THE WORD OF GOD

procedure amounts to such an adulteration of one’s own faith that it makes one’s sincerity doubtful in the eyes of God. Zachariah, John, Jesus, and Elijah—every one of them was righteous— Ishmael, Elisha, Jonah, and Lot—We favoured each one of them above other people, and also some of their forefathers, their offspring, and their brothers: We chose them and guided them to a straight path. This is the guidance of God : He gives that guidance to whichever of His servants He pleases. If they had associated other deities with Him, surely all they did would have been of no avail. 6: 85 - 88 Excellence, or superiority, is not anyone’s racial or national prerogative. It is a gift of God to only those individuals who keep themselves righteous according to God’s guidance, who avoid all sorts of polytheism (shirk) and who throw themselves, body and soul, into the task of ‘preaching (admonition) without remuneration.’ These are the people who make the Book of God their real guide. They identify themselves with the Book to such an extent that the divine mysteries reveal themselves to them; the result of which process is known as wisdom (hikmah). These are the people whom God picks out, then commissions some of them, whom He likes, with the task of conveying His message, as prophets during the age of prophethood, and thereafter as dayees. God’s reward either to prophets or dayees will be entirely on the basis of righteous action (ihsan). The task of giving the call of Truth is undertaken only by those people who have become so selfless and so immersed in this work that they have no material expectations whatsoever of their addressees. Then the preacher cannot stage protests or run a campaign of demands pitted against the very person or group of persons to whom he is conveying the message of the Hereafter. Such an action on the part of the messenger of Truth would risk his exhortations being treated as ridiculous in the eyes of his addressees, and in society at large his call could never thus attain the status of a serious effort to convey the Word of God. Those are the ones to whom We gave the Scripture, wisdom, and prophethood. If these people [the Makkans] reject it, We shall entrust it to a people who will never refuse to acknowledge it. Those [the previous prophets] were the people whom God guided. Follow their guidance then and say, ‘I ask no reward for this from you: it is only a reminder for all mankind.’ 6: 89 - 90