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Further, when we were given a chance to denounce our idolatry, we continued to rebel. Along with us humans, even the animals, stars, trees, etc. committed a crime but they took advantage of God’s offer and they are here to expiate for their blasphemy. In return for their submissive role in this world, they are redeemed back into God’s eternal kingdom. Yet God offered us this third and final chance to redeem our souls.
I have really come to realize how nasty and lethal our ego is.
Note what the Children of Israel did (20:83-97) despite God having blessed them with prophets in their midst, showed them nine miracles, each greater than the one before and eventually parted the sea to save them and drowned Pharaoh and his army; yet they worshipped the calf while Moses was away for 40 nights. When Moses returned and questioned them, they blamed the Samarian. When Moses questioned the Samarian, he made an excuse too. They were unable to detect their egos and repent. Our ego blinds us to the right path.
Another example, when Moses asked his people to enter Jerusalem, they lacked confidence in God and refused (2:58, 5:20-25). And they mocked and ridiculed God’s message (7:164-168)
Look at the deal that God offered the Children of Israel and how their egos caused them to lose. Despite all the miracles they saw with their own eyes, their egos succeeded in making them believe that they knew better than Moses and God.
God teaches us in the Quran that God is the Doer of everything and whether we chop a tree or leave it standing is in accordance with God’s will (59:5). But when we feel proud and boast about things God has blessed us with, it means our ego is our god.
[3:188] Those who boast about their works, and wish to be praised for something they have not really done,
should not think that they can evade the retribution. They have incurred a painful retribution.
God also explains to us that all good comes from Him and all bad that happens is because of our own shortcomings and sins, and objecting is tantamount to idol worship.
[4:79] Anything good that happens to you is from GOD, and anything bad that happens to you is from you….
[34:50] Say, “If I go astray, I go astray because of my own shortcomings. And if I am guided, it is because of my Lord’s inspiration. He is Hearer, Near.”
If we carefully study these commandments and related examples we realize that all these only help us detect and kill our egos. If we stop listening to and feeding our egos and continuously seek God’s help and guidance before we take decisions, we will prove that God is our god and we worship Him Alone.
Despite knowing that God is the Doer of everything, how many times do we discuss our problems with God? We try and figure out the solutions on our own or we discuss with people we believe can help us. Do we ever think that we first need to seek God’s advice and pray to God to guide us to the right path and decisions?
We are so fortunate that we have the Quran. Let’s hope and pray that we all worship God alone and not our egos.
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Kill Your Ego
[2:54] Recall that Moses said to his people, “O my people, you have wronged your souls by worshiping the calf. You must repent to your Creator. You shall kill your egos. This is better for you in the sight of your Creator.” He did redeem you. He is the Redeemer, Most Merciful.
The Ego as a god
[25:43] Have you seen the one whose god is his own ego? Will you be his advocate?
[3:190] In the creation of the heavens and the earth, and the alternation of night and day, there are signs for those who possess intelligence.
I thought the earth rotating on its axis caused day and night, by God’s design. However, when I reflected that day & night are mentioned as signs in more than 10 verses by God’s grace, I wanted to learn more.
How does the earth’s movement impact day and night? The earth is moving around the sun at about 1,000 mph. To provide perspective, that’s twice as fast as a long-distance commercial airplane at cruising altitude. And it revolves around the sun at 67,000 mph. If that doesn’t make you feel dizzy, our solar system travels around the center of our galaxy at speeds of 515,000 mph! Praise God it is moving continuously & we don’t fly off! So, how does all this movement impact day and night? It takes 23hrs, 56 minutes for the earth to finish one rotation; the remaining 4 minutes is “catching up” the distance the earth has travelled around the sun in this time. It is amazing the slowest movement of the earth (rotation on its axis) appears the fastest to us! Both the rotation on its axis & revolving around the sun influences day & night! Praise God, God controls it all in perfect precision.
Is the cycle of day and night for other planets in our solar system like earth’s? Mercury’s rotation around its axis lasts 59 days, and it takes 88 days to move in its orbit around the Sun. So, it takes 2 Mercury years (i.e., rotations round the sun) or 176 earth days for the sun to appear in the same place in the sky! Venus rotates backwards from the direction of its orbit around the Sun. That’s why for
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