ADMONISHING PUNISHMENTS (VERSE NO. 130 - 131)

      It was a universal Divine Law, that when an apostle preached his people, and was rejected by them; God sent down upon the people various torments and hardship in order to admonish them and make them mindful.

      Usually when man finds himself free of wants, he will be puffed up with pride and vanity- excepted are those who believe in God and the Day of Doom.

      To this account the Egyptians under Pharaoh, who were mostly farmers and business men lived a life in affluence and welfare, having enslaved and exploited the Israelites unfairly.

      When they rejected Moses the Messenger of God, they were seized by drought and want of rain, so that their farm lands and even their trees were afflicted with dryness and death, and they were confronted with scarcity of grains and fruits, and all sorts of farm produces.

      They could have taken that for a warning and return back to God and their inner nature, but they didn't. On the contrary, they interpreted such afflictions by the tongue of their fancies, and superstitious tastes! Ignoring their own wickedness, they ascribed such events to Moses and his followers, as ill Omens. Had they considered their own evil deeds and oppressions, and transgressions, they would have found the root of those disasters in their own wickedness, for which God was putting them in troubles for warning:

      ``And We seized Pharaoh's people with drought and scarcity of fruits, perhaps they might be reminded.''

OMEN - ILL AND WELL

      Man has always augured ill or well on some particular incidents to mean promising a victory or gain, or a failure or loss! This is where there is no logical relation between the incident, and the loss or gain.

      Logically Omen has no natural or physical effect upon the foreseen gain or loss, but it has some psychological results - good omen may induce hope in One's heart, and cause more strife and effort. On the contrary ill omen may cause despair and fear, wavering man in his decision making. This is why in Islam good omen has been enjoined, and bad omen has strictly been prohibited.

      Our prophet S.A. loved good omen for creating hope and making man more active and seeking help in Allah. On the contrary, he paid no heed to ill omen and knew it as some sort of polytheism.

      HAZRAT IMAM SADIQ (AS) has said: ``An ill omen is as effective as you may think it is. If you take it easy it shall be light. If you think too much of it, by that you will make it harder. But if you ignore, and pay no heed to it, you will reduce it to nothing.''

      This is because Omen, by itself is nothing and does not have physical or spiritual basis, and has no physical or natural effect on man's life and affair, but its psychological effects have to be considered.

AUGURY AND DIVINATION

      Augury and divination played a mojor role in classical antiquity both on personal level and public affair; and more or less are still practiced all over the new world!

      The consultation of oracles with Apollo at Delphi was only one of many forms of Divinations.

      Omens could be drown from the flight of birds, or from the vital organs of sacrificed victims, and also from celestical phenomena like lightning, meteors, and eclipses.

      The practice of augury and omen has been reported in all parts of the world and in many different forms. Example of these are gypsy readings of palms, fingertips, cards and coffee remnants in the cup.

      Divination appears to be related to basic insecurities of human life - The need for assistance in making decisions, and hope of finding explanations for mysterious events.

      Down here in this town that I live, (BAGHBADORAN- ISFAHAN - IRAN) gypsy palm reading, astrologies, fortune tellings and amulet writings and many other Divination are practised and do a good deal of business, even though their activities are illegal. Faith in fate and luck, and testing the luck is something customary here. Almost all the lovers consult the poetical works of HAFIZ to know the fortune and future of their love. When an owl sings on a tree or wall of one's house, it is taken as an ill omen and bad news!

      Many women (particularly the uneducated ones) consult the fortune teller to handle her affair. They do not visit a sick person in wednesday night for believing that the patient will get worse. At new moon, when they see the crescent, they try not to look at the face of whom they think he is not a good one or godfearing, or else in that month they do not live a good life!

      So many of such superstitions are practised here that have nothing to do with our religion which is Islam. Our scholars and learned men mock at these- superstitions as they call it and know it as a part of our pre- Islamic culture that we have inherited. TRANSLATION'S NOTE)