The two highways

The mystery of gender runs through all creations; in man, animals, plants and in the physical world including other things of which we have no knowledge. The Qur’anic verse under reference confirms that all things are in twos. Beside the two genders of male and female in plants and animals, there also exist pairs of […]

The mystery of gender runs through all creations; in man, animals, plants and in the physical world including other things of which we have no knowledge. The Qur’anic verse under reference confirms that all things are in twos. Beside the two genders of male and female in plants and animals, there also exist pairs of opposite forces in nature. The atom, for instance, consists of a positively charged proton, surrounded by negatively charged electrons. Thus, the constitution of matter itself is referred to as pairs of opposite energy. We have Day and Night; Sun and Moon; Light and Darkness; and several other opposites; each fulfilling its purpose, and contributing to the working of God’s universe.
 Again, Allah (SWT) states in Qur’an 36: 36 “Glory to God who created in pairs all things that the earth produces, as well as their own (human) kind and (other) things of which they have no knowledge”. This is to further convince man of the divine ‘law of duality’ in God’s creation. In the moral and spiritual world, Allah (SWT) created Heaven and Earth; Paradise and Hell; Mercy and Justice; Right and wrong; Obedience and Disobedience; etc. Other opposites in the phenomenal world include real and artificial; knowledge and ignorance; wealth and poverty; health and sickness; friend and enemy; north and south; east and west; in and out; up and down; open and closed; everywhere and nowhere; common and rare; latitude and longitude; danger and safety; long and short; far and near; beautiful and ugly; black and white; life and death; etc.
All things created by Allah (SWT) in pairs were not for naught. They were created in that form so that one is complementary to another. They perform their respective functions according to the wonderful purpose of Allah (SW). Everything, indeed, has its counterpart, or pair, or complement; to perfect Allah’s creation. Have you ever pondered over how the world would have been if it were created with just Day and without Night or vice versa? Think also of a world exclusively filled with men only without women or vice versa. Did you ever imagine how people would have lived or survived if they were created with less or more than two legs; two hands; two eyes; two lips; two ears; two nostrils; two lungs; or two kidneys?
In furtherance of His perfect wisdom, Allah (SWT) similarly created two highways from which man is given the freewill to choose the one to follow. Allah (SWT) confirms in Qur’an 90:10 “And shown him the two highways”. The two highways of life are interpreted by scholars to mean:  (1) the steep and difficult path of virtue; and (2) the easy path of vice and rejection of truth (Islam). Allah (SWT) has given us not only the faculties implied in the eyes, the tongue and the lips; but also given us the judgment by which we can choose our way; after having sent Teachers and Guides to us, with revelation, to show us the right and tough way.
In spite of the reasoning faculties with which Allah (SWT) has endowed man and the guidance which He (SWT) has given him, man still remains slipshod. Men and women with weak moral disposition often become victims of Shaytan’s intrigues and mischief. Such are deceitfully led unto the easy path of unrighteousness. Matthew Vii: 14 of the Holy Bible states, “straight is the gate and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life; and few there are that find it”.
The life of those who tread the easy but regrettable path is characteristic of disobedience to Allah’s injunctions as ordained in the Qur’an and Sunnah of the Holy Prophet (SAW). This unrighteous pathway is decorated with the ‘billboards’ of injustice, corruption, adultery, hypocrisy, sycophancy, betrayal, lying, gossiping, blackmail, fraud, cheating, usury, forgery, stealing, intoxication, arrogance. Man, in each of these sinful acts, finds foolish but deviant pleasure.
The difficult road to bliss is the path of those who believe in the Unseen and are constant in prayers; spending their wealth in the way of Allah (SWT). They are the believers who, according to Qur’an 23:2-11, are humble in their prayers; avoid vain talk; active in deeds of charity; chaste; and faithfully keep to their promises. Those who endure the challenges of the thorny highway include the pious that fear Allah (SWT) secretly and openly in all they do and say. They sleep little at night and remain awake in the hours of early dawn praying for forgiveness of their sins. Qur’an 2:177 also gives a description of the companions of the steep highway. Blessed with the intellect to distinguish right from wrong, and the steep from the painless highway; every soul decides its own fate. We can take advantage of the respite we enjoy from being alive by learning from the consequences that befell the end of those that chose the sinful pathway.
I recently attended the funeral of a deceased relation at the Ban-Yagi graveyard in Bida, Niger state. As required by the Sunnah of the Prophet (SAW), those who attended the funeral were admonished (after burying the deceased) to fear Allah (SWT) and remain righteous. When the sermon was over, the leader of the undertakers (who are on the payroll of Bida local government) sought further audience of the people that stayed behind many of whom were already looking sober; having being toned-down by the awe-inspiring sermon. The man said in a piteous voice, “I want to inform you about some of the things we see here when burying the dead perchance such might fill your hearts with the fear of Allah (SWT)”.
The middle-aged undertaker explained that they sometimes see flames of fire and other dreadful scenes in the course of digging graves for some corpses brought to them for burial; adding that even when they changed the site for digging the grave for such corpses, the frightful things kept coming.  He also said some graves they dug (in the past) were illuminated; beginning from when they began digging the grave until the corpse was laid in it. He concluded, “What I am narrating to you is real. Let us repent now before it is too late. The journey to the world beyond is really tough”. May Allah (SWT) guide us to tread and remain on the steep highway, amin.