PEOPLE OF SABBATH
By
AKHLAQ HUSSAIN
INTRODUCTION
Children like to hear or read stories, something about past or something about unknown events and important works in interesting manner. Whatever they listen or read, they try to copy it in their own lives. If we tell them false stories, they will develop a liking for falsehood. If we tell them true stories, they would like to hear only truth and make a habit to adopt truth in their lives.
As the impressions made on their innocent and clean minds in the childhood have a deep affect on their actions throughout their lives, it is most important that we leave good impressions on the minds of our beloved children. In view of these aims, we have selected some beautiful stories from the Holy Quran, Which is the Root of every Truth. We published these stories in separate Book Form in an attractive manner. The stories have been presented in the simplest language in an interesting way so that the children may understand it easily. These books will increase not only their knowledge but will positively guide them to good morals.
We hope those parents, who wish to put their lovely children on right path, will find these books very useful. Any suggestion for improvement will be welcomed.
Break the Sacredness of Sabbath
Freedom of Choice - Allah's Law
First Group of the Pious also punished
Second Group of the Pious Saved
People again become disobedient
Final Punishment - Disobedient Changed to Monkeys
About six hundred years before Christ, there was a town called Aila or Eliot. It was situated in the extreme northern end of Red Sea. It is said it is the same place where the present Jewish State `Israel' has its port named Eila. Almost all the people who lived there were Jews. Their main profession was fishing. Most of them were either catching fish or trading in it.
Jews belong to the family and tribe of Prophet Jacob (Yaqoob A.S). They also believed in Prophet Moses and the Book Torah, which was sent By Allah to him. In fact Torah was the Book of Prayers and laws for all the followers of Prophet Moses (A.S). As the Jews claimed to be the only followers of Prophet Moses (A.S.), they were duty bound to follow Torah in all walks of their lives.
But the history of Jews shows that these people were always fond of disobeying their Prophets. They opposed every prophet who came for their guidance and reform. They tortured Prophet Elliah (Ilyas A.S.). They beheaded Prophet John (Yahya A.S.) to fulfil the desires of a prostitute. They hanged (in their opinion) Prophet Jesus (Esa A.S). They abused and blamed Mary, the Virgin, mother of Prophet Jesus the Christ (A.S.). These are only a few examples. There is a long list of their ill treatment and misbehavior of hundreds of prophets and pious persons.
Prophet Moses (Moses A.S.) was their saviour and liberator. But `they misbehaved, rebuked, ill-treated him at every step, They refused to obey him several times in his life. How can they say they obey his teachings after such behavior?
It was ordered in Torah that Saturday (Jews call it Sabbath) be observed as complete holiday. It was prohibited to cook the food. Trading was banned on that day. Games were not permitted. Even to get the services of slaves and servants was not allowed on that day. They were ordered to worship and pray from morning until evening on Saturday. It was a day for the remembrance of Allah only.
Break the Sacredness of Sabbath
In the beginning they observed the orders faithfully. But soon they were tired of the restrictions. They first tried to get some concession from the learned. Eventually they ignored the learned and began to break the laws one by one. Within two or three centuries the sacredness of Saturday was thrown to the winds. The laborers were asked to work on that day. Slaves were ordered to serve their masters. The holiday was used for games and play. Trading caravans were moving throughout the day. In short, all sorts of works were performed on Saturday except worship and prayer. Some selected persons were reserved to worship in the synagogues on behalf of the whole community. Most of the people were free to enjoy the holiday.
As the people of Aila were also Jews, they used the same tactics, which their community generally used.
Likewise, since the people of this city were either fishermen or dealers in fish trade, naturally they were interested in catching the fish to make their living.
As a first step they used to construct many water outlets from the sea to the nearby ponds on Friday nights. Next day when the tide used to rise in the sea, the overflowing water would pass to the nearby ponds through the outlets. The seawater would bring with it an abundance of fish. When the tide was over, water would return to the sea and the ponds were full of fish. The next day Sunday the people would collect the fish. They remained to practice this trick for some time. The learned and elder Jews saw all these tricks but remained silent.
On the other hand, Allah, the Almighty put the Jews on a severe test. He arranged the matters in such a way that the people had the chances to break the sacredness of Sabbath. Allah ordered the fish to remain far off the seashore and below the water surface from Sunday to Friday. He also ordered them to appear on the surface and seashore on Saturday only. The fish would come on Saturday in such a large number that they would cover all the sea surface. It seemed as if the sea was full of fish only.
It is the practice of Allah that He gives plenty of chances to the people either to reform or to deform themselves. If person wants to commit theft, He provides him the situation, the conditions, and convenience for it. The thief will find the streets deserted, the house dwellers sleeping, and the precious articles at hand. This is all provided so that he may not complain for the lack of resources or chances and he may do what he likes. About this free choice, he will be asked and accounted for on the Day of Judgment.
Similarly if a person chooses to lead a clean and pious life, he will get facilities for it. He hears the prayer call `Azaan', and he finds the mosque to offer the prayer. He tries to earn only a lawful livelihood and he gets it. Allah gives him patience, contentment and satisfaction. He hates that money or property, which can be achieved only through unlawful means,
The people of Aila saw all these happenings with patience for sometime. But soon they lost the patience and decided to catch the fish on Saturday.
In the beginning only some wicked persons dared to catch the fish. Everybody was afraid to check them from their wicked activities, so nobody dared to stop them. Now they were free to catch the fish on Saturday-the day of Sabbath. As under the orders of Allah, the sea was full of fish on Saturday only, they brought cartloads of fish every Saturday. Soon these wicked people became rich and gained respectable positions in the society.
When the common man of the community saw them gain such wealth in a short time, they also fell prey to the greed. They saw that nobody checked them; the elders and learned men were silent. They saw that none of them was punished by God. They saw their wealth growing rapidly day by day. Now they could not wait any more. They decided to follow their footsteps and disobey the law of Allah.
Now there was no importance of Sabbath for them. It was merely a holiday for them. Nay, it was a holiday for picnic, entertainment, and enjoyment. Now all sort of works were carried out on the Day of Sabbath. The meals were cooked in the kitchens. Slaves were unloading trade goods. Boys were playing in the plains. In short, all the people were busy on that day. Anyhow, majority of people used the day to go for fish catching and hunting. Now they were free to do whatever they liked. Nobody appeared to care to offer prayers.
But there were a few people among them who did not like these activities. They were aware that open disobedience of Allah's Commands brings forth punishment from Allah. They themselves worked rightly and wished others to work the same. They offered prayers on that day and did not do any other work. Thus they faithfully followed the orders of Allah given to them through His prophets.
About other wrong doers, there were two opinions among them.
One group thought: Those wrong doers had openly opposed Allah's orders, so they will certainly get the punishment from Almighty Allah. So we should not care for them. We should take care of ourselves. Let them go to Hell. Since we shall be obedient to Allah, we shall get the reward for it. It is useless to check those wicked persons. They will themselves see the fate of their mischief's. We are not answerable to Allah for their actions.
The other group of the righteous persons said: As believers, it is our duty that we call our brothers to the right path. If they follow the wrong path, we will endeavor to guide them back. We are not responsible for our actions only. We would be asked by Allah, what have we done for the reform of these wicked people? It is our responsibility to show them the right path. Allah has ordered his righteous servants to preach and teach the good things to all people, to direct and instruct the people to perform good works. He has also ordered us to stop the wicked people from doing wrong works. If we are weak, we must protest against wrong and evil works and orders. If we are strong enough, we must check and stop the evil practices.
The First group of the right people said: It is useless to talk to these wrong doers. They are so wicked that they would not even listen your talk. What can we say to stop them from evil actions?
The second group of good people said: Certainly Allah does not want us to change the people forcibly but He definitely requires us to persuade the wrong doers to right path and oppose the evils at all costs. If tomorrow, on the Day of Judgment, Allah asks us about the reform of evil persons, we would submit: 'O Lord! We did our best to show the right path to these misguided persons and remove them from the wrong path. As they had a vast majority, they overpowered us and we could not succeed.
There is also a chance however weak it may be, they might accept our message and advice. If we do not perform our duty, we shall lose the chance.
We are sure, if these people continued the disobedience of Allah, He will punish them all in this world too. We are also sure, if He decides to punish these wicked people, He will save us from punishment for this humble service.
The days passed on. The wicked persons were busy with their evil deeds. The pious persons of the first group were content with their prayers and worship. The second group of right working people repeatedly warned the people of evil results of the disobedience of God. They tried their best to stop their evil practices but could not succeed.
When their evil activities crossed all limits, Allah's decision for their punishment came into action.
Perhaps a severe sea storm hit the town. Their fishing boats were drowned in the sea. Their fishing nets were broken to pieces. Heaps of fish-catch were swept in the sea. A number of houses collapsed and fish died. A general destruction of the town was seen everywhere. A large portion of their wealth perished with the waves of the sea. When the storm was over, all witnessed the destruction. They were shocked and grieved, sad over the result. They were frightened for some days. They named so many causes for their destruction: bad weather, unusual high tide, severe wind storm, insufficient warning system, few safety arrangements, low lying areas of land, below sea level, and more. But nobody could believe that this was all due to their own misdeeds. They were not prepared to listen that they were bad people and to change their ways, so Allah sent His punishment for them.
First Group of the Pious also punished
The first group of the pious people also received punishment. Their property was also damaged. They lost some lives and goods. They said that this destruction was due to the bad deeds of the wicked persons. They cursed and blamed them for their ruin. They blamed those wicked persons as the root cause for Allah's punishment. But, even these pious people did not think that they were also at fault.
Although they were obedient to Allah and did not disobey His orders, they committed a mistake. They saw the people disobeying Allah, but they did not check them. They did not invite them to do good deeds. They did not stop them doing evil acts. Instead, they kept themselves busy praying to Allah. They remained idle spectators of their evil acts. They thought it enough only to curse them. They thought to advise bad persons is a useless job. As they will not listen to any good word, it is sheer waste of time to talk to those people. But this was against the will of Allah. Allah always wants his pious servants to guide the bad people and bring them to the right path. If a good man does not call bad people to the way of Allah, he fails in his duty. So Allah punished that pious group who thought it enough to reform and correct itself only.
Second Group of the Pious Saved
Now remained the third group of those good people who were not only obedient to Allah but called others also to the way of Allah. They told people what was right and wrong. They warned the people of the bad consequences of evil acts. They told this by the Prophets of Allah. They asked the people to be obedient to Allah. Whenever some good people reminded them not to waste their valuable time on those rotten persons, they always replied: We call these people to goodness, only to answer our Lord, Allah. On the Day of Judgment, when Allah would ask us, `What have you done for the reform of My bad servants? We would say: `O' our Lord, we did our best to bring them to thy path, and they refused to listen us. We did not have the power to change their course of life. We hope that Allah will forgive us for this reason and will save us from His punishment in this world and in the other world, too.
And it became true. When the punishment of Allah came on the People of Eila, those people belonging to the second group of good people were saved. Those were the only persons who remained unharmed. Other people were wonder-struck to see them absolutely safe. Although, in their hearts they were ashamed of their sins, they were not prepared to confess and repent.
People again become disobedient
The storm passed away and the days also. People remained afraid for some days, working rightly and honestly. With the passage of time they again turned to their old wrong habits. They forgot the punishment sent by Allah, the Almighty. Now they were once again busy in all sorts of evil works. Now they were disobeying Allah's orders more boldly. They said, our forefathers were not so wise and learned as we are, so they could not defend themselves against natural calamities. We are in better position to face the challenge of nature. In their pride of power and knowledge they disobeyed Allah's orders to the worst level.
Allah patiently observes all mischiefs and disobedience. He never hurries with the punishment. He always allows the people to the last limit. When the people cross that limit, Allah orders for their punishment. Now Allah had decided for their total destruction.
In the meanwhile, those pious and good people who were saved from the last punishment, warned the people again and again from the bad result of the bad deeds. But wicked people laughed at them and made fun of them. These noble persons did not care about their jokes or insults. They carried on their reform work and continured to call the people to good acts again and again though in vain.
Final Punishment-Disobedience Changed to Monkeys
Now Allah's punishment came all of a sudden. All of the wicked persons were caught without any further notice. All of them were disfigured. Their faces were changed to the monkeys' faces. They lived for three days as monkeys and then all of them died in that state.
Such was the fateful end of those disobedient people. It is a fact that wicked persons are not allowed by Allah to continue forever. He closely watches all their activities. When their mischiefs cross the limits set by Allah, He sends down his wrath on those wicked persons and saves His servants from their tyranny.
Allah, the Almighty has described this event in Holy Quran as follows:
As for the town situated by the sea, when they broke away the limits of Sabbath; when their fish rushed in large numbers on the Day of Sabbath, the fish did not appear on the days other than Sabbath. Thus we put them on the trial for their gross disobedience.
And when a group of them said to the other group:
Why do you preach to the people whom Allah will destroy or punish severely? They said (we preach them) to put their excuse before their Lord, and perhaps they may fear (Allah and do not disobey Him).
And when they forgot what they were ordered We saved those who checked the people from evil doing and We punished with severe punishment those persons who were disobedient to Us.
And when they crossed all limits in disobedience, We ordered them, 'Be Monkeys condemned.' (Surah Al-Aa`raaf-The Heights, Chapter No. 7, -verses No 163 to 166).
Allah, the Almighty has said:
"You are the best people, raised up for the mankind,
you order for the good and check from the Evil."
(Sura Aal-e-Imran, Chapter 3, Verse 110).
Our Holy Prophet (S.A.W.) said:
"Whoever of you sees evil, he should remove it by his hand (i.e., by force).
If he does not have the power to do so, he should condemn it by tongue
(i.e., protest against it publicity and loudly). If he does not have even this
power he should hate it by heart and this is the lowest degree of Faith (Iman)."
Again the Holy Prophet (S.A.W.) said:
"Every one of you is a shepherd (Master of the flock).
Every one of you is answerable for those who are under him."