Witness to Truth

The Essence of Religion Witness to Truth Our responsibility towards non-Muslims is to bring the truth to them in the form of the message of Islam. God’s message must reach all His creatures, so that none may say in the Hereafter that he was left in a state of unawareness of the truth. Man has been placed in this world so that he may be tested. The Quran says: “He created life and death that He might put you to the test and find out which of you acquitted himself best. He is the Mighty, the Forgiving one” (67:2). This is a very serious situation, for it means that man’s end in the hereafter will depend on his attitude in his worldly life, his end being either Heaven or eternal Hell. Owing to the seriousness of the situation, God made two special arrangements to warn mankind. First, He gave everyone the ability to discriminate between right and wrong. “And inspired it (man’s soul) with knowledge of right and wrong.” (91:8). This consciousness of Truth was instilled into man’s nature on the very first day of creation: When your Lord brought forth descendants from the loins of Adam’s children, and made them testify themselves, (He said): ‘Am I not your Lord?’ They replied: ‘We bear witness that You are.’ This He did lest you should say on the Day of Ressurrection: ‘We had no knowledge of that’ (7:172). Then after this initial measure at the level of nature He sent to mankind a series of prophets, so that a knowledge of reality might be conveyed to every man by a human being who had been chosen by God for this purpose. These prophets were “messengers who brought good news to mankind and admonished them, so that they might have no plea against God after their coming.” (4:165). This chain of prophets started with the beginning of life. Adam was not only the first man but also the first prophet. In the seventh century a.d., God wil l ed that the chain of prophethood be terminated. Muhammad, on him be peace, was the last of God’s messengers. But so far as the delivering of God’s message is