"And as for whenever He tries him and straitens his provision, he says, 'My Lord has abused me.' Nay, but you honor not the orphan, nor urge you the feeding of the indigent. You devour inheritance with rapacious devouring, and love wealth with abounding love."
Quran 89:16-20
Here's another brief passage from al-Fajr, "The Dawn," the 89th surah. It's another one of the innumerable calls in the Quran to look after the weaker and defenseless members of society. It starts with a man questioning why God has "abused" him, one of the essential questions at the heart of monotheistic traditions stretching back to Job and beyond. God doesn't respond that the person hasn't worshiped him enough, but rather that his crime is he didn't look after the orphan or feed the indigent and that he loved wealth too much. Or, maybe putting it another way, you worship God by looking after the orphans and feeding the indigent and not loving wealth so much. And yet our president is Donald Trump, who is actively creating orphans and the indigent and who is the very personification of the worship of wealth; and millions of Christians worship him like a golden idol. Many people will suggest that we need a spiritual re-awakening in this country, and that always makes me very nervous, because they tend to mean that it should be based on their religion becoming the state religion and that punishments be handed out based on their centuries/millennia old laws. However, if it means a spiritual (as compared to religious) recalibration, as part of a broader social, political and ethical one, then I think I'm on board.
Quran 89:16-20
Here's another brief passage from al-Fajr, "The Dawn," the 89th surah. It's another one of the innumerable calls in the Quran to look after the weaker and defenseless members of society. It starts with a man questioning why God has "abused" him, one of the essential questions at the heart of monotheistic traditions stretching back to Job and beyond. God doesn't respond that the person hasn't worshiped him enough, but rather that his crime is he didn't look after the orphan or feed the indigent and that he loved wealth too much. Or, maybe putting it another way, you worship God by looking after the orphans and feeding the indigent and not loving wealth so much. And yet our president is Donald Trump, who is actively creating orphans and the indigent and who is the very personification of the worship of wealth; and millions of Christians worship him like a golden idol. Many people will suggest that we need a spiritual re-awakening in this country, and that always makes me very nervous, because they tend to mean that it should be based on their religion becoming the state religion and that punishments be handed out based on their centuries/millennia old laws. However, if it means a spiritual (as compared to religious) recalibration, as part of a broader social, political and ethical one, then I think I'm on board.
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