All thanks and praises to Almighty Allah Ta’ala, the most Exalted. I bear witness to the fact that there is no one worth worshipping except Allah Ta’ala, Who is One and only One, the Cherisher and the Sustainer of all the worlds, Who is live and eternal and will never die, Who is the Creator of man and his true Benefactor, Who bestowed the Mu’mineen with the Ni’mat of Iman. Who sent prophets for the guidance of mankind, Who decorated the skies with the stars, Who created Paradise for righteous ones and the Hell for bad ones, Who created Hadhrat Muhammad (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) as the best of all creation, Who sealed the prophethood forever with Hadhrat Muhammad (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam), Who took Hadhrat Muhammad (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) above the skies and elevated him to the highest status which other human beings cannot even imagine and Who sent Hadhrat Muhammad (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) with the last testament—Al-Qur’an Shareef, which differentiates between right and wrong.
The Qur’an Shareef—which made the most eloquent ones helpless when they tried to refute it.
The Qur’an Shareef—which made the most rhetoric ones dumb when they tried to speak against it.
The Qur’an Shareef—which challenged its opponents and everyone whosoever thought of taking up this challenge, accepted his defeat.
The Qur’an Shareef—which affirmed all the previous books of Allah Ta’ala but revoked their commandments.
The Qur’an Shareef—for which even angels crave as they did not get this treasure.
The Qur’an Shareef—which is like a rope from Allah Ta’ala that leads a believer towards Him.
The Qur’an Shareef—which connects its reader directly with Him.
The Qur’an Shareef—which is the best Mu’jizah (miracle) bestowed to Hadhrat Muhammad (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) by Allah Ta’ala. All miracles of previous prophets ended with them but this miracle of Hadhrat Muhammad (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) continues and will remain as an ultimate miracle up to the day of judgment.
The Qur’an Shareef—which moved the hearts of even Jenies when they first heard it.
The Qur’an Shareef—which encloses Nur (Divine light) in its words, which the world could not have otherwise tolerated in unveiled form.
The Qur’an Shareef—which was safe in Loh-e-Mahfooz and whose safety Allah Ta’ala has Himself guaranteed .
The Qur’an Shareef—excellences and meaning of which are such an ocean which has limitless depth.
The ocean—which contains countless hidden precious jewels.
The ocean—which is full of miracles.
The ocean—where no devil or enemy can find way.
The ocean—which protects its believers and sailors in an enviable way.
The ocean—waves of which changed the map of the world and the fate of the nations in a very short span of time.
The ocean—the waves of which raised all the false doctrines to the ground.
The ocean—fragrant cool breezes of which revive the dead hearts, refresh the rotten minds and teach the toddlers to fly high and high.
The ocean—clouds of which bring pleasant rains which soften the barren hard land of heart.
The Qur’an Shareef—which ended the era of darkness and enlightened the mankind.
The Qur’an Shareef—predictions of which came true to the dot, and will always continue to come true.
The Qur’an Shareef—which is the actual word of Allah Ta’ala and not created.
The Qur’an Shareef—with which Allah Ta’ala perfected His Deen.
The Qur’an Shareef—which contains a complete code of life, whether spiritual, intellectual, political, social or economic.
The Qur’an Shareef—which is a code that is beyond the boundaries of time, place or nation.
The Qur’an Shareef—which is not only theoretical but also a practical book, not only moralising but also defining permissible and forbidden.
The Qur’an Shareef—the importance to understand the message of which is undeniable, only its simple recitation with the intention of seeking Allah Ta’ala’s pleasure and reward is also an act of worship and meritorious in itself.
The Qur’an Shareef—which is complete and comprehensive in all respects.
The Qur’an Shareef—which contains immense food for thought for those who ponder over it.
The Qur’an Shareef—which is full of the bounties of Allah Ta’ala.
The Qur’an Shareef—whose memorisers (Hufaaz) and followers will be told by Allah Ta’ala in Jannah “ Keep on reciting and ascending (towards the ever increasing heights of Jannah)”
The Qur’an Shareef—whose learner will ascend one step at the recitation of each Ayat in Jannat and the distance between each step will be as much as between the sky and the earth.
The Qur’an Shareef—which when presented to skies and earth shivered and could not bear it, and Allah Ta’ala created the special bearing capacity in human Qalb to carry it. Thus it was only the Qalb of man that could receive it.
The Qur’an Shareef—which will intercede in favour of its reader on the day of judgment.
The Qur’an Shareef—whose reciter never feels bored in spite of reciting it daily for hours together throughout his life period.
The Qur’an Shareef—whose scholars never feel that they have mastered it but always feel that they know very little of it and its immense treasures remains unexplored.
The Qur’an Shareef—which contains complete guidance for mankind in all ages, never seems outdated and will continue to guide the mankind as long as the latter lasts.
The Qur’an Shareef—which not only resisted the onslaught of modern scientific revolution but also forced the same to prostrate before it and accept its Divine nature, instead modern science continues to take inspirations from it.
The Qur’an Shareef—which is the only thing that gives solace to human heart.
The Qur’an Shareef—whose place of recitation and the one who recites it is surrounded by angels and tranquility.
The Qur’an Shareef—which was sent through the Ameen of skies (Gabriel) to the Ameen of the earth–Hadhrat Muhammad (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam).
This small book comprises of two parts viz., i. Need for Divine Guidance and ii. Introduction to Al-Qur’an. In the first part, I have tried to explain comprehensively that it is only Al-Quran through which we can understand Reality. The second part of the books deals with the fundamentals of Uloom ul Qur’an i.e., the primary terminologies required to understand the Qur’an in its proper context.
I hope the readers will find this book very useful and will make Dua that Allah Ta’ala accepts this humble work of mine and make it a means of salvation for me and all who will derive benefit from this in Hereafter
Dr. Rafiq Ahmad.
Associate Professor/ Head & Neck Surgeon,
ENT Department.
Govt. Medical College, Srinagar,
Kashmir, India.
e-mail :- drrafiqahmad@islaminkashmir.org
Director:
Institute of Islamic Research,
Darul Uloom Ilahiyah.
Soura, Srinagar,
Kashmir, India.
Geographical, historic, literary and cultural background of Arabian peninsula
When Allah Ta’ala decided to reveal the Qur’an Shareef and sent it down for the guidance of mankind, He did not choose those people for it who were well advanced in education, culture, trade and commerce, civilization, art and other sciences, nor did He choose those countries for it who were superpowers in the world those days. On the other hand He chose those tribal people of Arab for this unparalleled historical job, who were highly uneducated, uncultured and having no significant business. Those people who were living primitive type of life rearing cattle in the deserts, using their milk, meat and skin. There were no schools, no colleges or uni-versities, there were no signs of any civilization. These people were scattered fighting with one another for decades for trivial things and were insignificant in the world of their times, when Roman and Persian empires were touching the skies.
It is very essential first to understand the historical, educational, cultural, economic and geo-political background of the Arabs who were the first addressed people of the Qur’an Shareef. For proper understanding of the immense greatness of the Qur’an Shareef and its miraculous and Divine nature, it is mandatory to have the prior knowledge about the conditions in which the Messenger of Allah-Hadhrat Muhammad (SAW), on whom the Qur’an Shareef was revealed, was brought up before prophethood. Last but not the least, one should also know the fate of other religions at that time in different parts of the world and about the political, cultural and educational status of other leading civilizations of those times.
When you look at history, you will see that in 6th century C.E. whole mankind was enveloped in darkness, morality had touched the lowest ebb, humanity was the rarest commodity avail-able in the world, Christianity and Judaism had lost their origi-nal structures, baseless imaginary philosophy was in vogue and no ray of light was seen in any part of the world which could come to the rescue of humanity which was breathing its last.
Arabia is a big peninsula located in south west Asia. To its north lie Syria, Algeria and Iraq, the Suez Canal and the Red Sea to its west, Gulf of Aden and Sea of Oman to its south and to its east lie the Persian Gulf and Its area is about 3 million kilometres.
(An-Nakhbatul-Azharia)
Alama Aaloosi in Baloogul Arab writes:
“Most of the Arab population, from which the Arabs came out and spread in all directions were located in that Arabian Peninsula which is located in the center of the world and is the most moderate place and the most blessed area is that part where Khana Kaaba is situated and also Madina-Al-Munawarah and its adjoining areas.”
Sultan Umadudin Ameer Humat writes in Taqweemul-Baldan that
A loaded camel can cover the entire length of Arabian Peninsula in seven months and eleven days.
Muslim geographers have divided the Arabian Peninsula into five regions:
1. Hijaz extends from Aila (Al-Aqabah) to Yemen and has been so named because the range of mountains running parallel to the western coast separates the low coastal belt of Tihama from Najd.
2. Tihama inside the inner range is a plateau extending to the foot hills.
3. Yemen, south of Hijaz.
4. Najd, the north central plateau extends from the mountain ranges of Hijaz in the west to the desert of Bahrain in the east and encompasses a number of deserts and mountain ranges.
5. Aruz which is bounded by Bahrain and mountain ranges, and Hijaz to its west lying between Yemen and Najd, it was also known as Yamamah.
Commenting on the religio-political conditions of the different countries of the world in 6th century C.E. when the Sun of Islam was about to dawn, Maulana Abul Hassan Ali Nadvi writes about that age of ignorance.
The age of ignorance
Great religions of the world had spread the light of faith, morals and learning in the ages past, but every one of these had been rendered a disgrace to its name by the sixth century of the Christian era. Crafty innovators , unscrupulous dissemblers and impious priests and preachers had, with the passage of time, so completely distorted the scriptures and disfigured the teachings and commandments of their own religions that it was almost impos-sible to recall the original shape and content of these reli-gions. Could the founder or the prophet of any one of them have returned to earth, he would unquestionably have refused to own his own religion and denounced its followers as apostates and idolaters.
Judaism had, by then, been reduced to an amalgam of dead rituals and sacraments without any spark of life in it. Also, being a religion upholding racial snobbery, it has never had any message for other nations or the good the humanity at large. It had not even remained firmly wedded to its belief in the unity of God (which had once been its distinguishing feature and had raised its adherents to a level higher than that of the followers of ancient polytheistic cults), as commended by the Prophet Abrahim (AS) to his sons and grandson Yaqooob (AS). The Jews had, under the influence of their powerful neighbours and conquerors, adopted numerous idolatrous beliefs and practices as acknowledged by modern Jewish authorities:
“The thundering of the Prophets against idolatry show, however, that the cults of the deities were deeply rooted in the heart of the Israelitish people, and they do not appear to have been thoroughly suppressed until after the return from the Baby-lonian exile…. Through mysticism and magic many polytheistic ideas and customs again found their way among the people, and the Talmud confirms the fact that idolatrous worship is seductive.”
The Babylonian Gemara (popular during the sixth century and often even preferred to Torah by the orthodox Jewry) typically illustrates the crudeness of the sixth century Jews’ intellectual and religious understanding by its jocular and imprudent remarks about God and many an absurd and outrageous belief and ideas which lack not only sensibility but are also inconsistent with the Jewish faith in monotheism.
Christianity had fallen a prey, in its very infancy, to the misguided fervour of its overzealous evangelists, unwarranted interpretation of its tenets by ignorant church fathers and iconolatry of its gentile converts to Christianity. How the doctrine of Trinity came to have the first claim to the Chris-tians’ dogma by the close of the fourth century has been thus described in the New Catholic Encyclopedia.
“It is difficult, in the second half of the 20th century to offer a clear, objective, and straightforward account of the revelation, doctrinal evolution and theological elaboration of the mystery of the Trinity. Trinitarian discussion, Roman Cathol-ic as well as other, presents a somewhat unsteady silhouette. Two things have happened. There is the recognition on the part of exegetes and Biblical theologians, including a constantly growing number of Roman Catholics, that one should not speak of Trinitar-ianism in the New Testament without serious qualification. There is also the closely parallel recognition on the part of histor-ians of dogma and systematic theologians that when one does speak of an unqualified Trinitarianism, one has moved from the period of Christian origins to, say, the last quadrant of the 4th cen-tury. It was only then that what might be called the definitive Trinitarian dogma ‘one God in three persons’ became thoroughly assimilated into Christian life and thought.”
Tracing the origin of pagan customs, rites, festivals and religious services of the pagans in Christianity, another histor-ian of the Christian church gives a graphic account of the per-sistent endeavour of early Christians to ape the idolatrous notions. Rev. James Houston Baxter, Professor of Ecclesiastical History in the University of St.Andrews writes in The History of Christianity in the Light of Modern Knowledge:
“If paganism had been destroyed, it was less through annihi-lation than through absorption. Almost all that was pagan was carried over to service under a Christian name. Deprived of demi-gods and heroes, men easily and halfconsciously invested a local martyr with their attributes and labelled the local statue with his name, transferring to him the cult and mythology associated with the pagan deity. Before the century was over, the martyr-cult was universal, and a beginning had been made of that imposi-tion of a deified human being between God and man which, on the one hand, had been the consequence of Arianism, and was on the other, the origin of so much that is typical of medieval piety and practice. Pagan festivals were adopted and renamed:by 400, Christmas Day, the ancient festival of the sun, was transformed into the birthday of Jesus.”
By the time sixth century reared its head, the antagonism between Christians of Syria, Iraq and Egypt on the question of human and Divine natures of Christ had set them at one another’s throat. The conflict had virtually turned every Christian semi-nary, church and home into a hostile camp, each anathematizing the other and thirsting after its adversary’s blood. Men debated with fury upon shadows or shades of belief and staked their lives on the most immaterial issues, as if these differences meant a confrontation between two antagonistic religions or nations. The Christians were, thus, neither inclined nor had time to set their own house in order and smother the ever-increasing viciousness in the world for the salvation of humanity.
Iranian religion
In Iran, from the earliest times, the Magi worshipped four elements (of which fire was the chief object of devotion) in the oratories or fire-temples for which they had evolved a whole mass of intricate rituals and commandments. In actual practice, the popular religion included nothing save the worship of fire and adoration of Hvare-khshaeta or the Shining Sun. Certain rituals performed in a place of worship were all their religion demanded, for, after performing those rites they were free to live as they desired. There was nothing to distinguish a Magi from an uncon-scientious, perfidious fellow.
Arthur Christensen writes in L’Iran Sous Les Sassanides:
“It was incumbent on the civil servants to offer prayers four times a day to the sun besides fire and water. Separate hymns were prescribed for rising and going to sleep, taking bath, putting on the sacred cord, eating and drinking, sniffing, hair-dressing, cutting of the nails, excrement and lighting the candle which were to be recited on each occasion with the greatest care. It was the duty of the priests to compound, purify and tend the sacred fire which was never to be extinguished, nor water was ever allowed to touch fire. No metal was allowed to rust, for metals, too, were hallowed by their religion,”
All prayers were performed facing the sacred fire. The last Iranian Emperor, Yazdagird III, once took an oath, saying: “I swear by sun, which is the greatest of all gods”. He has ordered that those who had abjured Christianity to re-enter their origi-nal faith should publicly worship the sun in order to prove their sincerity. The principle of dualism, the two rival spirits of good and evil, had been upheld by the Iranian for such a long time that it had become a mark and symbol of their national creed. They believed that Ormuzd creates everything good, and Ahriman creates all that is bad; these two are perpetually at war and the one or the other gains the upper hand alternately. The Zoroastrian legends described by the historians of religion bear remarkable resemblance to the hierarchy of gods and goddesses and the fabulousness of Hindu and Greek mythology.
Buddhism
Buddhism, extending from India to Central Asia, had been converted into an idolatrous faith. Wherever the Buddhists went they took the idols of the Buddha with them and installed them there. Although the entire religious and cultural life of the Buddhists is over-shadowed by idolatry, the students of religion have grave doubts whether the Buddha was a nihilist or how this religion could at all sustain itself in the absence of any faith or conviction in the Primal Being.
In the sixth century C.E. Hinduism had shot ahead of every other religion in the number of gods and goddesses. During this period 33 million gods were worshipped by the Hindus. The tenden-cy to regard everything which could do harm or good as an object of personal devotion was at its height and this had given a great encouragement to some sculpture with novel motifs of decorative ornamentation.
About the religious condition of India during the reign of Harsha (606-648 C.E), a little before the time when Islam made its debut in Arabia, a Hindu historian, C.V.Vadiya, writes in his History of Mediaeval India.
“Both Hinduism and Buddhism were equally idolatrous at this time. If anything, Buddhism perhaps beat the former in its intense idolatry. That religion started, indeed, with the denial of God, but ended by making Buddha himself the Supreme God. Later developments of Buddhism added other gods like the Bodhistvas and the idolatry of Buddhism especially in the Mahaya-na school was firmly established. It flourished in and out of India so much that the word for an idol in the Arabic has come to be Buddha itself.”
C.V.Vadiya further says:
“No doubt idolatry was at this time rampant all over the world. From the Atlantic to the Pacific the world was immersed in idola-try; Christianity, Semitism, Hinduism and Buddhism vying, so to speak, one with another in their adoration of idols.”
Another historian of Hinduism expresses the same opinion about the great passion for multiplicity of deities among the Hindus in the sixth century. He writes:
“The process of deification did not stop here. Lesser gods and goddesses were added in ever growing numbers till there was crowd of deities, many of them adopted from the more primitive peoples who were admitted to Hinduism with the gods whom they worshipped. The total number of deities is said to be 33 crores, i.e., 330 millions, which like the phrase ‘Thy name is legion’, merely implies an innumerable host. In many parts of the country the minor gods receive as much or even more reverence than the major gods.”
The Arabs had been the followers of the Abrahamic religion in the olden times and had the honour of having the first House of God in their land, but the distance of time from the great par-riarchs and prophets of yore and their isolation in the arid deserts of the peninsula had given rise to an abominable idolatry closely approximating the Hindu zeal for idol worship in the sixth century C.E. In associating partners to God they were not behind any other polytheistic people. Having faith in the compan-ionship of lesser gods with the Supreme Being in the direction and governance of the universe, they held the belief that their deities possessed the power to do them good or harm, to give them life or death. Idolatry in Arabia had reached its lowest ebb; every region and every clan or rather every house had a separate deity of its own.
Three hundred and sixty idols had been installed within the Ka’ba and its courtyard – the house built by Abrahim (AS) for the worship of the One and only God. The Arabs actually paid Divine honours not merely to sculptured idols but venerated all types of stones and fetish: angels, Jinn and stars were all their deities. They believed that the angels were daughters of God and the Jinn His partners in divinity, and thus both enjoyed supernatural powers whose mollification was essential for their well-being.
Social and moral condition
This was the plight of great religions sent by God, from time to time, for the guidance of humanity. In the civilized countries, there were powerful governments and great centers of arts and culture and learning but their religions had been gar-bled so completely that nothing of their original spirit and content was left in them. Nor were there any reformers or heaven-ly minded guides of humanity to be found anywhere.
Byzantine Empire
Crushed under vexatious and burdensome taxes levied by the Byzantium Empire, the allegiance to any alien ruler was consid-ered by the populace as less oppressive than the rule of Byzanti-um. Insurrections and revolts had become such a common feature that in 532 A.D. the public discontent voiced most dramatically in Constantinople by the Nika (win of conquer) revolt took a toll of 30,000 lives. The only pastime of the chiefs and nobles was to squeeze wealth, on different pretexts, from the harassed peasan-try, and squander it on their pleasure and amusement. Their craze for merriment and rivalry very often reached the depths of hide-ous savagery.
The authors of the Civilization, Past and Present have painted a lurid picture of the contradictory passions of the Byzantine society for religious experience as well as its love for sports and recreation marked by moral corruption.
“Byzantine social life was marked by tremendous contrasts. The religious attitude and monasticism were widespread throughout the empire, and to an extraordinary degree even the most commonplace individual seemed to take a vital interest in the deepest theo-logical discussions, while all the people were much affected by a religious mysticism in their daily life. But, in contrast the same people were exceptionally fond of all types of amusements. The great Hippodrome, seating 80,000 wide-eyed spectators, was the scene of hotly disputed chariot races which split the entire populace into rival factions of ‘Blue’ and ‘Green’ …. The Byzantines possessed both a love of beauty and a streak of cruel-ty and viciousness. Their sports were often bloody and sadistic, their tortures were horrible, and the lives of their aristocracy were mixture of luxury, intrigue, and studied vice.”
Egypt had vast resources of corn and shipping on which Constantinople largely depended for its prosperity, but the whole machinery of the imperial government in that province was direct-ed to the sole purpose of wringing profits out of the ruled for the rulers. In religious matters, too, the policy of suppressing the Jacobite heresy was pursued relentlessly. In short, Egypt was like a milch-cow whose masters were interested only in milching her without providing any fodder to her.
Syria, another fair domination of the Byzantine Empire, was always treated as a hunting ground for the imperiousness and expansionist policy of the imperial government. Syrians were treated as slaves, at the mercy of their masters, for they could never pretend to have any claim to a kind or considerate be-haviour upon their rulers. The taxes levied were so excessive in amount and so unjust in incidence that the Syrians had very often to sell their children for clearing the government dues. Unwar-ranted persecution of poverty, enslavement and impressed labour were some of the common features of the Byzantine rule.
The Persian Empire
Zoroastrianism is the oldest religion of Iran. Zarathushtra, the founder of Zoroastrianism, lived probably about 600-650 B.C. The persian empire, after it had shaken off the Hellenistic influence, was larger in size and greater in wealth and splendour than the Eastern Roman or Byzantine empire. Ardashir I, the architect of Sasanian dynasty, laid the foundation of his kingdom by defeating Artabanus V in 224 C.E. In its heyday of glory the Sasanid Empire extended over Assyria, Khozistan, Mesia, Fars (Persia), Adharbayjan Tabristan (Mazandaran), Sfaraksh, Marjan, Marv, Balkh (Bactria), Saghd (Sagdonia), Sijistan (Seastene), Hirat, Khurasan, Khwarizm (Khiva), Iraq and Yemen, and, for a time, had under its control the areas lying near the delta of the river Sind, Cutch, Kathizwar, Malwa and few other districts.
Ctesiphon (Mada’in), the capital of the Sasanids, combined a number of cities on either banks of the Tigris. During the fifth century and thereafter the Sasanid empire was known for its magnificence and splendour, cultural refinement and the life of ease and rounds of pleasure enjoyed by its nobility.
Zoroastrianism was founded, from the earliest times, on the concept of universal struggle between the ahuras and the daevas, the forces of the good and the evil. In the third century Mant appeared on the scene as a reformer of Zoroastrianism. Sapor I (240-271) at first embraced the percepts uttered by the innova-tor, remained faithful to them for ten years and then returned to Mazdaism. The Manichaeism was based on a most thorough-going dualism of the two conflicting souls in man, one good and the other bad. In order, therefore, to get rid of the latter, preached Mant, one should pracitse strict asceticism and abstain from women. Mant spent a number of years in exile and returned to Iran after the accession of Bahram I to the throne, but was arrested, convicted of heresy, and beheaded. His converts must have remained faithful to his teachings, for we know that Mani-chaeism continued to influence Iranian thought and society for a long time even after death of Mant.
Mazdak, the son of Baudad, was born at Nishapur in the fifth century. He also believed in the twin principle of light and darkness, but in order to put down the vile emanating from darkness, he preached community of women and goods, which all men should share equally, as they do water, fire and wind. Mazdakites soon gained enough influence, thanks to the support of Emperor Kavadh, to cause a communistic upheaval in the country. The rowdy element got liberty to take forcible possession of wives and property of other citizens. In an ancient manuscript known as Namah Tinsar the ravages done to the Iranian society by the application of the communistic version of Mazdaeism have been graphically depicted as under:
“Chastity and manners were cast to the dogs. They came to the fore who had neither nobility nor character, nor acted uprightly, no had any ancestral property; utterly indifferent to their families and the nation, they had no trade or calling; and being completely heartless they were ever willing to get into mischief, to mince the truth, vilify and malign others; for this was the only profession they knew for achieving wealth and fame.
The result was that the peasants rose into revolt in many places, bandits started breaking into the houses of nobles to prey upon their property and to abduct their womenfolk. Gangsters took over the possession of landed estates and gradually the agricultural holdings became depopulated since the new owners knew nothing about the cultivation of land.”
Ancient Iran had always had a strange proclivity to sub-scribe to the extremist calls and radical movements since it has ever been under the influence of irreconcilable political and religious concepts. It has often been swinging, as if by action and reaction, between epicureanism and strict celibacy; and, at others, either yielded passively to despotic feudalism and king-ship and preposterous priesthood, or drifted to the other extreme of unruly and licentious communism; but has always missed that moderate, poised and even temper which is so vital for a healthy and wholesome society.
Towards the end of the Sasaniyan Empire, during the sixth century, all civil and military power was concentrated in the hands of the Emperors who were alienated from the people by an impassable barrier. They regarded themselves as the descendants of celestial gods; Khosrau Parviz or Chosroes II had lavished upon himself this grandoise surname: “The immortal soul among the gods and Peerless God among human beings; Glorious is whose name; Dawning with the sunrise and Light of the dark-eyed night.”
The entire wealth of the country and its resources belonged to the Emperor. The kings, grandees and nobles were obsessed with amassing wealth and treasure, costly gems and curios; they were inter-ested only in raising their own standard of living and luxuriat-ing in mirth and merriment to an extent that it is now difficult for us to understand their craze for fun and festivity. He can alone visualize their dizzy rounds of riotous living who has studied the history, literature and poetry of ancient Iran and is also well informed about the splendour of Ctesiphon, Aiwan-i-Kisra and Bahar-i-Kisra, tiara of the emperors, the awe-striking court ceremonials, the number of queens and concubines, slaves, cooks and bearers, pet birds and beasts owned by the emperors and their trainers and all. The life of ease and comfort led by the kings and nobles of persia can be judged from the way Yazdagird III fled from Ctesiphon after its capture by the Arabs. He had with him, during his flight, one thousand cooks, one thousand singers and musicians, and one thousands trainers of leopards and a thousand attendants of eagles besides innumerable parasites and hangers-on but the Emperor still felt miser-able for not having enough of them to enliven his drooping spir-its.
The common people were, on the other hand, extremely poor and in great distress. The uncertainty of the tariff on which each man had to pay various taxes gave a pretext to the collec-tors of taxes for exorbitant exactions. Impressed labour, burden-some levies and conscription in the army as footmen, without the inducement of pay or any other reward, had compelled a large number of peasants to give up their fields and take refuge in the service of temples or monasteries. In their bloody wars with the Byzantines, which seemed to be never ending and without any interest or profit to the common man, the Persian kings had been plying their subjects as common fodder.
India
The remarkable achievement of ancient India in the fields of mathematics, astronomy, medicine and philosophy had earned her a lasting fame, but the historians are agreed that the era of her social, moral and religious degradation commenced from the opening decades of the sixth century. For shameless and revolting acts of sexual wantonness were consecrated by religion and even the temples had degenerated into cesspools of corruption. Woman had lost her honour and respect in the society and so had the values attached to her chastity. It was not unoften that the husband losing in a game of chance dealt out even his wife. The honour of the family, especially in higher classes claiming a noble descent, demanded that the widow should burn herself alive with the funeral pyre of her dead husband. The custom, upheld by society as the supreme act of fealty on the part of a widow to her late husband, was so deeprooted that it could be completely suppressed only after the establishment of British rule in India.
India left behind her neighbours, or, rather every other country of the world, in a legacy involving an inflexible and callously inhuman stratification of its society based on social inequality. This system which excluded the original inhabitants of the coun-try as exteriors or outcastes, was formulated to ensure the superiority of conquering Aryans and was invested with an aura of Divine origin by the Brahmins. It canalized every aspect of the people’s daily life according to heredity and occupation of different classes and was backed by religious and social laws set forth by the religious teachers and legislators. Its comprehen-sive code of life was applicable to the entire society, dividing it into four distinct classes:
1. The Brahmins or priests enjoying the monopoly of performing religious rites;
2. The Kshatriyas or nobles and warriors supposed to govern the country;
3. The Vaisyas or merchants, peasants and artisans; and
4. The Sudras or the non-Aryans serfs meant to serve the first three castes.
The Sudras or the dasas meaning slaves (forming a majority in the population), believed to have been born from the feet of Brahma, formed the most degraded class which had sunk socially to the lowest level. Nothing was more honourable for a Sudra, ac-cording to the Manu Shastra, than the Brahmins and other higher castes.
The social laws accorded the Brahmin class distinctive privileges and an honoured place in society. “A Brahimin who remembers the Rig Veda”, says the Manu Shastra, “is absolutely sinless, even if he debases all the three worlds.” Neither any tax could be imposed on a Brahmin, nor could he be executed for any crime. The Sudras, on the contrary, could never acquire any property, nor retain any assets. Not allowed to sit near a Brah-min or touch him, the Sudras were not permitted to read the sacred scriptures.
India was drying up and losing her vitality. Divided into numerous petty states, struggling for supremacy amongst them, the whole country had been given to lawlessness, maladministration and tyranny. The country had, furthermore, severed itself from the rest of the world and retired into her shell. Her fixed beliefs and the growing rigidity of her iniquitous social structure, norms, rites and customs had made her mind rigid and static. Its parochial outlook and prejudices of blood, race and colour car-ried within it the seeds of destruction. Vidya Dhar Mahajan, formerly Professor of History in the Punjab University College, writes about the state of affairs in India on the eve of Muslim conquest:
“The people of India were living in isolation from the rest of the world. They were so much contented with themselves that they did not bother about what was happening outside their frontiers. Their ignorance of the developments outside their country put them in a very weak position. It also created a sense of stagna-tion among them. There was decay on all sides. There was not much life in the literature of the period. Architecture, painting and fine arts were also adversely affected. Indian society had become static and the caste system had become very rigid. There was no remarriage of widows and restrictions with regard to food and drink became very rigid. The untouchables were forced to live outside the towns.”
Arabia
The idea of virtue, of morals, was unknown to the ancient Bedouin. Extremely fond of wine and gambling, he was hardhearted enough to bury alive his own daughter. Pillage of caravans and cold-blooded murder for paltry gains were the typical methods to still the demands of the nomad. The Bedouin maiden, enjoyed no social status, could be bartered away like other exchangeable goods or cattle or be inherited by the deceased’s heir. There were certain foods reserved for men which could not be taken by women. A man could have as many wives as he liked and could dispose of his children if he had not enough means to provide for their sustenance.
The Bedouin was bound by unbreakable bonds of fidelity to his family, blood relations and, finally, to the tribe. Fights and forays were his sport and murder a trifling affair. A minor incident sometimes gave rise to a sanguine and long drawn warfare between two powerful tribes. Oftentimes these wars were prolonged to as many as forty years in which thousands of tribesmen came to a violent end.
Europe
At the beginning of the Middle Ages the torch of knowledge flickered dimly and all the literacy and artistic achievements of the classical past seemed destined to be lost for ever under the young and vigorous Germanic races which had risen to political power in the northern and western parts of Europe. The new rulers found neither pleasure nor honour in the philosophy, literature and arts of the nations outside their frontiers and appeared to be as filthy as their minds were filled with super-stition. Their monks and clergymen, passing their lives in a long routine of useless and atrocious self-torture, and quailing before the ghastly phantoms of their delirious brains, were abhorrent to the company of human beings. They still debated the point whether a woman had the soul of a human being or of a beast, or was she blest with a finite or infinite spirit. She could neither acquire nor inherit any property nor had the right to sell or transfer the same.
Robert Briffault writes in the Making of Humanity:
“From the fifth to the tenth century Europe lay sunk in a night of barbarism which grew darker and darker. It was a barbarism far more awful and horrible than that of the primitive savage, for it was the decomposing body of what had once been a great civiliza-tion. The features and impress of that civilization were all but completely effaced. Where its development had been fullest, e.g., in Italy and Gaul, all was ruin, squalor and dissolution.”
The era of darkness and depression
The sixth century in which the Prophet of Islam was born was, to be brief, the darkest era of history: it was the most depressing period in which crestfallen humanity had abandoned all hopes of its revival and renaissance. This is the conclusion drawn by noted historian, H.G.Wells, who recapitulates the condi-tion of the world at the time when the Sasanid and Byzantine Empires had worn themselves out to a death-like weariness:
“Science and Political Philosophy seemed dead now in both these warring and decaying Empires. The last philosophers of Athens, until their suppression, preserved the texts of the great litera-ture of the past with an infinite reverence and want of under-standing. But there remained no class of men in the world, no free gentlemen with bold and independent habits of thought, to carry on the tradition of frank statement and enquiry embodied in these writings. The social and political chaos accounts largely for the disappearance of this class, but there was also another reason why the human intelligence was sterile and feverish during this age. In both Persia and Byzantine it was an age of intoler-ance. Both Empires were religious empires in a new way, in a way that greatly hampered the free activities of the human mind.”
The same writer, after describing the events leading to the onslaught of the Sasanids on Byzantine and eventual victory of the latter throws light on the depth of social and moral degrada-tion to which both these great nations had fallen, in these words:
“A prophetic amateur of history surveying the world in the open-ing of the seventh century might have concluded very reasonably that it was only a question of a few centuries before the whole of Europe and Asia fell under Mongolian domination. There were no signs of order or union in Western Europe, and the Byzantine and Persian Empires were manifestly bent upon a mutual destruction. India also was divided and wasted.”
World wide chaos
To be brief, the entire human race seemed to have betaken itself to the steep and shortest route to self-destruction. Man had forgotten his Master, and had thus become oblivious of his own self, his future and his destiny. He had lost the sense to draw a distinction between vice and virtue, good and bad; it seemed as if something had slipped through his mind and heart, but he did not know what it was. He had neither any interest nor time to apply his mind to the questions like faith and hereafter. He had his hands too full to spare even a moment for what consti-tuted the nourishment of his inner self and the spirit, ultimate redemption or deliverance from sin, service to humanity and restoration of his own moral health. This was the time when not a single man could be found in the whole country who seemed to be anxious about his faith, who worshipped the One and only Lord of the world without associating partners to Him or who appeared to be sincerely worried about the darkening in the world, so graphi-cally depicted by God in the Qur’an Shareef:
“Corruption doth appear on land and sea because of (the evil) which men’s hands have done, that He may make them taste a part of that which they have done, in order that they may return.”
(30:41)
Why was Arabia selected for the Quranic revelation
In the previous lines we have seen the religio-political condition of the world in the sixth century C.E. when the Qur’an was about to dawn. We have seen the Roman and Persian empires were far more advanced in education, culture and civilization and Arabs were living a very primitive way of ignorant life, cut off from the powerful and advanced neighboring empires. Under such circumstances why Allah Ta’ala chose these bedouin tribesmen as the first addressed people of the Qur’an Shareef is most beautifully discussed by Hadhrat Maulana Abul Hassan Ali Nadwi, I thought it better to quote it in his words only—
It was the will of Allah Ta’ala that the glorious sun of the humanity’s guidance, which was to illuminate, the world without end, should rise from the orb of Arabia. For it was the darkest corner of this terrestrial globe, it needed the most radiant daystar to dispel the gloom setting on it.
Allah Ta’ala had chosen the Arabs as the standard-bearers of Islam for propagating its message to the four corners of the world, since these guileless people were simple-hearted, nothing was inscribed on the tablets of their mind and heart, nothing so deep-engraven as to present any difficulty in sweeping the slate clean of every impression. The Romans and the Iranians and the Indians, instinctly thrilled by the glory of their ancient arts and their literatures, philosophies, cultures and civilizations were all crushed by the heavy burden of the past, that is, a conditional reflex of touch-me-notism had got itself indelibly etched in their minds. The imprints in the memory of the Arabs were lightly impressed merely because of their rawness and ignorance or rather their nomadic life, and thus these were liable to be obliterated easily and replaced by new inscriptions. They were,in modern phraseology, suffering from unperceptiveness which could readily be remedied while other civilized nations, having vivid pictures of the past filled in their minds, were haunted by an obsessive irrationality which could never be dismissed from their thoughts.
The Arabs, simple minded and straight forward, possessed the iron will. If they failed to entertain a belief, they had no hesitation in taking up the sword to fight against it; but if they were convinced of the truth of an idea, they stayed with it through fire and water and were ever prepared to lay down their lives for it.
It was this psyche of the Arab mind which had found expres-sion through Suhayl b. Amr while the armistice of Hudaybia was being written. The document began with the words: “This is what Muhammad, the Apostle of the Allah has agreed”. Suhayl promptly raised the objection, “ By Allah, If I witnessed that you were Allah’s Apostle I would not have excluded you from the House of Allah Ta’ala and fought you”. Again, it was the same Arab turn of mind which is reflected in the summons of Ikrama b. Abu Jahl. Pressed hard by the assailing charge of Byzantine forces he cried out, “What a dolt you are! I have wielded the sword against the Apostle of Allah Ta’ala. Will I turn my back upon you ?” Thereafter he called his comrades, “ Is there any one to take the pledge of the death on my hands?” Several persons immediately offered themselves and fought valiantly until they were all maimed and came to a heroic end.
The Arabs were frank and unassuming, practical and sober, industrious, venturesome and plain-spoken. They were neither double-dealers nor liked to be caught in a trap. Like a people true-souled, they were always out-spoken and remained firm once they had taken a decision. An incident, occurring before the Hijrah of the Prophet, on the occasion of the second pledge of ‘Aqaba, typically illustrates the character of the Arabs.
Ibn Is’haq relates that when Aus and Khazraj plighted their faith to the Prophet at ‘Aqaba’ ‘Abbas b. Ubada of Khazraj said to the People, “ O men of Khazraj, do you realise to what you are committing yourselves in pledging your support to the Prophet? It is to war against one and all. If you think that in case you lose your property and your nobles are killed you will give him up to his enemies, then do so now; for, by Allah, it will bring you shame in this world and the next. But if you have decided that you will be true to your words if your property is destroyed and your nobles are killed, then pledge yourselves; for, by Allah, it will bring you profit and success in this world and the next. The Khazraj replied: “ We will pledge our support even if we lose our property and our leaders are killed; but, O Apostle of Allah, what will we get in return for redeeming our pledge?” “Paradise” , said the Prophet in the reply. Thereupon they said, “ Stretch forth your hand”; and when the Prophet did so, they took their Oath.”
And, in the truth and reality, the Ansar lived up to their word of honour. The reply given to the Prophet on a subsequent occasion by Sa’d b. Mu’aadh perfectly expressed their feelings. Sa’d had said to the Prophet(SAW),
“By Allah, if you continue your march and get as far as Bark Al-Ghimad, we would accompany you and if you were to cross this sea, we would plunge into it with you.
“My Lord, this occasion has interrupted my march although I wanted to go ahead and proclaim Thy name in all the lands and seas”
These were the words uttered despairingly by Uqbah b. Nafi on reaching the shore of Atlantic ocean. What Uqba said on finding his victorious advance blocked by the ocean speaks volumes of seriousness, absolute trust and iron will of the Arabs in accom-plishing the task considered truthful by them.
The Greeks, Byzantines and the Iranians were peoples of a different mettle. Accustomed to improving the shining hour as god-sent opportunity, they lacked the grit to fight against the injustice and brutality. No ideal, no principle was attractive enough for them: no conviction or call was sufficiently potent to tug at their heartstrings in a way that they could imperil their comfort and pleasure.
Unspoiled by the nicety, polish and ostentatiousness usually produced by the display of wealth and luxury of an advanced culture, the Arabs had not developed that fastidiousness that hardens the heart and ossifies the brain, allows no emotions to catch the flames and always act as an inhibition when one’s faith or conviction demands stirring of the blood. This is the listless apathy which is hardly ever erased from one’s heart.
Candidly honest and true souled, the Arabs had no taste for intrigue and duplicity. They were courageous, intrepid fighters accustomed to a simple and hard life filled with dangers and spent most of their time riding on horse-back across the water-less desert. These were the rules of iron essential for a nation required to accomplish a great task, especially in an age when adventure and enterprise were the laws of Medes and Persians.
The common ignorance of the Arabs, exempted from the shame or reproach it involves, had helped to conserve the natural briskness and intellectual energy of these people. Being strangers to Philosophism and sophistry, ratiocination and lame and impotent quibbling, they had preserved their soundness of the mind, dispatch, resoluteness and fervidness of spirit.
The perpetual independence of Arabia from the yoke of invaders had made the Arabs free as birds; they enjoyed the benefits of human equality and beauty of living nature; and were not ac-quainted with the pomp or majesty or haughty demeanour of the emperors. The servile temperature of the ancient Persia had, contrarily, exalted the sascinian monarchies to supernatural be-ings. If any king took a medicine or was given phlebotomy, a proclamation was made in the capital that all and sundry suspend their trades and business on that day. If the king sneezed, nobody durst raise his voice to say grace, nor was anybody expected to say ‘Ameen’ when a king set up a prayer. The day any king paid a visit to any noble or chief was regarded an event so memorable that the alienated family of fortunate grandee instituted a new calendar from that day. It was an honour singular that the gran-dee was exempted from payment of taxes for a fixed period be-sides enjoying other rewards, fiefs and robes of honour.
We can imagine what a state audience of the king must have been like for those who were allowed to appear before him. By etiquette, all the courtiers, even the highest nobles and digni-taries, were required to stand silently with their hands folded on the navel, and their heads bowed in reverence. Actually, this was the ceremonial etiquette prescribed for the state audience during the reign of Chosroes I (531-579), known as Anuushirvan (of the immortal soul) and Adil (the just). One can very well visualize the pompous ceremonials in vogue during the reign of Sasanid kings justly reputed as tyrants and despots.
Freedom of speech and expression (and not censure or criticism, in the least) was a luxury never indulged in by anyone in the vast kingdom of the Sasanids. Christensen has related, on the authority of Tabrri, a story about Chosroes I, passing under the name of ‘The Just’ among the Sasanid kings, which demonstrates the freedom of expression allowed by the Iranian kings and the price paid for the impudence of speaking out the truth.
“He assembled his council and ordered the secretary for taxes to read aloud the new rates of collection. When the secretary had announced the rates, Chosroes I asked twice whether anyone had any objection to the new arrangement. Everybody remained silent but on the third time of asking, a man stood up and asked respectfully whether the king had meant to establish a tax for perpetuity on things perishable, which, as time went on, would lead to injustice. “Accursed and rash!” cried the king, “To what class do you belong?” “I am one of the secretaries”, replied the man. “Then”, ordered the king, “beat him to death with pen-cases”. Thereupon every secretary started beating him with his pen-case until the poor man died, and the beholders exclaimed: “O king, we find all the taxes you have levied upon us, just and fair!”
The horrible condition of the depressed classes in the then India, who were condemned as untouchables by the social and religious laws promulgated by the Aryans, baffles all human understanding. Subjected to a gruesome indignity, this unfortunate class of human beings was treated pretty much the same way as pet animals except that they resembled the species of man. According to this law, a Sudra who assaulted a Brahmin or attempted to do so, was to lose the limb with which the assault was made. The Sudra was forced to drink boiling oil if he made the pretentious claim of teaching somebody. The penalty for killing dogs, cats, frogs, chameleons, crows and owls was the same as that for killing the Sudras.
Unworthy treatment of their subjects by the Sasainan Emperors had not been the lot of the common man in Byzantium, but in their pride and policy to display the titles and attributes of their omnipotence, the Caesars of Rome had all the signs of their oriental counterparts.
Victor Chopart writes about the arbitrary rule and majesty of the Roman Emperors.
“The Caesars were gods, but not by heredity, and one who rose to power would become devine in his turn, and there was no mark by which he could be recognised in advance. The transmission of the title of Augustus was governed by no regular constitutional law; it was acquired by victory over rivals, and the Senate did no more than ratify the decision of arms. This ominous fact became apparent in the first century of the principate, which was merely a continuance of the military dictatorship.”
If we compare the servile submission of the common man of Byzantium and Persia with the spirit of freedom and pride, as well as the temperament and social conduct of the pre-Islamic Arabs, we would see the difference between the social life and natural propensities of the Arabs and other nations of the world.
“May you be safe from frailty”, and “Wish you a happy morning”, were some of the salutations very often used by the Arabs to hail their kings. So solicitous were they of preserving their dignity and pride, honour and freedom that many a time they even refused to satisfy the demands of their chiefs and rulers. A story preserved by Arab historians admirably describes the rudimentary Arab virtues of courage and outspokenness. An Arab king demanded a mare known as Sikab from its owner belonging to Bani Tamim. The man flatly refused the request and instantly indicted a poem of which the opening lines were:
Sikab is a nice mare, good as gold,
Too precious it is to be gifted or sold.
And, in the concluding verse he said:
To grab it from me, make no effort,
For I am competent to balk your attempt.
The virtues common to Arabs, men and women, were their overweening pride, loftiness of ambition, chivalrous bearing, magnanimous generosity and a wild, invigorating spirit of free-dom. We find all these features of Arab character depicted in the affair leading to the murder of ‘Amr b.Hind, the king of Hira. It is related that ‘Amr b. Hind once sent to ‘Amr b. Kulthum, the proud cavalier and noted poet of Banu Taghliv, inviting him to pay a visit to himself, and also to bring his mother, Layla bint Muhalhil, to visit his own mother. ‘Amr came to Hira from Jazira with some of his friends, and Layla came attended by a number of her women. Pavilions were erected between Hira and the Euphrates. In one of these pavilions ‘Amr b. Hind entertained ‘Amr b. Kulthum, while Layala found quarters with Hind in an adjoining tent. Now, ‘Amr b. Hind had already instructed his mother to dismiss the servants before calling for desert, and thus cause Layla to wait upon her. Accordingly, Hind sent off her servants at the appointed moment and asked her guest, “O Layla, hand me that dish.” Layla felt insulted and exclaimed in shame, “Let those who want anything, fetch it for themselves”. Hind insisted on her demand despite Layla’s refusal. At last Layla cried, “O shame! Help Tahglib, help!” ‘Amr b. Kulthum got his blood up on hearing his mother’s cry and seizing a word hanging on the wall, smote the king dead with a single blow. At the same time, the tribesmen of Banu Taghlib ransacked the tents and made rapid strides back of Jazira. ‘Amr b. Kulthum has narrated this story in an ode which is a fine illustration of the pre-Islamic ideal of chivalry. It was included in the Sab’a Mu’allaqat or the Seven Suspended Odes.
The same Arab tradition of democracy tempered by aristocracy is to be witnessed in the meeting between the Arab envoy, Mughira b. Shu’ba, and Rustam. He found the latter sitting on a throne. Mughira made his way direct to Rustam, as was an Arab’s wont, and sat down on the throne by the side of Rustam. Rustam’s courtiers, however, lost no time in getting Mughira down from the throne of their chief. There upon Mughira said, “We had heard that you are a sagacious people but now I see that none is more blockheaded than you. We Arabs treat everybody as an equal and enslave no man save on the battlefield. I had presumed that you would also be con-ducting yourselves similarly towards your own people. You should have better told us that you have exalted some amongst you as your gods; for, we would have then known that no dialogue was possible between us and you. In that case we would not have dealt with you in the way we have done, nor came to see you, although it was you who invited us here.”
There was yet another reason for the advent of the last Prophet(SAW) in Arabia and it was Ka’ba, the House of Allah Ta’ala, built by Abraham and Ismaiel as the centre for worship of one God.
“Lo! the first Sanctuary appointed for mankind was that at Becca, a blessed place, a guidance to the peoples.”
(3:96)
There is a mention of the valley of Baca in the Old Testa-ment. The old translators of the Bible gave this word the meaning of ‘a valley of weeping’, but better sense seems to have pre-vailed later on. According to more recent versions of the Biblical schol-ars, the word ‘signifies rather any valley lacking water’, and ‘the Psalmist apparently has in mind a particular valley whose natural condition let him to adopt that name.Now, this water-less valley, which can easily be identified with the valley of Makkah, has been thus mentioned in the Book of Psalms.
“Blessed are they that dwell in thy house;
they will still be praising thee. Salah.
Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee;
in whose heart are the ways of them.
Who passing through the valley of Beca make it a well.”
The birth of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) in the city of Makkah was really an answer to the prayer sent up by Abraham and Ismaiel (AS) while laying the foundation of Ka’ba. They had beseeched Allah Ta’ala in these words:
Our Lord! And raise up in their midst a messenger from among them who shall recite unto them Thy revelations, and shall instruct them in the Scripture and in wisdom and shall make them grow. Lo! Thou, only Thou, art the Mighty, Wise.
(2:129)
A standing norm of Allah Almighty is that He always answers the prayers of those who are pious and devoted and pure in heart. The Apostle of Allah (SAW)occupy, without doubt, a higher place than the most devout and the godliest believers. All the earlier scriptures and prophecies bear witness to this fact. Even the Old Testament testifies that the supplication of Abraham (AS) in regard to Ismaiel met the approval of the Lord. The Book of Genisis says:
“And as for Ish’ma-el, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceeding-ly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation.”
That is why the Prophet (SAW) is reported to have said: “I am the (result of the) prayer of Abraham and prophecy of Jesus”. The Old Testament still contains, not withstanding its numerous recensions and alteration, the evidence that this prayer of Abraham (AS) was answered by Allah Ta’ala. Mark the very clear reference in the Book of Deuteronomy to the advent of a prophet.
“Thy Lord thy Allah will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken.”
Now, this being a prognosis by Moses (AS), “thy brethren” clearly indicates that the prophet promised by Allah Ta’ala was to be raised from amongst the Ishmaelites who were the cousins of Israelites. Allah Ta’ala again reiterates His promise in the same Book:
“And the Lord said unto me, They have well spoken that which they have spoken. I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put My words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him”.
The words ‘put my words in his mouth’ occurring in this oracle very clearly indicate the advent of the Prophet who was to recite and deliver to his people the Divine revelation exactly as he received them. This prediction has been substantiated by the the Qur’an Shareef also.
“Nor doth he speak of (his own) desire.”
(53:3)
Again, the Qur’an Shareef says about the revelation vouchsafed to the Prophet Muhammad (SAW):
“Falsehood cannot come at it from before it or behind it. (It is) a revelation from the Wise, the Owner of Praise.”
But, quite unlike the Qur’an Shareef, both the Bible and its followers ascribe the autorship of the `Books’ included in the Bible to the `ancient sages’ and the `great teachers’ and never to the Divine Author Himself. Modern Biblical scholars have reached the conclusion that:
“Ancient Jewish traditions attributed the authorship of the Pentateuch (with the exceptions of the last eight verses describ-ing Moses death) to Moses himself. But the many inconsistencies and seeming contradictions contained in it attracted the atten-tion of the Rabbis, who exercised their ingenuity in reconciling them.”
As for the ‘books’ for part of the new testament, they have never been treated, either literally or in the contents to be of Divine origin.These books really contain a biographical account and ancedotes of Jesus, as narrated by the later scribes, rather than a Book of revelation sent unto the Master.
We now come to the geographical position of Arabia, which, being connected by land and sea routes with the continents of Asia, Africa and Europe, occupied the most suitable place for being chosen as the center of enlightenment for radiating Divine guidance and knowledge to the entire world. All the three conti-nents had been cradles of great civilizations and powerful empires, while Arabia lay in the center through which passed the merchandise of all the countries, far and near, affording an opportunity to different nations for exchange of thoughts and ideas. Two great empires, Sasanid and Byzantine, on either side of the Arabian peninsula, governed the history of the world. Both were large, rich and powerful, and both fought each other constantly; yes, Arabia jealously guarded her indepen-dence and neither allowed either of two powers to lay its hands on it, barring a few territories lying on its frontiers. Except-ing a few peripheral tribes, the Arab of the desert was extreme-ly sensitive to his regal dignity and untrammeled freedom, and he never allowed any despot to hold him in bondage. Such a country, unimpeded by political and social constraints, was ideally suited to become the nucleus of the Universal message preaching human equality, liberty and dignity.
For all these reasons Allah Ta’ala had selected Arabia, and the city of Makkah within it, for the advent of the Prophet (SAW) to whom Divine scripture was to be sent for the last time to pave the way for proclamation of PEACE throughout the length and breadth of the world from age to age.
“Allah knoweth best with whom to place His message.”
(6:124)
Arabia’s Era of Depression
For their manly qualities of head and heart, the Arabs deserved, or, were rather the only people entitled to the honour of the advent of the last Prophet of Allah (SAW) amongst them and to be made responsible for propagation of the message of Islam. But, in no part of the peninsula was there any indication of an awak-ening or a vexation of spirit showing the sign of life left in the Arabs. There were scarcely a few Hanif (true religion of Ibrahim (AS)), who could be counted on one’s fingers, feeling their way towards monotheism but they were no more than the glow worms in a dark and chilly rainy night incapable of showing the path of righteousness to anybody or providing warmth to one being frozen to death.
This was an era of darkness and depression in the history of Arabia- a period of darkest gloom when the country had reached the rock-bottom of its putrified decadence, leaving no hope of any reform or improvement. The shape of things in Arabia presented a task far more formidable and baffling than ever faced by any messenger of Allah.
Sir William Muir, a biographer of the Prophet (SAW), who is ever willing to find fault with the Prophet and cast reflection upon him, has vividly depicted the state of affairs in Arabia before the birth of Muhammad (SAW) which discred-its the view held by certain European orientalists that Arabia was fermenting for a change and looking forward to a man of genius who could respond to it better than another. Says Sir William Muir: “ During the youth of Muhammad, this aspect of the peninsula was strongly conservative; perhaps it was never at any period more hopeless.”
Reviewing the feeble stir created by Christianity and Judaism in the dark and deep ocean of Arabia paganism, Sir William Muir remarks,
“In fine, viewed thus in religious aspect, the surface of Arabia had been now and then gently rippled by the feeble efforts of Christianity; the sterner influence of Judaism had been occasionally visible in the deeper and more troubled cur-rents; but the tide of indigenous idolatry and of Ishmaelite superstition, setting from every quarter with an unbroken and unebbing surge towards the Ka’aba, gave ample evidence that the faith and worship of Makkah held the Arab mind in a thralldom, rigorous and undisputed”.
R. Bosworth Smith is another European Biographer of the Prophet (SAW) who has also reached the same conclusion.
“One of the most philosophical of historians has remarked that all the revolutions which have had a permanent influence upon the civil history of mankind, none could so little be antic-ipated by human prudence as that effect by the religion of Ara-bia. And at first sight it must be confessed that the science of history, if indeed there be such a science, is at loss to find the sequence of cause and effect which it is the object and the test of all history, which is worthy of name, to trace it.”
Need of a new Prophet
The old world was completely disarranged by the middle of the sixth century and man had fallen to such a depth of depravity that no reformer, revivalist or religious preacher could have hoped to put a new life in the humanity worn to its bones. The problem was not to fight any particular heresy or to reshape a given mode of Divine service, no the question was how to curb the social evils of any society; for, there has never been any dearth of social reformers and religious preachers in any age or place. How to clear the contaminating debris of idolatry and fetishism, superstition and paganism, piling up from generation to generation during the past hundreds of years over the true teachings of the prophets sent by Allah Ta’ala, was, indeed a task, exceedingly toilsome and unwieldy. It was a Herculean task to make a clean sweep of this wreckage and then raise a new edifice on the foundations of piety and godliness. In short, the question was how to remake man who could think and feel differ-ently from his predecessors as a changed man, re-born or brought back to life again.
“Is he who was dead and we have raised him unto life, and set for him a light wherein he walketh among men, as him whose similitude is in utter darkness whence he cannot emerge?”
In order to solve the problem of man once for all, it was necessary to root out paganism so completely that no trace of it was left in his heart, and to plant the sapling of monotheism so deeply that it should be difficult to conceive of a more secure foundation. It meant to create a penchant for seeking the pleas-ure of Allah Ta’ala and humbling oneself before Him, to bring into existence the longing to serve humanity, to generate the will to keep always to the right path and to sow the seeds of that moral courage which restrains all evil passions and desires. The whole problem, in a nutshell, was how to rescue humanity, that too willing to commit suicide, into making a firm endeavour which makes a begining in the form of a virtuous life, like that of an elect and godly soul, and then leads on to the paradise promised by Allah Ta’ala to those who are Allah Ta’ala fearing and just.
Advent of the holy Prophet (SAW) was thus the greatest Divine blessing on mankind; that is why it has been so elegantly clothed in words by the Writ of Allah Ta’ala.
“And hold fast, all of you together, to the cable of Allah, and do not separate. And remember Allah’s favour unto you: How ye were enemies and He made friendship between your hearts so that ye became as brothers by His grace; and (how) ye were upon the brink of an abyss of fire, and He did save you from it. Thus Allah maketh clear His revelations unto you, that haply ye may be guided.”
(3:103)
No task more delicate and baffling and no charge more onerous and gigantic than that entrusted to Muhammad (SAW), the Apostle of Allah Ta’ala, was imposed on any man since the birth of man on this planet. And never has a man accom-plished such a huge and lasting revolution as the Last Prophet(SAW) for he has guided millions of men of many nationalities to the path of justice, truth and virtue by putting a new life in humanity at the throes of death in the sixth century. It was the greatest marvel of human history, the greatest miracle the world has ever witnessed. The well-known French poet and litterateur, Lamartine, bears witness to the grand accomplishment of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) in a language of incomparable elegance and facility.
“Never has a man set for himself, voluntarily or involuntar-ily, a more sublime aim, since this aim was superhuman; to sub-vert superstitions which had been interposed between man and his Creator, to render Allah unto man and man unto Allah; to restore the rational and sacred idea of divinity amidst the chaos of the material and disfigured gods of idolatry, then existing. Never has a man undertaken a work so far beyond human power with so feeble means, for he had in the conception as well as in the execution of such a great design no other instrument than him-self, and no other aid, except a handful of men living in a corner of the desert.”
Lamartine goes on further to enumerate the achievements of the Great Prophet(SAW):
“…And more than that, he moved the altars, the gods, the reli-gions, the ideas, the belief and the souls. On the basis of a Book, every letter of which has become Law, he created a spiritu-al nationality which blended together peoples of every tongue and of every race. He has left us as the indelible characteristic of this Muslim nationality, the hatred of false gods and the passion for the One and Immaterial Allah. This avenging patriotism against the profanation of Heaven formed the virtue of the fol-lowers of Muhammad; the conquest of the one-third of the earth to his dogma was his miracle; or rather it was not the miracle of a man but that of reason. The idea of the unity of Allah, proclaimed amidst the exhaustion of fabulous theogonies, was itself such a miracle that upon its utterance from his lips it destroyed all the ancient temples of idols and set on fire one third of the world.”
This universal and enduring revolution whose objective was the rejuvenation of humanity or re-building of the world anew, de-manded a new prophethood surpassing the apostleship of the old, for the new prophet had to hold aloft the banner of Divine guidance and righteousness for all times to come. Allah Ta’ala has Himself explained the reason for it.
“Those who disbelieve among the people of the scripture and idolaters could not have left off (erring) till the clear proof came unto them,
“A message from Allah, reading purified pages containing correct scriptures.”
Miraculous effects of the Qur’an shareef on world
We have seen in the previous lines that the world was passing through the darkest and worst period of its history in the 6th the century when Islam was about to dawn. Mankind was almost breath-ing its last. There was hardly any sign visible which could indicate that it had still some life. The condition of mankind across the globe was hopeless. Humanity was at its lowest ebb. The ruling class was treating the ruled as their personal animals. Might is right – was the general rule. Big fish were eating small ones. Tigers and lions in human skin were eating goats and sheep in human skin. Virtue, modesty, piousness, selflessness, humility, generosity, patience, human values – in short humanity was the rarest commodity. It was like a cold dead body having neither the heat of spiritual life nor the feelings of a live heart.
Mankind, which was created by Allah Ta’ala for the noblest cause, was replaced by something which could be described as a self growing unwanted forest in which one could find everywhere beasts and poisonous snakes living in human skin. Human beings were hardly seen anywhere and if there were any they had either migrated to lonely places in jungles and mountains or had isolated themselves in some remote corners.
Just recapitulating the condition of Arabia at that time, it was no different. Arabs were living a primitive life in barren deserts quite far off from universities, colleges and other educational institutions. Living mostly a nomadic life, rearing cattle, divided into small tribes, ignorant about the rest of the world, contented with little business, fighting for decades for trivial things, burying their daughters alive and having no value in the eyes of the then civilized nations like the Romans and Per-sians, were some of the distinguishing features of the Arabs of that time. So far as the state of their religion was concerned, they had totally forgotten the Divine Message of Allah Ta’ala and were worship-ping all sorts of idols. In Khana Kaaba alone, there were 360 idols which these Arabs were worshipping. Oneness of Allah Ta’ala, which was the essential creed of all the prophets was forgotten and re-placed by idolatory. Even the Jews and Christians were involved in idolatory in one form or the other.
Suddenly, in this darkness the sun (Prophet Muhammad (SAW)) appeared with the everlasting light of the Qur’an Shareef which started heating up the cold dead body of mankind which very rapidly started imbibing the signs of life and stunned the historians, intellectuals and philosophers of all later ages as to how Prophet Muhammad (SAW) could succeed in a very short span of time to revive humanity with the help of the Qur’anic revelations and how he could not only change the bestial nature of people into human nature but could also change the entire map of the world. The same primitive ignorant unciv-ilized and uneducated tribesmen of Arabia attained the highest spir-ituality, highest moral standards and highest forms of education not by going colleges and universities but by just understanding the Message of the Qur’an Shareef. The Qur’an Shareef was the only source of education for the companions of Prophet Muhammad (SAW). Once he (SAW) saw the Tawrah in the hands of Hadhrat Umar (RA) while showing his dislike for the same, he forbade Hadhrat Umar (RA) from reading the Tawrah.
Prophet Muhammad (SAW) saw to it very strictly that Muslims should concentrate only on the Qur’an Shareef as it is the only source which could take mankind out of darkness. He told his companions to write from him only the Qur’an Shareef, it was because he did not want to dilute the teachings of the Qur’an Shareef. Hadhrat Ibne Masood (RA) narrated that the Sahabah Al-Kiram used to learn ten verses of the Qur’an Shareef and would not learn the eleventh one until they had understood the previous ten and until they had not acted as per those verses. This was the secret of success of the Sahabah that they confined themselves to the Qur’an Shareef.
The Qur’an Shareef gave these spiritually and morally dead people life. Those birds who had made nests over these lifeless people, as they were motionless, started feeling the shaking of their nests. Not only common people but the kings of the great Roman and Persian Empires also started shivering and as the message of the Qur’an Shareef spread more and more they could feel the cracks in their foundations. The empires which were seemingly invincible started scattering in the air like straw. It looks strange but if one ponders a little over it, there is nothing strange in it as you know that some changes inside the crust of earth will shake the entire world with all it superstructures, so why could the word of Allah Ta’ala, in the form of last Testament-Al-Qur’an Shareef not produce such dramatic wonderful changes?
The Qur’an Shareef is all miracle. Its miracles are countless and unending as we shall see, Insha-Allah Ta’ala in the coming pages but one of the main miracles of the Qur’an Shareef is that it changed the minds of majority of people in a very short span of time. The worst enemies of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) could not help themselves but appreciate the Divine nature of the Qur’an Shareef. Whosoever was listening to the Qur’an Shareef, his heart start beating fast and his soul would feel solace, he would feel like that stranger who heard a voice of his home in a far-off jungle and would be surprised wherefrom it was coming. In the same way souls which had remained thirsty all along, when they heard Message of Allah Ta’ala, they receive it like a homely voice, their conscience mind at once, sub-consciously, remembered the covenant.
That is why, if you look at history, you will see that whenever unprejudiced sincere people listened the Qur’an Shareef, their calm inner ocean of conscience was thrown into ecstasy, the Qur’an Shareef had a soothing effect over their souls, it gave their hearts amazing satisfac-tion and they at once submitted themselves whole heartedly to this Divine Message. The extent of their inner joy, contentment of their hearts and progress of their souls with Qur’anic Divine stimuli was so marvellous that they forgot everything else including their wealth, sons, wives and all other dear and near ones. Their souls got absorbed in spiritual ecstasy and attained such heights that they soon felt that this entire uni-verse was too small for their flight, their imaginations soared higher and higher till they crossed the limits of the skies.
The same man who was behaving worse than an animal, the Qur’an Shareef transformed him in such a revolutionary way that now angels started envying him as he was now flying higher than the angels as is evident from the life of the Sahabah-Al-Kiram. It was the same community which was a curse on the earth’s crust and a nuisance under the skies, with the help of Qur’anic guidance changed into the most distinguished community of mankind the world had ever seen. Even the non-Muslim unbiased orientalists admitted time and again that under the guidance of the Qur’an Shareef such a superb community came into being which was perfect in all the spheres of humanity and which still remains a source of inspiration and guidance for mankind.
A Hadith Shareef says:
“The Best era is my era”
Another Hadith Shareef says:
“My companions are like stars: if anyone follows anyone of them, will find guidance.”
Now you can see that the people who were the most neglected community of the world became the stars of guidance after they followed the Qur’an Shareef. To cite an example, I quote Tabari as quoted by R.A.Nicholson in “A literary history of the Arabs” :
One said: ”I saw ‘Umar coming to the festival. He walked with bare feet, using both hands (for he was ambidextrous) to draw round him a red embroidered cloth. He towered above the people, as though he were on horseback.” A client of (the Caliph) ‘Uthman b.’Affan relates that he mounted behind his patron and they rode together to the enclosure for the beasts which were delivered in payment of the poor-tax. It was blowing exceedingly hot day and the simoom was blowing fiercely. They saw a man clad only in a loin-cloth and a short cloak (rida), in which he had wrapped his head, driving the camels into the enclosure. ‘Uthman said to his companion, “Who is this, think you? When they came up to him, behold, it was ‘Umar b. al-Khattab. “By Allah,”said ‘Uthman, “this is the strong, the trusty.” – Umar used to go round the markets and recite the Qur’an and judge between disputants wherever he found them, – When Ka’bu ‘I-Ahbaar, a well-known Rabbin of Medi-na, asked how he could obtain access to the commander of the Faithful, he received this answer: “There is no door nor curtain to be passed; he performs the rites of prayer, then he takes his seat, and any one that wishes may speak to him.” ‘Umar said in one of his public orations: “By Him who sent Muhammad (SAW) with the truth, were a single camel to die of neglect on the bank of the Euphrates, I should fear lest Allah should call the family of al-Khataab (meaning himself) to ac-count therefore.” – “If I live,” he is reported to have said on another occasion, “please Allah, I will assuredly spend a whole year in travelling among my subjects, for I know they have wants which are cut short before they reach my ears: the governors do not bring the wants of the people before me, while the people them-selves do not attain to me. So I will journey to Syria and remain there two months, then to Mesopotamia and remain there two months, then to Egypt and remain there two months, then to Bah-rayn and remain there two months, then to Kufa and remain there two months, then to Basra and remain there two months; and by Allah, it will be a year well spent!” One night he came to the house of ‘Abdu ‘l-Rahman’s wife. “Do not enter, “she said, “until I go back and sit in my place;” so he waited. Then she bade him come in, and on his asking, “Have you anything in the house?” She fetched him some food. Meanwhile ‘Abdu ‘l-Rahman was standing by, engaged in prayer. “Be quick, man!” cried Umar. ‘Abdu ‘l-Rahman immediately pronounced the final Salaam, and turning to the Caliph said : “O Commander of the Faithful, what has brought you here at this hour?” ‘Umar replied : “A party of travellers who alighted in the neighbourhood of the market: I was afraid that the thieves of Madina might fall upon them. Let us go and keep watch.” So he set off with ‘Abdu ‘l-Rahman, and when they reached the market-place they seated themselves on some high ground and began to converse. Presently they described, far away, the light of a lamp. “Have not I forbidden lamps after bedtime?” Exclaimed the Caliph. They went to the spot and found a company drinking wine. “Begone,” said ‘Umar to ‘Abdu ‘l-Rahman; “I know him.” Next morning he sent for the culprit and said, addressing him by name, “Last night you were drinking wine with your friends.” “O Comman-der of the Faithful, how did you ascertain that?” “I saw it with my own eyes.” “Has not Allah Ta’ala forbidden you to play the spy?” ‘Umar made no answer and pardoned his offense. – When ‘Umar as-cended the pulpit for the purpose of warning the people that they must not do something, he gathered his family and said to them: “I have forbidden the people to do so-and-so. Now the people look at you as birds look at flesh, and I swear by Allah Ta’ala that if I find any one of you doing this thing, I will double the penalty against him”. Whenever he appointed a governor he used to draw up in writing a certificate of investiture, which he caused to be witnessed by some of the Emigrants or Helpers. It contained the following instructions: That he must not ride on horseback, nor eat white bread, nor wear fine clothes, nor set up a door between himself and those who had ought to ask of him. It was ‘Umar’s custom to go forth with his governors, on their appointment, to bid them farewell. “I have not appointed you,” he would say, “over the people of Muhammad (SAW) that you may drag them by their hair and scourge their skins, but in order that you may lead them in prayer and judge between them with right and divide (the public money) amongst them with equi-ty. I have not made you lords of their skin and hair. Do not flog the Arabs lest you humiliate them, and do not keep them long on foreign service lest you tempt them to sedition, and do not neglect them lest you render them desperate. Confine yourself to the Koran, write few Traditions of Muhammad (SAW) and I am your ally.” He used to permit retaliation against his governors. On receiving a complaint about any one of them he confronted him with the accuser, and punished him if his guilt were proved.
Hadhrat Umar (RA) was a shepherd before Islam, how he became a great statesman, an unparalleled administrator and a just ruler of the highest order!
Once a non-Muslim king asked his envoy to tell him some features of their chief i.e., Hadhrat Umar. Now, here you can imagine what depth of knowledge these Bedouin people had gained in the company of Rasulullah (SAW) with the help of Qur’anic guidance, the answer of this simple looking emissary of Hadhrat Umar (RA) stunned that king, he replied,
“He does not deceive and he does not get deceived”
The king got astonished at the answer of this Bedouin who had described the whole life of Hadhrat Umar (RA) in just a small sentence like this. The king said, “he does not deceive anyone – is a sign of his great statesmanship and ‘He does not get de-ceived’ – is a sign of his being a mature politician.”
General outline of Quranic Dawah and speech of Hadhrat Jaffar (RA):
Prophet Muhammad (SAW) was born in Arabia, naturally his first addressees were Arabs. It were these people who first got enlightenment of the Qur’an Shareef which converted these caretakers of cattle into the caretakers and guides of humanity. These people gained the title of “Khair-Ummat” (The best Ummah) under the guidance of the best and the last Prophet (SAW). Now we have to see what was the immediate effect of the Qur’anic Message in these rebellious unciv-ilized Bedouin people, who were devoid of all moral and social feelings, so that we can understand easily that the teachings and principles of this Qur’an Shareef which produced a revolutionary change in man and made him a being of the highest spiritual order are suffi-cient proof to prove the Truthfulness of this Message.
When the infidels of Makkah forced the Muslims, who were yet in small numbers, to migrate to Abyssinia and live a refugee life there where Negus – a Christian- was the ruler. The infidels sent a delegation to Negus requesting him to oust this small group of Muslims from his country.
On this he summoned the Muslims and enquired about Islam from Hadhrat Jaffar (RA). His speech at that time before Negus, is a masterpiece drawing a marvellous comparison between pre- and post-Islamic Arabia of that time. He said,
“O king, a long period has passed over us in which the state of our ignorance was such that we had left one God and were worshipping idols. To worship self carved stones was our hallmark. Haraam eating, adultery, plundering, severing of blood relations, unawareness about the rights of neighbours and about kindness and justice, ignorance about truth and falsehood were our main features. In short, we lived a life of beasts where strong ones would feel proud of devouring the weak.
” See the miracle of Mercy that Merciful Allah Ta’ala sent a great Prophet (SAW) amongst us whose geneology, truthfulness we know very well, on whose trustworthiness both friends and enemies were witness, whom nation was calling him by the title of ‘Ameen’ – trustworthy.
” He taught us the lesson of Oneness of Allah Ta’ala, invited us towards One Allah Ta’ala and told us that He has no partner. He is pure from having any partner and idolatory is a sign of ignorance, hence is worth abandoning. Worshipping is the right of only One Allah Ta’ala. He taught us truth-speaking, stressed on becoming truth-ful, and ordered us to honour and strengthen the blood rela-tions. He taught us to treat neighbours and weak nicely. He saved us from the curse of humanity, i.e., adultery, by declaring it unlawful and obscene. He taught us whom to marry and whom not to marry (Mahaarim and Na-Mahaarim). He declared telling of lies and devouring of orphans wealth as unlawful. He taught us Salah and charity. He got us out of the depths of bestiality and brought us upto the highest point of great humanity. O king! We have accepted his teachings and believed in them with the core of our hearts. This is our fault for which this delegation of infi-dels is complaining against us.”
Then Hadhrat Jaffar (RA) recited some verses from the Surah Maryam of the Qur’an Shareef which moved the heart of Negus of Abyssinia bringing tears to his eyes. He accepted the truthfulness of Islam and embraced Islam at the hands of Hadhrat Jaffar (RA).
This is how the Qur’anic teachings enlightened the world of darkness in a very short span of time. ‘Al-Qur’an` is the name of this last and everlasting Divine Message which does not address any region, sect or race but is a Message for the peace and success of the entire world of all ages upto the Day of Judgement.
Al-Quran the miracle of the Prophethood of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) :
Prophet Muhammad (SAW), the last and the greatest Messenger of Allah Ta’ala was given many many miracles by Allah Ta’ala and it is unanimously accepted by all scholars of Islam that his best and everlasting miracle is the Qur’an Shareef. It is the proof and miracle of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) upto the day of judgment, that is for all ages and for all people to come. This is evident from many verses of the Qur’an Shareef:
“Alif Lam Raw “A book which We have revealed unto thee; in order thou mightest lead mankind out of the depths of darkness into light- by the leave of their lord- to the way of (Him) the Exalt-ed in power, worthy of all praises.”
(14:1)
In this verse Allah Ta’ala says that the Qur’an Shareef has been sent for guidance.
“If one among the pagans ask thee for asylum, grant it to him, so that he may hear the word of Allah, and then escort him to where he can be secure, that is because they are men without knowledge.”
(9:6)
See, here Prophet Muhammad (SAW) is being commanded by Allah Ta’ala to allow the non-believers to listen to the word of Allah Ta’ala which is the argument, proof and miracle of his Prophethood so that after listening to the Qur’an Shareef their hearts might melt with its message. Had the Qur’an Shareef not been the miracle argument and proof of his prophethood, then such a statement would not have been there.
Allah Ta’ala further says:
“Verily this is the revelation from the Lord of the worlds: with it came down the truthful spirit to thy heart that thou mayest admonish.”
(26:192-194)
Rasulullah (SAW) was sent as a warner to this world, in addition to his other functions, now here the basis of his being warner is said to be the Qur’an Shareef.
Allah Ta’ala says:
“Ha Mim, The revelation of this book is from Allah, Exalted in power, full of knowledge. Who forgiveth sin, accepteth repent-ance, is severe in punishment and is all bountiful, there is no God but He, To Him is the final goal.
None can dispute about signs of Allah, but the unbelievers. Let not their strutting about through the land deceive Thee.”
(40:1-4)
In numerous verses in the Qur’an Shareef it is stated that the Qur’an Shareef is the word of Allah Ta’ala and here in these verses after describing some of the attributes of Allah Ta’ala, it is clearly mentioned that disputing in the Qur’an Shareef is Kufr, infidelity.
In subsequent verses in the same Surah Al-Mumin, Allah Ta’ala Ta’ala says that the people who denied and disputed in the word of Allah Ta’ala, like the people of Noah and confederates, were seized by Allah Ta’ala and terribly punished. For this demerit they were la-belled as companions of Hell-fire. On the other hand, those who believed in this truth are being praised by Angels and they implore forgiveness for them. The believers of the Qur’an Shareef achieve such greatness that they are being praised by the special group of Angels and those who dispute in the signs of Allah Ta’ala become the com-panions of fire. It is because the Qur’an Shareef makes this difference, it becomes the basis for terrible requital for the disbelievers and saviour of its believers and admirers. The Qur’an Shareef does so because it is such a truth, the denial of which is not possible, which has always challenged its opponents and always made them helpless having no alternative but to surrender.
The Qur’an Shareef invites those who express doubts about it to go through the history, know the fate of earlier nations who denied the word of Allah Ta’ala. The Qur’an Shareef also mentions frequently the incidents of earlier people so that the addressee of the Qur’an Shareef can understand, in the light of history, the message of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) and the consequences of its denial.
Allah Ta’ala says:
“Those who reject the book and the (revelations) with which We sent our Messenger, but soon shall they know.”
(40:70)
And further says:
“It was not (possible) for any Messenger to bring a sign except by the leave of Allah.”
40:78)
Allah Ta’ala sent Prophet Muhammad (SAW) with His revelations the Qur’an Shareef, since it is the absolute proof of his prophethood, so its denial begets the chastisement of Allah Ta’ala.
Allah Ta’ala says:
“Ha-Mim, a revelation from the Most Gracious and Most Merciful, A book whereof the verses are explained in detail, Qur’an in Arabic for people who understand. Giving good news and admonition yet most of them turn away, and so they hear not.”
(41:1-4)
Had this Qur’an Shareef not been the proof of prophethood, their turning away would have not mattered. Since Rasulullah (SAW) himself was a strong argument in favour of his prophethood but he needed the proof for the same, such a proof which could withstand all the onslaughts of the opponents, which could answer all the queries and which could win the hearts of all sensible persons and that was given to him in the form of Al-Qur’an.
Allah Ta’ala says:
“ Say (Oh, Muhammad): “I am but a man like yourselves (but) the inspiration has come to me.”
(18:110)
Rasulullah (SAW) is the greatest man- that the mankind has ever produced. No other person can ever even imagine the height which was attained by him (SAW). In this verse Allah Ta’ala says as to what made this dif-ference, this difference was made by Al-Qur’an. Allah Ta’ala says to Rasulullah (SAW) to tell the people that he was a man like others but the special status he has attained was because of the revelation – Al-Qur’an. This verse is enough proof of it.
Allah Ta’ala further says:
“The unbelievers say, “Listen not to this Qur’an, but talk at random in the midst of its (reading), that ye may gain the upper hand.”
(41:26)
The Qur’an Shareef being the word of Allah Ta’ala touches the inner con-science of man and anybody who listens to it, his heart sur-renders before it. When infidels of Makkah saw this miraculous effect of the Qur’an Shareef, they told their people not to listen to the Qur’an Shareef at all and make much noise whenever any Muslim recites the Qur’an Shareef. It clearly indicates that they had no answer to the arguments of the Qur’an Shareef. They first tried all other methods like calling it poet-ry, magic and stories of earlier people but when all these failed and they saw that whosoever listens the the Qur’an Shareef, gets moved to-wards it, they decided to resort to such acts.
Allah Ta’ala further says:
“Yet they say: Why are not signs sent down to him from his Lord. Say: “The signs are indeed with Allah, and I am indeed a clear warner.”
(29:50)
Allah Ta’ala further says:
“Blessed is he who sent down the criterion to his servant, that it may be an admonition to all creatures.”
(25:1)
In these verses Allah Ta’ala tells us that these miraculous signs are from Him only and Prophet Muhammad (SAW) is a warner, his job is to warn, to send miraculous signs is His job.
Allah Ta’ala says:
“What ! Do they say, “He has forged a falsehood against Allah”? But if Allah willed, He could seal up thy heart. And Allah blots out falsehood, and proves the truth by His words. For well He knows the secrets of all hearts.”
(42:24)
This verse is another proof of the truthfulness of Prophet Muhammad (SAW). Allah Ta’ala says that these infidels say that Muhammad (SAW) has forged falsehood against Allah Ta’ala (by claiming himself as prophet). To equip someone with the miracles in support of his claim or not to equip him with the miracles is under the control of Allah Ta’ala. He may wish to do so or He may not. In order to clear the doubts from the minds of people about someone’s prophethood He invariably equips His true prophets with true miracles and does not allow the claim of false prophethood to persist as He blots out all falsehood, hence there is no question of equipping these false claimants of proph-ethood with any miracle. He only strenghtens and allows to persist with His miracles only that claim of prophethood which is true. As the prophet Muhammad (SAW) was given the truest and everlasting miracle in the form of Al-Qur’an, which has stood all the tests and has proved time and again as the everlasting and the greatest miracle, therefore it forms enough proof of prophethood of Muhammad (SAW). As this Qur’an Shareef clearly states that Muhammad (SAW) is the last prophet and that Islam has been completed (i.e., there is no room for any addition, alteration or modification), thus sealing prophethood with him. In this verse there is a great point of satisfaction for the Muslims as Allah Ta’ala promises that He will blot out any false claimant of prophethood. Rasulullah (SAW) said in a Hadith Shareef that there will be thirty liars (Dajjals) in the Ummah who will claim of false prophethood. From this verse we get the satisfac-tion that Allah Ta’ala will blot out all there false claims and truthfulness of prophet Muhammad (SAW) will always remain crystal clear. These days also there are some people with vested interests who try to deceive innocent Muslims by trying to question the seal of prophethood of Muhammad (SAW). It is high time for them to understand that it is a futile exercise for them and their masters. Prophet Muhammad (SAW) is the purpose of all creation, Allah Ta’ala and his angels, in addition to the Muslims, are always sending Durood on him, as Allah Ta’ala says:
“Allah and His angels send blessings on the Prophet, O ye that believe: Send ye blessings on him, and salute him with all respect.”
(33:56)
The prophet (SAW) whose status is such in the eyes of Allah Ta’ala, how foolish and how much detrimental and ruinous will it be for the Imaan of those who try to question his prophethood or his status as the last prophet (seal of prophethood). May Allah Ta’ala send countless blessings on His beloved prophet Muhammad (SAW) and bestow the Taufeeq to the whole of mankind to respect, love and follow him in true spirit.
Chapter 3
Challenge of the Qur’an Shareef
In previous chapters we have seen that the prophethood of prophet Muhammad (SAW) was based on the Qur’an Shareef-an everlasting miracle.
At the age of 40 years, when Prophet Muhammad (SAW) was meditating in seclusion in the cave of Hira in Makka-Al-Mukarramah the first revelation from Allah Ta’ala came starting with the word ‘Iqra’ meaning ‘read’. Then the revelation of Qur’an Shareef was completed in twenty three years. As the revelation would come to Rasulullah (SAW), he used to recite them to his companions (RA) who would memorise them by heart and also write them. They used to recite it daily and convey the same to others then the Qur’an Shareef was secured in written form and now it was available from two sources viz., those thousands of learners who had memorized it by heart and the other one was in the written form. There was never any chance of any mistake as the Huffaz or learners were remembering it in such a way that not a single word not even a single sign or dot would go here and there. Any writ-ten form was scrupulously checked and cross checked by many many Huffaz and then only released for recitation. The Qur’an Shareef reached us from these two sources by the method of ‘Tawatur’ (continuity), i.e., one generation passed it on to the next generation not only in written form but also from heart to heart. In all ages in Islamic history from the time of the Prophet (SAW) there were thousands of students who were learning The Qur’an Shareef from their teachers by heart. This practice continues to date. The Qur’an Shareef is unparalleled in this case and this is a great miracle of it. No other book, even of one tenth the size of the Qur’an Shareef, can be memorized like this and there is no example in world history of any other book being memorized like this. As Allah Ta’ala has promised to protect this Qur’an Shareef upto the day of Judgement, we are seeing that the Qur’an Shareef in our hands is exactly same without any addition or alteration, not even equal to a dot, as it was revealed to Rasulullah (SAW) one thousand four hundred years ago.
As the number of Muslims increased and Islam spread to other countries like Rome, Abyssinia, Egypt and Syria etc, the enemies of Islam got more and more worried. The Qur’an Shareef was cutting the roots of idolatory and all false ideologies. The Qur’an Shareef challenged them openly:
“And if ye are in doubt as to what we have revealed from time to time to our servant, then produce a Surah like there unto; And call your witnesses or helpers (if there are any) besides Allah, if ye are truthful. And if ye cannot and of a surety ye cannot, then fear the fire, whose fuel is men and stones which is pre-pared for those who reject faith.
(2:23-24)
The unbelievers and infidels were trying to prove that the Qur’an Shareef was not the word of Allah Ta’ala but was just poetry, had it been the word of Allah Ta’ala then whole of it would have been sent down once only and not in parts. As poets say their poetry in parts so they thought the Qur’an Shareef also like that. Allah Ta’ala reveals the reason for this gradual part wise revelation of the Qur’an Shareef at other place:
“Those who reject faith say “Why is not the Qur’an revealed to him all at once? Thus (is it revealed), that we may strengthen thy heart thereby, we have rehearsed to thee in slow, well arranged stages, gradually.”
(25:32)
The second thing which these unbelievers and infidels would say was that this Qur’an Shareef was not word of Allah Ta’ala but was a creation of Muhammad (SAW) and that he was not the true prophet of Allah Ta’ala. The Qur’an Shareef first, in the preceding verses stunned the opponents of Muhammad (SAW) by putting forward unrefutable argument whereby proving that Allah Ta’ala, being the only Creator and Sustainer of the universe and mankind, was alone worth worshipping. It was He who has made the earth a couch and the heavens the canopy. It was He who sends rain and brings forth therewith fruits for the sustenance of man. There-fore, the Qur’an Shareef asked people not to set rivals unto Him as anyone even with a little intelligence understands these axiomatic facts. People who listened to those arguments had no answer to them and sensible, unbiased ones would at once embrace Islam, but the preju-diced ones would still try to create doubts in the truth of Muham-mad’s (SAW) prophethood.
In order to prove the truthfulness of Muhammad’s (SAW) prophethood, the Qur’an Shareef asked its opponents, “Well, if you have doubt in what we have revealed in a gradual, slow and well arranged manner to our servant (Muhammad (SAW)), then you call all your supporters (you have great poets, eloquent speakers, you are masters of the Arabic language (as the Qur’an Shareef is in Arabic), just try to produce, if not the whole the Qur’an Shareef, just a small Surah like it.”
Now here is a great honour for our Prophet Muhammad (SAW) as Allah Ta’ala calls him by the name of (His servant) thereby owning him directly. Indeed it is a great honour for him. Secondly, it again shows that the greatness of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) is proclaimed in the Qur’an Shareef.
This open challenge is enough proof of the fact that the Qur’an Shareef is the word of Allah Ta’ala and that mankind has till now to date failed to produce even a small Surah despite the fact that the opponents of Islam have been in the majority in all ages and have always tried their best to extinguish the candle of Islam.The miraculous nature of the Qur’an Shareef is established by the truthlessness of its predictions which it made fourteen centuries ago in which the Qur’an Shareef clearly predicted:
“But if ye cannot and of a surety ye cannot, then fear the fire, whose fuel is men and stones which is pre-pared for those who reject faith.
(2:24)
This challenge was repeated by the Qur’an Shareef on quite a few occa-sions:
“Say, if the whole of mankind and jinns were to gather together to produce the like of the Qur’an, they could not produce the like thereof, even if they backed up each other with help and support”.
(17:88)
“Or do they say: ‘He forged it?’. Say, Bring then a Surah like unto it, and call (to your aid) anyone you can besides Allah, if it be you speak the truth.”
(10:38)
The Pagan Arabs sacrificed their lives for the sake of their idols whom they worshipped. They spent their wealth and whatever means they had at their command in opposition of the Qur’an Shareef. When the Qur’an Shareef asked them to get a small Surah like this, that it was a much easier way for them to achieve their goal than losing their lives and wealth. So it is obvious that they must have left no stone unturned in trying to produce a Surah like that of the Qur’an Shareef. On the other hand the Qur’an Shareef was repeatedly challenging them to bring forth even a small Surah and was asking them to get the support from anybody whosoever they would like. Inspite of these repeated challenges, failure of mankind to produce any such Surah has proved beyond any doubt truthfulness of the Qur’an Shareef and that it is a miracle for all times to come. Allah Ta’ala says that these were the people who were otherwise quarrelsome, to take up the cudgels for trivial things was their habit,
“And warnings to people given to contention”
(19:97)
Allah Ta’ala further says:
“Doth not man see that it is We Who created him from sperm, yet behold he (stands forth) as an open adversary.”
(36:77)
To stand forth as an adversary is the habit of man and these Pagan Arabs were all the more quarrelsome and they used to say that this Qur’an Shareef was nothing but tales of earlier men and if they wished they could also make such statements:
“When our signs are rehearsed to them, they say, we heard this (before),if we wished we could say (words) like these, these are nothing but tales of the ancient”.
(8:31)
They said “This is nothing but sorcery, faked up: never did we hear the like among our fathers of old.”
(28:36)
“They say, ‘Oh thou to whom the message is being revealed: true thou art mad (or possessed)!” (15:6)
“Will ye go to witchcraft with your eyes open?.”
(21:3)
“And say, ‘what! Shall we give up our gods for the sake of a poet possessed.?’
(37:36)
“Behold the wicked say, Ye, follow none other than a man be-witched.’
(17:47)
There are numerous such verses which indicate that they were quite perplexed by the revelations of the Qur’an Shareef and were at a loss as to how to counter this. They were trying all methods but nothing worked for them, as the days were passing, the true miraculous nature of the Qur’an Shareef and the fact that it was the word of Allah Ta’ala was (more and more) getting established.
Allah Ta’ala often revealed the greatness of the Qur’an Shareef viz.,
“And We have bestowed upon the seven oft-repeated (verses) and the Grand Qur’an.
(15:87)
“We have without doubt sent down the message and We will assured-ly guard it (from corruption).”
(15:9)
“Allah has revealed (from time to time) the most beautiful message in the form of a book, consistent with itself, (yet) repeating (its teaching in various aspects), the skins of those who fear their Lord tremble threat: then their skins and their hearts do soften to remembrance of Allah.”
(39:23)
“Ha Mim, By the book that makes things clear, We have made it a Qur’an in Arabic, that ye may be able to understand. And verily it is in the Mother of the Book with Us, high (in dignity), full of wisdom.”
(43:1-4)
Arabs before the advent of Islam were very much backward in many spheres of life but one thing was with them that they were fond of poe-try. To recite the poetry and then boast over it over others was a common habit of these Arabs. They had great poets and were having great hold over the Arabic language. They had eloquent speakers of Arabic. In such circumstances, to accept the challenge of the Qur’an Shareef was quite natural for them – when the Qur’an Shareef challenged them, they became enthusiastic, as we have seen them, in one of the verses above, saying that they could also say similar thing. But very soon they realised that the Qur’an Shareef was neither poetry nor magic nor sto-ries of ancients. Its eloquence, sequence, arrangement of words, the topics it touched, expression with great authority, perfect coherence among varied topics, truthfulness of predictions and above all its effects on the hearts was simply marvellous. Their poetry was based on falsehood, wild imaginations and mundane love stories. They realised that the Qur’an Shareef was speaking hard historical facts but it did not resemble any history book, its verses had rhythmical and poetical balance but it was not poetry at all, it was predicting things but it did not have anything common with astrology and it revealed such facts about universe which were hitherto unknown to mankind.
Walid Bin Mugaira who was among the leading staunch opponents of Islam and a nephew of the leader of the Pagans Abu Jahal. He once happened to listen to the Qur’an Shareef and he at once said:
“By God, the words which he (i.e., Muhammad (SAW)) says, have a high degree of sweetness and brightness. This (Qur’an) will always dominate and will never be domi-nated.”
In the same way, Abdullah bin Muqaffah was an eloquent writer. He decided to write an answer to the Qur’an Shareef, soon after that he heard some child reciting this verse of the Qur’an Shareef:
“Then the word went forth: O earth! Swallow up thy water, and O sky! Withhold (thy rain)! And the water abated, and the matter was ended. The Ark rested on Mount Judi, and the word went forth: Away with those who do wrong”
(11:44)
He involuntarily cried, “By God, I stand witness to the fact that confrontation with the Qur’an Shareef was impossible and that it was never a word of man.”
Listening of the Quran Shareef by the worst enemies of Islam
Abu Jahal, Abu Sufiyan and Akhnas bin Shuraiq were the leaders of the Pagans. They were bitter opponents of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) and were opposing him in every nook and corner of Makkah. But these people were also in the bottom of their hearts craving to listen the Qur’an Shareef. Once it so happened that all three left separately from their homes in the darkness of night to listen the Qur’an Shareef from Prophet Muhammad (SAW) in such a way that each of them thought that he was alone. On their return they by chance met one another and felt ashamed. Then they promised not to repeat the same, but they could not resist the temptation and left the second night again. They again met one another and promised not to repeat, but the third night they again left their homes and again met each other after listening the Qur’an Shareef. Then they asked one another as to how they found the Qur’an Shareef. Each one of them confessed that this was neither poetry, nor magic, nor astrology nor does it seem the word of any man. Then Abu Jahal confessed that he also believed the same but as their family was having an old rivalry with the clan of Abdul Munaf, so he would never accept it.
Jubair bin Muta’m narrates that once he went to see Rasulul-lah (SAW), who was at that time reciting Surah ‘Al-Tur’, and he recited the Aayat:
“Verily, the chastisement of thy lord will indeed come to pass: There is none who can avert it”
(52:7-8)
Jubair says that on hearing this Aayat he felt so much horrified as if he was about to get the chastisement of Allah Ta’ala and he immediately embraced Islam.
In the early days of Islam, going to wife was forbidden even during night in the month of Ramadhan. Once Hadhrat Umar (RAA) went to his wife during night in the month of Ramadhan while forgetting the ban. After the act he soon realised the sin and started melting due to fear of Allah Ta’ala. He had done so in private but knowing that Allah Ta’ala is always seeing, he, in the early morning, ran to Prophet (SAW) and himself voluntarily confessed his sin and requested the Prophet (SAW) to save him from Allah Ta’ala’s chastisement. It is only because of the firm conviction of a Muslim that Allah Ta’ala is always seeing, he does not dare to transgress Islamic Laws even in privacy.
Voluntary Punishment
Thre is a famous incident in Islamic history which speaks volumes about how much true Muslims fear Allah Ta’ala which forces them to confess voluntarily even the grave sins which they could have easily hid, thus avoiding punishment.
A lady came to Rasulullah (SAW) and confessed that she had committed adultery and that she wanted punishment. Rasulullah (SAW) felt sorry for that lady but the lady repeatedly insisted for punishment as she did not want to return to Allah Ta’ala sinful. As she was pregnant, Rasulullah (SAW) told her to come after giving birth to the child she was carrying. After some months she again comes herself with the child in her lap and again asks for the punishment. No warrants were issued for her arrest, no police was sent to arrest her. She is coming herself as she wants to cleanse her deed book from the black stains of that grave offence. Rasulullah (SAW) asks her to come after the period of breast feeding of the child is over which usually lasts upto two and half years. She again comes voluntarily with the child accompanying her with a piece of bread in his hand meaning that he no longer now needed breast feeding. You know what was the punishment to be given to this lady for her crime, which she knew very well! She was to be stoned to death. Rasulullah (SAW) felt pity on that lady but he had to order to stone her to death as per Divine Law and finally that lady was stoned to death. She got herself cleansed in this world, only and she never wanted chastisement in the Hereafter.
This is the true Muslim character, a true Muslim will not do any illegal thing even if he knows that he can escape punishment. This is the clear distinction of Islamic Laws over the secular laws.
Readers are advised to read the incident of Ka’b Ibne Maalik (RAA) which is mentioned in detail in the Qur’an Shareef in Surah Toubah and also mentioned in detail in Hadith books. That is a marvellous incident which demonstrates how Islamic Laws are executed by Muslims not superficially but by the core of the heart.
Social and Spiritual Benefits of Islamic Laws
Mundane secular Laws do not touch the moral and social values of its citizens whereas Islamic Laws not only take care of social and moral values of its citizens but also aims at spiritual upliftment of the individual as we have already discussed that following of Islamic Laws is not only legal but is religious obligation as well.
There are numerous Qur’anic verses and Ahadith on the subject but it is not possible to quote all of them here, few are quoted as under:-
The Qur’an Shareef says:
“O ye who believe! let not some men among you laugh at others, it may be that the (later) are better than the (former), nor let some women laugh at others, it may be that the (later) are better than the (former). Nor defame nor be sarcastic to each other. Nor call each other by (offensive) nicknames. Ill-seeming is a name connoting wickedness, (to be used of one) after he has believed. And those who do not desist are doing (indeed) wrong. O ye who believe avoid suspicion as much (as possible), for suspicion in some cases is a sin. And spy not on each other, nor speak ill of each other behind their backs. Would any of you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother? Nay, ye would abhor it… But fear Allah, for Allah is Oft-Returning Most Merciful. (49:11)”
“Verily spendthrifts are brothers of the satans. And the satan is to his Lord (Himself) ungreatful. (17:27)
“Kill not your children for fear of want, We shall provide, sustenance for them as well as for you. Verily the killing of them is a great sin.” (17:31)
“Come not nigh to the orphan’s property except to improve it, until he attains the age of full strength; and fulfil (every) engagement, for (every) engagement.” (17:34)
“And do not eat up your property among yourselves for vanities, nor use it as bait for the judges, with intent that ye may eat up wrongfully and knowingly a little of (other) people’s property.” (2:188)
“Serve Allah, and join not any partners with Him. And do good to parents, kinsfolk, orphans, those in need, neighbours who are of kin neighbours who are strangers the companion by your side, the way-farer *ye meet), and what your right hands possess, for Allah loveth not the arrogant, the vainglorious. (4:36)
“O ye who believe! Ye are forbidden to inherit women against their will. Nor should ye treat them with harshness, that ye may take away part of the dower ye have given them, except where they have been guilty of open lewdness. On the contrary live with them it may be that ye dislike a thing, and Allah brings about through it a great deal of good.” (4:19)
“Those who, when they spend, are not extravagant and not niggardly, but hold a just (balance) between those (extremes).” (25:67)
“Those who witness no falsehood and, if they pass by futility, they pass by it with honourable (avoidance)” (25:72)
There are numerous Ahadith also on this topic in the treasure of Ahadith, I will be quoting few of them here:
“A true believer is one from whose tongue and hands other believers remain safe”
“One who deceives is not from us”
“One who does not love our youngsters and does not respect our elders, is not from us”
“One who does not show mercy, is not shown mercy”
“Salaam is before the speech”
“Don’t curse the dead”
“Don’t ask (beg) people for anything”
“To abuse a muslim is impiety and to fight against him is infidelity”
“Abstain from sitting on the roadside”
“(Perfect) Muslim is one, from whose tongue and hands other muslims remain secure”
“The one who doesn’t keep his promise, has no Deen (Islam)”
“None of you should urinate in a hole”
“When anyone of you has to take a bath, he should ensure veil”
“Man must not look at the private parts of other man and woman must not look at the private parts of other woman.”
“Rasulullah (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) forbade slapping or beating on anyone’s face”
“One who has Imaan on Allah Ta’ala and on the day of Qiyamah must honour his guest”
“One who has Imaan on Allah Ta’ala and on the day of Qiyamah must speak a good word or keep silent”
” One who has Imaan on Allah Ta’ala and on the day of Qiyamah must behave properly with his relatives.”
Man is Most Honoured in an Islamic State:
Islam has given great honour to man. If somebody asks me to describe Islam is one sentence, I will describe it as “Service to Humanity”. If you study whole the Qur’an Shareef, Ahadith Sharef, everywhere you will see that this all is aiming at this pivotal idea.
Chapter 4
The Miraculous Pattern of the Qur’an Shareef
It is very difficult to explain the marvellous and elegant pattern in which the Qur’an Shareef has been composed by Allah Ta’ala. It is really too marvellous to be explained by any sort of words written at any length. People either write poetry or prose. Poetry has its own principles and patterns. Prose has its own. Writers who try to concentrate on decorating their writings with beautiful and most appropriate words fail to keep the rhythm, coherence, conciseness to the point and many times do not find the proper words. Others who try to keep rhythm and conciseness fail to keep other aspects of beautiful writing intact. You can never be able to produce any example of any human writing which will fulfill all the aspects of beautiful and perfect writing to its best. You will always find some or other flaws in anybody’s writings.
On the other hand when you study the Qur’an Shareef, it is so perfect and elegant in every respect whether it is phraseology, word selection, meaning, conciseness, effects on the heart, rhythmical and phonetical balance, sweetness of verses, rhetoric, eloquence and many other such things that one’s heart just flies away on perceiving all this. Of course, this is most nicely appreciated by those who are well versed with the Arabic language.
The writing pattern of not only different persons differs but the same individual also differs in his pattern and style from time to time in his own writings. Secondly, a human being can usually write on one and at the most on two or three subjects, as his knowledge and wisdom is limited, so there are always limitations in his writings. On the other hand the Qur’an Shareef being the word of the All Knowing and All Wise Creator of everything, speaks on varied subjects with equal perfection and eloquence.
The Qur’an Shareef was not revealed just once that the whole book was sent down to Prophet Muhammad (SAW) in one sitting, in that case the continuity, inter-relations of verses and synchronicity of the verses could be easily understood. But, as you know, the Qur’an Shareef was revealed over 23 long years, sent down on various occasions, usually in response to the ground situation faced by Prophet Muhammad (SAW) and his companions. In the end when these verses and Surahs, which were revealed in parts for such a long period, were compiled they pro-duced a matchless book wherein you cannot find any flaw or any contradiction. This in itself is a miracle of the Qur’an Shareef.
Over these 23 years you will see that the addressees of the Qur’an Shareef were also changing so was the pattern of the Qur’an Shareef changing as per the needs and intelligence level of the people to whom it was being addressed.
For example: at the start in Makkah where the Qur’an Shareef made its debut, the first people it addressed were the illiterate and ignorant people of Makkah who were idol worshippers. They would first prostrate before a date and then eat it. In a very short span of time, with the help of Qur’anic teachings and relentless persuasion of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW), the same uncivilized people became the Khairul Quroon (the best people of the best age the world has ever seen). The Qur’an Shareef also ad-dressed them in the first instance the way they needed and later on the way they deserved.
The first Makkan verses were short strong worded verses which were so forceful in their effects on the heart that the hearts of these pagans were trembling on hearing them, sending intense shock waves through their every nerve fibre and many times they used to cry and keep their fingers in their ears viz.,
“Then, when one blast is sounded on the trumpet. And the earth is moved, and its mountains, and they are crushed at one stroke. On that day shall the (Great) Event come to pass. And the sky will be rent asunder, for it will that Day be flimsy.”
(69:13-16)
“Of no profit to me has been any wealth! My power has perished from me! (The stern command will say): Seize ye him, and bind ye him, and burn ye him in the Blazing Fire.”
(69:28-31)
“So no friend hath he here this Day. Nor hath he any food except the foul pus from the washing of wounds.”
(69:35-36)
“(This is) a Message sent down from the Lord of the Worlds. And if the messenger were to invent any sayings in Our name, we should certainly seize him by his right hand and We should cer-tainly then cut off the artery of his heart: Nor could any of you withhold him (from Our Wrath).”
(69:43-47)
After that when faith started penetrating their hearts resulting in hearts enlightening and softening, the Qur’an Shareef changed its style from the type of words mentioned above to the words which would now give solace to the hearts, soothen them and create an atmosphere of love, obedience and compliance.
“Behold! In the creation of the heavens and the earth; in the alteration of the night and day; in the sailing of the ships through the oceans for the profit of mankind; in the rain which Allah sends down from the skies, and the life which He gives therewith to an earth that is dead; in the beasts of all kinds that He scatters through the earth; in the change of the winds, and the clouds which they trail like their slaves between the sky and the earth;- (Here) indeed are signs for a people that are wise.”
(2:164)
Another miracle of the Qur’an Shareef is that it is not addressed to any particular person or people or any particular era but contains an universal message for all people and for all times to come. The last fourteen centuries are witness to the fact that the Qur’an Shareef has been an equally applicable and guiding source in each of these centuries and continues to be the same and will continue as long as this universe lasts.
Great scholars of the world have tried from time to time to write about the elegant eloquence and miraculous phraseology of the Qur’an Shareef but their inks have dried up, pens have broken and their vocabulary but they exhausted, could not get the words to write about it as not only every verse but every word of the Qur’an Shareef is in itself a great miracle.
Rhythmical and Phonetical Excellence of the Qur’an Shareef
When one looks at the rhythmical and phonetical excellences of the Qur’an Shareef which include miraculous selection of words, their rhythmical combinations producing perfect meaning and not resem-bling any prose or poetry yet extra ordinarily easy to recite with beautiful phonetical balance and tuning, so much so that its reciter never feels bored. The reciter of the Qur’an Shareef feels solace and soothening of his interior and exterior not only because of its spiritual excellences only, but also because of its beautiful wordings, their setting and punctuation which is quite peculiar to the Arabic language.
One has to pronounce a particular letter in a prolonged way and the same letter in one short breath at another place. One has to produce a beautiful nasal tone for certain words what is called ‘Gunna’. The Qari (reciter) of the Qur’an Shareef is taught meticu-lously the different places of his oral cavity from where he has to produce particular letters, what are called ‘Makhaarij’. It is very difficult to explain all this in the English language.
Grammatical Perfection in the Qur’an Shareef
The grammatical perfection in the Qur’an Shareef is in itself a great miracle of it. Great grammaticians of Arabic have written voluminous books on this subject. It was never possible for an illiterate Prophet Muhammad (SAW) to write something like the Qur’an Shareef with absolute grammatical perfection. It is enough proof that it is a book of Allah Ta’ala and not a human word. For instance as pointed by Jurjani:
Profound knowledge of Arabic is needed to appreciate the excellent grammatical perfection as well as the marvellous word selection and how the first word is followed by a balanced second word not only producing rhythmical balance but also presenting miraculous eloquence. First the earth is being addressed then the earth is quoted as one which has been ordered and see how the earth is addressed and how the sky is addressed. Then for the evaporate of water from over the earth such phraseology is chosen so that it becomes evident that it does not happen itself but by the order of All Powerful Allah Ta’ala.
If you listen the Qur’an Shareef when it is being recited, you feel amazed and get absorbed in it but when you think over it, it is neither poetry not music. Then what is it? It is something unique, something peerless. Arabs were well versed with poetry and were fond of singing but when they became puzzled with this unique rhythmical and phonetical presentation of the verses of the Qur’an Shareef their conscience did not agree to its being poetry, then they thought it might by sorcery but soon they realised that it was not sorcery at all but was the Divine word. They noticed the unique arrangement of the verses beautifully joined together with amazing lengthened and shortened letters and wonderful stops. Since the Arabs were masters of the language, they could not believe their ears in the first instance.
You know the meanings of the Qur’an Shareef are bottomless oceans which have been so beautifully enclosed in the envelops of wonderful words. These worlds produce such wonderful melodious tones when its beautiful syllables and phonemes are recited that the listener goes into ecstasy. It is this pattern of the Qur’an Shareef which makes it easy to recite and easy to learn.
When you recite:
“By the star when it goes down, your companion is neither astray nor being misled, nor does he say (aught) of (his own) desire. It is no less than inspiration sent down to him: He was taught by one Mighty in Power, endued with wisdom for he appeared (in stately form) while he was in the highest part of the horizon: Then he approached and came closer, and was at a distance of but two bow-lengths or (even) nearer; So did (Allah) convey the inspiration to His servant (conveyed) what He (meant) to convey. The (Prophet’s) (mind and) heart in no way falsified that which he saw. Will ye then dispute with him concerning what he saw? For indeed he saw him at a second descent, near the Lote-tree of the utmost boundary. Near it is the Garden of Abode. Behold, the Lote-tree was shrouded with what shrouds. (His) sight never swerved, nor did it go wrong! For truly did he see, of the signs of his Lord, The Greatest!
(53:1-18)
Or Surah Al-Rehman, ask yourself as to make it mar-vellous? Its rhythm, words, pattern, meaning, effectiveness on the heart or what? Every aspect of it will throw you into ecstasy.
And when the Qur’an Shareef states some admonition, it chooses such a word which is not only forceful in meaning but equally, forceful in recitation. Take the example of “Dhal” of the word “Taheed”.
“And the stupor of death will bring truth (before his eyes): “This was the thing which thou wast trying to escape!”
(50:19)
The last letter “Dhal” is recited with such a force that it makes the heart to flicker and pulse feeble.
The Qur’an Shareef speaks to everyone
Amongst the great peculiarities of the Qur’an Shareef, one great pecu-liarity is that it speaks at the same to common people of average intellect, to very intelligent people, to kings, scholars, old and young, males and females, rich and poor and to people of any place and race. Everyone derives its lessons from the Qur’an Shareef. Each one finds the Qur’an Shareef applicable and of interest and importance to himself. Everyone gets guidance and solace from the Qur’an Shareef.
The common man feels the supremacy of Allah Ta’ala and tastes its sweetness and develops fearfulness in his heart so much so that it brings tears to his eyes.
The scholars feel the eloquence and height, learn great sciences and historical events. They get food for thought and understand the limitations of their intellect and then say:
“Our Lord! Thy reach is over all things in Mercy and Knowledge.”
(40:7)
Their hands get lifted up involuntarily for prayers and invoke:
“O my Lord! advance me in knowledge.”
(20:114)
Their fear and faith of Allah Ta’ala increases and they surrender to His commands.
The Qur’an Shareef has the unique distinction of addressing the reason and emotions at the same time. It exhorts for righteousness and at the same time admonishes against evil. In one verse it makes one to thrill and in another it makes him to shrill. It makes one enthusiastic and at the same time forces him to go for serious thought. It affects the heart deeply and at the same time opens up new horizons in the mind. Just think over the verse:
“And he makes comparisons for Us, and forgets his own (origin and) creation: He says, ‘Who can give life to (dry) bones and decomposed ones (at that)?”
(36:78)
See how beautifully it rejects the doubt about the resurrection. See the selection of words, their eloquence and sequence and above all the wonderful presentation of the message contained in these few words. If you get great scholars and writers, they will not be able to convey this message in many pages and can never match this all round perfection.
Similarly just think over:
“If there were, in the heavens and the earth, other gods Besides Allah, there would have been ruin in both!”
(21:22)
See in just seven words how all the queries about the Oneness of Allah Ta’ala have been answered. If the so called philosophers will think over just this verse, they will have no alternative but to strike their head against the wall.
Just look at the verses:
“(It is) a Qur’an in Arabic, without any crookedness (therein).”
(39:28)
“Had it been other than Allah, they would surely have found therein much discrepancy”
(4:82)
“(This is) a Book, with verses fundamental (of established mean-ing), further explained in detail, from One Who is Wise and Well-Acquainted (with all things).”
(11:1)
Miraculous use of different words for the same meaning
The message of the Qur’an Shareef is enclosed in beautiful garments of words presented in such a way that its reciter never feels satu-rated and his thirst never quenches. The scholars and philoso-phers never feel that they have sailed through it into its depths. The way the Qur’an Shareef uses different phraseology for one mean-ing, leaves everybody astonished e.g., the Qur’an Shareef wants to give an order (Amr), see how many words and patterns it uses as quoted by Shaikh Zarqani (RA):
“Allah doth command you to render back your Trusts to those to whom they are due.”
(4:58)
“Fasting is prescribed to you.”
(2:183)
“Pilgrimage (Hajj) thereto is a duty men owe to Allah, those who can afford the journey.”
(3:97)
“Divorced women shall wait concerning themselves for three month-ly periods.”
(2:228)
“Whoever enters it attains security.”
(3:97)
“Guard strictly your (habit of) prayers especially the middle prayer.”
(2:238)
“Then let them complete the rites prescribed for them, fulfil their vows, and (again) circumambulate the Ancient House.”
(22:29)
“Who is he that will loan to Allah a beautiful loan?”
(57:11)
“But if ye are prevented (from completing it) send an offering for sacrifice, such as ye may find.”
(2:196)
“Is then He Who creates like one that creates not? Will ye not receive admonition.?”
(16:17)
Combining Generality with Peculiarity
In human speech, we know that either we talk of a universal or a general version of a thing or situation or we talk about a particular person, situation or place. When we talk about the first, the second thing gets overshadowed or diluted and when we talk about the second the first one does not remain in view.
It is the miracle of the Qur’an Shareef to keep both in consideration at the same time. It is the unique characteristic of the Qur’an Shareef that it presents a universal law when speaking about a particular local problem, that is why the Qur’an Shareef is applicable universally at all times and in all situations.
In human speech if one writes something in prose or poetry and then the writer himself looks back at his writing, he always feels that had he used another word, it would have been better or had he added some more words, it would have been better or had he deleted such and such word, it would have been better. In short he never ever satisfied about its perfection. On the contrary, you try all the other words and possible deletions and additions, you will always find that the wording of the Qur’an Shareef is the most perfect and nothing else could make it better than what it is.
The words selected in the Qur’an Shareef are most befitting and having meanings of immense depth.
Just think over the Qur’anic verse:
“There is nothing whatever like unto Him”
(42:11)
In this verse use of the word instead of is so wonderful that great Arabic scholars were stunned on seeing the significant difference in meaning between the two words. By using the word the Qur’an Shareef waves off the remotest chances of even the faintest doubt that could occur that there may be something like unto Him. This purpose would have not been attaned by using word here there was some chance of doubt which could have been raised.
The Qur’an Shareef effects and does not get affected
In dealing with other man either gets affected by affection, anger, love, hatred, prejudice, relation, status, richness and so many such other things. Even prophets are not devoid of such effects.
Take the example of Hadhrat Noah (AS) when he boarded the ship alongwith his followers at the time of the great flood, he saw his son and got overwhelmed by the paternal affection and could not resist himself and called out to his son:
“O my son! Embark with us and be not with the unbelievers”
(11:42)
When the huge wave of water came between the son and the father, Hadhrat Noah (AS) invoked to Allah Ta’ala:
“O my Lord! Surely my son is of my family”
(11:45)
Now see what Allah Ta’ala says at this moment to Noah with His great Authority and see how He is far from getting affected.
“He said: O Noah! He is not of thy family: for his conduct is unrighteous. So ask not of Me that of which thou hast no knowledge! I give thee counsel, lest thou become one of the ignorants!”
(11:46)
Now take the example of Hadhrat Ibrahim (AS) who feels for the ignorance of his father and his idolatry. As he was very much kind hearted, he quite affectionately tells his father:
“O my father! Why worship that which heareth not and seeth not, and can profit thee nothing? O my father! To me hath come knowledge which hath not reached thee: So follow me: I will guide thee to a way that is even and straight.O my father! Serve not satan: for satan is a rebel against (Allah) Most Gracious.”
(19:41-44)
On the contrary his father got overwhelmed by anger, he, while addressing him even does not like to call him ‘oh son’ but says:
“O Ibrahim? If thou forbear not, I will indeed stone thee.”
(19:46)
And if you see in the Qur’an Shareef, when the Qur’an Shareef answers its opponents and critics it does not show any signs of having got affected by any such things which affect humans but it always produces its effect in others.
See in what manner Allah Ta’ala addresses Rasulullah (SAW) when he turned away from a Muslim blind man Abdullah ibne Ummi Muktum and gave more ear to the Pagan Quraish leaders.
“The prophet frowned and turned away, because there came to him the blind man (interrupting). But what could tell thee but that perchance he might grow in purity? Or that he might receive admonition, and the reminder might profit him. As to one who regards himself as self-sufficient, to him dost thou attend; though it is no blame to thee if he grow not in purity. But as to him to thee striving earnestly, and with fear (in his heart), of him wast thou unmindful.”
(80:1-10)
Miracle of sequence
The Qur’an Shareef was revealed to Rasulullah (SAW) over a very long period of twenty three years. It started with word Iqra in the cave of Hira when Angel Jabraeel (AS) first time came to him with first verses of the Qur’an Shareef of the Surah Al-Alaq. Then revelation of the Qur’an Shareef continued part wise over the nest 23 years. The Qur’a-nic verses covering a very wide range of topics were revealed and the revelation was often sent in relation to ground situations faced by Rasulullah (SAW) and his compan-ions. These ground situations ranged from the incidents related to the battle field, to marital relations of consorts included in between a large variety of things. Some Surahs like Al-Anam were revealed once only and it is narrated by Ibne Umar (RA) in a tradition that Rasulullah (SAW) said that Surah Al-Anam was revealed to him (whole of it) once only. On the other hand Surah Al-Baqra was revealed part wise over a period of more than nine years.
When any verse or Surah was revealed to Rasulullah (SAW), he used to call his companions and ask them to write these verses or Surah and at the same time used to instruct them to place that verse or Surah at such and such a place. It is worth mentioning here that the sequence of revela-tion of the Qur’an Shareef and the sequence in which it was compiled is different. The sequence which we see these days in written form is not the same sequence with which it was revealed. Rasulullah (SAW) under the Divine guidance used to order his companions to place a particu-lar part of the Qur’an Shareef at a particular place As you know the first verses which were revealed were from Surah Al- Alaq and that is placed in the 30th Juz i.e., the last part of the Qur’an Shareef.
Uthman bin Abu-Al-Aas (RA) narrates that Rasulullah (SAW) once said, when he was sitting with him, “Jabraeel came to me and asked me to keep this Ayat in this Surah viz.
“Allah commands justice the doing of good and liberality to kith and kin and He forbids all shameful deeds and injustice and rebellion: He instructs you that ye may receive admonition.”
(16:90)
There are numerous Ahadith Shareef which prove beyond any doubt that the present sequence of the Qur’an Shareef was framed by Rasulullah (SAW) himself only and not by his Sahabah later on.
Muslim narrates an authentic Hadith Shareef from Abu Dardaa (RA):
“One who learns the last ten Aayaat of Surah Kahf by heart, is protected from Dajjal.”
Similarly in many Ahadith Shareef it is quoted that Rasulullah (SAW) recited such and such Surah e.g., Al-Baqra, Aal-e-Imran, Nisa, Aaraaf etc.,
Bukhari and Muslim narrates that Rasulullah (SAW) used to recite Surah Alf Laam Meem Tanzeel (As-Sajda) and Surah Dahr in the Fajar Salah of Fridays.
All these Ahadith Shareef prove that the Surah were framed by Rasulullah (SAW) himself and the fact that is said that Verses of the Qur’an Shareef were collected and compiled by Zaid bin Thabit during the Khilaafat of Hadhrat Uthman (RA) of which Hadhrat Abu Bakr and Hadhrat Umar (RA) had given orders after the departure of Rasulullah (SAW) from the world. It is true but we should know that they only collected the verses of the Qur’an Shareef which were not collected in one place. They neither added nor subtracted anything from the Qur’an Shareef, nor did they change any sequence. The sequence was decided by Rasu-lullah (SAW) and the sequence which we have this time is the sequence decided by Rasulullah (SAW) and Sahabah-Al-Kiram only compiled it then in one place.
Qazi Abu Bakr in Al-Intisar says,
“The sequence of Al-Qur’an was an obligatory order and Jabraeel (AS) used to tell Rasulullah (SAW) to keep a particular Ayat at a particular place.”
He further says,
“That whole Qur’an Shareef which Allah Ta’ala revealed and ordered to keep safe in written form of which he did not cancel recitation after revelation, that the same Qur’an Shareef which is with us between two title covers as compiled by Hadhrat Uthman, he did neither delete anything from it nor did he add anything to it and its sequence and arrangements are the same as arranged by Allah Ta’ala and Rasu-lullah (SAW) made sure of the same arrange-ment and sequence, he neither brought any verse forward and nor did take any verse backward from its original position and the Ummah recorded the same sequence from Rasulullah (SAW).”
(Al-Itqan)
The author of Al-Itqan writes that
“The Qur’an Shareef is written in the guarded tablet (Lowhe-Mehfooz) in the same sequence as it is with us and Allah Ta’ala brought the whole the Qur’an Shareef down to Aasman-e-duniya from the Lowhe-Mehfooz once only and then from Aasman-e-duniya it was revealed to Rasulullah (SAW) part wise as per the need, so the sequence of revelation is different than the sequence of recitation.”
Ibne Al-Hissar said,
“Keeping of a particular Ayat at a particular place was decided as per Wahi (revelation), Rasulullah (SAW) used to order to keep a particular Ayat at a particular place.”
Now think for a while about the blessed life span of Rasulullah (SAW) of twenty three years after he announced the Prophethood. How difficult and trying time he had to face while in Makkah-Al-Mukarama for the first thir-teen years before Hijrah. Recapitulate all those varied events spread over long thirteen years, also do not forget the condition of the Muslims and pagans of Makkah, after Hijrah, establishment of an Islamic state and various expeditions. Through all those twenty three long years verses of the Qur’an Shareef are being revealed and simultaneously they are being arranged in a definite sequence under the Divine guidance and after Rasulullah’s (SAW) blessed soul departed from this world, the Qur’an Shareef was complete in the form of a flawless book, no contradictions, no need for any rearrangements, miraculous sequence and inter-rela-tion of verses. This is simply miraculous. No human being can say something for twenty three years about the ground realities and in the end it will be a flawless marvellous book. It is simply humanly impossible. This is enough proof of the Divine nature of the Qur’an Shareef and it being the greatest miracle and proof of the Prophet-hood of Rasulullah (SAW).
Effects of recitation of the Qur’an Shareef on the hearts of its listeners:
We have seen in the previous lines of this topic the miraculous nature of the Qur’an Shareef. from this one may, in the first instance, think that it is the meaning of the Qur’an Shareef only that is miraculous and that when one comes to know the meaning of the Qur’an Shareef, he becomes its believer. There is no doubt in this assumption but today in these lines we shall see that before understanding the meaning of the Qur’an, the very recitation of the words of the Qur’an Shareef has a tremen-dous effect on the hearts of not only believers but also on the hearts of non-believers. This thing was extremely worrying the pagans of Makkah as they had realised that when someone listens to the recitation of the Qur’an Shareef, he definitely gets moulded.
When people from outside Makkah used to visit Khana Ka’aba for pilgrimage, the pagans of Makkah were making it a point to meet those people coming from outside well in advance and moti-vating them not to listen the recitation of the Qur’an Shareef.
They were banning their children and women from listening to the Qur’an Shareef. they were getting highly perturbed when Hazrat Abu Bakr Siddiq (RA) used to recite the Qur’an Shareef loudly during night in the courtyard of his house. The effect of the Qur’an Shareef on the hearts of non-believers was so conspicuous that obstinate hardliners of pagans used to beat the drum and make noise when the Qur’an Shareef was being recited loudly anywhere. the Qur’an Shareef mentioned the same in the following verse:
“Those who disbelieve say: Heed not this Qur’an, and drown the hearing of it; happy ye may conquer.”
(41:26)
As the effect of recitation of the Qur’an Shareef on its listeners is defi-nite irrespective of the fact whether listeners are believes or non-believers (of, course, the biased ones remain deprived) Allah Ta’ala linked listeners of the Qur’an Shareef with providing asylum to those pagans who ask Muslims for asylum. From this one can Shareef imagine the powerful and certain effect of recitation of the Qur’an Shareef on non-believers that Islam exhorts the Muslims to make it possible for non-believer to have a chance to listen the word of Allah Ta’ala.
Allah Ta’ala says:
“If one amongst the pagans ask thee for asylum grant it to him so that he may hear the word of Allah and then escort him to where he can be secure: that is because they are men without knowledge.”
(9:6)
How Umar Farooq (RA) accepted Islam
One day the leaders of Quraish of Makkah convened a meeting to discuss as to how to tackle the problem of Rasulullah (SAW). It was asked in the meeting as to who would kill Muhammad (SAW)? Umar Bin-al-Khatab volunteered himself saying that he would accomplish this task. Then Umar left the place with a naked sword in his hand, when the day was very hot. On his way he met Nayeem Bin Abdullah who asked Umar as to where he was going? Umar informed Nayeem of his intentions. Nayeem told Umar that that was bad journey for him and that his Nafs had deceived him. Nayeem also told him that the clan of Abd-Manaf would not leave him if he harmed Muhammad (SAW). This sparked off an argument bet-ween the two and both raised their voices. When Nayeem sensed that he was not going to turn from his intention, he said to Umar, “Let me tell you that you should first know about your home people, your sister and her husband have embraced Islam.” On listening this Umar became extremely furious, turned red and rushed to his sister’s home and knocked their door forcefully.
Now here, dear friends, just have a pause and think for a while the state of anger of Umar.
Think with what intentions he left the meeting of Quraish and how his anger and fury got multiplied when he had quarrel with Nayeem and how his anger knew no bounds when he learnt that his own sister had embraced that religion which he was hating the most at that time.
Imagine once again the furious condition of Umar at that moment. Now see the effect of recitation of Qur’an Shareef on such a brave person like Umar and that too at a time when he was in a state of extreme fury.
He catches hold of his sister, beats her and ask her to show him that thing which she was reading. His sister refused to show it saying that impure people would not touch it. Finally he persuaded her to recite few verses from the Qur’an Shareef. On listening few verses from the Qur’an Shareef as if cold water was poured on burning fire that tremendous fire of anger which was burning inside the body of Umar, gets extinguished immediately, his heart which was burning feels the sootening effect and solace which he had never experienced in his life and he at once utters:
“How marvelous this word is and its glory.”
Allah-u-Akbar, what a great word it is. Umar who has gone to kill (Naoodhu Billah) Muhammad (SAW) embraces Islam on listening to the recitation of the Qur’an Shareef. An incident which is an important milestone in the history of Islam.
Walid Bin Mugaira who was among the leading staunch oppo-nents of Islam and a nephew of leader of pagans Abu Jahal. He once happened to listen the Qur’an Shareef and he at once said:
“By God, the words which [i.e., Muhammad (SAW)] says, are having high degree of sweetness and bright-ness. This (Qur’an) will always dominate and will never be domi-nated.”
Same way, Abdullah bin Muqaffah was an eloquent writer, he decided to write an answer to the Qur’an Shareef, soon after he heard some child reciting this verse of the Qur’an Shareef:
“When the word went forth: “O earth! swallow up thy water and O sky! withhold (thy rain)!” and the water abated and the matter was ended. The Ark rested on Mount Judi and the word went forth: “Away with those who do wrong!”
(11:44)
He involuntarily cried, by God, I stand witness to the fact that confrontation with the Qur’an Shareef was impossible and that it was never a sword of man.
Listening of the Qur’an Shareef by worst enemies of Islam
Abu Jahal, Abu Sufiyan and Akhnas bin Shuraiq were the leaders of pagans. They were bitter opponents of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) and were opposing him in every nook and corner of Makkah. But these people were also in the hearts of their hearts craving to listen the Qur’an Shareef. Once it so happened that all the three left separately their homes in the darkness of night to listen the Qur’an Shareef from prophet Muhammad (SAW) in such a way that each of them thought that he was alone. On their return they by chance met one another and felt ashamed, then they promised not to repeat the same, but they could not resist the temptation and left the second night again, they again met each other after listening the Qur’an Shareef. Then they asked one another as to how they found the Qur’an Shareef. Each of them confessed that this was neither poetry, nor magic, nor astrology nor does it seem word of any man. Then Abu Jahal confessed that he also believed the same but as their family was having an old rivalry with the clan of Abd Munaf, so he would never accept it.
Jubair bin Muta’m narrates than once he went to see Rasulul-lah (SAW), who was that time reciting Sura ‘Al-Tur’, when he recited the Ayat:
“Verily the Doom of thy Lord will indeed come to pass.There is none can avert it.”
(52-7-8)
Jubair says that on hearing this Ayat he felt so much horri-fied as if he was about to get chastisement of Allah Ta’ala and he imme-diately embraced Islam.
Hazrat Musa’b bin Umair (RA) and Abdullah Bin Ummi Maktoom (RA)in Madina
Rasulullah (SAW) deputed Hazrat Musa’b bin Umair (RA) and Hazrat Abdullah bin Ummi Maktoom (RA) to Madina. The two distinguished teachers of the Qur’an Shareef started their mission very effectively. They stayed at the house of Asa’d bin Dhirara (RA). On seeing that large number of people of Madina were get-ting attracted towards these two new comers and were getting influenced by recitation of the Qur’an Shareef, Sa’ad bin Muaadh, who was leader of clan of Ows, asked his nephew Usaid bin Hudhair to go to these two men who were befooling their weaker people and asked him to warn them against such action. Usaid went to them and told them to stop their mission. Hazrat Musa’b (RA) asked him to sit down for a while and requested him to listen the recitation of the Qur’an Shareef. Then Musa’b (RA) recited the Qur’an Shareef and Usaid listened and the effect of this recitation was such that Usaid did not get up until he embraced Islam. Then he went to Sa’ad and told him the whole story and then Sa’ad went himself to Musa’b bin Umair (RA), then Musa’b bin Umair (RA) repeated the same as he did with his nephew Usaid. When Sa’ad bin Muaadh (RA) listened the recitation of the Qur’an Shareef, his heart melted, his anger changed into love and he embraced Islam.
Historians have proved that Madina was conquered by Muslims, not by any sword but by the recitation of the Qur’an Shareef of Musa’ib bin Umair (RA)
Chapter 5
Miracle of protection of the Qur’an Shareef to date
The Qur’an Shareef in its unique way, made a categoric and authoritative proclamation that the Qur’an Shareef is the word revealed by Allah Ta’ala and it is He who has taken upon Himself the responsibility for its protection unlike earlier Divine books like the Torah and the Injeel.
Allah Ta’ala says in the Qur’an Shareef
“We have without doubt sent down the message and We will assured-ly guard it (from corruption).” (15:9)
The purity of the text of the Qur’an Shareef through fourteen centu-ries is a foretaste of the eternal care with which Allah Ta’ala’s truth is guarded through ages. All corruptions, inventions, and accre-tions pass away, but Allah Ta’ala’s pure and holy truth will never suffer eclipse even though the whole world mocked at it and were bent on destroying it.
Imagine the circumstances in which the Qur’an Shareef was revealed and what sort of opposition and resistance was offered to it. No stone was left unturned by its opponents in trying to destroy its very existence. Under these circumstances to come with such an authoritative and categoric statement can by no means be a human accomplishment, but only the Power which has complete command on the universe, not only at that time but also for all the future times to come, could make such a statement. We, the people of the I5th century Hijra, clearly witness the truth of this statement which was revealed fourteen hundred years ago in those trying circum-stances. The Qur’an Shareef, which is in our hands, has not even suffered the alteration of a single dot in these fourteen hundred years.
Imam Qurtubi (RA) has quoted an incident narrated by Hadhrat Yahya Bin Aktham in which he says that Caliph Mamoon Rashid used to call noted scholars to his palace and used to listen to their scholarly discourses on various topics. Once a Jew also came to attend such a meeting and from his appearance he appeared a respectable and dignified personality. At the end when he started leaving the palace, Mamoom Rashid wanted to put him to test and asked him if he would embrace Islam, but the Jew refused saying that he would not leave the religion of his ancestors.
One year later, the same Jew again attended the same meeting but now he had embraced Islam and he delivered a very eloquent lecture on Islamic jurisprudence. Mamoom Rashid asked him that he had refused to embrace Islam the previous year and now what had made him embrace Islam?
In reply to this question of Mamoon he told him that he had decided to make a comparative study of all the religions, after he left from the palace the previous year. As he was a fine calligraphist, he wrote a few Bibles, a few Torahs and few the Qur’ans. In each he made deliberate alterations, adding something of his own and deleting something at his own will. Then he went to a Church and sold them these Bibles with his alterations. The monks of the church were very happy and received these copies happily and kept them in the Church. Then he went to a Jewish synagogue and sold them the Torahs with his alterations and they also received them happily and kept them in their Synagogues. Then he went to the Muslims to sell the Qur’an Shareef he had written and in which he had made altera-tions. He said to Mamoon that no Muslim accepted the Qur’an Shareef without first seeing them. Everyone of them first checked it and compared it with their own copies and when they found the alterations, they refused to accept it. No Muslim accepted these copies.
From this he concluded that the Qur’an Shareef was the only guarded book and that it was being protected by Allah Ta’ala, and this led him to embrace Islam.
Islam witnessed many changes, revolutions and turmoils during these last fourteen hundred years. Islam started in Makkah and Madinah and then spread very fast to the neighbouring count-ries till it spread up to Egypt on one side and India on the other, covering most of the middle east, central and south Asia. As the number of Muslims grew so grew the number of its enemies, who tried their level best to destroy its very foundation. First-ly the enemies of Islam tried to eliminate the Muslims by mili-tary might, when they failed to do so and saw that Islam was progressing fast instead, they tried to involve Muslims in Phi-losophical controversies raising queries about the fundamen-tal beliefs of Islam. This way they succeeded in creating doubts in the minds of Muslims of weak Iman.
But Allah Ta’ala had already declared in the Qur’an Shareef:
“This day have I perfected your religion for you completed my favour upon you and have chosen for you Islam as your religion.” (5:3)
On one hand Allah Ta’ala sealed the prophethood for all time to come at the hands of Rasulullah (SAW) and completed his revelations needed for the guidance of mankind in the form of the Qur’an Shareef, but at the same time one has to accept that life is always dynamic, changes and revolutions in all spheres of life. The culture, customs, living habits and standards, geographical conditions, educational, commercial and scientific developments are always taking place from time to time. For this changing world, it was just humanly impossible to bring forward such a versatile and complete system which could fit in all these innumerable changing times of immense magnitudes. It is the beauty of the Qur’an Shareef and a clear miracle of the Qur’an Shareef that it has been able to guide the mankind with whatever changes that have brought about and has been able to answer all the queries raised by tremendous advances made by man in science and other related subjects.
During their march forward medical and other sciences tried to refute the eternal Divine truths revealed in the Qur’an Shareef but it always so happened that the Qur’an Shareef emerged triumphant and its opponents had to retreat.
Science believed for a long time that the earth was stationary and later on they believed that that sun was stationary. Now both these scientific myths have been exploded by their own research, as against the Qur’an Shareef which has made categoric and firm statements that they are all moving. This example is just a drop from the ocean, but here our topic is different, here we are discussing what great measures Allah Ta’ala has taken all along in these last fourteen centuries to safeguard the Qur’an Shareef and to prove the truth of His statements, viz:
“We have without doubt sent down the message and We will assured-ly guard it (from corruption).”
(15:9)
Divine measures for the protection of the Qur’an Shareef by the Adoption of Arabic of the Quraish by all countries of the Arab world
Allah Ta’ala had decided to reveal the Qur’an Shareef in Arabic similar to that spoken by the Quraish, for this reason Allah Ta’ala made it possible for the Quraish dialect of Arabic to dominate over all other dialects of Arabic spoken in various parts of the Arabian penin-sula, well before the revelation of the Qur’an Shareef started. Arabs were living in different tribes and each tribe had its own dialect of Arabic. Famous amongst them were the Quraish, Tameem and Hudhail etc. But the political, religious and economic conditions were such that the dialect of the Quraish overshadowed all other dialects and was jointly accepted by all these tribes.
There were many reasons for the same. Even before the Qur’an Shareef was revealed, the people used to visit the Khana Ka’aba every year regularly. There used to much intermingling of people of different tribes, races and languages.
The Quraish were the custodians of the Khana Ka’aba, hence were always respected. The Quraish used to listen to the different linguistic patterns and words of different tribes and used to speak to them in this dialect that among themselves and in this way the Arabic spoken by the Quraish became the most eloquent and the best type of Arabic.
As the people from all parts of Arabia used to visit Makkah for Haj and used to stay there at least for 50 days, they gradually came to realize the shortcomings of their own Arabic and the eloquence and beauty of the Quraish dialect. They gradually adopted the same type of Quraish Arabic and in this way the language in which the Qur’an Shareef was to be revealed was adopted by almost all the Arabs well in advance.
Adaption of Arabic as themother tongue by new countries which came under the flag of Islam
The second Divine measure which was taken for protection of the Qur’an Shareef and its language was that wherever Muslims went the people of those places not only embraced Islam by their hearts but also very delightfully adopted the same language as their own language. There is no parallel in the world history that the inhabitants of any place have ever adopted the language of their foreign rulers. Many countries in the world have been from time to time under foreign rule but they have most of the times not only rejected the foreign language but have also hated it and have struck to their own language. It is the miracle of the Qur’an Shareef that it made the Arabic language so dear to the people which came across it. In this way Allah Ta’ala not only protected the Qur’an Shareef but also popular-ized its language amongst the nations. People of many countries adopted Arabic as their mother language and many far off count-ries like India and Pakistan produced thousands of great illus-trious scholars of Arabic.
Safety of the Qur’an Shareef despite severe turmoils through which Islam had to sail through for the last 14 Centuries
Islam spread fast to many parts of the world and flourished well for quite sometime. Afterwards when Muslims became wealthy and started living a luxurious type of living, then as per the Divine law, the Divine axe fell upon them. In order to warn them against their callousness and misdeeds, firstly Allah Ta’ala subjected the Muslims to minor punishments but when they did not mend their ways, Allah Ta’ala subjected the Muslims to being at the hands of differ-ent tyrants in different parts of the Muslim world. Who can forget the atrocities inflicted on Muslims by Changez Khan and other Tartars? Then in the crusades also Muslims were subjected to severe forms of atrocities. Later on many Muslim countries were enslaved by Europeans. Communist Tzarist Russia tried its best to wipe off all the remnants of Islam from the central Asian coun-tries.
But we, at the end of 14th Century, are witness to the fact that even though the Muslims during all those turmoils lost their lives, houses, properties, freedom, education, wealth and their coun-tries but the Qur’an Shareef could not be taken away from their hearts despite innumerable conscious and organised attempts by its enemies. In recent history the example of communist Russia’s ruthless attempt to wipe off all signs of Islam from its states for the past Century, then the disintegration of this one time super power in most surprising circumstances and finally the emergence of many Muslim states with intact the Qur’an Shareef in their hearts from within this very communist Russia is indeed a great mira-cle of the Qur’an Shareef and an eye opener for all its opponents.
Jews and Christians have time and again tried to take away the Qur’an Shareef from the Muslims or to alter its original shape but there has always been the Divine unseen Hand which has been safeguarding the Qur’an Shareef from its enemies.
Reason for the decline of other Religions
Any movement or religion, for its survival and sustenance, not only needs a complete and perfect spiritual, ethical and legal system but also needs men of distinction with extraordinary faith, courage, spiritual power and knowledge in all ages. One of the main reasons for the decline of other religions has been that they failed to produce such men of excellence who could rejuvenate the dying principles of their religions so that it could be passed on to the next generation unadulterated.
If you take the example of Christianity, it has miserably failed in its long history of two thousand years to produce any men of excellence who could prove to be the saviour of real Christian-ity. In fact, soon after the departure of Hadhrat Isa (A.S) from the world scene, the shape and spirit of true Christianity was so badly deformed and bruised by John Paul that true Chris-tianity could never see the light of the day again.
A Christian scholar, Eriuest De Bunsen writes in Islam or true Christianity:-
“The beliefs and the system which we find in the Bible is that which was never propagated or practised by Jesus Christ. These days what has become the bone of contention between Christians, Jews and Muslims, Jesus is not responsible for it but it is all due to this Jew Christian irreligious Paul. Paul while following Stephen, who was the propagator of Essinio, attached many customs of Buddhism with Jesus Christ. These days all those contradictory stories and exaggerations about Christ which are found in the Bible, are fabrications of Paul. What orthodox Christians are sticking to for last 18 centuries, is not that what was founded by Christ but is that which was fabricated by Paul and his follower pri-ests.”
(Tarikh Dawat Azimat)
There was an aborted attempt after 15 hundred years after Christ by Martin Luther to reform Christianity but this again could not succeed in presenting Christianity in its original form. Now even the Christian scholars have no alternative but to admit the fact that Christianity could not produce any worth-while reformer even after two thousand years.
The same is true about Buddhism and Hinduism. These religions lost their original forms quite early and none of their follow-ers was ever able to revive these in their original forms.
For long term survival of a system living personalities with extra ordinary excellence are needed in every age personalities who can pres-ent a living model before the people of their age and can resist any change in the fundamentals of the system. The Qur’an Shareef has the unique distinction of presenting a perfect system which is applicable to any age and secondly it has always produced these men of excellence in every age men who have maintained the purity of the Qur’an Shareef and have defeated all at-tempts by its enemies introducing any alteration in it.
Period of the Caliphs
After the completion of revelation of the Qur’an Shareef and the departure of Rasulullah (SAW) from the world, Mus-lims had to face many problems. As the problems were of grave magnitude, it needed a man of iron will with the highest degree of political wisdom and far-sightedness to overcome these challeng-es.It was appeared as if the lamp lit by Rasulullah (SAW) was going to be extinguished but Allah Ta’ala had given all the excellence needed to tackle such a situation to Hadhrat Abu Bakr Siddiq (RA). It was in Abu Bakr that Allah Ta’ala sent the saviour of the Qur’an Shareef. In addition to preventing the desertions from Islam, Hadhrat Abu Bakr (RA) noticed that the Hufaaz (those who remember the Qur’an Shareef by heart) were dying one by one and he apprehend-ed that if all of them would die then the safety of the Qur’an Shareef and its onward propagation would be a problem. So he ordered that all the Qur’anic verses be assembled at one place, in order to scrutinize them and then to keep them in written form. Till then the Qur’an Shareef was memorized by the companions of Rasulullah (SAW) by heart and others used to write it on paper, leaves and other objects but it was not present in written form at one place. This work was done with great care.
Hadhrat Zayd Bin Thabit (RA) narrates this as follows:-
“Soon after the Battle of Yamamah, Abu Bakr (RA) called me. When I reached his place, Hadhrat Umar was also there. Hadhrat Abu Bakr told me, ‘Umar has just now informed me that in the Battle of Yamamah, a large number of Hufaaz of the Qur’an Shareef have been martyred and if the Hufaaz go on dying in the same way at different places, I am afraid that a large portion of the Qur’an Shareef may become nonexistent, so I am of the opinion that you start the work of compiling the Qur’an Shareef.’ I asked Hadhrat Umar (RA) as to how could we do that job which was not done by Rasulullah (SAW). Hadhrat Umar (RA) replied that by Allah Ta’ala there is nothing but only good in this work and he went on repeating the same till my breast got opened for the same and my opinion also became the same as that of Hadhrat Umar (RA) Then Hadhrat Abu Bakr (RA) told me,’You are young and intelligent, we have no misunderstanding about you, you were acting as the writer of Wahy during the time of Rasulullah (SAW) so you compile the verses of the Qur’an Shareef after collect-ing them’”.
Hadhrat Zayd Bin Thabit (RA) says while swearing by Allah Ta’ala that if these people would have ordered him to raze the mountain to the ground, that would have not been as difficult for him as compilation of the Qur’an Shareef was for him.
(Fathul- Bari p8,Vol9)
EXTRA ORDINARY CARE TAKEN BY ZAYD BIN THABIT FOR COMPILING the QUR’AN SHAREEF
Now here it is very important to know as to how much care and extra precautions were taken by Hadhrat Zayd (RA) in compiling the Qur’an Shareef. He himself was a Haafiz and there were hundreds of Hufaaz of the Qur’an Shareef present that time. He could have called a body of Hufaaz and then would have started writing. The Qur’an Shareef was also in written form present in the written form with many people which they had writ-ten at the time of Rasulullah (SAW) but Hadhrat Zayd did not rely on any one of these but utilized all possible means for this purpose.
Rasulullah (SAW) used to call some of his companions to write the verses of the Qur’an Shareef soon after they were being revealed to him (SAW). This job was usually done by Zayd Bin Thabit (RA) but others also used to do it. The number of Kaatibeen-e-wahy (writers of the Qur’an Shareef soon after revelation) have been quoted up to 40.
(Uloom-ul-Qur’an)
Alama Ibne Hajar quotes in Fathul-Bari.
“Hadhrat Uthman (RA) narrated that it was routine with Rasulullah (SAW) to ask the writer of Wahy to place these verses just revealed at such and such place after such and such verses.
So during the period of Rasulullah (SAW) the Qur’an Shareef was being written in the presence of Rasulullah (SAW),. As there was a shortage of paper those days, so mostly the Quranic verses were being written on plates of stone, leather pieces, branches of date trees and leaves and on bones of animals etc, in addition to paper”
From this you can understand that the Qur’an Shareef was written very much in front of Rasulullah (SAW) but that the written form was not in the form of a single book but was written on all these above mentioned items.
When Abu Bakar Siddiq (RA) directed Hadhrat Zayd (RA) to compile the Qur’an Shareef at one place, an announcement was made amongst all the companions of Rasulullah (SAW) that whosoever possessed any verse of the Qur’an Shareef which was written in presence of Rasulullah (SAW), he should present that to Zayd Bin Thabit (RA). Whenever anyone would present any verse of the Qur’an Shareef to Hadhrat Zayd (RA) he would:-
1. ascertain it himself as he was himself a Haafiz of the Qur-’an Shareef;
2. present it to Hadhrat Umar (RA) as he was also a Haafiz. He would also ascertain it;
(Fathul-Bari)
3. ask the one who would come with some verses to produce two witnesses, who would stand witness to the fact that those erses were writ-ten very much in the presence of Rasulullah (SAW) Sayooti says that those two witnesses had also to testify that those written verses were presented to Rasulullah (SAW) in his last year, the year before his departure from the world;
4. compare these verses with those compilations of the Qur’an Shareef which were with the Sahaabah.
(Al-Itqan)
From this one can understand the meaning of the statement of Zayd Bin Thabit (RA) in which he says that he found the last verses of Surah Toaba only with Hadhrat Abu Khuzaima (RA). This does not mean that these verses were only with Abu Khuzaima and no other Sahaabah was knowing them. All the Sahaabah including Hadhrat Zayd Bin Thabit (RA) knew these verses but only Abu Khuzaima could produce these verses in the written form which were written in the presence of Rasulullah (SAW).
(Al-Burhan-Fi-Uloom-il-Qur’an)
So, it is proved beyond doubt that Hadhrat Abu Bakar Siddiq (RA) was the first to get the Qur’an Shareef compiled at one place. The peculiarities of this first compiled copy of the Qur’an Shareef were that Surahs were not arranged in it, each was written separately and it also contained all the seven dialects of Arabic in which the Qur’an Shareef was revealed. This copy of the Qur’an Shareef remained with Hadhrat Abu Bakar Siddiq (RA) till his death and then passed on to Hadhrat Umar (RA). He gave it to his daughter Hadhrat Hafsa (RA) and it remained in her possession.
Hadhrat Uthman and the compilation of the Qur’an Shareef
During the Caliphate of Hadhrat Uthman (RA) Islam spread far beyond Arabia. Countries quite far off like Iran, the central Asian countries and Rome got included in the Islamic block. Many non-Arabs embracing Islam who were not knowing Arabic language, the language of the Qur’an Shareef. Allahu Ta’ala had revealed the Qur’an Shareef in seven Arabic dialects which were well known to the first addressees of the Qur’an Shareef i.e. Arabs of Makkah, Madinah and adjoining areas. There people had no confusion and were reciting the Qur’an Shareef as per the dia-lect which was easy for them and to which they were used. Rasu-lullah (SAW) had allowed them to recite the Qur’an Shareef as per any of those seven dialects.
Rasulullah (SAW) said in a Sahih Hadith Shareef:
“Indeed this Qur’an Shareef has been revealed in seven dialects, so recite from it what is easy to you”
(Bukhari)
As the time passed, people started arguing with one another, everyone saying that his dialect alone was correct. Alama Ibne Hajar writes in Fathul-Bari.
“Hadhrat Hudhaifa Bin Yamaan (RA) was participating in Jihad in Armenia and Azerbijan. There he saw that people were having controversies about different dialects of the Qur’an Shareef. After returning to Madinah he straight away met the Caliph Hadhrat Uthman (RA) and told him to take the necessary remedial measures before people would get involved in such controversies about the Qur’an Shareef as Jews and Christians had got involved about the Torah and the Injeel. Hadhrat Uthman (RA) asked him as to what was the matter? He informed him that he had seen in Aremenia and Azerbizan that the Iraqi people were following the dialect of Hadhrat Abdullah Bin Masood (RA) and were refuting the dialect of Hadhrat Ubi-Bin Kaab (RA) whose dialect was followed by the Syrians and they were labelling one another as infidels for the same reason”
Hadhrat Uthman (RA) was informed about this problem by other sources also. He then called the prominent senior Sahaabah (RA) and asked their opinion about this problem. They asked Hadhrat Uthman (RA) to give his opinion first. Hadhrat Uthman (RA) told them that he had thought to make all people to follow one dialect only, so that there remained no controversy. His opinion was upheld by this committee of Sahaabah. Then Hadhrat Uthman (RA) requested Hadhrat Hafsa (RA) to hand over the copy of the Qur’an Shareef compiled by Hadhrat Zayd Bin Thabit (RA) during the time of Hadhrat Abu Bakar Siddiq (RA), so that they could make many copies of the same and then send those to different parts of the world and would direct all the people to follow the same dialect.
For this purpose he framed a committee which included Hadhrat Zayd Bin Tahbit (RA), Hadhrat Abdullah Bin Zubair (RA), Hadhrat Sayeed -Bin-Al-Aas, Hadhrat Abdul Rehman Bin Haaris-Bin-Hisham. They were asked to prepare many copies of the Qur’an Shareef after copying from the copy compiled by Hadhrat Abu Bakar Siddiq (RA) with a difference that they were asked to arrange the Surahs as well which were not arranged during Abu Bakar Siddiq’s (RA) time. Out of these four members three belonged to the Qurash clan and the fourth i.e. Hadhrat Zayd was Ansari. Hadhrat Uthman advised them to follow the Qureshi dialect in case they differed at any place.
What was done during Hadhrat Uthman’s time?
1. As per Abu Hatam Sajastani seven copies of the Qur’an Shareef were prepared after copying from that which was compiled during Abu Bakr Siddiq’s time, and which was kept with Hadhrat Hafsa. These copies were sent one each to Makkah, Syria, Yamen, Bahrain, Basrah and Kofa. One was kept in Madinah.
(Fathul-Bari)
2. Surahs were compiled in one copy only and were arranged whereas they were written separately in Abu Bakr Siddiq’s time and were not arranged.
3. The Qur’an Shareef was written in such a way so that it could accommo-date all the dialects and no dots or signs like Zabar, Zer or Pesh were used.
(Uloom-ul-Qur’an)
The Qur’an Shareef was not only saved on paper but more so in the hearts of people
We have seen in the previous lines what great care was taken by the Rasulullah (SAW) himself and his companions to keep the Qur’an Shareef secure in written form in a fool-proof manner. But for the safety of the Qur’an Shareef Allah Ta’ala had created an unique and extra ordinary arrangement which definitely is an unparallel arrangement of which the world has no other example to cite. This marvellous arrangement is the preservation of the Qur’an Shareef not on paper only but also in the hearts of people. The Qur’an Shareef is the only book which is memorized from beginning to end by thousands of people at any given time all over the world. This is memorized in such a way that not a line, not to speak of a line, not a single dot or sign is omitted from recitation. Even more miraculous is that even children of 7 and 8 years of age have been bestowed upon by such a power by Allah Ta’ala, that they memorize this whole the Qur’an Shareef even at such a young age. This is a distinct miracle of the Qur’an Shareef which no one can challenge. Any other book which may be even one twentieth of the size of the Qur’an Shareef cannot be memorized in such a way. Allah Ta’ala has made it possible for the Qur’an Shareef only. When the Qur’an Shareef was being revealed to Rasulullah (SAW) he (SAW) used to repeat the words quickly lest he (SAW) should forget it. Allah Ta’ala sent down the following verse:
“Move not your tongue concerning The Qur’an, Oh Muhammad to make haste here with. It is for Us to collect it and to gave you (O’ Muhammad the ability to recite it. And when We have recited it to You O’ through Jibrael) then follow its (the Quran’s) recital.”
(78:16-19)
In these verses Rasulullah (SAW) was assured by Allah Ta’ala in quite clear terms that Allah Ta’ala has taken the responsibility upon Himself for the safety of the Qur’an Shareef, not only of its safe collection but its recital also.
So, Rasulullah (SAW) was ad-vised not to be worried about the safety of the Qur’an Shareef. Then onwards Rasulullah (SAW) used to listen to the revelation quietly and after the revelation used to be over, he would find the revealed matter safe in his memory, then this never vanished. In this way the blessed chest of Rasulullah (SAW) was made the first safe fort for the Qur’an Shareef. For further satis-faction Rasulullah (SAW) used to recite the whole the Qur’an Shareef in front of Hadhrat Jibraeel (AS) every year in Ramad-han and used to listen to it also from him every year, making sure that every bit of that what had been revealed so far, was safe in his memory. In the last year of his life, Rasulullah (SAW) recited to Jibraeel (A.S) twice instead of once as narrated in Sahih Bukahri.
Memory power of the Sahaabah
Fourteen hundred years ago, when the Qur’an Shareef was revealed, there were no printing presses in the world, and even paper was quite scarce. Under these circumstances what Divine measures were taken for the safe preservation of the Qur’an Shareef? Allah Ta’ala had bestowed upon a Arabs the tremendous memory power. When some part of the Qur’an Shareef was being revealed, Rasulullah (SAW) used to call the Sahaabah(RA) and ask someone amongst them to write these revealed verses. Some Sahaabah (RA) would write these verses but most of the Sahaabah were learning these verses by heart. Learning of the Qur’an Shareef was most dear to the Sahaabah (RA). They dedi-cated their lives.Even women were asking their hus-bands that they did not want any dowry from them except that they should be taught the Qur’an Shareef. In this way in a very short span of time a large number of Sahaabah (RA) became the Haafiz-ul-Qur’an (those who memorized whole Qur’an Shareef). The names of some of them have been mentioned in Al-Itiqan by Allama Sayooti viz,
Hadhrat Abu Bakar, Hadhrat Umar, H.Uthman , H. Ali, H. Abdul-lah Bin Masood, H. Hudhaifa Bin Yamaan , H. Salam Maula Abi Hud-haifa, H. Abu Hurrariah, H. Abdullah Bin Umar, H. Abdullah Bin Abbas, H. Umar Ibne Aas, H. Abdullah Bin Umru , H. Muaawiya, H. Abdullah Bin Zubair, H. Aisha, H. Abdullah Bin Saib, H. Hafsa, H. Ummi-Salma, H. Ummi Varqa, H. Ubi Bin Ka’b, H. Muaadh Bin Jabal, H. Zayd Bin Thabit, H. An as Bin Maalik, H. Abu Musa Asha’ri an d man y others (RA).
Seventy Hufaaz martyred in the battle of Bir-Ma’unah
It has been narrated by Mughirah Ibn Abdul Rahman , Abdullah Ibn Abu Bakr Ibn Muhammad Ibn Amr Ibn Hazm an d a group of scholars:
Once Abu Bara Amir Ibn Maalik, the man who used to play with lances, came to the Messenger of Allah (SAW) at Madinah. Rasulullah(SAW) invited him to accept Islam. Neither he accepte Islam nor did he disregarded it rather he said, ‘O Muhammad! If you send some of your companions to the people of Najd an d they preach Islam to them, I hope they would accept that.’ The messenger of Allah (SAW) said, ‘I fear the people of Najd would harm them.’ Abu Bara told, ‘I would protect them (therefore send them to call the people towards your work). The messenger of Allah (SAW) sent Mundhir Ibn Amr, the ally of Ban u Sa’idah al-Mun’iq, along with the forty selected Companions among the Muslims including Harith Ibn Simmah, Haram Ibn Mihan , the ally of Ban i Adi Ibn Najjar, Urwah Ibn Asma Ibn Salt al-Sulami, Nafl Ibn Budail Ibn Warqa al-Khaza’i and Amir Ibn Fuhairah, the slave of Abu Bakr (RA). They travelled until they reached Bir Ma’unah, which was located between the land of Banu Amir and the lava field of Bani Sulaim. When they had encamped there, they sent Haram Ibn Mihan , along with the letter of the Messenger of Allah (SAW) to Amir Ibn Tufail. When he reached there, he did not read the letter but rather attacked him and then killed him. Afterwards, he called Banu Amir to attack the Muslims but they refused to do so and said, ‘We will not oppose Abu Bara who had brought them with the promise of protection.’ Then he (i.e., Amir Ibn Tufail) sought help from the tribes of Bani Sulaim, Usayah, Ri’la and Dhakwan . They acknowledged his request and marched to the Muslims whom they surrounded while they were in their tents. When the Muslims saw them, they took out their swords and fought them valian tly until all of them were martyred. However, Ka’b Ibn Zayd, the ally of Bani Dinar Ibn Najjar, left by the polytheists (in a serious condition, who treated him as the dead but he), was having some life. He some how managed to escape from the dead persons and lived until he was martyred in the Battle of Khandaq (trench). Two other Muslims Amir Ibn Umayyah al-Damari and Ansari belonging to Banu Amr Ibn Auf had gone to graze the animals. They noticed the vultures hovering in the air. They exclaimed, ‘By Allah Ta’ala, these birds tell the happening of something foul.’ When they returned to the camp they saw from some distance that their companions were (dead) in a pool of blood. The murder-ers on their horses were standing around their bodies. The Ansari asked Amr Ibn Umayyah, ‘What do you think’? He replied, ‘We should go to the Messenger of Allah (SAW) and inform him about the incident.’ But the Ansari said, ‘I don’t like to move from the place where Mundhir Ibn Amr has been martyred. I am not going to inform people about them.’ Then he fought with the unbelievers until he was martyred. They imprisoned Amr when he told that he belonged to the tribe of Mundar, he was released by Amr Ibn Tufail. He cut the hair of his forehead and set him free for the slave which his mother had vowed to set free.
Seventy Sahabah martyred in battle of Yamamah
Imam Qurtubi reports that seventy such Sahaabah (RA) were martyred in battle of Yamamah who were Haafiz-e-Qur’an.
From these evidences it is clear that a large number of Sahaabah (RA) had memorized the Qur’an by heart and kept this treas-ure safe in their Chests.
Hifze-Qur’an has remained a routine in Ummah since the time of Sahaabah
We have seen that a large number of Sahaabah (RA) dedicated their lives for memorization of Whole the Qur’an and since then it became a routine in the Ummah to memorize whole Qur’an. Not a single such period has passed since the time of Sahaabah (RA) in which there have not been thousands of Haafiz-e-Qur’an present in Ummat. So this Qur’an has not only reached us today through paper but has also reached us from breast to breast. If you take exam-ple of India only, you will see even today (1995) in India there are hundreds of Darul-ulooms where thousands of young budding students are busy in memorizing the Qur’an by heart. A farmer in a far-off town, for instance, like Azamgarh in India recites whole the Qur’an during the day while ploughing his field. Hadhrat Sheikh-ul-Hadith, Hadhrat Maulana Zakariya (RA) of Saharanpur, India, writes that the women folk in his house used to recite 15-20 parts of the Qur’an (out of total 30) during day in Ramadhan while they were working in Kitchen as all of them were Haafiz)
A tailor, while working on his sewing machine, delights himself by reciting the Qur’an which he has memorized in his child-hood.
When such is the attachment of people with the Qur’an even after fourteen hundred years, what do you think is the cause of this Unique and Unparallel thing? You will have no alternative but to admit that the Qur’an is the miracle of Allah Ta’ala and these evi-dences are the manifestations of Divine protection of the Qur’an.
Chapter 6
Safety of meaning of the Qur’an Shareef
Allah Ta’ala says in the Qur’an Shareef:
“Move not your tongue concerning (The Qur’an, Oh Muhammad (SAW) to make haste here with. It is for Us to collect it and to give you (O’ Muhammad (SAW) the ability to recite it. And when We have recited it to You O’ (SAW), through Jibrael) then follow its (the Quran’s) recital.”
(78:16-19)
In these verses not only words and recitation of the Qur’an Shareef is guar-anteed but also its meaning. For this reason ‘Ilm-u-Tafseer’ (knowledge of meaning of the Qur’an Shareef) has remained topmost priority amongst the Muslim Ummah ever since the Qur’an Shareef was revealed. The Muslim Ulema of all ages have always remained extremely vigilant and have ensured that the Qur’an Shareef is never misinterpreted. The first law in this regard which got established in the Ummah, right from the time of Sahabah-Al-Kiram, was that the Qur’an Shareef should be interpreted only as per those interpretations which was made by Rasulullah (SAW) and his companions. For this purpose, the Hadith Shareef of Rasulullah (SAW) worked as the guiding principle’ which stated:
“One who interprets the Qur’an Shareef as per his own opinion, should consider his abode in hell.”
In view of this Hadith Shareef, the Sahabah-Al-Kiram remained very cautious in interpreting the Qur’an Shareef and it became a routine practice for them to strive very hard in order to know those interpreta-tions of the Qur’an Shareef which were made by Rasulullah (SAW). A group of Sahabah, who are called Ashab-e-Sufa never left the company of Rasulullah (SAW) to achieve this objective Hadhrat Abu Hurairah (RA). was one of them. Their main purpose was to listen to and note all that which was uttered from the blessed tongue of Rasulullah (SAW). The other Sahabah(RA) who remained busy with other purpose and had less time to spend in the company of Rasulullah (SAW) made it a point to learn the Qur’an Shareef from these Sahabah (RA)who remained in the company of Rasulullah (SAW) for a long time.
In this way a practice got established in the Ummah that for the interpretation of the Qur’an Shareef, it was necessary to know how Rasulullah (SAW) and his Sahabah (RA) had interpreted it, and the Ulema-Haq of all ages have been in agreement that no other interpretation should be relied upon but should rather be strongly rejected with full might.
This point has already been discussed that for sustaining of any ideology or system, not only books but men of excellence are needed. For the Qur’an Shareef we have seen that Allah Ta’ala made it easy for people to memorise it as a result of which thousands of Hufaaz have always been there at any given point of time. For the safety of the meaning of the Qur’an Shareef Allah Ta’ala created marvelous scholars of the Qur’an Shareef , scholars who dedicated their lives for learning and teaching the interpretations of the Qur’an Shareef, strictly following the principles set by Rasulullah (SAW) and his esteemed Sahabah (RA). Allama Sayooti has compiled a book in four volumes named “Tarjimanul Qur’an” in which he has collected over ten thousand Hadith Shareef which are related to interpretations of the Qur’an Shareef by Rasulul-lah (SAW) and his Sahabah (RA) (Al-Itqan). He says that while compiling that book he saw Rasulullah (SAW) in a dream and in that dream there were glad tid-ings for him.
The First generation of Mufassireen from Sahabah-Al-Kiram (RA)
1. Hadhrat Abu Bakr Siddiq (RA)
2. Hadhrat Umar (RA)
3. Hadhrat Uthman (RA)
4. Hadhrat Ali (RA)
5. Hadhrat Ibne Abbas (RA)
6. Hadhrat Abdullah Bin Masood (RA)
7. Hadhrat Ubi Bin K’ab (RA)
8. Hadhrat Zayd Bin Thabit (RA)
9. Hadhrat Abu Musa Ash’ari (RA)
10. Hadhrat Abdullah Bin Zubair (RA)
11. Hadhrat Aisha (RA)
Hadhrat Ali (RA)
Amongst the Khulfa-e-Rashideen the maximum number of narrations are quoted from Hadhrat Ali (RA) and the least from Hadhrat Abu Bakr Siddiq (RA), this is because of the fact that Hadhrat Abu Bakr (RA) lived for less time after Rasulullah (SAW) whereas Hadhrat Ali (RA) lived for a greater length of time afterwards.
It is quoted from Ibne Tufail,
“I saw Hadhrat Ali (RA) when he was addressing us in a Khutba and he was saying, ‘Ask me and by Allah Ta’ala you will not ask me any question which I won’t answer. And ask me about the book of Allah Ta’ala and I swear by Allah Ta’ala that there is no Ayat but I know about it, whether it has been revealed during the night or during the day.’ ”
(Al-Itqan)
Hadhrat Abdullah Bin Masood (RA)
Rasulullah (SAW) said,
“Obtain the Qur’an Shareef from four; from Hadhrat Abdullah Bin Masood (RA), Salim(RA), Muadh(RA) and Ubi Bin Ka’b(RA).”
(Bukhari)
Hadhrat Abdullah Bin Masood (RA) was one of the close asso-ciates of Rasulullah (SAW) and a distin-guished Mufassir of the Qur’an Shareef. Sahih Bukhari has narrated on the authority of Masrooq that Hadhrat Abdullah Bin Masood (RA) said:
“By Allah Ta’ala, without Whom there is no one worth worshiping, there is no (such) Surah from book of Allah Ta’ala which has been revealed but I know about it as to where it has been revealed and about what it has been revealed and if I come to know that anybody is more knowl-edgeable in the Qur’an than myself, I will ride my camel up to him.”
Bukhari has also quoted Abdullah Bin Masood (RA) as saying,
“I have learnt over seventy Surahs (directly) from the blessed tongue of Rasulullah (SAW).”
He later shifted to Kofa and died during the Caliphate of Hadhrat Uthman (RA). He dedicated himself to the teaching of the Qur’an Shareef and Hadith Shareef. The chain of scholars of Hanafite school of thought reaches us from Rasulullah (SAW) through Hadhrat Abdullah Bin Masood (RA). Alqama was one of his main students, who happens to be amongst the grand teachers of Imam Abu Haniefa.
Hadhrat Ibne Abbas (RA)
When we talk about the Mufassireen of the Qur’an Shareef from the group of Sahabah(RA), the name of Hadhrat Ibne Abbas (RA) stan Shareefds out with distinction. This was because of the special dua made in his favour by Rasulullah (SAW) in following words:
“Oh! Allah Ta’ala; give him the right understanding of Deen and teach him the meaning (Tafseer) of the Qur’an Shareef.”
Due to this dua Allah Ta’ala bestowed him with an extraordinary understanding of the Qur’an Shareef and he earned the title of Imam-ul-Mufassireen. Despite his young age, other senior Sahabah(RA) used to consult him about meanings of the Qur’an Shareef. Hadhrat Umar (RA) used to invite him to the consultative meetings in which he alone used to be the youngest and all others were senior Sahabah(RA). This was because of his special capability as Mufassir of the Qur’an Shareef.
Ibne Abbas says:
“Rasulullah (SAW) told me:
‘Yes, you are spokesman of the Qur’an’ ”
(Al-Itqan)
Students of Ibne Abbas
The role of Ibne Abbas as Mufassir of the Qur’an Shareef is not only remem-bered because of his own Tafseer but also because of the fact that he was able to produce a distinguished galaxy of Mufassireen like Mujahid, Atah Bin Rabah, Ikramah Maula Ibne Abbas, Saeed Ibne Jubair and Taauoo etc. Mujahid, who was a distinguished scholar of the Qur’an Shareef, says that he read the Qur’an Shareef in front of Ibne Abbas (RA) three times and for every Ayat he used to ask him as to when and how that Ayat was revealed. Hadhrat Ibne Abbas took great pains in teaching his servant Ikramah, who later on contributed a lot to the Tafseer of the Qur’an Shareef. These people in turn prepared hundreds of scholars of the Qur’an Shareef and this chain continued up to us without any break. Muslims have the distinction of creating a unique branch of science called Fun-e-Asmaa-e-Rijal, this branch deals with the biographies of those people who have quoted the Qur’an and Hadith Shareef at every step, of which the Sahabah (RA) being the first step, the Tabaeen the second and the like down the chain. The quota-tions of Ibne Abbas about the Qur’anic Tafseer have reached us through different such chains of narrators and the authenticity of each one has been evaluated in the Fun-e-Asma-e-Rijal. To name a few chains which have narrated quotations of Ibne Abbas are:
i. Abu Sahiha from Muaawiya Bin Saliha from Ali Bin Abi Talha from Ibne Abbas.
ii. Qais from Attah Bin Saaib, from Saeed Bin Jubair from Ibne Abbas.
(Al-Itqan)
These chains are authentic and there are other chains but their authenticity has been questioned. Why have I highlighted all this? It is because by this you can understand the miracle of the Qur’an Shareef as to how its meaning has also been safeguarded and even the life histories of its narrators has been thoroughly evaluated and recorded.
Hadhrat Ubi Bin Ka’b (RA)
He is one of those four distinguished Sahabah(RA)about whom Rasulullah (SAW) said:
“Obtain the Qur’an Shareef from four”
Rasulullah (SAW) also said about him,
“Amongst them (Sahabah), Ubi Bin Ka’b is the best Qari.”
It is because of this that even senior Sahabah (RA) used to consult him about Tafseer of the Qur’an Shareef.
It has been reported by some that Ubi Bin Ka’b is the first such Mufassir of the Qur’an Shareef whose Tafseer was given the shape of a book. Great Mufassireen like Imam Ibne Jareer, Ibne Abi Hatam, Imam Ahmad Bin Hambal and Imam Hakim have quoted narrations from him.
Hadhrat Zayd Bin Thabit (RA)
Hadhrat Zayd Bin Thabit was Kaatib-e-Wahy. When any verse of the Qur’an Shareef was being revealed to Rasulullah (SAW), he used to call someone for writing those verses. Hadhrat Zayd (RA) mostly did this job. He played a great role in compilation of the Qur’an Shareef at one place in book form. This job was entrusted to him by Hadhrat Abu Bakr Siddiq (RA) during his Caliphate as already mentioned.
The Second generation Mufassireen
As we have seen that the Sahabah-al-Kiram (RA)dedicated their lives to learning and teaching of the Qur’an Shareef, and as such they produced a large number of marvelous Mufassireen of the Qur’an Shareef from their second generation called Taabaeen. These are often quoted in any Tafseer of the Qur’an Shareef. Some distinguished Mufassireen from this generation are:
Hadhrat Mujahid (RA)
He was one of the distinguished students of Hadhrat Ibne Abbas (RA). He was born in 21 Hijra and died in 103 Hijra. He says that he read the Qur’an Shareef in front of Hadhrat Ibne Abbas three times and for every Ayat he used to ask him as to when and how that the Ayat was revealed.
Imam Nawwawi said,
“If theTafseer of Mujahid comes to you, it is enough for you.”
(Al-Itiqan)
Ibne Taymiya said,
“Scholars like Imam Shafae and Imam Bukhari relied on his Ta-fseer.”
Qatada said,
“Amongst the Ulema who have remained, Mujahid is the best.”
Khaseef said,
“Mujahid is the best Aalim of Tafseer.”
(Al-Itiqan)
Mujahid himself says,
“I stayed in the company of Hadhrat Ibne Umar (RA), I wanted to serve him but he used to serve me.”
(Uloom-ul-Qur’an)
Hadhrat Saeed Bin Jubair (RA)
Hadhrat Saeed Bin Jubair (RA) was a famous Tabaee who learnt the Qur’an Shareef from great Mufassireen of the first generation like Hadhrat Ibne Abbas, Hadhrat Abdullah Bin Umar, Hadhrat Abdullah Bin Zubair and Hadhrat Anas (RA) etc.
Hadhrat Sufiyan Thouri said about him,
“Learn the Qur’an Shareef from four, Saeed Bin Jubair, Mujahid, Ikramah and Zuhak.”
Hadhrat Qatada said,
“There were four most knowledgeable amongst the Tabaeen, out of them Atah Bin Abi Rabah was in Manaasik, Saeed Bin Jubair in Tafseer, Ikramah in Seer and Hassan in Halal and Haram.”
(Al-Itiqan)
Hadhrat Saeed Bin Jubair wrote a Tafseer on the request of Caliph Abdul Maalik Bin Marwan. The Caliph kept that Tafseer in the Royal Treasury which later on came in the possession of Hadhrat Atar Bin Deenar who has quoted from this Tafseer quite frequently.
(Uloom-ul-Qur’an)
Hadhrat Ikramah (RA)
He was a distinguished Mufassir of the Qur’an Shareef from the Tabaeen group. He was a slave who was presented to Hadhrat Ibne Abbas by Hussain Bin Abi-Al-Har Al-Anbri. Hadhrat Ibne Abbas took great pains in teaching him. In addition to Ibne Abbas, Ikramah has quoted narrations from Hadhrat Ali, Hadhrat Hasan Bin Ali, Hadhrat Abu Hurairah, Hadhrat Ibne Umar, Hadhrat Abdullah Bin Umar, Hadhrat Abu Saeed Khudri, Hadhrat Uqbah Bin Aamir, Hadhrat Jabir, Hadhrat Muawiya and many other Sahabah(RA).
Hadhrat Atah Bin Abi Rabah(RA)
He was born in the last years of the Caliphate of Hadhrat Uthman(RA) and died in 144 Hijra. He is also amongst the distinguished students of Hadhrat Ibne Abbas. He was particularly known for his knowledge of Manaasik of Haj.
Ibne Jareer says that for twenty years his bedding was the matting of the mosque.
Hadhrat Saeed Bin-Al-Musaib (RA)
He was the son in law of Hadhrat Abu Hurairah(RA) and most of the narrations of Hadhrat Abu Hurairah(RA) have been quoted through Saeed Bin-Al-Musaib only. He performed Haj 40 times. He attained a distinguished status amongst Tabaeen and is a well known Mufassir of the Qur’an Shareef.
Hadhrat Hasan Basri (RA)
He is an extraordinary shinning star amongst the second generation Mufassireen. His mother Khairah was the freed Kaneez of Ummul-Mumineen Hadhrat Ummi-Salmah and it is also reported that she has at times breast fed him. He was born two years before the martyrdom of Hadhrat Umar. He learnt the Qur’an Shareef and Hadith Shareef from a number of Sahabah.
The Role of Hasan Basri as a great reformer
After the death of Caliph Umar Bin Abdul Aziz (RA), Islamic principles and its moral values started declining fast. People started living luxurious lives and where infected by the poisonous germs of materialism, hypocrisy and negligence of the Aakhirah. Spirituality and the heat of Iman in the hearts of Muslims started freezing. Negligence of the people about the Qur’an Shareef was on the rise. It is under these circumstances that Hadhrat Hassan Basri played his criti-cal role in rekindling the lamp of Iman, not only saving it from getting extinguished but also helping in increasing its bright-ness. He had all those qualities which were needed at that time for safeguarding Islam. He was having knowledge of Islam with great depth, he was a great Mufassir of the Qur’an Shareef and a great Muhaddith. His lectures would melt the hearts of the listeners. In this way he succeeded in checking the declining trend of Islamic principles.
Islam has this distinction of producing such men of excel-lence from time to time and this kept its candle aflame.
Hadhrat Tauoos (RA)
He was from Yemen and was a student of Hadhrat Ibne Abbas, Hadhrat Abdullah Bin Masood, Hadhrat Abdullah Bin Umar, Hadhrat Zayd Bin Thabit, Hadhrat Zayd Bin Arqam and many other Sahabah(RA). He became very famous during his life time as well as known Mufassir of the Qur’an Shareef. He performed Haj 40 times during his life time.
Urwah Bin-Al-Zubair (RA)
He is the son of a famous Sahabi Hadhrat Urwah Bin-Al-Zubair (RA) and nephew of Hadhrat Aisha (RA). He is amongst the seven famous Fuqha of Madinah. He has quoted most of the narrations of Hadhrat Aisha RA).
Muhammad Bin Seereen (RA)
Muhammad Bin Seereen was a great Mufassir of the Qur’an Shareef, a Muhaddith and a Faqih. His listening and learning of the Qur’an Shareef and Hadith Shareef from the Sahabah like Hadhrat Anas (RA), Hadhrat Abu Hurairah (RA), Hadhrat Imran Bin Hussain, Hadhrat Abdullah Bin Umar and Hadhrat Zayd Bin Thabit, is authentic. His father Seereen was a freed slave and had six sons and all of whom were authentic narrators of Hadith Shareef and amongst them Muhammad Bin Seereen was the most outstanding.
His status can be appreciated by the fact that a Sahabi like Hadhrat Anas (RA) had made the Wasiyat that only Muhammad Bin Seereen should give him ghusl after his death.
(Uloom-ul-Qur’an)
Hadhrat Qatada (RA)
He was born blind but had extraordinary (of memory) power.
Imam Ahmad says,
“Qatada is a very great Aalim of Tafseer.”
(Uloom-ul-Qur’an)
His name is also often quoted in the books of Tafseer.
Hadhrat Alqama (RA)
Hadhrat Alqama is a famous student of Hadhrat Abdullah Bin Masood (RA). He was from Kofa and was born during the life time of Rasulullah (SAW). Hadhrat Alqama is consid-ered very excellent particularly in Fiqh. He is among the grand teachers of Imam Abu Haniefa (RA).
Hadhrat Naafea (RA)
He was in Neeshapur and was thefreed slave of Hadhrat Abdul-lah Bin Umar(RA). There were two students of Hadhrat Ibne Umar who became famous, one was his son Hadhrat Saalim Bin Abdullah and the other was his slave Hadhrat Naafea.
According to Imam Bukhari, the most authentic chain of narrators is “from Maalik from Naafea from Abdullah Bin Umar.”
Hadhrat Ibne Umar himself says,
“Allah Ta’ala has done a great favour to us by giving us Naafea.”
Alama Ibne Hajar says,
“We don’t see any mistake in all that which has been quoted by Naafea.”
Imam Maalik was the distinguished student of Hadhrat Naafea.
(Uloom-ul-Qur’an)
The Third generation Mufassireen
The second generation of Mufassireen -Tabaeen- prepared a large galaxy of Mufassireen from their students, who wrote many Ta-fseers in which they collected all the quotations of the Sahabah (RA) and Taabaeen about Tafseer of the Qur’an Shareef. In this way, you can see quite clearly, that how the meaning of the Qur’an Shareef was also safeguarded and how it reached to us from generation to generation without any chanc-es of fallacies creeping in. The most important Mufassireen of the third generation include:-
1. Sufiyan Bin Uyainiya (RA)
2. Wak’ee Bin Jarah (RA)
3. Souba Bin Hujaj (RA)
4. Yazid Bin Haroon (RA)
5. Abdul Razak (RA)
6. Adam Bin Abi Iyas (RA)
7. Ishaq Bin Rahowiya (RA)
8. Roh Bin Ubaadah (RA) etc.
(Al-Itiqan)
The Mufassireen of the Fourth generation
The Fourth generation of Mufassireen wrote great Tafseers, they include:-
1. Ibne Jareer Tabri (RA)
2. Ibne Abi Hatam (RA)
3. Ibne Majah (RA)
4. Haakim (RA)
5. Ibne Haban (RA)
6. Ibne-Munzir (RA)
(Al-Ithqan)
All of them have continuity upto the Sahabah (RA). All later Mufassireen have quoted from these earlier sources.
The Other men of excellence other than Mufassireen
In addition to the group of ‘Mufassireen’ mentioned above who ensured the safe transmission of the Qur’an Shareef to us without any alteration and protected it from any sort of misinterpretations, Allah Ta’ala created other men of excellence from time to time to safeguard Islam from socio-political and cultural onslaughts and thus did not allow the dark clouds of these hurdles to obscure the bright shinning light of the Qur’an Shareef. A Few of them are mentioned here briefly:
Umar Bin Abdul Aziz (RA)
When the caliphate of the Khulfa-e-Raashideen (the first four cal-iphs of Islam) was over, the Muslims started getting absorbed in a materialistic life forgetting the lofty teachings of the Qur’an Shareef.
The Muslim empire had by then expanded greatlyand a lot of wealth was acquired by the Muslims. The Quranic spirit with which the Khulfa-e-Raashideen ruled was replaced by mundane lusts, materialism, nepotism and forgetfulness of the Aakhirah by later rulers.The Muslims became involved in regional and family conflicts. Moral values started declining fast and the rulers were going away from Qura-nic principles at a fast pace. At this critical juncture of Isla-mic history, Islam needed some miraculous help to come out of this hazardous situation. Allah Ta’ala sent this help in the form of Hadhrat Umar Bin Abdul Aziz (RA).
He was born in sixty one Hijra and his mother was the grand daughter of Hadhrat Umar Farooq (RA). In his early life he was not that strictly religious but as soon as he was appointed as the caliph of the Muslims (Ameer-ul-mumeen) his entire life style changed to such a dramatic extent that everyone around was surprised. He cleaned the administration of all corrupt people and forced the rulers to discard the luxurious princely life styles and adopt an extreme type of austerity.
He said to the people:
“Prophet Muhammad (SAW) was not sent as Tehsildar to the world but as (Haadi), the guide towards righteousness”
(Tarikh D.Azimat)
It is with this concept that he changed the entire set up and the very aims of the government. The aim of governing people till that time was just to grab money and power but now the aim was to please Allah Ta’ala and follow the Qur’an Shareef and sunnah strictly. He laid special stress on the moral upliftment of people, reviving the spirit of Islam and the Qur’an Shareef.
He issued a circular instructing:
“Wherever you see the Hadith Shareef of Rasulullah (SAW) collect that.”
In this way he exhorted the scholars to take necessary measures for keeping the treasures of the Qur’an Shareef and Hadith Shareef secure .
His role has always been written with golden letters in Islamic History. The Ummah can never afford to forget him.
The Four great Imams
Yet another great favour of Allah Ta’ala to this Ummah has been in the form of the birth of four such great men who had been bestowed with extraordinary intelligence, memory, knowledge, piousness and understanding of the Qur’an Shareef and Sunnah. These were Imam Abu Haniefa(150 Hij), Imam Maalik(179 Hij), Imam Shaafee(204 Hji) and Imam Ahmad Bin Hambal(241 Hij).
Islam was spreading fast and new countries and new people were coming under the flag of Islam. The Islamic empire was expanding at a very fast speed and newer and newer problems were being faced by the Muslims. To get the answer to all these problems from the Qur’an Shareef and Sunnah was not an easy task for a common man.
It needed a great command over various disciplines of Isla-mic sciences with a great depth in the knowledge of the Qur’an Shareef and Sunnah. The extraction of guidelines from the Qur’an Shareef and Sunnah, their exact application to day to day problems varying from very simple personal problems to great national and international socio-politico-economic problems was indeed a Herculean job which needed real men of excellence. The common man would have been lost, giving the enemies of Islam a chance to say that like other religions Islam was also unable to provide a complete code of conduct covering all aspects of life. Today even after fourteen centuries we proudly challenge others saying that Islam is a perfect system applicable to all people in any given circumstances and that there is no problem which doesn’t have its answer in Islam. Have we ever thought as to how it has been possible? It has been possible because of the relentless great work done on Islamic jurisprudence by these great souls of Islam viz., Imam Abu Haniefa, Imam Shafaee, Imam Maalik and Imam Ahmad Bin Hambal, may Allah Ta’ala elevate their status more and more (Aameen).
It is now admitted by many western writers as well that western and other non- Muslim countries succeeded in framing their penal codes only after copying from the laws of Islamic jurisprudence laid down by these great Islamic jurists. Unfor-tunately these days there are some Muslims, having very superfi-cial knowledge of Islam, who fail to appreciate the great work done by these great people and are trying to belittle their work.
It is reported that Imam Abu Haniefa (RA) extracted and put forward six hundred thousand Masail (laws). The collection of fatawa of Imam Maalik contained thirty six thousand Masail, Imam Shafaee compiled his Fatawa in seven voluminous books and Imam Ahmad Bin Hambal com-piled his fatawa in forty volumes.
(Tarikh-D.Azimat)
These great people did this great academic tast to prevent against all endeavours aimed at misinterpreting the shariah. Imam Maalik (RA) received lashes for not deviating from the truth. Imam Abu Haniefa (RA) was imprisoned, Imam Ahmad Bin Hambal’s (RA) great re-sistance and valiant fight against the rulers is a famous incident, commonly known as Fitna-Khalqr-Qur’an, and is a golden chapter in Islamic history.
The PROTECTION OF the QUR’AN SHAREEF FROM THE ONSLAUGHTS OF FALSE SECTS LIKE The MAUTE- ZELHITIS, CARMAtHIAN SECTS(BAATINIYAS) AND VICTIMS OF GREEK PHOILOSOPHY, etc.,
As you know firstly the enemies of the Qur’an Shareef tried to destroy the Muslims by means of the sword and when they realised that it was impos-sible to do so they then changed their tactics. Now they tried to erode the solid base of the Qur’an Shareef from within.
The Mautezelhitis:-
This sect gained importance during the Caliphate of Maamoon Rashid who was influenced by the strange interpretations of this group. They tried to change some of the fundamental beliefs of Islam. They were using their intellect in those things which were beyond the limits of compre-hension of intellect. Their fictitous explanations appeared strange and wounderful for many people and in turn these people were becoming influenced by their arguments. To discuss these arguments became the fashion with youngsters and the problem assumed alarming dimensions.
Abu Al- Hassan Ash’ari:-
The credit of taking Muslims out of this menace goes to Hadhrat Abu-Al-Hassan Ash’ari, who himself was initially a Mautezellite. Later he realised the falsehood of this sect and devoted his whole life in preaching true Islam as per the real Quranic perspective. He made a fierce attack on the Mautezel-lits with such strong arguments which stunned his opponents and thus succeeded in restoring the real fundamental beliefs of the Qur’an Shareef.
The Carmathian Sect. (Firqa Baatiniya):-
From the second century Hijra right upto now this is the sect which has been engaged in distorting the meaning of the Qur’an Shareef and the shape of Islam. They claim that the Qur’an Shareef has one apparent (Zahir) meaning and one secret (Batin) meaning and that they have learnt the secret meaning directly from some Imam Masoom. In this way they try to dissociate Muslims from the teachings of the Qur’an Shareef and Sunnah.
The Greek Philosophers:-
Greek Philosophy was (the other thing) which tried to over shadow Quranic principles. This Greek philosophy again became popu-larised amongst the Muslims during the time of Mamoon Rashid. He got many Greek works translated into Arabic. This Greek philosophy included subjects related to mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology etc., These sciences had nothing to do with religious beliefs but this philosophy also contained a lot of confused material about metaphysics which made no head or tail. These philosophers had discussed metaphysics on the basis of baseless imaginations and in a very compli-cated and confusing manner. Muslims, who were straight forward people and quite simple in thinking, got stunned by these confusing arguments about metaphysics to which they were strangers.
As you know every new thing is tasty so to discuss this new philosophy became the fashion for youngsters. Muslims were feeling helpless against these strange arguments and this was a great challenge for the Qur’an Shareef and its followers. As I mentioned earlier on that Allah Ta’ala has always, sent the men of excellence who have nipped these evils in their buds. And this time it was!
Imam Al-Gazzali:-
He was the person who attacked both these sects viz., the car-mathian and Greek philosopher, in such a way that not only the inferiority complex of Muslims was removed but as per some western phi-losopher, Greek philosophy would have been buried for-ever by the fierce onslaught made on it by Imam Gazzali, if Ibne Rushd would have not come to its rescue and thereby allowed it to breathe for another century.
Imam Gazzali refuted all these baseless arguments and established the supremacy of the truth of Quranic teachings. Most of the western philosophers of his time as well as who came afterwards always felt brow beaten infront of Imam Gazzali’s status.
Chapter 7
The Miracle of reporting events related to past History accurately by the Qur’an Shareef
Rasulullah (SAW) was born in Makkah, lost his both parents at an early age, was brought up as an orphan first by his grandfather, Abdul-Mutalib and later by his uncle Abu Talib. He did not attend any school, hence he knew not how to read and write. He spent all his early 40 years before Prophethood in Makkah and travelled just twice to Syria for a short span of time, so there was no chance of his knowing such branches of knowledge with such excellence as are mentioned by the Qur’an Shareef. In order to prove the truth by the Prophethood of Muhammad (SAW) the Qur’an Shareef time and again revealed the famous incidents of the past nations with extreme accuracy and precision, so we have no alternative but to believe that the revelations are Divine in nature and that it was therewise impossible for a person like Muhammad (SAW) to come with such accurate historical facts as he had not studied anywhere.
About the past, the Qur’an Shareef mentions a variety of things like the creation of the skies and the earth, creation of Adam (AS), of the role of Iblees and the descent of Adam (AS) to earth, then stories of previ-ous Prophets and other important events of the past.
The Qur’an Shareef while mentioning some of the past events of history, tells Muhammad (SAW):
This is part of the tidings of the things unseen which We reveal unto thee (O Apostle!) by inspiration; thou wast not with them when they cast lots with arrows as to which of them should be charged with the care of Mary; nor wast thou with them when they disputed (the point).
(3:44)
The Qur’an Shareef again addresses as Muhammad (SAW) after mentioning the incident of Hadhrat Naoh (AS):
Such are some of the stories of the Unseen which We have revealed unto thee: before this neither thou nor thy People knew them. So persevere patiently: for the End is for those who are righteous.
(11:49)
The Qur’an Shareef again addresses as Muhammad (SAW) before mentioning the inci-dent of HadhratYosuf (AS):
We do relate unto thee the most beautiful of stories in that We reveal to thee this (portion of the) Qur’an: before this thou too wast among those who knew it not
(12:3)
After mentioning the incident of Hadhrat Musa (AS), the Qur’an Shareef addresses as Muham-mad (SAW) as follows:
Thou wast not on the Western Side when We decreed the commission to Moses nor wast thou a witness (of those events). But We raised up (new) generations and long were the ages that passed over them; but thou wast not a dweller among the people of Madyan rehearsing Our Signs to them; but it is We Who send apostles (with inspiration). Nor wast thou at the side of (the Mountain of) Tur when We called (to Moses) Yet (art thou sent) as a Mercy from thy Lord to give warning to a people to whom no warner had come before thee: in order that they may receive admonition.
(28:44-46)
Had it been the word of Muhammad (SAW) himself, then the Qur’an Shareef would have not included such verses. These revelations of past events puzzled the unbelievers. In order to further test Muhammad (SAW) the Pagans of Makkah on behest of the Jews asked about rare incidents of the past like about the people of the cave (Ashab-Kahaf), Zul-Qarnain and about the soul (Rooh). Their surprise knew no limits when Muham-mad (SAW) answered their questions exactly after receiving Divine revela-tion, which proved beyond doubt his truthfulness.
In order to further consolidate the truthfulness of the Divine nature of the Qur’an Shareef, it addressed Muhammad (SAW) once again as follows:
And thou wast not (able) to recite a Book before this (Book came) nor art thou (able) to transcribe it with thy right hand: in that case indeed would the talkers of vanities have doubted
(29:48)
In reply to the allegations of the non-believers, the Qur’an Shareef further proves its point
But the Misbelievers say: “Naught is this but a lie which he has forged and others have helped him at it.” In truth it is they who have put forward an iniquity and a falsehood.
And they say: “Tales of the ancients which he has caused to be written: and they are dictated before him morning and evening.”
Say: “The (Qur’an) was sent down by Him Who knows the Mystery (that is) in the heavens and the earth: verily He is Oft-Forgiving Most Merciful.”
(25:4-6)
We know indeed that they say “It is a man that teaches him.” The tongue of him they wickedly point to is notable foreign while this is Arabic pure and clear.
(16:103)
Verily this is a Revelation from the Lord of the Worlds: With it came down the Spirit of Faith and Truth .To thy heart and mind that thou mayest admonish. (26:192-194)
Chapter 8
The Qur’an Shareef is the chief source of knowledge
Allah Ta’ala says in the Qur’an Shareef:
“And He has sent down to thee the book explaining all things, guide a Mercy and glad tidings to Muslims.”
(16:89)
Sayeed Ibne Mansoor reported a Hadith Shareef on the authority of Ibne Masood (RA):
“One who wants knowledge, should get it from the Qur’an Shareef as in it is the knowledge of earlier generations as well as later genera-tions.”
(Hijajul-Qur’an-Syooti)
Baihaqi reports on the authority of Hassan:
“Allah Ta’ala sent down a hundred and four (104) books and then put all the knowledge of all these books in four books namely the Torah, Injil, Zaboor and the Qur’an Shareef and then put the knowledge of these three in the Qur’an Shareef”
(Hijajul-Qur’an -Syooti)
Hadith Shareef is also from the Qur’an Shareef
It is reported in Sahih Bukhari and Muslim on the authority of Hadhrat Ibne Masood (RA) that Rasulullah (SAW) said:
“Allah Ta’ala curses those who pluck hair from their faces and who make spaces between their teeth for beauty thus changing that which Allah Ta’ala has created.”
This news reached a woman of Banu Asad who was called Umm Yaqub and she used to recite the Holy Qur’an Shareef. She came to Abdul-lah and said:
“The news has been brought to me that you curse those who tattoo and those who pluck hair from their faces and those who get them plucked and those who make spaces between their teeth for beauty and thus changing what Allah Ta’ala has created.”
Thereupon Abdullah said:
“Should I not curse those whom Allah Ta’ala has cursed,and this is what is found in the book of Allah Ta’ala.”
Thereupon the woman said:
“I have read the Qur’an Shareef from cover to cover but I did not find any-thing like it therein.”
Abdullah said:
“Had you read the Qur’an Shareef, you would have definitely found it that the Allah Ta’ala, the Exalted and the Glorious said,’Take whatsoever Messenger gives you and abstain from whatsoever he forbids you.’ ”
The old lady said that yes she had read that in the Qur’an. Abdullah said that as Rasulullah (SAW) has said, so therefore, this is also indirectly from the Qur’an Shareef.
The old lady understood it and acknowledged that that was also from the Qur’an Shareef.
We know that a Hadith Shareef of Rasulullah (SAW) contain countless precious gems of knowledge covering many many branches of knowl-edge, out of which each gem uttered by the blessed tongue of Rasulullah (SAW) hides a bottomless ocean within it, as one of the miracles of Rasulullah (SAW) was that he was Jawami-ul-Kalim which means that small sentences contained an ocean of meaning within them. These oceans of knowledge which are flowed gems of Hadith Shareef originat-e from the Qur’an Shareef.
Sayeed Bin Jubair says:
“No Hadith Shareef has reached me from Rasulullah (SAW) similar of which I have not found in the Qur’an Shareef.”
Some other have said:
“There is nothing which cannot be extracted from the Qur’an Shareef by those whom Allah Ta’ala has bestowed upon such understanding.”
Chapter 9
The Qur’an Shareef is the last revealed book
As the Prophethood of Rasulullah (SAW) is common for all people of all times to come, so is the message of the Qur’an Shareef. As regards the Prophethood of Rasulullah (SAW) Allah Ta’ala says:
Say: “O men! I have sent unto you all as the apostle of Allah to Whom belongeth the dominion of the heavens and the earth: there is no god but He: it is He that giveth both life and death. So believe in Allah and His apostle the unlettered Prophet who believed in Allah and His words: follow him that (so) ye may be guided.”
(7:158)
And also:
“We have not sent thee but as a universal (Messenger) to men giving them glad tidings and warning them (against sin) but most men understand not.”
(34:28)
As regards the Qur’an Shareef Allah Ta’ala says:
“Say: ‘What thing is most weighty in evidence?” Say: “Allah is Witness between me and you: this Qur’an hath been revealed to me by inspiration that I may warn you and all whom it reaches. Can ye possibly bear witness that besides Allah there is another god?” Say: ‘Nay! I cannot bear witness!’ Say: “But in truth He is the One Allah and I truly am innocent of (your blasphemy of) joining others with Him.’ ”
(5:19)
As the Prophethood ended with Rasulullah (SAW) so was the Divine revelations closed after the revelation of last Divine book-Al-Qur’an Shareef. The miraculous nature of the Qur’an Shareef has by now been sub-stantiated beyond any doubt that no new Deen is now needed as the Qur’an Shareef has all the answers for all the problems the mankind has faced or is going to face.
The Jinn also testified
Not only man but the Jinn also testified to this when they first heard the Qur’an Shareef as quoted by Allah Ta’ala:
“Say: It has been revealed to me that a company of Jinns listened (to the Qur’an). They say `We have really heard a wonderful Recital! It gives guidance to the Right and we have believed therein: We shall not join (in worship) any (gods) with our Lord.”
(72:1-2)
Religion attained the heights of perfection when the Qur’an Shareef was revealed
The Qur’an Shareef says:
“This day have I perfected your religion for you completed my favour upon you and have chosen for you Islam as your religion.”
(5:3)
One has to exert the least efforts in understanding the significance and brilliance of this statement. Only Almighty Who is All-Powerful and all knowing can make such an authoritative and categoric statement. Stop all other mental activities and think for a while over these verses. For this historic declaration, historic day was chosen for its revelation. It was Friday, 9th Zil-Haj called the day ‘Arfa’ when Muslims had for the first time assembled in such a great congregation of Haj which was attended by one and half lac Sahaabah, the companions of Rasulullah (SAW). Friday and the day ‘Arfa’ are days of great blessing for Muslim. The time of revelation was after‘Asr’ Salah just before sunset. This time is also impor-tant as on a Friday there are great chances of acceptance of Dua before the sun sets. The place where it was revealed was also equally blessed.It was revealed in Arfaar near Jabal-e-Rehmat where Rasulullah (SAW) was sitting on his camel. When these versed started revealing Arfaat is a place near Makkah, staying for sometime in the day of Arfa most essential constituent of Haj. From this we can understand that for this great declaration, a great day, blessed time, the great place and the great occasion were chosen.
The Importance of this day
Once a few Jewish scholars asked Hadhrat Umar Farooq (RA) that there was a verse in the Qur’an Shareef, had it been revealed to the Jews, they would have been celebrating that day as Eid. Hadhrat Umar (RA) asked them as to which was that Ayat? They replied:
“This day have I perfected your religion for you completed my favour upon you and have chosen for you Islam as your religion.”
(5:3)
Hadhrat Umar (RA) replied immediately that they knew when and where it was revealed i.e, it was a day of double Eid for them, the day of Arfa and Friday.
Rasulullah (SAW) lived in this world for only eighty one days after the revelation of these verses.
The Gradual progression of the world towards excellence
This world was nonexistent Allah Ta’ala created this world with His attribute of creativity. He created this world from nothingness, Allah Ta’ala is able to do anything of any magnitude and at any time without aid of anything. He creates things by saying the word ‘Kun’ which means ‘be’ when He says ‘be’ it immediately happens. Here we have to understand two things viz;
i. Qudrat-ullah
ii. Sunnat-ullah
Qudrat-ullah means the ability of Allah Ta’ala to perform various func-tions. Sunnatullah means the methodology He adopts for doing various things. With His great Qudrat He can do anything at any time, But when we analyse His sunnat or methodology of doing things we see that He does everything in a superb, highly system-atic, well planned and gradual manner. We see that He does noth-ing at random and in an erratic fashion. He could create man in no time by His word ‘be’ But we see He strictly follows His sunnat that first male and female have to meet, then fertilization takes place in a definite physiological environment and sequence, then the embryo develops and the fetus remains in the mother’s womb for an average of nine months in which the development is as per definite genetic codes kept by Allah Ta’ala in the genes.
Similarly you think over various things, may it be the formation of days and nights, the growing of crops, the change of seasons etc., in all these you will see that everything follows His instruc-tions in a well-set and planned manner. Allah Ta’ala says:
“Glory be to Him Who created all the sexual pairs, of that which the earth groweth, and of themselves, and of that which they know not! A token unto them is night.
We strip it of the day, and lo! they are in darkness. And the sun runneth on unto a resting place for him. That is the measuring of the Mighty, the Wise.
And for the moon We have appointed mansions till she return like an old shrivelled palm leaf. It is not for the sun to overtake the moon, nor doth the night outstrip the day. They float each in an orbit.
(36:36-40)
From these verses we can understand that Allah Ta’ala has ordered everything in the universe follow His instructions. We can also understand that He has made everything systematic and planned, and not in an erratic fashion.
Now coming back to my point, we were discussing that Allah Ta’ala created this universe out of nothing. Now, here again He has created this world not in an erratic fashion but in a superb systematic plan. When one thinks over this art of creativity of Allah Ta’ala and His magnificent planning and systematization, one instantaneously cries from the core of one’s heart, as quoted in the Qur’an Shareef:
“Our Lord! Not for naught hast Thou created (all) this! Glory to Thee! Give us salvation from the chastisement of the fire”
(3:191)
Now we see sunnat-ullah regarding the creation of this universe, Allah Ta’ala says:
“Say (O Muhammad, unto the idolaters): Disbelieve ye verily in Him Who created the earth in two Days, and ascribe ye unto Him rivals? He (and none else) is the Lord of the Worlds.
He placed therein firm hills rising above it, and blessed it and measured therein its sustenance in four Days, alike for (all) who ask; Then turned He to the heaven when it was smoke, and said unto it and unto the earth: Come both of you, willingly or loth. They said: We come, obedient. Then He ordained them seven heavens in two. He directeth the ordinance from the heaven unto the earth; then it ascendeth unto Him in a Day, whereof the measure is a thousand years of that ye reckon. Days and inspired in each heaven its mandate; and we decked the nether heaven with lamps, and rendered it inviolable. That is the measuring of the Mighty, the Knower.
(41:9-12)
In this verse Allah Ta’ala says that He created the earth (formless) in two days, the heaven in two days and the mountains and other blessings of the earth in two days, taking a total of six days in creating the earth along with its belongings and the heaven.
What is that one day equal to?
Allah Ta’ala says that He created the universe in six days. What is that one day equal to? We get an idea about days and nights only after and when we think of the sun and the moon and rotation of the earth around the sun. What is meant by a day when sun, moon and earth were not even created? We get the idea about the day of Judgement Yaum-ul-Qiyamah which the Qur’an Shareef says will be equal to fifty thou-sands years as per our account. We don’t get any such clue about the length period of the days in which universe was created keeping in mind that that time universe was yet in the making. Imam Raazi says that those days were the same as our days whereas in Rooh-ul-Ma’ani it is written that that day could be either the same as ours or could be longer or even shorter.
Now, without going into this discussion we can certainly say one thing that it was the range of time and not the point of time (as per our standards) in which Allah Ta’ala created the universe which again strengthens our point that His sunnat in creation is systematic and step wise and not instantaneous.
Divine Time
Here we have to understand one important thing in order to avoid the confusion which could otherwise arise in someone’s mind and that is the time and space (Zaman and Makan) are Makhlooq (creat-ed) and hence do not exist in the Divinity of Allah Ta’ala. Our Time has past, present and future whereas Divine Time is a single moment near Allah Ta’ala, a point, where there is no past, present and future. For Allah Ta’ala it is:
“It is as it was”
So when we talk about the range of time or point of time, we mean time as per our standards. About the day of Judge-ment. Allah Ta’ala says:
“He directeth the ordinance from the heaven unto the earth; then it ascendeth unto Him in a Day, whereof the measure is a thousand years of that ye reckon.”
(32:5)
In this verse, it is specifically mentioned that this count-ing of years is as per our counting giving the impression of the difference between the time that we calculate and Divine Time.
So, when we talk of the range of time or gradual progression of creative activities of Allah Ta’ala, we mean time as we understand it and not Divine Time.
Universe created for man
Allah Ta’ala wanted to create man as His vicegerent so He created the universe with ideal conditions for human life well before man. Here again that thing (universe) was created first which was not a purpose in itself and the main purpose, -that is man, was created last. Here again we see the sunnat of Allah Ta’ala of gradual progression in creativity towards excellence, first the universe which is less in that man though Allah Ta’ala was having the strength (Qudrat) of creating both at the same time.
Excellence of Rasulullah (SAW)
Now we can easily understand as to why Rasulullah was sent as the last Prophet and not earlier. Here again the sunnat of gradual pro-gression of creative activity of Allah Ta’ala was operational. Allah Ta’ala had destined the highest point of excellence of prophethood for Hadhrat Muhammad (SAW), so when that highest point of excellence of prophethood was reached Rasulullah (SAW) was sent to this world with that excel-lence.
The Qur’an Shareef testifies the same as:
“Muhammad is not the father of any man among you, but he is the messenger of Allah and the Seal of the Prophets; and Allah is Aware of all things.”
(33:40)
Why was Qur’an Shareef the last book?
As regards the Divine revelations of Allah Ta’ala, same sunnat of gradual progression towards excellence is seen. All previous revelations viz., the Suhuf, Zaboor,Towrah or Injeel were meant for a limited time and a limited people. On the other hand the Qur’an Shareef having the perfect excel-lence was sent as a perfect code for all people of all times to come. When something reaches point of perfection nothing more is needed to be added to that and that becomes the last in sequence. The Qur’an Shareef has the excellence in all aspects and this excellence has reached the highest peak. Let us consider a few examples of these:-
The Excellence of the Qur’an Shareef in Shariah
Allah Ta’ala did not leave man alone after sending him to this world. He sent this guidance from time to time to mankind so that man could know his status, his relation with the world and with his Creator, how to lead an honourable life and how he could also know the purpose of his existence in the world. These Divine revelations gave man spiritual, social, moral and political constitutional guidelines. Man has tried innumerable times himself to frame the constitution for his society or country but history is witness to the fact that these man-made constitutions have always proved a failure. Man can only achieve his dream of the ideal society if he follows the Divine commandments of Allah Ta’ala.
As we know early man lived a simple and isolated life and his needs were also limited. Facilities for communication had not developed and people lived in different parts of the world una-ware of civilizations elsewhere, so the Divine commandment which Allah Ta’ala used to send through prophets from time to time were also limited.
On the other hand modern man made tremendous advances in scientific and other related fields and the world became a small global village. Nations got so many international contacts and influences that we can say almost every man has become nationalized. Now this internationalized world community needs an international Divine code which could solve the diverse interna-tional problems along with individual and domestic problems at the same time. Allah Ta’ala sent this Divine code in the form of the Qur’an Shareef. This is the reason as to why this Ummah has been called the best Ummah as Allah Ta’ala says:
“Ye are the best community that hath been raised up for mankind. Ye enjoin right conduct and forbid indecency; and ye believe in Allah. And if the People of the Scripture had believed it had been better for them. Some of them are believers; but most of them are evil-livers.”
(3:1 10)
This Ummah has the best code in the form of the Qur’an Shareef, therefore it is the best Ummah for promoting righteousnes. You should first know what righteousness is and for forbidding evil you should know what evil is?
Universally the best applicable commands of the Qur’an Shareef
We will be discussing a few of them here.
THe concept of Oneness of the Creator
of the universe
The Qur’an Shareef came with a simple and natural concept which appeals to the conscience of every sane person. Think over the words:
“O mankind! Worship your Lord, Who hath created you and those before you, so that ye may ward off (evil).”
(2:21)
The Qur’an Shareef says that you have not to worship things like man, sun, moon, stars, fire Ghosts, Angels, stones, lifeless statues or somebody you are not concerned with but your own Creator who created you not only created you but who is sustaining your life,providing all that you need for your life. No sensible person can deny this commandment but will he worship the things which are themselves created and have no power in themselves? He should worship the One who has created him and Who is sustain-ing his life.
The Qur’an Shareef further says:
“Lo! Allah (it is) who splitteth the grain of corn and the date stone (for sprouting) . He bringeth forth the living from the dead, and is the bringer forth of the dead from the living. Such is Allah. How then are ye perverted? He is the Cleaver of the Daybreak, and He hath appointed the night for stillness, and the sun and the moon for reckoning. That is the measuring of the Mighty, the Wise. And He it is Who hath set for you the stars that ye may guide your course by them amid the darkness of the land and the sea We have detailed Our revelations for a people who have knowledge.\ And He it is Who hath produced you from a single being, and (hath given you) a habitation and a repository. We have detailed Our revelations for a people who have understanding. He it is Who sendeth down water from the sky, and therewith We bring forth buds of every kind; We bring forth the green blade from which we bring forth the thick clustered grain; and from the date palm, from the pollen thereof, spring pendant bunches; and (We bring forth) gardens of grapes, and the olive and the pomegranate, alike and unlike. Look upon the fruit thereof, when they bear fruit, and upon its ripening. Lo! herein verily are portents for a people who believe. Yet they ascribe as partners unto Him the jinn, although He did create them, and impute falsely, without knowledge, sons and daughters unto Him. Glorified be He and high exalted above (all) that they ascribe (unto Him).The Originator of the heavens and the earth! How can He have a child, when there is for Him no consort, when He created all things and is Aware of all things? Such is Allah, your Lord. There is no God save Him, the Creator of all things, so worship Him. And He taketh care of all things. Vision comprehendeth Him not, but He comprehendeth (all) vision. He is the Subtile, the Aware. Proofs have come unto you from your Lord, so whoso seeth, it is for his own good, and whoso is blind is blind to his own hurt. And I am not a keeper over you.
(6:95-104)
“If there were therein Gods beside Allah, then verily both (the heavens and the earth) had been disordered. Glorified be Allah, the Lord of the Throne, from all that they ascribe (unto Him).”
“Allah hath not chosen any son, nor is there any God along with Him; else would each God have assuredly championed that which he created, and some of them would assuredly have overcome others. Glorified be Allah above all that they allege. Knower of the invisible and the visible! and exalted be He over all that they ascribe as partners (unto Him)!”
(23-91-92)
Concept about prophets
The Qur’an Shareef says:
“Mankind were one community, and Allah sent (unto them) Prophets as bearers of good tidings and as warners, and revealed therewith the Scripture with the truth that it might judge between mankind concerning that wherein they differed. And only those unto whom (the Scripture) was given differed concerning it, after clear proofs had come unto them, through hatred one of another. And Allah by His will guided those who believe unto the truth of that concerning which they differed. Allah guideth whom He will unto a Straight path.”
(2:213)
“Lo! We have sent thee with the Truth, a bearer of glad tidings and a warner; and there is not a nation but a warner hath passed among them.”
(35:24)
“And verily We have raised in every nation a messenger, (proclaiming): Serve Allah and shun false gods. Then some of them (there were) whom Allah guided, and some of them (there were) upon whom error had just hold. Do but travel in the land and see the nature of the consequence for the deniers!”
(16:36)
“And We never sent a messenger save with the language of his folk, that he might make (the message) clear for them. Then Allah sendeth whom He will astray, and guideth whom He will. He is the Mighty, the Wise.”
(14:4)
“And naught prevented mankind from believing when the guidance came unto them save that they said: Hath Allah sent a mortal as (His) messenger?”
(17:94)
“Say: I am (relying) on clear proof from my Lord, while ye deny Him. I have not that for which ye are impatient. The decision is for Allah only. He telleth the truth and He is the Best of Deciders.Say: If I had that for which ye are impatient, then would the case (ere this) have been decided between me and you. Allah is best aware of the wrong doers.”
(6:57-58)
“When Allah made (His) covenant with the Prophets, (He said): Behold that which I have given you of the Scripture and knowledge. And afterward there will come unto you a messenger, confirming that which ye possess. Ye shall believe in him and ye shall help him. He said: Do ye agree, and will ye take up My burden (which I lay upon you) in this (matter)? They answered: We agree. He said: Then bear ye witness. I will be a witness with you.”
(3:81)
The Qur’anic concept about prophets is the most balanced and quite logical. The Qur’an Shareef explains the need of prophethood and testifies to the prophethood of all prophets right from the first prophet Hadhrat Adam to the last prophet Hadhrat Muhammad (SAW). Unlike the Jews and Christian the Qur’an Shareef does not refute any prophet. Jews deny the prophethood of Hadhrat Isa (AS) and Hadhrat Muhammad (SAW) Chris-tian deny Hadhrat Muhammad (SAW). After accepting the prophethood of all prophets, the Qur’an Shareef comes with a logical doctrine i.e., all prophets are true but follow the last prophet as the last testament the Qur’an Shareef contains the sum total of all earlier revelations.
The concept about Resurrection and
Accountability
“Shall We then treat those who have surrendered as We treat the guilty?What aileth you? How foolishly ye judge!”
(68:35-36)
“Shall We treat those who believe and do good works as those who spread corruption in the earth; or shall We treat the Pious as the wicked?”
(38:28)
“Deemed ye then that We had created you for naught, and that ye would not be returned unto Us? Now Allah be exalted, the True King! There is no God save Him, the Lord of the Throne of Grace.”
(23:115-116)
“And they say: When we are bones and fragments, shall we, forsooth, be raised up as a new creation? Say: Be ye stones or iron.Or some created thing that is yet greater in your thoughts! Then they will say: Who shall bring us back (to life)? Say: He who created you at the first. Then will they shake their heads at thee, and say: When will it be? Say: It will perhaps be soon; A day when He will call you and ye will answer with His praise, and ye will think that ye have tarried but a little while. Tell My bondmen to speak that which is kindlier. Lo! the devil soweth discord among them. Lo! the devil is for man an open foe.”
(17:49-53)
“And he hath coined for Us a similitude, and hath forgotten the fact of his creation, saying: Who will revive these bones when they have rotted away? Say: He will revive them Who produced them at the first, for He is Knower of every creation,Who hath appointed for you fire from the green tree, and behold! ye kindle from it.Is not He Who created the heavens and the earth Able to create the like of them? Aye, that He is! for He is the All-Wise Creator, But His command, when He intendeth a thing, is only that he saith unto it: Be! and it is. Therefor glory be to Him in Whose hand is the dominion over all things! Unto Him ye will be brought back.”
(36:78-83)
“And of His portents (is this): that thou seest the earth lowly, but when We send down water thereon it thrilleth and groweth. Lo! He who quickeneth it is verily the Quickener of the dead. Lo! He is Able to do all things.”
(41:39)
“They indeed are losers who deny their meeting with Allah until, when the hour cometh on them suddenly, they cry: Alas for us, that we neglected it! They bear upon their back their burdens. Ah, evil is that which they bear! Naught is the life of the world save a pastime and a sport. Better far is the abode of the Hereafter for those who keep their duty (to Allah). Have ye then no sense?”
(6:31-32)
Islamic Law or Shariah
The beauty and distinction of the Qur’an Shareef is that it did not only give mankind a set of true beliefs but also provided a comprehensive body of laws covering almost all practical aspects of life.
As per encyclopaedia Britanica
“Total and unqualified submission to the will of Allah Ta’ala (God) is the fundamental tenet of Islam. Islamic law is, therefore, the expression of Allah Ta’ala’s command for Muslim society and, in application, constitutes a system of duties that are incumbent upon a Muslim by virtue of his religious belief known as the Shariah (literally, “the path leading to the watering place”) the law constitutes a divinely ordained path of conduct that guides the Muslim towards a practical expression of his religious conviction in this world and the goal of Divine favour in the world to come”.
In classical form the Shariah differs from western systems of law in two principle respects. In the first place the scope of the Shariah is much wider, since it regulates man’s relationship not only with his neighbours and with the state, which is the limit of most other legal systems, but also with his God and is integral part of Shariah law and usually occupy the first chapters in the legal manuals. The Shariah is also concerned as much with ethical standards as with legal rules, indicating not only what man is entitled or bound to do in law, but also what he ought, in conscience, to do or refrain from doing. Accordingly certain acts are classified as praiseworthy (mandub), which means that their performance brings Divine favour and their omission Divine disfavour and others are blameworthy (makruh) which means that their omission brings Divine favour and commission Divine disfavour. Shariah is not merely a system of law, but a comprehensive code of behaviour that embraces both private and public activities.
Let us have a look at few of the codes of the Qur’an Shareef:
Salah
One of the wonderful codes which the Qur’an Shareef presented to mankind is that of Salah.
Salah is the best type of worship one can think of. It does not only mean bowing of physical body before one’s Creator but also includes progressive mental and spiritual attachment with Almighty Allah Ta’ala after getting detached from the mudane world. What one gets from Salah is something very difficult to translate into words. In the first verse quoted above the Qur’an Shareef says that your worship should be only for your Creator and Sustainer and nobody else. In the second verse the Qur’an Shareef reveals the purpose of Salah. It says that it should be established for the remembrance of Allah Ta’ala. Remembrance of Allah Ta’ala does not only mean lip reading but it means to establish a strong attachment or bond of one’s finite self with the eternal and infinite Reality i.e., Allah Ta’ala. How much can you progress in a finite world? What heights can you touch? Obviously limitedness and finitude of this world makes its all possible limits limited.
How can a man then progress?
Only by coming out of the confines of this finite and limited world and attaching oneself with the eternal and infinite Reality. When one succeeds in doing so then his progress knows no bounds. How can one do that? It is through Salah.
A tradition of Rasulullah (SAW) says:
“One who is offering Salah, is conversating with Allah Ta’ala.”
There is a well known saying, some quoting it from Rasulullah (SAW)
“Salah is the stair (for ascendence towards Allah Ta’ala) of Muslims”
If you want to ascend towards Allah Ta’ala, Salah is the stair. Sufis call it.
“Journey towards Allah”
“Journey into Allah”
For these journeys, Salah plays the key role. How so? for that thing one has to contact righteous spiritual Buzargs.
Conversation with Allah Ta’ala in Salah
When one recites Allahu Akbar (Allah Ta’ala is the Greatest) at the very onset of Salah and raises his hands upto his ear lobules, by this action he throws away all the mudane dirt behind his shoulders and by saying Allah Ta’ala is the Greatest, his heart starts trembling with His fear and melting with His love as now he concentrates in the fact that he is before the Greatest, before his Lord Who is All-Powerful and All-Knowing. After this, when one starts reciting Surah-Fateh, he starts direct conversation with Allah Ta’ala. In a tradition of Rasulullah (SAW) it is mentioned that when one recites Alhamdu Lillahi Rabbil Aalameen, Allah Ta’ala answers back? My servant has praised Me? Similarly answers other subsequent verses as well and then Allah Ta’ala says “This is between Me and My bondsman and for him is whatever he asks”
When somebody gets an opportunity to talk to some prime minister or president or some other dignitary, his joy knows no bounds and he always boasts of such meetings. Think for a while when one talks with Allah Ta’ala, you cannot provide any comparison, no other thing can be as joyful moment and so excellent as this. But unfortunately very few lucky people achieve this and realise this. It all happens in Salah.
Timing Of Salah
As already mentioned the basic purpose of Salah is remembrance of Allah Ta’ala, so timing has been kept in such a way so that one gets repeated reminders during the day. First Salah is called ‘Salat-ul-Fajr”. This is to be offered just at dawn before sunrise, that means soon after rising from the bed one is supposed to wash his exposed parts of body which brings freshness to body and mind and then first job one is supposed to do is to offer Salah to have spiritual breakfast which gives one spiritual energy for the rest of the day as Alama Ibne Taymiyah used to say that whatever he recited in the morning worked as breakfast for him for the rest of the day. After early morning one starts the day’s work and gets engrossed in worldly affairs. The energy and illumination of heart which one had got from morning prayers starts fading and suddenly the words of Mu’azin calling again Allahu-Akbar fall in his ears and he gets reawakened. Now this is the time of second Salah just after midnoon called Zuhr Salah. After listening the call, one goes and again makes ablution which washes the dirt of body and mind. Tiredness goes and freshness comes once again. Then one walks towards mosque while again thinking of Allah Ta’ala’s Greatness and the day of accountability, while walking towards mosque one tries to have quick look on his forenoon deeds and if one finds anything wrong, becomes tense and starts repenting and thinks of measures for rectifying the faults committed. Then one enters the mosque and starts Salah with one’s heart full of fear and hopes. After completing Zuhr Salah, one again gets engaged in worldly affairs, markets and business establishments reach their climax and people remain engrossed in these activities, then suddenly the echoes of Allahu Akbar start sounding from everywhere.
Wonderful System of Aazan
When one thinks over the Islamic way of calling for Salah what is called Aazan, one is forced to believe that this arrangement cannot be of human thinking, it must be of Divine origin. This sound of Aazan of Allahu Akbar reaches every person of the society and nothing can stop it. The well fortified palaces of kings and their security personnel cannot stop this sound from reaching to kings’ bedrooms.
People hear it in busy markets, offices, schools, colleges, universities or even at roadside. Rich and poor, younger and old, urban and rural, literate and illiterate, males and females all hear it equally. What a wonderful system indeed!
This third Aazan of the day is for Asr Salah, which is offered around 4-5.30 pm. Much emphasis has been laid upon this Salah in Shariah as at this time people are very busy and they have to exert much to suppress their baser-selves for coming out of that busy place for Salah. Here again one gets the reminder not to indulge in wrong practices at the fag end of their day’s work.
4th Salah is soon after sunset called ‘Magrib Salah’. This sunset reminds one about the temporary nature of the world. Sun was shinning brightly during the day now it is no more seen. Bright light of the day is replaced by dim light, day has ended and night has started. At this stage one gets a strong reminder about Aakhirah (Life in Hereafter) and one makes a strong repentance over the day’s misdeeds and a firm resolve to prepare oneself for Aakhirah. The last Salah is called Isha Salah offered before going to bed at night. Sleep reminds of death and grave, so in this Salah one forgets the world completely and tries to reconnect himself with Allah Ta’ala, the connection which had got weakened during the day.
Salah in Congregation and in Mosque
The concept of mosque and Salah in congregation five times daily with one weekly larger congregation, is a unique system presented by the Qur’an Shareef which has tremendous impact on various sociopolitical aspects of society. Mosque provides immediate readily available and easy access secretariats and nucleus for a muslim society. All sections of the locality have to mingle up five times a day. There is no disparity between king and peon, rich and poor, even a sweeper can rub his shoulders with the king and can convey his problems to him. High officials of different departments come to know the problems of the people without any aid of official machinery. Rich people get a chance of interaction with poor and learn their problems and difficulties which enables them to start some charitable things for the weaker sections. Standing in well disciplined ques behind one commander (Imam) imparts not only discipline but also sense of brotherhood, unity and sense of belonging to one another. It also eradicates the seeds of racialism, casteism and regionalism from their roots. At the time of Haj, the Salah in congregation teaches the lesson of universal brotherhood. Mosques have proved great centres of learning. Great scholars of Muslim Ummah have taught their students in mosques only. In a society without mosques, one does not even know the name of his immediate neighbour, not to speak of knowing the problems faced by them. It is the mosque which makes it possible to know about one’s neighbours constantly.
Rozah (Fasting in Ramadhan)
The Qur’an Shareef made it compulsory for its believers to fast from dawn to dusk for one month in a year. As we have already mentioned that Shariah provided by the Qur’an Shareef does not only regulate the relationship of man with the state but also aims at the moral, social and spiritual restructuring and upliftment of society. This code of the Qur’an Shareef goes a long way in restructuring the mind of muslim society. It cures the evils of baser-self, the lower soul which is otherwise, full of evils. Allah Ta’ala created different things e.g., minerals, plants, animals and angels etc, each having their own characteristics. When Allah Ta’ala created man, He created in him sum total of all the characteristics of all other creations, that is why man is called microcosm as it is said that whatever is in universe, is in man. Therefore, man possesses the characteristics of all the creatures. On one hand he possesses the characteristics of beasts and on the other the characteristics of angels. You will agree with me that many people in the world behave as beasts and even more than that.
How to Get Rid of Bestial Characters
The Qur’an Shareef is quite emphatic and instrumental in inculcating in man the praise worthy morals called Ikhlaq-e-Hamidah and in weakening and quietening the blameworthy morals called Ikhlaq-e-Razeelah or bestial characteristics.
The Qur’an Shareef says:
“But he will prosper who purifies himself.”
(87:14)
Only that person succeeds who purifies himself from the impurities of shirk (Polytheism) and bestial characteristics like greed, cunningness, sexual over-desires, malice, pride, overeating etc. Greed is the dominant characteristic of dog, cunningness and deceit of fox, over-sexuality of pig, malice of horse, pride of lion and overeating of elephant. Therefore, we can easily say that a person who is very much greedy is having dog like character, similarly a person who is overpowered by desire of over-sexuality behaves not like a man but like a pig. Sex is a human character as well but it is the overuse and misuse of sex which is bestial character.
Anatomico-Physiological Differences Between Man and Animals
Animals are mainly controlled by limbic system and hypothalamus which are centres of emotions situated in the brain. These emotional centres in animals are almost independent as they have very little higher cortical control as compared to humans in which frontal lobe and higher cortex is highly developed. When an emotion evolves in an animal, the animal gets swayed by the emotion as animal has no higher control over the limbic system and hence cannot control its emotions. So, when a dog sees a bitch, it becomes emotional and fulfils his emotions irrespective of the place and the circumstances, whether it is a roadside or in broad day light or whatever. On the other hand, humans have a strong civilisation centre placed in highly developed frontal lobe of the brain. The limbic system and hypothatamus in humans, is under the control of the frontal lobe and thus all emotions arising in humans are nicely controlled by higher centres. Therefore, we can say:
‘To get swayed by emotions is an animal instinct’
‘To control and channelise emotions is human instinct’
Now, you can have a look on modern world, these days people, having animal instincts who get swayed by emotions in the form of slogans of free-sex, are thought to be civilised and the people, who behave like humans by controlling and channelising their emotions, are thought to be uncivilised and orthodox.
Now, just analyse Monica Lewinsky – Clinton episode. American President Bill Clinton gets swayed by animal instinct on seeing a pretty intern Monica Lewinsky in white house. The whole civilised world ridiculed American President for this animal act. Even the supporters of free-sex slogan joined the condemnation wave against the president. Why? Because inner conscience, voice from human civilisation centre always hates animal instincts even if those people are trying to justify animal instinct by lips but their hearts will be beating the other way round.
The Qur’an Shareef says:
“O ye who believe! Fasting is prescribed to you as it was prescribed to those before you that ye may (learn) Self-restraint.”
(2:183)
In these verses the Qur’an Shareef states in clear terms that the purpose of its commandment for observation of fasts is for attaining piousness, what it terms as Taqwa. One becomes pious when one behaves as human and not as animal. It is a well known fact even experienced by common people, that overeating strengthens these animal instincts. For example, a person taking too much of meat and other aphrodisiac foods feels stronger sexual urge than other people who take a balanced diet. Over eating not only makes one prone to many diseases like diabetes, heart attacks, gastro-intestinal problems but also makes one greedy, miser, self-cntered and many times corrupt.
Nowadays, you must be seeing long ques in Gyms. and other such centres for making oneself slim and for losing weight.
Physicians Left Madinah
It is reported that during the time of Rasulullah (SAW) there were some non-muslim physicians in Madinah. One day they all decided to leave Madinah for good as they were getting no patients. They were called by Rasulullah (SAW) and were asked as to why they were leaving from Madinah. They replied that they were not getting any patients in Madinah as people of Madinah were not getting sick. Rasulullah (SAW) told them that how cum would they fall ill as they stopped eating even when they had desire to eat i.e., they eat less or they do not overeat. This was the secret of their good health.
Discussion between Hadhrat Umar (RA) and a non-muslim doctor
Once a jew or christian doctor asked Hazrat Umar t , “You say that the Qur’an Shareef contains everything but I don’t see anything in it about medicine.” Hazrat Umar (RA) at once replied, “Haven’t you read the following Qur’anic verse, which states:
“We send down (stage by stage) of the Qur’an that which is a healing and a mercy to thhose who believe.”
(17:82)
This non-muslim doctor got stunned on hearing this Qur’anic verse and admitted that there could not be better guideline than this for good health.
So, through its commandment of fasting, the Qur’an Shareef has taken care of both physical as well as spiritual diseases.
Zakah
Zakah is another system given by the Qur’an Shareef which revolutioned the economic concept and financial institutions. After having a look at world history, we don’t find any established economic system of a state anywhere before the Qur’an Shareef was revealed fourteen hundred years ago. The rulers were masters and the ruled as inanimate subjects almost everywhere. We don’t find anywhere legal or financial institutions. the word of the ruler used to be law. We do find some isolated attempts in the past by some just rulers in this direction but most of them could not succeed in providing a well-organised institutionalised state financial system based on absolute justice. As human thinking is limited so were these systems also having lot of limitations. It was only possible for the Divine message and everlasting principles which formed the basis for a revolutionary financial system based on absolute justice. This Qur’anic message was not just for an Utopia, as some people wrote some systems for Utopia, but these economic Divine principles of the Qur’an Shareef saw the dawn of the day as Rasulullah (SAW) and his Caliphs practically established these financial institutions and the whole world saw the fruits of it in a very short span of time.
Modern Taxation and Zakah
(Courtesy: Public finance in Islam)
The institution of Zakat which had had a slow evolution in the religions preceding Islam, i.e., Judaism and Christianity, reached its perfection in islam. It stands out as a perfect system of taxation-cum-worship and cannot, therefore, be compared with the purely materialistic theories of taxation which have held the field during the last few centuries. The latter owe their origin to the socio-political conditions of the Western peoples at different stages of their development, such as the mediaeval age of feudalism, the “merchantilist” period immediately preceding the Industrial Revolution, and the modern age. Take for example, the “Benefit Theory” of taxation, which pro-vided that the amount of taxation an individual should pay must be in proportion to the amount of benefit received by him from the State. This now looks absurd but in the mediaeval age when the feudal dues could be commuted in the shape of cash payments and the State depended on its revenues on the receipts from the feudal lords, such a theory could fit in nicely and squarely into the then existing scheme of things.
The Benefit Theory in time yielded place to the Financial Theory, the exponents of which were not concerned with the equity or inequity of the distribution of the social products but with the methods of getting the necessary revenue, as expediently as possible. According to this theory any tax is good which yields a large income with comparatively little protest.
In this connection a passing reference may be made to the Sumptuary Theory according to which certain commodity taxes serve to restrict the consumption of luxuries and noxious articles. This is a partial explanation of the object of levying taxation since these are more satisfactory and direct ways available of reducing or banning consumption of luxuries and noxious articles.
We come finally to the Socio-Political Theory according to which taxation is regarded as an economic or social instrument in addition to its being a source of revenue. The advocates of this theory consider the tax as a means of reducing the inequality of incomes and the gap between high and low incomes although some protectionists would employ duties more with a view to serve industrial end rather than as a mere means of raising revenue or of reducing the inequalities of incomes.
However, the development of thought in recent time has been in the direction of the Socio-Political Theory. The imposition of Death Duties and the introduction of Income-Tax, all point to the same tendency which is gathering more and more momentum as time passes on. And this tendency is the nearest approach to the Islamic conception of taxation propounded more than 13 centuries back.
The object of Zakat has been propounded in the Quran in no uncertain terms. it lays down that Zakat is a duty laid by Allah Ta’ala for the benefit of the poor and the needy, for those who are appointed to collect it (Zakat), for Islamic propagand for freeing the slaves and the indebted as also for those in the way of Allah Ta’ala. Thus the objects on which Zakat is to be spent clearly indicate the purpose for which it is levied. In fact when the Propet deputed Ma’az bin Jabul as Governor of Yemen, he enjoined on him the observance of prayers (Salaah) and Zakat and in respect of the latter expounded the principle that it was intended
“to take it from the rich and give it to the poor.”
This approximates to the underlying idea of the Socio-Political Theory with the difference that Zakat has an important religious aspect also and it is “ to take from their wealth Zakat so as to make it clean and pure. This aspect which enrobes it with a religious importance second only to Salaah, makes it easy of collection and difficult of evasion in an Islamic State.
ZAKAT IN THE LIGHT OF ADAM SMITH’S
CANON OF TAXATION
The four canons laid down by Adam Smith are still considered to be the basis of sound public finance and it is interesting to see how far they are true when compared with the underlying ideas of Zakat. These have been summarised under the headings of Equality, Certainty, Convenience and Economy.
The first canon prescribes that the subject of every State ought to contribute towards the support of the Government as nearly as possible in proportion to their respective abilities; that is, in proportion to the revenue which they respectively enjoy under the protection of the State. According to this view, the progressive levy, i.e., one which increases in percentage as the income increases, is considered a method of securing a fair apportionment while a proportionate impost causes more sacrifice to a poor than to a rich man. This is true under the modern system of taxation under which the levy of a tax is on -the income of an individual Zakat, on the other hand, is levied on the capital i.e., on the amount saved after a year and as such a uniform rate of impost ensures equal sacrifice. Had Zakat been levied on the annual income of a man at a uniform rate of 2% per annum, the result would have been a proportionate impost which would have caused more sacri-fice to the poor than to the rich, but actually it is on the savings and as such more irksome to those with a biggar saving than to one with a smaller one. Besides, the further restriction that it must not be expended on objects other than those mentioned in the preceding chapter, makes the entire thing available for the poor from which the rich can have little or no direct benefit.
Zakat is neither degressive, nor regressive.By degressive is meant a taxation of the higher incomes which though taxed at higher rates bear less than an equal sacrifice; while regressive taxation is one in which the percentage of the tax ensures equal sacrifice in a simple manner by adopting a uniform rate. It thus accomplishes what the complicated system of taxation in vogue in the modern countries fails to do.
The second canon requires that the tax which each individual is bound to pay ought to be certain and not arbitrary. The time of payment, the manner of payment, the quantity to be paid, ought all to be clear and plain. Under this canon of “Certainty” falls also the consideration that not only the tax-payer but the State should also as far as possible know the amount of revenue likely to be derived.
Now as regards the certainty of the rate there can be no tax comparable with Zakat which is immutable sand unalterable by any human agency because of its Divine sanction. Neither the rate, nor the objects on which it ought to be expended can be departed from in the least by a State and it is surely a testimony of the efficacy of the commandments that in the long history of over a thousand years no Islamic State ever dared to divert the revenues derived from Zakat to other than the prescribed objects although the Exchequer was used more often than not as a Privy Purse of the rulers.
Likewise the individual paying the Zakat knows exactly how much he has to pay to the State, at what time of the year and in what manner. He can make necessary adjustments in his income and pay the Zakat at the appointed time.
As regards the State knowing the amount of revenue to be derived, the probable income from Zakat follows the ordinary principles of assessment. An increase in the national wealth must reflect an increase in the individual’s wealth and consequently his ability to pay a higher amount of Zakat. A state of uncertainty, turmoil and natural calamities will no doubt adversely affect the yield, while a state of steady progress will result in an increased yield. Hence by the ordinary process of taking a few years’ average and taking account of the big factors affecting the public, it should be possibIe to know as accurately the probable yield as is possible in the case of othertaxes, e.g., income-tax, in a modern State.
There is, however, one additional factor which is absent in the consideration of taxes in a modern State, namely, the religious importance of Zakat. Now from the very nature of it, Zakat is leviable both on objects which are not hidden and unknown to the State, and objects of which no State can have knowledge. In the former category fall things as cattle, land etc., while in the latter objects such as gold silver and articles of trade. Necessarily, thereof, the State will have to depend in the latter case on the public spiritedness and religious zeal of the individuils, which is a variable quantity and an index of the religious condition of a people.
The third canon requires that every tax ought to be levied at the time or in the manner in which it is most likely to be convenient for the contributor to pay. In the case of land produce, Zakat is collected after each harvest and is collected in kind (unless otherwlse desired by the tax-prayer); in other cases it is collected in kind at the end of the year. This is in accordance with the Divine Commandment, “Verily the calculation of months with ‘God is twelve months, the day when God created the Earth and the Heavens.” The underlying idea is the convenience of the tax-payer, since in the case of land produce it is naturally convenient to the tax-payer to pay one-tenth of the produce as soon as he is in a position to pay, i.e., as soon as he has collected the harvest; in other cases the universal practice is to take into account the transactions of a year before arriving at the net result of one’s activities and the actual financial position and the same has been allowed by Islam. Besides in the case of zakat on the maximum period of producing young ones is 12 months and it was necessary to take this fact also into consideration.
It has been mentioned above that Zakat is generally collected in kind whether it is on land produce or cattle or cash or articles of trade. It is this fact which makes it convenient for the contributor to pay. if, however, a tax-payer desires to pay in cash, there is no objection to its being so commuted. Thus the primary consideration is the convenience of the contributor and the ease in payment.
The rule of convenience in taxation which primarily has special reference to the tax-payer, is also taken to apply to the Exchequer in view of its regular periods of large out payments and the desirability of sufficient amounts of revenue being available at the appropriate times. The convenience of the Exchequcr however, is a thing which cannot be judged with reference to one tax only as the time for the realisation of the various ways and means must necessarily be different and it is on the cumulative effect of the entire realisations that a correct estimate can be made. Besides, no system of taxation has been evolved so far in any modern State which dispenses altogether with the necessity of short term loans and treasury bills. Nevertheless it will be noted that Zakat is not only convenient to the contributor but also to the Exchequer. In as much as certain realisations are made at the end of each harvest, while others are thus spread over the whole year, and thus provide for the need for disbursements of the Exchequer in a much more admirable way than any of the taxes known to the Modern States.
The fourth canon stipulates that every tax ought to be so contrived as both to take out and to keep out of the pockets of the people as little as possible over and above what it brings into the public treasury of the State In other words, as little as possible, consistent with efficiency, should be spent on administration and collection. This also implies that no third party between the tax payer and the State should benefit from the impost. The religio-economic character of Zakat the payment of which is second in order of importance amongst the 5 cardinal duties imposed on a Muslim makes the collection of Zakat comparatively very easy and inexpensive.
The voluntariness in the payment of Zakat on hidden assets and its religious character avoid the necessity of maintaining an elaborate machinery or finding out evasions and for adjudicating on the demands of the assessors and the defence of the tax payers as is now done in the case of income-tax. The collectors of Zakat generally collect in kind on the ostensible assets; the calculation is naturally simple and the rates easy to understand and apply. In fact the rules are so simple that no specialised knowledge is called for and consequently the cost of collection is definitely much lower than that of any other tax known to the civilised nations.
Finally, there is no possibility of a third party between the contributor and the Stare benefiting from Zakat as the collection is direct and (as will be explain-ed later) there is no possibility of shifting the incidence of the impost as it is not on the income but on the capital.
Besides the four canons of taxation contributed by Adam Smith there are other rules also, viz, (a) that the tax should have a high-net productiveness though not so high as to damage materially the wealth-yielding sources whence it is derived, (b) that it is better to have a few productive taxes than many less productive; (c) that the tax should permit of an automatic growth as the wealth and population increase; and finally (d) that it should be elastic, i.e., it should allow, if necessary, of increase in the rate and the yield without a corresponding increase in expenditure and machinery. As to (a) above it is abundantly clear that the wealth yielding sources remain unimpaired as not only the rate of Zakat is low and well proportioned but it has also the effect of levelling up the general level of prosperity in a community. The taxing of idle money inevitably leads to its perforce employment in productive channels which in turn increases the national wealth of a country. The tax (Zakat) on articles of trade which, like that on the idle money, is the lowest in the scale of Zakat, i.e. 1/40 or 2½% per annum, ensures maximum efforts on the part of those engaged in trade and commerce withont causing detrimental effects on their enterprises.
Regarding (b) it need hardly be mentioned that besides Zakat the financial system of Islam conflnes itself to as few taxes as posstble though most of them may be said to fall under the generic term Zakat. Thus Zakat is the main tax in the Islamic state and answers all the requirements which financiers all over the world have been searching during the past few centuries but have failed to find one. For instance the main plank in the financial theories of the physiocrats (chief among whom was Quesnay) was the advocacy of a single tax on land as it was claimed to be the true source of all wealth. Zakat escaped notice of the Physiocrats as well as those who followed them simply because it was not carefully considered and was brushed aside as a sort of religious levy and therefore undeserving of attention in a mundane state.
Respecting (c) which requires that the tax should permit of automatic growth commensurate with the increase of wealth and population, it would suffice to point out that the taxable limit of Zakat is pIaced so low, i.e., 52 tolas silver 7½ tolas of gold, that the tax takes in its sweep practically the entire population excepting the most indigent including unemployed and those incapacitated from doing any work. The low taxable limit and the principle of proportionate sacrifice tend to reduce the gulf between the high and low incomes and level up the differences by preventing the accumulation of wealth into the hands of a few individuals. This results in a general prosperity, i.e., the prosperity of the largest number and as the prosperity increases, the number of those contributing the tax increases with a proportionate decrcase in the number of those (i.e,, indigent and unemployed) whose maintenance is the first charge on Zakat. Thus not only the growth of Zakat is automatic as the wealth and popula-tion increases, but it is a potent instrutment of increasing the wealth of a country.
Finally with regard to (d) which requires that it should have elasticity, it may be observed that in this respect Zakat is in a different category altogether. No earthly ruler possesses the power to make the slightest alteration in the rate which is fixed unalterably by God and the Prophet (SAW). In fact in the long history of the Islamic rule, not even the worst dictator has ever attempted to increase the rate or even to make the slightest alteration in the taxable limit etc., as it would not have been tolerated even for a day in the Islamic Society. Whatever the needs of the State, however great the contingency, it is of the greatest importance that the system of Zakat as laid down by God should remain inviolate. No doubt it is open to the head of the State to devise and impose new taxes should an emergency arise, such as war, or even when by any means wealth concentrates in fewer hands to the detriment of the rest of the population. It will, however, be an emergency impost and will be withdrawn as soon as the need for the same is over, but it will have nothing to do with Zakat which must remain inviolate. The greatest asset of Zakat lies in the fact that it is enrobed in sanctity and is devised in such a way that it may serve its object irrespective of whether an Islamic society enjoys sovereign powers or not. Hence from the very nature of it, Zakat cannot be elastic in the sense in which certain taxes in a modern State are elastic.
The Qur’anic Concept of State
The Qur’an Shareef preaches universal statehood where,
i. Allah Ta’ala is Supreme Law Maker.
ii. Whole world belongs to Allah Ta’ala, thus demolishing all artificial boundaries dividing the mankind.
iii. All men are equal, no one is superior to any other person, superiority is not based on ancestral status, wealth, race, cast or creed but on righteousness.
iv. Individual and society are equally important. Islamic society is neither totalitarian nor authoritarian.
v. Following the Islamic Law is not only legal but also religious obligation, thus it has both social as well as spiritual benefits.
vi. Man is most respected creature enjoying safe and well protected life and is vicegerant of Allah Ta’ala.
vii. Women are given special status and are well protected by Islamic Law.
viii. Rulers are answerable ane not above law, they consider themselves as servants and not the masters.
ix. Foreign policy is well defined based on universal human truths.
x. Purpose of war is to restore justice and to establish the rule of Divine Law.
xi. To take care of weak, old, needy people is the responsibility of the state.
xii. Human rights are safeguarded in an unparalleled manner.
xiii. In an Islamic society knowledge commands precedence.
Allah Ta’ala is the Supreme Law Maker:
The Qur’an Shareef says:
“Command (or judgement) is for none but Allah”
(12:40)
“Blessed is He in whose Hand is the dominion; and He is able to do all things”
(67:1)
Difference between Islamic Law and other mundane laws is that Islamic Law is from all Knowing, Omnipotent and Omniscient Allah Ta’ala who is not only Creator of this universe but is also the Supreme Unparalleled Authority as well, as compared to other laws which are made by man whose knowledge, experience, intellect and power are all highly limited. According to the classical theory, “Islamic Law is the revealed will of God, a divinely ordained system preceding and not preceded by the Muslim state, controlling and not controlled by Muslim Society.” (Conlson N.T., A History of Islamic Law)
Truth has to be Absolute
Changing truth is no truth. We see all laws other than Islamic laws undergoing frequent changes every now and then. Laws are framed by people and strongly advocated as true. After sometime another group of people feel that these laws are now obsolete and do not hold true any more, hence amend these earlier laws. This process is unending. If something is true today and false tomorrow, was not truth at all. Truth has to be absolute and constant. These constant laws based on absolute truth can come only from Absolute Being, Who knows present, past and future at the same time and He is none but Allah Ta’ala. So, the Qur’an Shareef provides constant laws based on Absolute Truth legislated directly by Allah Ta’ala. As Allah Ta’ala knows future as well as all generations and all regions, so He has kept enough flexibility in His laws so that it can accommodate all necessities of all changing times.
Whole World Belongs to Allah Ta’ala
The Qur’an Shareef says:
“His are all things in the heavens Heavens and the Earth.”
(2:255)
“I am placing in the earth one that shall rule as My deputy.”
(2:30)
The Qur’anic concept of state is universal, it does not believe in artificial boundaries which divide mankind in different countries. Islam does not believe in regionalism, racism, casteism or linguism. Its message is quite clear that the whole world belongs to Allah Ta’ala, all mankind is one, all descendants of Adam, so whole world should be governed by the Divine laws of Allah Ta’ala. Man on earth is not independent but is as the vicegerant of Allah Ta’ala, so all that what man has to do is to implement the laws of the real Ruler, that is, Allah Ta’ala. This message of the Qur’an Shareef is the only thing that can unite the mankind and demolish all artificial barriers erected by short sighted people in different parts of the world.
The Qur’anic concept of equality where
superiority is based only on righteousness
The Qur’an Shareef says:
“O! Mankind We created you from single (pair) of a male and female, and made you into nations and tribes, that Ye may know each other (not that Ye may despise each other). Verily the most hoonoured of you on the sight of Allah is (he who is) the most righteous of you. And Allah has full knowledge and is well acquinted with (all things).”
(49:13)
The Qur’an Shareef says that Allah Ta’ala has created whole mankind from a single parent so there is no difference between white and black, Asian or European or American, one caste and other caste, one tribe and other tribe and so on. Allah Ta’ala says that this division into different clans etc. is just for convenience in recognition, otherwise it has no other basis, basically all men are equal.
If anybody is superior, if anybody is having any distinction or preference that is not because of his being from a royal family nor because of his colour or caste or wealth but is because of his righteousness. Righteousness is the only criteria for superiority. Prophet Sayyidina Muhammad (SAW) is reported to have told his beloved daughter Hazrat Fatima:
“O Fatima, don’t think that your relation with me can be of any help to you, save your skin from hell-fire by doing righteous deeds.”
The Qur’an Shareef says:
“This book guides those who fear Allah and thus do not indulge in evils and remain steadfast on righteousness.”
(2:2-3)
Which is the ideal of Islamic life. The Qur’an Shareef defines righteousness in a marvellous way:
“It is not righteousness that Ye turn your faces towards east or west: But it is righteousness to believe in Allah and the Last Day, and the angels, and the book, and the messengers; to spend of your substance, out of love for Him, for your kin, for orphans, for the needy, for the wayfarer, for those who ask for the ransom of slaves; to be steady in prayer, and give Zakat, to fulfill the contracts which Ye have made; and to be firm and patient, in pain (or suffering) and adversity and throughout all periods of panic. Such are the people of truth, the Allah fearing”
(2:177)
It further says:
“By no means shall Ye attain righteousness unless Ye give (freely) of that which Ye love whatever Ye give, Allah knoweth it well.”
(3:92)
The Qur’an Shareef is the Divine code which bases society on righteousness so that all evils are purged out and only virtue is allowed to prevail. The Qur’an Shareef lays great emphasis on moral excellence.
The Qur’anic concept of ideal state is not just an utopia as that of Greek philosophers and other but an ideal state based on the Qur’anic concept of righteousness which was practically established at Madinah by Rasulullah (SAW), so one needs to go through whole history of Islamic state during the time of Rasulullah (SAW) and his rightly guided Caliphs.
A tradition of Rasulullah (SAW) is reported as:
“Most righteous amongst you should lead the Salah (should become the Imam).
The Qur’an Shareef says:
“Allah doth command you to render back your trusts to those to whom they are due; and when Ye judge between people that Ye judge with justice; verily how excellent is the teaching which He giveth you! For Allah is He Who hearth and seeth all things.”
(4:58)
In this verse the Qur’an Shareef clearly bases selection of people for different posts on efficiency and not on other considerations. In an Islamic society if some governor or some other higher official is to be selected or elected, he should be worth of it. To choose a person who is not righteous and is not efficient is a permanent sin as per the Qur’anic teachings. The Qur’an Shareef binds its believers to think many times before casting his vote in anybody’s favour as he or she will be punished by Allah Ta’ala for helping in the selection or election of some one who is not worth of that post.
The Qur’an Shareef while narrating the incident of great flood during the time of Hadhrat Noah (AS), says:
“And Noah called upon His Lord and said: ‘O my lLord! Surely my son is of my family and Thy promise is true, and Thou art the justest of judges!’ He said; ‘O Noah! he is not of Thy family; for his conduct is unrighteous. So ask not of Me that of which Thou has no knowledge! I give thee counsel, lest thou become on the ignorants!”
(11:45-46)
In these verses the Qur’an Shareef reveals that when Noah (AS) prayed for his son, who was not righteous, Allah Ta’ala warned Noah (AS) for praying for his son who was not virtuous, thereby clearly sending the message to mankind that Islamic society should only be based on righteousness and nothing else. Even if son of a prophet is not righteous he has no place in an Islamic society.
This is the ethical basis which marks off the Islamic State as superior by far to the modern state which ignores the laws of morality in all its affairs and thinks of sovereignty in the human terms.
Individual and Society are Equally
Important in an Islamic State, it is
Neither Authoritarian nor Totalitarian
When we go through the world history and analyse different forms of governments which have been there in the world in different countries at different times, we clearly see that either there has been injustice to the society or to the individual. You will never prove that there has ever been any non-Islamic state which was based on absolute justice for both individual as well as society. Greek philosophers like Plato and Aristotle talked much about an ideal state but they were more theoretical than practical. Even their hypothetical theories had many flaws. Plato advocated more for socialist way of life and the curtailment of individual liberty as he thought that it was indisciplined life and excessive freedom of individual that was responsible for the fall of Greek city. Both Plato and Aristotle were of the opinion that social stability is prior to the individual in importance.
In dictatorship and kingship we know that there is coercion and injustice to individual as well as society. There boss is always right, always holds true. Everything depends upon the whims and wishes of the ruler. There is no rationalistic approach. King may be very much kind hearted and willing to do real good to his people, as his wisdom and knowledge about the needs of the people are limited, there are always chances that while trying to do good to some, he may be doing harm to others or ignoring rights of others of which he may have no knowledge. It will always be impossible for him to do total good.
Marxist-Socialist concept of state has miserably failed in the world. Disintegration of the Soviet Union of Russia proved last nail in its coffin. In this form of government the individual rights are miserably crushed, private institutions, private sector and individual liberty is totally suppressed. Its being antihuman and unnatural is quite obvious and does not need further elaboration.
Modern democratic system has the laws based on the human reason which is always liable to err. This form of government has so many shortcomings that it will be difficult to list them all here. Election or selection of legislators is not based on level of education, experience, moral uprightness, righteousness or political awareness but on the contrary it has been seen that those people who do not do good in school and colleges and do not get some respectable job, who are mostly fallouts from the colleges, finally join politics as a last resort out of sheer frustration. It is these people unfortunately in whose hands is finally placed the destiny of the nation. The legislation depends upon their whims and wishes. As their sole aim in becoming legislators is materialistic, so their all moves are materialistic in essence, so it is seen that all moral and financial malpractices mostly start from them only. In this way both society as well as the individual suffers in such a system. In modern times it is usually seen that the intellectual and morally upright people become ulema, doctors, engineers, scientists, lawyers and judges and businessmen etc and the third raters join politics. This is general rule, there are always exceptions, we do not deny them.
Secondly as this whole system is based on materialistic notions, so moral ethics has no role in such governance.
India these days, is badly suffering from instability of the central government which is mainly due to this form of democracy. There are people across the country, now who are openly talking against this type of democracy.
Islamic laws are divinely ordained laws based on absolute justice where both society as well as individual are equally protected. The ruler in an Islamic state, is not the master but a servant of Allah Ta’ala who has been appointed as the head of the state not as the dictator or as legislator but just to implement the already existing Divine Laws of Allah Ta’ala. Rulers of Islamic State like Hadhrat Abu Bakr, Hadhrat Umar, Hadhrat Uthman, Hadhrat Ali and Hadhrat Umer bin Abdul Aziz have set up such examples of governance of which there is no parallel in the world history.
The Qur’an Shareef commands its
believers including the rulers
“Allah commands justice, the doing of good and giving to kith and kin and He forbids all indecent deeds, and evil and rebellion: He instructs you, that Ye may receive admonition.”
(16:90)
In this verse the Qur’an Shareef commands its believers about ‘Ihsan’ in addition to ‘Adal’ that is the beauty of Islam. ‘Adal’ literally means justice where an offender will be given punishment which will be exactly equal to his offence, neither more nor less. ‘Ihsan’ means to do more good to others when one is not supposed to do it and if one does not do that extra goodness, one has not committed any sin. In other words it means that the Qur’an Shareef exhorts its believers to do more good with others for which they are not legally bound. For example, a businessman can earn any amount of profit, Islamic State will not prevent him from that unless that profiteering causes much inconvenience to the society. But Islam exhorts Muslims not to earn too high profits on their commodities and for this Islam does not bind them legally but exhorts them morally and promises a reward in Hereafter.
Incident of Hadhrat Ali (RA)
Hadrat Ali (RA) was the 4th Caliph of Muslim Ummah after Rasulullah(SAW). Once saddle of his horse was stolen by a jew. One day he saw his saddle with the jew and recognised it. Now, being the head of the state he could have taken his saddle back and imprisoned the jew, but see how the Qur’an Shareef moulds and reforms its believers. He does not say anything to the jew, instead files a case against him in the court of which Qadhi Shuriah was the chief justice. Qadhi Shuriah does not think that Hadhrat Ali being the head of the state and most upright person cannot tell a lie, but he goes as per his Qur’anic laws. He asks Hadhrat Ali (RA) to produce evidence. Caliph’s word is not taken as final. He is being asked to produce evidence as in Islam nobody is above law. Hadhrat Ali (RA) produces his son and his servant as the witness. Qadhi Shuraih refuses to accept the son as the witness. As it is compulsory in Islam to produce two witnesses and Hadhrat Ali (RA) was now left with only one, so he gives decision in favour of the jew and Hadhrat Ali (RA) does not get back the saddle which is given to jew. Hadhrat Ali (RA) takes the decision willingly. On seeing this the jew embraces Islam. This shows the glimpse of how Islam makes even the ruler to follow the Islamic Laws just like a common man.
Individual Rights
The Qur’an Shareef takes highly balanced path in this direction as well. Take the example of marriage, Islam does not make it legally obligatory for Muslims that every Muslim has to marry necessarily. It does not prohibit marriage also. If Islam would have made marriage obligatory for everyone, those people having physical and financial problems would have been in trouble. Had Islam banned marriage, adultery would have been the result. Islam on the other hand exhorts Muslims to marry in a well prescribed fashion so that human beings fulfil their sexual desires in a civilised and legalised way, couple becomes nucleus of family and then the society and that the moral and legal rights, like that of inheritence, of the off-springs are vividly safeguarded. Another beauty of Islam is that it neither restricts man to one wife only nor gives him unlimited liberty in this regard. The disadvantages of having only one wife permissible have now been proved beyond doubt as it is practised in certain religions like Hinduism. These people face lot of difficulties if the wife dies, or is not able to satisfy the husband sexually, may be due to physical problem or ailment or if the husband and the wife do not like each other for one or the other reason. So, Islam gives an individual liberty upto four at a time. There are so many reasons for this number of four, we are not going to discuss them here, reader is advised to read this topic in the literature which is freely available in abundance.
Islam is the law of Allah Ta’ala
The All knowing, So where Islam has allowed man upto four wives and has given him the right to divorse but at the same time it has disliked the divorce most. Islam does not snatch the right to divorse from man, had it been so, man would have been in great trouble. Not only to man, Islam has given the woman equally the right to take divorse, thus protecting the rights of both man as well as woman. With all this legal permission of divorse, you will see that divorse is least common in Muslim Society. Why? This is because of Qur’anic injunctions. Divorse is used in Islam when all other methods of reconcilliation between husband and wife fail and that time too this is done with lot of distaste. If you compare Islamic Society with western society in case of rate of divorse, you will see that it is negligible in former as compared to latter.
Following of Islamic Law is not only
legal but religious obligation as well.
One of the great differences between secular laws and Islamic Laws is that to comply Islamic Laws is not only legal but is a religious obligation. A person who obeys Islamic Laws is promised a reward in Hereafter and a defaulter is promised a punishment in Hereafter in addition to worldly punishment at the hands of law and order authorities. It is impossible for any secular legal system to keep an eye on every citizen for twenty four. Let me explain by giving some examples. A patient gets some abdominal pain and consults a doctor. The doctor is greedy and wants to extract money by hook or crook. He tells the patient, “look, you have appendicitis, your appendix is going to get bursted any time which can cause death. It needs immediate operation. You better go to such and such nursing home just now and I will be operating on you this evening. It will cost you Rs. 10,000. Mind you, this patient has nothing of that sort, his appendix is quite normal, his pain is due to simple intestinal cramps. The doctor also knows that he does not have appendicitis but he just wants to make money by removing a normal appendix. What will that poor ignorant patient do. Fearing death, he immediately follows the doctor’s instructions and gets admitted in the said nursing home even if he has to borrow the money. After this un-indicated and unnecessary surgery is performed, it is very difficult for any secular legal system to prove that this doctor has done any wrong.
Similarly, suppose a patient goes to a doctor for some simple ailment which can be treated by simple one or two tablets but this doctor prescribes very costly substandard drugs, firstly because he wants to impress the patient, secondly the doctor gets commission from the drug company not only this but this doctor also advises a battery of tests not because these tests are necessary for the patient but because the doctor gets commission from various laboratories where these tests are done. Now, tell me which legal system can catch him, if he is questioned, he can give hundred lame excuses to justify all this. It is only sense of accountability in the Hereafter and firm belief that Allah Ta’ala is seeing our exterior as well as interior all the time, that can force one to remain honest in one’s dealings. A Muslim knows that he can deceive an individual or the government to avoid worldly punishment and can grab money but he cannot deceive Allah Ta’ala and cannot escape punishment in the Hereafter. It is in this belief where the beauty of Islam lies. I tell you without any exaggeration that only true God-fearing Muslim whether doctor, engineer, businessman or whatever, can be honest in his dealings in the real sense of the word. The honesty of others will be only superficial, if you analyse honesty of others, you will mostly see many flaws in their honesty which may be intentional or unintentional.
Examples from Sahaba al-Kiram
Sahaba al-Kiram were extremely God-fearing and the sense of accountability in the Hereafter was strongest in them. They would not dare to commit a trivial sin in private or in public, they were not fearing worldly punishment as much they were fearing punishment in Hereafter.
Confession of Hadhrat Umar (RA)
In the early days of Islam, going to wife was forbidden even during night in the month of Ramadhan. Once Hadhrat Umar (RA) went to his wife during night in the month of Ramadhan while forgetting the ban. After the act he soon realised the sin and started melting due to fear of Allah Ta’ala. He had done so in private but knowing that Allah Ta’ala is always seeing, he, in the early morning, ran to Prophet (SAW) and himself voluntarily confessed his sin and requested the Prophet (SAW) to save him from Allah Ta’ala’s chastisement. It is only because of the firm conviction of a Muslim that Allah Ta’ala is always seeing, he does not dare to transgress Islamic Laws even in privacy.
Voluntary Punishment
Thre is a famous incident in Islamic history which speaks volumes about how much true Muslims fear Allah Ta’ala which forces them to confess voluntarily even the grave sins which they could have easily hid, thus avoiding punishment.
A lady came to Rasulullah (SAW) and confessed that she had committed adultery and that she wanted punishment. Rasulullah (SAW) felt sorry for that lady but the lady repeatedly insisted for punishment as she did not want to return to Allah Ta’ala sinful. As she was pregnant, Rasulullah (SAW) told her to come after giving birth to the child she was carrying. After some months she again comes herself with the child in her lap and again asks for the punishment. No warrants were issued for her arrest, no police was sent to arrest her. She is coming herself as she wants to cleanse her deed book from the black stains of that grave offence. Rasulullah (SAW) asks her to come after the period of breast feeding of the child is over which usually lasts upto two and half years. She again comes voluntarily with the child accompanying her with a piece of bread in his hand meaning that he no longer now needed breast feeding. You know what was the punishment to be given to this lady for her crime, which she knew very well! She was to be stoned to death. Rasulullah (SAW) felt pity on that lady but he had to order to stone her to death as per Divine Law and finally that lady was stoned to death. She got herself cleansed in this world, only and she never wanted chastisement in the Hereafter.
This is the true Muslim character, a true Muslim will not do any illegal thing even if he knows that he can escape punishment. This is the clear distinction of Islamic Laws over the secular laws.
Readers are advised to read the incident of Ka’b Ibne Maalik (RA) which is mentioned in detail in the Qur’an Shareef in Surah Toubah and also mentioned in detail in Hadith Shareef books. That is a marvellous incident which demonstrates how Islamic Laws are executed by Muslims not superficially but by the core of the heart.
Social and Spiritual Benefits of Islamic Laws
Mundane secular Laws do not touch the moral and social values of its citizens whereas Islamic Laws not only take care of social and moral values of its citizens but also aims at spiritual upliftment of the individual as we have already discussed that following of Islamic Laws is not only legal but is religious obligation as well.
There are numerous Qur’anic verses and Ahadith Shareef on the subject but it is not possible to quote all of them here, few are quoted as under:-
The Qur’an Shareef says:
“O ye who believe! let not some men among you laugh at others, it may be that the (later) are better than the (former), nor let some women laugh at others, it may be that the (later) are better than the (former). Nor defame nor be sarcastic to each other. Nor call each other by (offensive) nicknames. Ill-seeming is a name connoting wickedness, (to be used of one) after he has believed. And those who do not desist are doing (indeed) wrong. O ye who believe avoid suspicion as much (as possible), for suspicion in some cases is a sin. And spy not on each other, nor speak ill of each other behind their backs. Would any of you like to eat the flesh of his dead brother? Nay, ye would abhor it… But fear Allah, for Allah is Oft-Returning Most Merciful.
(49:11)”
“Verily spendthrifts are brothers of the satans. And the satan is to his Lord (Himself) ungreatful.
(17:27)
“Kill not your children for fear of want, We shall provide, sustenance for them as well as for you. Verily the killing of them is a great sin.”
(17:31)
“Come not nigh to the orphan’s property except to improve it, until he attains the age of full strength; and fulfil (every) engagement, for (every) engagement.”
(17:34)
“And do not eat up your property among yourselves for vanities, nor use it as bait for the judges, with intent that ye may eat up wrongfully and knowingly a little of (other) people’s property.”
(2:188)
“Serve Allah, and join not any partners with Him. And do good to parents, kinsfolk, orphans, those in need, neighbours who are of kin neighbours who are strangers the companion by your side, the way-farer *ye meet), and what your right hands possess, for Allah loveth not the arrogant, the vainglorious.
(4:36)
“O ye who believe! Ye are forbidden to inherit women against their will. Nor should ye treat them with harshness, that ye may take away part of the dower ye have given them, except where they have been guilty of open lewdness. On the contrary live with them it may be that ye dislike a thing, and Allah brings about through it a great deal of good.”
(4:19)
“Those who, when they spend, are not extravagant and not niggardly, but hold a just (balance) between those (extremes).”
(25:67)
“Those who witness no falsehood and, if they pass by futility, they pass by it with honourable (avoidance)”
(25:72)
There are numerous Ahadith Shareef also on this topic in the treasure of Ahadith Shareef, I will be quoting few of them here:
“A true believer is one from whose tongue and hands other believers remain safe”
“One who deceives is not from us”
“One who does not love our youngsters and does not respect our elders, is not from us”
“One who does not show mercy, is not shown mercy”
“Salaam is before the speech”
“Don’t curse the dead”
“Don’t ask (beg) people for anything”
“To abuse a muslim is impiety and to fight against him is infidelity”
“Abstain from sitting on the roadside”
“(Perfect) Muslim is one, from whose tongue and hands other muslims remain secure”
“The one who doesn’t keep his promise, has no Deen (Islam)”
“None of you should urinate in a hole”
“When anyone of you has to take a bath, he should ensure veil”
“Man must not look at the private parts of other man and woman must not look at the private parts of other woman.”
“Rasulullah (SAW) forbade slapping or beating on anyone’s face”
“One who has Imaan on Allah Ta’ala and on the day of Qiyamah must honour his guest”
“One who has Imaan on Allah Ta’ala and on the day of Qiyamah must speak a good word or keep silent”
” One who has Imaan on Allah Ta’ala and on the day of Qiyamah must behave properly with his relatives.”
Man is Most Honoured in an Islamic State
Islam has given great honour to man. If somebody asks me to describe Islam is one sentence, I will describe it as “Service to Humanity”. If you study whole the Qur’an Shareef, Ahadith Shareef, everywhere you will see that this all is aiming at this pivotal idea.