THE WORD OF GOD

THE WORD OF GOD From The Scriptures The 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 We made a covenant with Adam before you, but he forgot, and We found him lacking in constancy. When We said to the angels, ‘Prostrate yourselves before Adam,’ they all prostrated themselves, except for Satan, who refused, We said, ‘Adam, [Satan] is an enemy to you and to your wife. Let him not turn you both out of Paradise and thus make you come to grief. (20: 115-117) To adhere steadfastly to God’s commandments, unwavering determination is essential. If a man is influenced by irrelevant factors, he will undoubtedly deviate from the path of God. In order to remain steadfastly on the path of God, it is not enough to know what His commandment is; it is also absolutely necessary to have the will to resist all that goes against His commandment, and not to let himself be influenced by it. When God ordered that all should kneel down before Adam, the angels immediately dropped to their knees. But Satan did not do so. The reason for this difference in behaviour was that the angels treated this matter as pertaining to God, whereas Satan, on the contrary, saw it as the affair of a mere mortal. When an issue concerns God, man has no option but to bow to His wishes. But when it is treated as relating to a human being, the person in question will appraise the human being before him. If the latter is comparatively stronger, he will kneel down; otherwise he will refuse to kneel down, even if such an action be the demand of truth and justice. ‘Here you shall not go hungry or be naked, you shall not thirst, nor feel the sun’s heat.’ But Satan whispered evil to him, saying, ‘Adam, shall I lead you to the tree of immortality and to a kingdom that never declines?’ They both ate the fruit of this tree, and so they became