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THE TARJUMAN AL-QUR'AN
 The
Tarjumiin al-Qur'iin
by
MAWLANA ABUL KALAM AZAD

EDITED AND
RENDERED INTO ENGLISH BY

DR. SYED ABDUI, LATIF

VOLUME ONE
SORAT-UL-FATIHA

DR. SYED ABDUL LATIFIS

TRUST FOR
Q U R A N I C & OTHER C U L T U R A L STUDIES
S H A D 1 KHANA, KING KOTHI R O A D . HYDERABAD-500 001
 This English Trmlatdon
Copyright Q 1962 by
DR. SYED ABDUL LATIF

Reprinted 1965
Third Edition 1981

Printed in India at Pragati Art Printers, H,1~c/erabar1[500

0041
 CONTENTS
1 . Fore& by Dr. Syed Mahmud ix
2. Pre$be w the Engliah Translation of the C o m ~ t ofyUte Siird-ul-
FlitihZ by Dr. Syed AWul Lcrtif xiii
3. Preface to the First Edition of The Tarjumdn d-Qur'bn by ~Vatolana
Abul K a h A d xxv
4. Preface to the Second Edition of The Tasjunuin al-Qur'&nby Mawhna
Abul Kalam A d xlv

COMMENTARY OF THE SORAT- UL-FATIHA

SECTION I

S ~ R A T - U L - F:~Importance
TIH~

SECTION I1

PRAISE
o r GOD: Hamd

SECTION m
DIVINE PROVIDENCE
: Rabtibiyat

Order of Providence - Dispensation -Spiritual and Mental Equip-

ment - Taqdir - H&Gyat Qllr'snic Method of Presentation -
Apportl to Reason -Order of Creation - Evidences of Rubtibiyat -
Order of Providence as argument for Divine Unity - Order of
Providence as argument for Divine Revelation - Order of Provid-
ence as argument for the Life Hereafter

SECTION fV

: RaAmat
D ~ N BENEVOLENCE
E

Al-Rahmdn, AZRnhirn, Ra?~mut- The Design of the Universe an

outcome of Divine Benevolence - Splitting and Building - The
Beauty of Nature - Comfort provided by Nature - Survival of the
Useful - Process gradual -The Appointed Time -Zest for Life -
Tazwij - Law of Producing a thing by two's - Variation in
individual span of life -Rahmat as Evidence of Divine Unity -as
argument for the Life Hereafter - ar, argument for Revelation-Hq
and B@il- The Process of Exci~ion- Universal application of the
principle of Excision - Divine Benevolence - Individual Life - Its
worldly aspect - Opportunities for introspection and repentance -
The Scope of Forgiveneas - The Law - The problem of Forgiveness
- The Evangel and the Qur'dn - The Message of Christ and ita
Vi CONTENTS

-
Neglect - h l i t y about Chriat's Message Actor and Action -'No
coneict between the teachings of the Qur'cin and the Bible -The
Qur'iinic Rebukes

Al Din -A1 Din in the aem of Law

SECTION VI

TRRCONCEPTOF GOD: Tawhid

Origin of the idea of God - Different theoriee - Divine Attributes -

-
D i e r e n t Concepts The Chinese Concept - The Hindu ideology .-
Shaminism and ita ideology - Magism of Iran -Judaic Concept -
-
Greek Philosophy The School of Alexandria -The Qur'iinic
Ideology -.Perfection of Transcendentalism -
Transcendentalism
and Nullification - Difference between Aryan and Semitic stand-
points - M u h k a m and Mutashibihat -
Absoluteness and Personi-
fication in the Upanishads - Attributes of Mercy and Beauty -
-
Limits of Prophethood Unity in Attributes - One Concept for all

SECTION WI

DIVINEGUIDANCE
: IiidrZyal

HidZyat - Three grades of HidrZyat - Every Hulriyat has its limits

-One type of Hi(76yat corrects the other - The fourth typo of
Hi&@ :A1 H& - Unity of Religion and the Qur'cin - Pristine
-
Unity of Man Disunity and Itcvelation - Message Universal -
Scriptures - A1 Din md A1 Shar'a - Differences in religion -No
difference in Dln - Difference only in Shar'a - Essentials of religion
- Difference in Shnr'a inevitable - Unity of Religion disregarded -
Revival of Message - TashaiLy4- Qur'Znic objective - Unity of
Man ; Primary Yurposc of Religion - The Qur'gnic call - M'ami,f
and Munkar -The Way of God - A1 Islam -The B m x of Opposi-
tion to the Q~~r'cin-Sircit a1 Mustaqim -
The Straight Pnth -
Paths not favoured - Verdict of History

Appendices
Index
 Acknowledgements
The trustees of Dr. Syed Abdul Latif's Trust for Quranic and
other Cultural Studies wish to placeon record their indebtedness to
the trustees of H.E.H. the Nizam's Charitable Trust, particularly its
chairman Prince Mufakkham Jah Bahadur and its acting chairman
Dr. Zahir Ahmed, I.A.S. (retd) for their generous grant which
enabled the Quranic Trust publish this edition.
They are grateful also ta Mr. Md. Anver, Reader, Osmania
University, for his help in bringing out this edition and particularly for
compiling the appendix.
Nizamuddin Ahmed, IAS (Rtd)
Chairman,
Dr. Syed Abdul Latifs
Hyderabad, Trust for Quranic & other
D/ Jan. 1, 1981. Cultural Studies.
TEE name of Mawlana Abul Kalam Azad will be written indelibly
across the pages of Indian history as one of those great stalwarts
who struggled to win freedom for India. That is the reward of
patriotism and of sacrifices made under its compuleive demanda.
But his name will be equally remembered by posterity as a fighter
in the cause of man's intellectual emancipation as well, fighting
hard against the intellectual and religious obscurantism which had
held mankind under its grip for ages together, particularly the
mind of his co-religionists, the Mualima of India, and those who
inhabited the huge belt which stretched itself along the Central
and Western Asia and North Africa right up to the shores of the
Atlantic on the one hand, and in its offshoot to the South-East cover-
ing in its onward march into the Pacific, the Malaya peninsula and
Indonesia, - a form of obscurantism which had expressed itself in
a rigid adherence to medievalism in thought and action styled
Taqlid or unthinking allegiance to mere tradition. This struggle
iq its deeper reaches was a t h t a struggle against his own self,
his very upbringing, a veritable Jehad, so to my, against his own
personality as built up by medievalism in religion to which he was
heir.
The manner in which Mawlana h a d endeavoured to free his
mind from the clutches of his medieval past may be noticed in the
pages of the Al-Hilfil and the 81-BalEgh, two weekly journals in
Urdu which he himself edited oft and on between 1912 and 1930,
azd above all in the pages of his monumental work in Urdu, The
Ta~juma~n al-Qur'in or the interpretation of the Qur'in, the first
volume of which was issued in 1930, and the second in 1936. How
hard was the struggle in hia own soul to rise above his own self
to seek fresh avenues of approach to the sources of his Faith, the
Qur'ltz and the example of the Prophet, may be gleaned from the
agmised statement which he makes in the preface to his work.
The Tarjumifi al-Qur'iin, is recognised on all hands as Mawlana'e
wtagnum opus. Therein he has tried to give to the Qur'inic word
the interpretation which it was originally meant to bear, or as
 /
I
X FOREWORD
I

was understood by the followers of the Prophet in his own lifetime.

It is in the form of an explanatory translation of the Qur'iinic text
supported, wherever necessary, by foot-notes and comments. The
work, as it came out, attracted the serious attention of scholars
both in India and abroad, so much so, that when it was revised
by him while he was in Ahmednagar Jail and the second edition
of it issued, I suggested to him the need for an English version
of his great work, a suggestion which he readily appreciated. In
fact, when he came out of jail in 1946, several scholars, one after
another, tried their hand a t it, but the result did not satisfy him.
The translators themselves had to admit that the work was not
easy to translate. The idea had therefore to lie in abeyance. Indeed,
Mawlana Azad had well-nigh given up the hope of ever seeing hie
work in an English translation.
It was when Mawlana and I had the opportunity to read that
remarkable work, The Mind Al-Qur'iin Builds, written by Dr. Syed
Abdul Latif, the distinguished scholar of Hyderabad, that we felt
that here was a scholar who could rise equal to the occasion and
fulfil the wish not only of my own self but also of Mawlana Azad.
Dr. Latif was personally known to us for several years as Professor
of English a t the Osmania University, tmd a keen student of
Islamic thought. When I approached him in this regard, he a t h t
felt hesitant to undertake the task. But when it was brought home
to him that his personal talents demanded of him to enter upon
the task as a matter of duty to the world of intellect, he yielded.
He had, however, long talks with Mawlana in regard to the manner
of presentation. Mawlana Azad had, as I know, set great store
by his commentary of the opening chapter of the Qur'iin wherein
he had surveyed its entire ideology. Indeed he regarded his achieve-
ment as a distinct landmark in the field of Islamic thought. He
was anxious to see at least this part of his commentary on the
Qur'Gn - the Stirat-ul-FZtihii -rendered into English. So, when
Dr. Latif finished its translation, I found Mawlana Azad immensely
delighted and even overjoyed a t the result. May it be noted that
Mawlana was a very hard man to deal with in the matter of literary
expression.
At this stage, a thought came to Mawlana that before issuing
the finished ka,nslation of the opening part of his Commentary
', FOREWORD xi
which was a serious production, a resume of the views advanced
therein 'might be issued by way of introduction to his great Com-
mentary, This was ah0 prepared by Dr. Latif, and received high
encomiums from Mawlana. It was sent to the press a few weeks
before the tragedy of his death in February 1958 and came out
of it a couple of months thereafter under the title, "Basic Concepts
of the Quran" in the series of publications issued by the Academy
of Islamic Studies, Hyderabad, of which Dr. Latif was himself
President.
Mawlana Azad had made a special request to Dr. Latif to pursue
his task and complete the translation of the rest of the Tarjum-n
which covered the first eighteen parts of the Qu7'ii.n. But this under-
taking was somewhat of a different nature. It was not a translation
of a running commentary in the language of Mawlana, as in the
commentary of the opening chapter of the Qur'zn, which forms the
subject of the present volume. On the other hand, it was to be a
literal translation, verse by verse, of the original Arabic text of
the Qur'tin fitted into his explanation and commentary. The tmk
on the face of it was arduous, and called for the display of consum-
mate skill in i h execution. Nearly a half of this additional work
has been done by now and the rest will be completed in due course,
and the entire translation issued in a series in continuation of the
present volume.
By rendering into English The Tarjum-n d-Qur'Zn of Mawlana
Abul Kalam h a d , Dr. Syed Abdul Latif has rendered a great
service to the cause of the Qur'gnic interpretation. His work will
also be regarded as a lasting memorial to Mawlana Abul Kalam
Azad, the great savant of India, whose presence in our midst is so
sorely missed a t this hour.
In conclusion, as chairman of the Committee formed to oganise
preparation and publication of the Tarjutwin al-Qur'Zn in its
English translation I have to express thanks for the valuable help
rendered to me by Professor Humayun Kztbir, Minister for Scientific
Research and Cultural Affairs, Shri M. R. Shervani of Allahabad,
Shri Husainbhoy Laljee of Bombay, Shri Nazir Husain of Madras,
Hakim Abdul Hamid of Delhi and Shri Mirza Mohammed Begg.

New Delhi SYED MAHMUD

 P R E F A C E TO T H E T R A N S L A T I O N

SINCEabout the middle of the 19th century, numerous attempts

have been made by Muslim scholars to interpret the Qur'blz to the
modern world. By far the largest output of literature produced in
this connection, whether in the f ~ r mof commentaries, critique8 or
articles in periodicals, has been in Urdu, English and Arabic. But
whatever the medium of expression employed, the net result is still
far from satisfactory. The modernists have tried mostly to square
the Qur'knic meaning with the thought-content of the culture of
Europe, even as some of the corr~mentatorsof the early centuries of
Z s h had tried, under the influence of the Greek literature trans-
lated into Arabic, to tiquare it with the philosophic speculations of
Greece. Oqly spasmodically or in flashes have stray corners of the
Qur'Hnic message been exposed to view in its reality. At any rate,no
austained effort was made by them to let the Qur'Gn speak for itself.
Warmed up by the efforts of the modernists, the orthodox Ulama
too have no doubt tried of late to appear modern in their approach
to the Qw'cin. But the dead-weight of the medieval obscurantism
which has for ages clung to the Muslim religious thought has proved
too heavy for them to throw off. It was only as late as 1930, a ray
of hope was furnished by the appearance of the firat volume of The
Tarjumiin al-Qur'cin of Nawlana Abul Kalam Azad, of which the
Commentary of the Stirat-ecl-Faihii forms the opening section,
wherein a serious attempt was made to restore to the Qur'hic word
the meaning that it was originally meant to bear.
The most characteristic feature of the Qur'Glz, it may be etated,
is its method of presentation. It is simple and direct. 1t.doea not
employ any artifice, nor di~playany conventional poses. Its appeal
is to the elemental feeling a3d imagination of man, and to his daily
experiences of life. It presents, so to say, ,.a heart to heart talk
between God and man. Such is the method adopted by the Qur'iin,
a method commcin to all re-vealed scriptures. But this method,
importantmasit was, was rareiy the subject of regular study in any
Mwlirn seminar or seat of learning in the past. Fadhakkir-biz-
Qur'dn- "Explain the Qur'iin in the manner of th; Qu~'6n"'
xiv P R E F A C E TO T H E T R A N S L A T I O N

(Q : 50 : 45) was the directive furnished by the Qur'cin itself. But

the directive, except in the early days of I s h , never was seriously
followed in the course of history. The tragedy of the Qur'cFn is
that no sooner had the first generation of believers passed away,
even before the first century of the HijrE was over, the influence
of Greek thought closed round the Rluslim mind. The simplicity of
the original approach to the Qur'cFn in consequence gave way to
dialectical disquisition, so much so, that the commentaries of the
Qur'Zm which now came to be written by Muslim scholars invested
the Qur'gnic word, as Rlawlana Azad explains at length in his
preface to the first edition of The Tarjumin al-Qur'z~,with a
meaning which it was not meant to bear.
The Qur'cin, be it remembered, was not a planned production.
It was delivered piece-meal during the course of some twenty-three
years of the Prophet's mission. Those who first responded to ita
call and successfully implemented its directions were the persona
whose interpretation of the Qur'gnic word should naturally have
been regarded as standard interpretation. But the commentators
of the Qur'cn who came after them side-tracked their interpretation,
and began to read new meanings into it. The tendency came to be
ever on the increase as new races came to embrace Islam bringing
with them the memories of their former faiths. The result was the
rise of a bewildering variety of views concerning the teaching of
the Qur'Gn. The plain meaning of the plain word gradually went
out of fashion, and the allegorical or figurative element in the
Qur'Em came to bear either a literal sense or a sense alien to the
very spirit of the Qur'iinic ideology. "The impact," as I have
observed elsewhere, "was partly pagan in character reflected in the
anthropomorphic touches imparted to the concept of Divinity and
its attributes, and partly mystic in significance as inspired essen-
tially by Neo-Platonism and manifested chiefly in the 'AjamZ or
non-Arab attempt to read esoteric meaning into what was basically
exoteric or mundane in the Qur'5n7'.*
To make matters worse, with the close of the 4th century of
the HerZ, the intellectual movement stimulated so far by foreign
influences, received a set-back. The pendulum swung to the other
* The Mind 81-Qur'an Buikh, The Academy of IslemiaStudiee, Hyderabwl,
India
 P R E F A C E TO . T H E T R A N S L A T I O N XV

end. A reaction set in, and limits were fked for everything in every
sphere of life and thought. This is not the place to go into the
hitory of this developlnent or of the forces which brought about
it. Suffice it to say that from this time onward, a period began of
what is called Taqlzd or of referring everything to the limits thus
set. Commentaries of the Qur'iin no doubt were produced from time
to time under the new order. But they were mostly imitative in
character. The imitation, as Mawlana Azad observes in his preface
referred to above, was very often in favour of the abstruse, fantastic,
and out of the ordinaly. Pew cared to explain the simplicity of
the Qur'iin and its directness. Religion, if it was to bear that name,
was expected to be something mysterious. That was the conception
which came into vogue, a conception which among the orthodox
persists even till this day. The commentaries of Baidawi and
JalklBin and others of this category still hold the field. It is this
heritage of confusion, the legacy of the past, that Mawlana Abul
Kalam Azad tried to counter in his writings, particularly in his
commentary of the SGrat-ul-Fcftihfi which was intended to serve as
an introduction to the study of the Qur'iin.
Mawlana Azad occupies an established place in the field of
Islamic learning. Although his life was set against a political back-
ground, it was as a scholar that he always attracted the primary
attention of learned circles both a t home and abroad. His exposition
of the Qur'hic thought has taken diverse f o m , mostly of articles
contributed to tbe two weekly journals in Urdu which he himself
edited, viz., Al-HiEl and Al-BaEgh. Of his major works, The
Tarjunzcin al-Qur'iin is regarded on a 1 hands as his main contribu-
tion to Islamic learning - a monumental work planned to be issued
in three volumes. Two of these were published in his lifetime. The
third could not be published.* His original plan was to prepare side
* I reproduce here a passage from an article of mine entitled, "An UnSniehed
Masterpiece" contributed to Yawlam Abul Kalum -A M e m i a l Volume
edited by Prof. Humayun Kabir, Minister, Scientific h e a r c h and Cultural
Affaire, Government of India.
"The two (volumes of The. TarjumcZn d-Qur'an) were revised in the
Ahmednagar Fort Jail and republished in 1946. But the third and the last
volume in the eeriea could not be issued in the lifetime of the Mawlana. Not
that the matter for thin volume had not been written. It had been, as etated
in the paseage just quoted above. Evidently, the official pre-occupations of
xvi P R E F A C E TO THE TRANSLATION

by side two companion volumes to thia great work of his, one

entitled Tafsir-al-BayZn affording a detailed commentary of the
Qur'tin, the other entitled Mupaddim, to serve as prolegomena to
The TarjumTn al-Qur'tin. The circumstances of his life did not allow
him the time that he needed to execute the two projects. But he
did one thing to f a 1 his purpose, though on a restricted scale.
While issuing the second edition of the two volumes of his Tarjumiin.
al-Qur'Cn from the Ahmednagar Fort Jail, he introduced new
elements in his commentary of the opening chapter of the Qur'iin,
the Stir~-ul-Fcitih2i,and added fresh notes under the other chapters
of the Qur'iin covered by the two volumes of The Tarjum-n al-
Qur'iin. ~ h e s iadditional notes embody some of the main idea8
which he had intended to expatiate on in his Tafsir-ul-Bayiin,
whereas the revised commentary of the Sdrat-ul-FZtiM serves the
purpose of his unexecuted Mecqaddima or prolegomena to T h
Tarjumiin al-Qur'Zn. It is this commentary which in its Englieh
translation forms the subject of presentation in thia volume.
The Sdrat-J-Fcitihii is styled Fcitihatul-Kim or the Opening of
the Book. It is also called 'Urmn-ul-Qur'En (Core of the Qur'h),
Al-KZfiiz (The Sufficient), Al-Kanz (Treasure House), and Astisul-

Mawlana aa Education Minieter of India did not. allow him the time to read
his manuscript over again and prepare it for the press. Some months ago,
his private secretary. Prof. M. Ajmal Khan, who had nearly despaired of ite
publication, asked me whether I would put in a word to Mawlana to see if
the manuscript could be obtained for publication. Accordingly, one day, I
raiaed the subject &fore him in the presence of the secretary, and suggested
to him that if he had no time to look into the details of publication himself,
the work might. be handed to me, so that I might prepare it for the preaa in
collaboration with his secretary, and seek hie guidance o r any matter con-
nected with the work only when absolutely neceeaary. Mawlana agreed to
the propoeition. But two days after, he said to me : 'I have searched for the
manuscript. It is not to be found here (4, King Edward Road, New Delhi).
My fear ie that it might be lying in one of my trunks brought from the
Ahmednagar Fort Jail. The trunks are in Calcutta.' The sad event of 22
February, 1958 has decreed that any further eearch for his manuscript is
oot to be made by Mawlana himself. The task is now to be discharged by
others. It is for the learned bodies, like the Sahitya Academy, who have
expressed their wish to publish Mawlana'e works in proper form, to seek
out this manuscript on the strength of the clue afforded here. If that were
obtained and published, it. would mark the completion of Mawlana's hboura
in the field of Qur'6nic learning. "
 PREFACE TO THE TRANSLATION xvii
Qur'hn (Basis of the Qur'hn) one and all empbasising its all-
embracing or inclusive character. As the Mawlana observes, this
chapter of but seven brief verses concentrates within its ambit the
thought-content of the entire Qur'hn. Should a person read nothing
but this from out of the Qur'lin, says he, and catch its meaning,
he would have understood all the essentials of the Faith which form
the subject of detailed consideration by the Qur'hn. Further, whe~l
it is borne in mind that the form given to this chapter is one of
invocation and that it is to be an integral part of a Muslim's daily
prayer, the fact is reinforced that a deep purpose underlies this
provision of a concentrated version of the Qur'lin clenched to the
full form of it. The purpose clearly is to make available to erery
one an easily intelligible but epitomized version of the Qur'Qn such
as might freely be recited in his daily prayers, and bring to mind
the spiritual ideology which should actuate his every day thought
and activity.
.The ideology of the Qur'dn, which instills the spirit of humanism
into man and protects him from every form of exclusivism is summed
up in its directive, "Believe and act righteously": That indeed
was the message of all prophets in all ages, and the way of salvation.
Belief in God and work in consonance with that belief const,itute
the central theme of the Qur'Qn. It be&g so, it was appropriate
that the Stirat-ul-PhtihZ started with an exposition of the view it
held of God. This was necessary, because it was in respect of the
concept of God that men had differed in the past. So it behoved
the .Qur'hn to make clear what exactly was its position in this
behalf. In the very first verse of it, the Stirat-ul-Flitihh asserts that
the God of the Qur75nic vision is not the God of any particular
race or group of people, but that He is God of all mankind and
of all forms of creation, the visible and the invisible, and one who
provides sustenance appropriate to each object and regulates with .
every tenderness its growth and development. The principle under-
lying this arrangement, Mawlana Azad styles as Rubfilriyat or the
attribute of providence implicit in Divinity. This Rubfibiyat is not
merely a mechanical process, says he. On the other hand, it is a
process inspired and directed by the beneficent touch of Rahmat
or divine benevolence which provides qualities of self-direction to
every object and offers to man, a being g&ed with reaeon and the
 xviii PREFACE TO THE TRAXSLATION

sense of discrimination, a further form of guidance styled ~r~.r~cltr/ion

wllicli discloses to him the purposes underlying his cxixtscnc!tr rrrid
the goal towards which he should move of his own frec volil.ion.
The entire system is condnet,ed on cert,ain definite lints st.ylcrcl
8u.nlmt Alliilr or the ways of God, working for harmony tl~c!rc:irr,
I
each line forming a law of life and reflecting one or other or 1.11~
divine attributes which operate in unison under the binding force
of divine graciousness or Ra!mt. And it is this unifying qualit,y,
one has to imitate or exercise in the display of his talents if he has
t o fulfii his object in life. That is the way to implement the direct.ive,
"Believe and act righteously" -the straight road to peaoe, both
inward and outward or the Sirit-al-~lwtaqi~r~,3as the Scrat-ul-
Ftitilfi designates it.
The Surat-ul-PWiii indicates further that death is not the end
of life and that it opens out a new life wLere one has to account
for what he has wrought before and which will determine his
subsequent forward course in existencc. The suggestion is that man
should bear in mind that a law of requital or returns is a t
work in every sphere of life, and that he has but to keep it in view,
if he has t.o avoid the pit-falls of life and live a t peace with his own
self and a t peace with his world of external relations.
The Siirat-ul-FEtih6 read in its entirety lays its supreme emphasis
on the unity of God. That is the belief it aims to inspire in man.
In the field of action, it intends that this belief should express itself
in the unity of man and therefore calls upon him, in his role as
'vicegerent of God on Earth', t o mould mankind into but a single
fami1y;'the family of God', as the Prophet styles it, or to transform
them into a fold - to express again in the 1a.nguage of the Prophet
-- 'a fold every member of which shall be a shepherd unto every
other and be accountable for its welfare'. This in brief outline is the
I iclcology of the Qur'dn. which Mawlana Azad discourses upon in his
1 len,med commentary of the S~rat-ul-E'titihti.
I t is a matter for regret that the entire body of Mawlana's
Qur'itnic studies has so far rema.ined out of the reach of t,heeducated
classes not conversant with the Urdu language. Had a simultaneous
attempt been made from the beginning, even from the days of the
first appearance of his Al-Hikil, t o transmit the result of his labour
in the field of Qur'hic interpretation a t least into English, t,he
 PREFACE T O THE TRANSLATION X ~ X

language generally known to the higher i~ltelligeritsia in most,

countries, I dare say, that not only the intellectual re-awakening
which is markedly noticeable among the followers of the Faith
everywhere might have taken an earlier start, but have gone a
lo11g way in promoting a better understanding of Islam anlong the
followers of other faiths.
Still, a beginning niay yet be rnade in that direction, and it ie
with that purpose in view that Mawlana h a d ' s Commentary of
the #$at-ul-Fiilihii, which in fact is an exposition of the Qllr'iinic
ideology, has been rendered into English for the benefit of the
English knowing public, and set forth in the following pages.
When, a t the instance of Mawlana h a d , the idea of transferring
the contents of the Commentary of the Stirat-ul-PZtih.5 into English
was first suggested to me in 1956 by Dr. Syed Mahmud, then
Minister in the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India,
and subsequently discussed with me by Mawlana himself, I felt
I was beii~gcalled upon to undertake a task which was by no
means easy to discharge. Still, taking the offer as a call for duty, I
yielded, and set about my work, in the course of which I had
numerous occasions of consultation with I'Inwlana. When the
rendering was made ready for the press, a wish was expressed by
him that a resume of it might first be issue6 by way of an introduc-
tion to it. Even this was prepared and given the title of The Basic
Concepts of the Qur'dn". The resume went to the press a few weeks
before he passed away, and came out of it, a couple of montbs
after the sad event, to be included in the series of the Academy of
Islamic Studies, Hyderabad. The original text of the translatiorl is
now issued in this vohime.
A word of caution may, however, be given in advance to the
prospective reader. The matter of the Commentary, by its very
nature, could not have been set in the form of an essay that one
-might seek therein continuity of thought or uniformity of style.
The treatment is necessarily verse by verse calling for piece-meal
explanation of lexicographical points, allusions and cross references
on the one hand, and for elucidation of issues arising out of the
subject under treatment on the other. Still, one may easily detect
in Mawlana's presentation of his subject a continuity of interest
which lends unity to the entire volume. The drive is to build up
 XX PREFACE TO THE TRANSLATION

piece-meal, verse by verse, the ideology of the Qur'Zn such n~ the

Qur'Zn itself furnishes in a concentrated form in its opening cllnpter
of the S~mt-ul-FZtih2.
Mawlana Azad's style, which is a blending of the ornate into
the grand, has a charm of its own for the Urdu reader. I t is dis-
tinguished by the learned poise with which he invests his verbal
I artistry, and it is by no means easy to reproduce the effect of
I the original in any rendering into English, the struct,ural genius
of which is not exactly the same as that of the Urdu Iangcage.
1 Still, an attempt has been made to transplant into English the
manner of his presentation to the extent possible for me.
I
In so doing, I have taken a little liberty with the original and
this with the full concurrence of the author. I have here and there
condensed a few passages which were in the form of mere verbal
elaboration, and also dropped in my English rendering the numeroue
verses from the Persian poetry which the author had quoted in the
original. The verses which are mostly in the form of couplets do
contribute to the charm of his style in Urdu but in their reproduc-
tion in the English language, they look like intrusions, and disturb
continuity of interest. Indeed, RIawlana Azad's presentation of his
theme in his own Urdu prose is so clear and attractive that it
hardly needs any extraneous poetic embellishments to prove
effective. These verses have, therefore, with the exception of one
I or two, been discarded from the present volume.
As for the rest, the English version may be regarded as a literal
I
reproduction of the thought-content of the original, paragraph by
I paragraph, and sentence by sentence, preserving in the process, as
I
I far as possible, the flavour of Mawlana h a d ' s style and the manner
of his presentation. In the rendering of the Qur'anic passages
quoted in the body of the Commentary, care has been taken to
adhere to the interpretation which he has given to particular terms
therein, although these terms have been differently interpreted by
other commentators of ths Qur'Zn. Further, nowhere has any
opinion which I may hold on any aspect of the subject treated in
this volume been allowed to qualify Mawlana's own views thereon.
Indeed, the matter of the volume js passing to the press in the
exact form in which it came out of his hands after his careful
perusal. The task was undertaken and discharged in the spirit of
 PREFACE TO THE TRABST~ATION xxi
service to the noble cause which this great work of Mawlana aims
to uphold. May his illuminating exposition of the universal purposes
of the Qur'cn find a home in the minds of the thoughtful, both
among its followers and those who profess other faiths, and thereby
contribute to the forces working for intercultural amity and peace
among mankind !
In conclusion, I take this occasion to express my sense of gratitude
to Dr. Syed Mahmud for having suggested to me the idea of render-
ing Mawlana's work into English and for the sustained kindly
interest evinced by him as well as by Prof. Humayun Kabir in
the execution of the task undertaken. My thanks are also due to
an old pupil and friend of mine who, alas, has now passed away
- Dr. Muhammad Rahatullah Khan, M.A., ~ . ~ l h i l(Leipzig),
. for
long Curator, State Central Library, Hyderabad - for his willing
co-operation in checking carefully the references to the various
oriental works given in the text of the original, and to all other
friends who have assisted me in one form or another, in preparing
this work for the press.

Hyderabad, India SYEDABDULLATIF

12 April, 1960
ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF PREFACES TO
FIRST AND SECOND EDITIONS
 P R E F A C E TO T H E F I R S T E D I T I O N O F
THE T A R J U M A N A L - Q U R ' A N
1930

INthe year 1916 when the announcement was made in the columrie
of my weekly journal, Al-Bal@h, that I proposed to prepare and
publish an explanatory Urdu-translation of the Qur'Efi, styled
Tarjum-n al-Qur'Zn, and a commentary of it called Tafsir-al-
Bay&, I did not have even the slightest misgiving that I Was
undertaking a task which would lie in abeyance for nearly 15 yeam,
keeping the public in a state of tiresome expectation and giving
me an acute sense of painful frustration. Such was the course of
events that I had to bear !

EXTERNMENT

Hardly had a few months passed since this announcement,

when on the 3rd of March 1916, the Government of Bengal chose
to issue, under the Defence of India Ordinance, an order for my
immediate externment from Bengal. The order came in so suddenly
that I had hardly time to make the necessary arrangement for
the continuation of Al-BaliFgh or for the publication of the pro-
jected volumes of TarjumZnnal-Qur'dn and Tafsir-al-Bayiin.
Since already, under this very Defence of India Ordinance, my
entry into the provinces of Delhi, the Punjab, United Provinces,
and Madras had been banned, the only two provinces where I
could betake myself were the provinces of Bihar and Bombay, and
I chose Ranchi in Bihar for my place of refuge. The idea was that,
as this place was a t a convenient distance from Calcutta, I could
still pursue my literary activities from there. \

When the project was originally conceived in 1915, I had three

objectives before me. One was to prepare a translation of the
Qur'iin, the second was to write a Commentary thereon, and the
third was to contribute a prolegomena to the Commentary. The
three works, as I thought, were to meet the needs of three die-
tinct sets of people interested in the Qur'Cn - the Translation, the
XXV~ PREFACE TO THE FIRST E U i T I O N

needs of the average reader ; the Commentary, of those who cared

to make a detailed study of the Qur'zn ; and the Prolegomena, the
needs of the advanced scholar.
By the time the announcement was made through Al-Bafigh
of my proposed publications, five parts of the Qur'in had alreadJT
been translated, and the Commentary had covered the matter of
the Qur'Cn up to the Al-'Imriin, or Chapter 3 of the Qur'zn, and
the Prolegomena had been set in the form of notes. With a view
to executing the plan speedily, I had arranged that printing should
proceed side by side with the preparation of matter for the press.
The hope entertained was that the translation would not only be
completed but even published by the end of a year, as also a t least
the first volume of the Commentary. The days of the week were
distributed thus - three for editing the journal, Al-Ba@h ; two
for translating the Qur'in ; and two for writing the Commentary.
When I left Calcutta on the 3rd of March 1916, six formes of the
Commentary had already been printed and the work of litho-
copying of the translation had begun. My endeavour was to see
that my printing press should reopen and attend to the printing
of at least the Commentary and the translation of the Qur'dlz.
In fact, in the month of June 1916, the necessary arrangement
was made to reopen the printing press a t Calcutta, and I set
myself to preparing my matter for the press.

INTERNMENT

But on the 8th of July 1916, the Government of India suddenly

issued an order, this time, of my internment, and thus cut off
every hope of my maintaining contact with the outside world.
There now remained for me only one field of activity and that
of literary pursuit. The 19 clauses of the Internment Regulation
could not touch me in that field. I therefore thought that I should
rest content with that. Indeed, although every form of liberty
had been snatched from me, I knew that here was a form of liberty
which no one could take away from me -the liberty of reading
and writing and conserving the resuit of my thought ; and I
veritably felt that of all the comforts that life could offer, none
had, in fact, been denied to me, and that I could even live my
 PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION xxvii
full life in such a situation. But not three months had passed in
this state, when I was called upon again to face a further ordeal.

SEIZURE OF MANUSCRIPTS

When the order of internment was served on me, my residence

was searched, and whatever papers that I had with me were
seized. These papers included the manuscripts of my translation
and Commentary. The manuscripts of the two works probably
seemed innocuous. They were returned to me after a couple of
weeks. But the Government of India thought that this was a hasty
step on the part of the local Government. At the time, the Intelli-
gence Department of the Government of India was under the charge
of Sir Charles Cleveland. This gentleman took an inordinate personal
interest in this affair. He first went to Calcutta and there took
two weelns to conduct his investigations, and then he came down
to Ranchi and made a fresh search of my residence, and carried
away with him not only the manuscripts of the translation and
the Conllnentary which had been returned by the local Government,
but the mannscripts also of every other of my writings and indeed
every scrap of printed matter that lay about me.
When this incident took place, the translation of 8 parts of the
Qur'En had been finished, and the Commentary had covered the
text of the Qzrr'dn, up to Al-NisE, or Chapter 4 of the Qur'cn. Not a
scrap of my writing was left with me. Undeterred by this event, I
went on as before and took up the subsequent portion of the Qur'iin
for t,ranslation and finished it by the end of 1918. This, together
with the translation of the first 8 parts which were then with the
Government of India completed the translation of the entire Qur'iin.
I then opened correspondence with the Government of India
for the return of my manuscripts. The reply was that neither
could they be returned forthwith, nor were the Government in
a position to say when they would be returned. Since apparently
there was no early hope of their return to me - and one could not
say what might happen next - I thought it better to re-translate
the first eight parts which liad been seized by the Government of
India. I t was by no means an easy task to write over again what
had already been written and lost ; it was an ordeal. Still, I faced
xxviii PR.EFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION

it and finished the work. Indeed, I sent for an Urdu type-writer

and had more than half of the matter typed by the 27th of December
1919 when the Government chose to set me free.
The obstacles in the way of printing and publishing my writings
no doubt were now no longer there. But the country a t that hour
was preparing itself for a huge political movement of non-
cooperation, so much so, that the demand was pressed from all
sides for the resuscitation of my old weekly, Al-HiEl. The demand
was imperative and I had to yield. Not merely this, I had to throw
myself zealously into the activities of the new movement.
Notwithstanding my pre-occupations in politics, a further
demand was made on my time, by calling upon me to publish The
Tarjum-n al-Qur'6n also. Since its printing in type was not con-
sidered suitable, arrangement was made for its printing in litho-
graph. The Arabic text was first copied for the press and thie
was completed in November 1921. The copying of the translation
on the lithograph paper was taken up. But hardly had this work
begun when the decree of Time was pronounced once again against
my plan.
At the close of 1921, the activities connected with the non-
cooperation movement had reached their climax making it in-
evitable for Government to employ all its resources to thwart
them. The Government of Bengal was the first to take action.
On the 20th of November 1920, it banned all the organizations
which, in one form or another, had something to do with the
movement. This opened the way eventually to the declaration of
the Indian National Congress as an unlawful body, and on the
10th of December 1921, along with my colleagues, I was arrested.
This time my arrest should not have disturbed the work of
printing. The manuscript was in a completed form, and I had made
every arrangement to carry on the printing of it in my absence.
But the event which followed my arrest was distressing. It not
only blocked the publication of The Tarjum.6.n al-Qur'En and the
Commentary, but cooled down all my enthusiasm for literary work.
When the Government realized that it had no data to proceed
against me in a court of law, it began to search for possible adverse
material. For the third time, my residence and my press were
searched. Among those who came to carry out the search, there
 PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION xxix
was hardly one who could understand Urdu or Arabic or Persian.
Whatever they could lay their hands upon - things written in
those languages - they thought, should contain something of
value to them. They carried away therefore with them all the
manuscripts that I had with me. Even the litho-formes were seized
and rudely shoved into the heap of manuscripts which they had
collected. When 15 months after, I was set free, I applied to the
Government for the restoration of my papers. It took a long tifile:
to return them. The material reached my hands 111 a ruined state.
The manuscript papers which the investigation officers had
taken possession of were of different sizes and had been put together
in separate bundles. Apart from certain complete and incomplete
manuscripts, the collection had consisted of a variety of written
matter. But when the material was returned to me, it presented
the spectacle of a jumbled mass of mere rags.
The trial was agonizing ; and yet, I tried to rise equal to the
occasion. This was the bitterest cup ever held up to my lips. I
drank its contents without the slightest demur. But I cannot deny
that its bitterness, I still feel in my throat.
The uproar of political activity and the calmness of literary life
could not proceed together. Conciliation between fire and flake of
cotton is never possible. I wished to bring the two together. On
the one hand, I went on piling up the efforts of my thought, and
on the other, invoked incessantly the scorching lightning to touch
them. I knew the result. I have therefore no right to complain.
If The T a r j u d n al-Qur'Gn, and the Commentary were ever to make
their appearance before.the public, it was clear that I should start
writing them over again. After all that had happened, my spirita
were so depressed that, however much I could try, they refused
to revive. I felt 'the wound inflicted by the latest blow too deep
to heal in a moment.
What irritated me repeatedly was the depressing thought that
a thing which had already been written should be written over
again. For an author, this is the most arduous of ordeals. One
may easily produce new matter altogether. But it is distressing to
re-write even a single page of what had already been written and
lost for ever. To revive enthusiasm for intellectual effort once it is
smothered by the ruination of one's achievements is by no meam
XXX P R E F A C E T O THE F I R S T E1)ITIOX

easy. Only those can appraise the agony \vho tl~en~sel\.esllave

passed through it. When I first read the story of Carlyle, how
he sat np to writ,e over a.gain the ent.irc work of his wl~ichhad
been lost (Itring the French Revolution, and how t l ~ eintellactual
world of the time appla.uded his e,ffort as something extraortlinary,
I failed t,o see how it was extraordinary. But when I myself had
to go through the same mill, I realized that his effort was not
only c~t~niordinary, but sometliing amazing. KO greater proof could
be :~.tlrlucedto est,:tblisti the greatness of Carlyle as a. man of letters.
For several yeilrs, I could not bring myself to recommence.
Several times, I did open the l.)undles which containeil the remains
of my ruitis ; but the moment my eyes rested on them, old memories
rcvived :~ndI, had to lay aside the task hardly before I had sketched
but a coople of pages.
But T could not turn away altogether from the task which
collcer~~ecl the deepest need of the Muslim mind. The deiny in the
discl~argcof this duty grew therefore increasingly embarrassing t o
me. For, t,lre feeling was creeping on me that if this :leer1 wns
left unattended to by me, one never knew after what lapse of
time what srr:l.llge~nentwas possible to fulfil it.
The year 1927 mas coining to its close. Snddenly there was a
rumbling in rny long benumbed spirit,, and the door to literary
activity lvl~ich,notwitlistsnding repeated shocks in the past, had
refused to open, seemed now suddenly to burst open of its on7n
accord. T l ~ ework was commenced. For x little while I felt inter-
mittent jerks in my movement. But as I a.tt,uned myself to the
new situa.t,ion, my path grew smooth, and a feeling came upon
me that the. past mishaps of life never had any existence for me.
Not niercly this, I myself noticed that my pace of writing was
never so rapid as now.
The conqiiest of mind and heart is a wonderful experience.
There n-as a time when hard as one might try, every inolina t']on
to write was repressed. But now I felt 1 was so seized with the
urge t o write that I realized that I could not control the niove-
ment of my pen. The thing went on. Feeling that the Co~nnleritary
of t l ~ cSzirnt-ul-FCF-tillii was of primary importa.nce to the i n t e ~ .
pretatioii of the Qur'Cn I gave it my prior attention. Circlimstances
of life were no doubt depressing. The distempers of a political
 PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION xxxi
ca.reer were always there t o disturb the tenor of my work. Never-
theless, I persisted on. and on the 20th July 193b, when I was .
in the District Jail of Rieerut, I finished my nrork.

Lilies of Apyroach to the Subject

While taking up this work, The Tu.rju:n@i)z 01-Qwr'En, for study

one may be disposed t.o know the lines which 1 have adopted
in tohe presentation therein of the contents and objective of the
Qur'Zlz. Indeed, anticipating such a wish on the part of my reiders,
I had contemplated t,o state the lines followed in a Frief preface
t o the volume. But when I set out to deal with the sabject,, I
soon realized that it was not possible to do justice t o it wit.liin
the brief compass of a preface. The issues involved were so many
and so complicate that a satisfactory discussiori of then1 ~ o u l d
have necessitated a detailed survey of a very wide and intricate
bficltground. The idea was therefore given up. Irist,?;~d, I have
attempted here to draw just a passing attentZionto ttie difficulties
or obsta.cles which usually clog the wa.y of a satisfactory study
of the Qur'En so that the reader may incirlentally obtain a rough
idea of a t least the purposes underlying the attempt made here
to present t,he Qur'En to the worlcl of today.
As for the exposition of the principles follo~vedin t,he presentation
of the Commentary, one will have to await the publicat,ion of my
prolegomena t o the Commentary in the re-writing of which I am
a t present engaged.
For various reasons into which one may not go here, the exact
message of the Qur'En has for centuries been steadily kept out
of view; so much so, that a very low standard of approach to
it has come into vogue. This is noticeable not merely in the approach
to the Qur'lnic'content but to almost everything connected with
it - its language and idiom, it,s phrase structure, and its style.
I n every age, the author of a work is normally the product of
his intellect.~ialenvironment. It is only those who are gifted with
vision and insight who form the exception. When we look back
into the history of the commentators of the Qur'zn from the earliest
centuries of Islam right up to the close of the last century, we
find that the standard of approach to the meaning of the &plr'Gn
 xxxii P R E F A C E TO THE FIRST E D I T I O N

had steadily deteriorated. This was the result of a gradual decadence

in the quality of the Muslim mind itself. When the commentators
found that they could not rise to the heights of the Qur'hic
thought, they strove to bring it down to the level of their own mind.
If we are to see the Qur'Bn in its true light, it will be necessary
for us to lift all those veils which have, from age to age, been
laid thereon under the stress of influences alien to the apirit of
the Qur'Zn, and then search for the reality about it in its own
pages.

Obstacles in the Way of R@ht A p p r d w n

These influences are by no means few. They are numerous, and
have pervaded every corner of Islamic thought. I t is not, therefore,
easy to set them out on a brief canvas. I have, however, tried
in my prolegomena to the Commentary of the Qur'Bfi to sum
them up under certain broad heads. The following are the leading
aspects which call for consideration :
1. The Qur'tin is not bound by any conventionality in its form
of presentation or style or in its manner of address or argument,
but follows a way of expression such as is germane to the character
of its content or is natural to it. It is this distinctive peculiarity
observed by all scriptures which distinguishes them from the
conventional forms of literary expression employed in learned
discussions.
The first generation of people among whom the Qur'Bn wwae
delivered were not a sophisticated race. Their mind was not c a t
.in any artificial or conventional mould furnished by civilization. It
was content to receive a simple thought in its plain simplicity. That
was why the Qur'iinic thought, simple as it was, sank easily into
their hearts. No one a t the time felt it difEcult to catch its meaning.
The moment the companions of the Prophet heard a verse recited
to them, they forthwith caught its significance.
But hardly had the first generation of Muslims passed away
when the influence of the Roman and Iranian civilizations began
to sweep over the new Arab empire. Translations from the Greek
literature gave them new literary tastes and initiated them into
the art of dialectics. Zest for novelty and inventiveness in approach
 PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION xxxiii
to everything came to be ever on the increase, with the resulb
that the simplicity of the Qur'iinic manner gradually lost its charm
for them. Slowly, step by step, a stage was reache'd when every-
tliing Qur'iinic was attempted to be given an artificial mould.
Since the Qur'kic thought could not fit into any such mould,
serious complications in .thought arose, with every attempt 'at
resolving them ending in more intricate complications.
Whenever distance is assumed from naturalness, and artificiality
resorted to, we are disinclined to look a t things in their natural
simplicity. We cannot visualize beauty or grandeur in its simplicity.
Whenever we choose to endow a thing with splendour, we invariably
try to fix it in a network of ornamentation. This is what exactly
happened with the Qur'iin. The dispositions of the first generation
of Muslims were not cast in any conventional or artificial moulds.
That was why they instantly caught the meaning of the Qur'ci*.
But the generations which followed would not let the Qur'Efi present
itself in its simplicity. Their love for inventiveness or novelty
would not allow this. They began to dress everything in the
Qur'iin in novel costumes ; and since the Qur'iin could not fit into
such costumes, the effort to force on it things which did not suit
it repressed its genius and forced its meaning to assume forms by
no means natural to it.
The first period of the Qur'iinic interpretation was that which
preceded the codification of Islamic learning. The second
began with this codification and has continued, in its different
phases, through the succeeding centuries. The second period had
hardly opened when the urge to cloak the Qur'cin in new garbs
took its rise reaching its climax during the heyday of philosophic
speculation among Muslims. That was the time when Imam
Fakhruddin Razi wrote his Commentary to invest the Qur'Bnic
word with an absolutely novel import. Had Imam Razi chosen to
represent what exactly the Qur'lilz stood for, a t least two-thirds of
what he wrote would have been left unwritten.
Be that as it may, one thing stands out clearly, and it is that
to the extent the Qur'iin is freed from the unnatural moulds into
which it is pressed, to that extent will it disclose its own reality.
The difficulties which we feel today in appreciating the manner of
presentation observed by the Qur'r'6n, or the arrangement of ita
 XXX~V P R E F A C E T O T H E F I R S T EDITION

parts and verses, or the phraseology employed therein nrc! all due
to the inclination inherited from our mediaeval past not to appreciate
a simple thing for its simplicity. The Qur'iin is so sirn6le to under-
stand and yet we do not feel happy until we evaluate its worth ,
by fanciful standards of our o m making, standards so ditct.zstefu1
to the purposes of the Qurrbn. That is the picture which today
confronts us a t every turn.
2. Whenever we care to know what meaning a particular piece
of writring be:trs, me naturally prefer to accept the meaning given
t.o it by those who have had the opportnnity of :~scertainingit from
one who originally published it. The Qur'hn, be it remembered,
was delivered piece-meal during the course of 23 years. Whatever
portion of it was delivered was wraptly listened to by the com-
panions of the Prophet and was repeatedly recited in their prayers ;
and whatever clarification they needed of anything tlierein, they
obtained i t directly -from the Prophet himself. (if these com-
panions, some were distinguished for the firm zrssp they had
of the Qur'iinic meaning, and this is enilorsed by the Prophet
himself. It should have hcen in the fitness of tLi11gs Lo have given
preference to their interpretation over the interpretation of t,hose
who came after them and who had not the advantage of close
association with the Prophet. It is a matter for regret t.hat
those who came after the first generat:ion, chiefly inspired by
external influences, hegnr~to invent for themselves new and newer
forms of approach to the Qur'69~ xrld caused the original inter-
pretation of i t to fall into disuse. The idea came to he entertained
. t.hat 'the earlier generation was strong in faith ; but the latar
generation was strong in knowledge', although the earlier genera-
tion were reputed to be sound both in heart and mind, in faith,
as well as, in knowledge. All the same, the real meaning of the
Qur'iiia was gradually relegated to t.he limbo of oblivion, a l ~ dits
~implemessage cams l o ri~ise,in almost every sphere of life, issues
too difficult to solve.
To make niatters wcrse, all urlwarranted attitude was assumed
which hardened as timc went. T11;sled to complications which in
their turn necessitated t,he er,~ploynlentin their sllpport of a
variety of methods of argument. And then came into vogue the
habit of textual criticism, the writing of foot-notes, and indices.
 PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION XXXV

This again gave rise to further complications in the approach to

the meaning of the Qur'cin. In certain cases, i t laid on layers above
layers of veils over it, one thicker than the other.
To understand the situation, take any passage of the Qztr'8n
for illustration. First, look into the interpretation of it which the
companions of the Prophet and the first generation of Muslime
gave to it. Then turn to the commentaries of those who came after,
and compare the two. The earliest commentaries present the
Qur'inic meaning in its natural simplicity, whereas the later
commentaries give to it a strange visage by making it the subject
of subtle disquisitions.
3. From the very beginning, stories and anecdotes from the lore
of new converts to Islam steadily received currency in kluslim
circles. A great body of them were of Jewish origin, and exerted
a powerful influence on the Muslim mind. The early com~nentators
avoided to make use of them. Rut the anecdotes nevcrtbeless
succeeded in forcing themselves into the very texture of the
commentaries of the Qur'ii~written after them.
4. The traditions of the Prophet were usually employed to
clarify the meaning of the Qur'Gn. But the tendency alnorlg the
later commentators grew apace t,o refer not so much to the tradi-
tions known to t,he companions of the Prophet, but to those ccjll.?cted
indifferently in later times. This created furthcr difiicbltica in the.
understanding of the Qur'L~icword.
5. The sad .result' of all this was that the manner of pre~ent~atlon
adopted by the Qwr'iin was lost in a maze of far-fetched conceita.
The strength of the Qur'gnic meaning lies in the manner of ita
presentation. It is that which lends clarity to itEl s~atementsand
observations, and makes significant the import of its stories and
parables, its appeals and admonitions, and its purposefi. Once the
significance of this manner was missed, the true picture of the
Qur'Zn was lost to sight. In the words of a poet :

"That very page was blackened

Whereon had been noted what was desired."

The manner of argument observed by the Prophets was not to

assume logical poses and confuse the hearer. They adopted the
XXX~V PREFACE T O THE FIRST EDITION

parts and verses, or the phraseology employed therein arc! all due
to the inclination inherited from our mediaeval past not to appreciate
a simple thing for its simplicity. The Qur'En, is so sim$e to under-
stand and yet we do not feel happy until we evaluate its worth ,
by fanciful standards of our own making, standards so distasteful
to the purposes of the QurlEn,. That is the pict1.1re which today
confronts us a t every turn.
2. Whenever we care to know what meaning a particular piece
of writ,ing be:trs, me naturally prefer to accept the meaning given
t,o it by those who have had the opportunity of ascertaining it from
one who origi:lally published it. The Qur'dn, he it remembered,
was delivered piece-meal during the course of 23 years. Whatever
portion of it was delivered was wraptly listened to by the com-
panions of the Prophet and was repeatedly recited in their prayers ;
and whatever clarification they needed of anything t!lerein, they
obtained i t directly -from the Prophet himself. Of these com-
panions, some were distinguished for the firnl gmsp they had
of the Qur'anie meaning, and t,!iis is endorsed by the Prophet
himself. It should have h e n in the fitness of thi~igsto have given
preference to their interpretation over the interpretation of t,hose
who came after them and who had not the advantage of close
association with the Prophet. It is a matter for regrt:i; that
those who came after t l ~ cfirst generation, chiefly inspired by
external influences, hesi.r~to invent for t,hemselves new and newer
forms of approach to the Qur'iit~ and caused the original inter-
pretation of i t to fall into disuse. The idea came to be entertained
t.hat 'the earlier generation was strong in faith ; but t,he later
generation was strong in knowledge', although the earlier genera-
tion were reputed to be sound both in heart and mind, in fa.ith,
as wc!l as, in knowledze. All the same, the real meaning of the
Qur'Zn was gradually relegated to t.he limbo of oblivion, and its
sim111e message cam? o rilise, in almost every sphere of life, issues
too difficult to solve.
To make matters wcrae, all urlwa.rranted attitude was assumed
which hardened as tiiric went. Tliis led t o complicat,ions which in
their turn necessitatcd tile erq~loyment in their support of a
variety of methods of argument. And then came into vogue the
habit of textual criticism, the writing of foot,-notes, and indices.
XXXV~ PREFACE TO THE FIRST E I ) I T I O N

natural way of direct appeal, such as might reach evrry type of

mind, and touch every heart. But the commentators, ol)sf.hsetl by
the philosopliy and logic of Greece could hardly bring illc~rnxclves
to look a t reality in its naturalness and rtpprcciate it. T11c.y thought
that they were honouring their Prophets by turning thcni into
dialecticians. They sought to demonstrate the greatness of the
Qur'iilz by pressing it into the frame-work of Aristotelian logic,
hardly realizing that it was never its primary object. The result
was that the beauty and attraction of the Qur'Znic method of
argument and of demonstrating its truth was lost in a network of
dialectical disquisitions. In fact, the truth had already been lost.
The tragedy was that our commentators could not achieve even
what they aimed at. They simply let the door wide open to doubt
and endless speculation. Imam Razi showed the greatest alacrity
and ingenuity in promoting this consummation.
6. The trouble did not end here. The application of philosophy
to the Qur'gnic thought gave rise to numerous dialectical terms,
with the result that the simple words of Arabic cltnie to be invested
with new connotations. The subject of the QUT'ETZ, it is obvious,
is not the philosophy of the Greeks, nor was the Arabic language
a t the advent of the Qur'Cn familiar with its philosophic terms. The
words employed in the Qur'En did not originally bear the meaning
which was assigned to them in the light of Greek concepts. The
transformation led to a variety of speculations ; so much so, that
words such as Khulzid, A?uliyat, Mithliyat, Tafsil, Hujjat, Burhin
and T k l l c a m c b bear meanings which the earliest listeners of
the Qur'tin would never have thought could bear.
7. As a corollary to this attituae, the idea came to the fore
that the Qur'En should support and endorse every new discovery
in scientific knowledge. An attempt, therefore, was made to read
therein an argument in favour of the Ptolemic system even as the
present-day dispensers of intelligence who write commentaries of
the Qur'iin try to interpret it in terms of every new development
in the Science of the Cosmos.
8. Every book or every system of teaching has something or
other for its central theme ; so much so that everything pertaining
to it revolves round it ; and unless this central theme or ite
primary objective is understood, the sign5cance or anything that
 I'REFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION xxxvii
is sabsidiary to it is not possible properly to comprehend. The
Qur'cin. has certain f~mdament.slobjectives t o present. Unless these
are a.pprecisted in their proper perspective, nothing pertaining to
them iq possible to catch aright. When under the circumstances
explained above, the essential objectives of t,he Qur'tin were missed,
it was but inevitable that everything pertaining to them could not
be viewed in proper perspective -- the statements of the Q~tr'iin,
its teaching, its method of argument and of address, and its remarks
and obseraations. Space does not allow citation of illustrations
here. Still, to catch a fleeting glimpse of what has been wrought
by our commentators, at'tention may be drawn to but one or two
exa.mpies. Take verse 161 of Chapter 3 : "It is not meet for a
prophet to act dishonestly. : 4 ~ n read
d the far-fetched commentaries
thereon. Take another verse which reproduces the Jewish assertion
- "The hand of Allah is tied up" (5: 64)? What rs. rambling, do
me not find in the explanations given thereof in utter disregard of
the context in which the verse occurs !
9. A primary condition of proper appreciation of the Qur'anic
meaning is the presence in the commentator of a right t,aste for
literature. But for various reasons this taste steadily grew weaker
among our commentators, resulting in inept approaches to the
Qur'anic word or to the idiom and usage of the language ia which
the Qzcr'iin had heen delivered.
lC. The field of interpretation of the Qur'iinic word has always
been affect,ed, even as the fields of arts and sciences, by the at,mos-
pheric influence of every preceding age. It is no doubt a matter
for pride that in the course of 81uslim history, scholars possessed
of upright character never yielded to political influences or tolerated
compromises in the doctrinal beliefs of Islnn~..But the atmospheric
influence of an age does not penetrate through the door of politics
alone. I n its psychological aspects, it finds for itself many a door
to come in. Once such doors are thrown open, they scarcely close
thereafter, however much one might t,ry. The doctrinal beliefs
might escape contamination, and tha.nks to our upright scholars
they indeed were not seriously touched. But the general character
of the minds of men could not remain unaffected.
11. The period of enquiry and research in Islamic learning came
to an end after the close of the 4th century of the Hijrii, and
x~xviii P,RRFACE TO T H E FIRST E I ) T ' ~ I ~ N

theren.f~er,barring certain exceptions, the t,enclrllcy t.o 1c:111on the

past for every idea took hold of the mincl of the l e i ~ r ~ ~I<vt.~y
r t l . one
who ever nt,t.empt,ed1:o write a comn~entarj,of the Qmlc?nchose as a
matter of course t.o have before him the work of sorne ~)rcclecessor
and to I'ollow it. blindly in every detail. If. for instance, a com-
n~r.nt,at,orof t.he third cc?ntxry had conuultted a serious blunder in
t.he ~~~ltlerstnltding of ally particular passage in the Qur'Cn, it
becilme the I)ounden dut,y of those who came after h i n ~to reproduce
word by word wlii~tev!:r he had written. No one for a moment
p;iuse(I to scrut,il.lize tllo statement or question it. The result was
that gradually few could develop the urge to write fresh commen-
taries. Every one contented himself thereafter to write only marginal
notes to the c~mrnent~aries already in existence. Read the marginal
notes of B,zi<la.wiand Jalilain a11d see what energy was wasted
by tllem to give mere coatings to the walls already raised by
others.
1%.The prevailing ineptitude of scholars in the succeeding period8
of Xluslim history let every form of idiosyncrasy to prosper ; so
much so, that only those commentaries came into fashion and were
read with zest which hore no trace whatever of t,he touch given t o
the interpretation of the Qur'Gn by the earliest band of commenta-
tors. The tendency grew universal. It was felt in every sphere of
lrarning. The period of time which could prefer Sakkaki to Jarjani
or prefer Taftazani to Sakkaki was indeed a period when only
writers of the type of Baidavi and Jaldain could shine.
13. Take the case of conlpilations wherein matter was gathered
from commentaries already in existence. Wherever a variety of
interpretations had been offered by previous commentators, the
compiler would invariably choose the feeblest. Not that his eyea
did not rest on appropriate or valid interpretations ; but with a
view to pandering to the prevailing taste, he would deliberately
overlook them.
14. To make matters worse, the type of commentary known as
'Tafsir-bir-rai' or commentary which lets the text subserve one'e
own personal opinion on any subject, came now freely to be written
- a form of commentary strongly discountenanced by the com-
panions of the Prophet. Not that reason and insight were tabooed
in Islam. Were i t so, all study of the Qur'Hnic thought would seem
 PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION xxxix
futile ; for the Qz~r'6nopenly invites its readers to exercise reason
in their approach to it, and ponder on what it states. At every
corner of its presentation, it exclaims :

"Do they meditate on the Qur'iin ?

6
Or, are there locks on their minds ?" (Q : 47 : 24)

'Tafsir-bir-rai' is t,hat form of commentary which does not aim

to represent what the Qzrr'Zn actually states. On the other hand,
the commentator has some view to advance and he presses the
- Qur'ii~lictext to lend suppcit to it.
This style of comment,ary came into vogue in the days when
every doctrinal belief of Islam came to be seriously examined and
a number of schools of theology took their rise, each intent on
exploiting the Qur'iin to uphold their point of view. Commentariee
written with this purpose are styled 'Tafsir-bir-rai'.
Further, when zealous followers of the different juristic schoole
among Muslims developed the passion for sectarianism, the versea
of the Qur'iin were exploited to uphold, by hook or by crook, their
own particular schismatic obsessions. Few cared to be guided by
the plain meaning of the plain word of the Qur'r'iin, or by the clear
purposes underlying the Qur'finic method of presentation of ite
contents, or by straight-forward reason. ~ v e one r ~ attempted to
force the Qur'Snic meaning to conform to the views sponsored by
the Imam or founder of his own schismatic school of thought.
To create further complications, certain sections of the Sufi
school of thought in their search for the hidden meaning of the
Qur'iin, went so far as to press everything Qur'iinic into the moulds
of their own formulas. Thus every Qur'iinic injunction and every
basic belief came to bear some sort ~f esoteric connotation. This
form of approach is also 'Tafsir-bir-rai'.
Or take another instance of this 'Tafsir-bir-rai'. Attempts were
made during the period under reference to give the Qur'8nic method
of argument the garb of Greek logic. I n fact, whenever any reference
was made to the sky, or the constellary order, attempt was made
to square it with the Greek system of astronomy.
Or take the latest examples of interpretation attempted by a
certain type of commentators both in India and Egypt in the
 PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION xli
presentation adopted for thid purpose, I venture to hope, may be
favoured by the thoughtful among us. The aim is to furnish a self-
explana.tory translation of the Qur'tin in Urdu, explicit enough to
convey the sense of the original in full, supported here and there,
by appropriate foot-notes. These foot-notes offer comment8 on the
textual content, furnish debails for the Qur'finic generalisationa,
disclose the various purposes underlying them, furnish argument or
evidence in their support, introduce coherence and order in the
different Qur'iinic injunctions, and clarify the meaning of the
Qur'gnic text with the utmost brevity. In short, they serve as a
beacon light to the thoughtful - 'a light gleaming before them and
on their right hand'- to use the Qur'iinic phraseology (Q : 57 : 12),
a light that keeps the reader company and does not desert
him.
The explanatory notes furnished have no doubt a value of their
own, and serve certain specific purposes. But the translation hrte
the strength to stand on its own ground. I say this from my experi-
ence. A lad of 15 years, who could read Urdu freely, was given this
translation, and asked to read it before me. To test him whether
he could easily comprehend the meaning of the matter before him,
I put him questions every now and then in the course of his reading.
The boy did not find any difficulty in reading out the text, and
went on answering my question^ without any hesitation. Then, I
tried this procedure on another -this time on a grown up man who
had learnt Urdu in his adult age and whose proficiency therein just
enabled him to read easily what appeared in plain style. Only a t
three places, did he pause to understand the Persian words used
in the translation. But even he did not feel any difficulty in under-
standing the matter before him. Of course, I replaced the terns
that seemed difficult to him by simpler ones.
The arrangement of notes was no less an easy task than the
translation of the original text. One could not give to them more
than a limited space ; but the need was always there to let them
be as fully comprehensive in their scope as possible. Care was there-
fore taken to see that they betrayed no lacunae. The utmost brevity
has had to be resorted to in their composition ; but it may be
made clear that every word of these notes is suggestive in import,
and opens out vast vistas of possible elaboration.
XI PREI:A(IE 1'0 T H E F I R S T E 1 ) I T I O N

name of rcoricntation of the Qur'Lnic thought. Att,cinpt is made to

invokt! the Qur'Gn t o lend its support to t.hc :irl~ievcmc~nts of modern
rescar(:ll in t11c tlifferent spllcres of scientific tilought, ;is if the
Qur'i7n. w a s dt?livererlover 1.300 years ago just to endorse in nclvance,
in the form of ritlrlles, ~vhrtcenturies after, men like Copernicus,
Newton, 1)ar~vin.1.i. G. WCIIS,could find out, for themselves without
the xi({ of a n y reveit,letl scriptlue - riddles reserved to be noticed
and ~~n~*nvellotl only I)y the present-day Muslim commentators of
the C)wt.'Gn. Suc11 coalmentaries are also to be classed as 'Tafsir-
hir-rai '.
Slic:h in brief is the story of t,he Qnr'Gnic interpretation attempted
in t,l~i: pitst Rut,, liowcver brief this survey, it is enough to show -
what: ol~staclesone has to orerconle to reach the Qwr'fin, or what
thicli veils to lift to catch a clear vision of it. The effort will involve
a si~nulta.nconssrir\rey of every nook and corner of the Qur'dn
anti the cxcrcise of deep insight into the meaning of things. It is
only t.hen that the forsaken reality of the Qur'Zin may put in its
appoarnnce. I Rave tried to the best of my ability to negotiate
with tllcsc, obstacles. I cannot say to what extent I have succeeded
in my at.tcmpt. E l ~ It map say this with confidence that I have
01)enccl n new avenue for an intelligent approach to the Qur'Gy~,and
hope that men of understa.nding will notice that the method adopted
by me i.3 something fundamentally different from the method
pursued in tile past.
Three distinct needs ca,ll for itttention in connection with the
study of the Qur'iin.. These have been attended to severally in
Muq~ddam~n-i-TrrfsSr, TafsSr-nl-Bayfin, and Tu,-jumtin al-Qur'iifi.
Thefirst presents the objects or purposes of the Qu,r'fin and discusses
the principles underlying them and enunciates the leading ideas
advanced by the QurY6~.. The second is meant for a detailed study
of the Qur'En, and the last aims to present what is universal in the
Qiir'iinic teaching.
The last of the series is published Erst for the reason that in its
purposes, it can claim priority of importance, and in fact, it forms
the basis on which the other two works rest. In the preparation
of this work, the object kept in view is to present not a detailed
commentary on the traditional lines, but to give out all that is
essential to an easy grasp of the Qur'iinic meaning. The method of
xlii PREFACE TO THE FIRST E D I T I O N

In the first volume of The TarjumEn al-Qecr'cin, a commentary of

the Stirat-u2-FiitihZ is attempted in a form such as might easily
serve as a natural introduction to the study of the Qur'En. In this,
I have stated and summarized all the leading issues which arise
out of a study of the Qur'iin except in a particular instance and
that touching the issue of the attributes of God under which a
comparative study of the approaches made to them by the different
philosophies and religions has been attempted. Since this particular
section is not of any general interest to the average reader, but
which, nevertheless, has a special importance of its own in its
relation to the study of the Qur'iin, it has been kept apart from
the text of the commentary for the benefit of advanced students of
the subject.
In conclusion, I may venture to offer a word or two in respect
of this venture on my part to attempt a translation of the entire
QPrr'6n and also write a commentary thereon.
The subject has engaged my mlnd seriously over a long period
of 27 years. Every chapter of the Qur'Gn, every part of it, and
indeed every verse and every word of it has obliged me to traverse
innumerable valleys and to counter numerous obstacles. I may
assert that I have looked into a considerable portion of the vast
literature, b ~ t hpublished and unpublished, that exists today on
the subject ; and there is not, I believe, any corner of the Qur'iinic
knowledge and of all that has been written so far on the problems
which it raises, which I have left unsearched and unnoticed. Dis-
tinction is, no doubt, usually made between the old and the new
learning. But, in my search for truth, this distinction has never
counted with me. The old I have received as my heritage, and the
new is as familiar to me as the old, and I have delved in both :

"I have been in life a libertine and a man of piety too.

One by one, I can easily recognise - alike the pious and the
libertine. "

What my family traditions, my education and my social environ-

ment had offered me in the making of my mind, I was from the
 PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION xliii
very beginning of my life, reluctant to rest content with. The bonde
of inherited dependence on the past could not hold me under. The
zest of search for truth never forsook me. There is hardly a single
conviction in me which has not had to bear the stings of doubt,
or a single belief which has not faced the test of denial. I have
gulped in poison mixed with every draught applied to my lip,
and have also administered to myself Elixir coming forth from
every quarter. Whenever I felt thirsty, my parched lips did not
resemble the lips of others who were equally thirsty, and when
I quenched my thirst, it was not from the same fountain as othera
did. Whatever I could gather in this lengthy period of my life in
my search of the Qur'iinic truth, I have tried to understand to the
best of my ability, and spread over the pages of this volume :

"This is no new tale of fiction, but a confirmation of previous

scriptures, and an explanation of all things, and a guidance
and mercy to thoae who believe." (Q : 12 : 111)'

District Jail, Meerut

16 November, 1930
 P R E F A C E TO T H E S E C O N D E D I T I O N
1945

THEhelplessness of man is noticeable in the fact that the plans he

lays out scarcely attain perfection. Today he starts a piece of work '
and feels that he has done all that was necessary. When the next
day dawns and he reviews what was done by him the day before,
he realizes that the work that he had thought was done well begins
to disclose shortcomings. Every writer who has had the occasion
to revise his own writings, will endorse the truth of the statement
that I have just made.
When I looked into the first edition of The Tarjumiin al-Qur'iin
after the lapse of several years, I felt just this experience. The
result was that I had to revise the entire matter both of the
'
translation and the commentary which have now put on a new
bearing altogether.
The following are the alterations that need special mention :
1. Fresh items of interest have been incorporated into the text
of the commentary of the Xiirat-ul-Fatihi which had previously
been overlooked. The bulk of the volume has consequently been
enlarged. The enlargement is particularly due to a further elucida-
tion of the issues arising out of the subject of the 'Concept; of God'.
The attributes of God have always ibrmed a very delicab
and complicated subject to handle. It touches the frontiers of
metaphysics on the one hand, and of religion on the other,
since both have an equal interest therein. Philosophers more
than religious divines have taken a keen interest in it. The philo-
sophic speculations of early times particularly in India, Greece, and
Alexandria, and of the middle ages have given rise to a large body
of literature on the subject. When Muslim scholars turned their
attention to the question of divine unity, and began to indulge in
dialectics, t,hey fought among themselves over the issues raised in
consequence and opened the way to a variety of divergent schools
of religious thought among themselves. The historic conflict between
the Traditionists (AsFdb-ul-Hadzth)and Free Thinkers ( A s E ' i r ~ )
may be cited as but an instance.
xlv
xlvi PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
This was one of the questions which for long perplexed me 11
my student days. When the truth dawned on me ultimately, I
realized that the way of the dialectician took one nowhere. The
more I had pursued it, the more distant did I find myself from the
truth. It was only after a very serious and painful reflection that
I realized that the way to mental satisfaction was the way marked
out by the Qur'En itself, the way followed tacitly by the first
generation of interpreters of the Qur'iin. It, is this method which I
have followed in my approach to it.
"The more I dashed my hands and feet against the waves,
The more woefully perplexed did I feel.
But when I ceased to struggle and lay motionless,
The waves, of their own free will, drifted me across to the
shore. "
The subject of the 'Concept of God' seemed to me hedged in an
intricate network of dialectic disquisitions and philosophic ter-
minology, and I felt that it should be rescued. This I have at-
tempted ; and I feel that even those who are not conversant urith
the phraseology of Islamic learning will be able to follow my line
of thought without difficulty. Wherever necessary, I have given
English equivalents to such Arabic terms of philosophy and dia-
lectics as had necessarily to be used in the course of my discussion,
so that those whose education has been conducted on modern lines
m a easily follow what has been stated on the subject.
2. Ir, the course of the discussion on the 'Concept of God' I
had. in the first edition, incidentally to refer to the views held on
the subject by the followers of other faiths. The reference was but
cursory. But after its publication, it was realized that this needed
some elaboration. The matter has therefore been entirely recast
for this edition and set in appropriate detail.
3. In the first edition, I was content to distribute the matter
of the volume only under certain leading heads. In the second
edition, however, I have supplied sub-headings as well to enable
the reader to catch a t a glance the scope of the matter covered
under each main head.
4. The entire matter of the translation has been revised so as
to set in clearer perspective the meaning of the original and this.
 PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION xlvii
as far as possible in utmost conformity to the diction of the Arabic
text. Those who have had the opportunity of reading the matter
of the first edition, will not miss to notice that every second or
third line in every paragraph has, in one form or another, been
modified.
5. The explanatory notes attached to the translation have in
most cases been enlarged.
On the whole, the present edition is, in view of its special new
features, so different from the previous edition that? I dare say,
those who have read the earlier edition will by no means feel
indifferent t,o it.

Ahmadnagar Fort Jail

7 Febrwry, 1945
 S E C T I O NI

Su'rat-ul-Fatiha
Importance
 A L - F A T I J I A : TIEE O P E N I N G
Revealed at M P- 7~Versrs
IN THE NAME OF ALJ,AH, TIfE CObIPASSIONATE, THE MERCIFUL

1. Praise is for AllaA only -- The Lord of All neing I

2. The Benevolent, the Merciful !
3. Master on the Day of Iiecompense !
4. the^ only do we serve, and Thee or~lptlo we nslr for help.
5. Direct us to the Straight Path - I

6. The path of thoae to whom T l l o ~hrifi

~ heen graciouu,-
7. Not of those who have incurred Thy displeasure, nor of those
who have gone astray.
 Importance

THE Stirat-ul-FEtihii is the first chapter of the Qur'a'n anti is for

that reason styled FcTlihatul-Kitiib or the opening of the book.
Because of ita intrinsic value, it has been assigned a place of honour
in the Qur'tin and allowed to appear on the very first page of it.
Indeed, the Qur'Zn endorses its importrlnce in the following t e r m :

"0 Prophet! It is a fact that \Ve have given thee seven

oft-repeated verses and the great Qrcr'~n." (Q : 15 :87) 9

It has been established by Hadith and A t h ~ rthat the reference

here is to this chapter ; for, it no7 only coGsiats of seven verses,
but is repeatedly recited i? daily worship. I t ia also called SaB'a d-
malhanT, (the Oft-repeated Seven). The Rsme so~lrces give it
fuzber names - 'Umm-ul-Qur'Cn (the Core of the Qur'cn), At-K6J;a:
(the Sufficient), Al-Kanz (the Treasure 1Io11se)and AsZsul-Qur'a'n
(the Basis of the Qztr'gn), each emphasising a particular aspect of
ita importance.
In Arabic, the term Umm applies to concepts and objects which,
in one form or another, bear inclusive connotation, or by virtue
of which, assume the role of genitives. I t is why the central part
of the human head is called 'Umm-ul-Rcis, becnilse it is the seat
of the brains. The flag of an army is called 'TJmm, because the
army gathers round it. Mecca was known as 'Umm-el-Qura, for,
b, consequent upon the ___location of the lin'nba therein and the associa-
tion therewith of the institution of Hojj, it had grown into a
place of assemblage for the people of Arabia. So, to style thiu
chapter as 'Umm-?11-Qt~r'Cnis to acknowledge tllnt in its tenee
comprehensiveness, it concentrates aithin its ambit the thought-
content of the entire Qur'tin, and thab, on that acconnt, it rightly
deserves the place of honour among its chapters.
Further, it is clear from some of the traditions of tho Prophet
that, even in his own lifetime, this unique role of the cllnpter had
5
 to follow, where one has to 'account for his lifd on earth and where
the effect of past deeds becomes manifest, as a matter of course.
And lastly, it points the way to righteous or good life.
These objectives are all summed up in the Stirat-ul-Faiha'.
The chapter, be it noted, consista of just a few words easily counted.
But they aro so aptly chosen that they seem invested with striking
significance. They are so simple in form. There is nothing compli-
cated about them ; nor do they confuse. The fact is that whatever
is true to life is always easily comprehended. Look a t nature.
Nowhere does it appear elusive. Elusiveness is produced by arti-
ficiality. All that is true and real will necessarily be plain and
attractive, so attractive that when it appears before you, you do
not feel any strangeness about it. Indeed, you accept it without
hesitation.
Now, think it over. What plainer view can be taken of human
devotion to God and all that it implies than what is presented in
this chapter ? Here are but seven brief phrases, each of not more
than five words, every word crystal clear and impressive. God L
here invoked in His attributes, the manifestations of which man
beholds day in and day out, however much he may, through in-
difference, neglect to reflect over them. Here you have man'a
admission of his absolute dependence on God, his acknowledgement
of the divine kindness shown to him, his earnest yearning to be
saved from the pitfalls of l i e and to be led along the straight path.
'
Nothing is abstruse here ! Since we repeat thie Sfirat so frequently
and have growa so familiar with it, it may look as if it is but a
commonplace concept of religion. But this very commonplace
concept, till it emerged before man, was by no means commonplace
or easy to grasp. So it is with everything m l . So long as it doea
not come into sight, it looks as if there is nothing more difficult
to perceive. When it is brought to view, what is there so clear
and plain ?
Whenever a revelation horn the divine has come, it has not
brought to the knowledge of man anything strikingly novel ; for,
in respect of devotion to God, there is nothing novel tc impart.
The function of revelation has been simply to interpret, on the
basis of knowledge and conviction, the inherent urgea of man. And
this is what the S f i r a l - H Z - F hdoea. I t expreRAas the instinctive
urges of man so artfully and with such ease that he i~ impelled
to affirm that every line of this chapter, nay every word of it, is
but the compulsive voice of his own heart nnd mind.
Thinlc it over again. Although by the very nature of it, this
chapter ia no more than a eimple invocation, it reveal8 in every
word of it, and in every turn of expression, one or other of tho
great purposes which underlie the DZTLor the way of life sponsored
by the Qur'dn.
The great mistake that man has matle in this approach to the
concept of God is that he has very often regarded God as the
God, not of love, but of terror. The very first word of the chapter
sets right this age-long deviation fro111 truth. It, begins with h r t t ~ d
or the praise of God. It is a term signifying the most b e a u t ~ f ~ ~ l
form of praise I 'Praise beautiful' is possible only of a being who
truly is beautiful and good. The term cannot therefore snshin the
concept of terror. The being which is Illa71niiid or worthy of 'the
praise beautiful' will never inspire terror.
The h a m . or praise over, the Snrtrt draws attention to the all-
encompassing providence of God, His nlercy and His justice ; nnd
thus gives a comprehensive picture of divine attributes which
operate to provide man with all that he needs to sustain nnd
develop the humanity in him and prevent him from going down
in the scale of life.
And then, by calling God Rabbul-',Al~o,~i,t,tllc Lord of all creation
or of all forms of life, the Sarat desires t ~ i r r lt o noknowleclge tlie
universal character of divine concern for every individual, group,
community, country and every for111of existence. The concept pnts
an end to all notions of exclusiveiiess wl~ich11ad lrit,l~ertoprevailed
among mankind assigning divine blessi~~gs and favours to one's
own community.
The Siirat then refers to God as dfalik-i-Ya~ct,ti(ldht,or Master
on tlie Day of Recompense. The word I ) i n l~ere1)ostul:ttes a law
of recompense. It emphasizes that recruitnl is but tho natural
reaction to one's own action arid is its inevitable resnlt. I t is not
fnir therefore to assert that God deals out 1)unishment to any one
out of revenge or in anger, for, the wort1 ! ) i n in this context sinlply
moans recompense or requital or what follows ne a n;tk~rsl
sequence.
 B~!RAT-UL-FATIHA 9
'Fhc signific:ance of .rWiilik-i-Yawm,iddinis this that, ajongside of
t . 1 attributcs
~ of grilce and henuty, t,bose of 'power' and 'pressure'
are also a t work in the ~ ~ ~ ~ i v eunci
r s c this
, is not because of any
sense of anger or revenge in its crentor, but because He is juet,
and because Ilitl wisdom has assigned to each object, a particular
quality produetivc of n particular result. Justice, according to the
Qur'ajz, is not a negation of mercy. It is mercy itself.
Moreover, the form of prayer suggested in tlie Sdrat is not, 'We
serve 'I'hee', b ~ is~ ~peoificnlly
t worded, 'Thee alone do we serve,
ant1 from 'Fhee (~lottc(10 we ask for help'. This manner of expression
fulfils the primary condit,ion of belief in the unity of God, and'
tlisiillows room for every form of 'shirk' or a~sociatingwith God
anything beside Him.
Ln~tly,tlie pat.11 of goodness is styled 'SirGt-al-MustaqZm' or the
Str:iigl~tl'i~tsl~.There could be no better or more appropriate term
than this t,o designate it, for, no one will fail to distinguish between
a strnight road and a road which is not straight, or disdain to choose
the first. And then to enable him to know what a straight road
is like, a clear pointer is furnislied such as man can easily perceive
for liin~self,and t,his, not in the form of any abstract idea, but in
the form of a concrete reality, namely, the road followed by those
on mtlonl God has, a8 a result of their actions, bestowed favours.
For, whatever the country or nation one may belong to, man has
always folmd two ways lying clear before him. One is that of those
who have lived successful lives, the other of failures. What is thus BO
obvious neecb only to be hinted at, and that is exactly what is
done here. This was the reason why the prayer form mas adopted
to stress tho point. Had it taken the form of a regular catechism
or of a specific commanii, the effect would have been lost. The
prayer form helps to voice the inward condition of one who in
sinc.:erity involres God. It clenclies devotional thought intent on
seeking a spontaneous expression.
 S E C T I O NI 1

Praise oJI' God : [lamd

Significance of the term ' AUii1~'
 PRAISE OF G O D : H A M D

Significrrnce of the term 'Alla'h Al-Iia,ttdzs Lilla'h' : Praise

is for Alln'fc on,ly

INArabic, the word Hand means praise. The grammatical prefix a1

denotes a definite article. So, al-ham& lillth really means, 'Praise
(strictly speaking) is for AllZfl only, ' since all goodness and perfection
exht only in Him and proceed from Him.
Why does the chapter begin with tho praise of God? I t is,
because, such is the initial reaction inevitably created on the mind
of one who takes his first step in the direction of God.
What then is tbe road one should take to seek knowledge of God ?
The Qzw'hn says there ia but one road to it, and that is to reflect
over the phenomenal world of creation. The ~ t u d yof an invention
takes the student, so to sa.y, directly into the very ~resenceof the
inventor himself.

Those who bear God in mind, standing, sitting and reclining,

and reflect on the creation of the heavens and of the earth, '
they will say : "Our Lord ! Thou has not created all this in
vain. (& : 3 : 191')''

Visualize for yoixrself what his fir& impression will be when an

earnest seeker of truth reflects over the working of the nniverse ?
He will notice that his very being and all that is a t work outside
of him are the handicraft of a consunlmatk artist,, and that t,lie
touch of His grace and tender providence is clearly felt in every
particle of the universe. Naturally, his mind will be filled with
wonder and admiration, so much so, that he will cry out instinc-
tively : "Praise is for God only, Lord of all Being ! " Praise truly
is His who is the fountainhead of the grace, beauty, nnci perfection
which subsist in every corner of His creation.
The tragedy of the human mind has lain in this t'h:lt. it ten& t o .'

lose itself in the things of creation and does not always strive t o
step beyond them to seek the Creator Himself. Man is dazzled by the
13
artistry of the veils ,which first meet Iiiq eye, but r:~rcly docs Ilt?
attempt to lift them and rer~chIIim who has t.llrown S I I ( : ~i~ttr:~c:tive
veils over Iiis own creative beauty. T l ~ eworship of the phrnutr~cnal
owes ita origin to this defect in vision. The exprc~sion,'J'rni~c is
for God, only' is n defi~iitenfirrnnt ion of the fact that the 1,cnut.y
and benevolence which subaiat ill R vxriet,y of form8 in evcry field
of existence are but manifestnt.ions of the :cttrit)utea of Gotl. )!'hat-
ever t.he esteem in which we m:iy hold bcnut.y, perfection or good-
ness, the credit sl~oultlgo not to the ~ ) h e i ~ o n ~ r ohjcct
nnI which
displays these qualities, but t o the artist who fnsl~ionedit into a
thing of beauty.
ALLAH Prior t o the revelation of tile Q~tr'iin,the terrn Alliih wns
used in Arabic as a propcr nnrile for God, RS is borne out by the
writings of pre-Zslan~icpoets. It \\-tis never used in the srnse of an
attribute, although H e was credited with numerous attributes. The
Qur'dn hns but folldwcd'the usage :

~?ll?ihhas beautiful nnmes or attributes ; so invoke IIinl by

them. (Q : 7 : 180)5'
Did the Qur'cn adopt the term Allcih merely out of regard for
etymology, or iv:ts there any int,rinsic ~ppro!)riatencss about it
colnpclling adoption ?
I n the annals of ancient religious concepts, there \\.:IS a period
when man useci. to worship objeckq of nature. I n course of time,
this form of worship developed into the worship of tlemi-gods. As
corollary to. this development, different names in different lnnguages
came to be applied t o the new deities, and as time went on, with
the widening of scope in worship, the significance of tlie terms
applied also widened. But since it was not agreeable to ltunlari
nature t o let the human m i d ignore tlie concept, of a Creator far
the world, there lurked therein, ~lollgsideof the t h o ~ ~ gofl ~demi-
t
gods, the idca, in one form or other, of a sullrc!nle being as well.
So, in additition t o the nulneroils terms coined to designate d r n ~ i -
gods, a term also had necessnrily t o be invented t o apply to thi<.
unseen highest being as well.
Por in~t~ance, a study of the Semitic group of li~nguages-
HBbrew, Siriac, AramlLic, ~haldEAn,Himyarita and Arabic - di8-
 PRAISF: OF G O D 15
ckjees that n upecial style of word formation and of ~ o ~ m had
d been
in voguo tirnoag the Semitic peoples to denote the supreme being.
'f!tr, r~lpllrtbetsA , L and fI comFinei1 in varied form to constitute
t tln term by which this supreme being was to be styled. The
A I ~ Sjrinc term 'ZlchiC', the EI@brew'Ilohii' and the
C I I R ~ ~ F and
Arabic ' I l d ~ are
' of this category. I t is the Zl6h in Arabic which
iiss~irncd the form of AllZh and was applied exclusively to the
('reator o f the universe.
But if the term AITtih is derived from IEh what then is Zldh?
I,exicrrgmphcra have given different stories. The most plausible is
that it is itsdf derived from the root 'luk, an ejaculation expressive
of worltltsr or helplessness. Some lexicographers trace the term
to IBcrlah which bears the same significance. Hence the term Allfih
came to Ije rised ns the proper name for the Creator of the universe
in respect of whom man cnn express nothing except his sense of
wonder which increases in intefisity, the more he thinks of Him,
only to atl.~niteventually thnt the road to the knowledge of God
begins nnd ends in wonder and humility. Says a poet :

Thou art beyond my speech and thought.

Woe be unto my specifications of you and my comparisons I

Now consider whether, of all the terms which man has used,
there could be any better term than this (AllGh)to apply to God.
I f God is to be called by any attribute, an endless number of terms
could be suggested. But attributes apart, if God is to be given a
proper name, what other term is there except this to designate a'
beirig which inspires nothing but wonder 1'
This is the reason why whenever anything was said in respect of
the highest knowledge gained of God, it was to only admit that
the utmost that man could say of God was simply to acknowledge
the profundity of his ignorance about Him. The prayer of a gostio
has always been : "0 God ! increase me in my wonder aver
what You are". Likewise the admission of philosophers has always
been : "We know this much that we know nothing".
Since tho term A,ZlZh is used as a proper name for God, it has
necessarily to cover all the attributes that can appropriately be
associated wit.11 His Being. If we visualize God in any particular
1hi TAKJUMBN AI,-QUR'AN
attribute of Mia, as when we refer to IIim us ill-RaLb or .4l-fi~r?ri?n,
we corlfine our vision witiiin tile litnits o f the al;tl.il~utc!c~lic.t~r.lic?d.
We ball think of Him only tiu it 11ci11gw l ~ oposscsucs tire 11tt ril)~ite.
of providence or mercy. Iiut wllell w c rc!fer to I l i ~ uau :lllGic, o u r
mind instinctively clctlcl~ev I 11e ,rl1111 tl)tal ot' all t l ~ e q~li~iit
~CS
attributed to Him, or what Ile r~ece~surily must possu,qs.
 I11
SECTION

Divine Prouidence
Rubiibiyat
 D I V I N E PROVIDENCE: RUBDRIPAT
Rabbul-'Alamln : Lord of all Being

APTEHthe praise of God, the chapter refers to four distinct attributes

of God in succession - Rabbztl-'AlnmEn (Lord of all. Being), AL
Rnh?@n (The Compassionate), Al-Ra4Tm (The MercifuU and
JfBlik-i-YauymiddTn (Master on the Day of Reco~pense).Since
Al-Rahmcin and Al-Ra?~Zrnare but two facets of one and the same
attribute, the above four attributes may be reduced to three, vie.
Rzibtibiyat (Providence), Rahmat (Mercy) and 'Aalat (Justice).
The term Rabb like the term IEh is an oft-quoted common root
for several words in the Semitic languages. In the HEbrew, Sfriac
and Arabic, it means Providence or Nourisher. Since the need for
nourishment is of the basic needs of human life, the meaning given
to the term Rabb as Providence or Nourisher may be regarded as
but a natural first approach to God which the early Semitic mind
could conceive of. The term was similarly applied to the teacher
and the master or lord who in their respective spheres discharge
the function of the Nourisher. For instance, the terms Rabbi and
RabbBh were used in H6brew and Aramlic for the Nourisher, the
teacher and the master. A version of the term Rabti conveyed the
same sense in the Coptic and ChaldG&nlanguages, demonstrating
incidentally the cultural affinity subsisting among the Semitic
peoples of early times.
Anyway, in Arabic, RdzZbiyatZmeans nourishing. But the term
is to be conceived here in its widest sense, for in the opinion of
some of the leading lexicographers, the tenn means, "to develop
a thing from stage to stage in accordance with its inherent aptitudes,
needs and its different aspects of existence, and also in a manner
affordkg the requisite freedom to it to attain its full stature". If
a person should feed the hungry or give alms to the i d g e n t , it
will be an expression of kindness, benevolence or favour on h h
part. But this will not amount to what is styled RubCbiyat. Rube-
biyat is a process of tender or careful nouiishment providing from
moment to moment and from stage to stage all that one nee& to
 gain the fullest possible development. And this procecs is ~ l w a y s
t o be marked by the touch of tenderness ; for, no activity wl~iclt
ir, not actuntecl by t,his can' claim to be regnrcled ns Zttrhtil)i,ilcrt.*
We lnay find an illustration, n coniparatively pool. i l l t ~ ~ t r ~ ~ i ~ n
though, in the nursing of A child by the nlotller. When a cl~iltlis
born, it is but an active lump of flesh displaying nn urge for living
and for nourishment and direction. Tlicre then begins fi lrngt'hy
process of love, of tender and timely onre, and of w~snlicitcdfavours
on t l ~ epart of the mother. And this goes on till it tlcvc!Iops adoles-
cence, both of body and mind. Till then arise necds, liot o110 or
two, but numerous which have to be attentled to. Thcsc! vary or
change from stnge t o stage, demanding, nccording to t l ~ i ?nature
of each stnge, the requisite love and c8re and amenit,ies of life.
The wisdom of God has instilled into the mind of the nlotl~crthese
qualities of RuStibiyat whereby she looks after tlie child from the
day of its appeartinee till i t enters the stnge of adolescel~cc.
When the stomac,h of tile child cannot relisli any food except
milk, only milk is given. Wl1e1; it can bear strollger dict, sucll diet
is provided. So long as t,hc cllild ca.nnot stnnd on its lr.gs, the nrc)tl~er
carries it, wherever she goes. When it develops the ability to utnnd,
she holds its finger and helps it take steps one by one.
Ru.biibiyat is thus a continuous process of providi~lgOne with all
that it needs in every situation axid a t every stage.
Keep the above illustration in mind, hedged in thougli it is by
its own limitations, ant1 ponder over the li~nit~less Rubziiriyal of
Almighty God. To visualize God as ~abbzrl-'i~lamin or the Rabb
of all creation is to conceive of Him as not only the Creator of
everything in the universe but its nourisher and sustniner as well.
The provision t.hat H e has made for the sustenance and growth of
everything is made under a plan, so marvellous that every being
is furnished with all that its particular nature denlarlda for its
exisknce, and a t the same time, it is furnished in a nianner t.llat
takes cognizance of every changing situation and need. The ants
crawl on earth, the worms push their way in mud and dirt, the
fish swim in water, the birds fly in air, the flowers blossom in
* In view of its expansive connotation, it has not been possible to suggeat
an exact equivalent to it in English. The original tenn H u b S i y a t is therefore
retained in the English version.
 DIVINE PKOVIDRNCE 21
gn,rdcns, the elephants wander in t,l~cjungle nnd t,he stars revolve
in the heavens. But nn evrry one of these, rests the protcct,ing eye
of Yrovidcnce, and tl~ereis none that. is d.nied its blessings. Indeed,
there arc countless vnricties of creat.ion infinitcsirnally small in form
t.hat our nnkccl eye cannot pcrceivc them. For them, also, the
RlrhtTl~iynt of Got1 113s n1:lcle thc requisitc provision for sustenance
and growth with as much care as for the bulky elephant or the
intelligent man. All this man can observe in his external world,
Shoultl he loolc into I~irnself,he will notice that his life, a t every
mc~nientof its exi~tence,tliscloseu a world of activity propelled by
t.l~eRul~libiycrtof God.

On earth are sign^ for men of firm belief; '

And also in your own selves : 12
Will ye not then notice them ? (Q : 81 : 20-1)

ORDER OF PROVIDENCE But distinction needs to be made here

between the divine creation of the provisions of life and the function
of R~rlriibiynf.Forces and things there are which in their varied fonn
are of value to the growth and sustenance of life. But the mere
existence of them cannot be regarded as nn act of Rubiikyut. That
is an expression of divine mercy or benevolence. It is not an expres-
sion of divine RubCbiyat. They are the good things of life, denoting
only creative activity. On the other hand, it is the method and
manner of providing them or the system into which they are made
to fit, which is Rub~hiyat,and i t is under this system that whatever
is needed for the existence and sustenance of every being is provided
a t appropriate time and in appropriate quantity, in order that the
entire machinery of existence might run smoothly.
Life, for instance, needs for its sustenance water and humidity.
We see around us in every direction storage of water in abundance.
But its presence by itself mill have no direct significance to life,
unless it i i available to life in a, particular form and quantity
a t particular moments. We therefore find that a system is at work
whereby water is formed and distributed in a particdar style. This is
Rubfihiyat. The cfeation of water, according t o the Qur'iilt, ia an
expression of divine mercy, whereas i t is His RzcbiiEn'y~twhich lets
this water come down to earth drop by drop and reach every corner
of it only in particular seasons and particular quantity, nrld aenrcl~
out and quench even the tiniest p~rticletl~irstingfor water.

And we send down water from the heavens in its due degree,
and We cause it to settle on the earth nnd M'e have power
for its withdrawal too -
And by it, We cause gardens of palm trees n.nd vineyards
to spring forth for you, ,in which ye have plenteous fruits,
and whereof ye eat. (Q : 23 : 18-9) " '

DISPENSATION The Qur'dn often refers to the value of the good

things of life and the measure of each mensllrcd out to every living
object, and thus points to the fact of lire that nnture provides
everything in a particular measure and this under a particular
system or plan.

And no one tliing is there, but with Us are its atorehouses ;

and We send it not but in settled measure. (Q : 15 : 21) l4
\lTith Him everything is by measure. (Q : 13 :8) '"
All things we have created after a fixed degree. (Q : 64 : 49) l6

Mark ! There is water on earth, but that is distributed in a

particular manner. Why so ? Why do the rays of the sun raise
from the surface of the ocean sheets after sheets of water into the
air, and why do the winds shake them so as to let them come down
to earth in drops, and that in n, particular season ? Again, why is
i t that whenever it rains, it does so in a prtrticlllar quantity, and
in a manner that while a portion of it runs down the smface of the
earth, a portion soaks into the earth to a particular depth ? Why
is snow found on the top of mountains in a particular season, and
why does it melt in another and run down the mountains to form
into huge rivers that meander over the plains, and water extensive
areas of the earth ?
Why should all this happen in a particular form and why not in
any other ? The Qur'dlz gives the reply. The Providence of God is
at work in nailire ; and its purpose is to produce water in this
particular fashion and arrange its distribution in this par:-icular
way. It is the Raltmat or the Mercy of God which produces water,
but it is His Rubdbiy(~tor Riu attribute of Proviclence which utili-.-.j
this water B'J fis to givs every living object its means of sustenance.

And one of ?lis signs is that He sendeth the winds with

glad tidings of rain, tha.t 5 e may cause you to taste Ris
mercy, and that ships may sail a t His command, that out
of His hounties ye may seek wealth, and that haply ye may
render t~lanks.(& :30 : 48)

Mark tlmt the things most needed in life are the things most
profusely provided, and similarly, those needed in particular climes
or in only particular situations are given local habitation and are
limited in quantity. The thing primarily needed was air, for.one
can forego food and water for a while but can hardly live without
air. Its provision therefore is so common and plentiful that there
is hardly a corner of the earth from where it is absent a t any
moment. Next in importance is water, which next t o air is the
largest provision. I n every part of the world rivers roam about on
the surface, and underneath the ground currents of water keep
flowing. In addition, the atmospheric forces are a t work to draw
water out from the saltish ocean and sweeten it and store i t in the air
only to return it to the earth whenever it needs it. Next t o air and
water comes the need for food, and that is spread out in bounteous
plenty over the entire globs, and there is not g~ species of creation
which is not provided close a t hand with its means of sustenance.
Ponder over this system of universal Providence, the mainspring
of life and activity, and it will appear as if it is devised to develop
life and sustain and protect every latent capacity therein. The sun
is there to give light and heat and methodically draw out water
from the ocean. The winds are there to produce alternately cool-
ness and warmth. Sometimes they waft particles of water up into
the skies and spread them into layers of clouds ; sometimes they
reduce these clouds into water again, and bring it down. The earth
is there to serve as a perennial storehouse of the means of growth
and sust,enance, and contains within its bosom life for every grain
and growth for every plant. In short, the workshop of existence is
incessantly engaged in this process. Every force is displaying its
talent, and every cause is looking out for its result. The moment
a thing develops the talent to grow, the entire mechanism of life
turns its attention to it. The phenomenal activities of tlie sun, the
cycle of seasons in all their moods, the forces of the earth, and
the inter-action of elements, seem intent on geeing when the egg of
an ant delivers its offspring and the peasant's bag drops its grain.

And He hath subjected to you all that there is in the heavens

~ n all
d that there is in the earth : all is from Him. Verily,
herein are signs for those who reflect. (& : 45 : 13) l a

The strangest thing about this scheme of Providence, thongh the

most patent,-is its uniformity and the harmony underlying it. The
method and manner of providing means of sustenance for every
object of existence are the same everywhere. A single principle is
a t work in all things, The storie may appear different from the
fragrant flower, but the two receive their sustenance in the same
.way and are granted growth. in the same style. The child of a human
being and the twig of a plant may look like belonging to two
different orders ; but if you look into the way in which they grow,
and develop, you will find that a aingle system of life and growth
binds them together. Whether it is a slab of stone, a bud of flower,
a human child, or an egg of an ant, everything has its birth ; but
the means of s~wtenancefor one and all are provided in advance
as they emerge into life. -4nd the11 there is for every one a stage
of childhood calling for nee& appropriate to that stage. That is
common to the human child, as to the twig, the stone, and the
mound of earth. Everything has its cliildhood. Then comes in, so
to say, the stage of youth for everything and of adolescence, man-
hood, maturity and obsolescence. Tllc principle of rise and fall in
life is common to them all.

It is God who hath created you In weakness :

then after weakness hath given you st.rength :
then after strength, weakness and grey hairs :
Iie crenteth what H e will ;and He is the Wise, the Powerful.
(Q :SO :64) l9
Seest thou not that God sendeth clown water from heaven,
and guideth it along so as to for111springs in the earth, then
 DIVINE PROVIDENCE 25
bringeth forth by it corn of varied sorts, then causeth it to
wither, and thou seest it become yellow, then crumbleth it
away? Mark! Herein is instruction for men of insight.
(Q : 39 : 21)"
Look a t the provision of food. Among the animal kind there are
some animals whose young ones feed on milk, while others feed on
a variety of food-stuffs. Ponder over this system of nourishment
devised for them. Take the case of man. The moment he takes his
birth, the food that'he needs provides itself for him in the exact
form that his condition demands, and is provided very close to
him. The mother, in the intensity of her affection, hugs him to her
bosom, and at that very place the child finds the fountain-head of
his means of nourishment. And then look a t the manner whereby
his graded needs are attended to, calling for a continuous variation
in diet. It has to agree with the successive changes in his condition.
In the beginning, the stomach of a child is so tender that a highly
diluted form of milk, is needed for him. That is why the milk of
the mother, even as among other animals, is very thin to begin
with. But as the child-grows and his stomach becomes stronger as
time passes, the milk of the mother gradually thickens ; so much
so, that as soon as the stage of infancy is over and his stomach
develops the capacity to digest the normal food, the breasts of the
mother dry up. This is the sign of Providence indicating that the
child should no longer depend upon milk, but should be able to
try every other form of food.
with pain his mother beareth him ; with pain she bringeth
him forth ;and his bearing and his weaning are thirty months.
(Q: 46: 15)
Again, ponder over the way in which the principle of Providence
has ingrained in the very nature of theemother the love that she
has to bear towards her child - love which is the noblest of feelings
that human nature is capable of displaying.
It is this love of the mother-which inspires in her the noblest of
sentiments. Tin the child grows into manhood, she does not live
for herself, but for her child. For her child's sake, there is no
sacrifice too great for her to bear. Her very love of self pales into
irsignificance before her'qove for her child. Tn~tnnceriof mot,herly
sacrifice are too common, and give no occasion for nny ~11q)rine.
Look further a t the system of Providence ! AHthc cltiltl grows in
years, the love of the mother for the child instinctively o r urndually
diminishes in intensity and a time comes when, tliong11 t l i i ~feeling
does not completely die out as among the lowcr n~iimnl~. tltcro is a
distinct subsidence in its warmth. Why ~honLlit be RO ? Why is it
that the moment a child is born, this v e n t fecling of motherly love
takes a sudden rise, and why, having laated for sometime, it
gradually subsides ? This is so because such is ths working of the
principle of Pr~vidence,such the condition of its existence. Pro-
vidence desires that the child in its helpless state should be nourished
by others. It has therefore fixed the feeling of love in the mother
as a motive force for the child's nourishment. When the child has
reachcd a stage when it no longer needs the careful attention of the
mother, the need for it also does not remain. In fact, its continuance
will cause unnecessary strain to the mother and hinder the child's
development. I t is only a t the infant stage that the child needs
tender nursing. That is why the love of the mother is intense a t
such a stage. But as the child advances in years, the need for external
aid of every kind diminishes. There is, no doubt, that the mother's
love keeps the grawn-up man continuous company. But t h i has
only a social value. I t is no longer that instinctive care for him
as it wax in hi3 infancy.
There is, however, a little difference between the nursing of a
human child and that of an offspring of the lower living order.
When, for instance, a chicken comes out of its shell, its constitution
is different from that of the young one who needs to be fed on milk.
I t is from the very beginning inclined to live on normal or ordinary
food, provided there is some one to show it the way. You will have
noticed that the moment the chicken comes out, it feels the urge
to seek out its food, and the mother then shows it how to pick out
its food. Sometimes she herself picks out food for it, softens it
within her stomach and when the chicken opens its mouth brings
it out from within and puts it into its mouth.

SPIRITUAL AND MENTAL EQUIPMENT Stranger than the outward

aspect of this scheme of Providence is the inward aapcct of it.
 DIVINE PROVIDENCE 27
Whatever provision that one might find in the visible material
aspects of life, they will be of no value to it, if each living object
was not gifted a t the same time with an inward talent to make
the right use of the provisions afforded. The two are so designed
that the forces a t work within are endowed with the capacity to
harmonize with the outward material provisions of life. There is
no object of creation the constitution of which is repellant to the
demands of its sustenance.
Of the facts of life which in this conne~t~ioncall for consideration,
there are two to which, because of their importance, the Qur'iin
repeatedly draws attention. One is what is called Taqd&, the other
Hidciyat.

meaning of Taqdk is 'to a8#ign' a pbrticular role to

T A Q D ~ R The
everything, whether quantitatively or qualitatively. We therefore
notice that every object is bound both in its outward and inward
aspects by conditions warranted or fixed by its very nature and
that these conditions are in perfect consonance with the variegated
demands of ita growth and development.

Everything hath He created

22
And measured out to each its measure. (Q : 25 : '2)

Why is it that every object takes its rise in an environment

most congenial to it, or why should every object of creation,
both in its inward and outward aspect, agree with the character
of its environment, and vice versa ? This ie so, because such is
its TnptEir or conditions of life fixed for each object in its interests
by its Almighty and Wise Creator. The law of TaqdZr is not confined
to the animal or mineral world alone, but is applicable to every-
thing in the universe. Even the world of planeh is bound by this
very law of TaqclQ.

The sun rolls on along its prescribed path. 23

This, the ordinance of the Mighty, the Knowing. (Q : 36 : 38)

I t is due to this law of compatibiiity t l ~ aevery

t object of creation
finds in its environment all that it needs for its austenance and
development. The bird that flies. the fish that swims, the quadruped
that wallrs and the insect that crawls, has each a body which suits
its environment or such as that environment demands. You do
not find a bird live in water or the sea, because i t cannot supply
the environment a bird needs. The fish does not take its rise on
the dry land, because dryness is not agreeable to its life. If an
object born in a certain environment rushes into another, it comer,
into conflict with this law of life, the law of Tagdfr. It either ceaaes
to exist, or if it continues to exist at all, it gradually develops a
constitution and a disposition which conform to the character and
behaviour of its new surroundings.
And then, each species is moulded to suit a particular environ-
ment. An object which takes its rise in a cold climate is meant to
thrive only in that climate. The same is true of those that take
their rise in hot climates. The beast thriving round the North Po!e
is not noticeable along the Equator. The animals of the torrid zone
are not found in the frigid.

X I D ~ ~ Y A ITt
means "to show the way, to give direction along a
path, to guide" ; and there are several forms of this, of which
mention will be made in detail a t a later stage. Here attention is to be
drawn only to that systematized form of HiGyat which opens out
for every object of creation appropriate avenues of nourishment,
and which helps it to proceed along the path of life, and stimulates
its wants and directs it to the means of its satisfaction. This
HidZyat or direction of nature is indeed the Hidiiyat of RubCbiyat.
Were it not for this Hidiiyat implicit in Rubti&ya.t, no object of
creation would have profited by the means of sustenance and
growth provided around it, 2nd indeed-life itself would have ceased
to display its activitiw.
But what is this Hidiiyat of RubJbiyat or of Providence 1 The
Qur'iin says that this is the instinctive urge of nature, or the talent
inherent in sense perception. This is a direction of nature which a t
first takes the form of an instinct, and then functions as sense
perception. Instinct and perception are but two of the forms this
Hidzyat assumes.
Instinct in the present context is that inward force which actuates
a thing to be drawn by its own inward urge to its means of
 DIVINE PROVIDENCE 29
sustenance ; it does not need any external direction or aid. The
offspring of a human being.or of an animal, the moment it is
delivered from the wdmb of its mother, instinctively feels that its
means of sustenance is in the breasts of its mother and forthwith
draws itself to them. The moment it touches the nipple of its
mother's breast, it automatically starts the process of sucking. M7e
often see how the kittens, the moment they are delivered and even
before they open their eyes and the mother is still licking at them,
rush themselves to the breasts of their mother. See how the infant
which has just come out into life and which has not as yet been
affected by its external world, instinctively realizes that the breasts
of ita mother are the store-house of its nourishment, and promptly
reaches its mouth to them. What angel, so to say, is that which
whispers into its ears that this is the way to find nourishment ?
Surely, it is its instinct. It is this instinct which guides the infant
to its nourishment, before it is guided to it by its sense perception.
If you happen to have a cat in your house, you will notice what
she does when she gets pregnant. Suppose this is her first experience.
The moment she feels the time for delivery is approaching, she begins
t o search for a place of security for her offsprings-to-be. She ransacks
every nook and corner of the house for the right place. Once she
delivers her offsprings in that place, she seems to feel a sort of
apprehension for their safety, so much so, that she shifts them from
place to place. What is it which impels this cat to search out places
of security for its coming offsprings or what is it that gives the idea
to her that they would need security ? What is that which lets her
feel that the moment her offsprings come out, their enemy, the
he-cat, will be roaming about to sense and hunt them, and that she
shou!d change their place of security from moment to moment ?
Clearly this is the H i z y a t , the instihct provided in the cat by the
divine Rdfibiyat. This instinct is inherent in every living object
to open out for it the way to life and its nourishment.
The next stage in this scheme of direction is that of the senses,
and of the reasoning faculty. The lower animals, though they do not
possess the intellect which helps reasoning and reflection, have in
them the talent of sense-perception to the extent they need in their
particular spheres of life, by means of which they regulate and satisfy
their wants of life-their needs of habitation, food, reproduction
and safety. But this talent in them is not uniform. On the other
hand, it is given to each in proportion to its nee&. The mnee of
smell is very acute in the ant ; for, it is through this mnee that
it hae to fetch its food. The sight of the eagle and the vulture ie
very keen, for otherwk it cannot locate ita food from a height. It ie
unnecessary to find out whether thie talent in the lower animals
exists in them from the very day of their inception, or that it
develops in them gradually in reapom to the demande of their
environment. It is enough to know that this talent in them is the
gift of nature, and that the law of growth and development ie also
a law fixed by it.
In short, auch is the character of Nature's direction which the
Qur'iin designates as Waht or the inspiration stimulated by the
divine Rub6biyat. In Arabic Viahi meana intuition or inward
prompting or revelation. Indeed, it is a sort of nature's inward
whisper which suggests to every object of creation ita way of life.

And thy Lord revealed to the bee : "Provide thee habitation

in the hills and in the treea and in the hivea which men
provide for thee". (Q : 16 :68)24

And it is b this directive of Rubtibigat that the attention of M a w

was drawn when in reply to the question of Pharoah :

"Who is your Rubb ? " He was made to aay :

"Our Lord is He who hath given to everything its particular
form, and then directed its development ? " (Q : 20 : SO)*

It is this directive quality of Rubtibigat which is referred to aa the

smoothening of the passage of life in the following v e m :

Of what did God croate man ?

Out of moist g e m he created him and fashioned in m r d -
ance with his nature 76
And smoothened his paessge in life. (Q : 80 :18-20)

This "smoothening of the pasaage of life" is the direction of

instinct with which every object is endowed. For, were it not for
 DIVINE PROVTDENOE 31
thk direction of Nature, it would not have been possible for ua to
obtain our means of existence.
At a later stage of this work, you will come to know that the
Qur'iin speaks of four stages in the proom of creative activity
-TakhlQ (bringing into being), Tamijra' (giving it a proper-mould),
Tapdi'(amigning to it a specific role) and HidZyat (guidance) :

Praise the name of thy Lord, the Most High !

Who hath created, and balanced all things,
Who hath fixed their destinies, and grante them guidance
(in the passage of life). (Q : 87 : 1-3)#

EVIDENCE OF RUBOBIYAT It is for this reason that wherever the

Qur'a'n speaks of the existence of God, His unity and His attribub,
it seeks its evidence from the order of life subsisting in the universe.
It is this analogical deduction which forms the distinguishing feature
of the method of presentation which the Qqr'a'n observes. But
before any exposition of this method is attempted, it seems desirable
to explain soAe of the bases on which it rests. For, this aspect of
the Qur'iinic manner of presentation has, for reasons into which
one may not go here, been greatly neglected in the past, and neede,
therefore, to be traced afresh.

APPEAL TO REASON The primary and the most important feature

of the method of presentation observed by the Qur'Cn is the appeal
in reason that it .makes. It lays repeated emphasis on the search
for truth, and on the need of exercising one's reason and insight and
of reflecting over the inward and the outward experience of life
and drawing valid ooncluaions. In fact, there is no chapter in the
Qur'cin wherein it has not made an earnest appeal to man to reflect
over everything.

On earth are signs for men of jirm belief, and also in yo

own selvea : will ye not then notice them 9. (Q : 51 :20-1)
3
Man, mys the Qur'a'n, hae been endowed with reason and insight,
and 80, will he be held responsible for the proper exercise of thh
talent.
 Surely the hearing and the sight and the heart (of man), -
each of these shall be questioned. (Q : 17 : 3 ~ ) ~ ~

The Qur'En points out that in everything that the earth contains
and in every scene which the heavens present, and in every aspect
that life puts on, there are signs of deep import for man, if only he
cares to notice them.

And many as are the signs in the heavens and on the earth,
yet they will pass them by, and turn aside from them.
(Q : 12 : 1 0 5 ) ~

ORDER OF CREATION What is the truth that dawns on man when

he reflects over the working of the universe ? The Qur'cin says : the
first thing that will strike him will be this, that there is a universal
law of life, the law of Takhlfq-bil-Hag or of creation in right form,
which binds all things togzher. He will find that everything in the
universe is so designed that it is linked to every other under a single
principle of life, and that everything is fitted into this scheme for a
specific purpose, and that nothing is created in vain. He will find
that the entire order has a definite objective before it.

God hath created the heavens and'the earth for a serious end :
Verily in this is a sign (of divine purpose) to those who
believe. (Q : 29 :44)"

I n the chapter, Al Zmra'n, there occurs the well-known verse :

Our Lord ! All this, Thou haat not created in vain. (Q : 3 : 191)"
I n another place, the term TakhlZq-bil-B6.til is used aa a synonym
for tala'ub or mere sport.

We have not created the heavens and the earth and whatever
is between them in sport :
We have not created them but for a serious end :
but the greater part of them understand it not. (Q : 44 :
3~-91~)
 DIVINE PROVIDENCE 33
The Qur'6tt itself gives an exposition of the term used in the
above passage, the term Takhlq-biz-Bail, in more than one place.
For instance, a t one place,% draws attention to an aspect of its
connotation which eniphasizes that everything that exists does
not exist without its value to life, and that Nature itself desires
that whatever is to be fashioned, should be so fashioned that it
must contain within itself all that it needs for its welfare.

In right form hath He set the heavens and the earth : It is

of Him that the night returneth upon the'day, and that the
day returneth upon the night : and He controlleth the sun
and the moon, so that each speedet,h to an appointed goal.
Is He not the Mighty, the Gracious ? (Q : 39 : 5)"

In another place, while drawing attention to the benevolent working

of the planetary system, the same term Takhlq-bil-Haqis employed.

It is He who hath appointed the sun for brightness and the

moon for light, and hath ordained her stations that ye may
learn the numbering of years and the reckoning (of time).
God ]lath not created all this but for a serious end. He
maketh his signs clear to those who understand. (Q : 10 :

Yet in another place, the term is used to mean the beauty of nature
or to suggest that within the bosom of the universe or through
and through it, there is a t work a law of beauty or harmony which
demands that everything that fashions or shapes itself within it,
should be a thing of beauty or perfection.

He hath created the heavens and the earth in right form ;

and He hath fashioned you and given goodly forms.
(Q :64 : 3)%

In like manner, the Qur'iin cites the law of causation as being

implicit in the TakhEq-biLHuq. Everything in this world has a
talent appropriate to ita role in life and which in i b manifestation
has to produce a specific result. These talents or characteristics and
the resulta which flow from them are immutable. How then can
we\expect that the good or the evil character of our acltions will not
produce corresponding results ? Can the law of nature which die-
criminates between the good and the evil in everything fail to
operate only in the field of human action8 1

Deem they whose gettings are only evil, that we will deal
with them as with those who believe and do right, so that
their lives and deaths shall be alike ? I11 do they judge.
I n all truth hath God creat,ed the heavens and the earth
that he may ieward every one as he shall have wrought;
and they shall not be wronged. (Q :46 : 21-2)37

The 'lie hereafter' or the life after death is also governed by the
errme Takhliq-bil-Hap.Everything in the universe serves a purpcae
or moves-towards a specific goal. So it is with the life of man which
has a purpose to serve or a goal towards which it has to move. The
goal is the 'life hereafter'. For, it is imthinkable that man should
be created just to live for a few moments and then get completely
annihilated.

Have they not considered within themselves that God hath

not created the heavens and the earth and all that i between
them but for a serious end and for a fixed term ? But truly
most men believe not that they shall meet their Lard.
(Q:30 :8y8
In short, the basis of the Qur'inic argument is as follows :

(1) At the time when the &ur'Gn was delivered, the concept
of religion which prevailed everywhere was not only not allied
to reason but rested on mere beliefs. The *'fin on the
other hand, came forward to let religion take its stand on reason.
(2) The supreme appeal of the Qur'Gn is to reason and the
faculty of reflection. It invites everyone to study and reflect
over the world of creation.
(3) It says that the secret of Takhlfq-bil-iiap will disclose
itaelf through the study of creation. Ittherefore calls on man to
note that there is nothing that exista which has not to serve Borne
 DIVINE PROVIDENCE 36
purpose or other, and that everything fits into one supreme
scheme of life. Everything is, in ways peculiar to itself, linked to
every other under a definite system subserving a series of universe1
purposes.
(4) It says that when man reflects over those purpoaes, the
way to reality will open out before him by itself and relieve him
of all obsessions born of ignorance and intellectual and spiritual
blindness.

EVIDENCES OF RUB~BIYAT In this connection it has to be pointed

out that of all the manifestations of divine attributes which mark
the course of the,universe. the most universal on which the &ur'Zn
draws for its argument in support of the unity of God is that of
Rubti&iyat. The very fact that the working of the unibrse should
regulate itself in such a way that everything therein conttibutes
to life and growth and provides for every situation and every
condition, says the Qur'Zn, should instinctively raise the conviction
in man that there does exist a being who provides life to the entire
universe and looks after it and who for that purpose must necea-
narily possess certain specific attributes without the operation
of which such a complete m d flawless machinery of existence would
never have taken ita rise.
The Qu~'6nasks: Can the instinct of man ever impel him to
believe that all this machinery of life has of itself come into existence
and that no aim or purpose underlies it ? Is it possible that thia
machinery of existence which postulates clearly the hand of Prclvi-
dence, has no design for it whatsoever ? Does this entire order of
life owe ita existence to just a blind and deaf Nature, a lifeless matter,
or an insensitive electron, and not to a being poesessing a will of its
own and a directing intellect ?
If so, the position will be this. The function of Providence ia a t
work everywhere, and this without an agent behind it. There ie
d 4 g n in everything, and this without a designer. Mercy is dis-
pensed, and this without a merciful dispenser. In short, everything
is there, and this, without there being anything. The nature of
man can hardly agree to believe that there can ever be an action
without an actor, orderliness without a director, a plan without a
planner, a building without a builder, a design without a designer,
everything without the existence of anything. The very instinct
of man cries out that such cannot be the case. His very nature
is 80 constituted that it cannot but a h . It has no room for doubt
or disbelief.
The Qur'Zn points out that it is against the nature of man that
he should ponder over the working of the universe and yet deny
the exhtence of an all-embracing Providence. The &PlrY8nsap :
Man can deny everything under the stress of indifference or arrog-
ance, but he cannot deny his own nature. When he looks around
and hds that the hand of Providence ia at work everywhere, his
very nature will cry out that what he beholds cannot exist without
a Providence.
Be it noted that the method of presentation observed by the
Qur'Zn is not to offer postulates or intellectual poses and to base
its argument thereon. On the other hand, its appeal is t o man's
natural instincts andaptitudea. It points out that the sense of God
is inherent in human nature. If one denies it through indifference,
he nee& to be warned against that indifference. But the method to
employ for this should not wholly be intellectual in character. On
the other hand, it should be such a~ could touch his heart also and
mum hi conscience. Once that is done, he needs no argument to
bring conviction to him. That will come to him as a matter of
course. That ia why the Qur'Bn citee man's own nature as an
argumem against himeelf.

Nay, man is a telling witness against himself, although he

tenders excuses. (Q :76 : 14)"
That is why the Qur'Zn repeatedly addresses iteelf to human nature
and invites an answer from its very depths.
Say: Who supplieth you sustenance from the heavens,
and the earth 2 Who hath 'power over hearing and sight ?
And who bringeth forth the living from the dead, and
bringeth forth the dead from the living ? And who ruleth
over all things ?
'I'hey will surely say : "God". Then say :
What ! .Will ye not therefore be mindfd of Him ? Such then
ie God, your true Lord: and when truth in gone, what
 DIVINE PROVIDENCE 37
remaineth but error? How then are ye so perverted Z
(Q: 10 :31-2)"
The Qur'dn asks further :

Say : Is God the more worthy or the gods they join with
Him ?
IRnot He (the more worthy) who hath made the heavens
and the earth, and hath sent down rain to you from the sky
by which we cause luxuriant groves to spring up ? It is not
in your power to cause the trees there to grow. What ! A god
with God ? Yea ! They are people who ascribe equals (unto
Him).
Is not He (the more worthy) who hath set the earth so h,
and placed rivers in ita fold and hath placed mountains upon
it and set a barrier between the two seas ? What! A god
with God ? Nay, most of them know not.
Is not He (the more worthy) who answereth the oppressed
when they cry to Him, and taketh off their ills, and maketh
you t o succeed your sires on the earth ? What ! A god with
God ! Little do they reflect !
Is not He (the more worthy) who guideth you in the darkneaa
of the land and of the sea, and who sendeth forth the winds
as heralds of His mercy ? What ! A god with God ? Far from
God be, the Exalted High, what ye join with Him !
Is not He (the more worthy) who projects creation, then
reneweth it, and who supplieth you out of the heavens and
the earth ? What ! A god with God ? Say : Bring forth your
proofs if ye speak the truth. (Q :27 : 60-4)''

Every one of the questions raised here is a definite argument in

itself; for, to every one of these questions there is but one answer,
and that is what human nature itself so forcibly furnishes. Our
dialecticians of the past missed to take note of this. They failed to
appreciate the Qur'iinic method of presentation, and in consequence
lost themselves in far-fetched conceits.
The innumerable references made in the Qur'iin to the means of
life provided for every object in the universe and to the diverse
aspects of its system of life and growth form, in fact, the baais of
the Qur'hic argument.

Let man look at his food ;

I t waN We who (first) rained down the copious rains,
Then cleft the earth with clefts,
And caused the up-growth of the grain, ""

And grapes and healing herbe,

And fruits and herbage.
For the service of yourselves and of your cattle. (Q : 80 :
24-32)"

Reflect here over the phrase, 'Let man look'. However

indifferent man may grow, or avoid to face the realities of life, them
realities will in their vast scope and universality always stare him
hard in the face. One may shut his eyes to everything in the world ;
but he cannot shut them to the means of his own sustenance. Let
him look at the food he places before himself. What is it - a grain
of wheat. Well ! Let him place that grain into the hollow of his hand,
and let him think over what stages has it had not to pase through
before it could emerge in its present form. Waa it possible for hie
insignificant grain to have come into existence had not the entire
frame-work of l i e participated actively in its growth, and that, in a
particular manner ? And when such a system of organized co-
operation is a t work, could it be said that it has no organizer to
direct its operati~n? In the chapter, Ncshal, the argument ia
presented in another form.

Ye have ( a h ) a lesson in the cattle.

We give you drink of the pure milk from between dtega and
blood, which is in their belliea - pure beverage palatable
to them that quaff it.
And from the fruits of the palm and the vine,
Ye get wine and healthful nutriment ;
in this, verily, there are eigne for those who reflect.
And.thy Lord hath revealed to the bee, saying :
" Provide thee habitations in the hille, and in the trees, and
in the hivea which men do provide for thee.
 DIVINE PROVIDENCE 39
Feed then on every kind of fruit, and pursue the ways of
your Lord." From its belly cometh forth a fluid of varying
hues which yieldeth medicine to man. In this, verily, are
signs for the thoughtful. (Q : 16 : 66-9f3

Even as the Qur'iin has cited the world of creation for a proof of
the existence of a creator, so also, has it referred to the order of
life and growth in the universe not only to prove the existence of a
directing mind, but to establish that, even as this order is flawless
and complete, so must be the mind that regulates it.
One may express this in plainer form. We notice that everything
in this world needs'sustenance and is provided with it. Surely, there
must be some one who could provide it. Who then could it be ?
Certainly not the on-ho himself is in need of sustenance. Read
the following verses where this method of argument is employed :

What think ye ? That which ye sow -

Ie it ye who oause it to grow, or do We cause it to spring
forth ?
If We pleased, We could so make your harvest dry and brittle
that ye would lament and say: "Truly have we incurred
expense, yet are we deprived of harvest".
What think ye of the water ye drink ?
Is it ye who send it down from the clouds, or We ?
Brackish could We make it, if We pleased ?
Will ye not then be thankful ?
What think ye of the fire you strike ?
Is it ye who rear for it the trees or do We rear ?
It is We who have made it as a remembrancer, and a benefit
to the way-farer of the desert. (Q : 56 :63-73)'"

ORDER OF PROVIDENCE AS ARGUMENT FOR DIVINE UNITY. Likewise,

the &ur'iin bases its argument for diirine unity on the order of life
subsisting in the universe.

0 men ! Adore your Lord who hath created you and thoae
who were before you : haply you may be mindful of
Him.
 Who hath made the earth a bed for you and the heaven a
covering, and hath caused water to come down from heaven,
'
and by it hath brought forth fruits for your sustenance 2
-45
Do not therefore set up knowingly rivals to God. (Q : 2 :21-2)
0 men ! Bear in mind the favour of God towards you. Is
there a creator other than God who nourisheth you with
the gifts of heaven and earth ? There is no god but He !
How then are ye turned aside from Him { a
ORDER OF PROVIDENCE AS ARGUMENT FOR DIVINE REVELATION In
like manner, the Qur'En draws from this very order of divine
Providence the principle of good and evil that is a t work in the
life of men, and draws also the argument for divine revelation.
It is not co~lceivablethat the God of all the worlds - of all creation
-who has provided the m a n s of physical growth and development
for everything, should omit to devise a system or law of life which
could attend to the spiritual needs of man. Even as in the realm
of physical life, a system is provided to sustah the spiritual life of
man and that is the provision of what is called divine revelation.

The revelation of the Book in from God, the Mighty, the

Wise !
Assuredly in the heavens and the earth are signs for those
who believe,
And in your own selves : and in the animals scattered abroad
are signs for those firm in faith :
And in the succession of night and day, and in what God
sendeth down of sustenance from the clouds whereby He
giveth life to the earth when dead, and in the change of the
winds, are signs for a people of discernment.
Such are the signs of God : with truth do We recite them
to thee. But in what word believe, if they reject
God and His signs ? (Q :46 :1-6
The Qur'En is certamly aware of those who doubt the principle
of revelation.

No just estimate do they form of God when they say:

"Nothing hath God revealed to man". (Q : 6 : 91)"
 DIVINE PROVIDENCE 41
For such, the Qur'in presents the analogy of the physical world
so as to suggest by implication that even as the physical needs of
man are provided in an organized. form, so also there does exist
an organized form of for his spiritual needs.
Verily God causeth the grain and the date stone to sprout
forth : He bringeth forth the living from the dead, .and the
dead from the living ! This is God ! Why then, are ye turned
aside from Him ?
He causeth the dawn to appear, and hath ordained the night
for rest, and the sun and the moon for computing time ! The
ordinance of the Mighty, the Wise !
And it is He who hath ordained the stars for you that ye
may be guided thereby in the darkness of the land and of the
sea ! Clear have we made our signs to men of insight.
(Q : 6 : 95-9)"
ORDER O F PROVIDENCE, AN ARGUMENT FOR THE LIFE HEREAFTER.
Similarly, the Qu~'ilzbases its argument for the life hereafter on the
analogy of the visible, mundane system of divine Providence in the
phenomenal world. A thing which has been devised with such
meticulous care and circumspection has always a meaning to offer
and purpose to serve. An object like the human being who is made
to appear the best of objects on earth and for whose development
so much has been carefully provided, is certainly not meant to be
a thing which has no better purpose to serve than to strut on
earth for a while and disappear for ever. The Creator of the
universe who has created everything for a specific purpose will not
throw away the best of his creation, viz., man, as a piece of no
value or little consequence.
"What ! Did you think that We had created you in vain
and that ye should not be brought back to us ? " Wherefore,
let God be exalted, the King, the Truth ! There is no god
but He ! Lord of the stately throne ! (Q : 23 : 115-6150
So far, we have presented the idea after the simple manner of
the Qur'ilz. In the language of science, however, we may state that
man is the latest and the noblest link in the process of creative
evolution on the earth. If we look back across time to the very
Gret impulses of life, the life on earth will be found to be an im-
measurably lengthy evolutionary procesa aiming a t and culminating
in the completion of man. In other words, Nature has taken billions
of yeam in its endeav6ur to give shape to its noblest p i m of art,
viz., man. Visualize to yourself the far-off distant event of the past
when this planet of earth was thrown out of the moulten mam of
matter, the Sun, and the long period that it must have taken to
cool and acquire equable temperature and become fit for life to
grow thereon. Who knows how long did it take before the first
germ of life, now called protoplasm, could emerge, or how long it
took to mould a body for it, and carry it forward from a lower
form to a higher, and so on, till it could assume its present human
shape ? And even then, who knows how long it must have taken to
build the requisite intellect for him before man could take hie
station on the cultural plane ? We shall not be wrong if we m r t
that all that has been wrought since the formation of the earth
ia but one long story of man's growth and development.
The question arises: Shall an object in the shaping of which
nature has had to make such prolonged careful arrangement was
meant just to eat and drink for a little moment on earth and get
extinguished for ever ?
A further question arises as a corollary. If the life of man has
in the past undergone an endleas series of changes only to aeeume
a higher form every time, why should we not expect a continuation
of the same process in future ? When we are not surprised a t the
process in the past of one phase of life emerging out of another
in succession, why should we grow sceptical, when it is said that
the present form of human life disappears only to assume a still
higher form ?

Thinketh man that he is to be left to drift ?

Was he not a mere germ in the seminal state,
And was he not then made into a clot of blood,
Out of which God fashioned him, and made him perfect 1
(Q: 75 :36-8)'l

-
Chapter LI entitled A1 DMn'ycst Scatterem, is devoted chiefly
to the subject of requit& dCn, or the consequence in the life
 DIVINE PROVIDENCE 43
hemafter of what one does in this. "8 d y ",etatea the Qur'i~,
"it is
the truth of which you are forewarned. Judgment ia enre to be
delivered". The idea is emphasized by a refem08 to the functioning
of R h i b i p t in nature.

By the clouds which scatter with scattering,

By those (winds) which bear their load,
And by those which speed lightly along, 92
And those which apportion by command ! (Q : 51 :1-4)

This b reinforced by an appeal to the facts of life :

And in the earth are signa for those who are of firm belief,
And also in your own selves :
Will ye not then notice them ?
The heaven hath sustenance for you. and containeth that
which ye are promised. (Q :51 : 2@12)?

To clench the whole issue, the Qur'En asserts :

By the Lord of the heaven and of the earth, verily, this ie

W
the truth even as ye speak yourselves. (Q :21-3)

The a h a t i o n is emphatic and amounts to suggest that even

aa provisions of this life are provided by Gad, even so, a recompense
in the life to follow is provided by God for every action one doea
in this life.
The method followed by the Qecr'iin to bring home its truths is
not that of logic involving complicated argumentation, On-theother
hand, its appeal is direct and straightforward. Its quwtions posed
prompt appropriate answera. Indeed, the answera are implied in the
very manner of its questioning. That ie why it very often framee
ita appeal in forms of addrees such as :"0men ! S e ~ your e Lord"
-"Serve Allah, my Lord and your ?hrdnlf."~erily, Allah is my
Lord and your Lord, so, serve ~ i m " ~ " ~ is h Allah,
is your Lord ;
eo serve ~ i m " E "of a truth, -this. your faith is the one faith and
I am your Lord ;therefore serve"%Say : will ye dispute with us
about M,when He is our Lord and your Lord." ?w
 It ia a matter for deep regret that our commentators of the
Qur'cin have failed to notice this peculiarity of the Qm'lnic presenta-
tion. Losing themselves in dialectical disquisitions, they have
neglected to note and appreciate the straightforward method of
the Qur'Bn. The result ia that the spirit of the Qur'cin has been kept
in the background on their account.
 SECTION
IV

Divine Benevolence
Rahmat
 DIVINE BENEVOLENCE: R A H M A T

Al-Ra?mGrt, ALRahim :The Benevolent, The Mewiful

THE terms Al-Ra&Mn and Al-RahZvn are derived from Rahmat.

The term ~~ in Arabic is used to denote the type of tenderness
which stimulates in one the urge to show kindness to others. Its
connotation is wide enough to cover the qualities of love, compas-
sion, benevolence and generosity.
The two terms Al-RahGn and Al-Rahim,, though both are
derived from the same root of Rahmat, denote two separate aspects
of it.. Al-RahmrZn means the being who possesses Rahmat ; and
Al-&him means the being who not merely possesses Ra?tmat but
gives perennial expression to it, and from whom everything in the
universe derives goodness every moment.
The purpose of the Qar'iin in bringing to mind the two aspecta
together is to emphasize the all-embracing character of the Rahmat
of God.

And my Rahmat encompasseth everything in the universe.

(Q: 7 :~ 6 ) ~ '
M ~ ~ ABut T what is this &hmt of Gpd ? The Qur'iin point8 out
that whatever beauty or perfection that there is in life, is but an
expression of the divine Rahmt.
When we reflect over the life of the universe, the most pointed
reality that strikes us is the order that subsists therein - the
NizrZm-i-Rubfibiyat. It is through this order that we are introduced
to Nature : and when we get to know it a little closer, we realize
that a greater reality than this order is a t work everywhere and
on which this very order depends.
And what is the objective of this order, this Rubfibiyat ? It is
sustenance of life in the universe. But sustenance alone is not the
whole objective. Something greater than this is in view. Sustenance
is but a means to the development of beauty in everything. We
notice that there is a design in the life of the universe, and that
47
 48 TARJUMHN AL-QUR'AN
there is beauty in this design. There is in its disposition the sense
of balance. Its actions display specific attributes. In its visage
there is beauty. In its voice there is music. In its smell there is
perfume, and there is nothing about it which does not contribute
to the upkeep of its edifice. This aspect of life is greater in its
reaches than the orderliness (Rubiibiyat) that dwells therein. And
this reality the Qur'Cn designatks as Rah9nclt, an attribute which
displays the qualities both of Al-R.uh&n and Al-Rahim, the
graciousness and merdifulness of God.

THE DESIGN OF THE UNIVERSE AN OUTCOME OF DIVINE BENE-

VOLENCE The machinery of life would not have come into existence,
if every action of it were not endowed with thd talent for steady
perfection. And why this talent ? The aim is to create and not to
destroy, to produce harmony and not disorder. And why so ? The
intellect of man has wrangled over this fact of life and has found
no intelligible explanation. But the Qur'cZlz points out that this is
so, because of the Rahsnat pervading the nature of the universe,
and because the demand of Rahmat is to produce harmony; so
mnch so, that a definite design underlies the formation of the
universe and the constitution of every object therein. The provision
of the elements of life in fhed quantities is a sign of balance or
proportion. There is balance in the disposition of each object. There
is .balance in t.he growth and development of everything leading to
perfection. It is the quality of balance which marks every creative
activity.
But why should there be any balance or harmony in the nature
of the universe ? Why should the elements whenever they mix with
each other do so in certain proportion, or why matter should
display at all the quality of proportion and not transgrem it ?
Human knowledge stands bewildered and can offer no reply. But
the Qur'zn asserts that this is so because the Creator of the universe
is Himself tlie God of grace or mercy, Rahmt, and that this grace
of His seeks expression, and naturally therefore what is expressed
must necessarily be a thing of beauty, grace, or an embodiment of
harmony.
Philosophy points out that the urge of N a m is to aim a t form and
beauty. Form demands proportion, and beauty demands harmony.
 DIVINE B E N E V O L E N C E 49
The two constitute this compulsive law of life. But the question
arises : Why this compulsiveness ? Why harmony, and not the
reverse of it ? Philosophy fails to give an answer to these questiana.
In the words of a renowned philosopher, "Where 'why' begins,
philosophy ends". But the Qur'Znoffers an answer. This compulsive-
ness, it points oyt, is the compulsiveness of divine grace. The mercy
of God demands that whatever comes into being must be good and
beautiful, and so it is. Asks the Qur'cia:

Say : Whose is all that is in the heavens and the earth ?

Say : God's He haeh imposed mercy on Himself as a law.
(Q :6 : 1 2 ) ~
(0
My mercy compasseth all things. (Q : 7 : 156)

We notice that whatever exists in the universe or whatever

comes into being possesses a particular quality of its own, and
that these qualities fulfil certain specific needs of our life. The
Sun. the moop, the stars, air, rain, rivers, oceans, and mountains
have their own special qualities and they contribute to our comfort.

And He hath subjected to you all that is in the heavens and

all that is on the earth : All is from Him. Verily, herein are
signs for those who reflect. (& : 45 : 13)&
It is God who hath created the heavens and the earth, and
who sendeth down water from the heavens, and so bringeth
forth fruits for your food : And h e hath subjected to you
the ships, so that by His command they pass through the
sea ; and He hath subjected the rivers to you : and He hath
subjected to you the sun and the moon in their constant
courses : and He hath subjected the day and the night to
you : of everything which ye 8sk of Him, giveth He to you ;
and if ye would reckon of the favours of God, ye cam24
count them ! Surely, man is unjust, not grateful. (Q : 14 : 3'2)
' 34

Look a t the earth ! Its surface is spread over with fruits and
flowers. On it streams of water flow. From the depths of the earth
come out gold and silver. Although its surface is curved, it is so
formed that for us it looks like a levelled up ground.
 . And He it ie who hath outatretched the earth and
on it firm mountains and flowing streams ; and of every fruit
He hath provided two kinds. He causeth the night to
enshroud the day. Verily, herein are signs for those who
reflect. And on the earth hard by each other are its various
portions : gardens of grapes and corn, and palm trees, single
or clustered. Though watered by the same water, yet some
make We more excellent as food than other : Verily in all
this are signs for those who understand. (Q : 13 : 3 - 4 1 ~ ~
And now have We established you on the earth, and given
you therein the supports of life. How little do jre give thsnke !
(Q: 7:30)~'
Similarly look a t an ocean. On its surface float ships, and
down below flutter fishes, and further down in its depths pearla
and corals are formed.
And look ! He it is who hath subjected the sea to you, that
ye may eat of its fresh fish, and take forth from it ornaments
to wear ; look ! The ships plough its billows that ye may go
in quest of His bounties, and that ye might give thanks.
(Q : 16 : 14)6e
Behold the animal life ! The cattle roaming on the earth, the
birds wafting in the air, the fishes fluttering in water are all there
to benefit us.

And the cattle! For you hath He created them : in them ye

have warm garments and gainful uses ; and of them ye eat :
And ye have a sense of beauty in them when ye fetch them
home, and when ye drive them to pasture. And they carry
your burdens to lands which ye could not else reach but
with hardship. Truly, your Lord is full of goodness and
compassion.
And He hath created horses, mules and asses, that ye may
ride them, and for your ornament: and things of which ye
have no knowledge hath He created. (Q : 16 : ~ 8 ) ~ ~
And in the existence of the cattle, there is great food for
reflection. We give you drink of the pure milk between drege
 DIVINE BENBVOLENCE 51
and blood which i~ in their belliea -pure milk, e a g and
agreeable to swallow for those who drink. (Q :16 : 66)
And God hath givexi you h o w to dwell in : and He hath
given you skim of beasta for tents, that ye may find them
hght when ye shift your quartem, or when ye halt; and
from their wool and soft fur and hair hath He supplied
you with goods that ye might me for a time. (Q : 16 :8 3 )

Man, however uncivilized or narrow hie life, is never inseneith

to the good that hh surroundings offer. Take the case of even a
humble wood-cutter. Sitting in front of hie hut, he may not be a b b
to interpret what he beholds around him, but he certainly feels
that everything around him contributes to his comfort. When he
f a b ill, he eats the herbs close to him to cure his illneas. When
he feels the heat of the sun, he seata himself under the shade of
frees. In hours of unoccupation, he cools his eyes by looking at
p e n fields and beautiful flowers. The trees around provide him
with fruit. When they dry up, they supply planks for him.In hie
hearths, theyglow into flames and help him to cook his food and so
forth.

(It is He) who even out of the green trees hath 'ven on
fire, and indeed, ye kindle fire from it.. (Q : a:8q#

AU these benefits you do receive. But who can say what all
pnrpoaea Nature may serve ! Man knows only a few of them.

And none 9 w e t h the hosts of thy Lord but Himeelf.

(Q :74 :31)

Be it kept in view that nature has d.evised this acheme of utility

in mch a fashion that all living objects are served simultaneouQ
with what they need without distinction. Even arc man living in a
mansion may feel that the entire creation exists only for him, even
so, an ant may say that everything subserves its needs. And who
can deny this ? Does not the sun in reality exist to provide warmth
to the ant, the rains come to offer moisture to it, and the air waft
to bring the smell of sugar to ite noetrib 1 Doee not the eartb
exist to provide the type of shelter this ant needs in every changing
mason?The blessings of Nature follow a law of their own which are
of universal and simultaneous application to everything that exists.

No kind of animal is there on earth, nor bird that flieth

with its wings, but they are communities like unto you.
(Q : 6 :38)"

SPLITTING AND BUILDING One should not forget that the world
of life is one of conflict. Here splitting is accompanied .by building.
Every gathering has a counter dispersal. Even as the breaking of
stones is meant only to carve out a thing of beauty, even so, the
process of destruction in the universe only subserves the demands
of a beauteous construction. Nature builds every corner of the
edifice of life assiduously. It moulds every tiny part of it with
equal care. In the interest of beauty, it counters obstruction. I t is
this urge for perfection which sometimes has to produce convulsions
or catastrophies, although these are not in reality, evidences of
deetruction. In fact, there is no destruction anywhere in life. All
that happens is proof of construction. The storms in bhe oceans,
the high floods in the rivers, the volcanic eruptions in the mountains,
the snowfalls over the trees, the hot winds of summer, the thunders
of the rainy season and clouds and hurricanes - all those may not
be pleasing. Bat you may not know that every disturbing event in
the frame-work of life is as such a contributory force for perfection
as anything that you may think of. Were there no storms in the
ocean, you will not have rains on the plains. Were the clouds to
produce no lightning, you will have no rain at all. Were there no
volcanic eruptions in mountains, the boiling lava within the bosom
of the earth will burst out and spread over its surface. You may
question, why at all there should be boiling lava within the earth.
But you should know that but for it, the quality of growth and
development in the things of the earth would never have displayed
itself. It is to this fact of life that the Qur'612 draws repeated
attention, as for instance, in the chapter entitled Rum (Rome).

And of His signs are, that He showeth you the lightning,

a source of awe and hope ; and that He sendeth down rain
 DIVINE BENEVOLENCE 53
from the heavens and giv th life by it to the earth when dead.
Herein are signs for those who understand. ( \*4>''
THE BEAUTY OF NATURE The greatest blessing of nature is its
beauteous aspect. Nature does not simply destroy and conetruct;
it constructs in a manner pleasing to the eye. Take a compre-
hensive view of the entire universe or look a t any part or corner
of it. There is a veil of beauty spread over i t ; so much so, that
the entire universe looks like an exhibition house of beauty working
deliberately for proportion and balance in every particle of it and
thereby releasing forces for an all-round bliss for everything.
In fact, the very nature of the universe is constituted of beauty.
Even as elements were created to give a form to the universe, even
so was it invested with the qualities of colour, light and shade, and
of rhythm-and melody in order to lend beauty to it.

This is He who knoweth what is out of our knowledge and

what is within it, the Mighty, the Merciful, who hath made,(
everything which He hath created most perfect. (Q: 32: 6-7)

There is no doubt that you meet in life things of ugly bearing

standing close to objects pleasing to the eye. You listen to the
melodious note of the nightingale along with the disturbing note of
the crow. The composite melody of life is to be composed of a
diverse variety of notes. Such is the law of harmony in life.

The seven heavens and the earth raise their voice of praise,
neither is there aught which doth not celebrate his praise ;
n
bnt their notes of praise, ye understand not. (Q : 17 : 44)

Human intellect has yet to unravel the mystery underlying the

process of splitting and building a t work in Nature. The Qur'gn
points out that this is so, because its creator is both Al-Rahm-n
and Al-RahTm, and that the attribute of grace in Him is out to
seek expression. Divine grace has the talent, on the one hand, to
endow man with the ca.pacity to extract joy and happiness from
the world of phenomena, and, on the other, to invest the
things of nature with a beauty such as shall not fail to attract the
human eye.
 Bleat therefore be God, the moet excellent of makern.
(Q:23 : \4lYe
COMFORT PROVIDED BY NATURE We are 80 much 0b8eeeed with
artificial and man-made comforts that we ecarcely pause to think
of the comforta provided by Nature, and eometimes even belittle
their importance. If we could but give up our indifference for a
little while, we shall be able to appreciate the boundleee vieta of
beauty which Nature protrides for us a t every turn and without
which life will cease to bear any charm. It is not possible to visualize
the state of mind where this eense of beauty has ceased to exist.
It will assuredly mark a phaae in the process of death.
Imagine for a moment that there is a world in existence, but
it is bereft of all eew of beauty and every urge for it. The sky is
there, but it ha8 not that pleasing auburn look about it. The stare
ere there, but without their shining glamour. The treea are there,
but without leavea. Flowers are there, but without fragrance
or colour. The form of things is there, but without proportion. How
w h t f u l the prospect for one to live in a world such aa this ! It
will be a dreadful world past comprehension.
But the power which hae given ua the gift of life has thought it
necessary to favour us with the most precious of gifte, the @t of
beauty also. On the one hand, the sense of beauty is ingrained in
us, and on the other, beauteous objecta are provided to behold on.
It i this arrangement which br@ ua the conviction that the
divine attribute of grace (Rahmat)is at work everywhere. If behind
the veil of life, only the attribute of creation was a t play, grace
denied, there would not have been about us all this manifestation
of Nature's benevolence.

See Ye not how God hath put under you all that is in the
havens and all that is in the earth, and hath been bounteous
to you of His favom, both for soul and body.
But some are there who dispute of God without knowledge,
and have no guidance and no illuminating Book. (Q : 31 :2 0 ) ~

The universal weaknean in the diipoeition of man is that he doea

not properly appreciate the value of a gift until it. is withdrawn
 DIVINE BENEVOLENCE 55
from him. The world is provided with beauty in abundance and of
comfort for man. This very abundance renders him insensitive to
their value in life. The Qur'bn repeatedly draws attention to this
cummon-place experience.

Of everything which ye ask him, giveth He to you ;and if ye

would reckon up the favours of God, ye cannot count them !
Surely man is unjust and ungrateful. (Q: 14 : 34)80

Nature hae endowed man not only with a form in proper propor-
tion, but hae a t the name time given him an inward form, equally
balanced. It is this inward equipment which distinguishes man from
the other a n i d . It is this which generates in him the light of
intelligence and reason.

God hath brought you out of your mother's womb with

little knowledge of anything, but hath given you hearing
and aight, and heart that haply ye might render thank^.
(Q:16 :~ 8 ) ~ '
The m t e and mpteries penetrating the frame-work of W e ' i
innumerable. They are not easy to unravel, even in the case of tha
most seemingly insignificant creation. Even ants and worma are
endowed with senses of their own and with intelhgence. How did
the composition of matter in them project these qualities for them 1
The Qur'iira ata* that such wae the demand of fihmat, the attribute
of gram in God. The demand of divine grace -waa to endow them
with an inward beauty.

This is He who knoweth what is out of our knowledge and

what is within it, the Mighty, the Merciful, who hath made
everything which He hath created most perfect ; and began
the creation of man with clay ;
Then ordained his progeny from germs of life, from mcrcm
water ;
Then shaped him, and breathed of His spirit into him, and
gave him hearing and wing and heart ; What little t h a h
do ye return ! (Q:32 :$-qoa
~URVIVAL OF THE USEFUL A f o m of life with an inward and
outward beauty would not have maintained itself f o ~long unless
provision was made to sustain that beauty and to rid it of all that
affected it. This provision is styled as 'Nature's Seiection'. Nature
is ever a t work to clear weeds and preserve that which deserves
preservation. This process is styled as the survival of the fittest.
But the Qur'gnic emphasis is not on the physical aspects of things
but on one's usefulness to life in general. It points out that only
that continues to live which has some usefulness about it, or some-
t h i i good to offer to life in general. This is so because the divine
attribute of Rafimat leta live only that which is good and useful to
life.

He sendeth down the rain from heavens : then flow the

torrents in their due measure, and t h e flood beareth along a
swelling foam. And from the metals which are moulten in the
fire for the sake of ornaments or utensils, a like foam ariseth.
In this way doth God depict truth and falsehood. As to the
foam, it is quickly gone : and as to what is useful to man,
it remaineth on the earth. (Q : 13 : 1 7 f 3

GRADUAL PROCESS, AND SLOW ACTION The laws of nature are so

devised that they do not work for sudden or dramatic metamor-
phosis in anything. On the other hand, they proceed on certain
steady lines. Their movement or operation follows an evo~utionary
procedure. The Qur'dn makes this clear. While it affirms, "Whatever
(law of life) We have decreed is una1terable"~:t points out a t the
same time that, "We do not impose any undue hardship on man
on that account". (Q :50 : 2 8 y ~ a t u r ehas fixed for everything a
period of growth and life and this proceeds in a progressive manner,
every stage displaying what is pertinent to it.

APPOINTED TIME Look a t the laws of life and death. The life of a
thing advances slowly and steadily from its growth across the
stages of its development, and then even as slowly and as steadily,
it passes its stages of decline till its final stage marked by death.
The phenomenon is observable not merely in the life of man, but
in the life of every other creation. For everything is set a period,
 DIVINE BENEVOLENCE 57
or ajal as styled by the &'En. And this period varies .with every
object of creation ; so much so, that what is but a moment with
nature, may seem a thousand years in the life of man.

And verily, a day with thy Lord is as a thousand years as

ye reckon them ! (Q:22 : 47)&

This gradual process of Nature is also called Takwk in the Qur'En.

The day does not dawn instantly in all its brightness. It comes in
elowly, even as the night.

For a serious purpose, hath He created the heavens and the

earth : it is of Him that the night returneth upon the day,
and that the day returneth upon the night : and He
troleth the sun and the moon to an appointed goal. (Q: 39 : 5)

This process of gradualness is evidently intended, in its application

t;o human life, to help man pause and reflect at every stage and
adjust himself with the laws inherent in him or operating in the
process. The provision of this opportunity for correction is a provi-
sion of Rahmat or the grace of God. The Qur'En says that were
this provision absent from life's equipment, none would have
profitted by life, and every slip would have spelt ruination to it.

If God should chastise men according to their deserts, he

would not leave any moving thing on the surface of the
earth. But to an appointed term, doth He respite them. And
when their time shall come, then verily God's eye is on his
servants. (Q: 35 :45f"

The evolutionary process is applied equally well to the upward

and the downward march in life. In the upward march, it allows
time for easy gathering of perfection from stage to stage ; and on
the downward path, it allows time to make amends.

To all-both to these and those, the good and the bad people
- do we prolong the gifts of thy Lord ; for not to any shall
the gifts of thy Lord be denied. (Q : 17 :,2Qa9
 If man desires to profit by the latitude furnished by this procees,
he can in proper time make amends for every mishap, and march
upward. On the other hand, if he misses the opportunities so
afforded, he steadily goes down till the inevitable decree, implicit
in his behaviour, imposes itself on him, and none can help man
a t that stage.

And when Oheir term is come, they shall not delay or advance
it an hour. (Q : 16 : 61)"'

ZEST FOR LIFE Take another example. The life of man is marked by a
strukgle for existence. This you will notice in every field of life and
a t every corner of it. Life taken as a whole is a series of trials.
91
Surely, we have created man to face trials. (& : 90 : 4)

Notwithstanding the presence of this struggle m life, human

nature is so fashioned that under the stress of desires and passions,
man enthusiastically engages himself in one or other activity. It is
this zest for life that helps him to bear life's difficulties, and extract
from it the comfort and happiness that he needs. The greater the
difficulties to counter, the greater the zest that one displays for life.
Should life be emptied of its trials, man will assuredly feel a void
and come to reg;trd it as not worth pursuing.
Mark ! There is so much of variety in life. Different dispositions,
tempers, occupations and purposes cross and recross each other ;
and yet, one and all, men and women, high and low are equally
obsessed with life, and no one can say whose obsession is the greater.
Mark again ! The delivery of a child is a serious trial for a mother,
and equally arduous is the trial of bringing it up. She sacrifices
every comfort for the sake of her child. Examples of similar ordeale
may be multiplied. But no one will feel a t home with life, if life
is bereft of its difficulties and trials. It is through them that happi-
ness emerges, and this is the Rahmat of God. It is this Ra$nzat
which produces pleasure in pain. Such is its demand.
The Qur'iin very often draws attention to the different aspects of
peace in life. Man by nature dislikes monotony and uniformity.
Contrarieties and contradictions both in nature and in the life of
 DIVINE BENEVOLENCE 59
man exist side by side, acting and reacting on each other so as to
contribute to peace in life. It is in this context that the Qur'Cm
speaks of the alternating behaviours of the night and the day. In
them lie concealed innumerable signs for the thoughtful. Had time
been one continuous night or day, life would have become an
impossibility.

Verily, in the creation of the heavens and of the earth, a ~ d

in the succession of the night and of the day, are signs for
92
men of understanding. (Q : 3 : 190)

It is this difference between night and day that has divided life
into two parts. The light of the day is to help man engage himself
in life's activities, and the darkness of the night to induce in him
the urge for rest. The activity of the day is succeeded by the reat
of the night, and the rest of the night ushers in a fresh day of
activity.

Of his mercy, He hath made for you the night that ye may
take your rest in it :and the day, that ye may seek what ye
may need out of his bounteous provisions, and that ye map
give thanks. ((0 : 28 : 73f'

Not merely this, but even the time of day is a succession of

varied phases, all tending to sustain our zest in life.

Glorify God therefore when ye reach the evening and when

ye rise a t morn : And to Him be praise in the heaven, and
on the earth ; and a t twilight, and when ye rest a t noon.
(Q : 30 : 177

Let man look a t his own being and look a t the animal world.
How nicely does nature let its variegation promote its charm !

And of men and reptiles and animals various are the hues.
(Q:35 :28f5
The same phenomenon ia observable in the world of plants.
60 T A R J UAM
L - QIUN
R'HN
Have they not beheld the earth- how we have
every kind of noble plant to spring up therein ?' (Q : 26 :7' )
And of all varied hues that He hath created for you over
the earth : verily, in this there are signs for those who
97
remember. (Q : 16 : 13)
He it is who produceth gardens of vine, trellised and un-
trellised, and the palm trees, and the.corn of various food
98
and olives and ~omegranates,like and unlike. (Q : 6 : 141)

The same is observed in the geological sphere of life.

And (seest thou not) that on the mountains are tracks of

varied hues white and red, and others are of a raven black ?
39
(Q : 35 : 27)

TAZWTJ -LAW OF PRODUCING A THING BY TWOS This law of variety

in life expresses itself in wha.t is called by the Qur'dn, Tazwij' or
Tathnia - the law of producing a thing by twos. Nothing is
produced solitarily single. It always comes out in twos, one being
a complement to the other. The day has its counter part in the
night; the morning in the evening ; and male in the female species,
man in woman, life in death.

And of every thing, ha;gWe created pairs ; that haply ye

may reflect. (Q : 51 : 49)
Glory be t,o Him, who hath created pairs of all things of
what the earth groweth, and of mankind themselves, and of
things beyond their ken. (Q : 36 : 36)"'

MAN AND WOMAN I t is this law of nature which has classified the
human species into two sexes, viz. ma,le and female, and infused
into them the talent for mutual attractkn, providing thereby the
requisite opportunity for family life.

Creator of the heavens and of the earth ! I-Ie hath given

you mates from among your own selves, and cattle, male
102
and feixale--by this means to multiply you. (Q : 42 : 11)
 DIVINE BENEVOLENCE 61
The Qur'Zn states that this arrangement is devised to induce
love between them and peace of mind, so that through their joint
co-operation, t.hey might wit.h coddence bear and counter the
trials of life.

And one of His signs it is, that He hath created mates for
you of your own species, that ye may dwell wit.h them, and
hath put love and tenderness between p u . Herein truly are
signs for those who reflect. (Q : 30 :21) O 3

It ie this joint life which leads to reproduction and the expansion

of one's family circle and the extension of social ties.

And it is He who hath created man of water, and appointed

for him kindred by blood and kindred by marriage.
(Q :25 : 54)L04

In fact, the entire framework of the human society is the outcome

of the conjugal state between man and woman.

0 mankind ! Be careful of your duty to your Lord who

created you from a single person, and of him created his
mate and from these twain hath spread abroad a multitude
of men and women. Be careful of your duty to God in whose
name ye claim (your rights) of one another, and toward the
wombs (that bore you). Verily, is God watching over you.
(Q: 4 : l)lo5
God, too, hath given you wives of your own species and
from your wives hath He given you children and grand-
children. (Q : 16 :72f06

V ~ I A T I O N IN INDIVIDUAL SPAN OF LIFE In like manner, a great

significance underlies the variation that we notice in the span of life
covered by the different individuals. Every individual life has to
paw through childhood, youth, adolescence, manhood, maturity
and obsolescence. Every stage rouses new sensations and feelings,
and presents new experiences and trials, so niuch so, that before
we are satiated with the experiences incidental to one stage, the
 next stage unobtrusively puta in its appearance, rendering us
insensitive to the length of life we have lived.

He it is who created you of dust, then of the germ of

life, then of a blood-clot, then broxght you forth as a child :
Then He letteth you reach your full strength, and then
become old men-though some of you die early-and
reach the a pointed term that haply ye may understand.
(Q:40 :67) 8,
To keep us engaged while we have to live, diverse desires, pa~ions,
urges for wealth, honour and power, desires for progeny and love
of children, and pleasures and pre-occupations of life have all been
thrown acroas our path.

Fair seeming to men is the love of pleasure from women and

children, and the stored-up heaps of gold and silver, and
horses of mark. and flocks and corn-fields ! Such, the enjoy-
ments of this world's life. But God ! Goodly is the home with
him ! (Q: 3 : 14)'"

Indeed, the economic inequalities prevailing in society giving riss

to a variety of conflicte and tensions contribute to the zest in life
that we have been speaking of.

And it is He who hath made you the successors of othera

on the earth and hath raised some of you above othera to
try you by what He has given you. Surely, thy Lord is
swift to chastise. But surely, He is also forgiving, Merciful.
(Q:6 : 166fW

RAHMAT AS EVIDENCE OF DIVINE UNITY This is the reaaon why the

&ur78ndraws its analogical deductions in support of the unity of
God from the expression or manifestation of divine grace as noticed
in life, in the same manner as it draws ita argument from the
manifestation of Rubiibiyat. This is one further method of making
its appeal. It says that every phase of creation displays a measure of
divine grace, and naturally prompts the view that thia preeence of
 DIVINE BENEVOLENCE 63
grace in it must have proceeded from one who dispenses grace.
Wherever it draws attention to the good inherent in each object,
its balance and proportion, and its beauty and perfection, it is
this method that it employs.

Your God is one God : there is no God but He, the Bene-
volent, the Merciful !
Assuredly, in the creation of the heavens and of t.he earth,
and in the alternation of night and day, and in the ships
which pass through the sea with what is useful to man, and
in the rain which God sendeth down on land from heaven,
giving life to it after its death, and by scattering over it all
kinds of cattle, and in the change of the winds, and in the
clouds that are made to do service between the heaven andllo
the earth-are signs for those who understand. (& : 2 : 163-64)
Will they not look up to the heaven above them, and consider
how We have reared it and decked it forth, and notice that
there are no flaws therein. And as to the earth, we have
spread it out, and have thrown the mountains upon it, and
have caused an upgrowth in it of all beauteous kinds of
planta-for insight and admonition to every servant who
loveth to turn to God. (Q : 60 :6-8)
We have set the signs of the Zodiac in the heavens, and,,,,
adorned and decked them forth for the beholders. (Q : 16 : 16)
Moreover We have decked the lowest heaven with lighte.
(Q : 67 : 5f1'
(And the cattle !) And they beseem you well when ye fetch
them home and when ye drive them forth to pasture.
(Q : 16 : 6)"'

What is the reality of that which we call the beautiful 2 It is

simply the balance therein or proportion. It is this balance or
proportion which distinguishes every manifestation of beauty.

And (we have) caused everything to spring forth in it (earth)

115
in balanced measure. (Q : 15 : 19)

TO convey the same idea, the Q a r % ~\mea mether term-

!l'kya' which m a n s 'setting bhhgs ia right perspective'.
 Praise the name of thy Lord, the MosB High,
Who hath created and. set all things in right perspective ; 116
Who hath Gxed their courses and guideth them. (Q : 87 : 1-3)
0 man ! Who hath misled thee against thy generous Lord,
Who hath created thee and moulded thee and shaped thee
aright ?
In the form which pleased Him hath He fashioned thee.
(Q i 82 : 6-8 )'I7

The &ur'iin uses the term Itqiin also to denote the very same
thing. It means that everything in the Universe is properly set and
there is no defect or flaw noticeable in its setting.

'Tis the work of God who sets everything with exactitude.

(Q : 27 :48f1'
(Blessed be He) who hath created seven heavens one above
another : No defect canst thou see in the handiwork of the
God of Grace. Repeat thy gaze: seest thou a single flaw?
Then twice more repeat thy gaze : thy gaze will return to
thee dulled and weary. (Q : 67 : 3-4)'19

'The handiwork of the God of Grace' is the term used here.

Everything, the Qur'dn points out, is the creation of one who is
not merely a creator but a creator who at the same time is God of
Grace, of mercy and that where mercy is a t work, there shall dwell
beauty, and perfection.

DIVINE BENEVOLENCES-AN ARGUMENT FOR THE LIFE HEREAFTER

The Qzcr'iin adduces the existence of l i e after death from the
presence in creation of this very same element of divine mercy
and pace, the Rafirnat of God. If the demand of Rahmt is to
develop human life to perfection, how then is one to believe that
this process of perfection, will cease for him at the end of a transient
existence on earth ?

Do they not perceive that God, who created the heavens

and the earth, is able to create their like (again)? And He
hath ordained them a term ; there ia no doubt of i t : but
 DIVINE BENEVOLENCE 66
the wrong-doera reject everything exoept disbelief.
(Q :17 :99) '"
DIVINE BENEVOLENCE-AN ARGUMENT FOR REVELAm6N Ill
manner the Qur'En argues the need for revelation. It atatea that
when this frame-work of mercy provides so much of growth and
development, it must also provide the s e w of direction towardo
perfection. It points out that this is afforded by revelation revealed
through a spies of scriptures and prophets :

If We pleased, We could take away what We have revealed

to thee (0Prophet) ; none couldst thou then find thee~to
undertake thy cause with Us, save the mercy of thy Lord;,n
great, verily, is His favour towards thee. (Q : 17 : 86-79
Surely thou art of the messengers sent upon a right path-
(the path) shown by the Mighty, the Merciful -
That thou shouldst warn a people whose fathers were not
warned and therefore lived in heedlessness ! (Q : 36 :5,6.)la2

Repeatedly does the Qur'iifi emphasize that the delivery of TwM,

the Bible and the Qur'Cvt to man is an expression of divine mercy.

And which (the Qur'iin) is precyffd by the Book of Moses,

a guide and Mercy. (Q : 11 : 13)
0 men ! Now hath a warning come to you from your Lord,
and ~t healing for what is in your breasts, and a guidance
and a mercy to believers.
Say : through the grace of God and His mercy ! And in this
therefore let them rejoice : better is this than al! ye amaae.
(Q : 10 : 5 7 4j4

This is a clear proof for mankind, and a guidance and

mercy to a people who are firm in faith. (Q :45 :20)"~
It is not enough for them that we have sent down to thee
the Book to be recited to them ? In this verily is a mercy
1 26
and a reminder to those who believe. (Q : 29 : 51)

Indeed on this basis, the Qur'iin calla the Prophet of Islam as a

Ra
w t or mercy unto the whole world.
 We have not sent thee otherwise than as mercy unto all
creatures. (Q : 21 : 1 0 7 t ~ ~

HAQ AND B ~ T I L In like manner it argues that even as in the physical

world that which is most useful to life survives, even so, in the
inner life of man, only that, which is most useful to it, should have
the talent to survive. I n this connection, the Qur'Zn uses two
terms-Hap and Bti~il,truth and falaehood.

In this way doth God set forth truth and falsehood.

(Q : 13 : 17)"'

And straightway in the same verse it offers an explanation of

them.
As to the foam, it is quickly gone : and as to what is useful
to man, it remaineth on the earth. Thus doth God set forth
comparison ! To those who respond to their Lord, shali be
an excellent reward ; but those who respond not to His call,
had they all that the earth containeth twice over. they
129
would surely give it for their ransom. (Q : 13 : 17 18)
-D

In Arabic, the root word Hnppaq signses stability or durability,

that which is lasting is H ; ~ BGtil
; is just the opposite of it or that
which is not lasting. It is why the Qur'Zn emphasizes this distinction
repeatedly.

That He might prove His truth to be the lasting, and bring

130
to nought that which is not lasting. (Q : 8 : 8)

THE PROCESS OF EXCISION The Qurc6n points out that even as in

the world of matter, the process of excision of that which is not
useful to l i e goes on, so also, in the realm of the spirit; the same
process is a t work. When there ia tc conflict between Hap and Blitil,
success rests with Haq. That is what the Qur'Gn calls &a& Bil-Haq,
the decree of truth.

But when God's behest cometh, everything will be decided

with truth : and then they perish, who treat it as a vain
thing. (Q:40 :78f31
 DIVINE BENEVOLENCE 67
Whenever the term Haq is used, the Qur'cin not only advances
the claim of truth to durability, to its right to prevail, but sets
the criterion by which this could be tested, so that one might
easily distinguish between what is Haq and what is BE@, or what
is to endure and what is to disappear ; so much so, that to God is
applied the attributive term Al-Haq, the Ever True, the Everlasting.
132
This God then is pour Lord, the Truth. (Q : 10 :32) 133
Exalted then be God, the King, the Everlasting. (Q : 20 : 114)

The same attributive term is applied to Revelation, for it is an

abiding reality.

And follow what is revealed to thee : and persevere stead-

fastly till God shall judge, for He is the best of judges.
(Q : 10 : 108-09;"
With truth have We set down the Qur'Zn and with truth
hath it descended, and We have only sent thee to announce
135
and to aarn. (Q : 17 : 105)

Similarly, even when any attributive sign is added to Al-Elap

the meaning remains the aame. It is why .very often and in most
situations, the Qur'dn considers it sufficient to use the simple tern]
Al-Haq. The reason is obvious. When Al-Haq or'the truth is what
is lasting or that which fkally survives, the very fact of its survival
or its lasting nature is a proof of its durability or of its being the
truth.
Whenever the Qur'cin speaks of the conflict between Hap and
Bcitil or between truth and untruth, it asserts that triumph is
for tnith and defeat for untruth or falsehood. Such is the law or
decree of truth, Q&a Bil-Hag.

Nay, we will hurl the truth a t falsehood, and it shall smite

it, and lo ! It shall vanish. (Q : 21 : 18fj6
And say : Truth is come, and falsehood is vanished. Verily
falsehood is a thing that vanishes. (Q : 17 :81)"~

The proof of truth or Hag. is that it makes itself felt a t the proper
moment, in order that it might show who follows truth and who
68 TARJUMAN AL-QUR'AN
untruth. The decree or the law of truth thue decides what is
untruth.

Say: God is witness enough between me and you. He

knoweth all that is in the heavens and the earth, and they
who believe in vain things and disbelieve in God-theae
shall be the lost ones. (Q : 29 :52)lg

In another place, tlie Qur'h makes the evidence of God as the

supreme test of truth.

Say :What thing is weightiest in bearing witness ,B

Say : God is witness between me and you. (Q :6 : 19)

UNIVERSAL APPLICATION OF THE PRINCIPLE OF EXCISION The

QPrr'iin asks : how can you deny the law of truth when the life of
the earth and the heavens is governed by it ? Were it not for nature's
exciaion of what is not useful to life and the preservation of what
is useful to it, there wodd have been chaos in life. If this ia so
in the outward world of matter, why should iti not be so in the
inward 3 sske the Qur'an.

But if the truth had followed in the train of their deeires,

the heavens and the earth and all that therein is, had m l y
wme to ruin. (Q :23 :71;"

Wherever the $ur'Z~calls for patience or asks us to wait and

see how the wrdict between truth and untruth resolvesitself, a8
in the verse "Say ;so wait, for surely, I am with those who wait"
141
(Q : 10 : 102), it but endorses the same principle.
But the law of truth does not assert that every BZtil or untruth
or that which is not useful to life must necessarily be extinguished
forthwith or that every expression of truth should produce an
immediate effect. The Qur'cin definitely points out that it does not.
Indeed, such a line of action is repugnant to the law of Rcrhnsat.
Even as in the outward physical world, so also in the inward world
of life, the law of gradualness or of steady movement prevails -the
law of Rahrnat. It allowa time for reflection and for making amends.
 DIVINE BENEVOLENCE 69
Eke, no one or no group of people indulging in wickednets would
survive for a moment.

Should God hasten (the consequence of) evil on men aa they

fain would hasten their good, then were their end decreed.
(Q : 10 : 1 1 f ' ~

The Qecr7rZ.npoints out that every action in life takes its own
time to produce its result. For everything a measure of time ie
measured out, whether it is truth or untruth.

But if they turn their backs, say: I hav.re warned you all
alike ; but I know not whether that with which ye are
forewarned be nigh or distant. (Q : 21 : 109y3

But the Qur'cFra asks us not to apply our sense of time to every-
thing in life. The operat,ion of Nature is such that even the greatest
computation of time according to our time-sense may be but a day
with it.

b d they will bid thee to hasten the chastisement. But God

cannot fail His warning. And verily, a day with thy Lord
is aa a thousand years, as ye reckon them !
How many cities have I long borne with, wicked though
they were, then laid hold on them &I chastise them !
Unto Me shall all return. (Q :22 : 47-48)

People generally expect immediate results for what they do. The
Arabs of the Prophet's time, who dissented from him, used to taunt
him with the observation that were their ways really evil, they
should meet with instantaneous punishment. Bllt they forgot that
the delay in the emergence of effect was only meant to give them
time to repent afid make amends. Such ithe law of Ra4mat a t
work in life.

And they say : "When will this promise be made good, if ye

speak the truth ? "
Say : "Haply a part of what ye desire to be hastened may be
close behind you".
 And truly thy Lord is full of goodness towards man: but
most of them are not thankful. (Q : 27 : 71-3)"'
They will challenge thee to hasten the punishment : but had
there not been a season fixed for it, that punishment had
already wme upon them. But it shall overtake them
suddenly when they look not for it. (Q :29 :531''~ 14-7
Nor do We delay it, but until a time appointed. (Q : 11 : 104)

The point to note is not what time an evil action takes to produce
its result, but what type of action really triumphs in the end. The
Qur'cin asserts that it is the righteous who will succeed in the end.

Say : 0 my people ! Act as ye may choose to act ; I indeed

will act my part, and soon shall ye know .whose is the fina\,8
goal ? Undoubtedly the unjust will not prosper. (Q : 6 : 135)

The Qur'iin enunciates the principle that wickedness in all forms

is bound to fail and that goodness is bound to succeed. Wherever
- this principle is referred to or emphasized in the Qur'iin, it is ex-
pressed in terme such as. "Surely those who transgress shall not
pmper" (6 : 2112" surely, the wicked shall not prosper" (10 : 17f 50
-"Surely, the disbelievers shall not prosper" (23: 117izc'God
prospereth not the work of mischief makers", (10: 81)'1?"God
guideth not the people who do not believe," (9 : 3 ?)%'God guideth
not the people who transgress," (3 : 86iStnd so forth.
The principle underlying here does not suggest that the door of
guidance or correction is closed or that those falling under these
categories will be wilfully misled. It is a matter for regret that
the commentators of the Qur'Zin have failed to understand the
significance of the technique observed by the Qur'iin.
The term employed by the Qur'iin for opportunities of improve-
ment is Tamtt'u and is applicable to all conditions of life and is
afforded to everyone without distinction. Says the Qur'iin :

Yes ! We have given these men and their fathers oppor-

tunities of profiting even by lengthened lives. (Q : 21 : 441155

Expressions occurring in the QurY6nlike-" We gave them respite

for a while - that they may enjoy themselves awhile ' 'Enjoy
 DIVINE BENEVOLENCE 71
yourselves then ; but in the end, ye shall know (the troth)":?nd
ao on, go only to emphasize the principle under consideration.

THE PRINCIPLE OF EXCISION AND NATIONS The law of Excision or

survival is also applicable to groups of people or nations, and
determines the conditions of their rise and fall. The Qur'tin pointa
out that even as in the case of individuals, s6 in the case of nations
also, everything that has no use or value to life is eliminated. Only
they live or survive who subserve or advance the cause of life. That
is the Rahmat of God ; for, otherwise, human wickedness will have
no check placed thereon.

And were it not for the restraint of one by means of others

imposed on men by God, verily, the earth had been utterly
co-pted. But God is gracious to His creatures. (Q : 2 :251)15'

The same truth is expressed in the following words.

And if God had not repelled some men by others, cloisters,

and churches, and synagogues, and mosques wherein the
name of God is ever commemorated, would surely have been
destroyed. (Q ,22: 4 0 ) ' ~ ~

Even as in the life of thing, a process of gradual effect is at

work in the life also of nations. The door for returning to the good
way or for self-correction is always open to them ; for, such is the
principle of Rahmat governing all life.

And We have sundered them in the earth as (separate)

peoples. Some of them are upright and some are otherwise ;
and by good things and by evil thinga have We tested them
in order that they might return to us. (Q : 7 : 168)16'

Even for nations as for individuals, a time limit is set during

which they will have to return to the straight path, if, on any
account, they had strayed away from'it
If opportunities thus afforded are missed, the law takea its
course.
 Every nation hath its set time. And when their time is come,
they shall not retard ii; an hour, and they shall not advance
it. (Q: 7 : 34f61
We never destroyed a city except that whose term (according
to the law of life) was fixed. No people can foretell or rebard
its destiny. (Q : 15 ! 4-5fb2

The same law weeds out the undesirables,- those not useful to
human life - and installs others in their place to carry out the
purpose of life.

This, because thy Lord will not destroy the cities in their sin,
while their people are yet unconscious of the wrong they' do.
And for all, are grades of recompense as the result of their
deeds ; and of what they do thy Lord is not regardla.
And thy Lord is self-sdcient, the Lord of mercy. If He
please, He may remove you and cause whom He will to
take your place, even as He had caused you to succeed
those who had sprung from a different seed. (Q : 6 :131-3)'6'

DIVINE BENEVOLENCE : INDIVIDUAL LIFE -ITS WORLDLY ASPECX

In like manner, it points out that the ultimate recompense or the
fisal result of our actions will be explicit only in the life hereafter
and that till then life's opportunities for comfort and happinew
are provided equally to the righteous and the un-righteous, and
thie, because the law of Rahnzat or mercy is meant to apply equally
well to both. Hence it is that the span of individual life is divided
into two periods - one which concerns with the life of this world,
marked by every opportunity for correction or for making amends,
the other which covers the life after death. The question of final
recompense or h a 1 judgment essentially pertains to the latter.

And thy 1;ord is forgiving, full of mercy. Were He to chastise

them for what they do, He would have hastened their
chastisement. But theirs is an appointed term from which
they w i l l h d no escape. (Q : 18 : 58)16'
He it is who created you of clay -then decreed the te-,,
of your life : and with Him is another fixed term. (Q : 6 : 2)
 DIVI-NE BENEVOLENCE 73
OPPORTUNITIES FOR INTROSPECTION AND REPENTANCE The Qur'iin
states that even as in the physical life, so also in respect of the
inner life of man, opportunities a.re provided for introspection and
for making amends. Every action has its inevitable reaction or
result, but the law does not close its door for correction ; so much
so, that the opportunities for making amends are provided to
everyone a t every turn. The opportunities for repentance and
rectification are always close a t hand, whatever the nature of sin
one commits. The moment one begins to feel repentant, the force
of mercy is promptly released, and every drop of tear one sheds
in contrition washes a stain of sin, and one feels that he had never
committed any sin a t all. As the Prophet has said: "One
who repents sincerely is like one who has never committed any
sin".

Save those who shall repent and believe and do good deeds
-for them God will change their evil deeds into good deeds,
for God is gracious, merciful. (Q : 25 : 70f'~

TEE SCOPE OF FORGIVENESS The scope of divine forgiveness as

depicted by the Qur'dn is vast and limitless. However serious the
sin committed, whatever the nature of one's wickedness and what-
ever the period in which one has lived in sin, the moment one
aincerely knocks a t the door of mercy, the response is nothing but
forgiveness :

Say ! 0 my servants who have transgressed to your own

hurt, despair not of God's mercy; for all sins doth God
forgive. Gracious, merciful is He ! (Q : 39 : 54f6'

DOCTRINAL BELIEFS IN ISLAM AND RAHMAT This is one of the

reasons why the Qur'ln rests its concept of doctrinal beliefs and of
the activity inspired by them entirely on Rahmat or mercy and
love ; for, it does not treat the spiritual life of man as sdmething
unconnected with his physical life. On the other hand, it regards
i t as an integral part of it. Since the entire-frame-work of nature is
permeated with Rahmut, it follows that the law governing the inner
life of man should also be regarded as Rahmat.
 BOND OF LOVE BETWEEN GOD AND MAN The Qur'iin h:rs r1r11c:ntcdly
made it clear that the bond subsisting between God I L ~ I (1 ~lis craa-
tion, mankind, is one of love. The hightest form of devotion t.llc!re-
fore should be for God only. God in this context becomes indeed
I the Beloved of the devotee.

Yet there are men who take to them images as substitutes

i for God, and love them with the love that should truly be
shown to God. But in the faithful, the love of God is the
~t~rongcst. ( Q : 2 : 165fa
S:rv : If yc! love God, follow me : God will love you, and
I'lwr:ivct ytrllr sins, for God is forgiving, merciful. (Q : 3 : 31f"'

OV(T1~1111O V I T ~ i ~ ; ~ t i l~i I, I CQur'iin emphasises that belief in God

1.c-s11It.
I K I I I H ~ I, I I ~ ( : ( ~ H H I L ~ ~ ~ Y i l l t.hc love of God.

0 yo wlio balic!vc: ! Hlioultl nny of yo11 desert this faith, God

will then raise up a people luved I)y Him, and loving Him.
( Q : 5 : 54f70

The Qur'iin points out that the love of God is to be expressed

through one's love of God's creatures. He who desires to love God
has necessarily to learn to love his creatures.

Who for the love of God disburseth his wealth, etc.

(Q : 2 : 177f7'
Who though longing for it themselves, bestow their food
on the poor and the orphan and the captive (and who say):
"We feed you for the sake of God: We seek from you
neither recompense nor thanks". ( Q : 76 : ~ - 9 j ' ~ ~
I

This truth has been expressed impreasivt~lyin a tradition of the

Prophet. "On the day of .Tl~dgrnerit(:otl will address a particular
individual : " 0 son of Atl:m ! I ~ ~ 1~ 1i c s- l < ,but you did not attend
on me". Rcwiltlrrcrl, f h i ~iridivicillr~lwill say: "How is that pos-
I
sible ? Yo11 i ~ 1 . t . I I Sf cr all tho St~l,rcmeLord of all the worlds, (and
canriot r:~ll :iic.I,)". ( :otl will rcbply : "Do not you remember that,
RO nritl SO I I I I I O I I ~ITIY
~ H ~ T V I L I I ~ SWILR ill and lying close to yon, anti
 DIVINE BENEVOLENCE 75
you did not turn to him in sympathy. If you had but gone near
him, you would have found Me by his side". In like manner: God
will address another individual : "0son of Adam ! I had asked of
you a piece of bread ; but you woilld not give it to Me". The
individual will explain : "How is that possible ? Could God need
bread ? " And God will reply : "Do not you remember that so and
so among My servants had in a moment of hunger asked of you
bread, and did you not refuse to give it to him ? If you had given
him food, you would have found me by his side". Similarly, God
will ask another individual : "0 son of Adam ! I had asked of you
a cup of water, but you did not give it to Me". The individual
will cry out : "How is that possible ? How can God feel thirst 1"
God will reply : "So and so of My servants who was thirsty, asked
of you water, but you did not give it to him. If you had given
it to him, you would surely have found Me by his side".
The same consideration is implicit in the various forms of devotion
and action suggested for man by the Qur'Gn. I t is implicit also in
the emphasis it lays on specific virtues or the qualities one has to
develop, and is implicit also in the distinction made between what
is lawful and what is not lawful. So great is the stress laid on the
presence in man of the quality of Rahmat or mercy! Indeed, on
no other attribute of God does it lay the stress that it has laid
on this attribute. The reference to it occurs in more than 300 places
of the Qur'bn;and if we include other attributes which in one form
or another are concomitants of it? such as providence, forgiveness,
benevolence, protection, and forbearance, the number enlarges ; so
much so, that the Qur'bn from cover to cover assumes the role of
but a single unified message of divine mercy or Rahmat.
We do not propose to refer in any detail t o all that appears on
the subject of Rahmat in the corpus of Hadilh literature. Nor ia
there any need for it. The point at issue is so obvizus that the life and
teaching of the Prophet of Islam may be expressed but in a phrase
- worship of God and love of His creation. A well-known Hadith
states that the mercy of God is for those who show mercy to God3
creatures. Christ's famous advice that one should show kindness to
those who live on earth, so that He who is in heaven might show
kindness to him is echoed in the saying of the Prophet : "Graciously
kind is God, the Holy, the High. Show kindness to those who
dwell on earth so that the grace of God may descend upon you
from above. " Numerous Hdz'th may be quoted where i t is pointed
that God's mercy is for those-who show mercy to others though
the object of mercy may be as insignificant a thing as a
sparrow.
The fact is that the basis of worship according to the Qur'dn
rests on the idea that the aim of human life is to reflect in one's
own thought and activity the attributes of God. The Qur'En, regards
the emergence of man a&the line where animality ceases to exist
and a higher life begins to disclose itself. The qua.lity which dis-
tinguishes man from the mere animal and which gives him his
station in the scale of life, is his humanity, which is nothing but a
reflection of the qualities or attributes of God. Perfection is to be
reached by expressing in one's life more and more of divine qualitiee.
That is why that wherever the Qur'iin has referred to any special
qualities of man, it has always set them in relation to the attributes
of God, so much so, that where it refers to the quality of humanity
in man, it employs the term 'the very breath of God'.

Then shaped him and breathed of His spirit into kin, and
gave you hearing and seeing and hearts. (Q :32 :9)

The above verse makes i t explicit that man's position in the

scale of life is so high that God himself has breathed His breath
into him, or in other words, that man is endowed with the requisite
intellect and sensibilities to guide himself aright in life.
So, wherever the Qur'dn, attempts to raise before our mind the
concept of divine mercy, it does so with the purpose of stimulating
in us the quality of mercy. The same is the purpose underlying ita
repeated references to Rubtibiyat and other attributes. Very fre-
quently does it emphasize that there is no limit to divine forgive-
ness, and suggests that man too should develop in him the quality
of a like unrestricted forgiveness. To speak the truth, what grounds
have we to expect forgiveness of God when we have not learnt to
forgive our fellow creatures?

Who master their anger, and forgive others ! God bveth the
doers of good. (Q : 3 : 134f7'
 DIVINE BENEVOLENCE 77
THE LAW : THE PROBLEM OF FORGIVENESS SO far as the laws of
society are concerned, the Qur'iin does not call on man to love his
enemies. Such a direction will have no bearing on the reality of life.
What the Qur'En says is that it is good for us to forgive our
enemies ; for when one learns to forgive his enemies, his mind will
divest itself of hate and ill-will, and get purified.

And who, from desire to see the countenance of their Lord,

are constant amid trials, and observe prayer and give alms,
in secret and openly, out of what we have bestowed upon
them and turn aside evil by good : for these is the recompense
of that abode. (Q : 13 : 22j1"
Moreover, good and evil are not to be treated as alike.
Turn away evil by what is better, and lo! he between
whom and thyself was enmity, shall be as though he were
a warm friend. But none attain this save men steadfast in
patience, and none attain to it except the most highly
favoured. (Q : 41 : 34-5fT6

The Qur'iin does not discourage altogether retaliation. But wher-

ever it has permitted it, it has done so in the interest of security
of life. But it may be noted that where~ersuch permission is given,
there is always the rider going with it that forgiveness is a better
procedure and that it is graceful to do good to those who wrong
you.

If you a t all retaliate, then retaliate to the extent that ye

were injured ; but if ye can endure patiently, best will it
be for those who patiently endure.
Endure then with patience. But thy patient endurance must
177
be sought in none but God. (Q : 16 : 126-7)
And whoso beareth wrongs with patience and forgiveth, this
verily is high-mindedness. (Q : 42 : 40fT8

THE EVANGEL AND THE QUR'BN We have just pointed out that the
Qur'En does not state that you should love your enemies, The
statement requires a little elucidation.
Christ had to counter the religious hypocrisy of the Jews, their
emphasis on the outward observance of religious ritual and their
 lack of morality, by his message of love and forgiveness and of
purity of life. Hence it was that in the New Testament we meet
expressions such as these : "Ye have heard that it hnth been said,
an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth : But I say unto you,
that ye resist not evil, but whosoever silall smite thee on thy right
cheek, turn to him the other also. Ynu have heard that it hath
been said, thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
But I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you,
arid pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you."
But what was the significance of these expressions ? Was i t a call
for spiritual purifica.tion, or was it a laying down of a code of
law ?

THE MESSAGE OF CHRIST AND ITS XEGLECT It is a matter for regret

that the followers of the Bible and its critics have failed to appreciate
these statements of Christ. Both have treated them as definite rules
of conduct to be scrupulously observed, and both have had in
consequence to admit that they are impracticable. The Christians
while admitting their impracticability, advance the plea that their
saints and martyrs a t least have acted on these rules of conduct,
their detractors have persided in stressing that these rules of
conduct run counter to human nature and are of no practical value
to life. In this inability t o appreciate the message of Christ lies
the tragedy of man. Clearly, history has done a great wrong t o
this great teacher of mankind. The unsympathetic critic has made
no effort to understand Christ's message, and the ignorant believer
in him has avoided to catch its significance. Was the message of
Christ really impracticable ? Was it repugnant to human nature ?
To admit the question is to deny Christ the role of the messenger
of God, and this is not possible for the Qur'dn t o do. That will
knock the bottom out of the very Qur'Lnic assertion that the
message of all the prophets has been one and the same. The Qur'Cn
points out that the tragedy of man has lain in his effort to make
distinctiol~between prophets or in his accepting some and rejecting
others. Its attitude is summed up in the followillg verse.

Say : We make no difference between them (prophets of

' ~ o d )and
, we are Muslims resigned to God. (Q : 3 : 84)lm
 DIVINE BENEVOLENCE 79
The one great theme of the Qur'En is of mercy and love. It sets off
the purity of Christian ethics against the moral depravity of the
Jews :

And We will make him (the baby to'be born of Virgin Mary)
a sign to mankind, and a mercy from Us. (Q : 19 : 21)''
And We gave him (Christ) the Evangel, and We put into
the hearts of those who followed him kindness and compas-
sion. (Q : 57 : 27f8'

The point to note here is that the Qur'En freely attaches to the
TorEh and the Evangel the value that it attaches to itself :

And We gave him the Evangel with its guidance and light,
confirmatory of the preceding law (TwEh); a guidance and
warning to those who fear God. (Q : 5 : 46fa2

Clearly, anything that furnishes light to the righteous can never

be repugnant to human nature.

REALITY ABOUT CHRIST'S MESSAGE The trouble with the message

of Christ lies in the failure of his follo,wers to understand its signi-
ficance. Christ appeared during a period of history when the Jewish
morality had reached its lowest ebb, and when purity of life had
given way to outward ritual passing for devotion to God. The
condition of the neighbouring nations - the Egyptians and the
Assyrians - was more or less the same. These people failed to
appreciate that Christ's message of love and forgiveness was meant
to arrest the tendency for evil life. To enjoy the killing of helpless
people, to subject individuals accused of crinle to a variety of novel
ways of torture, to throw human beings to ferocious animals, and
to burn down wilfully populous towns, to regard and treat all
aliens as slaves, and to exult in cruelty were features of the Roman .
culture, and pastimes of the Egyptian and Assyrian demi-gods.
The cry of the hour was the emergence of a warner and a messenger
of love laying stress on the purity of heart. And this warner and
messenger appeared in the person of Christ, who stressed the
importance of the inner life as against the outward, and tried to
 revive for man the forgotten but eternal message of humanity and
love.
The inspired utterance of Christ has a natural figurative charm
about it. Those who can conjure up the vision of a trinity and of
redemption and atonement are hardly the type of people who can
comprehend fully the significance of the figurative touches that
Christ gave to his utterance. By interpreting everything too literally,
they have missed him.
Wherever Christ has said, "Love your enemies", his meaning was
certainly not that one should grow into a devoted lover of his
enemies. On the other hand, his plain meaning was that instead of
exciting in oneself the feeling of anger, hatred or revenge, one should
develop in him the feeling of pity and forgiveness. In a society
where one hated his own kith and kin, the appeal, "love your
enemy ", was indeed an appeal for giving up hatred. That is the
style of Christ. Take another of his well-known expression : "Turn
the other cheek also". Surely, Christ never meant that you should
literally do so. His clear meaning was that one should develop the
feeling of forgiveness or forbearance. To take the literal sense of
every figurative expression is not the way of the cultured mind.
Should we do so, the entire corpus of inspired or revealed literature
will straightway turn into a jumbled mass of incoherent utterance.
There is no doubt that religion and law have prescribed punishment
for wrong-doing. For the safety of society this is necessary. But
the thought of 'punishment' is entertained or tolerated for the
simple reason that .a lesser evil should operate as a preventive of
a greater evil. That is the object of punishment from a purely
religious standpoint. It is a measure of correction. But man-has
employed this institution of correction for the destruction of human
life. In fact, more desolation and ruin has been wrougbt by the
exponents of law and religion than by any other. If we should
ask history to show who has wrought greater havoc to humanity
outside the sphere of war, it will surely point its finger a t the
engines of destruction, the religious tribunals, or the inquisitions
which have been set up by the dispensers of religion and law. The
purpose of Christ was to inculcate in man the feeling of love, and
certainly not to lay down a law against the punishment of crime,
His aim mas to let man rest his action on love, and take to
I
DIVINE BENEVOLENCE 81
pujli&iment or retaliation only in the last resort and only as a
correotive.
The followers of the law of Moses had rendered the law into an in-
strument of punishment only. Christ tried to bring home to them that
the law was not meant to deal punishment, but to point the way to sal-
vation, and that the way to salvation was the way of love andmercy.

ACWR AND ACTION The fact is that the initial mistake which man
has made is his failure to distinguish between action and actor.
Religion on the other hand, makes a clear distinction. The aim of
all religions has been to inculcate in man the sense of dislike for sin,
and not for man, the doer of sin. They have certainly enjoined that
we should hate sin ; they have certainly not asked us to hate the
sinner. They merely resemble a physician who may draw a dark
picture of the patient. The physician's tenderness and care increase
with the increase in the ailment with which the patient is afflicted.
Such also is the function of the healers of spiritual disease. They
do not hate the sinner. They pity him, on the other hand, and are
full of mercy and benevolence to him. They certainly do want us
to hate sin, but they do not ask us to hate the sinner. It is this
distinction which our religious divines have failed to grasp in the
course of history. The message of Christ was that we should hate
sin, but take care of the sinner and treat him with compassion
and love, in order that he might rectify his past and be a gain
to human life. The greater the sin one is steeped in, the greater
does his condition call for compassion and kindly treatment. When
as stated in St. Luke, a sinful woman appeared before Christ and
dusted his feet with her tuft of hair, and the Pharisees wondered a t
the action, he said, "The physician is for the sick and not for the
healthy". To indicate the exact relation between God and the
sinner, Christ drew the picture of a money-lender and his creditors.
One owed him 50 coins and the other 1000. The money-lender
wrote out the debts of both. He asked the Jews which of the two
discharged creditors would better like the money-lender, the one
who owed 50 coins or the one who owed 1000 coins ? That is why
some of the early followers of the Prophet have said, "The humility
of the sinners is liked by God better than the dieifled ritualistic
postures of the pious ".
 It may be noted here that wherever God has addressed the
sinners in the Qur'Zn or referred to them, the usual form is that
of the personal possessive which denotes tenderness.

0 m,y servants who have transgressed to your own hurt!

(Q : 39 : 53f8'
184
Was it ye who led them, my servants, astray ! (Q : 25 : 17)

This form of address bears resemblance to the form which a father

usually adopts when speaking to his son : "0 my son !" In com-
menting upon the above verse from the Surat-al-Zumar, Imam
Jafar Sadiq, the great-grandson of the Prophet, observed, "When-
ever we call our children they run to us without entertaining the
slightest fear ; for, they feel certain that the parent could never
be cruel to them. More than twenty times is the phrase '0my
servants' or '0my people' used in the Qur'hn. This style of address
is employed even in the case of the worst sinners. Could there be a
better proof than this of the essential mercy of God shown in his
dealings with his creatures ? "

NO CONFLICT BETWEEN THE TEACHINGS OF THE QUR'AN AND THE

BIBLE SO there is really no difference between the teachings of the
Qur'dn and the teachings of Christ. The injunctions of both are the
same. Only, the style employed in expression and the occasion for
the utterance varies Christ stressed the need for purification of the
heart, and did not attempt to lay down a law, for, the law of Moses
was there, and he did not choose t o alter it. He merely desired
that this law should be applied to purify the spirit. The Qur'h,
however, presents ethics and law simultaneously. Naturally there-
fore, it has had to assume a style and expression which should
create no doubts as to the purposes to be served. In t,he first
instance, it calls upon man to develop the talent for forgiveness, as
it regards it as the basis on which all piety and righteousness should
rest. In the second, it keeps open the door for retaliation in
unavoidable contingencies. I n the third, it is careful to make
it clear that retaliation should not err on the side of excess, as
that would be decided injustice. This attitude is comnlon to all
religions.
 DIVINE BENEVOLENCE 83
And who, when a wrong is done to them, redress themselves
-yet let the recompense of evil be only a like evil -but
he who forgiveth and worketh reform in the wrong-doer,
shall be rewarded by God Himself; for He loveth not those
who act unjustly.
And there shall be no way open against those who, after
being wronged, avenge themselves ; but there shall be a way
open against those who cnjustly wrong others, and act
insolently on the earth in disregard of justice. These, a
grievous punishment doth await them. And whoso bexeth
wrong with patience and forgiveth ; this verily is high-
mindedness. (Q :42 :40-3 )'"

Mark ! The emphasis here is on forgiveness. The door of retalia-

tion is necessarily kept open ; but the way to righteousness lies
primarily through forgiveness. Mark this also ! The Qur'zn does
not regard retaliation as a virtue. It calls it 'a like evil' and surely
an evil cpn never be a virtue. But the door is kept open for it lest
a greater evil follow. Mark again ! The forgiver is styled as one
'who worketh reform in the wrong-doer'. It, therefore, follows that
only those who really contribute to pedection in life are those who
exercise forgiveness.

THE QUR'ANIC REBUKES The question may be asked :If the essential
teaching of the Qur'iin is one of mercy or Rafimat, how is it that the
Qur'6n is harsh on those who do not accept its message. A detailed
answer to this qnestion will be furnished in a more appropriate
place later on. But here a passing explanation may be offered.
There is no doubt that the Qur'iin expresses itself in very strong
terms here and there against those who had refused to accept its
message in .the time of the Prophet. But the quest,ion is who are
exactly those whom the Qur'iin had in view ? Does the Qur'iin
express itself strongly against those who differed in view, or against
those who resorted to violence against its message ? Even a cursory
glance of the Qur'dn will make it clear that the remonstrance of the
Qur'dn is for those who had wilfully persecuted the followers of the
Qur'dn, and displayed violent hostility towards them. To show
mercy to such would be a disservice to the cause of humanity.
 It would be a mercy subserving the interests of wickedness or of
cruelty and injustice.
Be it noted that the Qur'Cn speaks of the divine attribute of
mercy in conjunction with the attribute of justice which we shall
deal with in detail presently. It does not isolate justice from mercy,
but regards justice as mercy itself. It states that one cannot display
in his life the sense of humanity, unless a t the same time one sets
one's face against every form of cruelty. In the New T e s t a e
we find that Christ was obliged to style the disturbers of life in his
time as 'a brood of serpents and a gang of dacoits'.
The Qur'iFn uses the term Kufr in the sense of 'denial' and-this
is of two kinds, 'simple' and 'offensive'. Simple Kufr or denial
may take several forms. A person may not agree with your teaching,
may not understand it or appreciate it, either because he has no
urge to know a new thing, or he is content with his own way of
life. This is simple denial. To such, the Qur'iFn asks the Prophet
to say, "To you your way, and to me mine". On the other hand,
the 'offensive denial' differs from the simple denial in this that one
wilfully sets his face against you, and tries by every possible method
to harm and ruin you, and allows you no time to speak out the
truth that you have. It is about such people that the Qu7'6~
remarks in a style which may appear strong.

Hearts have they with which they understand not, and eyes
have they with which they see not, and ears have they with
which they hearken not. They are like brutes ; pea, they go
more astray ;these are the heedleas. (Q :7 : 179ye6

Whenever there has been a call going forth in the history of man,
some have accepted it, some have refused to accept and some have
deliberately and violently opposed it. The Qur'6n had to dm1 with
all the three categories of people. The first category, it received
into ih fold and gave them the training they needed. To the second,
it conveyed its message and left them to reflect over it. "There is
no compulsion in religion ":% announced. With the third, it remons-
trated k strong terms ; for, to have done otherwise, would have
been an abject yielding to violence in thought and deed, and would
have been against the law of nature. Rahmat (mercy) always goes
 DIVINE BENEVOLENCE 85
with justice. The law is a t work in the phenomenal world and must
necessarily be observed in relation to the inward world of man as
well. That is the right religion, the right way of life, says the Qur96n.

Turn steadfastly to the path of devotion-to'the way of

A116h-for which He hath fitted man. There is no altering
in the way of AZlZih. That k the right religion ; but most
people know it not. (Q : 30 : 30)'"

The Qur'iinic phraseology employed in respect of those who have

violently met its message, will therefore have to be studied in the
light of the truth which the above verse enunciates.
 V
SECTION

Diuine Justice
'Adiilat
 D I V I N E JUSTICE: 'ADhLAT
LAW O F R E Q U I T A L

Mdik-i-YawmiddZn :Master on the Day of Recompeme

THE attribute of God which the Qur'En refers to in continuation

of its reference to t.he attributes of Rdtibiyat and Ra$mat is that
of 'Adfilat or justice, and the term used for it ia Miilik-i-YawmiddR
or 'Master on the Day of Recompense'.

AL-DIN In the ancient Semitic languages, the terms DEN and Dtn
were used in the sense of recompense or requital, and were also
used in the sense of law. They lent themselves, particularly in
Arbmlic and Hhbrew, to various derivatives. Probably, it waa
through Arbmlic that the term in the form of Dim or law found
its place in the ancient Iranian language of Pahlawi. The word has
been used in the Aceski in more than one place, and in the early
literature of Iran, a code of literary values was termed DZM-i-DabZra.
In fact, one of the religious books of the Zoroastrians is named DZn
KErt which probably was compiled by a Zoroastrian priest in the 9th
century of the Christian era. In any case, the term At-DTN in
Arabic bears the meaning of requital or recompense, whether of
good or evil action. The phrase Miilik-i-YawmicWk bears the
meaning of 'He who is the dispenser of Justice on the Day of
Requital '.
In this context, several aspecta of the subject present themselves
for consideration. The Qur'iin uses the term Al-DZn generally in the
sense of requital. That is why it refers to the day of judgment as
the day of requital. It is so styled because the Qur'iin attempts to
point out that requital or justice is the inevitable result of one's
own action and not arbitrarily imposed, as was the idea prevailing
when the Qur'iin was delivered. The old belief had been inspired
by the absolutism or despotism of rulers, and a similitude entertained
in respect of God suggesting that even as the absolute monarchs of
those days, God could dispense reward or punishment as His whim
suggested. It was why people in those days propitiated the Deity
89
I by various forms of sacrificee. The idea was to humour Him up
and keep His temper at the normal.
Among the Jews and the Christians, the concept of Deity h@,
no doubt, been raised a li'ttle higher. But the essential character of
the earlier common belief still clung to them. The Jews believed
that God was, even like the deities of others, an absolute dictator.
If He was pleaaed with them, He would style Himself as the God
of Iclrael ; if displeased, He would wreak His vengence and cause
their ruination. The concept of the Christians was no better. They
believed that because of the original sin of Adam, his entire progeny
or mankind had become an object of divine displeasure and that
consequently Christ had to atone for this original sin through hie
own crucifixion and effect the redemption of man,
But the Qur'6n places the concept of reward or punishment on
a different footing. It d m not regard the treatment meted out
to man reward or punishment as something different from the
operation of the law of causation that is a t wnrk in the universe.
On the other hand, it regards it as but an aspect of it. Every-
thing has a quality of its own and produces a result appropriate
to it or expresses itself in a form germane to it. The same pheno-
menon is manifest in the realm of human thought and action. Every
thought, feeling or action has ita inevitable reaction. That is its
requital. its recompense, ita reward or punishment. The result of
a good action is good and that is 'reward'. Similarly, the result of an
evil action iti evil and that is 'punishment'. The one is designated
heaven, and the other hell. The comforts of heaven are for those
who do good, whereas the trials of hell are for those who do
evil.

The inmates of the fire and the inmates of paradise are not
to be held equal. The inmates of paradise only shall be the
blissful. (Q : 59 :20;'

The Qur'6n points out that everything, whether in the pheno-

menal world or in the inner life of man, is invested with a nature
peculiar to it. .The nature of fire is to burn ; that of water is' to
produce coolness, and so on. No other results are produced from
them. So is the case with every type of human action. Every action
 DIVINE J U S T I C E 91
produces a result peculiar to it. That ie what the Qur'iin calls
recompense, requital, or justice.

Deem they whose earnings are only evil, that We will deal
with them ae with those who believe and work righteousness,
so that their lives and deaths shall be alike. I11 do they judge.
In all truth hath God created the heavens and the earth,
that he may reward every one as he shall have wrought, and
they shall .not be wronged. (Q : 45 :2l-2f9'

For the ssme reason, the Qur'cin calls every action, good or bad,
as Kmab. Kmab in Arabic literally means what one earns or the
result of one's action. Kmab therefore is what one has to enjoy or
bear in consequence.

Pledged (to God) is every man for hie actions and their
desert. (Q : 52 : 21y1

The principle is clearly laid down in chapter I1 of the Qw'cin.

God will not burden any soul beyond its power. It shall
.enjoy the good acquired, and shall bear the evil to acquire
which it hath laboured. (Q :2 : 286)lg2

The same principle applies to communities and nations.

Those people have now passed away : They have the reward
193
of their deeh, and for you is the meed of yours. (Q : 2 : 134)

Further, it hrrs been made clear over and over again that when
religion invites one to do good and abstain from evil, it does so
only to afford happiness and salvation to man.

He who doth r i g h t i t is for himself; and he who doth

evil-it is for himself: and th Lord will not deal unfairly
with hie servants. (Q :41 : 46)J-4

A well-known ,tradition of the Prophet dram attention to thia

principle of life :
 God says : "0 my servants ! if all those who are already born
or will be born, and if all human beings and all jinns should be ae
good rn the most righteous among you, their behaviour will not add a
whit to My s~verei~gnty over the world. 0 My people ! in like manner,
if all those who have gone before, and those who will come after, and
all human beings and jinns should be as wicked as the most wicked
among you, their behaviour will not detract a whit from My sovereig-
nty. 0 my people ! if all those who have gone before and all those who
may come after you should assemble a t a place and each one of them
should ask of Me a gift and I grant the prayer of each, it will not
lessen My store-house of mercy and benevolence even to the extent
of a single drop taken out of an ocean. 0 my people ! remember,
it is your own deeds over which, for your sake, I exercise control
that are returned to you. So whosoever gets a pleasing requital
for his action, let him offer his thanks to God ; and whosoever
receives an unpleasant requital for his action, let him blame himself
for it, and none else. " (Muslim : Abi-zar)
Let it not be supposed that reward or punishment depends upon
God's pleasure or displeasure. What the Qur'5n states is this that
all recompense or reward or punishment is directly a reaction to
one's own action and that God is pleased with a good action and
displeased with an evil one. This concept is at variance or in conflict
with earlier beliefs. Al-DTn is an apt term to denote the law a t
work in life and should set a t rest all misconceptions prevailing
on the subject. Its use in the Stirat-ul-Fiitihii brings out in clear
perspective the significance of the good or evil which flows from an
action regarded as reward or punishment.

A L - D ~ N IN THE SENSE OF LAW For the same reason, the term

Al-Dzn is used to designate law and religion ; for, the basic belief
in religion is the belief of requital or recompense for human action ;
and that is also the basis of law. In the chapter Yusuf there is a
reference to the fact of the Prophet Yusuf keeping back his younger
brother with him. The verse runs :

By the King's law he had no Dower to seize his brother, had

not God pleased. (Q : 12 :76f9'
 DIVINE JUSTICE 93
Here the reference to the Din of the King of Egypt is to the law in
force in Egypt.
Further, it should be noted that the Qur'En having drawn
attention to God's attributes of Rubtibiyat and Rahmat (mercy)
does not straightway proceed to speak of the opposite attributes
of terror and majesty. On the other hand, it speaks of God as the
Master of the Day of Recompense, thereby drawing attention to
the attribute implicit in the twin attributes of Rubzlbiyat and
&+mat, viz. the attribute of justice. Sheer terror for its own sake
has no place in the scheme of divine attributes. It is all justice,
productive in one of its aspects of awe or fear operating for the
good of man.
It must be clear by now that the Rdfibiyat and Ruhmat of God
or the divine attributes of Providence and mercy a t work in nature
produce certain results. But these results are not produced under
the stress of terror but by the force of justice and propriety. Human
thought could not catch this reality and has .often blundered in
consequence. It assigned all unpleasant happenings of life to divine
displeasure, by conjuring up attributes of terror and oppression for
God, although had it struggled to probe the reality, it would have
realised that what is attributed to divine displeasure was in fact
the demand of mercy itself. If the law of requital were not in
operation in the life of the universe or were not the process of
perfection to require the elimination of all that clogs the path of
perfection, there would have been no sense of balance or justice
operating for good in life, and the result would have been chaos.
\" Even as the world of creation owes its existence to the forces of
Rdiibiyat and Rahmat, even so, does it need for its maintenance
the force of justice. The principle of justice introduces therein the
element of balance or beauty by eliminating every ugliness lurking
therein. For, if one should look deeply into this aspect of life, it
will be realized that it is the force of justice that is responsible for
whatever order or beauty that there is in life.
Justice or Ad1 in Arabic means to 'to make even'. A court of
justice is intended td soften down angularities of contending parties
appearing before it. Ad1 or justice is used also in the sense of 'scales'
whereby the two sides are made to show equal weight or to measure
out justice. Justice introduces balance in life, and makes one thing
agree with another, and produces unity. I t is this principle which
is responsible for beauty and proportion in every form of thought
and life. It is really the basis on which the scheme of the universe
rests. Every planet and every star is a t work in space in balanced
or just or right relation with one another. It is this principle which
binds together a society. Even a little slackening of this principle
in the physical world of matter will result in disorder.

And the heaven, He h th reared on high, and hath eet the

192
balance. (Q :55 : 7-81
It is God who hath reared the heavens without pillars thou
canst behold. (Q : 13 : 2)"'
Without pillars that can be seen hath He created the heavens.
(Q : 31:3?31M

Such is the principle of balance working in the universe. The term

199
@iman-bil-Qist, ' Maintaining balance ' (Q : 3 : 18), appearing in
chapter 'A-'Imran clinches the concept in but two words.
The Qur'Gn asks us to conbider whether this principle of balance
which is so clearly a t work in the phenomenal world of matter, will
leave out the human activity from its sphere of operation. It is why
the Qur'iin calls all balanced action, whatever the field of life, as
'Amal-i-Salih or righteous action. If, then it is this principle of
justice which really operates for proportion, balance and beauty in
every sphere of life, why should it be denied recognition, if the
Qur'cin employs a phraseology of its own to denote it ?

Seek they other than the way of God, when unto Him
submitteth whatsoever is in the heavens and the earth,
willingly or unwillingly and unto Him they will be returned.
;Q:3 : 83jm
The Qur'8n has employed various terms to denote every form
of activity that disturbs this principle of justice or balance, terms
such as Zulrn, TughyGn, I + r q , Tabdhir, IfsEd, 'Itidii and 'UdwZm.
Look at these te&s and see what each connoh. What we call
Zulm in Arabic has been defined as that which is not 'in proper
form' or 'not in order'. That is why the term Shirk or associating
 DIVINE JUSTICE 95
anything with God is d ~ i i b e das the greatest of Zulm, for nothing
more improper is possible to conceive of. It is obvious that anything
which is out of place or not in order is the negation of balance or
justice. Similarly the term $!'yhyiin means 'excess', or 'over and
above the proper measure '. Whzn the river is in floods, or overflows
its banks, or its flow is in excess of the normal, the term $!'yhyZn
is used. Such a state is opposed to normality or balance or jii'tice.
Similarly the terms I ~ i i f(wastage), Tabdhfr (misuse) and Ifsiid
(disorder, mischief) fail under this category, as also 'It& and
'UdGn (both meaning going beyond one's bounds).
 S E C T I OV
NI

The Concept of God

Tawhid
 T H E QUR'ANIC CONCEPT O F GOD:
A COMPARATIVE STUDY
Iyycc'ka N M u Wa IyyEka Nastak :
Thee Alone do We Serve, and Thee Alone do We Ask for Help.
THE SGrat-ul-Fcc'tihii holds out for us the vision of the primary
divine attributes. The picture which this vision unfolds is one of
Rubiibiyd, Rahmt and 'AcEcZlat, through an appreciation of which
one may gather the concept of God such as the Qur'cc'n aims to
present. It is this concept which is the measure of its worth ; for,
in the last analysis, it is only the character of the concept of God
which a religion presents that determines its moral and spiritual
vrrlne to life.
ORIGIN OF TEE IDEA OF GOD : DIFFERENT THEORIES The idea of
God has had a chequered history. One may, on the analogy of
matter, be tempted to read an evolutionary process underlying it,
But strange as it may seem, the law of evolution does not apply
here. In fact, a reverse procesa is what we notice in this field, a
process, so to say, of retrogression or devolution. The Qur'iinic
contention is that the f i s t vi~ionthat, man had of God was one
of divine unity, the vision of an unseen great being who must have
created all that man could see about and around him, and that
this vision gradually began to undergo a change marking a sort
of retrogression expressing itself in the concept of multiplicity, or
of associating with God the things of creation.
Before we proceed further, let ua take a brief survey of the
different theories advanced on the subject. The general view held
by the anthropologists of the 19th century was that the early
religious beliefs of man were ~timulatedby superstition born of
the impulses generated by the material conditions of life lived in
the early times, and that these beliefs underwent, under the stress
of the law of evolution, varying changes from time to time assuming
eventually the form of a belief in a supreme being.
The histoy of religious beliefs and concepts as a branch of learn-
ing is a product of the 19th century. The origin of this development
99
 is to be traced to the close of the 18th century when the history
of the languages of the Indo-Germanic or the Aryan tribes of
Central Asia came to be studied. As a result, the idea came to be
entertained that Deism had its first origin in nature-myths or in
the urge to personify the forces of nature such as light and rain.
But by the middle of the 19th century, researches in the history
of the African and American wild tribes gave rise to another theory,
as advanced by De Broeses, that the origins of Deism me to be
found in fetish worship or the worship of objects to which evil
spirits were believed to be attached. And then in 1851, Comte
came to hold that this fetish-worship developed into the worship
of God. The theory was given its h a 1 touches by Sir John Lubback,
Lord Avebury.
About the same time another theory took its rise and this is
what is known as the theory of Manism. The idea mooted was that
the origins of Deism were to be found in the worship of ancestors
prevalent among the early nomads and in ancient China. It is this
theory which inspired Herbert Spencer to formulate his own Ghost-
theory which came to possess a fascination for the anthropologists
and philosophers of his time.
A further theory advanced during this period of intellectual
enquiry and research was the one propounded by I. B. Taylor -the
theory of Animism. This he did through his book, Primitive Culture,
published in 1872. Taylor's view ia'that even aa the physical matter
of life has had an evolutionary development, even so, the spiritual
consciousness of man has had a similar growth and development
leading on and on to the belief in God. At the close of the 19th
century, it was this theory that held the field.
Side by side of this theory 'of Animism, another theory was
steadily struggling to assert itself. The archaeological b d s of
ancient Egypt, Babylonia and Assyria came to be studied with zest.
These revived and strengthened the earlier theory of nature-
worship which now was expanded to cover the influence of planeta
on human life. The protagonists of this theory were opposed to
AnimiRm, and came to be known as 'Astral and Nature Mytho-
logists'. While the several theories in the field were being advanced
and discu&d, an additional theory raised its head aa a result of
research in the history of the hunting tribes of the earlieet timea.
 T H E Q U R ~ ~ N ICCO N C E P T O F a o ~ 101
This was what is called Toternism which traced religious belief8
to the worship of animals. The ~espectshown to the cow in India
and the bullock in Egypt, the bear in the Arctic region, and the
white calf among nomadic tribes, was taken to be a reminiscence
of what was in vogue in the earliest phases of human society. I t
was Robertson Smith who first advanced this view in 1885, and
tn this he was supported by several scholars.
'Very soon, however, Totemiam came to be discredited. Prof. J.
G. Frazer came forward to expose the foundations of this theory.
He, however, read in Totemlsm the genesis of necromancy. The idea
had already flashed across the mind of J. K. Kenneg of America in
1892. In the early years of the 20th century, it caught the imagina-
tion of a good many German, English, French and American
scholars, and served as a counterblast to the theory of Animism.
The new movement gave rise to the speculation that there was a
period earlier to the times when Animism prevailed -a period of
pre-Animism when necromancy was the order of the day and which
slowly put on a spiritual visage and expressed itself in Deism.
Pre-Animism thereafter seemed to supplant every other theory in
the field. R. R. Marret in 1896, Hewett in 1902, Parrieu in 1904,
W. Candeth in 1907 and I. S. Hortland in 1908 expounded the
the0ry in their several ways. The leading part was taken by Prench
anthropologistswho belonged to the School of Durkheim. The early
leaders of this group were H. Hubert and M. Moss. But it was
Durkheim who came forward in 1912 to give their movement a
powerful impetus. The group believed that an amalgam of Totemism
and pre-Animism, such as is still found in the superstitions of the
tribes of Central Australia, marked really the beginnings of the
religious coacepts of man which under the'law of evolution assumed
an advanced form of Deism. The idea was taken up by the scholar8
of the time engaged in the psychological study of religion who
emphasised that the basis of Deism was to be sought in mixed
concepts of necromancy and religion. The leader of this movement
was Bishop Soderblom, the result of whose research was published
in 1916. This was the time of the First World War which opened
a fresh chapter of revolutionary upheavels in human thought.
Be it noted that these theories had all been inspired by material-
istic evolutionism. The idea was' nursed that even as every other
t h i i in life, the concept of monotheism, was the result of an
evolutionary process. The second half of the 19th century when
most of these theories were formulated was tho age of Darwinism
which through the eeorts of Beckhner, W e b and Spencer governed
every sphere of human thought, so much so, that Deistic beliefs
could not afford to escape its hold.
But the revolutionary disclosures of the 20th century had not
advanced far in the field of human thought when the urge to apply
the theory of evolution t o religious beliefs wsa given a powerful
setback. Thinkem came forward to admit that the concept of
Deism was not the result of any evolutio~myproceas, but that it
was the very h t achievement of man. Prof. W. Schmidt of the
University of Vienna in his masterly work on the subject, The (3riga9t
a d C h d of Rdigivn, states : "In the whole ___domain of ethnology,
the old Evolutionary School is bankrupt. The lovely long single
lines of development which it used to construct so readily have
been shattered and overthrown by the criticism of the new historical
tendencies. " He adds : " That the Supreme Being of the primitive
culture is really the god of monotheism, and that the religion
which includes him is genuinely monotheistic-this is the position
which is most attacked by a number of authors. To thia attack we
may reply that there is s a c i e n t number of tribes among whom
the really monotheistic character of their Supreme Being is clear
even to a cursory examination. This is true of the Supreme Being
of most gipsy tribes, so far as we know them, also of the Tierra
del Fuegians, the primitive Bushman, the Kurnai, Julin and Yuin
of South-East Australia, the peoples of Arctic culture, except the
Koryaks, and well-nigh all the primitives of North Americas'.*
Recently the subject has been given a pantological approach
which deserves reference here. The wild tribes of Australia and of
some of the islands in the Pacific Ocean have observed, from time
immemorial, the most primitive form of life. We find therein a total
absence of every sign of evolutionarygrowth. The features associated
with the earliest primitive life are all to be found in their p m n t
life too ; and yet, they believe in the existence of a Being who in
their view must have created all that they see around them, the
W. Schmidt: The %in and Ckowth 4 Rel+n. Focts, and - T
London, 1931, p. 8.
 THE QUR'ZNICC O N C E P T OF GOD 103
earth, the atars, and the planets, and that this Being controlled their
life and death. The researches made in Egyptology have enabled
ue to know that the earliest belief among the ancient Egyptian0
was the belief in one god, and that all the deikies and demi-gods
who have left their mark on the archaeological remains of the land
had absolutely no existence in the first phase of life in Egypt,
when the only belief entertained was the belief in only one Osa~b.
The excavations made in Iraq also reveal the fact that even as in
the valley of the Nile, so also in the valley of the Tigris and the
Euphrates, the belief among the earliest people there was not in a
multiplicity of deities and demi-go& but in one unseen all powerful
God. The people whom the Chaldians and the Sumerians succeeded
did not worship either the sun or the moon, but worshipped the
God who was eternal and who created the sun and the moon. Even
the incompleted excavations of Mohenjadaro disclose the same
historic fact. The people of Mohenjadaro did not believe in a
multiplicity of gods, but they believed in one Almighty power
whom they styled Own which resembles the Sanskrit term Vndwa*.
They believed that thia Being rulea over everything and that
everything submitted to the law of life devised by Him ; and that
Hi attribute is Vedukuli or 'eternal wakefulness' or aa the
Qur'En puts it 'without rest and without sleep '.
The urge for migration in ancient times was evidently felt in two
definite regions of the earth. One was the Gobi deaert of Central
Asia and the other, the desert of Arabia. llhe tribea who migrated
from the former are known aa the Indo-European Aryans, and the
other as the Semitea. The Arabian tribea spread over Egypt, Nubia
and West Africa, Palestine, Syria, Iraq and the land surrounding
the Persian Gulf. Although they came to be known later on by
different names -Ad, Samud, Amaliqa, Haksua, Sawabi, Ashuri,
Akadi, Sumeri, Ilami, Arami, and Hebrew and others-they
belonged to one and the same family.
The latest Semitic studiea have discloeed that the Semitic tribes
all believed in an unseen Supreme God whom they called Al, Zla'h,
Alliih. I t is thia Il2h which was differentlyspelt aa Al, Uliih, and
t l i i h ~ The
. archaeological h d a discovered after the First World
War in the valley of Aqaba in Hejaz and in the terrain of Shamar
in Northern Syria go to emphaeine this fact of hbtory. In sho~t,
the enquiry and research carried on in the 20th century have all
gone to establish that the earliest belief which inspired man was
a belief in the unity of God, shorn of all symbolic representation.
The moment man opened his eyes to the world around him in
the very first stage of his history, he was impelled by his very
nature and the situations in which he found himself, to believe
in the existence of one Supreme Being. It was only a t a later stage
that his fancy began to body forth for him various imaginary forces
of nature to which he thought he should offer worship.
It will thus be seen that the belief in God is not the result of
any evolutionary process but that, on the other hand, it was the
belief in God which had in the course of hitory taken the ro~ite
of retrogression. Adam was created with light within. His progeny
frittered it away and admitted darkness instead. This is clearly
borne out by the ancient traditiom of Egypt, Greece, Chaldaea,
India, China and Iran. They reveal the fact that man lived a natural
life guided by nature. Plato's Cm'tias and the writings of Timasua
throw light on the point. Indeed, the Old Tktumnt definitely
aaaigns to Adam a heavenly existence. It is only when he falls into
error that he is deprived of it. Light comes first and darkneas
afterwards. Such is the statement of the Qur7tinas well.

Men were a t first of one religion only: Then they fell fo

variance. (Q : 10:19)*'
Mankind was but one people, and God sent prophets to
announce glad tidings and to warn ; and He sent down with
them the Book of Truth that it might decide the disputes
of men. (Q : 2 :.24b3)m'

The 19th century evolutionary approach to the concept of God

has thus come to lose its value in learned circles. It is only in the
field of attributes however that the theory of progressive compre-
hension may hold good. The belief in the existence of God was
never an achievement of the human mind. It is a belief ingrained
in his very nature, and does not alter under the stress either of his
intellect or of his environment.
I t is however true that man can scarcely comprehend tlie Absolute.
Whenever the human intellect attempts to visualize anythhg, it
 invariably concentratesits primary attention on its qualities or attri-
butes, and little on its inward reality. So it is, when the inward urge
propels one's mind to the thought of God, it is the attributes which
attract its attention, particularly those which his imagination or
fancy can easily catch.
The intellect of man is bounded by his senses. Its perception
.therefore does not cross their boundaries. Whenever he tries to
visualize a thing umeen or unfelt, he inevitably conjures up for its
qualities and feelings of which he is aware in his own mundane
life - qualities and feelings which have not taken a sudden rise in
him, but have slowly grown with him and developed. In the begin-
ning his mind was in the infant stage. The pictures bodied forth
in his mind partook therefore of his infancy, and thereafter the
usual course of development followed. The result was that in the
beginning whenever man attempted to carve out an image of God,
he gave to him his own shape ; and when his intellect developed,
this image of his also was made to change. At every stage, he
fancied that the image he had fashioned for hi&el bore the like-
ness of his ~od..1n reality, it was but a reflection of his own mind
and qualities. Such is the first in the series of tragedies which
have beset the human mind. It is to save man from this procesa
that the revealed word had to be delivered from time to time for
his guidance.
The prophets who rose in different climes and at different times
to deliver the message of divine unity had necessarily to take note
of the condition of the mind which had to respond to their message.
In presenting or explaining the attributes of God to the people
of their times, the prophets adopted a method suited to their
intellectual standard.
It is from this standpoint that there has been an evolutionary
process going on in the exposition of divine attributes. Three
distinct lines are noticeable in this process :

1. Prom anthropomorphism or anthropophism to freedom

from them.
2. From polytheism to monotheism.
3. From the concept of awe and terror to that of love.
The history of this development discloses that a process of evolution
was a t work in human attitudes towards the attributes of divinity.
The question arises : why the initial concept of man in respect
of God was one of awe and terror ? The answer is clear. The con-
structive beauty of the universe lay concealed under the shroud
of destructiveness. I n the infant stage of his intellect man could
not catch the hidden beauty. He was frightened a t the splitting
which precedes construction and could not grasp the beauty of the
things to shape. For this, one needs insight or inward vision, and
this had not yet developed in man in the initial stages of his
cultural growth.
Like every other thing in the world, human action possesses a
disposition of its own. Construction is a state where calmness is to
be displayed ; whereas splitting is a state which is marked by
tumult and disturbance. Construction means orderly arrangement ;
splitting, the reverse of it, viz. disorderliness and confusion. Orderli-
ness is indeed the state of calmness, while disorder, the state of
disturbance. When a wall is under construction, you do not feel
any tumult around it ; but when it falls, the fall is accompanied by
a thundering noise, and you feel its shock. This is because the
animal nature of man takes note of, and is quickly influenced by
the splitting around him. On the other hand, it is not so promptly
influenced by the construction that goes on, because the beauty
that slowly discloses itself in construction, takes time to dawn
upon the human mind.
Hence it is, that when the mind of man begm at first to dwell
on the attributes of God, it was more easily influenced by the
destructive aspect of nature than by its constructiveness. Thunder
and lightning in the clouds, volcanic eruptions in the mountains,
earthquakes, river floods, and storms in the oceans, all these dis-
turbing phenomena created awe and terror in him and he began
to visualize his God as a god of terror. He could not see the god
of beauty in the frightening thunder and lightning or in the moulten
lava flowing from volcanoes.
The early economic conditions of man also were not conducive
to dispel this concept of awe and terror associated with God, and
replace it by that of love and affection. He felt he was weak and
unprotected. He looked upon everything else beside him as
 THE Q U R ' B N I CC O N C E P T OF GOD 107
something inimical to him and intent on his destruction. The hosts
of mosquitoes from the marshes hovered around him ; poisonous
creepers met him a t every turn : and wild animals threatened .him
wherever he went. The burning sun above, and the shifting seasons
looked a t first hostile to his well-being. Everything seemed to him
designed to frighten and over-awe him. The result was inevitable.
The God that he conjured up for himself was one of terror, and
not of love. But as time passed, a gradual change came over him,
as also in his environment. His sense of despair was now mixed up
with a new sense of hope, so much so, that, in his new concept of
God, an equal place was given to the attributes of mercy and
beauty along with the old concept of terror. Thi? becomes clear
when we look into the history of the religious beliefs of early
communities. The process manifested itself eventually in the
deification of gods of destruction alongside of gods of food, wealth,
beauty and knowledge. The mythology of Greece has no doubt a
fascination of its own. But even there, the early entrants into the
Greek pantheon were the gods of terror. In India, even till this
day, the gods of destruction out-number those of grace and
benevolence.

DIVINE ATTRIBUTES : DIFFERENT OONCEPTS What ' was the

character of the concepts which prevailed in respect of the attributes
of God when the Qur'iin was delivered ? And what was the view
which the Qur'iin itself presented of them ?

The Chinese Concept

There were five leading religious groups into which mankind was
divided when the Qur'dn was delivered - the Chinese, the Indian,
the Magian, the Judaic and the Christian. Among the ancient
people, the Chinese had one peculiarity about them. The concept
of God which they had built up was vague, and this vagueness
clung to it for a long time. But it could not withstand the onslaughts
of time. Slowly but steadily it had to receive, in one form or
another, the impact of forces a t work in the course of history, so
much so, that today it presents a very colourful picture.
I n ancient China, alongside of a belief in local gods, there prevailed
a belief in a Celestial Being, whose dwelling was the sky above.
The sky was to the Chinese an expression both of beauty and
terror. The Sun dwelling above provided warmth, the stars served
in the nights as lanterns, the rain coming from above gave life to
the earth. At the same time, it was from above that lightnings
worked havoc on the surface of the earth, and thunders from the
high clouds shook the hearts of men. The two types of qualities
were thus present in this Celestial God -benevolence on the one
hand, and terror on the other. In the early poetic writings of
China, one frequently meets searching questionings as to why this
Celestial Being should be an embodiment of contradictions, why
there is no uniformity in his system, and why he gives life and
yet destroys it by lightning.
The sky thus came to form an integral part of their concept of
life, so much so, that even the Chineae government came to be
known as the Celestial government, and the Chinese army as the
Celestial army. When the Romans f i s t came into contact with
China, they were told that it was governed by a Celestial govern-
ment. Since then all forms of derivations from the root 'celestial'
have been freely applied in English to the people of this country.
In addition to a belief in this Celestial Being, the Chineae wor-
shipped the spirits of their ancestors who were credited with the
talent of devising measures for their protection. The belief was so
widespread that every family had ita own list of ancestors whom
they worshipped.
Some 600 years before Christ, two great figures appeared on the
scene of China - Lao-Tzu and Kung-Fu-Tse. The latter interested
himself in the social life of the people and prepared fir them a
code of rights and dutiea. But in respect of man's relation to God,
the old celestial concept, a ~ the
d worship of ancestors continued
to be maintained. Indeed, the latter was so much emphasized that
the spirits of ancestors came to be regarded as intercessors with
the Celestial Beipg. This new concept of intercession soon developed
into a form of obsession. In India and Greece, the demi-gods were
regarded as agents of the Supreme Being. In China their place was
taken up by the spirits of ancestors. It was in this way that
polytheism came to be the popular faith of the Chinese.
In China, the religious practice of sacrifice was in vogue even
before Kung-Fu-Tse. The practice was no%upheld by him, although
 T H E QUR'ANIC CONCEPT OF G O D 109
it is clear that he did not condemn it either. The Chinese temples
which favoured these sacrifices continued to prosper on their
account. The impulse behind every sacrifice was the desire for some
gain or for protection from some danger. It was an attempt to
seek either divine benevolence or shelter from divine terror. The
duel concept of old thus persisted to prevail.
Lao laid.the foundation of Tav or the mystic path, corresponding
to Tmsau~uf of the Muslims or Vdbntism of the Hindus. By
introducing methods of spiritual contempht3on and practices in
the religious life of the Chinese, Lao not o n l p g a ~depth to their
religious and moral concepts but stimulated a taste or subtlety of
thought and expression. But he could not succeed in making
mysticism common among the masses. It became the exclusive
concern of but a few ; even as Vedanlism among the Hindus, and
Tassawuf among the Muslims.

S h i n i s m :Buddhism
After Lao, came that stage in the history of China when Buddhism
was introduced in the land. The Buddhism to which the Chinese
were introduced was the Mahccyana form of it which had very
largely cut itself off from its mooring0 and which allowed such
elasticity in thought and practice .that, wherever it travelled, it
easily accommodated itself to its new environment. So, when it
came into China and Japan where the social atmosphere wm
different from that of India and Ceylon, it easily put on the colour
and bearing of its new surroundings.
It is generally believed that Buddhism does nok inculcate a belief
in God. But, strange as it may appear, its very followers, in due
course, installed Buddha himself in the position of God, and devised
a system of devotion to his image so intensive that we scarcely
6nd for it a parallel in the annals of image worship.

Hindu zdzology
The History of the Hindu concept of God is a panoramic view of
conflicting ideologies. On the one hand, there is its philosophy of
unity of God, and on the other, is its religion as practised. The
Hindu philosophy presents such deep and intricate problems of
spiritual contemplation and raises the human mind ta such great
heights that we scarcely h d a parallel for it in the religious ideo-
logies of ancient' peoples. But the religion as practised gave to
human ingenuity a free hand to create, an endless variety of demi-
gods, so much so, that every stone became a god, and every tree
claimed godhead, and every door was turned into an bbject of
worship. Thus the ideology of the Hindus, while it a,ttempted the
highest flights of the mind in one direction, descended into very
low depths in another. The former was reserved for the elite ; the
latter was meant for the common folk.

The Age of the Lrpanishads

A study of the Rigveda discloses that while the worship of the
forces of nature gradually developed into the worship of images,
the concept of a higher being, the creator of all, was also shaping
itself side by side, as is clearly noticeable in the hymns of the
tenth Mandala of the Rigveda. It is not possible to say whether
this latter urge was a heritage from any previous age of thought,
or whether it was a reaction to the prevailing belief in a multiplicity
of demi-gods. But this is clear that in the time of the Rigveda, the
idea of one God was silently gathering strength, so much so, that
the number of demi-gods began gradually to dwindle down. These
were assigned to three different spheres - earth, air and sky. This
arrangement later on gave rise to the concept of a god of gods,
the concept known as henotheism. This concept, in its turn, assumed
a more definite form, the form of an all-pervasive being called
sometimes Varuna, sometimes Indra, and sometimes Agni. Finally,
the idea of a Supreme Creator of all. the universe emerges under
the name of Prajapati, or Visvakarman. It is this Being who came
to be regarded as the reality behind the universe, the One, called
by different names - Agni, Y a m , Matarisva~-the one who
neither is the sky, nor the earth, nor the light of the sun, neither
air nor the wind, the One who is the spirit of the universe, the
fountainhead of all power, the eternal and unchanging. He is Rtu
in the form of essence, Aditi in the garb of the spirit, a Being who
breathes without any breath (Rigvedu 10-121-1). We cannot see
Him and cannot clearly point Him out (Zbid. 121). He is Ekumath
or sole Reality, the Truth. It is this unity which may be noticed
in the multiplicity of nature.
 It is these ideals which went ultimately to contribute to the
pantheistic view of life presented in the Upanishads and on which
were raised the metaphysical systems of Vedantism.
The pantheistic belief was the result of an inward approach to
the Absolute, where there was no room to entertain attributea, and
even were there any, it was restricted to negative attributes. It was
possible to say that God is not this and not that, or is not such
and such. But it was not possible to say that He is this and that,
or such and such. For whatever picture we may conjure up of any
positive attribute of God, it would a t best be a creation of our
own mind ; and our mind being finite or limited in its reaches, i t
cannot grasp the Absolute or the limitless. And if it ever attempta
to do so, it can only do so by limiting the Absolute. And when a
limit is set, the illimitable ceases to bear any meaning.
It w8s .only when the Upwishads gave Brahm the form of
Imara and thus made the Absolute put on the veil of finitude,
it became poasible to attribute to Him, qualities as reason or
fancy suggested. It was in this way that the pantheistic concept
of God furnished a personality endowed with attributes (Sagurn).
U%en we study these attributes, the picture that raises itself
before our mind is that of a unique being, one with none like him,
one not bound by time and apace, high and mighty, incompre-
hensible, self-subsisting, one who creates, protects or annihilatee,
one, the cause of c a w , the Absolute cause (Upadanaand Nimitta
Karana), one from whom all that exists has proceeded and to whom
all ahall return. He is Light, Perfection, Beauty, the Absolutely
Pure, the Almighty, the Most Merciful and the Most Loving, and
the object of true love and affection.
Great as ia this concept of God, we find that in practice i t was
not possible to disaesociate it with the concept of polytheistic
multiplicity. The concept of the unity of God, in His essence, had
not given rise a t the same time to the concept of the unity of God
in His attributes. I n the words of a learned Hindu scholar (Dr. S.
Radhakrishnan) :

"The polytheistic conceptions were too deeply rooted in the

Indian conaciousnetm to be w i l y overthrown. The many g o b
were subordinated to the One. Without Brahman, Agni cannot
 burn a blade of grass, Vayu cannot blow a whisp of straw. For
fear of him, fire burns, for fear of him the sun shines, and for
fear of him the winds, the clouds, and death perform their office.
Sometimes the many gods are made parts of one whole. The five
house-holders led by Uddalaka approach King Asvapati, who
asked each of them, Whom do you meditate on as the Self ? The
first answered heaven ; the second the sun ; the third, air ; the
fourth, ether ; the fifth, water; and the king replies that each of
them worshipped only a part of the Truth. Heaven is the head,
the sun the eye, the air the breath, the ether the trunk, the water
the bladder, and the earth the feet of the Central Reality, which
is pictured as the world-soul." (Indian Philosophy, Vol. I, p. 144 ;
second edition.)

But a t the same time when stress is laid on the everlasting

character of Reality and its all-encompassing control over every-
thing, the very existence of demi-gods and the entire phenomenal
world lose their meaning, since everything depends on Him and
He does not depend on anything. "Just as all branches of a chariot
wheel possess their existence only in relation to that wheel, so
also all demi-gods and all the world subsist in his existence."
(BrhacEaranyaku Upanisld; Chapter 2 :5.) "Here exists a tree whme
roots have gone upward and whose branches have spread down-
wards. This is Brahma, the never dying. The entire universe is in
Him. Nothing is outside of Him. " (Taittiriyo Upanishad, 1-10.)
Wk again quote from the same learned scholar referred to above:

"Compromise between the philosophic faith of the few and

the fancied superstition of the crowds ie the only possible re-
conciliation ; we cannot abolish the old forms, for that would
be to ignore the fundamental nature of humanity, as well as the
patent differences in the normal and intellectual states of believers
who were not capable of acquiring a t once the highest wisdom."
(Indian Philosophy, Vol. I, p. 145 ; second edition.)

Later on the>Vedantic philosophy expanded itself enormously.

But the alliance between the unitary concept of God entertained
by the elite and the polytheistic concept adhered to by the common
masses could not be disturbed. In fact, it g*thered greater strength.
It came to be recognized on all hands that when the gnostic com-
pletes his journey to Reality, all other beings vanish including the
entire order of demi-gods. The idea was that the demi-gods were
but the initial stages in the journey without negotiating whom it
was not possible to reach Reality, and that since the worship of
them was thus so indispensable, it was desirable not to quarrel
with them but tacitly to allow their worship to continue. Thus it
was that a sort of monotheistic polytheism came to be the p r e v a h g
religion, meeting the demands both of the unitary urge and the
polytheistic. Nimbarka and his disciple Srinivasa in their corn-
mentary on Brahrnasara state :

"There are other forces who though do not enjoy the position
of Brahmu or Sri Krsna, have emerged from Him and exist
.along with Him. For example, there is Radha on the left side
of K ~ s n a .She is a being which deals benevolence and confers
rewards. We should therefore worship Radha dong with Brahmu. "
(Vedantha Paraga Sanrabha, Vol. 111, p. 25, in Dr. R. Bose's
translation published by the Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal.)

The fact is to be borne in mind that the forces of nature whom

the Semitic concept gave the name of Malak or Malaiku, the Aryan
concept styled Dew or Yeztd. The same basic idea is present in the
Greek theos, the Roman deus and the Zoroastrian YezG or Yez&n.
The Sanskrit Dev is used in a number of senses ; but when applied
to supernatural beings it signifies a being which in itself is bright.
The Semitic religions did not assign to the spiritual beings any
better position than that of agents to God as created by Him. But
the Aryan concept regarded them as definite entities having the
power to initiate and act. But when the idea of Unity of God attract-
ed attention, and liquidated their existence as independent entities,
they managed to assume the position of intercessors with God. They
by themselves were not God, but in order to reach God, a worship
of them was considered necessary. The worshipper's worship was
of course meant for God ; but that was to be performed a t the
threshdd of these intermediaries. We camot have direct access to
God. We must first seek the intercession of the demi-gods. Such is
114 T A R J U M ~ NA L - Q U R ' A N

the doctrine of intercession which everywhere has vitiated the

belief in the Unity of God. To save faces, none aspired to the
supremacy of the one God. This was exactly the attitude of the
Arabs when the @??tin was delivered and to which the &ur'&a
itself refers : "They say : We serve them only that they may
bring us near to God". (Q : 39-3jN'
It was this association of others with God, both in His attributes
and in the worship of Him, which gave to the religion, as practised
in India, a form which thrived on the belief in multiplicity and
on image worship. The position grew so serious eventually that
unless the seeker of Truth was prepared to struggle hard and long
to reach it, it became well nigh impossible for him to trace the
idea of the Unity of God in the Hindu religious ideology. We can
find it in the caves of the mountains, but not in the market place,
or on the road. When Abu Raihan Al-Beruni came to India in the
11th century of the Christian era, he stood aghast a t this spectacle.
The same bewilderment was felt by Abul Fazal in the 16th century ;
and a like feeling came upon Sir William Jones in the 18th
century.
The best apology that might be offered for this state of affairs
is what the Gitu does, a'nd which attracted the attention of the
philosophic mind of Al-Beruni, It is that in the field of belief and
action two ways were purposely kept open from the very beginning.
One for the maases, the other for the select few, to suit tbeir rea-
pective intellectual capacities and aptitudes. The unitary approach
was for the elite, for, they alone could bear the ordeal of looking
up so high. The image-worship was left for the crowd, for, that
auited their uncultivated intellect. But since even the elite d d
not keep themaelves aloof from society, they too had, in practical
life, to conform to the prevailing fa~hion.It was thus that the
Hindu life, in its outward bearing, was marked by an attachment
to image worship.
A-Beruni has, by a reference to several paasages from the Greek
literature, pointed out that the course of development in religiow
thought in India and Greece wae exactly the same. He also quotee
from the G;ita ; "Many there are who wish to reach Me (or Cod)
by workhipping others beside Me. But I grant their requerrtcl too ;
for,'I am not in need of them nor their worship".
 It will not be out of place to quote here again from Dr. Radha-
krishnan who, reviewing the position of Hinduism just before the
appearance of Buddhism, observes :

"In the prevailing religion of the period of Buddha, the

dominant feature was the spirit of barter established between
gods and men. While the Brahman of the Upanishads was high
and noble, yet, ever so many gods, the heavenly orbs, as well as,
the material elements, plants, as well as, animals, mountaim,
as well as, rivers were popularly accepted. The unbridled license
of a wild imagination dei6ed all possible objeds of the world,
and as if these were not enough, added to them monsters, shapes
and symbols of fancy. The Upanishads, no doubt, shattered the
authority of these gods in the world of thought, but did not
disturb their sway in the world of practice. " (Iradian Philosophy,
Vol. I, p. 45, second edition).

Shuminism and its Ideology

The early Brahminic religion was succeeded by Shaminism ox
Buddhism. This was the religion which was prevalent in India a t
the advent of Islam. Various views are held of the early doctrinee
of this religion. A group of the 19th century orientalista regarded
Buddhism as an off-shoot of the teachings of the Upanishads and
thought that Nirvana or salvation was a state of returning to the
spiritual sources from which human life originally proceeded. But
a t the present day it is admitted that Buddhism possesses no
concept either of God or of the soul. Ita doctrines deal only with
goodness in life and freedom from it. It refers only to Prakrti or
the Primal matter to which the disposition of nature gives momen-
tum. Nirvana is annihilation of the sense of ego in exietence and
an escape from the cycle of life. The view is upheld by the later
Buddhist thinkers. While one group of them gives it the character
of agnosticism, another group goes beyond, and definitely discards
the idea of God from its concepts. Moksakar Gupta in his Tarka
B a s h refutes all the arguments which the Schoolmen of the Nyaya
and Vaisesika systems used to offer in support of Deiam in the
Buddhist ideolagy. Still, it cannot be dehitely asserted that the
silence which Buddha observed in this respect was an expression
 of any denial of God on his part. His reservation is noticeable
in a number of views advanced by him and which may be regarded
as so many screens stretched by him across this subject. If we
carefully look into all the sayings attributed to him, we feel that
the attitude of Buddha was not one of denial of God in his essence,
but a denial of Him in attributes. The fact however, stands out
that a denial of attributes suspends all intellectual inquisitiveness
and imposes nothing but silence.
Besides, we should 'not lose sight of the fact that Buddhism
appearedat a time when the evils of image-worship had struck
deep roots in the soil of India and were a powerful obstacle in the
way of a free search for God. Buddha wished to clear this path
and therefore concentrated all his attention on the problem of
good life. This was possible only by discrediting Brahminic doctrines
and by emphasizing that salvation did not lie in the worship of
images but in the knowledge and practice of truth or in Ashtay
Marg. In later times, this relative denial assumed a form of total
denial, and still later on the opposition to Brahiminism degenerated
into extremism. Whatever the explanation Buddha himself or his
commentators may offer in respect of this subject, it is an undeniable
fact that the followers of Buddha did not leave the vacant seat of
God unoccupied. When they found that the seat was vacant, they
hastened to instal Buddha himself in that seat. Then began the
process of the multiplicity of image worship ; so much so, that
today more than a half of the world is peopled by these images.
Not many years had passed since the death of Buddha when
the bulk of his followers began to assign to him a super-human
position, and to worship his relics. In fact when within a few
years of his passing away, the first Great Council was held a t
Rajgiri a t which his favourite disciple Anand disclosed his Master's
parting testament to his followers, a number of them did not
feel satisfied a t what was disclosed, and entered into opposition
with him ; for, in the picture presented by him, Buddha did not
appear with that halo of super-human glamour about him with
which they wanted to invest him. So, when the second Great
Council was held a t Muzzafarpur, the early simplicity of the faith
had already vanished giving place to novel concepts and mixed
beliefs. The concept of the Trinity which characterised the Christian
 THE QUR'ANIC CONCEPT OF GOD 117
faith some 500 years after was now evolved for the faith of Buddha,
exalting him thereby to a super-human state. Under this concept,
the personality of Buddha was made to possess three distinct
personalities - the personality of his teaching, the personality of
his worldly existence, and the personality of his real existence. The
last personality lived in Lok, or heaven. The idea was mooted that
whenever Buddha appeared in the world, he was only a reflection of
the personality of him in heaven, and salvation lay in one's attain-
ment to the super-human position occupied by Buddha in heaven.
When the fourth Great Council was held at Beshawar (Peshawar)
in the first century of the Christian era, the basic religion of Buddha
had changed into a regular church, and the spirit of Ashtang Marg
or the Shamani or Buddhist ethical path had been lost in an
intricate net-work of ritual and ceremonial. At last the followera
of Buddha divided themselves into two sections -the Hinayana
and the Mahayana. The first group wished to see in Buddha a
human personality functioning as a teacher, but the other aimed
to instal him into the seat of divinity. The latter concept had a
popular appeal, and so, the Mahayana version of Buddhism spread
widely in Afghanistan, Central Asia, China, Korea, Japan and
Tibet. When the Chinese traveller Fa Hien visited India in the
4th century A.D. he held discussions with the scholars professing
the Hinuyana faith and pressed upon their attention the value of
the Mahayam way. Today, barring Ceylon, where a version of tlfe
Hinayana faith prevails under the name of Thiravad, everywhere
else the Mahayana view is the order of the day. Certain research
scholars of the present day devoted to the study of Buddhism hold
the view that till the time of Asoks, image-worship had not become
common among the Buddhists, for, the archaeological remains
reminiscent of Buddhism available today do not represent Buddha
as a deity. Instead, he is presented in the form of a lotus flower
or a vacant chair. It was only after Asoka, that the 'sign of two
feet' began to take the place of the lotus flower and the vacant
chair. Later on the signs of the two feet were replaced by a full-
fledged image of Buddha himself. Even if this theory, as advanced
by the present day scholars, is accepted, it goes only to stress that
image worship had become part of Buddhism as far back as 250 B.C.
and only after Asoka.
Magism of Iram
Prior to the advent of Zoroaater, there prevailed in Media and Fars
an ancient form of image worship attended by sacrifices of more
or less the same style as were in vogue in India. Supernatural
power was divided among two groups of deities - one composed
of beings who dispensed love and happiness, the other, composed
of dark forces, who worked havoc in human life. Houses of sacrifice
were built wherein fire was worshipped. The priests were called
Mogosh or Karpan or Kavi as styled by the Avesta. Later on, the
term Mogosh came to be applied to fire worship itself, so much so,
that the Iranians came to be styled by other nations as Mag or
Magosh. It was this term Magosh which the Arabs pronounced as
Majus.

Mazdaisam
It was Zoroaster who rescued the people of Iran from the clutches
of Magism, and gave them the message of Maduisana with its
belief in Ahura Mazda. In the Zoroastrian concept, Ahura Mazda
was God with none like Him. He was the Light, the Purity, the
All Wise, and the Good, the Creator of the entire universe. It was
He who created two worlds for man - the mundane world, and
the world hereafter. The new faith postulated that the body of
man perished after death, but that his soul survived and received
recompense according to the deeds he had done in his mundane
life. Zoroaster replaced the concept of demi-gods by the concept
of angels known as Amish Sap'nd and Yezta. These angels carried
out the behesta of Ahura Maids. Further, the place of the dark
forces of Magian thought was given to Angrame Niyush, or Satan.
It is this Angram Niyush which in the language of the Zend mas
known as A h a m n .
The teaching of Zoroaster seems to furnish a counterpart to the
Vedic faith of the Indo-Aryan% One and the same term becomes
current in Iran and India, but it bears a meaning in one which is
in direct conlZict with that in the other. The Ahura of the Avesta
is the Asura of the Yajur Veda. The term was a t first used in a
good sense in the RigVeda, but later on it came .to denote the evil
spirit. The Indra of the Vedas became the Ingra of the Avesta. I n
the Vedas, it signifled the god of the sky ; in Avesta it meant the
 THE Q U R ' B N I CC O N C E P T O F GOD 119
devil of the earth. In India and Europe the terms Dev, Deus, and
Theus referred to God. But in Iran Dev came to be used for a
goblin. The God of one becomes the Satan of the dther. Likewise,
the Satan of one becomes the god of the other, as if the two faiths
were pitted, one against the other. Likewise, the Y a m of India
1 applied to the god of death came to be applied in Iran to the god
of love and humanity. And then this very Y a m of Iran became
Jena and finally Jemshd, the Emperor of Iran.
But it appears that after the lapse of a few centuries, Iran comes
again under the sway of its earlier beliefs and external influences ;
80 much so, that when under the Sasanids, the teachings of Mazdui-
saw were systematized afresh, they became a veritable jumble. of
Magian, Greek and Zoroastrian beliefs, all coloured in their outward
bearing by the Magian concepts. It was this mixture which was
the national religion of Iran when Islam appeared on the scene.
And it is this which the Parsi migrants from Iran brought with
them to Western India where it received a further coating under
the stress of the local influence.
The Magian concept was based on dualism, on the idea that
good and evil are two separate forces. Whatever Ahura Mazda
does is good, and is light; and whatever Aharman does is evil,
and is darkness. The basis of worship rested on the sun and fire,
as the two were regarded as the highest manifestation of divine
attributes. In its search for a soIution to the conflict between good
and evil, the Magian mind ~artitionedthe world between the two
conflicting forces.

Judaic C m p t
The Judaic concept was a t first wholly racial in character. The
Jehovah of the Book of Genesis was the tribal God of Israel. But
gradually this concept widened with the result that in Joshua, He
appears as the God of all nations. Still, the early Israelite attitude
of exclusiveness continued to prevail in one form or another. In
fact, a t the advent of Islam, its distinguishing feature was geogra-
phical and racial in character. The Judaic concept of God vacillated
between the anthropomorphic and the transcendental. The element
of terror was dominant in Him, as also that of vengeance. The
repeated personification of God giving an entirely human touch
to His form of I ~ I I I I ~ ~ H 1,111.
H , ~II~I-11~it.y
IIII\:IT 111111 rrvc.ngefulness

displayed 1)y llim, nlid l l i ~prit~litivo I ~ I I I I IvIi o l ~ l - I I ~ ( - the most

common attributes with which IIc is cnclowc.tl ill Illc 0 1 1 1 'I'c,stament.
The relation between God and man untlcr the! .luclr~inconcept
is like that between husband and wife. The husband is very jealous
of his prerogative. He is prepared to forgive every shortcoming
in the wife, but he will never forgive her if she begins to love any
other. That was the position given to God. He regarded the family
of Israel as His favourite wife. Since the entire race was given
this honoured position, any infidelity on her part was naturally
very galling to Him. I t was up to Him to deal out condign punish-
ment whenever she showed signs of unfaithfulness. I n fact, one of
the Ten Commandments runs :

"Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image or a likeness

of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth
beneath or that is in the water under earth.
"Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve %hem;
for I am the Lord, thy God. I am a jealous God visiting the
iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and
fourth generation of them that hate me. " (Exodus. 20 : 4-5)

The similitude of relation between husband and wife which ca.me

to be applied after the Israelist Exodus from Egypt, continued
more or less to be applied even till the last period of Judaic dis-
pensation. The passionate outburst against every weakness of the
Jewish race was similar to the characteristic outburst shown by a
husband towards a faithless wife. This manner of expression,
whatever the poetic touch given to it, is clearly too primitive to
be associated with God.

The Christian Concept

But a change came over from the time of Joshua, the Second.
Fineness in feeling and width in vision came to be displayed and
a new atmosphere was generated, so much so that when Christianity
came into view, it could bring with it a new message, the message
of love, mercy and forgiveness. God was no longer the God of
terror, no longer a jealou~ God who like the husband wronged
 THE Q U R ' Z N I CC O N C E P T OF GOD 121
seemed frightfully wrathful. On the other hand, God now appeared
like a father full of love and affection for his children. There is no
doubt that this was a revolutionary concept for the Jews. Of all
human relations, that between parent and children is the highest
form. The interests and desires which underlie the relation between
husband' and wife do not enter into this relationship. Here, it is
all kindness and affability and tender care. The child may make
mistakes over and over again ; but the mother's love is never
deflected ; nor does the father's love withhold forgiveness. SO, if
the concept of God is'at all to be expressed in terms of human
relations, surely, the relationship of fat,her with his child offers a
more enduring similitude than the undignified relationship that
may subsipt between a jealous husband and a faithless wife.
In relation to anthropomorphism on the one hand and transcen-
dentalism on the other, the Christian concept of God a t first was
precisely the same ds that entertained by the Jews. But when the
Christian doctrine received the impact of the traditional form of
worship of the Romans, the institutions of trinity, atonement and
deification of Christ took their rise upholding the Alexandrian
philosophic concept of image-worship. Christianity, no doubt,
outwardly continued to remonstrate with the idolatry of others,
but felt complacent about its own. The image of the Roman
Madonna was still there, but it was made to hold in its lap the
infant Son of God claiming homage from every earnest Christian.
I n short, a t the time of the advent of Islam, Christianity, with its
message of love wedded to the concepts of trinity, atonement and
image worship, presented the spectacle of a form of monotheistic
polytheism.

&eek Philosophy :The School 9f Alexandria

I n addition to the above concepts, we have to take note of the
philosophic Greek concept of God also which though it did not,
like regular religions, spread among the different nations of the
earth, was nevertheless a force to reckon with, since it has taken
a great share in the shaping of human thought. Some 500 years
before Christ, the idea of the unity of God took its rise in Greece.
This is revealed in the philosophy of its greatest teacher, Socrates,
which Plato systematized after him. Even as in India, the idea of a
 God of gods emerged out of the concept of a mnlLiplic:ily of demi-
gods and developed into the idea of one God, so also ill Greece
the gods of Olympus were presented with a god of gods and
this led eventually to the concept of the unity of Gwi.
If we are to trace the ancient concepts of Greece, the only source
to which we shall have to tzrn is her ancient poetry. A study of it
will reveal that two ideas were a t work side by side in ancient
Greece, one relating to life alter death, the other to the existence
of a supreme and an all-encumpasuing divinity.
The Ionic is the oldest school of Greek Philosophy. This school
maintained that the planets and stars possessed souls and tried to
visgalize a son1 of souls or of a reality behind this universe.
Pythagoras who flourished in t,he 16th century before the Christian
era introduced numerous novel speculat.ive thoughts in philosophy.
Whether he ever visited India is but a matter of conjecture. But
this is certain that. in the concepts which he built up, there are
noticeable signs of the philosophic thought of India - concepts
such as the doctrine of transmigration, the recognition of quinta
essentia, the individuality of the human soui, spiritual illumination,
and above all t.he concept,of a systematized way of life, all so close
to the views held in the Upanishads. After Pythagoras, came
Anaxagoras to give to the concepts of Pythagoras a definite shape,
and thereby lay the foundations on which, a t a later stage Socrates
and Plato mere to raise their universals.
The Greek concept of the unity of God found its grzatest expres-
sion in the teaching of Socrates. The philosophers before Socrates
Lad not attempted to disturb the prevailing worship of national
god?, for, they wese still in a way under its influence. Terrestrial
sou!s were allowecl. to put on a philosophic visage, so much so
that they made themselves acceptable not only to the masses, but
", the elite or philosophers as well. A development of this nature
had already taken place in India as we have before noticed letting
the belief in the unity of God to subsist side by side with the belief
in multiplicity.
The mind of Socrates, however, had attained such great heights
that he could not make compromises with the polfiheistic beliefs
of h i time. His concept of God was free from all taint of similitudes.
His vision was too high for the prevailing beliefs to negotiate
 THE QUR'HNIC CONCEPT OF G O D 123
compromises with it. He regarded the prevailing system among his
people as a kind of barter with gods of their creation. In the dialogue
of Euthyphro, Plato elucidates clearly the standpoint of Socrates.
Socrates had been accused of impiety. Plato asks: "What is
impiety ? " The answer given is : "It is a system of barter, of asking
of gods the things we desire, and of giving to them the things they
desire. In short, it is a trade of a particular type."
A teaching like this could not be left unchallenged by vested
interests. But the magnificent soul of Socrates would not bow
down before narrow-mindedness. With patience and fortitude,
truly typical of prophets and martyrs, he stretched his hand to
receive the cup of hemlock, and without the slightest remonstrance
drank it. His last words were : "It is now time to depart; for
me to die, for you to live. But which of us is going to a better
state is unknown to every one but God".
Plato developed the dialectic of Socrates into s definite system
and postulated the universals on which he rested everything, from
the subject of 'state' to that of the 'Being of God', expressed in
the form of 'ideas'. He argued that if an idea can exist apart
from the senses. Nous or soul can have a separate existence, and
the Being of God also can exist separately from all matter. 22s
opposed to Anaxagoras, h e believed in two souls - one mortal,
the other immortal. The mortal soul entertains passions, and that
is the ego. But the immortal soul is the ratiorlal ground of the
universe, and is altogether free from the passions of physical life.
I t is the spark of this universal soul which lights the light of
perception in man. The concept of the universal soul assumes trhe
character of the concept of the unity of being, or of Pan-Theism,
a development such as manifested itself in 1ndia. The Atma of the
Hindu philosophy and the ~Vmsof the Greelr philosophy are two
names for the same entity. A t m argues Parmntma,and Nous, the
Ulliversal Soul.
Socrates called God "The Good, the 4' 11 Good, and Absolute .
Beauty". Plato no doubt, soaring beyond the worlds of existence
wished to trace the Absolute good. Rut he coulcl not add to the
concept of attributes presented by Socra tes.
Aristotle who wished to keep philosophy free from the touch of
spirituality, and confine it entirely to the sphere of senses and
experience, could not fall into line with Socrates. He presented the
concept of the first intellect and the active or agent intellect which
is eternal, indivisible and absolutely pure. So what Socrates and
Plato called the Good, Aristotle designated 'Thought of Thought',
but he could not proceed further. Whatever additions we find to
this concept in the Peripatetic Philosophy are not the contributions
of Aristotle. They are of his Greek and Arab commentators.
So, the entire Greek Philosophy revolves round these two basic
concepts ! ' The Good ', and ' Thought of Thought '.
To have a clear grasp of the Socratic concept of attributes, one
may go to the Republic of Plato, wherein the subject is discussed
in the course of the dialogue on education.
Adeimantus asks of Socrates what manner of style poets should
observe in their reference to God.

Socrates : God is always to be represented as He truly is,

whatever be the sort of poetry, epic, lyric or tragic in which
representation is given.
Adeimantus : Right.
Socrates: And is he,not truly good ? and must he not be
represented as such ?
Adeimantus : Certainly.
Socrates : And no good thing is hurtful ?
Adeimantus : No, indeed.
Socrates : And that which is not hurtful hurts not ?
Adeimantus : Certainly not.
Socrates : And that which hurts not does no evil ?
Adeimantus : No.
Socrates : And can that which does no evil be a cause of evil ?
Adeimantus : Impossible.
Socrates : And the good is advantageous ?
Adeimantus : Yes. God, if he be good, is the author of good
only.
Socrates : And therefore, the cause of well-being ?
Adeimantus : Yes. The fictions of the poets.
Socrates : It follows therefore that the good is not the cause
of all things, but of the good only ?
Adeimantus : Assuredly.
 Socrates: Then God, if he be good, is not the author of all
things as the many assert, but he is the cause of a few things
only, and not of most things that occur to men. For few are
the goods of human life, and many are the evils, and the good
is to be attributed to God alone ; of the evils the causes are
to be socght elsewhere, and not in Him.
Adeimantus : That appears to me to be most true, he said.
Socrates : Then we must not listen to Homer or to any other
poet who is guilty of the folly of saying that 'Two casks lie a t
the threshold of Zeus, fulleof lots, one of good, the other of evil
lots and that he to whom Zeus gives a mixture of the two some-
times meets with evil fortune, a t other times with good; but
that he to whom is given the cup of unmingled ill, him will hunger
drive o'er the beauteous earth'.

Plato then discusses the doctrine of anthropomorphism, and

rejects the concept that God is a magician, and of a nature t~
appear insidiously now in one shape, and now in another - some-
times himself changing and passing into many forms, sometimes
deceiving us with the semblance of such transformation.

The Nw-Platonism
I n the third century of the Christian era, the School of Alexandria
known as Neo-Platonism took its rise. It was originally propounded
by Ammonius Saccas. Plotinus v a s his successor, whose discip1.e
Porphyry regarded after Alexander Aprodasia as the greatest
commentator of Aristotle, incorporated the Neo-Platonic principles
into the Peripatetic Philosophy of Aristotle. The teaching of
Plotinus and Porphyry rests on the same basis as that on which
the teaching of the Upanishuds does, namely, that the way
the knowledge of God lies through illumination and not through
reasoning and that the perfect gnosis is absorption or annihiJ.iti,x!
in God.
I n respect ofthe existence of God, Plotinus reached the conclusiom
which the Upanishads had reached long ago. Like that of the
Upanishads, his method of approach lay in the denial of attributes,
for, the Absolute Being was beyond human concept and percept.
He could therefore predicate nothing about Him. What he could
 126 T A R J U M ~ NA L - Q U R ' L N

a t best say was : "God is not any one of those objects or things
which have proceeded from Him. We can predicate nothing about
him. We can call Him neither, ' Being' nor ' Substance ', nor 'Life '
itself. Reality is beyond all interpretations". (E. T. Mekenna.
Vol. PI. p. 134)
Socrates and Plato designated Reality as 'The Good'. Plotinus
did not decline to go with them thus far, but he would not go any
f ~ r t k e r ."When you say it is 'The Good', then you will have to
stop a t that and proceed no further. If you want to add nnything
ii~rtberto it, every new addition will carry with it some defect"
(?;4akennap. 131). Aristotle found in Reality Absolute Intelligences
sod regarded the First Cause as the First Intellect. But the concept
of the Ahsolute of Pioti~iuswould not admit of this interpretation.
"You cannot even say that it is Thought of Thought. If you do,
you will be simply dividing it". Bnt the question is : if you cannot
call it the Thought of Thought, then you cannot also call him 'Being'
or 'the Good'. If you cacnot apply to him any one of the attributes
that we can conceive of, why should we not then discard the
attributes of being and goodness as well ?
Plotinus himself furnishes the answer : "When we call it 'the
Good', we do not mean that we want to predicate any attribute
that might exist in Him. We simply mean to make it clear that he
is the purpose and the end. It is but a term employed for a specific
purpose. Likewise, if we predicate 'Being', we do so, simply because
we cannot call Him by any means 'Not Being'. He transcends
everything, indeed, even the attribute of 'Being'."
Clement of Alexandria has summed up the issue in but a few
words : "We cannot specify Him by simply saying what He is. We
can only do so by saying what He is not. The negative way ie the
only way open to us. The positive way blocks itself."
This is exactly the attitude of the Upanishads which as already
noticed, is expressed in Niti Niti, and on which Sankara raised
the edifice of all his speculation. The Jewish philosophers of the
lqliddle Ages adopted the same attitude. Mum bin Mairnun
(Mairnonides) (d. 605 A.H.) dedines to style God even 'The
Existent'. The attxibutes of created beings begin to colour our
vision ; and God is beyond the reach of all attributes. Indeed, he
refused to call God'as 'The One without a like of Him ', because the
state of unity and the state of non-associateship are not free fiom
relative relationship. This attitude of Maimonides is but a reflection
of the philosophy of Alexandria.

The Qur'Enic Ideology

The monotheistic ideology had developed thus far by the 6th century
of the Christian era when the Qzrr'C?~was delivered. What is the
character of the ideology which the Q u T ' ? presents?
~~ When, having
surveyed every other ideology, we come to examine this new
ideology, we find that it embodies a comprehensive concept, of the
unity of God. The following aapects of the issue call for consideration.

PERFECTION OF TRANSCENDENTALISM From the standpoint of

anthropomorphism versus transcendentalism, the Qur'lnic concept
of the transcendental assumes a, state of perfection, such as had not
been reached before. Prior to the delivery of the &ur'&z,the highest
that the human intellect could conceive of was that one should,
in the place of images, worship a.n unseen God. But in respect of
divine attributes, no concept anywhere could invest God with any
attributes other than the human. Even the Judaic concept wliich
disallowed image-worship in any form was not free from the t~i,?t
of similitude. The wrestling of God with Jacob, R i a ac;.earfiocs
on Mount Sinai in the form of a flame, Koses ~ e e i tf,h~!
~ y bacLcz.rfa
of God, the God of Moses doing a thing in reckiessness and. theo
repenting thereafter, His trgatment of Israel as his favourite wife
and His lament over her unfaithfulness, His feeling of pain in hia
intestines and the production of a hole in his heart, and so forth are
the portraits of God presented by the Old Testament.
The fact is that prior to the Qur'gnic concept, the mind of man
had not risen high enough to discard the veils of anthropomorphic
similitudes and directly behold the aplendour of divine attributes.
We find in the Old Testament very fine attributes applied t o God
along with qualities and passiona intensely human. Even Christ
when he desired to speak of the universal mercy of God, was obliged
to employ the similitude of relationship subsisting between father
and son. It mas this tendency to strike similitudes which is
respoosible for the raising of Christ to the position of the Son of
God. But when we tun! fiom these concepts to the Qur'En, we feel
as if a new world of thought has suddenly made its appearance
before us. All the veils of anthropomorphic similitudes are lifted
and transcendentalism glows in perfection :
Nought is there like Him. ( Q : 42 : 11)*
No vision taketh Him in,
205
but He taketh in all vision. (Q: 6 : 103)
Say : He is God, the one only :
God, on whom all depend !
He begetteth not, nor is He begotten ;
And there is none like Him. (Q : 112 : 141m6
Study the matter which is common to the Old Testament and the
Qur'C.n. Wherever the Old Testament speaks of God as having made
His appearance, the Qur'Cn speaks of only the light.of God having
appeared, and wherever the Old Testamen4 speaks of God as having
appeared in a concrete shape, the Qur'cin speaks of an angel of God
having appeared. As an illustration look into the following passages
from the Old Testament.
And the Lord said : Behold, there is a place by me, and thou
shalt stand upon a rock :
And it shall pass while My glory passeth by, that I will put
them in a cleft of the rock and will gather thee with My
hand while I pass by :
And I will take away Mine hand, and thou shalt see my
back parts :
But my face shall not be seen. (Exodus 20 :23)
And the Lord came down in the pillar of the cloud and
stood ir. the door of the Tabernacle. . .
.
My servant Moses . .
With him will I speak, mouth to mouth, even apparently
and not in dark apeechea ; and the similitude of the Lord
shall he behold. (Numbers 12 : 5-8)
The Qur'6n interprets the above in the following manner :
Moses said : "0 Lord, show Thyself to me, that I may look
upon Thee". He said, "Thou s@Jt not see Me ; but look
towards the mount." (Q : 7 : 143f
 THE QUR'ANIC CONCEPT OF GOD 129
TRANSCENDENTALISM AND NULLIFICATION There is of c o m e a
difference between transcendentalism and nullification. Transcen-
dentalism lets the human mind to divest itself of every human
touch in its approach to divine attributes, whereas nullification is the
negation of every attribute that might be conceived of by the human
mind in its application to God, resulting in vacuousness. The aim
of the Qur'iin is to present a perfect transcendental vision of God
and not to initiate a process of negations. Undoubtedly, the process
of Neti Neti of the Upanishads afforded a very advanced view of
transcendentalism. But what was the' result in practice ? The
Absolute Brahma had to deskend into the concrete form of Ishwara
to avoid nullification.
Wh.ile the process of a h a t i o n of attributes leads to anthro-
pomorphism, the process of negation leads to total nullification.
Similarly while personification or similitude denies us the perception
of Reality, the process of negation denies us the consolation of
positive belief. It is why the Qur'tin has chosen the middle path.
If no room is left for the mind to visualize any attributes for
God, simply because every attribute suggested will have some
resemblance to some human attribute, transcendentalism will lead
to a total denial of God. Indeed it will never generate any definite
belief. Whatever one might a t the end visualize of God, it will in
effect be a denial of God, for, we cannot dissociate the concept of
not-being from that of being, if we have to depend entirely an:
the negation of attributes in our approach to God.
The belief in God is an inward demand of human nature. To rake
it from the animal plane to the high plane of humanity one must
necessarily have an ideal before him. But the difficulty is that we
cannot raise before our mind's eye any picture of the Absolute. If
we care to raise one, we can do so only by personifying positive
attributes. That is why we have always tried to look a t the beauty
of Reality through the veil of positive attributes. The veil has been
sometimes thick and sometimes thin, sometimes frightening, and
sometimes attractive, but it is there all the same. It has never been
lifted.
The fact is that the beauty of Reality itself has put on no veil
over it. It is our eye that has not the talent to behold it. We wish
to set! it with veils put on over our eyes, and fancy that the veil
is on the countenance of Reality. Man cannot catch a non-attributive
concept. He therefore wants to run after an object which he can
catch and possess. He desires a beauty which he can passionately
love and after whom he can madly run. He desires an object of
benevolence before whom he can stretch his hand of supplication,
*and who, however high his station, is every moment intent on
looking up to him.
208
Surely My Lord is mtchful. (Q : 89 : 14)
And when bly servant asks thee concerning me, then will
I be nigh unto him. I will answer th cr of him that crieth,
$9 Y
when he crieth unto me. (Q: 2 : 186)

A non-attributive concept is negative in character. It cannot

quench the human thirst. I t will surely promote a philosophic
outlook, but it can never become an active or living faith. This is
the reason why the Qo~r'Gnpursues a path along which we not only
get a perfect vision of the transcendental but feel competent to
counter every form of anthropomorphic representation. It affirms
individual attributes, one by one. But a t the same time. it negates
metamorphism. I t says that God possesses all the attributes which
man can conceive of for him. He is the Living, the All Powerful,
the Creator, the Merciful, the All Seeing, All Hearing, All Knowing
and so on. Not merely this, but the Qur'6?1employs without any
hesitation every form of figurative expression admissible in literature.:
ao
Nay, both Hia hands are spread out. (Q: 5 : 64)
His knowledqe extends over the heavens and the earth.
(Q: 2 : 255y1

At the same time it makes it clear that nothing can be compared

to God.
212
Nought ie there like Him. (Q : 42 : 11)
No vision taketh Him in. (Q: 6 : 1 0 3 ) ~ ~ '
So coin not similit,udesfor Him. (Q: 15 : 74)

His 'living' is not like our living, His 'Prouidence' is not like 07ur
providence, His 'seeing' or 'hearing' or 'knowing' is not like oure.
The metaphor of hand is used only to dendte His power and forgive-
ness, and that of Arsh to denote His majesty and his control. But
the sense is not the same as may be formed of them in our mind
in respect of their relation to human activity.
The attitude adopted by the Qur'tin in respect of the concept of
God is the only way out. No other attitude will serve as a solution
to this tangle. On the one hand, Reality is so high that the human
intellect feels helpless to scale up to it. On the other, the restless
urge in human nature to have a vision of this Reality is genuine
enough. However much one may strive to look up, our gaze returns
to us wearied. But the yearning to catch a vision of God is never-
theless intense.
If we lean toward transcendentalism, we end in negation. If
we go forward in the affirmation oi attributes, we lose ourselves in
anthropon~orphism.Safety lies in proceeding cautiously along a
middle path. We have neither to give the reins to transcendentalism,
nor let affrmation slip out of our hand. Affirmation will effect a
pleasing display of attributes. Transcendentalism vill prevent the
shadows of similitude to cloud our &ion. The one will let the beauty
of the Absolute appear in the glow of attributes. The other will hold
back all similitude from throwing thereon its cloudy dust.
The authors of the Upa?tishuds went to extremes in their negation
of attributes. The different Schools of dialecticians among Muslims
went beyond the Upanishads and rendered the problem of divine
attributes highly intricate. The Jahimiya' and the B@iniyii denied
attributes absolutely. The illiitizila', however, did not deny them
openly, but their leaning was decidedly towards the two groups.
Imam Abul Hasan Ashgri assumed a balanced attitude, as ie
evidenced by his AZ-lba'7a. But his followers indulged in extremist
interpretations of attributes and complicated the issue. Imam
Juini left the world saying: "I go from this world believirq the
beliefs which my mother had imparted $0 me". When a solution
was furnished, it was furnished in the manner of the Qur'iin. Imam
Fakhruddir! Razi of the School of AshBri, who took a leading part
in the controversy, had ultimat,ely t o admit in h ~ slast work :

"I employed all the methods which philosophy and dialectic

had provided, but in the end I realized that these methods
 neither could bring solace to the &eary heart nor quench the
thirst of the thirsty. The best method and the nearest to reality
was the method provided by tbe Qur'En. I n respect of the a h a -
tion of attributes, recite : Beneficient God is seated on the throne
of heaven," and in the negation of similitudes, recite : "Nought
there is like unto Him". I n other words, do not lose touch with
either 'affirmation' or 'negation'. He who has had the opportunity
to experience what I have experienced, will realize this truth
even as I have done. "

This is the reason why the early traditionalists adopted the

attitude of Tafzug or of submission, whereby they could affirm.
and believe in what was stated of God in the Qur'tin b u t suspend
judgment concerning it and offer no intqrpretations thereof. That
was why they characterized the JahimiyZ denial of attributes as
nulliiication, as also the interpretation of the Miitizila and Agiria.
The dialecticians in return accused them of anthropomorphic lean-
ings, but they retorted by saying that their own so called anthro-
pomorphism was better than tne nullification of the dialecticians.
For, they said, in their attitude there was something which they
could definitely believe in, whereas there was no redeeming feature
in the negative attitude of the dialecticians.
Imam Ibn Tayyimiyii and his pupil Imam Ibn Qayyim of the
later traditionalists gave a serious thought to the problem, and came
to the conclusion that the attitude adopted by the early
traditionalists was sound enough.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ARYAN AND SEMITIC STAND-POINTS We

can now clearly distinguish between the Aryan and the Semitic
attitudes in this matter. While the Aryan Philosophy satisfied the
human urge for personification of God by throwing open the door
of image-worship, the Qur'En satisfied this urge by personifying
only the attributes of God and shutting out a1.1 avenue's for going
down any further. The resrlt was that every urge for image-worship
wa8 blocked.

MUHKAMAT AND MUTASSABIHXT The Qur'in has divided its

contents into two categories. One it calls the MuhkamiZt, and thc
other Mutnsh/tbihGt.
-
The Mlr$X.naiGt are what are clear to the mind
of man, and which concern practical life. and which offer no equi-
vocal meaning. The MutashrrlsihEl,
--
on the other l~nnci,are those
portions of the Qur'Gn, the real meaning of wl~idlthe mind of man
cannbt fully grasp, and which for that reason one should not attempt
to probe, or make them tlie subject of subtle disquisition.

He it is who ha.th sent down to thee the Book. Some of its

signs are of themselves perspicuous; -these form the core of
the Book - and others are figurative. But they whose hearts
are prone to perversity, exploit its figures, craving discord,
craving an interpretation ; yet none knoweth its interpreta-
tion but God. And the stable in knowledge say, "We believe
in it : it is all from our Lord." But none will bear this in
215
mind, save men endowed with understa.nding. (Q: 3 : 7)

The attributes are to be treated : ~ s ilrlvtrrsl~abihtit. So, the

Qur'tin considers that intellectual efforts to comprehend them
as fruitless. Indeed, they will open the door for doubts and
misrepresentations. Tafulid is the only attitude appropriate to the
~ituat~ion,the attitude of affirmatiori and belief in them and suspen-
sion of judgment. All the philosophic disquisitions, which our
diale~t~icianshave indulged in, are not in conformity with the
teaching of the Qur'Gn.

ABSOLUTENESS AND PERSONIFICATION IN THE UPANIGHADS I t

i3 necessary a t this stage to make it clear that the emphasis which
the VecZunta Sutra and its great commentator Sankaracharya laid
on the negation of attributes was only to point out the nature of
the absoluteness which was assigned to Brahman, the Absolute
Being. But the two did not deny that below this absoluteness, there
was a stage where the Absolute displays posit,ive attributes and
becomes the worshipped of the human worshipper.
In the estimate of the Upanishads, the Absolute Being is Niru-
padhiyk Sat, Nirguna or beyond attributive manifestation. If a t
all any positive attribute is posited of Him, it is one of affirmation
of negation or the attribute of attributelessness. "We cannot say
anything about Him ; for, if a t all we say anything, the inevitable
result will be to limit the illimitable. If the finite can perceive the
infinite, then we shall have t o admit that either the finite is infinite,
or that the infinite has become the finite. " (Sankaracharya, Brahma
Sutra, Ch. 111). "If we refer t c anythir.g in words, we either relate
it to its active quality or the category it belongs to, or explain its
relative significance. But we cannot assign Bral~mat o any category.
He does not represent any class. We cannot specify His active
qualities or apply to Him any appellation. \Ye cannot say he ie
like this, nor can we say that he is not like that, for, Iie has no
similitude. And since there is no similitude to Him, one cannot
conceive of any non-similitude, or otherliness also to Him. Eve11 like
negation, similitude is only a relative term." (Sankara Bhasya
Brahma Sutra, Chs. I & 111).
Reality in its state of absoluteness is undefinable, and is beyond
the logical beyond. So the Vedanta Sutra has divided existences into
two circles. One, it calla that which is capable of being conceived,
the other that which is not capable of being conceived. The sphere
capable of being conceived is that of Prnk~tior of elementa, intellect,
mind and ego. The other, or the sphere not capable of being
conceived is that of Brahn~uprof the Absolute Being. Such was also
the belief held by the Neo-Platonic School of Alexandria and such
was the belief which the philosophers of Islanl and Sufis adopted.
The Sufis call the state of absoIuteness AZ,rlzyut. They say that
Awiycrt is incapable of being conceived, incapable of interpretation
and is beyond all logical bounds.
But the state of absoluteness descends into a state where positive
attributes receive personification. The Upawzslznds call this Isl~ic*a~a
and Sufis Wdltidiyat. llniong the commentators of brcda>,tnSutras,
Sankara was the most insistent on upholding the Tipanishad stand-
point of negation of attrihntes. Still. even he had to accept the
concept of Saguna Bral~?~znn or personified Brahman IIe no doubt
calls this stage of gnosi~as Apram or lower concept of God ; but
he a t the same time admits the need for such :; concept, since this
is the highest which the mind of man can conceive of. (Sankara
Bhasya, 1 : 2 Cllandogya Upanishad, Sec. 8).

ATTRIBUTES OF MERCY AND BEAUTY From the standpoints of

mercy and beauty also, the Qur'Enic transce~~dentalism
is perfect.
 THE QUR'ZNIC CONCEPT OF GOD 135
When the Qur'Zn was delivered, the element of terror predominated
in the Judaic concept of God. The Magian concept presented the
forces of light and darkness as two distinct entities. Christianity
emphasizes love and kindness, but the sigdcance of recompense
for human actions was relegated to the background. Likewise, the
followers of Buddhism laid stress on love and kindness, but justice
did not receive proper recognition. The Qur'Bn aff6rded a concept
of mercy and beauty which, on the one hand, allowed no room
for terror and, on the other, gave adequate recognition to the law
of requital in human action. It rested recompense on justice. I n
respect of the attributes of God, the general attitude of the Qur'dn
is expressed in the following words :

Say : Call upon God (AIlHh), or call upon the God of mercy
(4 RalpnBn) by whichsoever ye will invoke Him: Hezl6
hath most excellent and most beautiful names. (Q : 17 : 110)

Here the Qur'fin designates the attributes of God as God's most

beautifu n:mes. In other words, there is no attribute of God which
is not beautiful. The Qur'Zn refers to them very freely. throughout
the Book. Among these, there are a few attributes which may seem
attributes of terror and majesty. Even these, it calls beautiful, for
they but manifest power allied to justice. Power and justice when
exercised in the interests of life are beautiful attributes. They cannot
be called terror and frightfulness. In fact, in the Stirat-al-Hashr
(Chap. 59) mercy and beauty are mixed up with terror and majesty,
all of which itS~tyles as the beautiful names of God.

God is He, than whom there is no other God ; -the

Sovereign, the Holy One, the Source of Peace (and Perfec-
tion), the Guardian of Faith, the Preserver of Safety, the
Exalted in Might, the Irresistable, the Supreme : Glory to
God ! (High is He) above those whom they associate with Him.
He is God, the Creater, the Evolver, the Bestower of forms
(or Colours). To Him belong the Most Beautiful Names :
Whatever is in the heavens and on earth, doth declare His
Praise and Glorv : A r ~ dEIe is the Exalted in Might, the Wise.
(Q : 59 : 23-4f1'
 Most excellent names hath God : 5y these call ye on Him,
2lB
and leave alone those who pervert them. (&: 7 : 180)

Hence it is that in' the SGrat-ul-FCtiFBall the attributes of God

are summed up in the three attribuws of Rubabiyat (Providence)
Rahmt (Mercy) and 'Adl (Justice) and there is here absolutely
no reference to terror.
The Qur'iinic concept of the unity of God i~ so perfect and definite
that we scarcely find the like of it prevailing before. If God is unique
in His essence, it follows that He must be unique in his attributes
aho. For, $he greatness of his uniqueness cannot be sustained, if
any other being is to share his attributes. Every other religion
before the delivery of the Qur'6n had emphasized the positive side
of the unity of God, but had made no attempt to present the negative
side of it. The positive side is that God is one. The negative is that
there is none like unto Him. P a d R hen there is none like unto Him,
it follows that whatever attributes that might be assigned to Him
cannot be assigned a t the same time to any other. The former postu-
late is called 'Unity in Essence ', and the latter ' Unity in Attributes '.
Prior to the Qur'Bnic conce~t,stress was no doubt laid on the concept
of unity in essence, but tlle niceties implicit in the concept of the
unity in attributes was yet to be fully appreciated.
It is why we find in every earlier religion the belief in the unity
of God subsisting side by side with image and hero-worship. In
India, probably from the very beginning, it was tacitly admitted
that hero-worship and the worship of demi-gods were indispensable
for the masses, reserving the concept of the unity of God for the
elite only. The same was the case in Greece. The Greek thinkers
were certainly not unaware of the fact that the gods of Olympus had
no reality about them. Still, save Socrates, none had felt the need
for interfering in the people's belief in those gods. Their view was
that if the worship of the gods was not maintained, the religious
life of the people would get disturbed. It is said of Pythagoras that
when he completed his system of arithmetic, he, in gratitude. offered
to the gods the sacrifice of a hundred bullocks.

LIMITS.OF PROPHETHOOD In this connection, the aspect which

calls for special attention is the status accor'ded to the founder of
 THE QUR'ZNIC CONCEPT OF GOD 137
a religion or to the propounder of an idea. True that no teaching can
acquire the reputation of greatness, so long as, the personality of
the teacher does not itself display the quality of greatness. But
there are limits to greatness of personality. It is here t,hat many have
stumbled, because they could not draw the boundary line for it,.
The result was that the founder of a religion or of a School of philo-
sophy was hailed somet.imes as an Avatar, sometimes as the Son of
God, and sometimes as Partner of God, and where this was not
possible, he was, a t any rate, offered the honour and devotion
usually offered to God. The Jews, for imta.nce, after their early
period of ignorance, although. they did not take to image-worship,
they did erect statues over the remains of their prophets and
endowed them with a holiness such as was associated with places
of worship. There is absolutely no room for image-worship in the
teaching of Buddha. In fact his last testament which has reached us
waa : "See that you do not worship my ashes. If you do, the path
of salvation-will be closed for you." But what his followers have
actually done is all before us. They not only erected places of wor-
ship over Buddha's ashes and relics, but as the means for propaga-
tion of his religion, they spread images of him throughout the world.
The fact ia that a larger number of images of Buddha exist today
in the world than of any other personality or deity. Likewise, as
we know, the real teaching of Christianity concentrated on the unity
of God, but within one hundred pears of its advent, Christ himself
weexraised to the position of God.

U N IN ~ATTRIBUTES But the Qur'En gave so perfect a picture of

unity in attributes that it closed the door forever for every such
aberration. It did not simply lay its supreme emphasis on the
unity of God, but blocked all avenues for polytheism and this is
its principal peculiarity.
The @r'cin asserts that God alone is worthy of worship. If you
turn to any other in devotion, you cease to be a believer in the
unity of God. It says that 'He it is who answem the cry of man and
fulfils his prayers. So, if you associate any other with Him in your
prayera or supplications, you simply associate that other in the
divinity also of God. AU forms of devotion are meant to be links
between man and Gfod. If you associate anyone else in your devotion,
 138 TARJUMHN AL-QUR'~N

the spirit of devotion is vitiated. Indeed, your belief itself m the

unity of God gets tainted. That is why in the Sfirat-ul-Faihii, the
form or prayer is set*:" Thee alone do we serve and from Thee alone
a9
do we seek aid". l h e emphasis is on the Thee alone. Such great stress
does the Qur76tzlay on this 'unity of God in His attributes' that there
is hardly a page in the whole of the Qur'in, where the truth isnot
pointedly brought to view.
The most important question with which the Qi14'in concerns
itself is that of the exact position which the prophets occupy in
the scheme of the Qur'in. Over and over again does the Qur'iin,
point out that the prophet of Islam is but a human being and a
servant of God. The very basic belief in Islam runs : "I affirm
that there is no God except Alliih and I affirm that Muhammad is
his servant and his measage-bearer "?%I this formula the affirmation
of the unity of God is as emphatic as the affirmation of the position
of the Prophet as but a servant of God and the bearer of His message.
Why was this made the basic doctrine of Islam? It was done simply
I to prevent the Prophet from ever being hailed as an Avatar, or

I' raised from the position of a servant, of God to that of God Himself.
No one can enter the fold of Islam who does not subscribe to the
belief that the Prophet is but a servant of God, even as he subscribee
to the belief in the unity of God.
That was the reason why notwithstanding the numerous dissen-
sions thab arose among 'Mus!ima after the death of the Prophet, no
difference was entertained among them on the question of his
i personality. Not many hours had passed after he had passed away
when Abu Bakr, the Prophet's father-in-law and the h t Khalif
of Islam ascending the pulpit proclaimed :

"He who worshipped Muhammad, let him know that

Muhammad is dead, and he who worshipped God. let him know
that G d ever lives. He has no death. "**I a repence
to (3:I44).
ONE CONCEPT FOR ALL Prior to the advent of the Qwr'iin distinc-
tion was made between the common people and the elite in the
imparting of religious knowledge. In India, three p d e a were fixed.
For the common people image worship was prescribed, and for the
elite the method of communion with God, while for the elite of th
elite the privilege of pantheistic experience. The same was the caae
in Greece. I t was considered that the concept of an abstract deity
was possible to be conceived only by those who were versed in
philosophic learning and that it was safe for the common people
to engage themselves in the worship of demi-gods only. The Qur'iin
brushed aside this distinction. It presented to one and all but a single
way of approach to God, and afforded but a single view to them of
divine attributes. It offered to both philosophers or the gnostics
and the common people one and the same glow of Reality. It opened
for them all but one door of belief and faith. The concept of God
which it presented was intended to satisfy alike the philosopher and
the gnostic, and the peasant and the shepherd.
There is another aspect of this question which calls for considera-
tion. The distinction which was observed in Inditi between the
common people and the elite was the result of the practical sense
of compromise which prevailed here. Here, every form of religious
belief or exercise was given a home, and every thought, the freedom
to grow and develop. Religious differences, which among other
nations led to internecine civil wars, came to be regarded here as
but subjects of compromise. Adaptability was the spirit of life here.
A Vedantist knows that communion with Reality is infinitely
higher than image worship. But he never sets his face against
image worship ; for, he thinks that this is the first stage in the
journey to God, and that whatever path one may choose to trayerse,
the ultimate goal for one and all is but one and the same. Prof. C.
E. M. Joad makes a special refe~enceto this peculiar feature of
Indian History, even as some of the earlier writers had done.
The spirit of tolerance which has characterised Indian History,
no doubt, deserves a meed of praise. But life is an expression of
action and inter-action, and unless we draw a limit or line for every
type of activity, canons of knowledge and morality will get dis-
turbed, and we shall cease to possess any definite sense of moral
values. Tolerance is a good thing, but strength of belief and opinion,
and integrity <f thought are also factors of life which we cannot
discard. A line of demarcation for the expression of each quality in
us needs to be drawn. For, moral injunctions cannot otherwise be
put into effect. Once these lines are disturbed or weakened, the
edifice of morality begins to totter. Forgiveness for instance, is a
good and beautiful quality. But this very forgiveness, once it over-
steps its legitimate boundary, ceases to be forgiveness ; it becomes
timidity or cowardice. Courage is the highest human quality, bnt
this very quality once it develops in excess, no longer remains
courage ; it becomes terror and oppression.
Here are two situations. You cannot deal with them in the same
way. One situation is this. We are face to face with s belief. We
have a firm and a definite opinion about it. The question arisea :
what should be our line of action in respect of it ? Shall we waver
or remain firm in our attitude ? The other situation is this. Othem,
even like us, have reached certain definite conclusions about one
and the same thing, but adopt a different line of action. What
should be our attitude towards them ? Have they or have they not
the right to go their own way ?
Tolerance is to acknowledge the right of another to hold to his
own views and follow his own way. Even when his way is clearly
the wrong way, you cannot deny him the right to pursue it. But
if tolerance is given the latitude to water down your own beliefs
m d affect your decisions, then, it ceases to be tolerance.
Compromise is a necessity of life, In fact life is one long com-
promise. But there should be a limit to it. A line will have to be
drawn somewhere, and once it ie drawn, one's belief begins to live
on its own. So long as you do net feel the inward urge to alter
that belief, you are bound by it. You will certainly respect the
beliefs of others, but you will insist on your right not to let your
own belief weaken on that account.
How numerous are the incident8 of history which have followed
a violation of this condition. Intensity of belief has at times led
people to set aside all considerations of tolerance, and forcibly
invade the beliefs and ways of life of others. At other times, tolerance
has been given so great a latitude that strength of belief has ceased
to bear any meaning. Examples of the former may easily be
furnished from the history of religious persecutions, and those of
the latter from the history of India. Here in India, the highest
flights of the human mind could not remain immune from the touch
of superstition. The process has gone on of compromise between
knowledge and intellect on the one hand, and ignorance and
superstition on the other. These compromises have diefigured
the Indian intellect. The beauty of the Indian mind and all its
great achievements have been clouded by superstition and image
worship. The talented Hindu writer, Dr. 5. Radhakrishnan, while
reviewing the impact of the non-Aryan culture of India on the
culture of the Aryan settlers here observes :

" The explanation of the miscellaneous character of the Hindu

religion, which embraces all the intermediate regions of thought

and belief from the wandering fancies of savage superstitions to
the highest insight of daring thought, is here. Prom the beginning,
the Aryan religion was expansive, self-devel~pingand tolerant.
It went on accommodating itself t o the new forces it met within
its growth. In this can be discerned a refined sense of humility
and sympathetic understanding. The Indian Aryan refused to
ignore the lower religions and fight them out of existence. He
did not possess the pride of the fanatic that his was the one
true religion. If a god satisfies the human mind in its own way,
it i a form of truth. None can lay hold upon t,he whole of truth.
It can be won only by degrees, partially and provisionally. But they
forgot that intolerance was sometimes a virtue. There is such
a thing as Gresham's law in religious matters also. When the
Aryan and the non-Aryan religions, one refined and the other
vulgar, the one good and the other base, met, there was the
tendency for the bad to beat the good out of circulat,ior\."
(Z~zdianPhilosophy, Vol. I , p. 119, second edition)

The peculiarity of the Qur'dn is that it refused to enter into

any compromises in the field of beliefs. I n ite unitary and transcen-
dental concept of God, it is definite and inelastic. This rigidity
however, does not prevent it from observing tolerance towards
other beliefs. But it certainly refuses tosenter into compromise with
them.
The Qur'8n baaes its concept of God on the inherent universal
urges of human nature. I t has not made of this concept a riddle
which only a special class of intellect alone can solve. What is the
universal human feeling about life ? It is that this universe has not
come into being by itself ; it has been created : and so it must
have a creator. What the Qur'En points out is only this much.
Anything over and above this which it deals with does not ecter
into the doctrinal belief. All that is left to be thought over by
man individually, or to be experienced personally.

And whoso maketh eflorta for us, in our ways will we guide
them: for God is ~ s u r e d l ywith those who do righteous
deeds. (Q : 29 : 69j222
On Earth are signs for men of firm belief and also in your
own selves : Will ye not then behold them ? (Q :51 :20-.1j2*'

The Hindu thinkers distributed different grades of thought

among different classes of society. Prom the standpoint of thought
and belief Islam makes no such distinction. But aptitudes differ.
Not every one feels the same thirst for knowledge. Masses as a
class might have certain dispositions, but individuals among them
are not bound by them. They can rise above them and follow their
individual aptitudes and inclinations. A . authentic tradition of the
Prophet is d a t e d by Bukhiiri and Muslim known as the Gabriel
tradition. It speaks of three grades of minds - IsErn, 'IMn, and
'I@Zft. IsEm consists in the a h a t i o n of the Islamic doctrinal
beliefs and in the performance of daily prayers, fasting in the
month of Ramadhun and Hajj, whenever convenient, and the
payment of ZalclZt or the poor-due. ' I M n lies not only in the
afErn~ationof the doctrinal beliefs, but in entertaining an absolute
conviction about them. And 'IkZn is expressed : "Pray aa if thou
aeest thy God before thee ; and if thou seest Him not, pray in the
conviction that God is seeing you".
The h t stage indicates the general attitude. He who a5rms
the doctrinal beliefs and discharges ce:' i duties, he has entered
the fold of Islam. But mere entry does not argue a state of convic-
tion in him. The first stage of Islam represerts only its outward
aepect. The second stage is that of 'Imiin, where Jdam takes bold
of one's mind and heart. Once this stage is reached, one enters the
circle of the select. But the matter does not end here. The know-
ledge of Reality or the real conviction comes at a later stage - the
stage of 'I&&. But this is not a stage of mere belief or of intellectual
acquiescence to be reached by communities as communities or on
the group plane. This is the stage of individual experience, or of
 T H E Q U ' R ~ ~ N ICCO N C E P T O F G O D 143
!
! personal illumination. Education or doctrinal belief or intellectual
speculation does not promote the growth of this stage. It is the
result of personal spiritual endeavour. It is not e matter either to
teach'or to learn. He who has reached this stage, if he could ever
aay anything about it, he can say nothing but this : "Become one
like me and then behold what you can behold".

" Someone asked me : what is love ?

Said I :Become one like me, and then you will know what it is. "

Islam has made provision for the satisfaction of every kind of

spiritual thirst. For an average man there is the initial stage, for
the more advanced the second stage, and for the elite the third.
But the thirst is to be quenched a t one and the same tavern,
although the cup for each ie different. Each gets the cup which
befits him.

"The S q i pours wine to every one from the same jar,

But in his company, everyone reacts according to his deserts. "

It may here be pointed out that ce~tainQur'lnic expressions

do lend themselves to various interpretations, so much so, that
if one cares to read into them the concept of the unity in being,
or of pantheism, one can freely do so - expressions such ~s
'He, T$% First and The Last, and The Apparent and The
Hidden', 9nd 'Wherever ye turn, ye will behold the countenance
d is nearer to you than your jugular vein7:*~nd
of ~ o d ' , ~ % 'He
' Every moment He discloses Himself in fresh glory '%ne may read
the same concept also in expressions which convey the idea that
everything that exists will in the end have to return to God. Those
who subscribe to this concept freely employ such expressions in
their support. Indeed, Shah Valiullah goes to the extent of asserting :
"If I wish to prove the Pantheistic theory of the 'Unity in Being'
I can do so by a reference to the very text of the Q u r ' i i ~and
Hadith". But the plain fact should not be lost sight of that it will
not b e proper to give to those expressions any far-fetched inter-
pretations, or invest them with a meaning or significance, which
the Muslims of the Prophet's time did not attaeh: As for the rest,
 the method of perception of God through illumination which has
been followed by gnostics is certainly not in conflict with the
principles of the Qur'iinic concept of God. The Qur'iinic concept;
is comprehensive enough to accommodate every unitary concept
I
of God. Those who have reached the stage of 'I&&, they can eee
Reality in its refulgence, and scale .the highest heights pwible for
the human soul.
It may be pointed out that in the search for @;nosh,the human
mind is to take note of in succession the three great attributm of
God which the 8.iirat-d-FcitiF concentrates upon -RdzZbiyat,
I Rahmut and 'AdZEat. A study of them as manifested in the life or

I
working of the universe will disclose that one attribute givee rice to
the other in progressive order revealing the beauty that underlies
the divine order of things, affording thus to every seeker of truth
I
I ample scope for reflection.
 VII
SEOTION

Divine Guidance
Hidiiyat
 D I V I N E GUIDANCE: HIDAYAT

GUIDEUS to the straight path, the path of thoee to whom thou

hast been gracious; not of those who have incurred Thy displwure,
nor of those who have gone astray.
KID~YAT, GUIDANCE Ha7yat means to guide, to show the way.
The subject has been already referred to in general terms. Here, in
this section, we propose to look a t the different typea of guidance
to which the Qur'iin refem. Of these, W h t or revelation bears a
special importance.
We have already noticed that even as the Recbt2dyat of God has
provided the different species of creation with appropriate bodies,
it has also epdowed them with qualities appropriate to them. It is
the quality or talent appropriate to each object of creation which
induces it to seek out its means of life and sustenance. The Qur'iin
repeatedly draws attention to this fact of life. There are diverse
means by which an object grows, develops and reaches perfection ;
and among these the highest rank is assigned to Hidiiyat or guidance.
The Suriit Al-Ayah or Chapter 87 of the Qur'iin refem to four
graded stages of development.
Praise the name of thy Lord, the Most High who hath ,

created, and balanced all things, who hath fired their

destinies, and guideth them. (Q :87 : 1 5)'.
The stages indicated in this verse are those of TakhlTq, TaeuliyB,
Taqdir and Hidiiyat. Take these terms seriatim.
Takhliq means to create or to bring into existence that which
was in a state of non-existence. TaswTyci is to give to this created
object a proper form. Taqdir, which has been explained a t great
length already, is to assign to this object a role appropriate to it ;
and Hidiiyat, which too has already been explained in connection
with the function of Rdiibiyat, is to show it the way to its existence
and sustenance.
147
 Take for example, the speciea of birds, and mark these four
etagee in their life :

1. To bring them into existence is Takhlfq.

2. To set for them appropriate forms is Tw2'y(Z.
3. To assign to them appropriate roles or functions, both
inward and outward is Taqdzr. They are designed to float in the
air and not to swim in water as fishes.
4. To invest them with appropriate instincts and BeMlea
enabling them to provide -for themselves the means of sustenance
im Hidiiyat.
The Qur'dn points out that even as the Recbfiyat of Gtod has
provided each object with a form and inward and outward talents
and assigned to it an appropriate role in existence, ao a h , it bar
endowed it with the gift of self-direction or H&@.

He a i d , "Our Lord is He who hath given toagerythiq

its form and then guideth it aright". (Q :20 :5 q

I n the Qur'iila we meet very often with accounts of~converaatio~

whioh the prophet Abraham held with hia following. In one p h ,
Abraham setting forth his belief says :

And bear in mind when Abraham said to his father and

to hie people, "Verily I am clear of what ye worship.
Save Him who hath creaty&me ;for he will vouchsafe to me
guidance". (Q :43 :26-7)

Mark the words :"He who hath created me, He will vouchsafe to
me guidance". The same belief is set forth more clearly ia Stirat-
ULSh'ara, Chapter 26 :

The Lord of the worlds who hath created me, and pideth me,
who giveth me food and drink, and when I am sick, He
h d e t h me. (Q :26 :78 -$'I

The argument here is that He who has provided me wibh every

meam of sustenance, and given me food to &tisfy my hunger,
 DIVINE GUIDANCE 149
water to quench my thirst, and remedies for my ailments will not
surely leave me unprovided with the talent of self-direction. Since
He has created me, He will assuredly guide me in life.

And he said, 'V;#y I repair to my Lord, who will guide

me". (Q : 37 : 99)

Mark the term RabbT, 'My Lord'. When God is my Rabb, Hiu
Rubiibiyat will certainly provide me with what I need for self-
direction.

THREE QRADES OF H I D ~ Y A T Hidtiyat is of three kinds. One is the

Hida'yat of instincts ; and this is innate in animal life. It serves
indeed aa its inspiration. We notice that the moment a child is borne,
it begins. to cry for its nourishment, and without any external
direction, it straightway takes its mouth to the breasts of its mother,
and finds its food there.
Next to instinct, is the Ht2Zya.t of senses which is higher in rank
than the former. This provides us with the talent for seeing, hearing,
tasting, feeling and smelling by means of which we gather a
knowledge of the external world of relations.
The above two forms of Hidiiyat are common to man and the
lower animal. But in man, there exists a third type of Hidczyat,
and that is the Hida-yat of reason. It is this third variety of directive
force provided in man which opens out for him an endless vista
of progres8, and marks him aa the consummation to which all
creation on earth has moved.
Instinct createa in an object the urge to seek out the thinga it
needs. Senses direct it to them : and reason suggesta the manner
of making use of them : The lower animals do not need the third
faculty. They do not therefore advance beyond the stage of instinct
and sensea. In man alone, the three faculties have combined.
What ia thie faculty of reason in man ? It is only a more highly
developed form of the faculty in lower animals which stimulateti
in them the talents of instincts and senses. Just as the human form
ie the finest exprwion of life in its outward or physical aspect, the
quality of reason in man is the noblest of the inward forces a t work
in him. The quality of perception which lies hidden in plant life and
which exprema itself in instincts and senses in animal life, reaches
ite perfection in human life and comes to be styled reason.

EVERY HIDAYAT HAS ITS LIMITS It is to be noted that every one

of these three forma of HidEyat provided by Nature has ita limits
beyond which it does not function. Had there been no provision
made for yet a further form of directive force of Hihidayat,man would
not have reached the spiritual heighta to which he has risen.
The directive force of instinct creates in us the urge to seek out
the t h i n e that we need. It by itself does not, however, help us to
myth anythmg external to us. This is made possible by the directive
force of the eensea. Where instinct finds itself helpless, the directive
form of the sensea comes to ita aid. And then the eye begins to see,
the ear to hear, the tongue to taste, the hand to touch, and the nose
to smell. It ie thus that we form a contact with our external world.
But the directive force of the senses operates to but a limited extent.
The eye seea only under certain conditions. Where these conditions
ere not W e d , as for instance when there is no light about us, or
the object is too distant, we fail to see it. But this faculty can a t beat
create in us the sense of things. But sense alone does not take ua
far. I n life, we need to form views of our own or formulate principles.
Thia ia the function of the third directive force viz. reason. It
co-ordinatea all that ia gathered by our senses and draws conclusions
therefrom.

ONE TYPE OF EIDXYAT CORRECTS THE OTHER It may also be noted

that even as the directive force of thc sensea is both a check and an
aid to instinct, even so, reason is a check and an aid to the sensea,
for the senses are not only limited in their reaches, but sometimes
m u t e illusions. We perceive an object from a distance and feel
that it is no larger than a speck, though in reality it is a bulky tomb.
I n aicknesa we taste sweet honey, but its taste is bitter. We notice
the reflection of a pole in water. The reflection is slanting, although
the pole is in reality straight. Very often, in moments of sickness,
our ears seem to receive a variety of notes ; but the notes have no
independent existence. Were there no directive force in ua higher
than that of the senses, it would not have been possible for us to
detect the errors of our senses. So, a provision is made for such
 DIVINE GUIDANCE 151
a force in us, and this is called 'intellect' or 'reason'. It is this force
which enables us to say that the sun is not just a large gilded plate,
as it appears from its present distance, but is a mighty heavenly
body ; that honey remains always sweet, and that if it seems bitter
to our tongue a t any moment, it is due to the momentary condition
of our tongue ihelf; and that the notes that seem to strike our
ears in certain moments of sickness are not external to us, biit are
due to the disturbances in our own heated brains.
THE FOURTH TYPE OF H I D ~ Y A TWe have already pointed out that
every talent of HidZyat in us has a limit set to it beyond which it
cannot function. That is so even with reason. And this is because
reason functions within the bounds of our senses and can have no
independent existence outside of them. What is beyond our senses,
reason can scarcely comprehend. It cannot lead us into the realma
of life beyond that of our senses. Even in the sphere of mundane
activity which may be regarded as its field of operation, reason or
intellect cannot always give us an effective lead. It comes every now
and then into conflict with our desires, and very often desires
triumph. Reason clearly points out that a certain act is bound to
cause injury to us, but desire impels us to disregard reason. The
question then arises : Is there no further directive force or Hidiiyat
to help us where reason proves ineffective? The Hidaidayatof the eenaerr
can correct that of the instincts, and that of reason correct the
HidEyat of the senses. Is there no force which may correct remen
in its turn? The Qur'En points out that there is such a force, and that
is the H h y a t of revelation - a measure of divine Rec6tibiyd or
of the Rahnaat implicit therein. It is the greatest of divine gift.
vouchsafed to man as the &ur'cin repeatedly asserts :
We have created man &om the union of sexes that We
might prove him ; and hearing, seeing, have We made him :
In a right way have We guided him, be he thankful or m-
grateful. (Q :76 :2-3f 33
What ! have We not made him eyes, and tongue and&^,
and guided him to the two highways? (Q :90 :8-19)
God hath brought you out of your mother's womb ; you then
knew nothing; but hath given you hearing, and sight and
135
heart, that haply ye might render thanka. (Q : 16 : 70)
 162 TARJUMHN AL-QUR'AN
Tnly it is for Us to show the way to man.a$ truly Our's
,
the future and truly the past. (Q :92 : 12-3)
And as to Thmud, we had vouchsafed them guidance, but
to guidance did they prefer blindness. (~:41-1?.~"
And whoso maketh efforts for us, in our ways will We guide
. them : for God is assuredly with those who do righteous
deeds. (Q :29 :69)"'

. Note that the term 'Qalb' or 'FuHd' used in the original does
not mean merely that part of the body which is called the 'heart',
but it meanassforce in us which sustains our intellect.

rurrnt~jiIt ie this element in us which responds to the fourth

viz., Revelation, and is styled Al-Hu& -
dkeotive f o ~ ofe Hidoidoyat,
'or The gddanoe ;
. . . b y :Verily, Quidanoe from God ! That is the true guidance ;
and we am commanded to surrender ourselves to the Lord
of all Being. (Q :6 :71)'"
But until thou follow their religion, neither Jews nor
. Chtiathm will be eatisfieill with thee. Say : Verily, guidance
of God- that ia the guidance. (Q :2 :ldo
ALB& meenr, the only real way of guidance. And what is it?
The Q d 6 n 8ap that it is the universal guidance of Divine Reve-
. lation vouchsafed to one and all from the beginning without die-
tinotion. It IU~B that even as inetincta, senses and reason are
provided to man without distinction of race or colour or circume-
tanoe, even eo, the directive force of Divine Revelation is meant
to ufford guidanw to everyone without distinction, and has to be
M i h e d from a11 other form of so-called guidances which
M e become the exclusive preserves of particular communities and
heve dividod mankind into a variety of rival religious groups. It
gives to this Universal guidance of Revelation the name of Al-Din
or the religion or way of life appropriate to the nature and function '

of man or Al-IsEm.
'
THE UNITY OF RELIGION AND THE Q U R ' ~This great truth forms
'

the primary basis of the Qur'bic call. Everything else that the
 DIVINE GUIDANCE 153
Qur'Zn presents rests on it. If this fundamental is discarded, the
entire framework of the Qur'Lnic message will get out of order. But
the vagaries of history are strange. The greater the emphasis that
the Qur'an lays on this truth, the stronger has been -the inclination
on the part of the world to side-track it. I n fact, no other truth of
the Qur'dn has been kept so deliberately out of sight than this.
Should one study the Qur'dn with an open mind, with every predelic-
tion strictly kept aside, and l o ~ kinto its numerous clear assertions
ip this respect, and then look a t those who nevertheless regard the
ligion of the Qur'Zn as nothing else than an exclusive religious

3 oupism, even as other religions, one will assuredly cry out

a t either the eyes of such people deceive them, or that they deliver
eir verdict on anything even without looking a t it.
1 To clarify this great issue, it will be necessary to explain at some
length what view the Qur'Zn holds of Revelation and Prophethood,
and along what path it desires humanity to proceed.

PRISTINE UNITY OF MAN - THEN DISUNITY - REVELATION The

following is a gist-of what the Qur'Zn has said in this connection.
At first mankind lived a natural life. There was neither mutual
rivalry among them, nor enmity' between one and another. Life
was uniform for one and all, and they were content with their
natural united life. It was a t a subsequent stage when they multi-
plied, and economic pressure gave rise among them to conflict of
interests resulting in the oppression of the weak that society came
to be divided into groups on the basis of interests, each hating the
other. The situation demanded the delivery of a message of truth
and justice. It was thus that the door of prophethood or Revelation
opened, and a series of prophets followed in succession to bring
home to mankind the truth which they had neglectkd and suffered
in consequence. The Qur'Zn calls these benefactors of mankind a8
Rasd or message-bearers, for they brought to mankind the divine
message of truth.

Men were a t first but one community : then they fell to

variance : and had not a decree (of respite) previously gone
forth from thy Lord, their differences had surely been decided
between them. (Q : 10 : 19r1
 Mankind was but one people ; and (iod sclit prophets to
announce glad tidings and to w:lrn ; nritl Hc scnt down with
them the Book of @ ~ t h ,that it nliglit decide tlia dispute8
of men. (0; 2 : 213)

MESSAGE UNIVERSAL The message of thcsc prophet,^ was one and

the same and was not meant for any part,icnl,zr clime or country or
people. I t had a universal application for mankind as a whole
wherever they lived. The Qur'Zn, states that there is no corner of the
world occupied by man where this universal message was not
delivered.

Nor hath there been a people unvisited by a warner.

( Q :35 : 2 3 y 3
Assuredly, Thou (0 Prophet) art a warner. And every
people hath had its guide. (Q : 13 : 7y4
And every people bath had its apostle. And when their
apostle came, a rightful decision took place between them,
24 5
and they were not wronged. (Q : 10 : 47)

The Qur'6n adds that numerobs were the messengers who thus
delivered t'he message in the past, though only a few of them
are mentioned by name.

And yet how many prophetv sent We among those of old.

(Q: a3 :6y6
We never chastised until We had first sent an apostle.
(Q : 17 : 15y7
And we have already sent apostles before thee : Of some
We have told thee, and of others We have told thee nothing.
(Q :40 : 78r8

MESSAGE ALWAYS THE SAME The way of God has been one and
the same everywhere. It cannot differ from itself in any circum-
stance. It has therefore addressed itself to humanity in one and
the same fashion. The Qur'in says that the way of the prophets
or of t,hose who delivered the divine messa,ge, whatever the time
or clime they belonged to, was therefore one and the same, and
 DIVINE GUIDANCE 155
that one and all preached but one and the same universal law of
goodness in life. And what then is this law ? I t is the law of 'belief
and righteous living, of belief in one supreme Lord of the universe
and of righteous living' in accordance with thtlt.belief: Any religion
other than this or conflicting with it is not religion in the strict
sense of the term.

And to every people have We sent an apostle saying:

Serve God and turn away from Tag11,u.t
- (forces for mischief
and disorder). (Q : 16 : 37)2'9
No apostle have We sent before thee to whom We did not
reveal : "Verily there is no God beside Me : Therefore serve
Me". (Q : 21 : 25fS0

The Qw'Zn says that there has been no founder of religion

who has not emphasized the observance of a single religion by all
mankind and has not discouraged differences therein. The aim of
every one of them was to gather together those who stood divided.
It was never meant to keep them isolated from each other. The
primary purpose was to see that all mankind served but one God
and lived together in mutual love and affection.

And truly this your religion is one religion ; and I am your

Lord. (Q : 23 : 52f51 .

The Qur'iinic argument is : God has given you all but one form
- the human form, and welded you into one community. But you
have divided yourselves into so-called races and have kept your-
selves aloof from one another on the basis of this distinction, and
have carved out accordingly different homelands. You have divided
yourselves into countless so-called nations, each running a t the
throat of every other. Dispersed as you are under different climes,
you have in the course of history, developed different colours. This
has furnished you a further excuse for mutual dislike. You have
also developed different tongues or languages. Even this is made
an argument for mutual isolation. And then you have created
classes among yourselves - of the rich and the poor, the master
and the servant, the touchablea and the untouchables, the strong
and the weak, the high and the low, and so on. The basic urge
in you is to live for one's own self and to overlook the interests
of others. In such a situation, is there anything that ca.n bring
you all together, notwithstanding your differences ? The Qur'iin
says that there is,'and that is the thought of one common God
for one and all. However numerous the groups into which you have
divided yourselves, you cannot divide God into as many pieces.
The one God of all ever remains one, and is one. You have all
to bow at His threshold. Despite your internal differences, you are
all linked into but one chain. Whatever your so-called race, your
homeland, your nationality, and whatever your circumstsnces in
life or s ~ h e r eof activity, if only you all resolve to serve but one
God, all these differences will lose their sting. Your hearts will be
united. You will begin to feel that the entire globe is your home
and that all mankind is but one people, and that you all form but
a single family - 'Aylil-Allcih, the 'family of God'.
So the &urYlinsays : The message which all the prophete delivered
was that mankind should follow one way, the way of God, Al-Dk,
and should not differ from each ot,her in respect of that way.
To you (the Prophet of Islfim) hath he prescribed the faith
which He comme'hded unto Noah, and which We have
revealed to thee, and which We commended unto Abraham
and Mosea and Jesus, saying, "Observe th& faith, and be
not divided into sects thereinyv.(Q :42 : 13)
The &urYlinasserts that there is no revealed scripture which
does not lay streas on the need to follow the way of Cod that it
speaks of.
Say : Bring forth your proofs. This is the truth which t h w
who are with me bea.r in mind, and this the truth preached
by those who came before me ; but most people know not the
truth, and turn aside.
. No apostle have We sent before thee to whom We did not
reveal that "Verily, there is no God beside Me. Therefore
worship Me". (Q :21 : 24-sf5'
Not merely this, the Qur'cin calls upon every one to show whether
the measages delivered before that of the Qw'cin differed in any
manner from the message it delivered.
 DIVINE GUIDANCE 157
Say : Bring me a Book sent down before this Qur'En, or,5,
traces of knowledge thereof if ye are men of truth. (Q : 46 : 4)

SCRIPTURES Similarly, the Qur'En cites the recognition of one

scripture by another scripture as a further proof in favour of its
contention that all revealed religions present but one and the same
basic message. It says that the teaching of one religion endorses
the teaching of another : one does not deny the other. So when
these endorse each other, it follows that there is something in
these several teachings which is common to them all and which
serves as a point round which everything else revolves. For, when
one and the same idea is stated and emphasized, at.different times,
in different places, among different peoples, under diverse names,
in various manners and in different languages, the natural con-
clusion that forces itaelf for attention is that there is something
real and abidmg about it. ,

In truth hath He sent down to thee the Book, which con-

firmeth those that precede it : for He had sent down the
law and the Evangel aforetime, for man's guidance. (Q :3 :3fR

This is the reason why the Qur'Zn frequently refers to the message
and commandments of the scriptures delivered before it. It bears
witness t o the similarity and oneness of their teachings.

AL-D~N AND AL-SHAR'A : DIFFERENCES BETWEEN RELIGIONS The

question arises : If revelation directs all mankind to but one and
the same truth, or the founders of different religions have preached
but one and the same principle of life, how come in the difference0
which exist between religion and religion, and why is it that one
and the same code of law, conduct and ceremonials and ritual is
not prescribed by one and all, and why again the form of worship
observed in one religion is different from that in another, why
one turns in one direction in prayer and why another in another,
and why the laws in one differ in style from those in another ?

NO DIFFERENCES IN DIN: DIFFERENCES ONLY IN SHAR'A The

QPrr'tin says that differences in respect of religion are ortwo kinds.
One is that which is the result of a deliberate deviation from the
common basic message effected by its followers. A difference of this
type marks only the nature of waywardness wrought and does not
argue any differences between religions as such. The other kind is
a difference in regulations arising therefrom. For instance, one
religion prescribes a particular form of worship ; another a different
form. A difference of this nature is not a difference touching the
basic character of religion, but a difference touching its outward
manifestation.
The Qur'6n points out that the teaching of a religion is two-fold.
One constitutes its spirit ; the other its outward manifestation.
The former is primary in importance, the latter secondary. The
first is called DZn :the second Shur'a or M i n E j and Nusk. Shar'a
and M i n E j mean the path ; a d N w k the manner or ceremonial
of devotion. In practice however, Shar'a has come to mean the law
prescribed by religion and Nusk merely the form of devotion or
worship. The Qur'iin states that the differences which exist between
one religion and anot,her are not difierences in Dfn, the basic
provision, but in the manner of giving effect to it, or in the Shur'a
and Minhcj, not in tb spirit of religion, but in its outward~orm.
This difference was but natural. The essential purpose of religion
is the progress and well-being of humanity. But the condition and
circumstance of man has not been the same in every clime and a t
all times. Intellectual and social aptitudes have varied from time
to time and from country to country necessitating variations in
Shar'a and Minhiij. That explains the differences noticeable between
one Shar'a
- and another.

To every people have We appointed observances which they

observe. Therefore, let them not dispute thia matter with
thee, but bid them to their Lord (the basic provision) for
thou art on the right way. (Q : 22 : 67y6

When the Prophet gave up his practice of turning toward

Jerusalem in prayer and chose to turn toward Ka'aba in Mecca
instead,. the change was displeasing to the Jews and Christians.
So great was the importance attached to t.he outward form ! The
ceremonial was with them the criterion of right and wrong and
 DIVINE GUIDANCE 159
truth and untruth ! The Qur'cin made a different approach to the
subject. I t did not regard the outward form by any means the
criterion of inward truth or the basis of religion. Every religio~
has had to evolve its own ritual as demanded by its environment.
The thing that matters is devotion to God and righteous living.
So, he who is anxious to practise truth in life, has primarily to
concentrate on the essential and make that the test of everything
or the criterion by which he should distinguish right from wrong
or truth from untruth.

And for every one a side to turn to (for prayer).

Better therefore, vie one with another in good works.
God will gather you all together, for God hhth power over
all things. (Q :2 :148f57

ESSENTIALS OF RELIGION The &ur'iin goea further, and in clear

language explains what the esaentiale of a religion exactly are, or
what really contributee to good life in the religious sense of the
term. Religion does not lie in merely turning to the east or the west.
Real religion is to offer devotion to God and live a righteous life.
The Qur'iin presents the essential elements which enter into the
composition 05 religion in the following words :

"Righteousness is not that you turn your faces (in prayer)

towards the east or the weat; but righteousness is this, that
one believeth in God, in the Last Day, in the angels, in the Books
and in the Prophets, and for the love of God giveth of his wealth
to hi kindred and to the orphans and to the needy and to the
wayfarer, and to those who ask and to effect the freedom of the
elave, and observeth prayer and payeth the poor-one and is of
those who are faithful to their engagements when they have
engaged in them, and endureth with fortitude poverty, distress,
and moments of peril - these are they who are true in their2rrb
faith and these are they who are truly righteow." (Q : 2 : 177)

This verse has stood in the Qur'iin for over 1,300 years. If the world
has, nevertheless, e t a to understand ite bash objective, it certainly
ie not the fault of the Qw'En.
DIITERENCE IN SHAR'A TNEVITABLE In the Chapter Ma'ida
(Chapter 6), reference is made to the different religious social dis-
pensations. After referring successively to Moses, Jesus and the
Prophet of Islam, the chapter proceeds to state :

To each among you have We prescribed a law and an open

way. If God had so willed, He would have made you all of
one pattern ; but He would test you by what He hath given
to each. Be emulous then, in good deeds. (Q : 6 :48)a9

BAS18 OF RELI~IONDISREGARDED Read the above passage carefully

and ponder over everyword of it. When the Qur'Gn was delivered,
the followers of the prev~ilingreligions took the butward forms cf
religion for religion itself, t~ ~d all enthusiasm for religion therefore
waa spent on ritual. Every g. mp denied salvation to every other
merely on the basis of ritual. but ritual was not religion, said the
Qur'dab, nor the criterion of tmth. # was merely an outward aspect
of religion. The spirit was mmething superior to it, and that alone
was Din or religion. D?n in reality war devotion to God through
righteous living, and w y no exoluaive heritage of any single group
of people. On the other hand, it was the common heritage of all
mankind, and knew no change. Actions and customs are but w o n -
dary to it. They have changed and are liable to change from time to
time and vary from country to country under the exigencies of time
and circumstance. Whatever differences one may notice between one
rehgion and another, they relate particularly to this sphere of life.
The Qur'dn asks : "Why do you give so great an importance to
ceremonial?" It says : "God had preacribed different ceremoniale
a t different times and for different countries. Whatever was appro-
priate to a particular situation was prescribed. Had God so desired,
He would have made all mankind of but one pattern. But that
evidently was not His purpose. Variations were called for; and
these did tage rise. But this variation should not form the ground
for c o a c t between one and another. What really mattered in
thk context was KhairGt or righteous action to which every varying
ceremonial was subsidiary. "
Look a t the phrase, "to each among you (your groups) have
-
We prescribed a law (Shar'a) ".
and an open way (Winha'j) Mark
 DIVINE GUIDANCE 161
that the term used here k not DZn which should be the same for
every one. That admits of no variation. Shar'a and MinEj could
not have been from the very nature of thzgs uniformly the same
for one and all. I t was therefore inevitable that they should be
different for different countries and different times. The difference
of this type are not really differences in the basis of religion. They
are so only in things subsidiary to it.
It is this truth which the Qur'En aims to emphasize whenever it
states : "Had God so wished, He would have made you all of but
one pattern"?!'he statement takes cognizance of the differences in
disposition of different sections of mankind living in different
countries, resulting in differences in manners, customs and ways of
living. But differences of this character are incidental to the nature
of man and should not form the criteria of truth and untruth, and
result in mutual dislikes and hostilities. Only the basis of relbon
should not be disturbed, viz., devotion to one God and righteous
living.
That is why the Qur'dn lays such great stress on the need for
tolerance. Indeed, it puts in a word for even those who have violently
opposed its teachings. Addressing the Prophet on one occasion, it
my5 :
And if thy Lord had pleased, verily all who are in the earth
would have believed together. What ! Wilt thou compel men
to become believers ? (Q : 10 : 99)*'
I t says : "Man by disposition likes to follow a way pleasing to
him. Just as you think your way is the right way, even so, othem
think theirs is the right way. Create therefore in you the quality
of tolerance. "
Revile not those whom they call on beside God, lest they,
in their ignorance despitefully revile Him. We have
130 fashioned the nature of man that they like the deeds they
do. After ail, they ahall return to their Lord, and He will
declare to them what their actions have been. (Q :6 :108f62
BEVIVAL OF MESSAGE The question then ariaea : if the basis of
all religions is the mame, or if all rest on truthywhere then was the
need for the advent of the Qur'rin ? It says in reply : although all
religions are baaed on truth, their followers have turned away from
it, and so the need arises to bring them back to it.
In the pursuit of this mission, the Qwr'cin brings to mlnd this
falling off from truth. This falling of is in the sphere of doctrinal
beliefs, as well as in that of action. Of the several forms which this
ha^ taken, the most serious to which the Qur'Cn draws pointed
attention is the falling off from the basis of religion which it styles
as TashiiZyii
- and Tahadhdhub
- or group formation.
Aa to those who split up their religion and become sects,
have thou nothing to do with them : their affair is with God.
Hereafter shall He tell them what they have been. (Q : 6 : 1 6 0 ) ~ ~
But men have rent their great concern (the one religion that
was meant for all mankind), one among another, into sects*
every party rejoicing in that which is their own. (Q : 23 :53)

~ a s ~ i i hThe
6 import of the terms TashiiZyii and TahadMhub
nec& to be understood in proper perspGtive, says the Qur)iin.
The purpoae of the Dhdivinely specified waa to set mankind on
the path of devotion to God and of righteous living. It says that
every human thought or action possesses a certain peculiarity and
must produce a like result. A good result proceeds from a good
thought or a good deed, and an evil result from an evil thought or
an evil deed. But mankind disregarded this fact of life. They divided
themselves into races, communities, countries, and came to observe
customs and manners of diverse character. The result was that
man did not lay strew on faith and action as the basis of salvation,
aa much as on the way one group interest differed from that of
another. That came to be the test of truth in reliiion and the deter-
miniig factor for salvation. Exclusivism came then into vogue
everywhere denying salvation to all except those who belonged to
one's own group. I n fact, hatred of another's religion replaced
devotion to God and righbeom living.

QUR'XNIC OBJECTIVE The Qur'Zn therefore set before itself three

diatinct objective8:(1)It made faith and deed the solemeans of salva-
tion, and not affiliation to any particuhr group. (2) I t emphasized
 DIVINE GUIDANCE 163
the fact that the religion revealed by God was but one for all
mankind, and that therefore every deviation from this was a clear
aberration. (3) It emphasized that real religion was direct worship
of but one God, without any mediating agency, and that this was
the main teaching of all prophets, and that every belief and practice
which conflicted witahit was therefore a deviation from it and indeed
a denia.1of it.

And they say, "None but Jews or Christians shall enter

Paradise" ; This is their wish. Say : Give your proofs if ye
epeak the truth. But they who set their face with resignation
God-ward, and do what is right, -their reward is with
their Lord ; no fear shall come on them, neither shall they
grieve. ( Q : 2 : 11 1- 2) * 5
Verily, they who believe (Muslims) and they who follow the
Jewish religion, and the Christians, and the Sabaeana -who-
soever believeth in God and the last day, and doeth that
which is right, shall have their reward with their Lord : fear
shall not come upon them, neither shall they grieve.
(Q : 2 :69$,

Din or the real religion was thus devotion to God and righteoua
living. It was not a name for any group formation. Whatever t4e
race or community or country one belonged to, if only he believed
in God and did righteous deeds, he was a follower of the D k of
God, and salvation was his reward. But the .Jews and Christians
devised a code of conduct exclusive to themselves. The Jews drew
a cirde around them and called it Judaism, and came to hold that
he who was within that circle was fitted for salvation, and he who
waa outside of it was doomed. Likewise the Christians drew a
circle round them and called it ChristiaAty and observed a like
attitude in respect of themselves and others. The concept of faith
and righteous living was thus relegated to the background. One
might be an ardent devotee of God and practise intensely righteous
living, but if he happened to be outside of the circle of Judaism or
of Christianity, no Jew or Christian would regard him as the 'rightly
guided'. On the other hand, one might indeed be a wicked person,
salvation was his, if only he was regarded as a regular member of
their group. With them the path of belief in God and righteous living
was not the path of true guidance or Hiayat. The Qur'cin dis-
countenances this attitude. It proclaims that divine guidance or
Hidcsyat cannot be confined within such man-made limits. Whatever
one's race or community or affiliation, he who offers sincere devotion
to God and lives a righteous
- life, he has attained salvation and no
fear shall come upon him.
What nobler view of universal humanity is possible to conceive
of than the one advanced here ? The Qur'cin observes with regret :

Moreover the Jews say, "The Christians lean on nought".

"On nought lean the Jews", say the Christians. Yet both
read the Scripture. So with like words say they who have no
knowledge (of the Scripture). But on the day of requital,
God shall judm between them as to that in which they differ.
(Q: 2 : 113)"

Thus, although the religion of the two peoples, the Jews and
Christians, was the same, and the Old Testament was the common
heritage of both, their division into two groups led to mutual
contlict and hatred. One condemned the other and denied salvation
to it.
When the world is 80 divided into groups each calling the religion
of the other as false, who is to decide who represents the truth ?
The 8iird-d&aqara, the second chapter of the Qur'cin, states in
continuation of the verse quoted above :

And who committeth a greater wrong than he who hindereth

God's name from being remembered in places of worship,
and who hasteth to ruin them ? It is not meet that such
men enter them except in fear. Their's is shame in this
world,and a severe torment in the next. (Q : 2 :114)~~'

The verse refers to the fact that the urge for group formation
grew so acute that each group carved out for itself separate places
of worship ;and although every one claimed to worship the same
divine Being, it was not open to one to worship Him in the place
of worship belonging to another. The Qur'cFra asks : "Could there
 DIVINE GUIDANCE 165
be any injuefice worse than that which prevents God's creaturee
to offer worship to Him where he likes, simply because the piece
.of worship mught does not belong to him ? Could one demoliah a
place of worship simply because it had not been raised by his
own group ? Do the differences between one group and another
argue the existence of different gods ; or that a place of worship
raised by any group other than one's own is not a place of worship
a t all ?
The Jews claimed that revelation was exclusive to them and that
to no one else was vouchsafed this privilege. They thought that no
one else possessed the truth and that, therefore, none else was
favoured by God. The Qur'dn discountenances this attitude and
proclaims that Hidiiyat or the path of right guidance was open to
every one, and that it was not reserved exclusively for any
particular race or people.

Others of the people of the Book say : "And believe in those

only who follow your religion." (But you) Say: "True
guidance is guidance from God2'- that to others may be
imparted the like of what hath been imparted to you. Will
they wrangle then with you in the presence of their Lord ?
Say : "Plenteous gifts are in the hands of God. He imparteth
them unto whom He will, and God is bounteous, wise."
(Q : 3 : 73-4)269

The Jews went so far as even to think that hell-fire would never
touch them. They thought that even if any one from among them
was thrown into hell, it would be done not by way of punishment
but only to clean the stain of his sin, before he is received in
heaven. The Qur'iia refers to this attitude over and over again, and
asks the Jews to state how they did know that every member of
their group was exempt from meeting in the life hereafter the
consequences of his actions in this, or wherefrom had they got
their title to salvation. The Qur'dn announces that he who does
good, good is his reward ; and he who does evil, evil is his reward.
Poison brings death whether the persod takes it is a Jew or a non-
Jew ; and milk promotes health whosoever takes it. Likewise, in
the sphere of inward life, every action produces a like effect. Thh
law of life does not alter for any particular race or person, saps the
Qur'Zn.

And they say: "Fire will not touch us but for a few days."
Say: "Have you received such a promise from Allah ?
Then Allah will notsfail to perform His promise. Or do you
speak against Allah what you know not ? "
Yea, whoever earns evil and his sins beset him every side,
- those are the companions of the fire ; therein they abide.
(Q : 2 : 80-21n0

The law of requital is applicable to one and all and does not
exempt any one from its operation. Addressing the Jews and the
Christians, says the Qur'iin.

Not according to your wishes, or the wishes of the people

of the Book shall these things be. He who doth evil ie
recompensed for it. Patron or helper beside God shall he
271
find none. (Q :4 : 123)

It was one of the results flowing from this group-sense that the
Jews thought that the law revealed to tbem enjoining honesty in
business transactions was not binding on them in their dealings
with the non-Jews. They developed the thought that it was lawful
to appropriate as they wished the property of those who did not
belong to their group. For instance, the injunction of prohibition
of usury was observed by them only in respect of transactions
among themselves, and not in their dealings wit.h others. This
practice is observed even till today. The Qur'fin refers to the evil :

They took usury, though {hey were forbidden ; and they

devoured men's substance wrongfully. (Q : 4 : 161j272

Such was the attitude which the Jews displayed deliberately in

their dealings with the Arabs of the Prophet's time. They thought
that the Arabs were an illiterate people and mere idolaters, and
that it was right to appropriah their property by every means a t
their dispoeal.
 ~ 1 v f ' N . iG~U I D A N C E 167
This - because they say, "We are not bound to keep faith
with the ignorant folk". And they utter a lie against God,
and know they do so. (For) Whoso is truef o his engagement,
and feareth God,- Verily God loveth those that fear Him.
(&: 3 : 7f,-

Such an attitude was repugnant to the DZn of God, the revealed

law of life which enjoins goodness towards every human being and
honest dealing with him, whatever the group to which he belongs.
Honesty does not change its colour, whatever the situation, and
dishonesty is dishonesty whoever it is who practises it.
At the time of the advent of the Qur'iin, the people of Arabia
were divided into three religious groups,-- Jews, Christians and
Arab polytheists. The three groups paid equal respect to the
memory of prophet Abraham, as he was regarded by all of them
as their common ancestor. To bring home to these groups the
harmfulness of a divided life, a straightforward, simple proposition
was advanced by the Qu8dn for their consideration. If exclusiveness
was identical with truth, to what group did their common ancestor,
Abraham, belong ? There prevailed in his time no Judaism or
Christianity, or any other group religion. What was the way, the
DZn, that he followed ? The Qur'En. points out that it was no
groapism of any sort, but the way of salvation open to all mankind,
the way, viz. of devotion to one God and righteous living.

The Jews say : "Re a Jew". The Christians say : "Re a

Christian : you will be on the right course". Say : Nay,
(we follow) the religion of Abraham, the upright one, and
he was not one of the polytheists. (Q: 2 : 1357

The fact stated in the above verse is repeated with greater

emphasis in Chapter 3 entitled Al-'Zmriin- "the Family of
'Imriin ".

0 people of the Book, why do you dispute about Abraham,

when the Torah arid the Gospel were not2$$ea.led till after
him ? Do you not understand ? (Q: 3 :65)
 The Qur'cin here addresses very straight questions to the Jews
and Christians. Your group formations cannot be traced beyond
the Torah and the Euangel, the Old and the New Teshfitey~ts,and
group formations are based on them only. If such is the fact of
history, were there or were there not before them any people who
followed any revealed path of guidance ? If there were any, what
was the way they followed ? What was the way which the succession
of your own patriarchs and prophets lived up to ? What was the
religion or the way which Abraham himself bequeathed or passed
to his own sons and grandsons ? The Prophet Jacob from his
death-bed enjoined on his children that they should remain attached
to the Dfn of God that he had himself followed. What was the
Din that he meant here ? It was certainly not Judaism or Christian-
ity or any groupism, for they all aTose after him in the name of
Moses and Jesus who were born several centuries after Jacob. So
it must be clear to you that there prevailed long before the rise
of your newly devised groupisms, a path of salvation much higher
than yours, the Dfn meant for all mankind, says the Qur'iin, the
way of devotion to God and of righteous living.

Or were you witnesses when death visited Jacob, when he

said to his sons : "What will you serve after me ? " They
said : "We shall serve thy God and the God of thy fathers,
Abraham and Ismail and Isaac, one God only, and to Him
do we submit." (Q: 2 : 133fT6

UNITY OF MAN, PRIMARY PURPOSE OF RELIGION The unity of man

is the primary aim of religion. The message which every prophet
delivered was that mankind were in reality one people and one
community, and that there was but one God for all of them, and
that on that account they should serve Him together and live as
members of but one family. Such was the message which every
religion delivered. But curiously the followers of each religion dis-
regarded the message, so much so, that every country, every
community and every race resolved itself into a separate group
and raised groupism to the position of religion.
The Qur'dn quotes the utterances of the prophets gone before to
show that every one of them had aimed to &rm the unity of
 DIVINE GUIDANCE '169
religion and preach universal brotherhood. For instance, in the
Stirat-ul-Muminfin, Chapter 23, it refers to the advent ~f Noah :

We sent Noah to his people. He said, 0 my people ! Serve

God ! Ye have no other God buAJIim. Will you not therefore
guard against evil ! (Q: 23 : 23)

The Qur'Cn then refers to the messages which continued to be

delivered after Noah :

Then We raised after them another generation. And We

sent to them an apostle from among themselves (saying)
"Serve God ! Ye have no other God but Him". (Q : 23 : 32)na

And then comes the references to Moses :

279
Then We sent Moses and his brother Aaron. ( Q : 23 : 45)

Then follows the reference to Jesus :

And We m de the son of Mary and his mother as a sign.

2&
(Q: 23 : 50)

And IastJy the truth is announced :

0 Ye apostles! Eat of things that are good and do that

which is right : of your doings I am cognizant.
And truly this your religion is the one religion, and I am
your Lord. So, keep your duty unto Me. But men have rent
their great concern, one among another, into sects ; every
261
party rejoicing in that which is their own. (Q: 23 : 51-3j

The above references make it clear that everyone of the prophets

'
invited mankind to but one task -- devotion to God and righteous
living. They one and all enjoined that mankind should live together
as brothers unto each other, and not to live divided. But to the
regret of the Qur'iin, "Men have rent their great concern one
among another into sects, every party rejoicing in that which is
their own".
 But the advice was set aside and mankind dividccl themselves
into rival groups, each obsessed with the thought that it was
superior to every other. Among the obsessions wl~icll groupism
gave rise to, we m i y refer in particular to the ceremonial called
Baptism. Originally this was a Jewish ceremonial whicli was gone
through when one had to admit one's sins and seek forgiveness.
But the Christian Church converted this into an instrument of
salvation. The Qur'iin treats this as a travesty of truth, and points
out that salvation cannot be gained by performing a mere ritual
and that on the other hand salvation comes through righteous
living. One must be baptised not by mere water but by the touch
of God or by putting on the "colour of God" over his thought and
action.

Such is the colour of God. And w b 2 c a n give that colour

better than Gcd himself. (Q: 2 : 138)

Similarly, the same idea is repeated over and over again in the
second chapter of the Qur'En. D k , the way of God, is the law of
action fixed for man. Man but receives what he earns. That is the
law, the Din, the path of salvation. One does not gain salvation
on the strength merely of belonging t.o an illustrious or ancient
race or tribe or claiming a number of prophets as born among one's
people.

They were a people who have passed away, and for them is
20 3
what they earned, and for you what you earn. (Q : 2 : 141j

THE QURXNIC CALL There is nothing in the Qur'an on which so great

a stress is laid as on this view of life. It is repeatedly made clear
that it does not favour any exclusive group religion. On the other
hand, it asserts that it has come to put an end to all groupism
and bring all mankind to one path of life, the path of truth, which
knows no newness, but by its very nature has had to remain the
same throughout the course of time, the path to which all prophets
have invited mankind.

To you hath He presented the faith which He commended

unto Noah, and which We have revealed to thee, and which
 DIVINE GUIDANCE 171
We commended unto Abraham and Moses and Jesus, saying :
"Observe this faith, and be not divided into sects therein".
(Q: 42 : 13fe4
Verily We have revealed to thee as We revealed to Noah
and the prophets after Him, and as We revealed to Abraham,
and Ismail, and Isaac, and Jacob, and the tribes, and Jesus,
and Job and Jonah, Aaron and Solomon ; and to David gave
we Psalms. (Q : 4 : 163f85
Of some apostles we have told thee before : of other apostles
we have not told thee. (Q: 4 : 164- fB6
0 Ye apostles ! Truly this your religion is the one religion,
and I am your Lord. (Q: 23 : 51fB7

I n Chapter 6, AZ-An'cim, referring to the previous prophets, the

Qplr'Gn addresses the Prophet of Islam in the following words :

4
These are those whom God has gui ed. So, follow therefore
what had guided them. (Q: 6 : 9012

The first doctrinal principle of the Qur'cin is to recognize the

founders of all religions and endorse their teaching, which a t the
basis was but one and the same, and to conform to the way shown
by them.

Say : We believe in God, and in what hath been sent down

to us, and what hath been sent down to Abraham, and
Ismail, and Isaac, and Jacob, and the tribes and in what
was given to Moses, and Jesus, and the prophets, from their
Lord. We make no difference between them. And to Him
are we resigned (Muslim). (Q : 3 :83)289

The expression 'We. make no difference between them' in the

'
above verse recurs in several other places in the Qur'Gn just to
mark ita disapproval of the tendency of regarding one prophet
as superior to another, or of accepting one prophet and rejecting
another, as the bearer of truth. The Qur'Gn calls upon everyone
who cares to follow the way laid down by God to accept without
discrimination all the prophets and all the scriptures revealed to
them and the basic.t.ruth Which they all contain, and to accept
it wherever found and in whatever language it is expressc~l.
The apostle believeth in that which hath been sent down
from his Lord, as do the faithful also. They all believe in
God and His angels, and His Books, and His apostles : We
make no distinction between any of His apostles. And they
say, "We have heard and obey. Tliv mercy, Lord ! for unto
290
thee must we &turn7'. (Q : 2 : 285)
Here the Qur'sn says : God is one : His truth is one ; and this
has been conveyed to man in different langnages. Rut yo11 accept
one prophet and reject another. You accept the basic message in
one place and reject the same message in another. In other words,
you accept and reject one and the sa,me thing. Such an attitude
is indeed a denial of the message itself.
The divine truth, says the Qur'hn, is an universal gift from God.
It is not exclusive to any race or any people or religious group or
is not exclusively delivered in any particular language. Yon have
no doubt, created for yourselves national, geographical and racial
boundaries. But. you cannot so divide the divine truth. That truth
bears no national stamp, nor professes any racial or geographical
loyalties or group affiliations. Like the sun created of God, it shines
in every corner of the globe, and shines equally well on every one.
If yon care to have it, do not search it in any particular corner.
It is noticeable everywhere and has found expression in every age.
Do not worship your communities, homelands, languages or your
gronp formations. You should worship only God and respect his
universal truth. The troth of God wherever and in whatever form
it is found, is your treasure and you are heir to it.
The Qur'dn has repeatedly pronounced that discrimination between
prophets is a denial of Div, of God Himself who recognizes them
without distinction. There are therefore only but two ways open
for man. There is no third. One is the way of recognition of them
all : the other is that of rejection. The rejection of even one prophet
amounts to rejection of every other as well.

Of a truth they who believe not in God and His apostles, and
seek to separate God from His apostles, and say "Some we
 DIVINE GUIDANCE 173
believe and some we believe not" and desire to take a middle
course :
These ! They are veritable disbelievers ! and for the dis-
believers have We prepared a shameful punishment.
And they who believe in God and His apostles, and make
no difference between them- these! We will bestow on them
- 8;
their reward a t last. God is gracious, merciful ! (Q :4 : 151 52)
In its second chapter the Qzr.rlcZn points to the way of the true
believers :
S n d who believe in what hath been sent down to thee, and
in what hath been set down before thee, and full faith have
they in the life to come : These are those who follow the
guidance of their Lord : it is they who prosper. (Q : 2 : 4_5jS2
The Qur'cin asks: "If you do not deny that the creation of
the .universe is the creation of but One Supreme Being, and that
it is He who sustains it, then, why do you deny that the spiritual
way of life prescribed by Him is but one, or has been delivered
to man in but one way 2 " I t says : "There is only one Providence
for all of you. You, one and all, believe in Him. Your spiritual
leaders have all taught you but one and the same basic truth.
And yet, why do you hate one another in the name of one and the
same God who had enjoined on you all to bow before no other
threshold except His, and bound you all together in one single
bond of fellowship ?
Say: 0 People of the Book ! Do ye not disavow us simply
because we believe in God, and in what He hath sent down
to us, and in what He sent down aforetime, while most of
29 3
you are transgressore. (Q : 5 :62)
And surely God is my Lord and your Lord ; ,9,
So serve Him. This is the right path. (Q : 19 : 36)
Say : Will ye dispute with us about God ? When He is our
Lord and your Lord ! We have our works and ye have your
works, and we are sincerely His. (Q : 2 : 1 3 9 ) ~ ~
It may be borne in mind that wherever the form of address
as emplopd in the above verses occur, forms such as : "God is
174 TARJUMAN AL-QUR'AN
our and your God"-"Our and your God is but one God"-"Do
you dispute with us about God when your and our God is but one
and the same God," and "for you (the resillt of) your deeds and
for us (the result of) our own", the aim of the QuryEnis to emphasize
that for one and all there is but one God and that every action
has a corresponding result. The Qur'tin therefore asks : "Why
then all this tension and warfare in the name of God and religion ?
Repeatedly does the .Qurldn affirm that its teaching is nothing
but this that it calls upon man to believe in God and practise
righteous living, and not to condemn anybody's religion or reject
its founder. It says it co&rms the basic message common to all
religions and presents it as its own message. When such is the
Qur'Bnic attitude, "Why, " asks the @rY6rt, "do the followers of
other religions declare war against the Qur'En ? "
The Qur'dn has never asked the followers of other religions
to accept it as a new faith altogether. On the other hand, it asks
them to return to their own religions by first discarding all the
aberrations that they have heaped thereon, and strictly adhere
to the original faith. It then says : "If they do so, the purpose
of the Qur'dn is served ; for, if once one returns to his own religion
in its pristine form, he will find that there is nothing therein but
what the Qur'En itself has come forward to revive and represent."
It says that its message is no new message and that it is the same
which the prophets of yore had delivered.

Say : 0 People of the Book ! Ye have no ground to stand on,

until ye observe the Law and the Evangel, and that which
hath been sent down to you from your Lord. The Book
which hath been sent down to thee (0 Prophet) from thy
Lord will certainly increase the rebellion and unbelief in
many of them ; but be not thou troubled for the unbelievers.
Verily, they who believe, and the Jews, and the Sabaeans,
and the Christians - whoever of them believeth in God and
in the last day, and doth what is right, on them shall come
no fear, neither shall they grieve. (Q :5 : 1;l-ij2'6

This is the reason why the Qur'an has openly praised such of
the followers of other faiths as upheld a t the time of the advent
 DIVINE GUIDANCE 175
of the Qur'dn the spirit of their faiths and lived upto their basic
teachings. I t only observes that their number was but small, the
majority having strayed away from their original faith.

They are not all alike. Of the peo-ple of the Scripture, there
is a staunch community who recite the revelations of Alliih
in the night season falling prostrate (before Him). They
believe in Allah and the last day, and enjoin right conduct
and forbid indecency, and vie one with another in good
works. These are of the righteous. And whatever good they
do, they will not be denied the meed theraoJ. Allah is aware
of those who ward off (evil). (Q :3 : 113-5T
Some there are among them who act aright. But many of
298
t,hem - how evil are their doings ! (Q : 5 : 66)

Whenever the Qur'dn stresses that it has come only to confirm

the previous revealed scriptures and not to deny them, and calls
upon their followers to believe in the Qur'dn also, it does so only
to emphasize that the Qur'Zn does not present anything antagonistic
to their faiths, nor does it aim to turn them away from their own
faiths, but that in fact even aids them to remain staunch to them.
It'therefore asks in astonishment : Why. then do they declare war
against the Qur'Zn or quarrel with it ?

M A ' A R ~ F AND MUNKAR For the same reason the Qur'Zn uses the
term ma'artif for goodness and munkur for evil. "Enjoin the
%99
ma'ariif and forbid the munkar" (3 : 104)is the injunction of the
Qur'dn. The word ma'artif is derived from 'arafz meaning to know
what is well-known. So ma'artif is that which is recognized on all
hands. Munkar means that which cannot be accepted on all hands.
The Qur'Zn has used these terms particularly because whatever
the differences among mankind, there are certain things which are
recognized on all hands to be good, and likewise there are certain
things which are denied that appellation or are not recognized as
good. For instance, all agree that to speak truth is right and to
speak untruth is wrong. All agree that honesty is a virtue and
dishonesty is a vice. All agree that service to parents, kindliness
towards neighbourn, care of the poor, and aiding of the oppressed
are things good in themselves and none holds a different view about
them. All the religions of the world, all moral codes, all philosophies,
all communities, whatever view they may severally hold in other
matters, they all are one in according universal recognition to
such qualities. The Qur'Gn states that qualities of this category
are the qualities which the DZn of God or ieligion ehjoins on man.
Since this attitude is basic to the revealed religions, there has
been no difference in respect of it and has, therefore, been uni-
versally recognized by all revealed religions. So the Qur'Gn says
that it enjoins what each of them universally accepts as the
right thing and prohibits all that is regarded as wrong. I n other
words, it directs man to do what is universally regarded as right,
and prohibits what is universally regarded as wrong. So it &sks:
"Why then ehould there be any opposition to what the Qur'En
thus preaches ? "

TEE WAY OF GOD The Qur'Gn says that such is the line of conduct
prescribed for man by God, a line of conduct agreeable to human
nature. And the Qur'hn says there shall be no change in the lines pres-
cribed by nature, and that is the right religion or Dh-i-Hnnifas the
Qur'Gtt calls it, the way adopted by the prophet Abraham. I t is
this very religion which the Qur'Gn styles as IsiGm, or the path
of surrender or conformity to the laws of life fixed by God.

Turn steadfastly to the path of devotion, the way of Alliih,

for whic6 He hath fitted man. There is no altering of the way
of Alliih. That is the right religion; but most people know it not.
And be ye turned to Him, and fear Him and observe prayer,
and be not of those who unite gods with God, of those who
have split up their religion and have become sects, where
every party rejoices in what is their own. (Q : 30 : 29-30)P O

AL-ISLLM It is this Islam so continnously delivered throughout

the ages which is the true religion or way of life as fixed by God,
says the Qur'Gn. Everything else is man-made, mere groupism. If
you should resolve together to follow the path of devotion to
God, of righteous living, and turn away from all aberrations thereof,
the purpose of the Qur7iinis fulfilled.
 DIVINE
GUIDANCE 177
The true religion with God is Islam : and they to whom the
Scriptures had been given, differed not till after 'the know-
ledge' had come to them, and through mutual jealousy. But
as for him who shall not believe in the signs of God - God
will be prompt to reckon with him. If they shall dispute
with thee, then say : I have surrendered myself to God, as
have they who follow me. Say to those who have received
the Book, and to the common folk: Do ye surrender your-
selves unto God ? If they surrender, they are the rightly
guided ; but if they turn away - thy duty is only to preach ;
101
and God's eye is on His servants. (Q : 3 : 18j

The Qur'bn styles the DTn cf God Al-Isldm because it means

acquiescence. Religion lies in strictly following the moral law
prescribed by God. This is necessary for man. In fact the entire
creation conforms to this law. For the upkeep of everything in
the universe and its sustenance, a law of action is prescribed and
all should obey it. The slightest urge on the part of creation to
stray away from the prescribed path will result in the collapse
of the machinery of life.

Other religion than that of God desire they ? To Him doth

everything that is in the heavens and in the earth submit
in willing or forced obedience ! And to Him do they return.
(Q: 3 : 82)'02

When the Qur'bn states that Al-Islbrn orthe path of acquiescence,

or obedience or of conformance to the way of God is the only
religion favoured of God and was the religion which every Prophet
preached, every other way or religion is bound to be groupism of
some sort and not the universal way of God.

And whoso seeketh as religion other than the way of

surrender (Al-IslEm), it will not be accepted, and he will be
a loser in the hereafter (in consequence). (Q : 3 :86)'03

That is why, the Qur'bn repeatedly calls upon all those who
have responded to its message not to divide themselv~; into sects
or return to the darkness from which the Qur'6n had taken them
out. It points out that it has brought those who were fighting
each other to the path of devotion to God and has welded t,hem
into a-brotherhood. It has lined up in a single B e those who once
hated each other - the Jews, the Christians, the Magians, and
the Sabaeans, who all now recognize together the founders of
the faiths which they severally professed.

And hold fast, all of you together, to the cable of God,

and do not separate, And remember God's f a v c x unto
you : how ye were enemies and He united your hearts so
th'at ye became as brothers by His grace ; and (how) ye
were upon the brink of an abyss of fire, and He did save
you from it. Thus God maketh clear His revelations unto
you, that haply ye may be guided. (Q : 3 : 103j'04
And be ye not as those who separated and disputed after
the clear proofs had come unto them. For such, there is an
awful doom. (Q : 3 : 106)'05
And (He commandeth you, saying): "Thia is My straight
?ath ; so follow it':. Follow not other ways, lest ye be parted
from His way. This hath He ordained for you, that ye
may ward off (evil). (Q :6 : 153)'06

THE BASIS OF OPPOSITION TO THE QUR'AN Let us for a while look

a t the opposition that was offered to the Qu~'6nin the time of the
Prophet. Those who set themselves in opposition to it were the
followers of religions which prevailed a t the time. Some of them
possessed revealed scriptures and some not. And what was the
basis cf their opposition ? Did the Qur'lin deny their scriptures
or their propheta 2 Did it claim that it alone was the.respository
of truth and that therefore the followers of other faiths should
give up the prophets in whom they had believed till then ? Or,
did it present anything absolutely novel, so that they should
hesitate to accept it ? The pages of the Qur'cFr, are open for every
one to read. Every one knows the: history of its revelation. None
of the above three questions could validly be levelled against it.
It offera its recognition not only to the prophets in whom the
followers of other faiths specifically believed, but all the propheta
 DIVINE GUIDANCE 179
that arose to deliver the message of God. It does not discriminate
between them. It never calls upon anyone to give up one's religion.
On the other hand, it persuades every one to return to one's original
faith, for the basis of all religions was one and the same. I t neither
presents a new principle of life, nor a new line of action. It only
emphasizes that all religions enjoin but one way of life, the way
of devotion to God and of righteous living. It therefore requires
them to revive their own religion in the light of this basic purpose.
To do so is indeed to accept the message of the Qur'dn.
Why then was there any opposition a t all to the Qur'iin? The
Quraish of Mecca no doubt did not like it, because it expressed
itself against idolatory. But what reason had the Jews to turn
away from it when the Jews were no idolators ? Why did the
Christians go into opposition also when they never claimed to
support idolatory ? The opposition was not because the Qur'dn
condemned either Judaism or Christianity, but it was because it
refused to condemn Judaism as against Christianity and vice
versa. The followers of each faith desired that thk Qur'iin should
declare the faith of their rivals as false. And since the Qur'iin
would not do that, no one was pleased with it. Of course, the Jews
rejoiced to see that the Qur'dn openly endorsed recognition to their
prophet Moses. But since the Qur'iin a t the same time accorded
recognition to Christ as well, the Jews would necessarily oppose it.
The Christians in t h e ~ rturn were happy to know from the Q u r ' h
that it upheld the purity of the life of Mary, the mother of Jesus.
But they were angry with i t when it rested salvation on faith
and righteous action and not on Baptism alone or the atonement
of Christ on the Cross. That was too much for the Christians to
bear. Similarly, the Meccans were happy to know that the Qur'dfi
held in high estimation the prophets Abraham and Ismail who
belonged to their race. But they felt uncomfortable whenever
the Qur'iin a t the same time eulogized the Jewish prophets who
did not belong to them.
In short, there were three distinct principles of the Qur'6n which
displeased the followers of the prevailing faiths of the time of its
advent.
Firstly, the Qur'6n was opposed to groupism or sectarianism.
It proclaimed the unity of religion. If this was conceded to, it
 would have knocked the bottom out of every form of groupism
which emphasized that truth lay with one's own group and with
no other.
Secondly, the Qur'iinic assertion was that salvation was the
result ol devotion to God and righteous living and did not iest
it on any racial or group affiliation or on the observance of any
custom, ritual or ceremonial. The acceptance of this principle
would have opened the door of salvation to every human being,
and this the followers of the faiths of that time would not concede.
And thirdly, the Qur'aw asserted that religion lay in direct
devotion to God without afiy intermediary agency. But the followers
of the other faiths had in one form or another developed the
institution of idolatory in the name of devotion to God. They did
profess that true devotion to God was direct, needing no mediating
agency, but they would not give up the practice which they had
inherited from their forbears and to which they were deeply
attached.
To sum up :

1. At the time of the advent of the Qur7Zn, the religious

consciousness of the different peoples of the world had not
overstepped the group stage. Even as mankind was divided
on the economic and social basis, into races, tribes and families,
,YO was it divided on the religious basis as well, each religious
g o u p claiming that its own religious variation was the true
rehion and that salvation was only for those who professed it.
2. The criterion of truth was the character of the ceremonial
and of the customs and manners which the followers of a religion
observed, such as the form of worship, the ceremonial attendant
an sacdkes, the type of food permitted or prohibited, and the
out.ward mode of dress and manner of living.
3. Since the outer form of living with each religious group
was thus different from that of every other, the followers of
each group decried, on that account, the religion of every other
as false.
4. The claim of every religious group was not that it alone
wae the bearer of truth, but that the religion of every other
group was false. The natural result of such an attitude was
 DIVINE GUIDANCE 181
hatred of others and mutuJ warfare and bloodshed in the name
of God.
5. But the Qur'6n came forward to re-present to the world
a t large the universal truth sponsored by every religion.
(a) It not only stated that all religions were divinely
revealed and upheld but one truth enjoining belief in One
True God and righteous living in consonance with that belief.
But it also made it clear that their followers had deviated
from that truth and needed to be brought back to it. It there-
fore set its face against every form of sectarianism that had
arisen in consequence.
(6) It advanced the view that even as the laws of Nature
regulated and sustained the machinery of the universe, even
so, there was a spiritual law of life which regulated and
governed the life of man, and that this law was one and the
same for every one. The greatest error into which mankind
had fallen was to forget and disregard this spiritual law of
life and to divide mankind into rival camps.
(c) The primary aim of religion was to keep mankind
united and never to promote disunity. The greatest tragedy
of man was that he turned an instrument of unity into a
weapon of disunity.
(d) The Qwr'dn came to distinguish religion from its out-
ward observance. The former it called DZn and the latter
Shar'a and filinluij. DZn was but one and the same everywhere
and a t all times and was vouchsafed to one and all without
discrimination. In respect of the outward observance of DR,
there was variation and this was inevitable. It varied from
time to time and from people to people, as seemed pertinent
to every situation. Variations of this nature could not altar
the character of DEn or the basis of religion. That was the
truth which the Qur'En aimed to emphasize. Its complaint
was that D.ln had been neglected and the variation in Shar'a
and MinhEj or the outward form of observance idealized and
made the basis of mutual differences among mankind.
(e) I t stated that groupism would not lead to progress or
bring salvation to man. These group formations were all
man-made. The D i n prescribed by God was but one. And
 what was this DTn but the way of devotion to one common
God and of righteous living - the law of life from which one
was not to stray ?
(f) It announced in very clear terms that its call was
but to proclaim that all religions were true and that their
followers had disregarded the truth which they embodied.
Should they return to this forgotten truth, the task of the
Qur'En was fulfilled. The act will be regarded as indeed the
acceptance of the Qur7En. The truth common to all of them
was but what it calls Al-Dfn or AE-IsEm.
(9) I t observed that the Dcn of God was not meant to
divide man from man, but that, on the other hand, it was
there to inspire the feeling of fellowship between one and
another and let them all live bound together by the common
tie of devotion to God. So, when there is one and the same
God for one and all, when the purpose common to them all
is nothing but devotion to Him, and when one has necessarily
to reap what he sows, since such is the law of action in life,
then the Qur'6n asks, "Why should one fight another in
the name of God and religion ? "
6. Religious differences have given rise t o mutual hatred
and hostility. How are we to eradicate this evil ? The way out is
not just to admit the contention of every group that their
religion is true. That by itself will not end the strife, for the
contention in each case is not merely that one's own religion
is true but that every other religion is fa.lse. Therefore if every
contention is to be admitted, the result will be that we shall
have to admit that every religion is both true and false, and
that will be an untenable proposition. If that were done, we shall
have to scrape off all religions. If a t all there is to be a way out,
it is the way the Qur'iin suggests, and it is simply this. Regard
all religions as originally delivered as true. Point out that the
basis common to them all, viz., the Dfn, has been neglected
paving the way to the rise of group religions. It is now for the
followers of each groupism to retrace their steps and return
to the original basic teaching of each religion, the Dfn common
to all. If that were done, says the Qur'ihe, all disputes will be
set a t rest, and every one will begin to see that the way of each
 DIVINE GUIDANCE 183
religion is but one and the same viz., the one D R or way meant
for all mankind, and t o which the Qur'En gives the name of
Al-Ishim or the way of peace, translated literally, or of devotion
to God and righteous living.
7. All links of human unity have been snapped by man
himself. The entire mankind was but one people ; but it haa
divided itself into severd races. It was but one community,
but it has converted itaelf into numerous communities. All
had but one home, but they have carved out for themselves
countless homes. All belonged to but one order, but they have
divided themselvea into diverse classes - rich and poor ; high
and low; and so on. In such a situation, what link may be
forged to set aside these distinctions and bring all mankind
together once again ? The Qur'En says that such a link is possible
to forge and that is a return to devotion to one God. That ie
the only way to restore the forsaken sense of humanity to
mankind and revive the idea that for all of us there is but one
Providence, and that we should all in unity bow our heads
a t His threshold only, and develop a feeling of unity and solidarity
auch as shall overcome and dispel from our midst all differencee
coined by ourselves in the course of history.

SIW-AL-MUSTAQ~M - THE STaAIGHT PATH The Sii~~t-~Z-Fiitiha'

is set in the form of an invocation to God. The desire expressed
is to be shown the Straight Path - a path clearly distinguishable
from other paths. The distinction is emphasized when the suppliant
asks to be shown 'the path of those to whom God has been gracious,
and not of those who have incurred his displeasure nor of those
who have gone astray'. Such is the picture of the Straight Path
which the Qur'En furnishes, and advises every man to ask of God to
show it to him.
The question now arises : "Who are those on whom God has
bestowed his favours ? " Answers the Qur'En :

Whoso obey God and the messenger, they are with those
unto whom God hath shown favour,- the prophets, a"nd the
truth-and-fact-loving, and the martyrs, and the righkoue.
The best of company are they ! (Q : 4 : 69)'07
 In this verse the Qur'iin refers to four categories of people on
whom God has shown his favour - Anbiya', @ioYiqfn, Shuhadii and
S&h.tPa. Anbiyd are those who are born to guide man inthe divine
G t h . Siddiqfn are those persons who in every sense of the term
are truthful or whose minds are so cast in the mould of truthfulness
that it is not possible for them to entertain anything which is
repugnant to it. Shuw means witnesses or those persons who
by their word a n T action bear testimony to truth. Salihfn are
those who are steadfaat in the path of goodness and who keep
themselves and others away from every path of evil.
Such are those on whom God has bestowed favours. The reference
in the verse is to all bearers of truth and the righteous and is not
confined to individuals belonging to any particular race or com-
munity, nor to the followers of any particular religion. The privilege
ie extended to all those who have shown the qualities which those
cstegories of people represent. The path which they have followed
ie what the Qur'iin calls Sir@-al-MwtaqTm or the Straight Path.
And what was this path ? It is the path or the DTn of God.
Wherever the bearers of truth appeared, they all enjoined :
"Estsblish the Din of God ; and do not divide yourselves therein"
eince that alone was the right path ?*
That is why the Qur'iin, repeatedly styles the Straight Path
as Al-Dfn or The Way. Addressing the prophet in the Sfirat-ul-
Shes'ara, Chapter 26, savs the Qwr'iin : "Assuredly you are a guide
on the Straight ~ a t h " ! ~ h dthe Straight Path is according to
the Qur'iin, the path of God.
And lo ! thou verily dost guide unto the right path -the
path of God, unto whom belonget,h whatsoever is in the
heavens and whatsoever is in the earth. Do not all t h i n e
reach God a t last ? (Q : 42 : 52-3)'1
The Qur'iin in more than one place affirms that the call of the
prophets was an invitation to the Straight Path. Speaking of
Abraham in the Stirat-al-Nafil, Chapter 16, it says : "God showed
him the Straight Path". (16 : 12l$''~ccordin~ to the Siirat-d-
Zukhruf, Chapter 43, Christ is said to have exclaimed, "Verily my
Gad and your God is the God d all ; so worship Him ; that alone
ie the Straight Path". (43 : 64jY2
 DIVINE GUIDANCE 185
Speaking of Noah and Abraham in the Scrat-ul-Am'tim, Chapter
6, and of the prophets who followed Abraham who all are pro-
minently mentioned in'the Old Testament, states the Qur'En : "We
have chosen them as prophets and shown them all the Straight
Path" (6 : 87F3
The fact is that no other term than "Straight Path" could
have been chosen t o signify the universal DZn or the way of God
that the Qur'dn, speaks of. You may chalk out any number of
paths you like to reach a particular destination, but the Straight
Path will be but one, and it is by following it alone that you can
complete your journey with safety. It is only the Straight Path
which is called the royal road. Travellers coming from different
directions, if they care to reach their common goal in time, shall
all have to enter on this royal road as quickly as they can, and
proceed on this road only to reach their goal. Else, they will get
scattered. Similarly, says the Qur'Efi, the Straight Path in religion
likewise can be only one and not several. It etates that such a
path was there from the very beginning. It is by proceeding along
that path alone that every people in every country, a t all times,
have prospered. They are now going their own way. But if they
care to find out whither lies the so-much-sought-for goal, they
will have t o repair themselves to the Straight Path. For, this is
the Straight Path easy to traverse, by no means uneven, wide
enough, and by which alone destination is reached.

And (He commandeth yo.u, saying): This is My straight path,

so follow it. Follow not other ways, lest ye be parted from
His way. This hath He ordained for you, that ye may ward
off (evil). (Q : 6 : 153j"'

The prophet clarifies the meaning of the Straight Path in the

following words :

(Repeated by Abdullah Bin Masood)

"The prophet drew a line on the ground and said : 'Take
this as the path prescribed by God. It is very straight.'
After this, he drew several lines in different styles and said :
' These are the paths which man has chalked out for himself,
 and of these, there is not one path to which there is not a
Satan to invite !' And then he recited the verse above-
quoted. "

From this it is clear that all those forces which cause divisions
among mankind are not straight paths : they are factors for
disintegration. The path that lies away from these, the (ri~iit-al-
MustuqEm or the Straight Path, is the only path which aims
to bring together the dispersed humanity and restore unity to
them.
What are these disintegrating factors ? They are the forces which
are generated by Tashuiyti and Tahadhdhub or the sense of partizan-
ship and exclusiveness, which have already been discussed.
That Al-Din should necessarily be straight and the path of
man-made groupism should necessarily be crooked, may easily be
conceded. If the Din laid down by God is for the guidance of man,
it necessarily follows that like every other law of life b e d by God,
it should by its very nature, be plak and clear enough. There
ahould be no mystery about it, nor should it present a puzzle. It
should be easy to conceive and easy to practise. It should be within -
the reach of every stage of intellect and shouId be satisfying to it.
What type of path then will fu161 these conditions ? Will the pathe
carved out by the followers of the different religions under the
urge of exclusive groupism satisfy these conditions, or the way
which the Qw'Cn designates as The Way, the straight way of
God. Among the different group formations, there is not one
which does not present a bundle of empty beliefs and unintelligible
puzzles or a long list of trying practicea. We need not go into detaila
here. Every one knows what the vaunted beliefs, and practices of
the followers of the different groupisms are, and what their character
is. The aim underlying them all is to present religion aa a ba&g
riddle to the mind and as a tying exercise to the body. But the
character of the Din is so open, so easy, and so brief that the entire
body of beliefs and practices is summed up in but two terms viz.
'faith and righteous work'. Its beliefs do not baffle the mind : ita
practices do not tax the body. It is free from every form of meaning-
less subtlety. It is throughout a straight road. As the saying goes,
its night is as bright aa its day.
 DIVINE GUIDANCE 187
Praise be to God who hath revealed the Scripture unto
His servant, and hath not placed therein any crookednem.
(Q: 18 : 1)'15

In short, the follower of the Qur'6n is one who treads the Straight
Path, the path n i t chalked out for any particular group or race
or community or time, but the universal path of God's truth which
has found expression everywhere and at all times and which
transcends all geographical and national bounds.

Surdy God, He is my Lord and your Lord. So worship Him.

This the right path. (Q: 43 : 64))16

There are other aspects of the subject which may call for
consideration here.
Firstly, be it noted that the path of progress and goodness
is styled in the Qur'Zn as the 'Straight Path'. The urge to find
the straight road and to walk thereon is inherent in human nature.
It does not call for any extraordinary intellectual exertion to
perceive it. The Qur'6n therefore simply points to a well-known
type of people who have taken to that road. The pointer presents
oonorete examples to one's view. Whatever the age to which one
may belong, or the country or the community, one will not fail
to notice that human society consists of two types of people,- the
encceeaful and the unsuccessful, the good and the wicked. So the
easiest way to impress on one's mind what the path of success in life
is, it is enough to point to thorn who have followed it. Had the
method of logical argumentation been adopted instead, few would
have comprehended the truth without very trying mental exertion
and even then would have agreed on no one definite view.
Whatever view one might take of what constitutes human
progrese, the straight road to it will always mean to every one
that which promotes goodness in life and does not create disorder
therein or cause injury to it. Some 400 years before Christ, Darius I
Bad this transcribed on a state pillar which is preeerved till today:
"0 man l The order of Ahur Mazda is this: DJ not entertain the
thought of committing wrong ; do not discard the Straight Path,
abaterin from sin." 80 the urge to tread the Straight Path is the
urge to follow the path of rectitude and well-being. The.suwessfu1
are only those who have followed the Straight Path.
PATHS NOT FAVOURED And then this is to be noted that the
Straight Path has been defined not merely by what it actually is,
but also by what it is not. The Straight Path is not the path, states
the Qur'ln, of those whom God has shown His disapprobation, nor
of those who have gone astray. The two types of people - the
type whom God has rewarded and the type from whom reward
is withheld-are here set side by side. The law of Nature is that
compliance with truth brings its reward, and non-compliance
brings its.own style of recompense viz. the denial of reward. Those
who fall under the second category are of two kinds. One is
of those who have earned the displeasure of God ; the other
of those who have no claim to any reward. The former are thoae
who have knowingly discarded the Straight Path and deserved
divine displeasure. The latter are those who have wandered
waywardly in ignorance of the Straight Path, and gained nothing.
The history of nations is replete with examples of both of the
latter categories, of peoples who have not profitted by the Straight
Path and suffered in [email protected] category is of those who
once marched on the Straight Path and reaped all the resultant
benefits, but a stage came in their course when knowingly they
deviated from the Straight Path. The law of requital took its own
course and they had to go under. Similarly, there have been others,
to whom the Straight Path was formally shown but who preferred
darkness to light. They could not therefore enter upon the Straight
Path and prosper.
VERDICT OF HISTORY Such is the eternal law of life. It does not
alter for nations, even as it does not alter for individuals. Every-
thing has its own peculiarity about it, and produces i h own peculiar
effect. This is the law.
Such hath been the way of God with those who lived before
them, and nn change canst thou find in the way of God.
( Q : 33 : 62))l7
Look they then for aught but God's way of dealing with
the peoples of old? Thou shalt not find any change in
the way of God,-(Q: 35 : 43;'"
 DIVINE G U I D A N C E 189
Thii waa our way with the Apostlea we have already sent
before thee. and in thie our way, thou shalt find no change.
(Q : 17 :77) 'I9

This is why. the Qur'tin repeatedly draws attention to the

auccesa which attended all those people who chose' to follow the
Straight Path, and gives an account of the sufferings which those
who discarded the Path necessarily brought upon themselves and
draws a moral. It clearly points out that success was the result
of what one did, and suffering waa the result of what one did. It
designates success as divine favour, as it is the result of conforming
to the law of life as devised by God. On the other hand, it designates
the evil consequences of an evil deed as 'divine displeasure', 'as
it is the result of a going against the same law. It then argues :
"When a particular cause has produced a particular result on
ten occasions, why should one disbelieve that it will prodace the
same effect, if it is repeated for the eleventh time ? "

Already, before your time, have examples been made.

Traverse the earth, then, and see what was the end of
thoae who rejected Truth. (Q : 3 : 137)'"

A great number of chapters of the Qur'tin deals with this particular

theme. In fact, one may easily assert that all the narratives that
are given in the QPcr'tin dealing with the rise and fall of nations
are intended td serve as but a commentary of this particular veree
of the 8Qrd-d-FcStihii.
Siirat-ul-Fiti&
Significance
LET US, for a moment, look a t the Stirat-ul-Fcitiiui as a whole
and see what type of mind it reflects or tries to build.
Here is a person singing the praise of hie Lord. But the Lord
he praises is not the Lord of any particular race or community or
religious group but Lord of all the worlds, Rabbul-'ii h C ,the
source of sustenance and mercy uniformly for all mankind. The
devotee invokes God in the name of His attributes. But of all
His attributes, those of mercy and justice particularly strike his
mind, as if divinity manifests itself for him wholly in divine justice
and mercy, and that all that he knows of his God is nothing except
that his God ia just and merciful. And then he bows down hie
head in supplication and admita of his entire dependence on his
Lord. He utters : "Thee alone do I worship, and from thee alone
do I aeek help". The devotee thus thinka of his Lord as an abiding
source of all help to him in life and discards every thought of
dependence on any other. Thus strengthened in apirit, he thinks
of his duty in life; He feeb that he must pursue hie life in a manner
pleaaing to his Lord. He therefore asks of God to give him the
urge to pursue his life. This ie his primary prayer. He therefore
asks of his Lord to show and keep him to the path which is straight
-the path trodden by those with whom Bod was always pleased.
That is hie concept of the Straight Path. The path that he wishes
to walk on is not the path devised by any particular race or by any
particular community or by any particular religious group. The
path that he has in view is that royal road, the Straight Path
which the founders of all religion8 and all truthful people have
walked on, whatever the age or country they belonged to. In his
anxiety to keep to h i . path, he aeeks the protection of God. He
wants to be saved from either atraying away from that straight
path or from taking to the pathe which wayward people have
pursued, and while so wishing, he does not refer to the communities
or religious groups to which auch wayward people have belonged.
lea
What he a a k ~for ie the privilege to walk on a path which haa
meant the happiness of all mankind, and not on a path which haa
led to their ruin.
Think over. What type of mind does this all argue or aim to
build ? Whatever view one may take, thie ia. clear that the mind
which the Stirat-ul-FiitihZ depicts ie a type of mind which red&
the beauty and mercy of God or universal humanity, the mind
which the Qur'lTra a i m to build.
 APPENDICES
Chapter and verse of the Quran are given in brackets wherever
these references are omitted in the text.

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 INDEX
AARON,169,171 Anbia, 184
Abdullah bin Masud, 185 Anexagoras, 122, 123
Abi-Zar (Tradition), 92 Angrame Niyush, 118
Abraham, 148, 166, 167, 168, 171, 176, Animism; 100,101
179,184, 186 Apram, 134
Abu Bakr, 138 . April, xxi
Abul Fad, 114 Aprodasia, 125
Abul Hasan Ashari, 131 Aqabn, 103
Academy of Islamic Studies, xix Arab, xxxii, lfi7
'Ad, 103 Arabs, 69, 114, 118, 166
'AGlat, 19, 87, 89, 99, 144 Arabia, 5, 103, 167
Adam, 74, 75, 90, 104 Arabic, xi, xiii, xxix, xxxvi, xlvi, xlvii,
Adeimantus, 124, 125 5,13, 14, 15, 19,20,39,00,91,93,94
Aditi, 110 'Arafa, 175
Adl, 93, 136 Aramaic, 14, 19, 80
Afghanistan, 117 Arami, 103
Africa, North, ix Arctic Culture, 102
Africa, West, 103 Arctic Region, 101
African, 100 Aristotalisn, xxxvi
Agni, 110. 111 Aryan, 100, 113, 132, 141
Aharman. 118, 119 Aryan, Indian, 141
Ahdiyat, 134 Aryan, Indo-European, 103
Ahmednagar, x, xv, xvi, xlvii AsLul-Qur'Pn, xvi, 5
Ahura, 118 AshBb-ul-Hadith, xlv
Ahurn Mazda, 118, 119, 187 Ash'Bria, xlv, 132
'Ajal, 59 Ash'ari-Imam, 131
Ajmal Khan, xvi Ashuri, 103
'Ajmi, xiv Ashtang Marg, 116, 117
Akadi, 103 Asia, Central, 100, 103, 117
Al. 13,103 Asia, Western, ix
Alexandria, xlv, 121, 125, 126, 127, 134 Asoka, 117
Alexandrian, 121 Assyria, 100
Al-IbPna, 131 Assyrians, 79
h l i ImrPn, xxvi, 32,%, 167 Astrol Mythology, 100
Alhh,3, 11, 13, 14, 16,16,42,85, 103, Asura, 118
135 Asvapati, 112
'Amali Saleh. 94 hthar. 5
h f i t i q a , 103 Atlantic, ix
American, 100, 101, 102 Atma, 123
Amish t%pind, 118 Australia, Central, 102
Ammonius, Saccas, 126 Australia, South-East, 102
An'Hm-Al, 171 Avatar, 136, 137
Anand, 116 Avebury, Lord, 100
220. INDEX
Avostn, 89, 118 Christian Church, 170
Ay&l Allah, 156 Christianity, 120, 135, 130, 163, 167,
Azsd, Abul Knlam, in, x, xi, xiii, xiv, 168, 179
xv, xvii, xviii, xix, s x , xsi, xliii Chli~bians,78, 70, 89, 00, 105, 150, 158,
183, 164, 165, 166, 167, 168, 174, 175,
RABYLOXIA, ~(KI 179
13aidSwi, xv, xxxviii Clerncnt, 126
I3nlRgh-Al, ix, xv, xxv, xxvi Cleveland, Sir Cl~arles,xxvii
H n p t i ~ m 170,
, 179 C'omt.c, 100
Rudic Co?xepls of the Qtcr'dw, xi, xix coPmicus,
HLtiI, ti0, 67, 68 Ct,itias, l'lnto's, 104
RQtirliya., 131
13cckhnor, 102 DAN, 89
Hcgg, filirzn nIohnmn~c.rl,xi Darirts I, 187
I%engnl,xxv, xxviii I)arwin, xl
Hen~ni,Al-Ah11 Rnillnn, 114 l)nrwininm, 102
noshawar (Posl~sw:rr),117 I h r i d . 171
Bible, 65, 78, 82 I)cfe~~ce of Indin Ordinance, xxv
Rihnr, xxv Deism, 100, 101, 102, l i 5
13ornb11y.xxv l)oist,ic, 102
I%OSC. Jjr. R., 113 Dolhi (New), xi, xvi, xxv
Iirrhma, 111, 119, 113, 129, 134 I>ens, 113, 110
Brahman, 11 1, 115, 133 Dev, 113, 119
13rahn1unic. 115 Ul~ariyilt~ Al, 42
Brahmasnla, 113 Din, 8, 42, fig, 93, 158, 160, 161, 162,
Brabminism, 116 l(i3, 107, 170, 173, 176, 17'7, 181, 182,
n r ~ s ~ 110,
e s loo I M , 184, IS?, 186
13ucldha, 109, 113, 110, 117, 136 Din-Al, 89, VL, 153, lati, 157, 183, 18G
Buddhism, lo!), 115, 116, 117, 135 Dinn. 80
Buddhist, 115, 117 1>i11n-i-Dnbira,$9
13ukhnri. 6, 143 Uini-Ifanif. 176
BurhBn, xxxvi Uurlihei~tl,101
Bushman, 102
I.'nwnn~),KING,xvi
CALCUTTA, xvi, xxv, ssvi, xxvii Egypt. sxxix, 0:3,100,101,103, 104, 1%
Cnndeth. \V., 101 Egypbinns, 79, 103
Carlyle, xxx Egyptology, 103
Cclesti~lI3eing. 107, 108 Kkamsath, I 10
Celestial God. 108 ]:llglifih, I, xi, xiii, xvi, xviii, xix? X X ,
Ceylon. 10'3. 117 xxi, xlvi, 20, 101, 108
Cl~aldaea,104 Euphrates, 103
Chnldcan, 14, 103 Europe, xiii, 119
China, 100, 104, 108, 109, 117 Euthyph1.0, 123
Chinese, 107, 109 ICvangel, 77, i 0 , 157, 168, 174
Christ, 75, 77, 78, 70,80, 81, 82, 54, 108, Exclusivism, 162
121, 127, 130, 179, 187 E x ~ l n s 120,
, 128
Christ,ian, 114, 116, 117, 120, 121, 122,
139 FAVHAKKIR-BIL-QuR'IN,
xiii
 IN-DEX 22 1
I.'Lrs. 11 8 lI~t(l>~-Al,152
FEtihZ.A1;3 Httjjat., xssvi
FBtil~i~trtl IiitBh, xvi, 9 Jfu>:~ill,Silzir, X I
t'ehrttary, xi, xvi, slvi
Frazcr, J . 0..101 Inx QAYYIM,132
French, 101 IIm Tayyi~niya,132
I'rrnrll Re\-ol~rtion, xxx Ifrsd, 91, 98
Ft~arI,132 lhszn, 144, 144
IILh, 15, 19, 103
~:,*.):P.IsI.,142 IIBhia, 103
Grw\i.q, 119 IIPmi, 103
Gcrmnri. 101 Ilohs, 15
Gi/,t, 114 ImBn, 142
Gobi, lo:\ India, is, x, 'xi, xv, xri, xis, xxi, xxvi,
Gosptl, ltii xxvii, xxxix, xlv, 101, 104, 108, 109,
Grecrx, xiii, xaxri, xlv, 104, 107, 108, 114, l i 5 , i l 6 , 118, l l ! ~ ,121, 122, 123,
114, 121, 122, 136, 138 136, 1 3 , 140, 141
Grsck, xiii, xxsii, xxxvi, xxxix, 107, Indian, l(J5, 141
113, 114, 119, 121, 122,124, 136 Indian History, 128
Gresham's Law, 141 Indian Natior~alCongress, xxviii
Gupt.a, Jloksakar, 115 Indian Philosophy, 112, 115, 141
Indo-Arynn, 118
HADITH,
5, 75, 76, 143 Indo-Gcrman, 100
IIajaz, 103 Indonesia, ix
Haji, 5. 142 Indra, 110, 118
Haksrrs, 103 Ingm, 118
Hamd, 8, 11, I 3 Ionic, 122
Hsmd-Al, 13 Iran, 69, 104, 118, 119
Hamid, Hakim Abdul, xi Iranian, xxxii, 118
Haq, 66, 67 Iraq, 103
Haq-Al, 67 Isaac, 168. 171
Haqqaq, 66 Ishmael, 168, 171, 179
Hebrew, 14, $19, 89, 103 Islam, xiii, xiv, xix, xxsi, XXSV,xs~vii,
Hemlock, 123 xxxviii, 75, 119, 121, 137, 142, !56,
Henothoism, 1I 0 160, 171, 176, 177
Hewet& 101 Islam-Al, 152, 177, 182, 183
HiGyat, 27, 28, 29, 32, 146, 147, 148, I~lamic,x, xi, xxxii, xxxiii, xxxvii, xlri,
149,160, 151,152, 164, 165 142
Jlijra, xiv, xxxvii Islamic-pre, 14
IIiEI-AI, ix, xv, xviii, xxviii Israel, 90, 110, 120, 127
Himyarita, 14 Israelist, 120
Hinayana, 117 Isr&f, 94, 95
Hindu, 109,111,114, 141, 142 Is'wara, 111, 129, 134
Hindus, 110 'Itida, 94, 95
Homer, 125 ItqBn, 64
:Hortland. 1, 5, 101
Hubert, H., 101 JACOB,127, 168, 171
222. INDEX
J& 8Bdiq. 82 Law, 174
Jahimiya, 131,132 Leipzig, x r i
JaKilain, xv, xxxviii Lok, 117
Japsn, 109,117 Lubback, Sir John, 100
Jarjani, xxxviii Luke, 81
Jehad, ix
Jehova, 119 MA'ARUP,175
J a m Jemshid, 11 9 Madonna, 121
Jerusalem, 168 Madras, xxv
Je~~s,156,160,168,169,171,179 ~ ~ ~ , ~ l 8
Jewish, xxxv, xxxvii, 79,120,126,163, ~ ~105,ll~, ~ 135,178
i ~ ~ ,
170 Magism, 118
J e m , 77, 79,819 90,121,136,152,158, M~~~~~ opus, jx
163,164,165,166,167,168,178, 179 fihayana, 109,117
Joad, C. a. M., 138 Mahmud, 8
Job, 171 Mahmud, Syed, xi, xix, xxi
Jonah, 171 Ma'ida, le0
Jones, Sir William, 114 Maimonides, 127
Joshua, 119,120
Majus, 118
Judaic, 105,119,120,136 Malaika, 1 13
Judaism, 163,167,168,179
Malak, 113
Juini, Imam, 131 Malaya, ix
Julin, 102
Malik-i-Yawmiddin, 8, 9.19.89
Mandala, 1 10
KA'ABA,5, 158 Manism, 100
Kab'ir, Humayun, xit xv, xxi March, xxv, xxvi
KBfia-AI, xvi, 5 Marret, R. R., 101
Kanz-AI, xvi, 6 Mary, 169,179
Karpan, 118 Matarisvan, 110
Kart, 89 Mazdaisana, 11 8, 11 9
Kaaab, 91 Mecca, 3, 5, 158, 179
Kavi, 11 8 Media, 118
Kenneg, J. K., 101 Meerut, xxxi, xliii
KhairBt, 160 Meltennu, E. T., 126
Khalif. 138 ~ i n d ' ~ l - & u i -Builds,
an x, xiv
Khuliid, xxxvi Minhaj, 158, 160, 161, 181
Korea, 117 Mithliyat, xxxvi
Koryaks, 102 Mogosh, 11 8
Kens, Sri, 113 Mohinjadaro, 103
Kufr, 84 Moses, 30,65,81,82,127,128,1MI,160,
Kung-Fu-Tse, 108 168,169, 171, 179
Kurnai. 102 Moss, M., 101
Muhammr.d, 137
LAH,15 Muhkamst, 132,133
Laljee Huaainbhoy, xi Munkar, 175
Lao Tzu, 108 Muqaddima, -xvi, xl
Lam, Dr. Syed Abdul, x, xi, u i Musa-bib-Maimun. 126
 IN.DEX 223.
Muslim, ix, xiii, xiv, xvii, xxx, xxxii, Pharoah, GO
xxxiii, xxxv, xxxvii, xxxviii, xxxix, Plato, 104, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126
xlv, 6, 78, 109, 131, 138, 143 Plotinris, 125, 126
bfuslim (Traditions), 6, 92, 142 Yrajapati, 110
MutashLbihBt, 132, 133 Pwkrit. 115, 134
Muzzafarpur, 116 Primitive Culture, 100
Proplret, ix, x, xiv, xviii, xxxiv, xxxv,
NATUREMYTHS,100 xxxvi, 5, 6, 65, 69, 75, 81;83, 54, 91,
Necromancy, 101 137, 138,142,154. 1643,160,166,171,
Neo-Platonisnl, xiv, 125 178
Neo-Platonic School, 134 Psalms,171
New Testament, 78, 84, 168 Ptolemic, xxxvi
Newton, XI Punjab, xxv
Nile, 103 Pythagoras, 122, 136
Nimbarka, 113
Nimitta Karana, 111 QA~A-BIL-B~TIL, 66
Nirguna, 133 Qa~jii-bil-haq,
67
Nirupadhiyka Sat, 133 Qiiiman-bil-Qist, 94
Nirvana, 115 Quinto Essentia, 122
Nisa-Al, xxvii QuIb, 152
Niti Niti, 126, 129 Quraish, 179
NizBm-i-Rabiibiyat, 47
Noah, 156, 170, 185 RABB,19,20,30,149
Nous, 123 Rahb-Al, 16
Numbers (Old Testament), 125 Rabbiih, 19
Nubia, 103 Rabbi, 19, 149
Nusk, 155 Rabrtbul 'Alamia, 8, 19,20, 193
Nyaya, 115 Rabu, 19
Radha, 113
OLD TESTAMENT, 120, 127, 128, 164, Radhskrishnau, Dr. S., 111,115, 141
168, 185 Rahatullah Khan, Dr. Muha.mmad, xxi
Olympus, 122, 136 Rahim-AI, 16, 19, 47, 48, 63
Origin and Growth of Religion, Facts Rahmiin-Al, 19, 47, 48, 53, 135
and Theories, 102 Rahmat, xvii, xviii, 19, 22, 45, 47, 48,
Osmania, x 54, 85, 56, 67, 58, 62, 64, 65, 68.69,
Oun, 103 71, 72, 73, 75, 83, 84, 89, 03, 99,136,
136, 144, 151
PACIFICOCEAN,ix, 102 Rajgiri, 116
Pahlawi, 89 Ramadhan, 142
Palestine, 103 Ranchi, xxv, xxvii
Paradise, 163 Rasiil, 153
Parmatma, 123 Razi, Imam Fakhruddin, xrxiii, xxxvi,
Paniew, 101 131
Parsi, 119 Revelation, xviii, 65, 152, 153
Peripatetic Philosophy, 124, 125 Roman, xxxii, 79, 113, 121
Persian, xx, xxix, xli Romans, 108, 121
Persian Gulf, 103 Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal, 113
224. INDEX
ittk. i 1 0 Sunnat Allah, xviii
Itl~liill~iyat,, sviii, 17, 19, 20, 21, 23, 28, 'Surat,' 7, 8, 9
2 ! , . :I(), :I5, 42, 47. 48, 02, 76, 89. 93, SCrl-ul-A'alu, 147
!!!I, 136, 144, 147, 148, 149, 151 Sfirat-ul-An'cim,185
Kiim (Jton~e).52 8~Eral-?d- Bayara, 164
Stirat-ul-Fcitihd, s , xiii, xv, svi, xvii,
S A H ' ~ A L . M . ~ T5I ~ A N I , xviii, xix, xx, xxx, slii, xlv, 1, 3, 5, 7,
Sabiarls, 163, 174, 178 92, 99, 136, 137, 144, 183, 189, 191
Saguna, 1 11 193, 194
Saguna Brahmnn, 134 &'Brat-ul-Hashr. 135
Srrhitya -4cademy, xvi SCrat-ul-Nahl, 184
Sakknki, xxxviii Stirat-ul-Zukhruf, 184
SPlihin, 184 Sfird-ul-Zumar,82
Sainiid, 103 Syria, 103
Sankam, 126 Syria, Northern, 103
Sankarn Bhaaya, 134 Syrian, 14, 15, 19
Sankaracharya, 133, 134
Sanskrit, 103, 113 TABDH~B,
94, 96
SPqi, 113 Tabernacle, 128
Snsnnid~,119 Tafsil, xxxvi
Pztan, 118, 1 19 Tafiir-al-Baycin, xvi, xxv, xl
Sawahi, 103 Tafsir-bir Rai, xxxviii, xxxix, xl
Schmidt, W., 102 Txftazani, xxxviii
Sc~nitcn,103 Tafwid, 182
Ycrnitic, 13, 15, 19, 103, 113, 132 TCighfit, I55
Sharni~ni,1 17 Tahadhdhub, 162, 186
Sharunr, 103 Takhliq, 31, 147, 148
Sh;rm;tnisn~,109, 115 Takhliq-bil-bBtil, 32
Fli:ar'a, 168, 100, 161, 181 Takhliq-bil-haq, 32, 33, 34
>i~,t~,'n-Al, 167 Takwir, 57
~.~R.,
S l r ~ ~ r v s11 ~ i ,xi Tala'ub, 32
Sl~irlr,94 Tamat'u, 70
Shl~llatla,184 Taqdir, 27, 28, 31, 147, 148
SidJiqin, 184 Taqlid, ix, s v
S i ~ l i ~Mount,
i, 127 Tarka Basha. 115
Si15t-al-Mustaqim, xviii, 9,183,184,186 TashaiyC1, 16'2, 186
s i i ~ ih,
f Kohertson, 101 Tassawuf, 109
Sot.rat,es, 121, 122, 123, 124, 126, 126, Taswiya. 31, 63, 147, 148
I:% Tathnia, 60
S~~derblom, 'Bisl~op,101 Tawhid, 97
Sc,l(>mon,171 TEwil, xxxvi
Spencer, Herbert, 100, 102 Taylor, I. H.,100
Srir~ivasa,113 Tazwii, 60
Straight Path, 9, 186, 187, 188, 189 Ten Commandments, 120
Sufis, xxxix, 134 Thamud, 162
Su~ncri,103 Thaus, 113, 119
Sumrritins, 103 Thiravxd, 117
 INDEX
Tierra del Fuegiana, 102 Vamna, 110
Tigris, 103 Vayu, 112
Timasug, 104 Veda,Rig, 110.118
Tmab,65, 79, 167,168 Veda, Yajur, 118
Totemism, 101 Vedanta Paraga Sanrabha, 113
Trinity, 116 Vedanta Sulra, 133, 134
TughyBn, 94, 95 Vedantic. 112
Vedantism, 109, 111
UBAYYBIN KA'AB,61 Vedantist, 139
Uddalaka, 112 Vedae, 118
"trdran, 94, 95.103 Vedic, 118
'Ulama, xiii Vedurkun, 103
Umm, 5 Vienna. 102
Ummul Qora, 6 Viavakarman. 110
Ummul Qar'Hn, xvi, 5
1Jlnmul R%, 5 WAF, 30,147
Undwan, 103 Wgidiyat, 134
United Provinces, xxv Walah, 15
Unity in Attributes, 136 Wella, H. G., XI, 102
Unity in Being, 143
Unity in Essence, 136 YAMA.110,119
Upadana, 111 Yezdan, 113
Upaniahnds, 110, 111, 115, 122, 125, Yezts, 113,118
128, 129, 131, 133, 134 Yuin, 102
Brhadaranyaka, 112 Yusuf, 92
Chandogya, 134
Trrittiriya, 112 ZAKAT,142
Urdu, ix, xiii, xv, xviii, xx, xxv, xxviii, Zend, 118
xxix, xli Zeus, 125
Uluh, 103 Zodiac, 63
Zoroaster, 118
VALIULLAH SHAH,143 Zoroastrian, 113, 118, 119
Vaisesikn, 115 Zulm. 94.99