The Fig

allah created human beings in the best form so that they do not walk on four feet like animals.

he also blessed them with dignity and intelligence and put them in charge of the earth.

although allah honoured human beings, many of them choose to humiliate themselves by denying their creator, neglecting their duties, causing trouble for themselves and others, and worshipping some of his creation (other humans, animals, stones, and so on). all these practices will land them in jahannam in the next life.

the believers are honoured in this life and the next as well.

it is important to try to read the quran with a beautiful voice. one of the companions—named al-bara'—said, "i heard the prophet recite this surah in prayer—his recitation was so beautiful that i never heard anyone with a better voice before or after him." {recorded by imam al-bukhari & imam muslim}

Some Arab idol-worshippers would make their idols out of dates, worship them all day long. then eat them up when they got hungry. Others would worship a good-looking stone they found in the desert, then they would dump it as soon as they came across a better-iooking stone. Some of the companions of the Prophet did some of these things before they be- came Muslim, and they used to joke about it after they accepted Islam. Omar ibrn A-Khattab was once asked, "You are an intelligent man--how could you worship idols before lsiarn? Omar answered, "I had the intelligence, butI didn't have proper guidance."

Someone may ask, "If idol-worship doesn't make any sense, how come so many people wor- ship idols?" To answer this question, we need to understand that humans are religious by their very nature. So they want to believe in something, whether it makes sense or not. However, many people don't like religious obligations, such as prayers, fasting, and charity. This is why it is very convenient for many people to worship idols or even animals, knowing that they would never ask them to do anything.