The Words of In Jin Moon from 2010
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The Words of In Jin Moon from 2010 |
On the morning of March 14, 2010, Rev. In Jin Moon referred to the attributes of the word FAITH, together with a story of her early fishing years with her father, where true faith in him was seen. As the captain of a boat sent out to sea with an all-female crew at the age of 16, it was because of the faith of a father in his daughter that the largest tuna was caught!
Good morning, brothers and sisters. How is everyone this morning? I'm delighted to see you. This morning I woke up to the sound of thunder, and it reminded me of my wonderful summers together with my father out on the open sea in Gloucester and Provincetown in Massachusetts. Starting from when I was 11, my father took the whole family out to Gloucester or Provincetown, depending on the location that he chose for a particular summer, and we would spend our whole summer there.
My father would be ready to go out to sea promptly at 4:30 in the morning. For those of us lucky ones who were appointed to go with him, we would arrive also at 4:30 in the morning and accompany him out to sea, spending all day, sometimes all night, and sometimes even days out in the open sea.
For an impressionable young girl at that age, those experiences were quite profound because it was very difficult to go to sea day in and day out. But the more I tried to unite with my father in why I was there and what I wanted to learn in the course of that summer, the more I thought about what an incredible opportunity it was to commune with nature and to learn more about myself and my own character, especially how I could improve on my character. Now when I look back, I realize that those were some of the most important summers of my life.
Now whenever I hear thunder or see a storm, the more violent, the better because it reminds me of the times when I really became one with my father in terms of where my faith was. So today I want to talk about what faith means to us, especially to those of us who see ourselves as true believers.
All of us in different degrees and in different ways have gone through a lot of hardships. For the First Generation, you have given so much of yourselves, literally your blood, sweat, and tears, for the sake of the providence. You gave up your education, your home, and your career to invest 100 percent in God's providence, to unite together with our True Parents in heart and soul, and to actively apply the principles that our True Parents have come to teach us.
For those of us who are Second and Third Generation, we've had a different type of difficulty in that we were born into the church and we had to go through our own process of discovery. Some of us have had a powerful conversion experience. For those of us who are still en route toward that experience, it's a very difficult process at times, trying to realize who we are, what our identities are.
For me as the senior pastor of Lovin' Life Ministries, I feel that as I approach the pulpit with the heart of a mother, probably the most important thing I can do is not really teach but encourage what is already in each and every one of you. And that is a seed of faith. As the senior pastor, it's my duty and responsibility to remind everyone in the congregation how incredibly important that seed and its harvest might be, depending on where you are in your life of faith.
As a mother, when I try to explain the magnitude of word faith, I break it down as an acronym so it's easy for my children to remember what it means when it is applied in our daily life. When I talk to my children about faith, I usually tell them about when I was little girl out at sea in the midst of an incredibly violent storm, one of the summer's worst. Everything on the boat was being tossed around -- people were tossed around, I was tossed around. My father and I were literally hanging onto the couch that was bolted to the floor. We didn't know where the boat was going; we couldn't even distinguish the heavens from the sea or see the horizon.
In the midst of all this mayhem, I turned to my father and said, "I am terribly afraid. Are we going to die?" It was one of the most profound moments in my life, when I experienced the power of the word and of human touch. My father gently reached for my hand and held it tightly. Even though helter-skelter was breaking loose in the cabin, it seemed like things were in slow motion, and I felt the weight, the warmth, the life of his hand as it enveloped mine. It gave me an incredible sense of security. Then he said, "Don't worry, Daughter. I am here with you."
What my father was saying to me was the same thing that our Heavenly Parent whispers in our hearts in his mysterious ways throughout our life. Our Heavenly Parent is telling us, "Don't worry; I am here with you," at the same time encouraging the daughter and son to take heart and to have courage, to have faith and not be afraid.
That was the first time I realized as a little girl (I think I was 12 years old) that the minute I decided to have faith in my father as he said, "Don't worry, I'm here," an incredible calmness came over me, and I was no longer afraid. From then on and throughout my life, I have realized that in times of difficulty and against incredible odds, when huge obstacles arise, as long as we remember that our Heavenly Parent is always there, faith means being Fearless, fearless in the truth that our Heavenly Parent is always there with us, or, in my situation then, that my father was always there with me.
When I think about that summer, not only did I learn in faith not to be afraid, but I also realized the significance of truly having a good attitude, an attitude of acceptance or gratitude. This is what the A in faith means to me. When I saw myself as a true daughter of our Heavenly Parent who was born with a mission and purpose, and has an opportunity to leave behind something truly beautiful, I came to know that I am a divine being, just like each of us sitting here. I realized that if God is always with me, I don't have to afraid of anything in life. In knowing that I'm a proud daughter, a proud Unificationist, there is nothing to fear but fear itself, as President Franklin Roosevelt used to say.
When we know who we are, we realize that there is nothing that cannot be accomplished because we believe that God is with us each and every step of the way. When we realize that God is always present in our lives, a sense of gratitude comes over us, in that we are never, ever alone. Even when I was going through my teenage years -- and we all have our periods of rebellion, of questioning, of seeking -- I would always come back to the thought that God is always with me. I could not help but be grateful that I have a partner in life, that I have a great teacher in life, that I have an eternal Parent who is always praying for me, who is always wishing me well, who is always encouraging me to be the best that I can be.
Thinking back to those summers, going fishing day in and day out, I remember that what I saw as something incredibly beautiful and majestic for the first couple of days became quite a chore. Every day we get on board, scrub the floor, and prepare all the different gear and instruments for fishing. It's usually about a 45-minute ride out to Northwest Corner. We are constantly working from the minute we leave the dock until our destination. Once we get there, we have to start chumming. Chumming is not a very pleasant thing. We are basically throwing cut-up, stinking fish into the ocean all day. For those who are not truly strong at sea, who suffer from sea-sickness, it's really something horrendous to see.
I remember times when international leaders would come and Father would invite them to join him in fishing. One Japanese leader in particular, Mr. Kuboki, did phenomenal work for the Japanese movement in the early years. He was like a samurai. On land, nobody could defeat this man. He was there, and he looked strong; he looked so presentable and was so articulate and formidable when he was giving Divine Principle lectures -- a force to be reckoned with.
But when my father invited him to the boat, Mr. Kuboki always brought a special bag for the day. In it were five to seven towels of different sizes. When he first came on the boat, I asked him, "Why do you have that bag? What's in it?" He said, "Many towels." I said, "Why do you need towels?" He said, "No ask. No ask." I thought, "Okay, this man is coming to go fishing. Why does he bring towels? Maybe fishing gear or gloves to fight the fish, but why towels?"
I watched him with great interest. Once on board, he put on a white Japanese headband. Then when the boat got under way, he wouldn't go inside the cabin but stayed outside. I suggested he come in because it was about a 45-minute ride and very cold outside. He murmured, "No, no," and was just standing out there. I thought he wanted to feel the air. The further we got out to sea, I saw him start to sway, and his face started losing color. He slowly reached inside his bag, took out a huge towel, and wrapped it around his head as if he had a huge toothache. He had huge round eyes and was wearing this white headband, so he looked like a samurai warrior with a huge toothache. He had no color, and he started swaying. I thought, "This is the man who leads the Japanese movement? Interesting."
Finally we got to Northwest Corner, and my father shouted, "Anchor," meaning to lay down the anchor. When the anchor goes down, the boat starts rocking. If you're not physically equipped, it's going to be a very long day. I saw Mr. Kuboki at the back of the boat, holding the railings, walking continually, trying to get to the side of the boat, with his back against the cabin. When he got to the side where the ladder ascends to the upper part of the boat, he suddenly bent over, and it looked like he was going to dive into the ocean. He fell onto the railing at his waist. I wondered if he was trying to commit hari-kari, but actually he had a severe case of seasickness. The minute the boat started rocking, he started vomiting -- at 5:30 in the morning.
My father usually fishes until 6 or 7 p.m., or 10 or 11 p.m., depending on when the tuna is caught. That first day I saw Mr. Kuboki suffer, I think we left around 7, meaning we got back home around 8 p.m. Basically all day long we heard the sound of the chumming, the splashes as the slices of fish landed in the open sea, then the ropes hissing in the waves, and intermittently my father on the top deck giving out commands, "Do this; do that," or "Steer this way; do the lines this way," or "The tide is going this way. Turn the boat around." But there was this other constant sound of Mr. Kuboki vomiting all day long. It was the most horrific thing I've ever seen. One towel, then another towel, then another one.
He had them in all different sizes. He had a big, long one around his shoulders, and after each vomiting he would take the ends and wipe his face. Then he had a small one to take away the perspiration. He spent all day and into the evening keeled over the side of the boat.
When we came back, I was thinking, What can I do for Mr. Kuboki? But the minute he got off the boat, the other Mr. Kuboki was back. It was unbelievable. The minute he got off the boat, he was back! He was the formidable samurai again. The night-and-day visual of this man before, during, and after fishing was just unbelievable.
I went up to him and said, "Mr. Kuboki, are you okay?" "Hie, no problem!" I said, "Yes, but you were sick all day. Are you really okay?" "Hie!" "Can I get you anything?" "No, no. No problem." And then he said, "I thankful Heavenly Father, I thankful True Parents, I thankful tuna fish." He's thinking, "I have to thank God for this experience, for whatever indemnity I have to pay. I have to thank True Parents for giving me an opportunity to rise and to experience tuna fishing. And I thank God he sent us a tuna so we could come home."
I realized at that moment, this is a samurai warrior with an attitude of acceptance. He knew what he was getting into. He knew it was going to be a whole day of suffering and vomiting. But after the day was done, his sense of gratitude just bowled me over. So whenever I'm at a crossroads in my life or faced with something difficult, Mr. Kuboki comes to mind. And also, when Mr. Kuboki came to fish with my father, it would not be just one day. It would usually be for a week. So I would see this every day, but the minute we came back home, it was "Hie, no problem. Thank Heavenly Father, thank True Parents, thank tuna fish!"
It was unbelievable how this man, despite the suffering he went through, ended with a heart of gratitude. It left an indelible mark on my life and is a great reminder for me that regardless of how difficult it might have been, I should try to be grateful.
Another thing I realized on the open sea is the importance of the word integrity, from the letter I in faith. Webster's dictionary defines the word as soundness, completeness, or wholeness, an unbroken quality to something. I've often used the word integrity to symbolize or exemplify what true moral character should be -- seen in somebody who has moral convictions, is good and consistent. But in this case I understand the word integrity to mean a consistency of purpose or character.
When I think about Mr. Kuboki, he definitely embodied what the word integrity meant. When I saw the different fishermen who went to the Northwest Corner to fish for tuna every summer with my father, I saw the amount of dedication in their consistent daily effort. Each day started out the same, but in the course of the day, depending on the weather, there were many obstacles to overcome. Maybe the tide wasn't with us. Maybe the boat placement wasn't good. Maybe the tunas were at a depth not good for fishing. You had to take in all these different factors and still keep a positive attitude even if nothing was biting all day long. You are constantly hoping, being consistent in your effort until you would leave. That was something that was incredible for me to experience.
The first hours when you're out on the open sea can be exciting. We had a fish finder with a printer that would show the depth the fish were at, so when we were chumming, we were taking into account the direction of the tide and the depth of the ocean, calculating how we should chum so that the bait would go to where the fish were. Many times when I was done with my kitchen duties, my father would let me look at the printout showing where the fish were, and he would encourage me to think about where we should chum, to see where the tide was going.
For hours and hours the printer kept printing, and it's quite mind numbing at times. Perhaps the next hour nothing bit, and the hour after that nothing bit. Sometimes all day would go by when you could see that the fish were at a certain depth, but none of them would bite, so you could become discouraged. You're trying to chum in a way that would attract the fish to come bite on your bait. Why is it not working? So you start doubting yourself; you start questioning, not believing that you're going to catch something that day.
At times like that, the word integrity, meaning the consistency of purpose and the consistency of character in carrying out whatever you're involved, with comes to mind. Many times, just when I was on the verge of giving up, I would tell myself, "Okay, one more hour." Time and time again, that was when God sent us the tuna, just when I was almost giving up. But I basically told myself, "One more hour." God was letting us know, "See, if you remain consistent in your purpose, in the kind of character you should carry in your life, sooner or later you're going to get that tuna."
When you leave the dock on this big boat, you feel like there's nowhere this boat cannot go. But once you're on the open sea, you look like a dot and you realize how tiny, how small you are compared with the vastness of the open sea. You realize that you're really at the mercy of the elements, and you come to a point when you have to ask yourself, "Am I going to entrust my life to God? Am I going to trust, the fourth letter in faith, that he and she will see me through today? Or am I going to doubt, thinking I might not survive this day, this storm?"
Every summer there were boats and fishermen lost at sea, so this constant theme of life and death plays on your mind when you're on the open sea. The question "Do I trust my God? Do I have faith in my God?" is asked in your mind day in and day out. But when you decide to have faith, when you decide to trust in God, you realize that the instability or the insecurity in your situation suddenly disappears. The minute we decide to trust in the Lord, there's an incredible feeling of security, a feeling of being embraced, a feeling of being held in His hands. You feel as if God himself and herself is holding you and is guiding you to the open sea and bringing you back home. That is probably one of the most incredible experiences that a young child can have.
During the whole summer's worth of fishing my father was thinking about the world: thinking about people's health, planning how do we end hunger, how do we feed hungry people? It was really the beginning of my father's attempt to get the American people to eat more fish. He was preparing for the whole wave of sushi aficionados that simply did not exist in the early 1970s in America. My father was advocating healthy living, eating more fish as opposed to beef, eating fresh food that is simply cooked, not too highly seasoned. Unlike the common perception that my father was enjoying himself on a "yacht," as they called it, my father was actually researching different ways to catch and package fish.
In fact, my father pioneered hand-line fishing for tuna in the Gloucester area. Before he came along, the way they caught tuna there was with a fishing pole. My father tried that method and found that it was lacking. He realized that when you're fighting a fish that's anywhere from 500 to over 1,000 pounds, you need more grip. You need to be able to maneuver more quickly, to be more tactile and flexible in your approach in terms of pulling in the line or letting go of the line. When you're using only a fishing pole, you can't do that in a split second, but when you're holding onto a line, then depending on the feel of the fish as it is pulling and tugging on the line, you can decide whether to let go or to quickly draw it in.
In the beginning when he asked for different types of rope to try, the salesperson at the fishing supply store looked at my father and the group of Japanese people working with him in a very, very strange way. Why would anyone leave a fishing pole and take a rope to try to catch this massive fish? But when my father started catching all the tuna in the area when the others weren't catching anything, many of them tried hand-line fishing. So that's something that my father pioneered. Even to this day, many tuna are caught that way there.
When you think about the level of dedication that each summer required, you realize that in order to have the best experience possible, you needed to have a special heart of dedication, which is what the H in faith represents to me. When we decide to have faith, what we're saying is that we're not going to doubt any more. We're not going to do-out with our faith. We're going to choose to be Fearless, to have the Attitude of gratitude. We're going to choose to practice Integrity consistently. We're choosing to Trust in our Heavenly Parent, and we're going to follow through with a Heart of devotion.
The Book of James 1:5–8 says to us, "But ask in faith, never doubting." The Bible is telling us, don't be like a wave in the open sea that is wind driven, tossing us around. The minute that we start to doubt, James reminds us that we become double minded. When we decide to exercise faith and decide to trust in the Lord, we become very clear in our direction. We're no longer double minded. James reminds us that when we doubt, we become unstable, but in faith we become incredibly stable in the security of our Heavenly Parent.
So when we honestly and earnestly ask in faith for God to be there with us, to experience life with us, and we approach our prayer with this heart of devotion, and we approach the different service projects that we do with this heart of devotion, what we are doing is actualizing this word faith in our daily lives.
When I think about my summers together with my father, I can think of so many different experiences that have moved me to tears. But especially I realize that when my father made me the captain of the first all-female crew when I was 16, as a parent my father must have had incredible faith in me. I think about my children who are 16, and I think about trusting a 16-year-old with his own boat, making him the captain of four other people and basically throwing him out onto the open sea, where seasoned sailors die, boats capsize, and people disappear. My father had incredible faith in me. In that sense, he was fearless, and he was grateful to have a daughter who did not get seasick wanting to become a captain. He saw this little girl follow him every day for five years, since I was 11, so he knew I could be consistent. He knew that I had absolute faith in him, and now he was returning that absolute faith and trust in me by saying, "You take care of this boat."
Just as I tried to approach my summers with a heart of devotion, what my father was doing to me was paying that devotion back by saying, "Now I am going to give you my heart of devotion. Make me proud, daughter." You have to understand, back then when I was 16 years old there was no concept of a woman captain, let alone a teenage girl captain. So not only did the sailors think my father was crazy, I think a lot of the leaders and good brothers and sisters thought my father might have been crazy, too.
Why would you throw a 16-year-old girl at the mercy of the open sea? And what good would she do? How could she catch a tuna with three other teenage Second Generation girls?
When we started the summer of my 16th year at Gloucester and Provincetown, it didn't really look too good, but because Father had faith in us, I said, "Girls, girls, it doesn't matter if the sailors are hooting at us, saying, 'Ladies, go back home to your daddy. There's no place for women on the sea. I thought I'd seen it all with crazy Moonies, but here come the crazy ladies.'" We heard it all.
And even when we got to Northwest Corner, different sailors on the boats would jeer at us, saying, "This is no place for women. Go back home. We don't want you here." Sometimes they would throw things at us. But we just had to have a heart of gratitude. We had to have an attitude of gratefulness and just be consistent. As angry as we might have gotten at that instant when people were hurling things at us, big burly sailors with big biceps, throwing these things at teenage girls, jeering, "Go home," we reminded ourselves to focus on consistency, to focus on practicing integrity. We decided we were going to catch a tuna, whether they liked it or not.
The amazing thing was, we were one of the first boats to hook up because I had learned a thing or two fishing with my father all those summers. I learned how to chum, especially how to calculate where to make it go, depending on the tide. So we were one of the first to hook up. Then the sailors shouted, "There's no way they're going to catch that tuna. Let's watch this entertainment hour. Let's watch them lose it."
We felt that not only were we representing teenage girls, we had to fight for being legitimate fishermen on the open sea. I felt like we had to fight for our sex, that there's no reason why women can't catch a tuna. We may not be as strong, but we are cleverer! We may not have the brawn, but there are ways to tire the tuna.
When a tuna bites, the line runs out so fast that lives have been lost at sea in accidents when people are not watching where they are walking and they are near the basket where the ropes are coiled. In the frantic moment of "Hook-up!" and pulling up the anchor, getting behind the wheel, starting the engine, sometimes you don't realize you're standing on the basket of rope. And if you do, you're gone. You'll go out like a cannonball. There's just no way to save you because the tuna is going, and it's fighting, and the line is racing out. You literally can see smoke as it goes out. So you have to be mindful of different things like that.
But when the tuna hit and the line went out, I screamed, "Anchor up." Then everybody on Northwest Corner knew, "Oh, the kiddie boat got a hook-up." They were all watching us with binoculars. I told my crew, "I'll go first, then you go second, you third, and we're just going to tire the fish out." So we're taking turns, and as we're going we could literally see these fishermen with binoculars hollering. I felt like a horse running at the racetrack and all these people were taking bets on how long we would last and how long we would keep the fish on the line.
I thought, "Okay, if they want a fun time, we'll give them a good show." So the line flew out. Tuna are so big and strong that they can drag the boat. The most important thing is that when the fish wants to go, you have to let it go and just maintain the tautness of the rope. But the minute that the fish decides, "I don't want to go away from the boat; let me try going toward the boat instead," then you have to frantically pull it in. If you don't keep that tautness on the line, the hook is going to come out.
A tuna is incredibly smart. It takes the boat out, and then it charges straight back toward you, then it goes off to the right, then off to the left. It's trying all the different directions in order to get the hook out of its mouth. The key is keeping the line taut.
So here we were, taking turns, and the fish took us so far from our initial starting point in Northwest Corner that we couldn't see the other fishermen jeering at us. We were thinking, "Thank you, Heavenly Father. You got rid of them." Here we were on the open sea, like in the movie The Old Man and the Sea from the Ernest Hemingway story, a gigantic fish and us. It felt like a life-and-death battle because it wasn't just about catching that tuna; it was about saving the dignity of the women and having the right as women to catch a tuna. A lot was riding on us. I said, "Ladies, come on. We have to do this."
It took about four and a half hours, but we tired the tuna out. By the end of four and a half hours, we were all dying, but the tuna started to surface because it was so tired. Then what you do is pull the tuna in, and it's a very, very heavy fish. The tuna we caught that day was something like 675 pounds, so it was a big, big tuna. As it comes near, the next thing you have to do is to harpoon the fish. If you don't harpoon the fish, it's very easy to lose it, even as you're pulling it in.
When it got close enough to the boat for us to see it, I had to get up on top and harpoon it. I said to myself, "I can harpoon this fish with my eyes, because I can see where the fish is, or I can harpoon the fish with God's eyes, and I'm going to catch that tuna." So the minute I saw it coming and knew approximately where it was, I threw my harpoon, knowing that God would not let us women down. The harpoon went straight into the side right behind the gill, which is where you want it. You don't want it in the great meat, but instead right next to the gill. It went in! It was amazing.
When my crew saw the harpoon go in, they were screaming at the top of their lungs. I said, "Let's tie the fish up. Now we're pretty far off from Northwest Corner. Shall we just go straight to the dock, or would you ladies like to see the sailors' faces at Northwest Corner before we go back?" After four and a half hours I think all the fishermen were thinking, "Silly teenage girls; they probably lost the fish and went back home in total disgrace."
We decided to visit them before we went back. You can't really drive the boat too quickly with a huge fish on the side of your boat, so here we were putt-putting through the sea. My girls were looking through binoculars to gauge the reactions of the different sailors. When they saw us coming over the horizon, you could hear them, "There they are," screaming different things. When they saw the girlie boat approaching, we heard this loud jeering, but then it died away because they're thinking, "What the heck are they doing with a tuna tied to the side of their boat when we haven't gotten a hook-up yet?"
At that moment, when you're 16 years old and you realize that your father gave you this opportunity to experience how exhilarating, how exciting, how satisfying it is to putt-putt back to Northwest Corner, you are thinking, "Thank God my father had faith in me. He wasn't thinking he was sending me out to the sea to leave me at the mercy of the elements; he was hoping that I'd do my sisters justice and that my crew would do women justice."
So even though it was a very small victory in the course of the summer, it changed my life. It changed the sisters' lives on the boat with me. It made us realize that there's no limit to what a woman can do. And the greater the opposition, the greater we're going to fight. The more they want us to go home, the greater our consistency of purpose will be. And the more people put obstacles in our path, the greater our heart of devotion and our trust in God will be. Instead of being bogged down with doubt, doing-out with faith, and instead of being bogged down with double mindedness and questioning, the minute we decide to have faith and believe, God can work in mysterious and incredible ways.
The Koran Chapter 8, verses 2–4, reminds us what a true believer is supposed to be. A true believer is someone who is in awe before God. And awe does not just mean astonishment. It means you are in so much gratitude that you are filled with the feeling of love. The true believers are those who truly, truly love God as our Heavenly Parent.
The Koran goes on further to say that the true believers are people whose faith grows with every word, every revelation. So sometimes revelations can come through Scripture. Sometimes revelations can come through dreams. Sometimes revelations can come through an experience like the one I had. But each and every one of those revelations makes us grow in faith: we become stronger, we become greater, and we become the kind of sons and daughters that we are destined to be.
So this Sunday, I'm thinking about the importance of faith and what it means to be a true believer. If you think about a life without God, it is almost like being a rudderless boat. But the minute you bring God into the picture, the boat has a rudder. God provides the wind in the sail, and God clearly shows us a direction where to go; just like when we want to catch a tuna, we head out to Northwest Corner. The minute we have clear faith and we believe, our lives become very clear.
This morning the band performed the wonderful song "Somewhere Only We Know." Faith is not something that should just be believed, something out there. It needs to be made our own. We need to own up to our faith. Find a place in your life, somewhere only you know, where only you and God can commune, converse, and be with each other, and you can feel every day how incredibly special and precious you are.
Let's remind ourselves that it's always God who is singing us this song to make us feel his and her love. God is the one singing this song in difficult times, in times of joy, in times of trial. God is always there, wanting us to feel his love. Despite the manic time and scheduling of life in Midtown Manhattan, we still need to find a time to come home, to be with God.
Brothers and sisters, thank you for this Sunday. Thank you for joining with me. Remember to always decide to be a faithful servant of God, and always remember that God, our Heavenly Parent, and our True Parents are always with each and every one of you. So God bless, and have a great week. Thank you.
1: James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: Greeting.
2: Count it all joy, my brethren, when you meet various trials,
3: for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.
4: And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
5: If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives to all men generously and without reproaching, and it will be given him.
6: But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.
7,8: For that person must not suppose that a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways, will receive anything from the Lord.
9: Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation,
10: and the rich in his humiliation, because like the flower of the grass he will pass away.
11: For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits.
Blessed is the man who endures trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life which God has promised to those who love him.
13: Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted with evil and he himself tempts no one;
14: but each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.
15: Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin; and sin when it is full-grown brings forth death.
16: Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.
17: Every good endowment and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
18: Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.
19: Know this, my beloved brethren. Let every man be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger,
20: for the anger of man does not work the righteousness of God.
21: Therefore put away all filthiness and rank growth of wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
23: For if any one is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who observes his natural face in a mirror;
24: for he observes himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.
25: But he who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer that forgets but a doer that acts, he shall be blessed in his doing.
26: If any one thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this man's religion is vain.
27: Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
In the name of Allah the Beneficent, the Merciful.
8.1: They ask you about the windfalls. Say: The windfalls are for Allah and the Apostle. So be careful of (your duty to) Allah and set aright matters of your difference, and obey Allah and His Apostle if you are believers.
8.2: Those only are believers whose hearts become full of fear when Allah is mentioned, and when His communications are recited to them they increase them in faith, and in their Lord do they trust.
8.3: Those who keep up prayer and spend (benevolently) out of what We have given them.
8.4: These are the believers in truth; they shall have from their Lord exalted grades and forgiveness and an honorable sustenance.
8.5: Even as your Lord caused you to go forth from your house with the truth, though a party of the believers were surely averse;
8.6: They disputed with you about the truth after it had become clear, (and they went forth) as if they were being driven to death while they saw (it).
8.7: And when Allah promised you one of the two parties that it shall be yours and you loved that the one not armed should he yours and Allah desired to manifest the truth of what was true by His words and to cut off the root of the unbelievers.
8.8: That He may manifest the truth of what was true and show the falsehood of what was false, though the guilty disliked.
8.9: When you sought aid from your Lord, so He answered you: I will assist you with a thousand of the angels following one another.
8.10: And Allah only gave it as a good news and that your hearts might be at ease thereby; and victory is only from Allah; surely Allah is Mighty, Wise.
8.11: When He caused calm to fall on you as a security from Him and sent down upon you water from the cloud that He might thereby purify you, and take away from you the uncleanness of the Shaitan, and that He might fortify your hearts and steady (your) footsteps thereby.
8.12: When your Lord revealed to the angels: I am with you, therefore make firm those who believe. I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them.
8.13: This is because they acted adversely to Allah and His Apostle; and whoever acts adversely to Allah and His Apostle -- then surely Allah is severe in requiting (evil).
8.14: This -- taste it, and (know) that for the unbelievers is the chastisement of fire.
8.15: O you who believe! when you meet those who disbelieve marching for war, then turn not your backs to them.
8.16: And whoever shall turn his back to them on that day -- unless he turn aside for the sake of fighting or withdraws to a company -- then he, indeed, becomes deserving of Allah's wrath, and his abode is hell; and an evil destination shall it be.
8.17: So you did not slay them, but it was Allah Who slew them, and you did not smite when you smote (the enemy), but it was Allah Who smote, and that He might confer upon the believers a good gift from Himself; surely Allah is Hearing, Knowing.
8.18: This, and that Allah is the weakener of the struggle of the unbelievers.
8.19: If you demanded a judgment, the judgment has then indeed come to you; and if you desist, it will be better for you; and if you turn back (to fight), We (too) shall turn back, and your forces shall avail you nothing, though they may be many, and (know) that Allah is with the believers.
8.20: O you who believe! obey Allah and His Apostle and do not turn back from Him while you hear.
8.21: And be not like those who said, We hear, and they did not obey.
8.22: Surely the vilest of animals, in Allah's sight, are the deaf, the dumb, who do not understand.
8.23: And if Allah had known any good in them He would have made them hear, and if He makes them hear they would turn back while they withdraw.
8.24: O you who believe! answer (the call of) Allah and His Apostle when he calls you to that which gives you life; and know that Allah intervenes between man and his heart, and that to Him you shall be gathered.
8.25: And fear an affliction which may not smite those of you in particular who are unjust; and know that Allah is severe in requiting (evil).
8.26: And remember when you were few, deemed weak in the land, fearing lest people might carry you off by force, but He sheltered you and strengthened you with His aid and gave you of the good things that you may give thanks.
8.27: O you who believe! be not unfaithful to Allah and the Apostle, nor be unfaithful to your trusts while you know.
8.28: And know that your property and your children are a temptation, and that Allah is He with Whom there is a mighty reward.
8.29: O you who believe! If you are careful of (your duty to) Allah, He will grant you a distinction and do away with your evils and forgive you; and Allah is the Lord of mighty grace.
8.30: And when those who disbelieved devised plans against you that they might confine you or slay you or drive you away; and they devised plans and Allah too had arranged a plan; and Allah is the best of planners.
8.31: And when Our communications are recited to them, they say: We have heard indeed; if we pleased we could say the like of it; this is nothing but the stories of the ancients.
8.32: And when they said: O Allah! if this is the truth from Thee, then rain upon us stones from heaven or inflict on us a painful punishment.
8.33: But Allah was not going to chastise them while you were among them, nor is Allah going to chastise them while yet they ask for forgiveness.
8.34: And what (excuse) have they that Allah should not chastise them while they hinder (men) from the Sacred Mosque and they are not (fit to be) guardians of it; its guardians are only those who guard (against evil), but most of them do not know.
8.35: And their prayer before the House is nothing but whistling and clapping of hands; taste then the chastisement, for you disbelieved.
8.36: Surely those who disbelieve spend their wealth to hinder (people) from the way of Allah; so they shall spend it, then it shall be to them an intense regret, then they shall be overcome; and those who disbelieve shall be driven together to hell.
8.37: That Allah might separate the impure from the good, and put the impure, some of it upon the other, and pile it up together, then cast it into hell; these it is that are the losers.
8.38: Say to those who disbelieve, if they desist, that which is past shall be forgiven to them; and if they return, then what happened to the ancients has already passed.
8.39: And fight with them until there is no more persecution and religion should be only for Allah; but if they desist, then surely Allah sees what they do.
8.40: And if they turn back, then know that Allah is your Patron; most excellent is the Patron and most excellent the Helper.
8.41: And know that whatever thing you gain, a fifth of it is for Allah and for the Apostle and for the near of kin and the orphans and the needy and the wayfarer, if you believe in Allah and in that which We revealed to Our servant, on the day of distinction, the day on which the two parties met; and Allah has power over all things.
8.42: When you were on the nearer side (of the valley) and they were on the farthest side, while the caravan was in a lower place than you; and if you had mutually made an appointment, you would certainly have broken away from the appointment, but -- in order that Allah might bring about a matter which was to be done, that he who would perish might perish by clear proof, and he who would live might live by clear proof; and most surely Allah is Hearing, Knowing;
8.43: When Allah showed them to you in your dream as few; and if He had shown them to you as many you would certainly have become weak-hearted and you would have disputed about the matter, but Allah saved (you); surely He is the Knower of what is in the breasts.
8.44: And when He showed them to you, when you met, as few in your eyes and He made you to appear little in their eyes, in order that Allah might bring about a matter which was to be done, and to Allah are all affairs returned.
8.45: O you who believe! when you meet a party, then be firm, and remember Allah much, that you may be successful.
8.46: And obey Allah and His Apostle and do not quarrel for then you will be weak in hearts and your power will depart, and be patient; surely Allah is with the patient.
8.47: And be not like those who came forth from their homes in great exultation and to be seen of men, and (who) turn away from the way of Allah, and Allah comprehends what they do.
8.48: And when the Shaitan made their works fair seeming to them, and said: No one can overcome you this day, and surely I am your protector: but when the two parties came in sight of each other he turned upon his heels, and said: Surely I am clear of you, surely I see what you do not see, surely I fear Allah; and Allah is severe in requiting (evil).
8.49: When the hypocrites and those in whose hearts was disease said: Their religion has deceived them; and whoever trusts in Allah, then surely Allah is Mighty, Wise.
8.50: And had you seen when the angels will cause to die those who disbelieve, smiting their faces and their backs, and (saying): Taste the punishment of burning.
8.51: This is for what your own hands have sent on before, and because Allah is not in the least unjust to the servants;
8.52: In the manner of the people of Firon and those before them; they disbelieved in Allah's communications, therefore Allah destroyed them on account of their faults; surely Allah is strong, severe in requiting (evil).
8.53: This is because Allah has never changed a favor which He has conferred upon a people until they change their own condition; and because Allah is Hearing, Knowing;
8.54: In the manner of the people of Firon and those before them; they rejected the communications of their Lord, therefore We destroyed them on account of their faults and We drowned Firon's people, and they were all unjust.
8.55: Surely the vilest of animals in Allah's sight are those who disbelieve, then they would not believe.
8.56: Those with whom you make an agreement, then they break their agreement every time and they do not guard (against punishment).
8.57: Therefore if you overtake them in fighting, then scatter by (making an example of) them those who are in their rear, that they may be mindful.
8.58: And if you fear treachery on the part of a people, then throw back to them on terms of equality; surely Allah does not love the treacherous.
8.59: And let not those who disbelieve think that they shall come in first; surely they will not escape.
8.60: And prepare against them what force you can and horses tied at the frontier, to frighten thereby the enemy of Allah and your enemy and others besides them, whom you do not know (but) Allah knows them; and whatever thing you will spend in Allah's way, it will be paid back to you fully and you shall not be dealt with unjustly.
8.61: And if they incline to peace, then incline to it and trust in Allah; surely He is the Hearing, the Knowing.
8.62: And if they intend to deceive you -- then surely Allah is sufficient for you; He it is Who strengthened you with His help and with the believers
8.63: And united their hearts; had you spent all that is in the earth, you could not have united their hearts, but Allah united them; surely He is Mighty, Wise.
8.64: O Prophet! Allah is sufficient for you and (for) such of the believers as follow you.
8.65: O Prophet! urge the believers to war; if there are twenty patient ones of you they shall overcome two hundred, and if there are a hundred of you they shall overcome a thousand of those who disbelieve, because they are a people who do not understand.
8.66: For the present Allah has made light your burden, and He knows that there is weakness in you; so if there are a hundred patient ones of you they shall overcome two hundred, and if there are a thousand they shall overcome two thousand by Allah's permission, and Allah is with the patient.
8.67: It is not fit for a prophet that he should take captives unless he has fought and triumphed in the land; you desire the frail goods of this world, while Allah desires (for you) the hereafter; and Allah is Mighty, Wise.
8.68: Were it not for an ordinance from Allah that had already gone forth, surely there would have befallen you a great chastisement for what you had taken to.
8.69: Eat then of the lawful and good (things) which you have acquired in war, and be careful of (your duty to) Allah; surely Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.
8.70: O Prophet! say to those of the captives who are in your hands: If Allah knows anything good in your hearts, He will give to you better than that which has been taken away from you and will forgive you, and Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.
8.71: And if they intend to act unfaithfully towards you, so indeed they acted unfaithfully towards Allah before, but He gave (you) mastery over them; and Allah is Knowing, Wise.
8.72: Surely those who believed and fled (their homes) and struggled hard in Allah's way with their property and their souls, and those who gave shelter and helped -- these are guardians of each other; and (as for) those who believed and did not fly, not yours is their guardianship until they fly; and if they seek aid from you in the matter of religion, aid is incumbent on you except against a people between whom and you there is a treaty, and Allah sees what you do.
8.73: And (as for) those who disbelieve, some of them are the guardians of others; if you will not do it, there will be in the land persecution and great mischief.
8.74: And (as for) those who believed and fled and struggled hard in Allah's way, and those who gave shelter and helped, these are the believers truly; they shall have forgiveness and honorable provision.
8.75: And (as for) those who believed afterwards and fled and struggled hard along with you, they are of you; and the possessors of relationships are nearer to each other in the ordinance of Allah; surely Allah knows all things.
Oh, simple thing, where have you gone?
I'm getting old and I
need something to rely on
So tell me when, you're gonna let me
in
I'm getting tired and I need somewhere to begin
And if you
have a minute why don't we go
Talk about it somewhere only we
know?
This could be the end of everything
So why don't we go,
somewhere only we know
Somewhere only we know?
Oh, simple thing, where have you gone?
I'm getting old and I
need something to rely on
So, tell me when you gonna let me in
I'm
getting tired and I need somewhere to begin
And if you have a
minute why don't we go
Talk about it somewhere only we know?
This
could be the end of everything.
So why don't we go, so why don't
we go?
Hmmm yeahh.
This could be the end of everything
So why don't we go,
somewhere only we know,
Somewhere only we know
Somewhere only
we know?