Spirit of Islam, December 2016

I F you read the Quran, you will find that it deals with all the subjects relating to human beings. But the basic theme of the Quran is the Creation Plan of God. All other subjects touched upon by the Quran are related to this theme, directly or indirectly. God Almighty created the universe, and, it is God Almighty who revealed this book called AlQuran. The primary purpose of the Quran is to reveal that divine plan according to which the world was created and man was 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 post-death 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 eternity. In fact, God Almighty created an ideal world that is called Paradise. The present world 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 is perfect and ideal. Paradise is 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 human beings with freedom of choice and then settled them on earth. Through His prophets, God Almighty gave guidance to humanity. In every age the prophets told the people of all races about right and wrong. They told them what was good and what was bad. This was simply a matter of guidance; there was no compulsion for people to follow it. People were asked to develop their thinking in such a way as to bring about moral consciousness in themselves and to lead a good life by their own choice. In this sense, everyone is being tested. INTRODUCING THE QURAN Creation Plan of God The primary purpose of the Quran is to reveal that divine plan according to which the world was created and man was settled in it.