The Message of the Qur’an

The Message of the Qur’an

1985 11 November 15-17 The Message of the Qur’an (1110)

Chapter II (contd.)

“The Jews say that the Christians have nothing to stand upon, and the Christians say it is the Jews who have nothing to stand upon. Yet both read the Scriptures. Even thus speak those who do not know. God will judge their disputes on the Day of Resurrection. Who is more unjust then those who seek to destroy the mosques of God and forbid mention of His name therein? It is not fitting that such men should themselves enter these mosques except in fear. They shall be held to shame in this world and sternly punished in the next. To God belongs the east and the west. Whichever way you turn, there is the face of God. He is Omnipresent and All-Knowing. They say: ‘God has begotten a son.’ Glory be to Him. His is what the heavens and the earth contain; all things are obedient to Him. Creator of the heavens and the earth. When He decrees a thing, He need only say ‘Be’ and it is (2:113-117).”

The Jews thought that one had to be attached to saints and prophets to be on the right path. That was why they thought they were in the right and everyone else in the wrong. As for the Christians, they considered themselves unique in that God’s “beloved son” had been sent to them. Even the idolaters of Mecca thought of themselves as superior to everyone else, basing their claim on the fact that they were guardians of God’s sacred House. Thus every nation had set its own religious standards, according to which they themselves inevitably appeared to be in the right, and everyone else in the wrong. Their actions, however, did not substantiate their claims. For one thing, they had become divided into sects, though all of them swore allegiance to the divine scriptures. They jumped at every opportunity to deny others the right to use places of worship. Though they would say that they were doing this to protect the sanctity of these places, in fact they were ruining them, for places of worship become worthless when people are denied the right to worship there. Everyone should enter into these places in a spirit of humility and trepidation, in consciousness of their own unworthiness rather than the unworthiness of others to join them. One who has such an attitude will never deny the right to do so to those who come to worship; he will never persecute those who come to serve the Lord. When one is truly conscious of God’s greatness and one’s own helplessness before Him, one’s humility will show in one’s dealings with others: one will not seek to harm one’s fellow-men in any way, let alone deny them their fundamental right to worship God.

Another error into which they fell was to liken God to man. A human being, for instance, cannot be in two places at the same time, and, in consequence, people think that God is also to be found in a certain direction. But God is everywhere. True, he has prescribed a direction for us to face when we worship, but this is just for the sake of practicality; it does not mean that God is to be found in one direction and not in another. Another outcome of this basic misconception of God’s nature is people’s attribution of a son to Him. But only those who have needs beget sons, and God is immune from all such imperfections and limitations. He is complete in Himself. Such beliefs do not come from God; man has invented them himself, and whoever makes up his own religion and pretends that it is from God is doomed to disgrace and doom when he comes face to face with his Maker.

“And those who do not know ask: ‘Why does God not speak to us or give us a sign?’ The same demand was made by those before them: their hearts are all alike. But to those whose faith is firm, we have already revealed our signs. We have sent you with truth as a bearer of good tidings and a warner: you shall not be questioned about the people of hell. You will please neither the Christians nor the Jews unless you follow their faith. Say: ‘The guidance of God is the only guidance. And if, after all the knowledge you have been given, you yield to their desires, there shall be none to help or protect you from the wrath of God. Those to whom we have given the Book, and who read it as it ought to be read, truly believe in it; those who deny it shall assuredly be losers (2:118-121).”

All those whom God has sent to preach truth on earth have been confronted with a particular form of reaction. “If you are God’s envoy,” people say to them, “why are you not blessed with great worldly treasures.” These people can only think in worldly terms themselves, so they expect prophets to come up to their materialistic standards. They cannot conceive of someone not endowed with worldly grandeur being God’s messenger. This is the reason the prophets of God have had to face opposition throughout the ages. How, people think, could a great God, whose kingdom extends from the earth to the furthest expanse of the heavens, have chosen such an ordinary person as His messenger? The greatness of God Himself is indeed incorporated in the lives and teachings of His prophets, but in a spiritual, not a material, form. The prophets’ every word and deed is based on truth, and is a manifestation of God’s signs. But such signs cannot be seen, so they do not become a part of the consciousness of materialistic people.

Their minds are moulded in such a manner that they acknowledge only tangible, visible signs of greatness; the invisible, but intensely meaningful signs that God gives His prophets mean nothing to them.

In ancient times the Jews and Christians had been the true followers of divinely revealed religion on earth. When they went into decline, however, their religion took on a communal rather than divine form: piety lay in belonging to their community and impiety in being separate from it; the only criterion between truth and falsehood that they knew was a person’s relation to his own community. This communal, sectarian attitude prevented them from accepting true, unadulterated religion when it came to them. True religion can only be accepted by those who are alive to their true, human natures. Those who have forsaken natural religion for artificial dogmas cannot be expected to respond when they are roused to the call of their own true natures.