THE WORD OF GOD

THE WORD OF GOD The Quran is the book of God. It has been preserved in its entirety since its revelation to the Prophet of Islam between CE 610 and 632. It is a book that brings glad tidings to humankind, 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 Say, [God says] ‘O My servants, who have committed excesses against their own souls, do not despair of God’s mercy, for God surely forgives all sins. He is truly the Most Forgiving, the Most Merciful. Turn to your Lord and submit to Him before His scourge overtakes you, for then you shall not be helped. (39: 53-54) When those who possess sensitive hearts are blessed with a deep realization of God (ma‘rifah), they start becoming worried as to what would happen about their past sins. Similarly, even after adopting a God-fearing way of life, a man is likely to display shortcomings from time to time, and his sensitive nature makes him worry again on this account. These feelings in some people can become so intense as to cause a deep sense of frustration. For such people, God has declared in His Book that they should firmly believe that their God is Forgiving and Merciful. He does not look at a man’s past but at his present. He does not look to his outward form but at his inner soul. He treats a man with broad-mindedness and not with petty-mindedness. That is why, when a man turns towards Him, He once again takes him into the fold of His Mercy, howsoever big a blunder the man might have committed. From The Scriptures In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful