Imagine on a warm cloudless summer night in the ancient valley city of Hebron, near the Ibrahimi Mosque today where the patriarchs were believed to be laid to rest, god pointed Abraham to the starry sky and asked him to count the stars spread across the dark expanse.
“As numerous the stars in the sky, so shall be your offspring.”
Abraham was in his late eighties and his wife Sarah, only ten years younger than him. They were childless.
One therefore cannot blame Abraham for doubting such promise.
“Perhaps god meant another method. Maybe he meant it metaphorically. I mean, Sarah has an Egyptian slave girl, maybe she will bear me a son on behalf of her mistress”, Abraham must have thought.
In those days, a slave was like a property, anything which belonged to the slave belonged to the master or mistress of the slave by default.
Abraham thought he might just help god a little by giving the matter a prodding. Many of us know how this felt, many of us have probably done it before – “I know god has said it, but it seems impossible at this point. Maybe the issue needs intervention from me.”
But the truth is, Abraham, and us, lacked confidence in god. He believed in god of course, but he thought surely even god cannot do the impossible – to bring forth fruits from a dead tree.
It probably began with Abraham wanted to “help” god, to make sure the divine decree comes to pass. Yet in doing so, Abraham inevitably attempted to play the role of god, or worse, to play god. He sought to do what god promised to do himself because Abraham saw there was no way god could have done it without him helping. After all, Abraham was a priest, an ulama, a patriarch who always knew what god wanted and he of all people surely had the right to be god’s zealous interpreter.
Sounds familiar, this “I am merely doing god’s business” thing?
The result was of course disastrous. Hagar the Egyptian slave bore Abraham a son, Ishmael. Eventually, Sarah too became pregnant and gave birth to another son Isaac. As expected in a wealthy family, dispute arose, Hagar and little Ishmael had to be chased out from the house. It was a family feud which survived antiquity to this day – between the sons of Isaac and the sons of Ishmael.
A blessing to the whole universe
When god told Abraham that his descendants will be as numerous as the stars in the sky, the promise also came with a purpose: that through Abraham’s family, all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
This is the essence of Abrahamic faiths, that it should be a great blessing to everyone else, even to those are not adherents. The scriptures are clear, it is to be a universal blessing. I like the Arabic version of this pronouncement: Rahmatan lil alamin, a blessing to the whole universe.
In other words, god’s people are to bring goodness and not evil to the world, happiness not harm, peace, not violence, blessing not curse. If we claim to be the people of god and yet plague the world around us with pain and suffering, then we clearly do not belong to the great dispensation of rahmatan lil alamin which traced all the way to Father Abraham himself.
But as we can see, even in the life of righteous Abraham, it is so easy to sabotage this purpose to bless the world. When Abraham attempted to play god, the programme to bless the world through his descendants was disrupted.
Usurpers of god’s throne
When men try to act on behalf of god thinking they have the right as god’s chosen people, family feuds, community disputes, even wars, follow.
This is where we get people who say, “god allows tribalism and so yes I am a racist but a religious one”. Or those who take for themselves the judgement throne of god and make it their business to condemn others as if they are god:
“Women do this and that, otherwise you deserved to be raped”. (Because rapists are merely doing god’s will to rape loose immoral women)
“Do not challenge my god, I’ll kill you”. (Because my god just wouldn’t do anything when he’s being mocked, so I need to help him a little)
“You will go to hell”. (Because god has appointed me as his travel agent in charge of the destinations in the hereafter)
In truth, these are the usurpers of god’s throne – fake gods, idolaters who perceive themselves as gods over god and other human beings.
This Aidiladha, as we retraced Father Abraham’s journey of faith, may we be reminded also of the episodes where he failed. Precisely because of this – that we often fail, that even the great Abraham himself sometimes failed – we should recognise our humble limits as human beings and not lord it over others as god. We have no business playing god, but rather, we ought to do god’s business to bring this great Abrahamic blessing to the whole world.
Selamat Hari Raya Aidiladha.