Vip Guest: Human
Dear friends,
It is not a surprise that you frequently hear about Islam in the media. You have crazy questions, hesitations and mixed feelings about Islam. Well, you are not alone. If you have a few minutes, we can start with a quick post and move forward with other questions. In order to understand many other questions and sense-making answers as well, we should initially think about the place of human beings in this world. If we start with locating the human in its original position, we can easily see who the human is. If we can correctly place humans in the centre, we will understand other issues easier and better.
Imagine that one day a serious man knocks on your door and presents a wonderfully gilded and precious letter to you. You’re shocked because the news is too good to believe! The royal family invites you to a royal banquet at Buckingham Palace.
So, you are now super excited that His Majesty has invited you with a letter in your name. As the person continues to read the letter, he states that certain courtesy rules will be applied in this invitation, as in every important invitation. A dress code, date and time of the event, courtesy and etiquette rules, etc. are written in detail.
You prepare to go to the Palace with this joy, you go to the banquet very politely and you sit down with kindness. You get on well with the other VIP guests during the banquet, and at the end you present your gratitude to His Majesty when you leave. Here you have done exactly what suits a VIP guest. You followed the courtesy rules in response to the gentle and generous treats of the King who welcomed you as a VIP guest, and you fulfilled the greatest courtesy of gratitude and thanked him. The King was pleased with you and said that he would invite you to a far better feast in a far greater palace next time.
On the other hand, another person who was invited as a VIP guest, although he had received the invitation and the rules of the royal palace, went to the royal palace in his pyjamas with no respect. He was too rude to be a VIP guest. He did not honour the rules and stole food from other people’s plates. He attempted to break the cutlery. He tried to enter rooms that he was not allowed in and ate foods that were meant for him. When the banquet was finally over, he didn’t even thank the King which irritated not only the other guests but also the King himself.
May I kindly ask you? Does this person behave in a manner befitting a VIP Guest? Does the King consent to this person’s behaviours or do you think he would invite him again as a guest?
Yes friends,
I can hear your answers. When we are hosted as an honourable guest, we have to act in the way that shows we are worthy of it. Similarly, this world is like a guest house and a banquet hall. Humankind is an honoured VIP guest invited to this world by our Creator. We are given many blessings, opportunities and blessings that we cannot even count. Here we, as human beings, enjoy the worldly blessings, we eat, drink, breathe air, live in this world guesthouse yet do not pay anything. All that is required of us is to abide by the rules of this palace. The first rule is to say thank you. Gratitutde, in other words, praising and thanking the Creator is the greatest way of showing kindness. We thank him with our prayers. The Merciful and Compassionate Creator in this case invites us to a more beautiful palace. You will be able to stay there forever.
On the other hand, the rude and unkind guests will be punished as a result of their insults, as they disturb other guests first. They do not follow the rules, and do not thank the King who invited them to this banquet and feast. Let alone being invited back to the palace, he will be imprisoned for his crimes. Just like that, the person who does not thank the Merciful and Compassionate Creator will also see his punishment and will see its consequences.
SUMMARY
Here we resort to this allegory when understanding the religion.
God has invited us to the guesthouse of this world. He informs us of the rules of the invitation through his prophets like Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad – peace be upon them all – that many of you have heard of.
The holy books in the hands of the prophets contain the courtesy rules and guidance information on the invitation letter that will be useful to us. Here is the Qur’an, the book that was revealed to the last caller, the last prophet Muhammad (pbuh). These are the five basic principles that are asked of us in this book.
