastly, something I noticed in this last verse also is that a few verses back, God was talking about those who ignored his message. He says, "do they think that we hasten them to goodness?"  And now he mentions hastening to goodness again. But this time, He is not hastening the believers to goodness. It's they themselves who hasten to goodness. They took it upon themselves to do good. They chose goodness so God chose them.