Light from the Holy Quran

by Naseer Ahmad Faruqui

Quranic Lesson No. 3 [The Holy Quran, 1:1]

بِسۡمِ اللّٰہِ الرَّحۡمٰنِ الرَّحِیۡمِ

اَلۡحَمۡدُ لِلّٰہِ رَبِّ الۡعٰلَمِیۡنَ ۙ﴿۱﴾ الرَّحۡمٰنِ الرَّحِیۡمِ ۙ﴿۲﴾ مٰلِکِ یَوۡمِ الدِّیۡنِ ؕ﴿۳﴾ اِیَّاکَ نَعۡبُدُ وَ اِیَّاکَ نَسۡتَعِیۡنُ ؕ﴿۴﴾ اِہۡدِ نَا الصِّرَاطَ الۡمُسۡتَقِیۡمَ ۙ﴿۵﴾ صِرَاطَ الَّذِیۡنَ اَنۡعَمۡتَ عَلَیۡہِمۡ ۙ۬ غَیۡرِ الۡمَغۡضُوۡبِ عَلَیۡہِمۡ وَ لَا الضَّآلِّیۡنَ ٪﴿۷﴾

Undeniable Proof of Divine Existence:

I have mentioned in my previous lesson that the existence of the Divine Being is the essential basis for a revealed religion or its scripture. If there is no God as publicized by contemporary Marxist and materialistic philosophies, then the claim of any religion or book that it is revealed by the Divine Being for the guidance of mankind, holds no validity. I also pointed out that a hundred and twenty-four thousand prophets, and a far greater number of righteous servants of Allah bear testimony to this. The truthfulness and honesty of these individuals was generally accepted, and they sacrificed everything they had in the way of Allah. They faced great difficulties and risked their lives for His cause. In return God brought their implausible missions to fruition successfully and thereby, provided undeniable proof of His existence. God foretold their success at a time of complete hopelessness, and allowed them to announce this publicly. Those who followed them with complete obedience also found God.

Progress in knowledge and modern scientific thought initially propagated atheistic beliefs amongst the educated masses. Today, however, the very same people admit to the unity and existence of the Divine Being. This is because scientific discovery has proven that the amazing universe, of which even a single atom holds within it a phenomenal creation, must have a Creator. He is One because all His creation works under one universal law.

Modern Age of Atheism:

Human intelligence itself makes man aware that this wonderful creation has a maker who is also responsible for its upkeep. His own nature is also a witness to this; that is why even an atheist is forced to call upon God in times of distress. Despite this very strong evidence why then is atheism such a popular phenomenon today?

The answer to this is that in this modern age of scientific and intellectual development, blind faith is no longer accepted, and the younger generation does not necessarily follow the beliefs of the older without questioning. Today, unless an argument is backed by strong reasoning, people will not accept it. The concept of the Divine Being presented by religions other than Islam, does not appeal to the educated mind. Common conception of the Divine Being was either that of a stone idol, a cow, or fire. Those who progressed beyond this, started to worship human beings like themselves, be it Jesus, Mahatma Buddha, Krishna or Rama. According to the Christian belief Jesus died on the cross, stayed for three days in hell and was subsequently resurrected. In this case he fared no better than other mortals because all religions tell us that every human being is brought back to life after death. Mahatma Buddha, Krishna, and Rama like ordinary mortals have left this worldly abode. With the concept of the Divine Being bearing such close resemblance to mankind, it is not surprising to hear today that either

‘there never was a God,’(Naudhu bi Allahi, we seek the refuge of Allah from saying so)

or,

‘if there was One, He no longer exists.’

In fact all polytheistic beliefs (shirk) are dependent on the existence of one or several defects or shortcomings in God; that is why other gods are needed to make up for these deficiencies. In this age of enlightenment, human intellect and nature is unwilling to accept a stone idol or another human being as a god. Such deities would have defects and weaknesses similar to other humans, and would require associate gods to compensate for them. Scientific discovery, on the other hand is providing evidence that this marvelous universe has only One Creator Who possesses such goodness, strength and power that it astounds the human intellect.

Recognition of Divine Being through His Attributes:

The One and Only God Who can be accepted today is the one the Holy Quran begins to inform us about in the words,

اَلۡحَمۡدُ لِلّٰہِ رَبِّ الۡعٰلَمِیۡنَ ۙ﴿۱﴾

“All Praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the worlds (Al hamdu lillahi Rabbi alalamin).”

All praise is for Allah, the Only Lord (Rabb) of the worlds, i.e., He creates, develops and nourishes to perfection the whole universe and everything within in it. Human nature is such that it does not appreciate a defect or a fault in a fellow being; how could it accept any deficiency or weakness in the Divine Being? God should be free of defects, in fact all of His attributes should be to the degree of complete perfection. Alhamdu lillahi (All praise is for Allah), indicates that goodness has reached its perfection in Allah. It also tells us that since all good qualities and excellent praise is for Allah, the concept of righteousness and all admirable qualities that have arisen in the human mind are a result of awareness of the attributes of Allah. The human brain, otherwise like that of any other animal, is an anatomical organ in which the concept of righteousness cannot arise by itself. Thus, we observe that animals do not have the concept of rectitude, or higher moral and spiritual values. If they do exhibit some qualities such as maternal love and tenderness for their offspring, these are instinctive and have been programmed into their nature by the Creator for the survival of the offspring. They do not have the realization of what is good or evil, in order to guide them towards its performance or abstention from it.

Purpose of Man’s Creation:

Human beings like all other animals have the instincts of self and species preservation; however, they were exclusively bestowed the realization of higher moral and spiritual values through Divine revelation. The Holy Quran does mention revelation to animals like the honey bee, but the revelation in that context refers only to the instinctive guidance given to it in order to achieve the purpose of its creation. Man has been created for a purpose much higher than the lower animals, i.e., the realization of Divine attributes within himself. He was for this reason given knowledge of these attributes through Divine revelation from the very beginning. The Holy Quran tells us about this in the verse,

فَتَلَقّٰۤی اٰدَمُ مِنۡ رَّبِّہٖ کَلِمٰتٍ

“Then Adam received words (revelation) from his Lord” (The Holy Quran, 2:37).

Lord (Rabb), is the Nourisher unto perfection from the lowest to the highest stages of development. The condition of man at the time of birth is similar to an animal, but he has been created so that his spirit, which is from Allah, should reflect the Divine attributes within itself. It was for this reason the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said,

“Create the moral characteristics of Allah within yourself.”

The Holy Quran has also referred to this in the verse,

صِبۡغَۃَ اللّٰہِ ۚ وَ مَنۡ اَحۡسَنُ مِنَ اللّٰہِ صِبۡغَۃً ۫ وَّ نَحۡنُ لَہٗ عٰبِدُوۡنَ ﴿۱۳۸﴾

“(We take) Allah’s color and who is better than Allah at coloring and we are His worshippers” (The Holy Quran, 2:138).

Creating Allah’s color in oneself obviously means reflecting His attributes.

Divine Guidance to all Nations:

Allah did not reveal His attributes only to the first created man Adam, the Holy Quran clearly tells us

وَ اِنۡ مِّنۡ اُمَّۃٍ اِلَّا خَلَا فِیۡہَا نَذِیۡرٌ ﴿۲۴﴾

“And there is not a people, but a warner has gone among them” (The Holy Quran, 35:24);

وَ لِکُلِّ اُمَّۃٍ رَّسُوۡلٌ ۚ

“and for every nation there is a messenger” (The Holy Quran, 10:47).

This message was in the form of a revealed scripture which made man aware of the attributes of Allah, and enjoined him to inculcate those attributes within himself in a reflective sense. This arrangement which has continued for thousands of years is responsible for creating the concept of spiritual and moral excellence in the human mind. These revealed books were either destroyed or corrupted, but the effect of their teachings continued to some degree. With passage of time there was a real danger that even this residual influence may also disappear, and so Allah revealed the Holy Quran. In it, Allah gathered together all those teachings that merited preservation as stated in the verses,

فِیۡہَا کُتُبٌ قَیِّمَۃٌ ؕ﴿۳﴾

“Wherein are (all) right books” (The Holy Quran, 98:3);

مُہَیۡمِنًا عَلَیۡہِ

“A Guardian over it” (The Holy Quran, 5:48).

Allah has taken the responsibility upon Himself to protect the Holy Quran from destruction, or against interpolation as indicated in the verse (ayat),

اِنَّا نَحۡنُ نَزَّلۡنَا الذِّکۡرَ وَ اِنَّا لَہٗ لَحٰفِظُوۡنَ ﴿۹﴾

“Surely We have revealed the Reminder, and surely We are its Guardian” (The Holy Quran, 15:9).

Thus, the forgotten lessons for human guidance have been revealed as a reminder in this book and Allah guarantees their preservation. This leads to the essential conclusion that only this book can now serve as a guide to all nations. This is such a great act of benevolence towards mankind, that spontaneously the words,

اَلۡحَمۡدُ لِلّٰہِ رَبِّ الۡعٰلَمِیۡنَ ۙ﴿۱﴾

“All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the worlds”

are articulated by the suppliant. It must be remembered that the words (alamin) also stand for all nations and Lord (Rabb), means One Who causes to develop from the lowest to the highest stage of physical and spiritual perfection. Without the heavenly light and guidance of the Holy Quran mankind, which is unable to rise beyond the animal stage, would have been deprived of the spiritual progress it was created for. Since this progress is meant for this world and the world Hereafter, how very beautiful and appropriate are the words,

اَلۡحَمۡدُ لِلّٰہِ رَبِّ الۡعٰلَمِیۡنَ ۙ﴿۱﴾

“All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the worlds.”

As man progresses along this path of moral and spiritual development, he becomes more aware of Allah’s attributes of perfection in excellence and goodness. To quote Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the Mujaddid (Reformer) of the 14^th century Hijra [Islamic Era]:

“Since the excellence and goodness of Allah is unlimited, there is no limitation to the moral and spiritual progress of mankind in the life Hereafter.”

Again,

اَلۡحَمۡدُ لِلّٰہِ رَبِّ الۡعٰلَمِیۡنَ ۙ﴿۱﴾

“All praise is due to Allah the Lord of the worlds.”

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