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

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Had God hastened the punishment of men as He hastens the good, the end of their term of life would already have been reached. We leave those who do not hope to meet Us groping along in their arrogance. (10: 11)

It is the law of God that when an individual performs a praiseworthy deed, it is immediately included in the record of his deeds. But if he commits an act which warrants punishment, God gives him respite so that better counsel should prevail, and he may at some point reform himself. This law of God is a great mercy to human beings; otherwise man is a great transgressor and is always ready to perform evil deeds, and if people were immediately seized upon for their evil deeds, their lives would very soon come to an end and the face of the earth would become devoid of human existence.

Those who lead their lives as if they are not required to face God after death, live with arrogance in this world. They are those who lead their lives free of the fear of God’s scourge, thinking that they are at liberty to practice as much deceit and spread as much chaos as they like. The fact is that man should realize that there is one Power over and above all powerful ones—every man is helpless before Him. He will one day seize upon all human beings and everybody will be compelled to accept His verdict.

Whenever any trouble befalls a person, he prays to Us all the time, lying on his side, sitting or standing; but when We remove his trouble, he goes on his way as if he had never prayed to Us for the removal of his trouble. Thus it is that the doings of the transgressors are made to look fair to them. (10: 12)

The system of this world is so designed that from time to time man is hit by some calamity or accident. He begins to realize that he is absolutely helpless against external forces. At that time he spontaneously starts calling upon God; he admits his humbleness compared to God’s Power. But, he is humble only so long as he is in trouble.

The moment he gets relief from trouble, he becomes as negligent and arrogant as he was earlier. God does not accept the obeisance of such people, because only that obeisance is acceptable which is offered in a free atmosphere. Obeisance offered under the pressure of compelling circumstances has no value in the eyes of God.

Man is a creature who likes justification. He seeks justification for every action of his. If a man chooses to be arrogant, his mentality will be inclined towards that. He will, in practice indulge in arrogance, and his mind will provide him with beautiful words in order to prove his arrogance justified. This is known as taz’in. Man expresses his misdeeds in beautiful words and is satisfied that he is in the right. But, this is like a man holding a burning lump of coal in his hand and thinking that it will not burn him simply because he calls it a red flower.

And indeed, before your time We destroyed [whole] generations when they [persistently] did evil; their messengers came to them with clear signs, but they would not believe. Thus We requite the guilty. (10: 13)

The prophets addressed their communities with clear arguments, (baiyinat), but they did not accept them. This shows that the missionary call—given on behalf of God—rests on the basis of reasoning. People have to recognize the prophet at the level of arguments and reasoning. Those who want to find him basking in outward glories surrounded with huge numbers of supporters will never be able to find him, because he will not be there at all. The prophet does not perform miracles, but engages rather in the process of argument. At the stage of the missionary call, all work is done on this basis. Individuals and groups transgress in not recognizing the Divine call appearing in the form of arguments or reasoning. They reject it, not having found it in accordance with their self-devised standards. Due to this behaviour, such people are punished by the law of God.

The communities of the past which had incurred God’s retribution for their rejection of the prophets, were not actually total rejecters of prophethood. All these communities had accepted some prophet or the other of earlier periods, but they rejected the prophet of their own times. In the case of the earlier prophets, the corroborative historical facts had accumulated to back them. They had become objects of national prestige, and public predilections favoured them, while the contemporary prophet was as yet devoid of all such additional attributes. They recognized that past prophet who had as a result of tradition over the generations, become their national prophet, and connecting with him was synonymous with linking themselves with a tower of greatness. They recognized their national prophet as such, and rejected that prophet who could be recognized only through his reasoning and arguments. In the eyes of God, this was such a serious crime that those who were declared to be rejecters of the prophet were destroyed.

Then We made you their successors in the land, so that We might observe how you would conduct yourselves. (10: 14)

'Then We made you their successors (khala’if, sing. khalifah) in the land.’ The real meaning of khalifah is ‘one who comes afterwards’. This word ‘successor’ is specially used for coming into power after another. This succession is in relation to human beings and not in relation to God. In the Quran, wherever the word khilafah has been used, it is in connection with succession to some creature and not in connection with succession to God. Making somebody a successor is solely for the purpose of putting him to the test and is not meant to confer any honour. Making somebody a successor means giving one an opportunity to work after another; it is placing one community in the arena of testing in place of another community. For example, in India, the native Rajas' were replaced by Mughals. Then they were removed and the Britishers were made their successors. Later, they (the British) were made to leave the country, making way for the majority community. In all these cases, the ‘one coming afterwards’ was the successor (khalifah) of the earlier one

Upright Nature
Man has been created with an upright nature. If no
hindrance comes in the way, then every man will, on
his own, take the right course. That is why the utmost
precaution must be taken against allowing unnatural
obstacles to come in the way. Then guided by this
upright nature, man will continue to walk along the
right path until he meets his Lord.

JUSTICE MARKANDEY KATJU'S TESTIMONIAL
to Maulana Wahiduddin Khan

I am a great admirer of Maulana Wahiduddin (born 1925). Although he had Muslim religious education, he was always secular and preached brotherhood between all communities. He is truly a great man. I have met him on a few occasions.

In 1992, when the atmosphere was highly charged throughout India due to the Babri Mosque incident, he felt the necessity to convince people of the need to restore peace and amity between the two communities, so that the country might once again tread the path of peace.

To fulfil this end, he went on a 15-day Shanti Yatra (peace march) through Maharashtra along with Acharya Muni Sushil Kumar and Swami Chidanand, addressing large groups of people at 35 different places from Mumbai to Nagpur. This Shanti Yatra contributed greatly to the return of peace in the country. It is because of his advocacy of peace on the subcontinent and throughout the world and the espousal of the cause of communal harmony that he is respected by all communities and in every circle of society.

Invited to meetings by all religious groups and communities within India and abroad, Maulana Wahiduddin Khan is, in effect, India’s ambassador of communal amity, spreading the universal message of peace, love and harmony. Directly addressing individuals, he has been re-engineering minds in order to develop positive citizens of the world —who can live together peacefully—so that the culture of peace and brotherhood may be spread at a universal level. Over decades, he has prepared a team of individuals—the Ambassadors of Peace.

Markandey Katju

Human Society
If people do not show reliability and predictability in their
character, human society will crumble.