Spirit of Islam, Feb 2015

In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful Alif Lam Mim These are the verses of the Book of wisdom, a guide and a mercy for those who do good, for those who attend to their prayers and pay the zakat and who have firm faith in the Hereafter: these are rightly guided by their Lord: and these are the ones who will prosper. (THE QURAN 31: 1-5) In this world, the criterion of the proper performance of a task (ihsan) is that it should be in accordance with the facts. From this point of view, one who carries out a task in this way is one who admits the reality (muhsin); his actions become a manifestation of his spirit of submission. Those who have it in their nature to mould themselves according to the factual position, are those who, when the Truth presents itself to them, accept it without suffering from any psychological complications. They immediately start fulfilling its practical requirements—they become regular offerers of prayers (salat), which is symbolic of fulfilling God’s will. They give prescribed alms (zakat), which amounts to honouring the rights of God’s subjects in the economic sphere. They shun the worship of worldly achievements and begin to think fondly of the Hereafter, because they know that the place where the question of success or failure shall finally be decided is nowhere other than the Hereafter. But among men there are some who spend their time in idle diversions only to lead people astray from the path of God, and without knowledge, hold it up to ridicule: for such there is a humiliating punishment in store. Whenever Our messages are THE WORD OF GOD From The Scriptures T HE Quran is the book of God. It has been preserved in its entirety since its revelation to the Prophet of Islam between 610 and 632 A.D. It is a book that brings glad tidings to mankind, along with divine admonition, and stresses the importance of man’s discovery of the Truth on a spiritual and intellectual level. Translated from Arabic and commentary by Maulana Wahiduddin Khan