Today's Reflection [ Surah Al-Baqarah, Ayah 19-20]

أَوْ كَصَيِّبٍ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ فِيهِ ظُلُمَاتٌ وَرَعْدٌ وَبَرْقٌ يَجْعَلُونَ أَصَابِعَهُمْ فِي آذَانِهِمْ مِنَ الصَّوَاعِقِ حَذَرَ الْمَوْتِ ۚ وَاللَّهُ مُحِيطٌ بِالْكَافِرِينَ

(Quran 2:19)

Or like a cloudburst from the sky, in which is darkness, and thunder, and lightning. They press their fingers into their ears from the thunderbolts, in fear of death. But God surrounds the disbelievers.

يَكَادُ الْبَرْقُ يَخْطَفُ أَبْصَارَهُمْ ۖ كُلَّمَا أَضَاءَ لَهُمْ مَشَوْا فِيهِ وَإِذَا أَظْلَمَ عَلَيْهِمْ قَامُوا ۚ وَلَوْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ لَذَهَبَ بِسَمْعِهِمْ وَأَبْصَارِهِمْ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ

(Quran 2:20)

 The lightning almost snatches their sight away. Whenever it illuminates for them, they walk in it; but when it grows dark over them, they stand still. Had God willed, He could have taken away their hearing and their sight. God is capable of everything.

This ayah has a very deep meaning and every Muslim should reflect on it. Allah says the example of a hypocrite is like that of people who do not want to hear the consequences of their actions . Here rain indicates the commands of Allah , Darkness refers to the explanation of the disbelief ,Thunder refers to the threat of punishment and lightening refers to the clear evidence of the proofs of Allah.  So when the hypocrites hear the commands of Allah they ignore and do not want to listen to the explanation of consequences of those who do not believe in the clear proofs of Allah. They fear death so much that they put their finger tips in their ears and do not hear the punishments for their deeds. And the next ayah says, and when the commands of Allah are easy, acceptable for them, they walk (obey it) and when the commands are difficult for them they stand still  (do not obey it). This is the trait of the hypocrite that he chooses to follow or believe what he likes and ignore or disbelieves what he dislikes. 

Dear brother and sisters how many of us are guilty of doing this consciously or unconsciously ?

We follow commands like fasting ,but we do not do hijab (we find it difficult), some of us follow hijab but backbite, some of us do charity but are proud and rude, the list goes on ..We have to look within ourselves and try as much as possible to follow the deen completely, as Allah mentions in this Ayah of the Quran : 

O you who have believed, enter into Islam completely [and perfectly] and do not follow the footsteps of Satan. Indeed, he is to you a clear enemy.( 2:208)

We as muslims should follow Islam whole heartedly and outwardly , we cannot just say that I have deen in my heart and I don’t need to show it outwardly. No this is wrong.When a person sees a believer he should recognize his belief. Do not choose only what is convenient for you  and that means you are following your desires. When you hear a command follow it, submit to Allah  completely just as our prophet Ibrahim AS did. As Allah mentions in this ayah:

When his Lord said to him, "Submit", he said "I have submitted [in Islam] to the Lord of the worlds.”We are supposed to use our hearing and sight to please Allah alone and if we do not make the best use of the abilities He has provided us with, He has all the power to take it away.