The Qur’an

Maulana Wahiduddin khan

The Qur’an, the Book of God, enshrines the teachings which were basically the same as were to be found in previous revealed scriptures. But these ancient scriptures are no longer preserved in their original state. Later additions and deletions have rendered them unreliable, whereas the Qur’an, preserved in its original state, is totally reliable.

The Qur’an has 114 chapters. Its contents in a nutshell are: belief in one God, and considering oneself answerable to Him; firm belief that the guidance sent by God through the Prophet Muhammad is the truth and that man’s eternal salvation rests thereon.

The position of the Qur’an is not just that it is one of the many revealed scriptures but that it is the only authentic heavenly book, as all other books, due to human additions and deletions, have been rendered historically unreliable. When a believer in the previous revealed scripture turns to the Qur’an, it does not mean that he is rejecting his own belief, but rather amounts to his having re-discovered his own faith in an authentic form.

The Qur’an is a sacred book sent by the Lord of all creation. It is a book for all human beings, because it has been sent by that Divine Being who is the God of all of us.

The Qur’an is no new heavenly scripture. It is only an authentic edition of the previous heavenly scriptures. In this respect, the Qur’an is a book for all human beings, of all nations. It is the expression of God’s mercy for one and for all. It is a complete message sent by God for every one of us. The Qur’an is a light of guidance for all the world just as the sun is the source of light and heat for all the world.

Islam means submission. The religion of Islam is so named because it is based on obedience to God. A true believer in Islam is one who subordinates his thinking to God, who follows God’s dictates in all aspects of his life.

Islam is the religion of the entire universe. For the entire universe and all its parts are functioning in accordance with the law laid down by God.

Such behavior is also desired of man. Man should also lead his life as God’s obedient servant just as the rest of the universe is fully subservient to God. The only difference is that the universe has submitted to God compulsorily, while man is required to submit to the will of God by his own choice.

When man adopts Islam, first of all it is his thinking which comes under Islam, then his desires, his feelings, his interests, his relations, his loves and his hatred. All are colored by his obedience to God’s will.

When man, in his daily life comes under God’s command, his behavior with people, his dealings all are molded by the demands of Islam. From inside to outside he becomes a person devoted to God.

Man is God’s servant, and indeed, the only proper way for man in this world is to live as the servant of God. Islam, in fact, is another name for this life of servitude to God. Where the Islamic life is devoted to the service of God, the un-Islamic life unashamedly flouts the will of God. Islam teaches man to lead an obedient life and surrender himself completely to the will of God. It is people who do so who will share God’s blessings in the next world.

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Ingratitude for God’s Blessings

Maulana Wahiduddin Khan

Right from a glass of water to political power, everything that people possess in this world is from God. Everything is a direct blessing of God. Whatever one finds in this world is there because of the will of God. If God does not will it, no one can have anything, no matter how hard he tries for it. This is an undeniable truth proved by the Qur’an and the Hadith.

Another thing that we learn from the Qur’an and the Hadith is that there are two forms of divine blessing. One special and the other general. Political power is a special blessing of God. We learn from the Qur’an that political power is not given to everyone. Neither can it be received through political movements or the gun culture. It is directly related with the way of God. One of the sunnah of God is that if a group proves, in the real sense of the word, to have true faith and to be virtuous in action, then God grants that group political power:

Allah has promised those of you who believe and do good works to make them masters in the land (24:55).

That is, even when power is desirable, the movement will begin from the point of character building and individual reform instead of political action.

Then God’s general gift is what is shared, more or less by everyone. In principle, it consists of two kinds of things—peaceful circumstances and the easy availability of the necessities of life. This we learn from the following verse of the Qur’an:

God has made an example of the city which was once safe and peaceful. Its provisions used to come in abundance from every quarter: but its people denied the favors of Allah. Therefore, He afflicted them with famine and fear as a punishment for what they did. (16:112)

Two things in this verse are called the blessings of God: peace and provision. It shows that from the worldly point of view these two things are essential for human beings. If a group comes to possess these two things, then it should not wage war for anything else, such as political power. Rather considering those blessings to be sufficient, believers should engage themselves in thanksgiving to God, until God himself paves the way for whatever else is to come.

What is thanksgiving to God? It is that whatever God has given us should be put to proper religious and constructive use. Remaining content with what one already has is thanksgiving, whereas regarding what one already possesses as unimportant and launching stormy movements for things not in our possession is ungratefulness.

Any Muslims in possession of both peace and provision ought to occupy themselves with spiritual matters rather than political activities. Now is the time to engage themselves in producing spiritual fervor in their people; in launching movements of moral reform; in educating their people; in planning the way to communicate God’s message to other communities; in spending their time in their places of worship, in developing their academic institutions, in setting up their settlements as a model abode of godly people, etc.

This is true thanksgiving. This is to pay the due of God’s blessings. A non-believer’s eyes are on his rights while a believer’s eyes are on his responsibilities. That is why an unbeliever is always running for what he has yet to possess, while a believer always engages himself in discharging his responsibilities within his own sphere.

Those who do not follow the path of thankfulness, launch heated movements towards political goals or revive the gun culture against their supposed enemies. Such people are undoubtedly anarchists. Their case is one of adding insult to injury, even if their movement has been launched in the name of Islam.

For such people it is the decree of God that they never reach their political goal, and whatever blessings of peace and worldly provision they have already enjoyed be denied to them. They will lose what they already possess. This is the way of God.

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The Qur’an’s Lament

(Mahirul Qadri)

They lift me to their eyes, then consign me to a niche
Or frame me in a locket, or rinse me for a potion
A satchel of silk and brocade,
And soaked in perfume becomes my cell
And as if by parrots and mynahs trained to talk
My words are intoned in mere recitation.
When disputes arise and a solemn oath is sworn,
They need me, so they take me out.
There’s no assembly without my recitation.
But hearts remain cold and eyes stay dry
Lies outstrip truth and evil beats good
And for each smile I yield uncounted tears.
They claim faith in me while obeying alien codes
So to harass, and revile me too.
Though all festive gatherings are open to me
I am there only as the sole victim.

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Qur’an—The Sacred Book of Islam

Maulana Wahiduddin Khan

The Qur’an, according to Muslim belief, is a revealed book: it is not authored by a human being, but is the true word of God in human language. A medium-sized book so far as its volume is concerned, it comprises 114 chapters or surahs (77,439 words). Its revelation to the Prophet Muhammad, upon whom be peace, through the angel Gabriel, began in A.D. 610, while the Prophet was sitting in seclusion in the cave of Hera at the top of the Mountain of Light, two miles from Mecca. The scriptures were not revealed at one point of time. Their various parts were revealed as and when the occasion demanded. The entire process was completed over a period of 23 years, the last passage being revealed to the Prophet while he was addressing a gathering at Mount Arafat on the occasion of his last Hajj in A.D. 622. The entire volume was later compiled in Medina during the last days of the Prophet.

Since the Qur’an came into existence long before the days of the printing press, there were only two ways of preserving it: either by committing the entire text to memory, or writing it down on paper or other materials. That is why there have always been a great number of Hafiz (those who committed the entire Qur’an to memory) in every age, right from the Qur’an’s first revelation. The earliest written copies are still available in different museums, one of these being in Tashkent.

The Qur’an, addressed directly to mankind, tells us of God’s scheme for human existence: that man is placed on this earth for the purpose of being tested. The freedom he has here has not been given him as a matter of right, but as a means to allow him to prove his moral fibber. It is the outcome of this test which will ultimately decide man’s eternal fate. It is asserted in the holy book that human beings are eternal creatures, yet only an infinitesimal part of their lifespan has been assigned to the present world, while the remainder has been ordained for the Hereafter.

As we learn from the scriptures, all the previously revealed books had been sent by God so that man might be informed of the nature of his life. The Qur’an, the last of the revealed books, endorses all the revealed books which preceded it. But this endorsement applies to them only in their original, pristine versions. The religious scriptures preceding the Qur’an were—as is claimed by their followers—divine in origin. But from the point of view of academic authenticity, they have lost their original credibility. This is due to alteration, deletion and interpolation. According to the Qur’an, the only authentic version of God’s message to mankind is that revealed by Him to His final Prophet.

The study of the Qur’an tells us that it is individual-based rather than system-oriented. That is, the actual target of the holy book is to change the thinking of the individual. Changing the system is not the Qur’an’s direct objective. For the system is subservient to the individual and not the individual to the system. That is why the utmost emphasis is placed on inculcating right thinking in man. Yet, it is not the method of the Qur’an to set out everything in advance, in detail. It rather encourages individuals to think for themselves along the proper lines, so that they may discover for themselves the great truths of life. In educational terminology this is called the discovery method.

Islamic teachings can be summed up under two basic headings: (1) believing in One God and worshipping Him alone; (2) regarding all human beings as equal and according equal rights to all. In brief, monotheism and justice for all. The Qur’an enshrines these basic teachings, dealing with them in their abstract and practical forms, but for a detailed application of their wisdom, one must go to the hadith (the sayings and deeds of the Prophet Muhammad).

As far as social life is concerned, the essence of Islamic teaching is that God has granted freedom to everyone. This freedom in itself demands that people should lead their lives with proper restraint. For if freedom is exercised without restraint, it will inevitably result in friction, outright clashes and the descent of society into chaos. Social equilibrium can be maintained only if conscience (nafs lawwama) prevails over ego (nafs ammara). In social life, our actions elicit good or evil depending upon whether we have activated the ego or the conscience of the person or persons concerned.

Whenever one initiates any undertaking, the Qur’an states expressly that one should begin by uttering the name of God. One thus always reminds oneself at the outset of God’s attributes of benevolence and compassion. It is also a way of determining that all projects will be launched not with personal but with divine intentions, and that all actions stemming therefrom will be merciful rather than exploitative in nature. The most frequently repeated invocation in the Qur’an is: "In the name of God, the most Beneficent, the most Merciful." The recurrence of this phrase no less than 114 times is in itself a clear indication of how important it is.

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