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474chapter sixbecame God’s deputies on earth, their instinctive form of al-wal§"acquired a new social dimension which had not existed before: theyorganised themselves into families, clans, and tribes. This new stageof social organisation was underscored by the existence of a socialideology that fostered humans’ social identification with these newsocial types (families, clans, and tribes). The aim of social ideologieswas to hold the different articulations of al-wal§" in harmony withhuman beings’ social instincts. Because of the fact that social organisationsoften create tensions between the demands of a society andthe demands of nature, these social ideologies were needed in orderto ease these tensions and stimulate a cultural context in whichnature and society were not seen as antagonistically contradictingeach other. Many verses in the Book fulfil this purpose:1. And admonish thy nearest kinsmen. ( Al-Shu#ar§" 26:214)2. That day shall a man flee from his own brother, * and from hismother and his father, * and from his wife and his children. (#Abasa80:36)3. And Abraham prayed for his father’s forgiveness only because of apromise he had made to him… ( Al-Tawba 9:114)4. And when Abraham was tried by his Lord with certain commandmentswhich he fulfilled, He said: “I am making you a spiritual exemplarto mankind.”… ( Al-Baqara 2:124, MF)5. Noah called out to his Lord, saying, ‘My Lord, my son was one ofmy family, though your promise is true, and you are the most just ofall judges.’ (Håd 11:45, AH)The first verse is addressed to God’s noble Prophet (ß). It advises himto start his call to believe in God and the Last Day with his nearestkinship. This advice corresponds with the natural order of socialinteraction that is instinctively part of the psychological and socialnature of human beings. Human beings would naturally first startwith those closest to them in their families: parents, brothers, sisters,spouses, (male and female) children, uncles, aunts, nieces, nephews,grandparents, and grandchildren etc.The second verse describes the horrors of the Day of Resurrection.It describes the fear that the dead will feel when they congregate inorder to be summoned by their Lord. It is the day when the wetnurse will abandon her suckling infant and men their closest relatives.Preoccupied with their own fate, people will forsake the wal§" to theirfamily and clan, that is, they ‘flee from brother, mother, father, wifeand children’, as 80:36 says, which provides a more elaborate descrip-

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