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The People of Jungle
The Quran asks, “Do you know what
your God did with the people of the Jungle?
“What people of the Jungle?”
Those people of the thick Jungle, who were very proud of their power,
strength, and establishment, also known as the people of the Madian. Their
ruins were scattered along the ruins of Lot, on the big road that ran from
Arabia to Syria. This road was used for business
purposes by the Arab traders, and Arabs were familiar with the stories of the
great nations, which lived and destroyed in the land. God gave them a land
covered with thick forests, springs of sweet water, and the purest air. The fresh water of the springs and the pure
air of the Jungles made them very strong and robust, and increased their
numbers.
Instead of being grateful for all these
blessings from God, these people adopted the nasty ways of deceit and fraud. They didn’t give exact weight when they
measured anything.
Many
prophets were sent to this nation to warn them about the dire consequences of
their nefarious actions, but they paid no heed to the warnings.
The last messenger who came to them was their
brother Shu’eyb. He reiterated to them: “Accept
the sovereignty of God, the one and only creator of the universe by obeying his
laws and living according to His directions. I am an honest messenger of God,
so believe in me and obey me. Don’t give
short weight and measure. I see you are
a well established nation, but I fear for you the doom of great trouble . Do justice to the people, and do not hold back
the goods which they rightfully paid for and own. Moreover,
don’t create anarchy in the system by encouraging corruption. The lawful profit in the business you should
keep for yourselves. I am telling you
the truth, but I cannot force it on you.”
Shu’eyb
further added, “Work as hard as you can, keep the amount which is necessary for
your needs, and give the rest to the system so that it should be used for those
who are weak in society. This is the
best way of running a system which will bring true prosperity and happiness in
the society. Do not harass the people and stop them from
coming to the right way. Do not resist
the truth only because it is given by me.”
This
statement was a direct challenge to the society and the ruling class. They declared, “O Shu’eyb! Does your prayer
command you that we should leave all those whom our fathers worshiped?
Furthermore, you don’t give us the control over our earned money to spend it
any way we like! Do you think you are
the only wise and upright person?”
The
rich leaders of the nation, who were very proud of their wealth, said, “One of
these two things will have to happen: either we will drive you, with the people
who believe in you, from our city, or you have to embrace our religion.”
“We
hate your religion,” Shu’eyb said. “We
should have invented a lie against Allah if we return to your religion. Now God
has rescued us from it and given us the light of knowledge. We will not go back to the darkness again, nor
can we detract ourselves from the right path.
We put our trust in Him, and He,
not you, will decide what is best for us.”
The
leaders of his nation saw they could not persuade him, so they threatened his
followers with evil consequences. They blatantly told them that the path of Shu’eyb
would lead them to destruction, created by the community.
Mostly,
people think that religion and practical life are two different aspects of life. All the civilized societies allow individuals
to worship God in any way they like.
Many civilized societies do not interfere in the ways of praying,
fasting, and worshiping.
Even
the idol-worshipers claim that they only worship one God; the idols are only
visible manifestations of the power which helps them to understand it better. The aim is common, to worship God, only the
ways to achieve the goal are different.
The Quran says: to believe in God is to live a life according to his
laws. It further adds that no human has
a right to order other humans to regulate their lives according to his
wishes. The right to govern humans is
only for God, so to believe in Him is to act in accordance with his directions.
The
main point which the religious leaders emphasized was, “You pray, fast, and
worship in any way you desire. Why are you
interfering in our worldly affairs such as spending our money? We don’t
understand what you are saying.”
