The guidance is an important constituent of the process of
creation, trial, justice and reward. God guides the humanity through different
means. Firstly; Much earlier than the creation of humanity, God first created
all the spirits of humanity, which testified Him to be their Lord, this was the
1st Covenant, then they were put to sleep. He brings the humankind
into this world in succession, each at appointed time, spirit is breathed in to
him, true nature (hanefa fitr’ah),
the ‘First Covenant’ is part of human consciousness. This is the reason
that even some of African tribes cut off from the civilized world worship One
God without images. However majority of human, under the influence of Satan,
are caught in the webs of customs, superstitions, selfish desires, and false
teachings, thus getting deflected from the true nature. Man is endowed with
instincts, forms and faculties exactly suited to what is expected of him.
Through these faculties and instincts man can know about existence of God by
observing His signs, thus reverting to the true nature. Finally He gives
guidance, through His messengers and scriptures. The messengers convey the
message, people are not coerced, they use their intellect for reason and
exercise their will. Finally God has reward for those who made right choice and
punishment for those who fell pray to evil.
God sent messengers to every community; some are mentioned
by name in Bible and Qur’an. The message of all the massagers sent to different
nations at different times had been basically same, to worship One God and
follow His guidance for success in this life and hereafter. The messengers were
required to convey the message only, they were not required to force the
people. Allah says: “Obey Allah and obey His messenger; but if ye turn away,
then the duty of Our messenger is only to convey (the message)
plainly.”(Qur’an;64:12). Prophet Abraham (peace be upon him), the great
patriarch asserted the strict monotheism, God chose him as a leader of the
mankind after success in trials, which was conditional to the obedience of God
and not applicable to the evil doers among his progeny. His son Ishmael and
Isaac were granted prophethood. After Abraham God continuously appointed
messengers like Ishmael, Isaac his son Jacob (also known as Israel and his
decedents as Israelites or Children of Israel), Joseph, Moses, Elisha, David,
Solomon up to Prophet Jesus (peace be upon them all) being the last among
Israelites. Torah was revealed to Moses,
Palms (Zabur) to David and Gospel (Injeel) to Prophet Jesus (peace be upon him) for the guidance of
Israelites. These scriptures are part of Bible but in corrupted form.
The Israelites repeatedly disobeyed the commandments of God,
altered the scriptures, and even killed the prophets. They did not believe in
Prophet Jesus Christ (peace be upon him) and even tried to kill him, but Allah
raised him to Himself. His followers deviated from the monotheism of Abraham,
Jacob and Moses (peace be upon them all), invented a different religion known
as Christianity based on the concepts of Original sin and Trinity, disregarding
the Law. Prophet Abraham (peace be upon him) had settled his eldest son Ishmael
at Makka, a deserted place which became a town on the main trade route. Prophet
Ishmael (peace be upon him) became the ancestor of Arabs. His descendents also
corrupted the original teachings of Abraham and Ishmael (peace be upon them),
they became polytheists and Idolaters. For nearly over next 2000 years no
messenger was sent to them.
Due to the persistent
disobedience and rebelliousness of the Children of Israel, and corruption of
original message of God; He changed the leadership role from the Children of
Israel to the Children of Ishmael (peace be upon them), by appointing Muhammad, peace be upon him (an
Arab, from the progeny of Ishmael) as His last messenger in 610 C.E. He reveled
to him, Qur’an; the last book of guidance for the humanity and named the faith
as Islam (surrender to will of Allah), the faith of all previous messengers.
Allah Himself took the responsibility to protect His last
scripture. He says: “We have without doubt sent down the Message; and We will
assuredly guard it (from corruption)”.(Qur’an;15:9);“No falsehood can approach
it from before or from behind. It is a revelation from the One Who is Wise and
Praiseworthy.”(Qur’an;41:42). Qur’an is the final and the Last Testament,
which supercedes the Old and New Testament. Now it is obligatory for
the humanity including Jews and Christians to follow the guidance of Qur’an.
Many Jews and Christians have reverted to Islam while others decline. The
message of truth was spread all over the world. Presently there are around 1.5
Billion Muslims in the world. Miraculously during last fourteen centuries,
Qur’an is available in its original form and will continue to guide the
humanity till eternity. Allah says: “Or do ye say that Abraham, Isma'il, Isaac,
Jacob, and the Tribes were Jews or Christians? Say: Do ye know better than
Allah? Ah! who is more unjust than those who conceal the testimony they have
from Allah? But Allah is not unmindful of what ye do!”(Qur’an;2:140). While
Jews and Christians claim to be heirs of Abraham, but only Muslims can
strongly claim to be followers of the
true legacy of Abraham - Tawheed (monotheism).
Practical implementation of Qur’anic teachings was
demonstrated by Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), which is also available
in the form of the traditions of Prophet (Sunnah).
After Muhammad (peace be upon him) the last messenger, Muslims are responsible
for preaching of this Message to the mankind? Allah says: “We have given the
Book (Qur’an) as an inheritance to those of Our servants (Muslims) whom We have
chosen...”(Qur’an;35:32). At the end of his last sermon during last Hajj (632
C.E) the Prophet (peace be upon him) said:
“O’ People, no
Messengers or prophet will come after me and no new faith will be born. Reason
well, therefore, O’ People, and understand my words which I convey to you. I
leave behind me two things, the Qur’an and my example, the Sunnah and if you
follow these you will never go astray. All those who listen to me shall pass on
my words to others and those to others again; and may the last ones understand
my words better than those who listen to me directly.”
The custodians of the Qur’an after the holy Prophet are the
People of Islam. They are chosen for the Book, not in any narrow sense, but in
the sense that the Book is given for their age and they are charged to believe,
read, understand, obey, preserve and propagate it, so that all mankind should
receive the Message. In this present era of high-tech communications and media,
with the efforts of believers this guidance is
available to the ever increasing numbers of people, who are embracing
Islam in great numbers. There is no doubt that this Message will remain
available to the humanity till the Day of Judgment. The legacy of Prophet
Abraham (peace be upon them) continues.
INDEX:
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