THE WORD OF GOD

Believers, believe in God and His Messenger and in the Scripture He sent down to His Messenger, as well as what He sent down before. He who denies God, His angels, His Scriptures, His messengers and the Last Day has surely gone far astray. (4:136) Believers, believe’ is like saying, ‘Muslims, become Muslims!’ Calling oneself a Muslim or regarding oneself as such does not suffice for one to be held a Muslim in the eyes of God. A true Muslim is only that person who has made God the centre of his life and the source of his trust and confidence. A Muslim is one who believes in the Prophet and his guidance to the exclusion of all else. A Muslim is one who adheres to the revealed Scripture in such a manner that his thinking and his feelings become totally subordinated to it. A Muslim is one to whom belief in the angels means that he is surrounded by God’s guardians who are constantly watching him. A Muslim is one whose belief in the Hereafter is so profound that he begins to examine all his words and deeds in the balance of the Hereafter. One who becomes a believer in this sense is, in the eyes of God, on the right path, on the straight path to success in the Hereafter. One who does not become a believer in this sense has gone astray, however much he may consider himself a Muslim, a believer. As for those who come to believe, and then deny the truth, and again come to believe, and again deny the truth, and thereafter grow stubborn in their denial of the truth—God will never forgive them, nor will He guide them. Warn the hypocrites that for them there is a painful punishment. As for those who take the deniers of the truth for their allies rather than the believers—do they seek honour in their company? Surely all honour belongs to God. (4: 137-139) This tussle between belief and unbelief continues through life. In dealing with any matter the human mind starts thinking along two lines: it tilts either to the demands of desires or of truth and justice. If on such occasions the thinking and feeling of a person take to the path of desires, this will amount to a denial of the faith he professes to believe in. On the other hand, if he makes his thinking and feelings subservient to the demands of truth and justice, this would amount to his becoming a true Muslim. Whenever any matter of truth is brought before people, it is met with two kinds of responses: one from a person, who adopts the attitude of modesty and acknowledges the truth, and the other from a person who is so proud and haughty that he denies the truth. The first response stems from Iman and faith, while the other stems from