Al-Risala (English), January-February 2000

prophet was truly a representative of God. But, with the passage of time, the books brought by the messengers were altered and marred by the interpolations of their followers. Thus, the original divine guidance became veiled by these human additions. Ultimately, God sent the Arab Prophet with the Quran. And God Himself undertook the responsibility of preserving the Quran in toto so that it might remain a source of authentic guidance for mankind for all time to come. The essence of the reality revealed by God through the Prophet is that everyone will necessarily be rewarded for his actions in this world. None can escape the consequences of his actions, nor can anyone save another. Those who fail to take heed of the warnings by the Prophet are the most foolish in this world. So far as man’s relation to God is concerned, everyone is responsible for his own actions. None can share in the consequences of another’s deeds. Nor will anyone reap a harvest in the next world other than what he has sown here in this world. □ The Oneness of God S ay: “He is God, the One, the eternally besought of all. He begets not, nor was He begotten. And there is none comparable to Him.” (Quran, 112:1-4) All that is in heaven and earth gives glory to God. He is the Mighty, the Wise. His is the kingdom of the heavens and the earth. He ordains life and death and has power over all things. He is the First and Last, the Visible and the Unseen. He has knowledge of all things (Quran, 57:1-3), and he that renounces