THEME OF THE QURAN

THEME OF THE QURAN Paradisiacal Personality I F you read the Quran, you will find that it deals with all of the subjects relating to human beings. But the basic theme of the Quran is the creation plan of God. All other subjects touched on by the Quran are related to this basic theme, directly or indirectly. God Almighty created the universe, and, it is God Almighty who revealed this book that is called The Quran. The primary purpose of the Quran is to reveal that divine plan according to which the world was created and people were settled in it. This theme, which is central to the Quran, is thus described in chapter sixty-seven, Al-Mulk (The Kingdom): “He created death and life so that He might test you, and find out which of you is best in conduct.” (67: 2) Here the words “life” and “death” refer to two different periods of humanity. The word “life” represents the pre-death period and the word “death” represents the second period of life, which may be called the postdeath period. God Almighty created man as an eternal being but he divided his life into two periods—the before-death period and the post-death period. The pre-death period is very short, about hundred years, while the post-death period has no such limit. It will continue for all eternity. According to the Quran, God Almighty created an ideal world that is called Paradise. The present world—the planet earth—has all those things that man needs or desires. But, in this world everything is imperfect in its form. In Paradise, on the other hand, everything will be perfect and ideal. Paradise will be free of every kind of limitation or disadvantage. Moreover, Paradise is an eternal world. Paradise has a beginning but it has no end. God Almighty created man and woman, bestowed them with freedom of choice and then settled them on the planet earth. Through His prophets, God Almighty gave guidance to humanity. In every age the prophets told the people of all nations about right and wrong. They told them what was good and what was bad. The environment of Paradise will be free of all kinds of negative states, for negative factors cannot be part of the psychology of the spiritual inhabitants of Paradise.