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 A.D. 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
There are signs in the creation of the heavens and the earth, and in the alternation of night and day for people of understanding; who remember God while standing, sitting and [lying] on their sides, and who ponder over the creation of the heavens and the earth, saying, ‘Lord, You have not created all this without purpose. Glory be to You! Save us from the torment of the Fire. Lord, those whom You condemn to enter the Fire You have surely brought to disgrace. Wrongdoers will have no supporters. (3: 190-192)
The whole universe is a silent declaration of God’s presence. When Man removes the man-made veils from his eyes and ears, he starts seeing and hearing this silent announcement all around him. It then appears improbable to him that in a universe where the stars and the planets have continued to exist for millions of years, Man will cease to exist within fifty or a hundred years, taking with him to his grave all his desires and aspirations. In a world which abounds with the beauties of nature, where countless meaningful blessings, like air, water and the sun, have been provided, should Man’s end be nothing but sorrow and suffering? Man also finds it unthinkable that in a world of limitless possibilities, where just by sowing seeds in the ground a whole forest of trees comes into existence, one should fail to receive the fruits of virtuous actions; that in a world where the sun shines daily after the dark night, centuries go by without being illuminated by the lustre of fairness and justice; that in a world where earthquakes and tempests lie dormant, Man should continue to perpetrate tyranny and oppression without ever being checked.
Lord, we have heard a caller calling to the true faith saying, “Believe in your Lord,” and we believed. Lord, forgive us our sins and remove from us our bad deeds and make us die with the virtuous. Our Lord! Grant us what You have promised to us through Your messengers, and do not humiliate us on the Day of Resurrection. Surely, You never fail to fulfil Your promise.’ (3: 193-194)
Those who think deeply, seeking a more profound reality, find it unthinkable that a meaningful universe should have a meaningless end. They discover that the message conveyed by the preacher is the announcement, in human language, of the same reality which is being silently proclaimed by the whole universe. The greatest issue is that when the truth is unveiled, and the ‘sun’ of justice makes its appearance, they should not be left deprived and destitute. So when the truth appears, they rush towards it, remembering God. By breaking all personal bonds and ridding their thoughts of worldly considerations, they become one with the preacher of truth; so that in the next world, when the ‘darkness’ and the ‘light’ of the universe are separated, the Lord of the universe will make them inhabit the light, and will not abandon them to fumble eternally in the dark.
The true measure of wisdom, on the other hand, and folly, on the other, is wholly different from the one devised by human beings on their own. A wise man is one who lives in the remembrance of God, who can discover the divine meaningfulness at work in the creation plan of the universe. In contrast, an unwise man is one who keeps his mind engaged in other, material things, who lives in this world as if he is totally unaware of the creation plan of the Lord of the Universe.