What are the bounties...

What are the bounties, these greatest of divine gifts, for which we are accountable. It is reported that the eighth Holy Imam Ali ibn Musa ar-Ridha (as) has said that “a man does not like burdening anyone with any obligation about what is gifted to him. How could God ask for anything He has Himself granted out of His grace? But what God will ask man to account for is about the belief in Him and the belief in the truthfulness of the Holy Prophet and the Ahlul-Bait.” The Holy Qur’an trans.

With notes by S. V. Mir Ahmed Ali, Tahrike Tarsile, Elmhurst, New York, page 1900. In a longer narrative the sixth Holy Imam Ja’fer as-Sadiq (as) poses a series of questions to Abu Hanifa in which he makes the same point. We are not brought to account for matters of food and drink, but on the matter of the unity of God or at-Tawhid, an-Nubuwwat, and the Imamate. We are fortunate in having the Imamic commentary on this otherwise obscure passage of the Holy Qur’an.

I fear that many of us might fall into the same trap as Abu Hanifa in his discussion with the holy Imam, and consider that the divine blessings about which we shall be held to account on the day of Judgement are the blessings of food and drink, health, wealth and well-being. The Imams teach us, however, that the bounties, the na’im of this text, are the knowledge of the one true God, His prophets, and divine guidance.

What better gift can a Muslim give to a Christian than the bounties God Himself has chosen to bestow on humankind, the gifts of greatest value, the bounties for which we are to be held in account? In offering these bounties, the most important of divine gifts, to our Christian neighbours, we are offering better things that food and drink, finer things than hospitality.

Furthermore, we are offering not only divine gifts, far better than any we could provide ourselves, but we are only offering the Christians something of their own. Both Christian and Muslim might be surprised by such a statement. But the fact is that these three bounties are the subjects most extensively and most deeply dealt with in Christian Scripture. Indeed, many Christians may not realize this amazing fact. Some years ago I was interim pastor in a church in Erie, Pennsylvania.

At a prayer meeting I was scandalized to hear a woman pray for a brand new pink Cadillac. Upon further reflection, I began to realize that perhaps her petition was more sincere than my prayers for spiritual blessings.