The Vision of Islam

The man on the straight path develops the highest capacity for acceptance. When the Quraysh heard the Prophet recite the Quran, they exclaimed: “This is the work of a poet!” They did not of course, use the word poet in any derogatory sense; yet, even so, to God this conveyed only underestimation, not total faith. (69:41). If they called it the work of a poet, it was merely to indicate their assessment of it as a literary achievement in which the teachings of the ancient Abrahamites were presented in a novel way. Interpreted as such, they thought that the Quran merely deserved to be acknowledged as a literary masterpiece. But the Quran ought rather be regarded as an expression of the Higher Truth and should be accepted with total conviction. Just one day before the entry into Makkah, when the Prophet asked Abu Sufyan to bear witness to the Islamic faith, the latter said, “By my parents, you are undoubtedly very forbearing, very tolerant, nobler and of higher derivation than others, yet I still have some qualms about your prophethood.” Later, the Prophet’s uncle Abbas apprised Abu Sufyan of the critical situation, whereupon he recited the article of faith and became a Muslim. It had been easier for Abu Sufyan to acknowledge the Prophet’s nobility and perseverance than to concede that he was a genuine Prophet; because in accepting his moral worth he had the psychological satisfaction that the difference between him and the Prophet was one of personal worth, and not that his beliefs had been wrong vis-à-vis the Prophet’s. No doubt acceptance of moral worth is far easier than the recognition of the superiority of another’s ideology. The Straight Path of the Individual The Quran has very explicitly indicated the straight path of God, both for the individual and for society, as against the paths of deviation which human beings are faced with at all times. A section of the sixth chapter of the Quran reads: say: ‘Come, I will tell you what your Lord has made binding on you: that you