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
Those who bear the Throne, and those who are around it, glorify their Lord with His praise, and believe in Him. They ask forgiveness for those who believe, saying, ‘Our Lord, You embrace all things in mercy and knowledge. Forgive those who turn to You and follow Your path. Save them from the punishment of Hell and admit them, Lord, to the Eternal Garden You have promised to them, together with their righteous ancestors, spouses, and offspring: You alone are the Almighty; the All Wise. Protect them from all evil deeds: those You protect from [the punishment for] evil deeds will receive Your mercy— that is the supreme success. (40: 7-9)
The subjects of God who set themselves the task of preaching the pure and unadulterated Truth are always harassed. They are made to feel lowly and small and treated as such wherever they may be. But, at the very time when this treatment is being meted out to them, the heavens and the earth are bearing testimony to their righteousness. The angels who have been charged with managing the affairs of the universe, will look forward to their ultimate glorious reward. Those who were looked down upon by the ignorant in this ephemeral world will be raised to such an exalted position that the angels nearest to God will pray for them.
Those who deny the truth will be told, ‘God’s abhorrence of you is greater than your hatred of yourselves. You were called to the faith but you denied it.’ They will say, ‘Our Lord! Twice You have made us die, and twice You have given us life! Now we have confessed our sins: is there any way out [of this]?’ [They will be told], ‘This is because when God alone was invoked you denied the truth, yet when others were associated with Him you believed in them.’ Judgement rests with God, the Most High, the Most Great. (40: 10-12)
God has showered His mercy in the form of guidance. But, people in general have not accepted it. As a result in the Hereafter, the rejecters of guidance will be completely deprived of God’s grace. In the world, they ignored God’s grace. In the Hereafter, God’s grace will pass them by.
At that time, those who deny the truth will say, ‘O God! You created us from the earth, that is, we were lifeless and you infused life into us. Afterwards, when our lifespan was over, we became lifeless for the second time. Now we have been raised again in the world of the Hereafter. In this way, you have twice given us life and twice given us death. Now, if you give us a third opportunity and send us back into the world, we will admit the Truth and live a life full of righteous deeds.’
But, this request of theirs will not be heard, because they proved that they could not recognise the Truth when it was hidden from their eyes. They were capable of recognising only so-called gods. They did not have the ability to recognise the real invisible God, and such people who are enamoured by outward appearances have no value in the eyes of God.
It is He who shows you His signs, and sends down provision for you from heaven; but none pays heed except the repentant. Therefore call upon God, making faith pure for Him, averse as the deniers of the truth may be to it: Exalted and throned on high, He lets the Spirit descend at His behest upon whichever of His servants He will, so that he may warn of the Day of Meeting, the Day when they shall rise up [from their graves] and nothing about them will be hidden from God. ‘To whom shall the kingdom belong that Day?’ It shall belong to God, the One, the All Powerful. That Day every soul shall be requited for what it has earned. On that Day none shall be wronged. And God is swift in reckoning. (40: 13-17)
There are countless signs in the universe which teach us lessons in symbolic language. One of these is the system of rains. This natural phenomenon is symbolic of God’s inspiration. Just as rains are useful for fertile land and useless for barren land, similarly the inspiration from God brings forth fruit in some but not in others. This ‘rain’ enters the souls of those who have kept their hearts open and makes their existence lush green. On the contrary, those whose hearts are full of the greatness of beings other than God are like barren lands.
God is fully aware of His subjects. Whoever He finds capable, He chooses for the purpose of conveying His message. The main aim of this message is to warn the people of the fast approaching day when they will be presented before the Lord of the Universe, from whom nothing will be hidden and whose judgement will not be influenced by anybody.