THE WORD OF GOD
From The Scriptures
The Quran is the book of God. It has been preserved in its entirety since its revelation to the Prophet of Islam between 610 and 632 AD. It is a book that brings glad tidings to mankind, along with divine admonition, and stresses the importance of man’s discovery of the Truth on a spiritual and intellectual level.
Translated from Arabic and commentary by
Maulana Wahiduddin Khan
Everything in the heavens and on the earth belongs to God and so He will requite those who do evil in accordance with their deeds and will reward those left with that which is best, for those who do good. (53: 31)
The universe with its extremely stable system makes manifest the fact that its Creator and Lord is extremely powerful. This suffices to make it clear that He will sooner or later seize hold of man and when He does so, there will be no escaping His grasp.
As for those who refrain from committing grave sins and indecent acts, though they may commit minor offences, your Lord is unstinting in His forgiveness. (53: 32)
Man has been created with human weaknesses. So, it is not required that he be as pure as the angels. Almighty God has given full guidance to man as to what he should do and what he should not. However, man may be pardoned in the case of lesser offences (lamam), i.e. indulging in some mischief because of fleeting emotion, on the condition that he should immediately realize his lapse and, being ashamed of it, seek pardon of his Lord.
He knows you when He brings you out of the earth, and when you were embryos in the wombs of your mothers; so do not make claims to be pure. He knows best who is truly righteous.
Have you [Prophet] considered the man who turned away, who at first gave a little, then later held back? Has he knowledge of the unseen, so that he sees? (53: 33-35)
There are many who become inclined towards the Truth, but only to a certain extent. Then the compulsions of their interests become too strong for them and they revert to their original position. In order to justify and explain their wrong behaviour, such people devise different types of engaging ‘beliefs’. But this only increases their guilt because this amounts to adding insult to injury.
Has he not been made acquainted with what was written in the scriptures of Moses? And with Abraham who kept his word: that no soul shall bear the burden of another; and that man shall have only that for which he strives; and that [the fruit of] his striving shall soon be seen; and in the end he will be repaid for it in full; that all things in the end shall return to God; (53: 36-42)
The sum and substance of the reality revealed by Almighty God through His prophets is that every man has to receive the reward befitting his deeds. Nobody can save himself from the fate attending his deeds and nobody else can be his saviour. There is nobody more foolish in this world of God than those who are not affected by this prophetic warning.
That it is He who brings laughter and tears; that it is He who causes death and gives life; and that He Himself created the two sexes: male and female, from an ejected drop of sperm; and that He will bring about the Second Creation; that it is He who gives wealth and possessions; that He is the Lord of Sirius. (53: 43-49)
Every event in this world arises from supernatural causes and nobody but God is capable of causing them to occur. Happiness and sorrow, life and death, the procreative system, riches and poverty—all these are the feats of a superpower. Ancient man used to consider the stars as the determining factors in life, while in the present age natural law is considered to govern all happenings. But the fact is that there is a Cause over and above these causes and factors and that is God, the Lord of the universe. Then, how is it legitimate for a man to make anything other than Him the centre of his attention?
Re-assess the past, replan
the future.