Towards Understanding Islam

Sayyid Abul Ala Al-Mawdudi

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THE MEANING OF ISLAM

Every religion of the world has been named either after the name of its founder or after the community and nation in which that religion took its birth. For instance, Christianity takes its appellation from the name of its prophet Jesus Christ; Zoroastrians from its founder zoroaster; and Judaism, the religion of the Jews, from the name of the tribe Judah (of the country of judea) wherein it took its birth. Similar is the case with other religions. But not so with Islam. This religion enjoys the unique distinction of having no such association with any particular person or people. The word ?Islam? does not confer any such relationship-for it does not belong to any particular person, people, or country. It is neither the product of any human mind nor is it confined to any particular community. It is a universal religion and its objective is to create and cultivate in man the quality and attitude of Islam.

Islam, as a matter of fact, is an attributive title. Whosoever possesses this attributive, may he belong to any race, community, country, or clan, is a Muslim. According to the Qur'an (the Holy Book of the Muslims), among every people and in all ages there have been good and righteous people who possessed this attribute of them were and are Muslims.

This automatically brings us to the question: What does Islam mean? And who is a Muslim?

ISLAM - WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

?Islam? is an Arabic word and connotes submission, surrender, and obedience As a religion, Islam stands for complete submission and obedience to Allah and that is why it is called ?ISLAM?. Everyone can see that the universe we live in is an orderly universe. There is law and order among all the units that comprise this universe. Everything is assigned a place in a grand scheme, which is working in a magnificent and superb way. The sun, the moon, the stars and in fact all the heavenly bodies are knit together in a splendid system. They follow an unalterable law and do not make even the slightest deviation from their ordained course. The earth rotates on its own axis and in its revolution round the sun scrupulously follows the path laid down for it. Similarly, everything in the world, from the little whirling electron to the mighty nebulae, invariably follows its own laws. Matter energy, and life-all obey their laws and grow and change and live and die in accordance with those laws. EVEN in the human world the laws of nature are quite manifest. Man's birth, growth, and life are all regulated by a set of biological laws. He derives sustenance from nature in

Accordance with an unalterable law. All the organs of his body from the small tissues to the heart and the brain are governed by the laws prescribed for them. In Short, ours is a law-governed universe and everything in it is following the course that has been ordained for it. This powerful, all-pervasive law, which governs all that comprises the universe, from the tiniest specks of dust to the magnificent galaxies in high heavens, is the law of God, the creator and ruler of the universe. As the entire creation obeys the law of God, the whole universe, therefore, literally follows the religion of Islam-for Islam signifies nothing but obedience and submission to Allah, the Lord of the universe. The sun, the moon, the earth, and all other heavenly bodies are thus ?Muslim?. So is the case with air, water, and heat, stones, trees, and animals. Everything in the universe is ?Muslim? for it obeys God by submission to his laws. Even a man who refuses to believe in God, or offers his worship to someone other than Allah has perforce to be a ?Muslim? as far as his bodily existence is concerned. For his entire life, from the embryonic stage to the body?s dissolution info dust after death, and every tissue of his muscles and every limb of his body follow the course prescribed for each by God?s law. His very tongue which, on account of his ignorance, advocates the denial of God or professes multiple deities, is in its very nature a ?Muslim?. His head which he wantonly bows to other besides Allah is a born Muslim. His heart wherein, through his lack of true knowledge, he cherishes love and reverence for others, is ?Muslim? by intuition. These are all obedient to the divine Law, and their functions and movements are governed by the injunctions of that law alone. This, in short, is the real position of man and the universe. Let us now examine the problem in a different light. Man is so constituted that there are two aspects of his life: two distinct spheres of his activity. One is the sphere in which he finds himself totally regulated by the Divine Law. He cannot budge an inch or move a step away from it. Nor can he evade it in any way or from. In fact, like other creatures, he is completely caught in the grip of the law of nature and is bound to follow it. But there is another sphere of his activity as well. He has been endowed with reason and intellect. He has the power to think and form judgments, to choose and reject, and to adopt and spurn. He is free to adopt whatever course of life chooses. He can embrace any faith, adopt any way of life and formulate his living according to whatever ideologies he likes. He may prepare his own code of conduct or accept one formulated by others. He has been bestowed with free will and can chalk out his own course of behaviour. In this latter aspect, he, unlike the other creatures, has been given freedom of thought, choice, and action.

Both these aspects distinctly co-exist in man?s life.

In the first he, like all other creatures, is a born Muslim, invariably obeys the injunctions of God, and is bound to remain so. As far as the second aspect is concerned, he is free to become or not to become a Muslim. Here he has been given the freedom of choice-and it is the way a person exercises this freedom, which divides mankind into two groups: believers and non-believers. An individual who chooses to acknowledge his creator, accepts Him as his real Master, honestly and scrupulously submits to His laws and injunctions and follows the code He has revealed unto man for his individual and social life, thereby becomes a perfect Muslim. He has, so to say, achieved completeness in his Islam by consciously deciding to obey God in the domain in which he was endowed with freedom and choice. Now his entire life has become one of submission to God and there is no conflict in his personality. He is a perfect Muslim and his Islam is complete-for this submission of his entire self to the will of Allah is Islam and nothing but Islam. He has now consciously submitted to Him whom he had already been unconsciously obeying. He has now willingly offered obedience to the Master whom he already owed obedience unintentionally. His knowledge is now real for he has acknowledged the Being who endowed him with the power to learn and to know. Now his reason and judgment are set on an even keel-for he has rightly decided to obey the Being who bestowed upon him the faculty of thinking and judging. His tongue also is truthful for it expresses with conviction its confession of the Lord who gave it the faculty speech. New the whole of this existence is an embodiment of, in all spheres of life, he voluntarily as well as involuntarily obeys the laws of the same One God with the whole universe for he worships Him whom the whole world is for him and he is for God.

THE NATURE OF KUFR

In contrast to the man described above, there is the man who, although a born Muslim and unconsciously

Remaining one throughout his life, does not exercise his faculties of reason, intellect, and intuition for recognizing his Lord and creator and misuses his freedom of choice by choosing to deny Him. Such a man becomes an unbeliever-in the language of Islam a kafir.

Kufr literally means ?to cover? or ?to conceal?. The man who denies God is called kafir (concealer) because he conceals by his disbelief what is inherent in his nature and embalmed in his own soul-for, indeed, his nature is instinctively imbued with ?Islam?. His whole body, every sinew and every fibre, functions in obedience to that instinct. Each and every particle of existence-living or lifeless-functions in accordance with ?Islam? and is fulfilling the duty that has been assigned to it. But the vision of this man has been blurred, his intellect has been befogged , and he is unable to see the manifest. His own nature has become concealed from his eyes and he thinks and acts in utter disregard of it. The reality become estranged form him and he gropes in the dark such is the nature of kufr.

Kufr is a form of ignorance, rather it is ignorance pure and simple. What ignorance can be greater than to be ignorant of God, the creator, the Lord of the universe? A man observes the vast panorama of nature, the superb mechanism that is ceaselessly working, the grand design that is manifest in every nook and corner of the creation-he observes this vast machine, but he does not know who is its maker and Director. He looks to his own body, the wonderful organism that works in the most superb way, and uses it to achieve his own ends but is unable to comprehend the force that brought it into existence, the engineer who designed and produced this machine, the creator who made the unique living being out of lifeless stuff: carbon, calcium, sodium, and the like. He witnesses a superb plan in the universe-but fails to see the planner behind it. he sees great beauty and harmony in its working-but not the creator of this all. He observes wonderful design in nature-but not the Designer! In the universe all around him he observes the choicest demonstrations of skill in science and wisdom, mathematics and engineering, design and purpose, but he blinds himself to the being Who brought all this vast incomprehensible universe into existence. How can a man, who has blinded himself to this great and significant reality, approach the true perspectives of knowledge? How can the vistas of truth and knowledge be opened to such a man? How can one who has made the wrong beginning reach the right destination? He will fail to find the clue to Reality. The Right path will remain concealed for him and whatever be his endeavors in sciences and arts, he will never be able to avail himself of the lights of truth and wisdom. He would be groping in the dark, and stumbling in the gloom of ignorance.

Not only that; kufr is also a tyranny, nay, the wars of tyrannies. And what is ?tyranny?? It is an act of cruel and unjust use of any force or power. If you force a thing to act unjustly or to act against its true nature, its real will and its inherent attitude,-that is tyranny, root and branch.

We have seen that all that is in the universe is obedient to God the creator. to obey, to live in accordance with His will and His Law or (to put it more precisely) to be a Muslim is ingrained in their very nature. God has given manpower over these things, but it is incumbent in the very nature of these things that they should be used for the fulfillment of His will and not otherwise. But one who disobeys God and resorts to kufr is the person who perpetrates the greatest injustice, for he uses all these powers of body and mind to rebel against the course of nature and becomes an unwilling instrument in the drama of disobedience. He forces his head to bow down before deities other than God and cherishes in his heart the love, reverence, and fear of other powers in utter disregard to the instinctive urge of these organs. He uses his own powers and all those things upon which he has authority against the explicit of good and thus establishes a reign of tyranny. Can there be any greater injustice, tyranny, and cruelty than that exhibited by this man who exploits and misuses everything under the sun and unscrupulously forces them to a course which affronts nature and justice? Kufr is not mere tyranny; it is, to say the least, sheer rebellion, ingratitude, and infidelity. After all, what is the reality of man? What is his power and authority? Is he himself the creator of his mind, his heart, his soul, and other organs of his body-or have they been created by God? Has he himself created the universe and all that is within her-or has it been created by God? Who has harnessed all the powers and energies for the service of man-man or God? If everything has been created by God and God alone, then to whom do they belong? Who is their real owner? Who is their rightful sovereign? Verily, it is God and none else. And if God is the creator, the Master, and the sovereign, then who would be a greater rebel than the man who uses God?s creation against His injunctions-who makes his mind think against God, harbors in his heart thoughts against Him, and uses his various faculties against the sovereign?s will. If a servant betrays his master you denounce him as faithless. If an officer become disloyal to the state you dub him as traitor and renegade. If a person cheats his benefactor you have no hesitation in condemning him as ingrate. But what match can this betrayal, this ingratitude, and this rebellion have to the one which the disbeliever commits by his Kufr? After all, who is the real mainspring of all power and authority? Who gave man command over the resources? Who elevated people to positions of high authority and power? All that a man has and all that he uses for the benefit of others is a bestowal of God. The greatest obligation that man owes on this earth is to his parents. But who has implanted the love of children in the parents? hearts? Who endowed the mother with the will and power to nurture, nourish, and feed her children? Who inspired the parents with the passion to spend everything in their possession for the well being of their children? A little reflection would reveal that God is the greatest benefactor of man. He is his creator, Lord, Nourisher, sustainer, as well as his real king and sovereigns. And this being the position of God vis-୶is man, what can be greater betrayal, ingratitude, rebellion, and treason than Kufr, through which a man denies and disobeys his real Lord and sovereign?

Do not think that bay committing Kufr man does or can do any harm to God Almighty. No, not the least. An insignificant speck on the face of a tiny ball in this limitless universe that man is, what harm can he do to the Lord of the universe whose dominions are so infinitely vast that we have not yet been able to explore their boundaries even with the help of the most powerful telescope; Whose power is so great that myriad's of heavenly bodies, like the Earth, the Moon, the sun and the stars, are at His bidding, whirling link tiny balls; Whose wealth is so boundless that He is the sole Master of the whole universe; and who provides for all and needs none to provide for Him. Man?s revolt against Him can do Him no harm; on the other hand by his disobedience, man treads the path of utter ruin and disgrace.

The inevitable consequence of this revolt and denial of reality is a failure in the ultimate ideals of life. such a rebel will never find the thread of real knowledge and vision; for the knowledge that fails to reveal its own creator can reveal no truth. Such a man?s intellect and reason always run astray; for reason which errs in knowing its own creator cannot illumine the paths of life. Such a man will meet with failures in all the affairs of his life. His morality, his civic and social life, his struggle for livelihood and his family life, in short, his entire living, will be upset. He will spread confusion and disorder on the earth. He will without the least compunction, shed blood, violate other men?s rights, be cruel to them, and create disorder and destruction in the world. His perverted thoughts and ambitions, his blurred vision and disturbed scale of values, and his evil-spelling activities would make life bitter for him and for all around him. Such a man would destroy the calm and poise of life on earth. And in the life hereafter he would be held guilty for the crimes he committed upon his nature, his powers, and resources. Every organ of his body-his very brain, eyes, nose, hands, and feet-will complain against the injustice and cruelty he had done unto them. every tissue of his being will decry him before God Who, as the very fountain of justice, will award him the fullest punishment he deserves. This is the inglorious consequence of Kufr. It leads to the blind alley of utter failure, here and hereafter.

The Blessings of Islam

After surveying the evils and disadvantages of Kufr, let us now cast a glance over the blessings of Islam. You find in the world around you and in the small kingdom of your own self innumerable manifestations of God?s divine power. This grand universe, which ceaselessly works with matchless order and in accordance with an unalterable law, is in itself a witness to the fact that its Designer, Creator, and Governor is an Omnipotent, All-powerful Being with infinite, all-embracing, and limit-less power, knowledge, and resources, Whose wisdom is the most perfect, and Whom nothing in the universe dare disobey. It is in the very nature of man, as it is with every other thing in this universe, to obey Him. As a matter of fact, he is unconsciously obeying His Law day in and day out, because the moment he goes against this Law, he is exposed to death and destruction. This is the law of nature, our everyday observance.

Besides endowing man with the capacity to acquire knowledge, the faculty to think and ponder, and the sense of distinguishing right from wrong, God has granted him with a certain amount of freedom of will and action. In this freedom lies man?s real trial; his knowledge, his wisdom, his power of discrimination, and his freedom of will and action are all being tried and tested. In this trial and test man has not been obliged to adopt any particular course, for by compulsion the very object of the trial would have been defeated. Evidently if in an examination you are compelled to write a certain answer to a question, the examination will be of no use. Your merit can be properly judged only if you are allowed to answer the questions freely, according to your own knowledge and understanding. If your answer is correct you will succeed, and will get access to future progress; and if your answer is wrong, you will fail, and your failure will bar the way to further progress. Similar is the situation which man faces in the world. God has given him freedom of will and action so that he may remain free to choose whatever attitude in life he likes and considers proper for himself-Islam or Kufr. Now, on the one hand, there is a man who under-stands neither his own nature nor that of the universe. He errs in recognizing his real Master and in knowing His attributes, and misuses his freedom by pursuing the path of disobedience and revolt. such a man has failed in the trial of his knowledge, intelligence, and duty-consciousness. He has failed to come up to the standard and does not deserve a better a destiny than the one discussed above.

On the other hand, there is another man who emerges successful from this trial. By the correct use of his knowledge and intellect he recognizes his creator, reposes belief in Him, and, in spite of being under no compulsion to do so, chooses the path of obedience to Him. He does not err in distinguishing the right from the wrong and chooses to follow the right despite the fact that he had the power to lean towards evil. He understands his own nature, and realizes the law and realities of nature and, despite the power and freedom of adopting any course, adopts the way of obedience and loyalty to God the creator. He is successful in his trial because he has used his intellect and all other faculties properly. He uses his eyes to see the Reality, his ears to listen to the Truth, his mind to form right opinions and puts all his heart and soul in following the right way he has so chosen. He chooses Truth, sees the reality, and willingly and joyfully submits to his Lord and Master. He is intelligent, truthful, and dutiful, for he has chosen light over darkness, and after seeing the light of reality has responded to its call willingly and enthusiastically. Thus he has proved by his conduct that he is not only a seeker after Truth but is its knower and worshipper as well. Verily, he is on the Right path, and such a man is destined to succeed in this world and in the life to come.

Such a man will always choose the Right path in every field of knowledge and action. The man who knows God with all His attributes knows the beginning as well as the ultimate end of Reality. He can never be led astray, for his first step is on the right path, and he is sure of the direction and destination of his journey in life. In philosophy he will ponder over the secrets of the universe, and will try to fathom the mysteries of nature, but, unlike an unbelieving philosopher, he will not lose his way in the maze of doubt and skepticism. His path being illumined with Divine Vision, his every step would fall in right direction. In science, he will endeavor to know the laws of nature, uncover the hidden treasures of earth and direct all the hitherto unknown forces of mind and matter-all for the betterment of humanity. He will try his level best to explore all avenues of knowledge and power and to harness all that exists in earth and heavens in the interests of mankind. At every stage of his inquiry his God-consciousness will save him from making evil and destructive uses of science and scientific method. He will never conceive himself claiming to be a master of all these objects, boasting to be the conqueror of nature, arrogating to himself the godly and sovereign powers and nourishing the ambition of subverting the world, subduing the human race and establishing his supremacy over all and sundry by means fair and foul.

Such an attitude of revolt and defiance can never be entertained by a Muslim scientist-only a Kafir scientist can fall a prey to such illusions and by submitting to them expose the entire human race to dangers of total destruction and annihilation. A Muslim scientist, on the other hand, will behave in an altogether different way. The deeper his insight into the world of science, the stronger will be his faith in God. His head will bow down before Him in gratitude. His feelings will be that as his Master has blessed him with greater power and knowledge so he must exert himself for his own good and for the good of humanity. Instead of arrogance there will be humility. Instead of power-drunkenness there will be strong realization to serve humanity. His freedom will not be unbridled. He will be guided by the tenets of morality and Divine Revelation. Thus science would in his hands, instead of becoming an instrument of destruction, become an agency for human welfare and moral regeneration. And this is the way in which he will express his gratitude to his Master for the gifts and blessings He has bestowed upon man.

Similarly, in history, economics, politics, law, and other branches of arts and science, a Muslim will no-where lag behind a Kafir in the fields of inquiry and struggle, but their angles of view and consequently their modus operandi will be widely different. A Muslim will study every branch of knowledge in its right perspective, will strive for the right objective, and will arrive at right conclusion. In history he will draw correct lessons from the past experiences of man, and will find out true causes of the rise and fall of civilization. He will try to benefit from all that was good and right in the past and will scrupulously avoid all that had led to the decline and fall of nations. In politics his sole objective will be to strive for the establishment of a polity wherein peace, justice, fraternity, and goodness reign, where man is a brother of man and respects his humanity, where no form of exploitation or slavery is rampant, where rights of the individual are respectfully upheld, and where the powers of the state are considered as a sacred trust from God and are used for the common welfare of all. In the field of law, the endeavor of a Muslim will be to make it the true embodiment of justice and the real protector of the rights of all-particularly of the weak. He will see that everybody gets his due share and no injustice or oppression is inflicted upon anyone. He will respect the law, make others respect it, and will see that it is administered justly, fairly, and equitably.

The moral life of a Muslim will always be filled with godliness, piety, righteousness and truthfulness. He will live in the world with the belief that God alone is the master of all that whatever he and other men possess has been given by God, that the powers he wields are only a trust from God, that the freedom he has been endowed with is not to be used indiscriminately, and that it is in his own interest to use it in accordance with God?s Will. He will constantly keep in view that one day he will have to return to the Lord and submit an account of his entire life. The sense of accountability will always remain firmly implanted in his mind and he will never behave in a carefree and irresponsible way.

Think of the moral excellence of the man who lives with this mental attitude-his will be a life of purity and piety and love and altruism. He will be a blessing unto mankind. His thinking would not be polluted with evil thoughts and perverted ambitions. He will abstain from seeing evil, hearing evil, and doing evil. He will guard his tongue and will never utter a word of life. He will earn his living through just and fair means and will prefer hunger to a food acquired unfairly through exploitation or injustice. He will never be a party to oppression or violation of human life and honour, whatever be their form or colour. He will never yield to evil, however high the defiance may cost him. He will be an embodiment of goodness and nobility and will uphold right and truth even at the cost of his life. He will abhor all shades of injustice and will stand firm for truth, undaunted by the tempests of adversity. Such a man will be a power to be reckoned with. He is bound to succeed. Nothing on earth can deter him or impede his way.

He will be the most honored and the most respected one. No one can excel him in this respect. How can humiliation ever visit a person who is not prepared to bow his head or even spread his hand for any favor before anyone except God the Almighty, the Sovereign of the universe?

He will be most powerful and effective. No one can be more powerful than he-for he fears none but God and seeks blessings from none but Him. What power can make him deviate from the Right Path? What wealth can buy his faith? What force can mould his conscience? What power can coerce his behaviour?

He will be the most wealthy and rich. No one in the world can be richer or more independent than he-for he will live a life of austerity, satiety, and contentment. He will be neither sensualist, nor indulgent, nor greedy. He will be contented with whatever he earns fairly and honestly and even if heaps of ill-gotten wealth are put before him he will not even like to look at them, to say the least of availing them. He will have the peace and contentment of heart-and what can be a greater wealth than this?

He will be the most revered, popular, and the loved one. No one can be more lovable than he-for he lives a life of charity and benevolence. He will do justice to all and sundry, discharge his duties honestly, and work for the good of others sincerely. People's hearts would be naturally drawn towards him and they would like him, love him, and revere him.

He will be the most trusted and honored one. No one can be trustworthy than he-for he will not betray his trust, nor will he go astray from righteousness: he will be true to his word, and straightforward and honest in his dealings. He will be fair and just in all his affairs, for he is sure that God is ever- present, ever vigilant. Words fail to describe the credit and goodwill, which such a man commands. Can there be anyone who will not trust him?-such is the life and character of a Muslim.

If you understand the true character of a Muslim, you will be convinced that he cannot live in humiliation, abasement, or subjugation. He is bound to prevail and no power on earth can overwhelm him or subdue him. For Islam inoculates in him the qualities which cannot be overshadowed by any charm or illusion.

And after living a respectable and honorable life on this earth, he will return to his Creator Who will shower upon him the choicest of His blessings-for he discharged his duty ably, fulfilled his mission successfully, and emerged from the trial triumphantly. He is successful in life in this world and in the hereafter will live in eternal peace, joy, and bliss.

This is Islam, the natural religion of man, the religion, which is not associated with any person, people, period, or place. It is the way of nature, the religion of man. In every age, in ever country, and among every people, all God-knowing and truth-loving men have believed and lived this very religion. They were all Muslim, irrespective of the fact whether they called that way Islam or anything else. Whatever is name was, it signified Islam and nothing but Islam.

FAITH AND OBEDIENCE

ISLAM means obedience to God. And it is a matter of common sense that this obedience cannot ensure in full measure unless man knows certain basic facts of live and reposes firm faith in them. What are those facts? And what are the primary essentials, which a man must know to fashion his life, in accordance with the Divine Way? This we propose to discuss in the present chapter.

First of all, one should have unshakable belief in the existence of God, for unless a man has a firm and unalloyed faith in God?s existence, how can he render obedience to Him?

Then one must know the attributes of God. It is the knowledge of the attributes of God, which enables man to cultivate in him the nobles of human qualities and to fashion his life in virtue and godliness. If a man dose not know that there is one and only one God Who is the Creator, the ruler, and the Sustainer of the universe and there is none else to share with Him even a shred of the Divine power and authority, he may fall a prey to false god?s and offer his homage to them solicit their favor. But if he knows the divine attribute of tawhid (oneness of God), there is not the least possibility of his falling a prey to this illusion. Similarly, if a man knows that God is omnipresent and omniscient and He sees, hears, and knows everything that we do in public or in private-nay, even our unexpressed thoughts!-then how can he afford to be indulgent and disobedient to God? He will feel that he is under eternal vigil and will, therefore, behave in the most appropriate way. But he who is not aware of these attributes of God may be misled, because of his ignorance, into God?s disobedience. So is the case with all other attributes of God. the fact is that the qualities and attributes which a man must possess, if he wants to pursue the way of Islam, can be cultivated and developed only out of profound knowledge of the attributes of God. It is the knowledge of God?s attributes, which purifies a man?s mind and soul, his beliefs, morals, and actions. And a mere cursory acquaintance with or just an academic knowledge of these attributes is not sufficient for the task ahead-there must be an unflinching conviction firmly rooted in the mind and heart of man so that he may remain immune from insidious doubts and perversions.

Moreover, one must know in detail the way of living by following which one can seek the pleasure of God. Unless a man knows the likes and dislikes of God, how can he choose and adopt the one and reject the other? If a man has no knowledge of the Divine Law, how can he follow it? Thus the knowledge of the Divine Law and the Revealed code of Life is also extremely essential in this respect.

But here, again, mere knowledge will not suffice. Man must have full confidence and conviction that it is the Divine Law and that his salvation lies in following this code alone. For knowledge without this conviction will fail to spur man to the Right Path and he may be lost in the blind alley of disobedience.

Finally, one must also know the consequence of be-life and obedience and those of disbelief and disobedience. He must know what blessings would be showered upon him if he chooses God?s way and leads a life of purity, virtue, and obedience. And he must also know what evil and harrowing consequences would follow if he adopts the way of disobedience and revolt. Thus the knowledge of life after death is absolutely essential for this purpose. Man must have an unwavering belief in the fact that death does not mean the end of life; that there will be resurrection and he will be brought to the highest court of justice, to be presided over by God Himself; that on the Day of Judgment complete justice will prevail; and that good deeds will be rewarded and misdeeds punished. Everybody will get his due and there is no escape. This is bound to happen. This sense of responsibility and accountability is quite essential for the full-fledged obedience of the Law of God.

A man who has no knowledge of the world to come may consider obedience and disobedience quite immaterial. He may think that the obedient and the disobedient will both meet a similar end: for, after death both will be reduced to mere dust. With this attitude of mind, how can he be expected to submit to all the inconveniences and troubles that are inextricably associated with the life of active obedience, and shun those sins the commission of which does not apparently bring to him any moral or material loss in this world? With this mental attitude a man cannot acknowledge and submit to God?s Law.

Nor can a man, who lacks firm belief in the life hereafter and in the Divine Court of Judgment, remain firm and steadfast in the turbulent waters of life with its attraction or sin, crime and evil; for doubt and hesitancy rob a man of his will to action. You can remain firm in your behaviour only if you are firm in your beliefs. if you carry a wavering mind you cannot remain firm and steadfast. You can whole-heartedly follow a course only if you are sure of the benefits that will accrue to you by following it and of the losses and grievances that will engulf you if you disobey it. Thus, a profound know-ledge of the consequences of belief and disbelief and of the life after death is extremely necessary for canalizing life into God?s obedience.

These are the essential facts which one must know if one wants to live the life of obedience, i.e. Islam.

Faith : What does it mean?

Faith is what we have described in the foregoing discussion as ?Knowledge and belief?. The Arabic word Imaan, which we have rendered in English as faith, literally means ?to know?, ?to believe?, and ?to be convinced beyond the least shadow of doubt?. Faith, thus, is firm belief arising out of knowledge and conviction. And the man who knows and reposes unshakable belief in the unity of God, in His Attributes, in His Law and the Revealed Guidance, and in the Divine code of Reward and punishment is called Mo?min (faithful). This faith invariably leads man to a life of obedience and submission to the will of God. And one who lives this life of submission is known as Muslim.

This should clearly bring home the fact that without faith (Imaan) no man can be a true Muslim. It is the indispensable essential; rather, the very starting point, without which no beginning can be made. The relation of Islam to Imaan is the same as of a tree to its seed. As a tree cannot sprout forth without its seed, in the same way it is not possible for a man, who has no belief to start with, to become a ?Muslim?. On the other hand, just as it can happen that, in spite of sowing the seed, the tree may not grow for a multiple of reasons, or if it sprouts, its growth may be impaired or retarded, in the same way, a man may have faith, but due to a number of weaknesses, he may not become a true and staunch Muslim. Thus we find that faith is the starting point and leads man to the life of submission to God, and that a man cannot become a Muslim without faith. On the contrary, it is possible that a man may have faith but, because of the weakness of his will power, poor training, or bad company, he may not be living the life of a true Muslim. As such, from the viewpoint of Islam and Imaan, all men may be classified into four categories:

1. Those who have firm faith-a faith that makes them absolutely and whole-heartedly submit to God. They follow the way of God and devote themselves heart and soul to seek His pleasure by doing all that He likes and by avoiding all that He dislikes. In their devotion they are even more fervent that is the common man in pursuit of wealth and glory. Such men are true Muslim.
2. Those who do have faith, who believe in God, His Law and the Day of Judgment, but whose faith is not deep and strong enough to make them totally submit to God. They are far below the rank of true Muslims deserve punishment for their defaultations and misdeeds, but still they are Muslim. They are defaulters and wrongdoers but not rebels. They acknowledge the Sovereign and His Law and, although they are violating the Law, they have not revolted against the Sovereign. They admit its supremacy and their own guilt. Thus they are guilty and deserve punishment, but Muslims they remain.
3. Those who do not possess faith at all. These people refuse to acknowledge the sovereignty of God and are rebels. Even if their conduct is not bad and even if they are not spreading corruption and violence, they remain rebels and their apparent good deeds are of little value. Such men are like the outlaws. And as, even if any action of an outlaws is in consonance with the law of the land, he does not become a loyal and obedient citizen, in the same way the apparent good of those who revolt against God cannot compensate for the gravity of the real wrong, revolt, and disobedience.
4. Those who neither possess faith nor do good deeds. They spread disorder in the world and perpetrate all kinds of violence and oppression. They are the worst of the people; for they are rebels as well as the wrongdoers and criminals.

The above classification of mankind clearly shows that the real success and salvation of man depends on Imaan (faith). The life of obedience (Islam) takes its birth from the seed of Imaan. This Islam of a person may be flawless or defective. But without Imaan there can be no Islam. Where there is no Imaan there is no Islam.

Where there is no Islam there is Kufr. Its form and nature may be different, but in any way it would be Kufr and nothing but Kufr.

This brings home the importance of Imaan vis-୶is life of true and total submission to God?

How to acquire the knowledge of God?

Now the question arises: How to acquire the know-ledge and belief in God, His attributes, His Law, and the Day of Judgment?

We have already referred to countless manifestations of God around us and in our own selves, which bear witness to the fact that there is one and only one creator and Governor of this universe and it is He Who controls and directs it. These witnesses reflect the divine attributes of the creator: His great wisdom, His all-embracing knowledge, His omnipotence, His mercy, His all-sustaining power, His force major-in short, His attributes can be traced everywhere in His work. But man?s intellect and his capacity to attain knowledge have erred in observing and understanding them. These are all manifest and clear and our eyes are open to read what is writ large on the creation. But here men have erred. some have declared that there are two gods others began to profess belief in trinity, and still others succumbed to polytheism. Some began nature-worship and others divided into multifarious deities: gods of rain, air, fair, death, etc. As such, although the manifestations of God were quite clear, human reason has faltered on various counts and failed to see the reality in its true perspective. It met deception after deception and resulted in nothing but confusion of thought. We hardly need dilate here on these errors of human judgment.

Similarly, with regard to life after death men have put forward many erroneous notions; for instance, that man is reduced to dust after death and will not rise to life again; or that man is subject to a process of continuous regeneration in this very world and is punished or rewarded in the oncoming cycles of life.

Even greater difficulty arises when we come to the question of the code of life. To formulate a complete and balanced code of life that should conform to God?s pleasure merely with the help of human reason, is an extremely difficult task. If a man is equipped with the highest faculties of reason and intellect and he possesses matchless wisdom and experience of many years of deliberation, even then the chances of his formulating right views on life and existence are not very promising. And even if, after a lifelong deliberation, he succeeds in that he will still lack in the confidence that he has really discovered the truth and adopted the right path.

Although the fullest and fairest test of man?s wisdom, reason, and knowledge might have been to leave him to his own resources without any external guidance so that he those who, through their own sagacious siftings and strivings, might have reached truth and righteousness would have won success and salvation, while those not reaching them would have failed. God, how- ever, spared His human creatures such a hard test. Through His grace and benevolence He raised for mankind men from among themselves to whom He imparted the true knowledge of His attributes, revealed to them His Law and the Right Code of Living, gave them the knowledge of the meaning and purpose of life and of the life after death and thus showed them the way by pursuing which man can achieve success and eternal bliss. These chosen man are the Messengers of God-His prophets. God has communicated knowledge and wisdom to them by means of wahy (revelation), and the book containing the Divine communications is called the Book of God, or the word of God. Now the test of man?s Wisdom and intellect lies in this: does he recognize God's Messenger after thoroughly observing his pure and pious life and carefully studying his noble and flawless teachings? The man who possesses right wisdom and sound common sense would verify truth and accept the instructions given by the Messenger of truth. If he denies the Messenger of God and his teachings, his denial would signify that he was devoid of the capacity to find out truth and righteousness. On account of this denial he would fail in his test. Such a man will never be able to discover the truth about God and His Law and the life after death.

Faith in the Unknown

It is an everyday experience that when you do not know a thing, you look for somebody who knows it and

you repose faith in his word and follow him. If you get ill and you cannot treat and cure yourself, look for the doctor and accept and follow his instructions without question. Why because he is properly qualified to give medical advice, possesses experience, and has treated and cured a number of patients. You, therefore, stick to his advice, do whatever he asks you to do and avoid whatever he forbids. Similarly, in matters of Law you believe in whatever your legal advisers say and act accordingly. In educational matters you have faith in your teacher or instructor and you accept his instructions as true. When you want to go to some place and do not happen to know the way to it, you ask somebody who knows it, and follow the way he points out. In short, the reasonable course that you adopt in the whole of your life about matters which you do not or cannot know is that you approach one who knows them, accept his advice and act accordingly. As your own knowledge of that matter or problem is inadequate, you carefully search for One who knows that and then silently accept his word. You take every pain to select the proper person. But After selecting the right man, you accept his advice unquestioningly. This kind of belief is called ?belief in the unknown?. For here you have relied upon one who knows, in matters you do not know. This exactly is Iman-bil-ghaib. Thus believing or having faith in what was previously unknown to you is called ?faith in the UN-known? (Iman-bil-ghaib).

Iman-bil-ghaib, therefore, signifies that you achieve the knowledge of what was not known to you from one who knows. You do not know God and His real attributes. You are not aware that His angels are directing the machinery of the whole universe according to His orders, and that they surround you on all sides. You have not the proper knowledge of the way of life through which you can seek the pleasure of your Creator. And you are in the dark about the life that is to come. The knowledge of all these matters is given to you by the Prophets, who had direct contact with the Divine Being and had been endowed with the correct knowledge. And they are the persons whose sincerity, integrity, trustworthiness, godliness and the absolute purity of whose lives stand as irrevocable witness to the truth of their claim to know-ledge. And above all, the very wisdom and force of their message makes you admit that they speak the truth and their preaching deserve to be believed and followed. This conviction of yours is Iman-bil-ghaib. Such truth discerning and truth-acknowledging attitude (i.e. Iman-bil-ghaib) is essential for obedience to God and for acting in accordance with His pleasure, for you have no other medium than God?s Messenger for the achievement of true knowledge, and without accurate and true knowledge you cannot proceed rightly on the path of Islam.

THE PROPHETHOOD

OUR earlier discussion brings home the following points:

1. The right course for man is to live in obedience to God, and for the observance of such a of obedience knowledge and faith are absolutely essential: knowledge Of God and His attributes, His likes and dislikes, His Chosen way and of the Day of Judgment; and unflinching faith in the truth and veracity of this knowledge: this is Iman
2. Secondly, God has graciously spared man the arduous task of acquiring this knowledge through his Personal effort alone. He has not put man to this difficult trail. Instead, He revealed this knowledge to the Prophets chosen from amongst men, commanding them to convey the Will of God to other human beings and Show them the right path. This has saved man from formidable misfortunes.
3. Lastly, the duty of the common men and women is to recognize a prophet and, after ascertaining that one Is the true prophet of God, to have faith in him and his footsteps. This is the road to salvation. In this chapter we shall discuss the nature, history, and other aspects of prophethood .

Prophethood: Its Nature and Necessity

 You can see that God has most graciously provided man all that he needs in this universe. Every new-born child arrives in the world endowed with eyes to see, ears to hear, nose to smell and breathe, hands to touch, feet to walk, and mind to think and ponder. All those potentialities, powers, and faculties that a man needs or can need are most carefully provided and marvelously set in his tiny body. Every minute requirement is foreseen and Provided for. Nothing, which he needs, is left out.

Similar is the case with the world he lives in. Everything essential for life is provided here in abundance air, light, heat, et cetera. The child, on opening his eyes, finds his food in the mother?s breast. Parents love him instinctively and in their has been Implanted an irresistible urge to look after him, to bring him up and to sacrifice their all for his welfare. Under the sheltering care of his system of sustenance the child grows to maturity and in every stage of his life obtains From nature all that he needs. All the material conditions of survival and growth are provided for and he finds that the whole universe is at his service and is serving him on every turn and pass.

Furthermore, man is blessed with all those powers, capacities, and faculties-physical, mental, and moral -which he enquires in his struggle for life. Here God has made a wonderful disposition. He has not distributed these gifts to men strictly equally. Their equal distribution would have made men totally independent of each other and marred the possibilities of mutual care and co-operation. Thus although mankind as a whole possesses all that is needed, yet in between men capacities are distributed unequally and sparingly. Some possess physical strength and prowess, others distinguish them selves for their mental talents. Some are born with greater aptitude for arts, poetry, and philosophy, some possess sharpness of tongue, some others military acumen, commercial intelligence, mathematical keenness, scientific curiosity, literary observation, philosophic disposition, etc. These special aptitudes make a man disinters and enable him to grasp even those intricacies which elude the grip of the common man. These insights, aptitudes. and talents are the gifts of God. They are incarnated in the nature of those men whom God has destined to be thus distinguished. They are mostly inborn and cannot be acquired merely be education and training.

Careful reflection upon this disposition of God?s gifts also reveals that the talents have been distributed amongst men in a marvelous way. Those capacities which are essential for the general maintenance of human culture have been endowed to the average human beings, while those extraordinary talents which are required only to a limited extent are given only to a small number of people. The number of soldiers, peasants, artisans, and workers is large; but military generals, scholars, statesmen, and intellectuals are comparatively fewer. Similar is the case with all professions, with all the arts and crafts of culture. The general rule seems to be: higher the capacity and greater the genius, the lesser the number of people who possess them. Super geniuses, who leave an indelible mark on human history and whose achievements guide humanity for ages, are few and far between. Their number is still less.

 Here we are faced with another question: Is the fundamental need of human culture confined to the need of experts and specialists in the fields of law and politics, science and mathematics, engineering and mechanics, finance and economics and the like, or does it also need men who may show man the Right Path-the way to God and salvation? Other experts provide man with the knowledge of all that is in the world and of the ways and means to use that, but there must be someone to tell man the purpose of creation and the meaning of life itself. What man himself is and why has he been created? Who has provided him with all the powers and resources and why? What are the proper ends of life and how are they to be achieved? What are the proper values of life and how can they be attained? This is the most cardinal need of man and unless he knows this he cannot erect the edifice of culture on sound foundations and cannot succeed in life here and hereafter. And our reason refuses to believe that God Who has provided man with even the most trivial of his requirements would ignore to provide for this greatest, most paramount and most vital need. Nay, it can never be so. And it is not so. While God has produced men of distinction in arts and sciences. He has also raised men with deep vision, pure intuition, and highest faculties to know and understand him. To them, He Himself revealed the way of godliness, piety, and righteousness. He gave them the knowledge of the ends of life and values of morality and entrusted them with the duty to communicate the Divine Revelation to other human beings and to show them the Right Path. These men are the Prophets and Messengers of God.

The prophets distinguish themselves in the human life is not in accordance with his ideal. Neither his word nor his deed is prompted by any self-interest. He suffers for the good of others, and never makes others for his own good. His whole life is an example of truth, nobleness, purity of nature, high thinking, and the most exalted form of humanity. His character is without any blemish and even the minutest scrutiny fails to reveal any flaw in his life. And all these facts, all these attributes, make it evident that prophet of God and faith must be reposed in him.

When it becomes quite clear that such and such a person is the true prophet of God, the natural dictate of this realization is that his words should be accepted, his Instructions followed, and his orders. Obeyed. It is quite unreasonable to accept a man as God?s true prophet, and yet not to believe in what he says or not to follow what he ordains; for your very acceptance of him as God?s prophet means that you have acknowledged that what he says is from God, and that whatever he dose is in accordance with God?s Will and pleasure. Now, disobedience to him is the disobedience of God-and disobedience of God leads to nothing but ruin and devastation. Therefore, the very acceptance of the prophet makes it incumbent on you to bow to his instructions and accept them without any demur whatsoever. You may not be able fully to grasp the wisdom and usefulness of this or that order, but the every fact that an instruction has emanated from the Prophet is sufficient guarantee for its truth, and there can be no room for doubt or suspicion. Your inability to understand it is no reason for its having flaw or defect; for a common man's understanding is not flawless. It has its own limitations and they cannot be ignored altogether. It is evident that one who dos not know some art thoroughly cannot understand it subtleties, but such a person would be a fool to eject what an expert says, merely on the plea that he himself dose not fully understand the expert, It is noteworthy that in every important worldly affair an expert is needed for advice, and when you turn to the expert you thereafter trust his advice and entirely depend upon it. You rather surrender your own right of judgment and inference and follow him carefully. Every ordinary man cannot be a master in all arts and crafts of the world. The proper way for an average human being is to do what he can and, in respect of things he cannot do, to use all his wisdom and shrewdness in finding out the proper man to guide and help him, and after finding out such a man to accept his advice and follow him. When you are sure that a certain person is the best man available for your purpose, you solicit his advice and guidance, and have complete trust in him. To interfere with him at every step and say, "Make me understand it before you proceed any further," is evidently imprudent. When you engage a solicitor in any legal case, you do not interfere with him on every turn and pass. You rather have faith in him and follow his advice. For your medical treatment you go to the doctor and follow his instructions. You neither poke your nose in medical matters nor test your skill in logic by debating with the doctor. This is the proper attitude in life. So must be done in case of religion. You need the knowledge of God; you require to know the mode of life according to God?s pleasure; and you possess no means for obtaining this knowledge. It is incumbent upon you, therefore, to look for a true prophet of God; and you will have to use utmost care, discernment, and sagacity in your search for him, for if you choose a wrong man for a true prophet, he will put you on the wrong track. If, however, after properly weighing and measuring all considerations, you decide definitely that a certain person is really God?s prophet, then you must trust him completely and obey all his instructions faithfully.

 Now it is clear that the Right Path for man is that and that alone which the prophet declares to be so and the correct way of life that only which he informs us to be from God. From this one can easily understand that to have faith in the prophet and to obey and follow him is absolutely necessary for all men, and that a man who puts aside the prophet?s instructions and himself tries to carve out a way for himself, deviates from the Right Path and surely goes astray.

In this matter man guilty of strange errors. There are men who admit the integrity and truthfulness of the prophet, but do not repose Iman (faith) in him, nor do they follow him in the affairs of their life. Such men are not only Kafirs, but also behave in an imprudent and unnatural way: for not to follow the prophet after admitting him to be true means that one knowingly follows untruth. And what folly can be greater than that !

Some people declare, We do not need a prophet for our guidance and we can ourselves find out the way to truth. this too is a faulty view. You have probably learnt geometry, and you know that between two points there can be only one straight line, and all other lines must be crooked or will fail to touch the in point in view. The same is the case with way the to truth, which, in the Language of Islam, is called sirat-i-mustaqeem (the Straight Path). This path begins from man and goes straight up to God, and this Path can evidently be one only one; all other paths would be aberrations and will lead astray. Now this Straight path has been indicated by the Prophet, and there is and can be no straight oath besides that. The man who ignores that path and seeks other errands is only a dupe of his own imagination. He chooses a way and imagines it to be right, but he soon finds himself entangled and is lost in the mazes and meandering created by his own fancy. What can you think of a person who has lost his way and when a good man shows him the right one, he definitely ignores the guidance, declaring, "I will not take your guidance nor accept the way you have shown to me, but I will myself grope in this unknown region and try to reach the object of my search, in my own way"? This, in the presence of the clear guidance of the prophets, is sheer stupidity. If everybody tries to start UP again from the scratch, it would be gross waste of time and energy. We never do so in the field of sciences and arts; why here?

This is a common error, and even a little reflection reveals its flaws and weaknesses. But if you go a little deeper into the matter, you will notice that a person who denies to have faith in the true prophet cannot at all find any way straight or otherwise to reach God. This is so because a man who refuses to believe the advice of a truthful man adopts such a perverse attitude that the vistas of truth become estranged from him and he becomes a victim of his own obstinacy, arrogance, bias, and perversity.

Often this refusal is because of false arrogance, or blind conservatism and obstinate adherence to the way of the forefathers, or slavery of the lower desires of the self, whose gratification becomes impossible by submission to the teachings of the prophets. If a man is engrossed in any of the above conditions, the Path to truth becomes closed to him. He like a jaundiced person cannot look upon things in the encoloured light of reality. Such a man cannot find out any road to salvation. On the other hand, if a man is sincere and truth-loving and if he is not slave to any of the above complexes, the road to reality becomes paved for him, and there is absolutely no ground for him to refuse to believe in the prophet. nay, he finds in the teachings of the prophet the very echo of his own soul and discovers himself by discovering the prophet.

And, above all, God Himself raises the true prophet. It is He who has sent him UP to mankind to convey His message to His people. It His Command to repose faith in the prophet and to follow him. Thus, one who refuses to believe in God?s Messenger actually refuses to follow God?s Commandments and becomes a rebel. There is no denying the fact that one who refuses to acknowledge the authority of the viceroy of a sovereign actually refuses the authority of the sovereign himself. This disobedience turns him into a rebel. God is the Lord of the universe, the true Sovereign, the King of kings, and it is the bounden duty of every man to acknowledge the authority of His Messengers and Apostles and to obey them as His accredited prophets. And one who turns away from the Prophet of God is surely a kafir, be he a believer God or a disbeliever.

Brief History of Prophethood

As Salam U Alekum,

Now let us cast a cursory glance at the history of prophethood. Let us see how this long chain began, how it gradually unfolded itself and finally culminated in the prophethood of the last of the prophet, Muhammad (peace be upon him).

The human race began from one man: Adam. It was from him that the family of man grew and the human race multiplied. All human beings born in this world have descended form that earliest pair: Adam and Eve.1 History and religion are agreed on this point. Scientific investigations about the origin of man too do not show that originally different man came into being, simultaneously or at different points of time, in different parts of the world. Most of the scientists also conjecture that one man would have been brought into existence first and the entire human race might have descended from the same one man.

Adam, the first man on earth, was also appointed as the first Prophet of God. He revealed His religion-Islam to him and enjoined him to convey and communicate it is him descendants: to teach them that Allah is One, the Creator, the Sustainer of the world that He is the Lord the universe and He alone should be Worshipped and obeyed; that to Him they will have to return one day and to Him alone they should appeal for help; that they should live good, pious, and righteous life in accordance with God's pleasure and that if they did so they would be blessed by God with goodly reward, and if they turned away from Him and disobeyed Him they would be losers here and in the hereafter and would be severely punished for this disbelief and disobedience.

Those of Adam's descendants who were good trod the right path shown to them by him, but those who were bad abandoned their father's teachings, and gradually drifted away into devious ways. Some began to worship the sun, the moon, and the stars; others took to the worship of trees, animals, and rivers. Some believed that air, water, fire health, and all the blessings and forces of Nature were each under the control of a different god and that each one of them should be propitiated by means of worship. In this way ignorance gave rise to many forms of polytheism and idolatry, and scores of religions were formulated. This was the age when Adam's progeny had spread fairly over the globe, and formed different races and nations. Every nation had made a different religion for itself, each with formalities and rituals of its own. God the one Lord and Creator of mankind and the universe was altogether forgotten. Not only that; Adam's descendants forgot even the way of life which God had revealed for them and which their great progenitor had taught them. They had followed their own devices. Every kind of evil custom grew, and all sorts of notions of ignorance spread them. They began to err in discerning right from wrong: many evils began to be considered right and many right things not only ignored but dubbed as wrong.

At this stage God began to raise prophets among every people, who preached Islam to them. Each one reminded his people of the lesson they had forgotten. They taught them God-worship, put an end to idol-worship and the practice of shirk, i.e. associating other deities with God, did away with all customs of ignorance, taught them the right way of living in accordance with God's pleasure, and gave them life-giving laws to be followed and enforced in society. God's true Prophets were raised in all countries: in every land and people. They all possessed one and the same religion the religion of Islam. No doubt, the methods of teaching and the legal codes of different Prophets were a little different in accordance with the needs and the stage of culture of the people among whom they were raised. The particular teachings of each Prophet were determined by the kind of evils which he faced and endeavored to eradicate. The methods of reform differed as it suited to fight different notions and ideas. When the people were in the primitive stages of society, civilization and intellectual development, their laws and regulations were simple; they were modified and improved as the society evolved and progressed. These differences were, however, only superficial and apparent. The fundamental teachings of all the religions were the same, i.e. belief in the unity of God, adherence to a life of piety, goodness and peace, and belief in the life after death with its just mechanism for reward and Punishment.

Man's attitude to words God's Prophets has been strange. First he maltreated the Prophets and refused to listen and accept their teachings. Some of the Prophets were expelled from their lands; some were assassinated; some, in face of the people in difference, continued preaching the whole of their lives, and hardly won more than a few followers. In the midst of harassing opposition, derision, and indignity to which they were perpetually subjected, these Apostles of God, however, did not cease to preach. Their patient determination at last succeeded: their teachings did not remain without effect. Large groups of people and nations accepted their message, and were converted to their creed. The erring tendencies of the people, born of centuries of persistence in deviation, ignorance, and malpractice, now took another form. Though during the lives of their Prophets they accepted and practiced their teachings, yet after their death they introduced their old distorted notions in to their religions, and altered the Prophet?s teachings. They adopted quite novel methods of worshipping God; some even took to the worship of their Prophets. Some made the Prophets the incarnations of God; some made their Prophets the sons of God; some associated their Prophets with God in His Divinity. In short, man?s varied attitudes in this respect were a travesty of his reason and a mockery of himself; he made idols of those very persons whose holy mission was to smash idols to pieces. By intermixing religion, custom and rituals of ignorance, baseless and false anecdotes and man-made laws, man so changed and Perverted the ideology of the Prophets that after the lapse of centuries it became a hotchpotch of the real and the fictitious and the teachings of the Prophets were lost in a conglomeration of fictions and perversities so much so that it become impossible to distinguish the grain from the chaff. And, not content with this corruption of the Prophet, they further attached fictitious anecdotes and unworthy traditions to the lives of their Prophets and so polluted their life histories that a real and reliable account of their lives becomes impossible to be discerned. Despite these corruption by the followers, in the work of the Prophets has not been altogether in vain. Among all nations, in spite of all interpolation and alteration, some traces of Truth have survived. The idea of God and of the life after death was definitely assimilated in some form or other. A few principles of goodness, truth goodness and morality were commonly admitted throughout the whole world. The Prophets, thus, prepared the mental attitude of their respective People in such a way that a universal religion could be safely introduced a religion, which is quite in consonance with the nature of man, which embodies all that was good in all other creeds and societies, and which is naturally and commonly acceptable to the entire mankind.

As we have said above, in the beginning separate Prophets used to appear among different nations or groups of People, and the teachings of each Prophet were meant specially and specifically for his each people. The reason was that at that stage of history, nations were situated separately and were so cut off from each other that one was bound up within the geographical limits of its own territories and the facilities for mutual intercourse were just non-existent. In such circumstances it was very difficult to propagate a common World Faith with its accompanying system of the life of this world. Besides, the general conditions of the early nations were widely different from one another. Their ignorance was great, and among the different Peoples it had given different forms to their moral aberration and distortions of Faith. It was, therefore, necessary that different Prophets be raised to preach the Truth to them and win them over to God's ways to gradually eradicate evils and aberrations; to root out the ways and modes of ignorance and teach them to Practice the noblest Principles of simple, Pious, and righteous life, and thus train and bring them up in the arts and crafts of life. God alone knows how many, and developing him mentally, morally, and spiritually. Anyhow, man continued to make Progress and at last the time came when he grew from his infancy, and entered the age of maturity.

With the progress and spread of commerce, industry, and arts, intercourse was established between nations. From China and Japan, as the distant lands of Europe and Africa, regular routes were opened both by sea and land. Many people learnt the art of writing; knowledge spread. Ideas began to be communicated from one country to the other and learning and scholarship began to be exchanged. Great conquerors appeared, extended their conquests far and wide, established vast empires, and knit many different nation under one Political system. Thus nations came closer and to one another, and their differences became less and less.

It became Possible under these circumstances that one and the same faith, envisaging a comprehensive and all-embracing way of life, catering to the moral, spiritual, social, cultural, political, economic, and all other needs of man and embodying both religious and seculars elements be sent by God for the entire mankind. More than two thousand years ago mankind had attained caliber that it all seemed to crave for a universal religion. Buddhism, though it consisted only of some moral principles and was not a complete system of life, emerged from India, and spread as far as Japan and Mongolia on one side, and to Afghanistan and Bokhara on the other. Its missionaries traveled far and wide in the world. A few centuries later, Christianity appeared. A although the religion taught by Jesus Christ (peace be upon him) was none but Islam, his followers reduced it into a hotchpotch called Christianity, and even this overt and Israelis religion was spread in the far- off places of Persia and Asia Minor and info the distant climes of Europe and Africa. From these events it is clearly inferred that the conditions of mankind in that age a demanded a common religion for the whole human race and they were so prepared for it that when they found no complete and true religion in existence, they began to propagate among the nations the prevalent religions, howsoever defective, incomplete, or unsatisfying they might be.

At such a crucial stage of human civilization, when the mind of man was itself craving for a world religion, a Prophet was raised in Arabia for the whole world and for all nations. The religion he was given to propagate was again Islam-but now in the form of a complete and full-fledged system, covering all aspects of individual and material life of man. He was made a Prophet for the entire human race and was deputed to propagate his mission to the whole world. He was Muhammad the Prophet of Islam (Peace be upon him).

The Prophethood of Muhammad

 If we cast a glance at the world at the atlas, we find that the other country could have been more suitable for the much needed world religion than Arabia. It is situated right in the middle of Asia and Europe is not far away from it. At the time of Mohammed's appearance the central part of Europe was inhabited by civilized and culturally advanced nations; and thus these people were more or less at about the same distance from Arabia as were the people of India. This fact gave Arabia a central position.

And look at the history of that era and you will find that no other people were more suited for the endowment of this prophethood than the Arabs Great nations of the world had been struggling hard for world supremacy, and in this long struggle and incessant strife, they had exhausted all their resources and vitality. The Arabs were a fresh and virile people. The so-called social progress had produced bad habits among the advanced nations, while among the Arabs no such social organization existed, and they were, therefore, free form the inactivity, debasement and indulgences arising out of luxury and sensual satiety. The pagan Arabs of the fifth century had not been affected by the evil influence of the artificial systems and civilization of the great nations of the world. They processed all the good human qualities, which the people untouched by the 'social progress' of the time, ought to possess. They were brave, fearless, generous, faithful to their promises, lovers of freedom, and were Politically independent -not subject to the hegemony of the imperial Powers. They lived a very simple life, and were strangers to the life of luxury and indulgence. No doubt, there were certain undesirable aspects of their life as well, as we shall maintain later on, but the reason for the existence of such aspects was that for thousands of years no prophet had risen among them, nor had there appeared a reformer who might have civilized them and purged their moral life of all evil impurities. Centuries of free and independent life in sandy deserts had bred and nourished extreme ignorance among them. Nor had there appeared a reform who might have civilized them and purged their moral life of all evil impurities. Centuries of free and independent life in sandy deserts had bred and nourished extreme ignorance among them. They had, therefore, become so hard-hearted and firm in their traditions of ignorance that to make them human was not the task of an ordinary man. At the same time, however, they did possess a capacity that if some person of extraordinary powers were to invite them for reform and gave them a noble ideal and a complete program they would accept his call and readily rise to act effectively for the achievement of such a goal, and spare no strife for or sacrifice in the cause. They would be prepared to face without the least scruple even the hostility of the entire world in the cause of their mission. And verily it was such a young, forceful, and virile people that were needed for disseminating the teachings of the World Prophet: Muhammad (Peace be upon him)

And then look to the Arabic language. If you study that language and fathom deep into its literature, you will be convinced that there is no other language than Arabic which is more suited to give expression to high ideals, to explain the most delicate and subtle problems of Divine knowledge, and to impress the heart of man and mould it into God?s submission. Small phrases and brief sentences express a world of ideas, and at the same time they are so forceful that they steal into the heart, their every sound moves man to tears and ecstasy. They are so sweet that it is felt as if honey were being poured into the ears; they are so full of harmony that every fiber of the listener's body is moved by their symphony. It is such a rich and powerful language that was needed for the Qur'an, the Great Word of God. It was, therefore, the manifestation of God?s great wisdom that He chose the land of Arabia for the birth place of the World Prophet. Let us now see how unique and extraordinary was the blessed personality chosen by God for the mission of the World Prophet.

Muhammad's Prophethood: A Rational Vindication

If one were to close one?s eyes and imagine oneself in the world of 1400 years ago, one would find that it was a world completely different from ours, having not even the least semblance to the rough and tumble that we find around ourselves. How few and far between were the opportunities for the exchange of ideas! How limited and undeveloped were the means of communication! How little and meager was man?s knowledge! How narrow was his outlook! How enveloped was he in superstition and wild and sophisticated ideas!

Darkness held the sway. There was only a faint glimmer of learning, which could hardly illumine the horizon of human knowledge. There was neither wireless nor telephone, neither television nor cinematography. Railways and motor cars and airplanes were undreamed of, and printing presses and publishing concerns were unknown. Hand-written books or copyists alone supplied whatever scanty literary material was there to be transmitted from generation. Education was a luxury, meant only for the most fortunate, and educational institution were every few and between.

The store of human knowledge was scanty, man?s out look was narrow, and his ideas of man things were confined to his limited surroundings. Even a scholar of that age lacked in certain respects the knowledge possessed by a layman of today, and the most cultured person was less refined than our own man in the street. Indeed, humanity was steeped in ignorance and superstition. Whatever light of learning there was seemed to be fighting a losing battle against the darkness prevailing all around. What are considered to be matters of common knowledge today could hardly be acquired in those days even after years of calculated thought and patient research. People used to undertake hazardous journeys and spent a whole lifetime in acquiring that modest information which is everybody?s heritage in the present age of learning. Things, which are classed as 'myth' and 'superstition' today, were the unquestionable truths of that age. Acts, which we now regard as heinous and barbarous, were then the order of the day.

Methods whish appear obnoxious to our moral sense today constituted the very soul of morality, and one different way of life also. Incredulity had assumed such mighty proportions and had become so wide- so read that people refused to consider anything as lofty and sublime unless it the garb of the supernatural, the extraordinary, the uncanny, and even the untenable. They had developed such an inferiority complex that they could never imagine a human being to possess a godly soul and the saint to human.

ARABIA-the Abyss of Darkness

In that benighted era, there was a territory where darkness lay heavier and thicker. The neighboring country of Persia, Byzantium and Egypt possessed a glimmer of civilization and a faint light of learning. But Arabia could receive no share from their cultural Influences. It stood isolated, cut off by vast oceans of sand. Arab traders plodding great distances, which took them months, carried their wares to and from these countries, but they could hardly acquire any grain of knowledge on their journeys. In their own country, they did not have a single educational institution or library. None seemed to be interested in the cultivation and advancement of knowledge. The few who were literate were not educated enough to have anything to do with the existing arts and sciences. They did possess a highly developed language capable of expressing the finest shades of human thought in a remarkable manner. They also possessed a literary taste of high order. But the study of the remnants of their literature reveals how limited was their knowledge, how low was their standard of culture and civilization, how saturated were their minds with superstitions, how barbarous and ferocious were their thoughts and customs, and how uncouth and degraded were their moral standards and conceptions.

It was a country without a government, every tribe claimed sovereignty and considered to be an independent unit. There was no law except the law of the jungle. Loot, arson, and murder of innocent and weak People was the order of the day. Life, Property, and honour were constantly at stake. Different tribes were al ways at daggers drawn with one another. Any trivial incident was enough to cause blaze out in ferocious fury, which sometimes even developed into a countywide conflagration ceaselessly continuing for several decades. Indeed, a Bedouin could not understand why he should let off a person of another tribe, whom, he thought, he had every right to kill and plunder.

What ever nations they had of morals, culture, and civilization, were primitive and uncouth. They could hardly discriminate between pure and impure, lawful and unlawful, civil and uncivil. Their life was wild, their methods were barbaric. They reveled in adultery, gambling and drinking. Loot and plunder was their motto, murder and rapine their very habits. They would stand stark naked before each other without any qualms of conscience. Even their womenfolk would become nude at the ceremony of circumambulating the Ka'ba. Out of sheer foolish nations of Prestige, they would bury their daughters alive lest anyone should become their son-in-law, They would marry their stepmothers after the of their fathers. They were ignorant of even the rudiments of everyday routine of eating, dressing, and washing.

As regards their religious beliefs, they suffered from the same evils, which were playing havoc with the rest of the world.

They worshipped stones, trees, idols, stars, and spirits: in short, everything conceivable except God. They did not know anything about the teaching of the Prophets of old. They had an idea that Abraham and Ishmael were their forefathers, but they know next to nothing about their religious preaching and about the God Whom they worshipped. The stories of ?Ad and humbed were to be found in their folklore, but they contained no traces of the teachings of Prophets Hud and Sail. The Jews and the Christians had transmitted to them certain legendary folktales relating to the Israelite Prophets. They presented a harrowing picture of those noble souls. Their teachings were adulterated with the figments of their own imagination and their lives were tarred black. Even today, an idea can be had of the religious conceptions of those people by casting a cursory glance at those Israelite traditions which Muslim commentators of the Qur'an have conveyed to us. Indeed, the picture which has been presented there of the institution of prophethood and of the Israelite Prophets is the very antithesis of all that those noble followers of truth had stood for.

The Saviour is Born

In such a Dark Age and in such a benighted country a man is born. In his very childhood his parents die and, a few years later, the sad demise of his grandfather also occurs. Consequently, he is deprived even of that scant training and upbringing which an Arab child of his time could get. In his boyhood he tends he flock of sheep and goats in the company of Bedouin boys. When of age, he takes to commerce. All his association and all his dealings are with the Arabs alone condition has just been described. Education has not even touched him; he is completely unlettered and unschooled. He never gets a chance to sit in the company of learned of learned man, for such men were totally non-existent in Arabia. He dose have a few opportunities to go out of his country, but those journeys are confined to Syria and are nothing more than the usual business trips undertaken by Arab trade caravans. If he men there or has the occasion to observe any aspects of culture and civilization, those random meeting and stray observations cannot be given any place in the making of his personality. For such things can never have that profound influence on anyone which may lift him to tally out of his environment transform him completely, and raise him to such heights of originality and glory that there remains no affinity between him and society he is born. Nor can they be the means of the acquisition of that profound and vast knowledge which may transform an unlettered Bedouin into a leader not only of his own country and age but of the world at large and of all ages to come. Indeed, whatever the measure of the intellectual and cultural influence of those journeys one might suppose, the fact remains that they could in no case impart to him those conception and principles of religion, ethics, culture, and Civilization which were to tally nonexistent in world of those days, and they could in no way create that sublime and perfect pattern of human character which was nowhere to be found in those days.

Diamond in a Heap of Stones

We may now look at the life and work of this noble man in the context not only of the Arabian society but also of the entire world as it stood in that period.

He is totally different form the people among whom he is born and with whom he passes his youth and early manhood, attaining finally his full stature. He never tells a lie. His whole nation is unanimous in testifying to his truthfulness. Even his worst enemies never accuse him of telling a lie on any occasion whatsoever during his entire life. He talks politely and uses obscene and abusive language. He has a charming personality and winsome manners with him.

 In his dealings with the people he always follows the principles of justice and fair play. He remains in trade and commerce for years, but he never enters into any dishonest transaction. Those who deal with him in business have full confidence in his integrity. The entire nation calls him "Al-Ameen" (the Truthful and the Trustworthy). Even his enemies deposit their costly belongings with him for safe custody and he scrupulously fulfils their trust. He is the very embodiment of midst of a society which is immodest to the core. Born and bred among a people who regard drunkenness and gambling as virtues, he never touches alcohol and never indulges in gambling. His people are uncouth, uncultured and unclean, but he personifies in himself the highest culture and the most refined aesthetic outlook. Surrounded on all sides by heartless people, he himself has a heart overflowing with the milk of human kindness. He helps the orphans and widows. He is hospitable to travelers. He harms no one; rather, he goes all out to suffer hardships for others? sake. Living among those for whom war is bread and butter, he is such a lover of peace that his heart melts for them when they take up arms and cut each other?s throats. He keeps aloof form the feuds of his tribe, and is foremost in bringing about reconciliation. Bred up in an idolatrous race, he is so clear-minded and possesses such a pure soul that he regards nothing in the heavens and the earth worth worshipping except the One True God. He dose not bow be fore any created thing and dose not partake of the offerings made to idols, even in his childhood. Instinctively he hates all kinds of worship of all creatures and beings besides God. In brief, the towering and radiant personality of this man in the midst of such a benighted and dark environment, may be likened to a beacon-light illumining a pitch-dark night or to a diamond shining in a heap of dead stones.

A Revolution Comes

After spending a great part of his life in such a chaste, pure, and civilized manner there comes a revolution in his being. He feels fed up with the darkness and ignorance massed around him. He wants to swim clear of the horrible sea of ignorance, corruption, immorality, idolatry and disorder which surround him on all sides. He finds everything around him out of harmony with his soul. He retires to the hills, away from the hum and drum of habitations. He spends days and night in perfect seclusion and meditation. He fasts so that his soul and his heart may become purer and nobler still.

He muses and ponders deep. He is in search of a light which might melt away the encompassing darkness. He wants to get hold of that power with which he might bring about the downfall of the corrupt and disorderly world of his day and lay the foundations of a new and better world.

Lo! A remarkable revolution comes over his person. All of a sudden his heart is illuminated with the Divine light, giving him the power he had yearned for. He comes out of the confinement of his cave, goes to the people, and addresses them in the following strain:

"The idols which you worship are a mere sham. Cease to worship them from now on ward. No mortal being, no star, no tree, no stone, no spirit, is worthy of human worship. Therefore, bow not you heads in worship before them. The entire universe with everything that it contains belongs to God Almighty alone. He alone is the Creator, the Nourisher, the Sustainer, and, consequently, the real Sovereign before Whom all should bow down and to whom all should pray and render obedience. Thus worship Him along and obey only His commands. Loot and plunder, murder and rapine, injustice and cruelty-all the vices in which you indulge are crimes in the eyes of God. Leave your evil ways. He hates them all. Speak the truth. Be just. Do not kill anyone. Do not rob anyone. Take your lawful share. Give that is due to other in a just Manner. You are human beings and all human beings are equal in the eyes of God. None is born with the slur of shame on his face, nor anyone has come into the world with the mantle of honour hung around his neck. He alone is high and honored who is God fearing and pious, true in words and deeds. Distinctions of birth and glory of race are no criteria greatness and honour. One who fears God and dose good deeds is the noblest. One who fears God and does good deeds is the noblest of human beings. One who is shorn of love of God and is steeped in bad manners is doomed. There is an appointed day after your death when you shall have to appear before your Lord. Your shall be called to account for all your deeds, good or bad, and you shall not be able then to hide anything. They whole record of life shall be an open book to Him. You fate shall be determined by your good or bad-actions. In the court of the true Judge-the omniscient does not arise. You shall not be able to bribe Him. No consideration will be given to your pedigree or parentage. True faith and good deeds alone will stand you in good stead at that time. He who will be fully equipped with them shall take his abode in the Heaven of eternal happiness; while one devoid of them shall be cast in the fire of Hell."  

This is the message with which he comes. The ignorant nation turns against him. Abuses and stones are showered at his august person. Every conceivable torture and cruelty is perpetrated on him. And this continues not for a day or tow but uninterruptedly for thirteen long troublesom