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 AD 610 and 632. It is a book that brings glad
tidings to humankind, 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
God is my Lord and your Lord, so worship Him alone. That is the right path. Yet different groups differed among themselves. How awful it will be for those who have rejected the truth when a dreadful Day arrives! How sharp of hearing, how sharp of sight they will be when they come to Us. But today, these evil-doers are obviously lost in error. (19: 36-38)
The Messiah and all the other prophets called upon the people to tread the same straight path, namely, that of taking God as their Lord and worshipping Him alone. But it has always happened that, by willful misinterpretations and false explanations, there have been deviations from the straight path. Different people have emphasized different points of the doctrine. These divergent views have led to such major differences that a single religion has been divided into several religions.
The Truth is manifested in its entirety in this world too. But because here man has been given freedom of choice so that he may be put to the test, as the very purpose of his existence is trial, he may accept the Truth or he may not. Due to this temporary freedom, he falls a prey to misunderstanding and starts behaving arrogantly. He is shown the right path of God but, in spite of arguments in its favour, he does not accept it. Today his eyes and ears appear to be altogether devoid of the powers of seeing and hearing, but, in the Hereafter, when his freedom is snatched away from him, these very same eyes and very same ears of his will become so powerful that he will have no choice but to see and hear the Truth.
Warn them of [the coming of] the Day of Remorse, when everything will have been decided, while they are heedless and do not believe. It is We who will inherit the earth and all who dwell upon it: they shall all return to Us. (19: 39-40)
When a man meets with failure in this world, he has the opportunity to start his life afresh, and he feels himself fortunate to have friends and supporters who will offer him assistance. But, failure in the life Hereafter allows of no chance of reversal. What keen regret a man feels when he learns that he had the opportunity to do what was right and proper, but did nothing until it was too late!
The root cause of all evil is that man takes himself to be his own master, while the fact is that this life is only a transient period in his existence. God was the Lord of everything in the beginning and He will be the Lord of everything till the end. In truth, there is nobody but God who may hold the position of a master.
Also recount the story of Abraham in the Book. He was a man of truth, and a prophet. He said to his father, ‘Why do you worship something that can neither hear nor see nor benefit you in any way? Father, I have been given some knowledge which has not come to you, so follow me: I shall guide you along a straight path. Father! Do not worship Satan—for, truly, Satan is a rebel against the Most Gracious One! Father, indeed I fear lest a punishment from the Gracious One afflict you, and you become a friend of Satan.’ (19:41-45)
Abraham was born in Iraq. His father, Azar, was a polytheist. When Abraham received prophethood, he advised his father to give up polytheism and start worshipping God, or face God’s retribution.
Worship of Satan does not mean actually worshipping Satan himself, but worshipping something indicated by Satan. Although it is an inherent part of human nature to feel the need to glorify some being, place it in an elevated position and then bow down and pay homage to it, the real focus of such feelings should be and is God. But, Satan, by various methods, influences people and diverts their minds from this in order to make them worship things other than God, i.e. place them on a par with those who associate others with God and offer only to others what they should offer to God.