When Hearts Are Blinded, Blinkered or Biased
Sufyan b. ‘Uyaynah, one of the saintly scholars of early Islam, would frequently recite this following couplet: al-mar’u idha kana lahu fikrah/fa fi kulfi shay’in lahu ‘ibrah – ‘A person, if he is given to [frequent] contemplation / Will draw a valuable lesson from everything.’ This visual Quranic reflection highlights one verse of the Holy Qur’an which urges that we walk through life with a ‘seeing’ heart that ponders, reflects, sees the signs and learns the lessons.
Culled from Imam al-Tabari’s tafsir, this Qur’an Reflection explains that those with means are responsible for seeking out those in need, whether they ask or not, recognising that part of their surplus wealth is a right that must be put in the service of the poor and the needy. For in Islam, true generosity isn’t to give when asked, but to give when one sees a need.
This Qur’an reflection tackles, in an uncomplicated way, life’s big question: how did everything come to be? When damaged hearts are invited to confront the question of why there is something rather than nothing; when they are urged to consider that the overwhelming impressions of design in us, around us, and also above us in the starry heavens is actually a pointer to an Ultimate, Eternal, Cosmic Designer; and when softened by the evidence of Muslim good manners, integrity and forgiveness, many antagonists of faith will heed the signs, make the right choices, and will restore the memory of God to their hearts.
Having explained how Satan deceived Adam and his wife, peace be upon them, to eat of the tree, thereby exposing their nakedness [Q.7:22-25], this verse speaks of God’s grace in how he teaches us to cover our nakedness and adorn ourselves with clothes. It also teaches us that there is a close link between the garments one wears to cover their nakedness and dress respectably, on the one hand, and being dutiful to God and cultivating inward virtues, on the other. This reflection is drawn, in the main, from al-Qurtubi’s tafsir.
Based on the words of a famous seventh century master Qur’an reciter, ‘Ilm al-Din al-Sakhawi, this Qur’an Reflection visually sets out the aims for reciting the Holy Book and benefiting from its guidance. (Previous Qur’an Reflections can be seen 
