By birth, every person possesses two contradictory qualities. On the one hand, everyone desires to build a dream world, a world per their ideals, where they can spend their ‘tomorrow’—their future—in joy and peace. However, on the other hand, even if he acquires all sorts of objects of pleasure, every person cannot obtain this desired ideal world of his. Boredom, loss, illness, accidents, and old age are the story of many people in this world. Moreover, finally, every single person has to face the event of death.
Every person is born with the conception of an ideal world deeply embedded in his mind. However, almost everyone dies, taking with him many seemingly beautiful desires unfulfilled before he can obtain his desired world.
In this world, a particular principle prevails. It is the principle of pairs. Here, everything exists in the form of pairs. Everything becomes complete when two of a pair join together. For instance, there are negative and positive particles in the atom. In the world of plants, there are male plants and female plants. Likewise, there are males and females in the world of animals and humans.
This global natural principle can be called the ‘pair principle’. This principle tells us that everything makes itself complete by joining with its pair in this world.
In this universal principle lies the answer to the issue of the nature of this world referred to above. There must be a pair world that complements this present world in the universe. Along with this world, another world must exist; only by getting this other world will the present world complete its being.
In light of the above observation, the reality of the world of the Hereafter can be recognized as true. The world of the Hereafter is that pair-world joining which the present world completes its being. Without joining this pair world, our present world would be as incomplete as all other things in this universe would be without their pairs.
Our world is part of a pair. This world and the world Hereafter form a pair. After accepting this other world in the Hereafter, man’s existence becomes complete. The significance and meaningfulness of everything can now be seen. Everything now falls into place.
Source: God’s Creation Plan
The greatest calamity afflicting our world is that one million people die every day. No one knows, of those who are alive today, who will be dead tomorrow. Every one of us shall taste death, but no one knows when death will come. We do not know which of our fellow men will leave this world tomorrow, and who will remain to receive this message.
Every man born in this world has to enter another world after death. In this world, man has been granted all the opportunities as a matter of test. Whatever man receives in the next world will be purely based on his deeds in this world. This means that before death, man has been given many things and opportunities, whether or not he deserves them. After death, one will receive in the Hereafter only what he deserved on the basis of his performance in this life.
Death is not the end of our lives; it is the beginning of our real life. After death man will be brought before the Lord for final judgement. The angel who is to announce the Last Day is ready and waiting with the trumpet in his hand for God to give the order to sound it. This will be a most terrifying time for man. He will want to speak, but will be struck dumb. He will want to walk, but his legs will not carry him. All disparity between men will disappear on the Day of Judgement. Fear of God will seal everybody’s tongue. Injustice will benefit no one; truth will be inescapable. Man will stand alone, answerable for his actions.
Man has many concerns in this world, but after death he will be concerned with one thing alone: saving oneself from being deprived of God's blessings. If one has ample time at one’s disposal, one engages in many tasks. But if time is short then one concentrates on the most important task.
No time is fixed for death. It can come at any moment. This fact makes death an even more delicate issue. Everyone is on the move and everyone’s journey ends in death. Death means eternal bliss for some and eternal deprivation for others. Fortunate are those who find themselves on the threshold of Heaven at the time of death; they will dwell in eternal bliss; they will know neither grief nor apprehension.
Source: God’s Creation Plan
If a farmer wants to harvest a crop the day he plants the seeds, he will lose the seeds and be deprived of a harvest. The same is true of both the world of 'today' (this world) and the world of ‘tomorrow' (the Hereafter). The world of 'today' is the place for engaging in action, while the world of 'tomorrow' is the place for receiving the results of one's actions. Therefore, if a person wants to obtain his 'reward' in this world, he will not be able to do the needed activities for a happy life in the world of 'tomorrow'. Thus, he will not only lose this world, but he will also lose his only opportunity to build his next world.
Few people realise this, however. In this world itself, they want to obtain things—such as complete fulfillment or ideal justice and peace—that can be had only in the next world. Because of this, they lose both. Wise is he who earns the world of' tomorrow' through the world of 'today'. He knows that if he gets stuck in the allurements and entanglements of the world of 'today', he will deprive himself of true success in the next world, the world of 'tomorrow'.
Suppose you are on a journey and want to enjoy all the comforts that a person can enjoy only at home during that time; you will naturally not be able to fulfill this desire. From this, one can understand the issue of the world of 'today' and the world of 'tomorrow'. This world is a place for a temporary halt, and the next world is your eternal home. The world of 'today' is the path on the journey, and the world of 'tomorrow' is the final destination of this journey. God has made this world the place for engaging in action and the Hereafter for obtaining the results of our efforts.
If, while on a journey, you want to obtain the comforts you can enjoy only when you are at your destination, you are bound to deviate from your path. In the same way, if you desire that in the world of 'today' itself, you should obtain the results of your actions, which is possible only in the world of 'tomorrow', your planning will go haywire.
Wise is he who understands this difference between the world of 'today' and the world of 'tomorrow'. Therefore, he does not desire those things before death that one can find only in life after death.
It is imperative to recognise this fact. One must be realistic. One must not run after desires because desires will not take one to any destination other than destruction. Every person nurses an ocean of desires; these desires in themselves are not wrong. However, the place for fulfilling these desires is the world of 'tomorrow', not the world of 'today'.
Source: God’s Creation Plan
Man is an eternal being. However, his life is divided into two periods or phases: the period before death (generally, a maximum of 100 years) and the period after death (which carries on eternally). The life in the first phase is spent in this world, and the life in the second phase is spent in the world of the Hereafter.
Today’s world—the present world—is like a thick jungle. Here, there are flowers and, along with them, thorns. In the world of tomorrow—that is the Hereafter—the ‘flowers’ and the ‘thorns’ will be separated from each other. After this, an eternal world will emerge, one part of which will have, as it were, only ‘thorns’ (Hell), and in the other part, only ‘flowers’ (Paradise). In today’s world, everyone has the opportunity to make his eternal fortune. The record of their life in this world will determine whether they will be settled in the world full of thorns or the eternal garden of flowers.
Dividing people into these two groups continuously happens in this world. Through the record of their life (or, in other words, based on the character that they are building in this world), each person is declaring, as it were, which of the two groups he is eligible to be included in after his death—the group that will be settled amidst the thorns or the group that will be placed among the flowers. The conditions of this present world are the means for this personality development. Every person is passing through this process. Someone is developing a thorny personality for himself, while someone else is developing a flower-like character. These two groups of people do not appear to be distinct and separate in today’s world. However, in the world of tomorrow, they will be separated from each other. One group will be admitted into eternal Paradise, and the other group will be consigned to eternal Hell.
In the present world, every person faces negative experiences. If someone habitually takes an unpleasant experience as something negative, he will develop a negative personality. In contrast, if someone can convert a negative experience into a positive one, it is the best way to create a positive character.
Source: God’s Creation Plan
The formula given in the Quran for social reform and social betterment is simply that everyone is accountable to God. Accountability, indeed, is the bedrock of Islam: it is the ideal solution to the problem of anarchy in society and the misuse of freedom. Freedom has to be accepted as being necessary for development. If there is no freedom, there can be no development. Without freedom, there is no progress. But we cannot afford unlimited freedom.
The formula given in the Quran for social reform and social betterment is simply that everyone is accountable to God.
There is a very interesting story in American history. When America became free, an American citizen ran out into the street and, in jubilation, started swinging his arms as he walked along. Quite by accident, he hit a passer-by on the nose. The man who was hit, an elderly person, asked him why he had hit him. He replied that now he was free to exercise his freedom.’ The elderly person retorted, ‘Your freedom ends where my nose begins!’ The Christian, as well as the Islamic formula, goes thus: We may exercise our freedom, but we are not free to hit other people on the nose.
Source: Spirit of Islam March 2013
Accountability comes from the monotheistic concept of God. This belief instils the fact in people's minds that their freedom is not absolute and that God will take account of everyone's words and deeds on the Day of Judgement. God is continuously watching every person. God watches all of us constantly.
It is this understanding that makes a person God-fearing. When an aggregate of such people come together, they form a righteous society. Conversely, a society without accountability to God will fall prey to total anarchy.
Belief in God is necessary for the proper conduct of human life. Man repeatedly falls prey to temptations that cause him to give in to injustice and oppression. Only a living belief in God's omniscience can be a firm check on that tendency. It is only belief in God that can genuinely discipline him.
The necessity of belief in God for an individual and society is definite proof of God's existence. The fact that the proper conduct of human life is impossible without belief in God itself proves that God exists and that each person is accountable to Him.
Belief in God gives man certainty. It disciplines his life. It gives him the confidence and assurance that if he abstains from evil in his daily life and follows the path of virtue, he will simultaneously obtain benefits. First, he will be saved from God's chastisement. Second, he will earn an eternal reward for righteous living in eternal Paradise from God.
The belief in accountability to God is a belief in human progress. It acts as a powerful incentive for the perfection of humanity. This belief puts human life on the path of Truth so that it will never stop until the journey ends.
We enjoy freedom. We make decisions and take action of our own free will. The question is how to make sure we make the right decisions and take the right action. How can we make ourselves accountable?
History shows the ineffectiveness of all worldly measures in this connection—whether social pressure, law enforcement, or reformation. It is not possible for people on their own to bind themselves to moral values or to adhere to justice. This is possible only when they are convinced that they are under a super-power—a living and powerful God who is perfect, and just.
The concept of a living and powerful God is necessarily accompanied by the concept of accountability. God is just, and everyone will answer to Him for their actions. We will answer to Him for our actions. This guarantees that we think right, and do right. And this gives us the conviction that we will receive God’s eternal reward if we always think right, and do right.
Source: Spirit of Islam January 2013
Remembering God is interwoven in your being like energy. You and energy are apparently separate, but in fact both are one and the same. So, at every moment there are bounties of God all around you which you can remember. If you awaken in yourself this consciousness at every moment, then you are remembering God at every moment. This is a way in which you can be engaged in the constant zikr of God.
In a report contained in the Sahih al-Bukhari, the Prophet’s wife Aisha reports that the Prophet used to remember God on each occasion by making it a point of reference for God’s remembrance. So, for the Prophet, remembering God, or zikrullah, and other tasks were not two separate activities, rather both were intermingled.
The human mind has enormous potential. An American writer, Walt Whitman, has said: “I am large enough to contain all these contradictions.” He said this in a different context. However, this saying applies here as well. While being engaged in different tasks throughout the day, we can be engaged in zikr as well, reflecting on God’s bounties in the context of the tasks we are doing or the things we are seeing. Zikr means living with divine consciousness. When you have attained this state of consciousness, at every moment you will be in a state of zikr, even though you may not be uttering any specific words.
Sometimes, you may find yourself lamenting the past, experiencing negative feelings and thinking about negative experiences. In this way, your mind is diverted from zikr of God. This is a very common occurrence. But you can convert even this into a means to remember and thank God. If you have had some painful or negative experience in the past, when you recall it today you can convert it into something to be thankful to God. You can think of it as yet another reason for shukr, or thankfulness to God. You can thank God that He did not make you stay on in that negative moment, and that, instead, He made you reach a better situation today. So, in this way, you can even make the memory of a negative or painful experience into yet another opportunity to engage in zikr or remembrance of God.
Source: Spirit of Islam May 2019
The Quran repeatedly tells us to remember God. This is what is known as zikrullah. One should remember God as often as one can. There may be some distractions in which you are engaged or some work in which your mind is focused, but even these may also lead, in an indirect manner, to the remembrance of God. When your own divine feelings, your remembrance of and love and praise for God, take expression in words, which is zikr. These words could be in your own language or in the Arabic language.
It is very simple to remember God—to engage in zikr—and it is also quite natural. For instance, when you are walking, you can bring to your mind the fact that you are doing so entirely because of the blessings of God. While outdoors, you see the sun up in the sky, and you remember that it is God who is providing you sunlight. You breathe in fresh air while taking a stroll and you remember that it is He who is supplying you with oxygen. When you set your foot down on the ground and lift it up, you remember that it is He who has created gravity, otherwise you would be floating in the air and would not be able to walk on the ground at all. You bring to your mind the realization that without these divine blessings—of sunshine, of the air, of gravity—you would not be able to go out for a stroll. If you recount all these divine bounties associated with your walk, then you are remembering God, you are engaging in zikr while walking. So, in this way, at every moment, no matter what activity you may be engaged in—you can be doing zikr, remembering God, praising, glorifying and thanking Him.
This is a way in which you can engage in zikr—remembrance of God— throughout your daily life, not just for a few minutes a day, but rather, all through the day.
Source: Spirit of Islam May 2019
One of the commandments of the Quran is given in these words: “Believers, remember God with much remembrance.” (33:41) According to this Quranic verse believers must remember God very much, every day and every moment. This is the greatest teaching of the Quran, and it is the highest form of worship. One who does this will be blessed with the greatest reward from God Almighty.
What is meant by ‘much remembrance’ of God? Remembrance does not refer to the mere repetition of some words, but it is in the sense of thinking and living in God and His blessing. Much remembrance, or zikr-e-kathir, is not a kind of lip service. It is rather a high kind of intellectual activity and a sign of God realization. Remembering God much, is a result of a chain reaction in the thinking process; that is, a series of thoughts in which each thought causes the next one. Zikr-e-kathir, or much remembrance, is a result of creative thinking.
It is a product of a prepared mind. If you possess a prepared mind, then your mind is bound to get activated at every experience or observation. You will start discovering one aspect of God-realization after another. In this way a chain reaction will be initiated in your mind.
It is this intellectual activity that is called zikr-e-kathir in the Quran. For example, if it is raining, a believer will very soon present his shukr, that is, acknowledgment to God. Then he will start thinking further: what caused this downpour? He will discover the natural processes that resulted in rain. He will then think that when the water was in the ocean, it was salty, but when it took the form of downpour, it turned into fresh water.
So step by step, he will discover how God created various processes which finally provided him water to drink. This is an example of chain reaction in thinking, and through this chain reaction, one by one, you start discovering aspects for realization of God. If you are a prepared mind, then this process will continue without limit.
This chain reaction of zikr will enhance your maarifah, that is, realization. It will improve your relationship with God, increasing your wisdom and power of analysis. According to the Quran, believers are given a unique blessing, that is, they are able to add faith to their faith (48: 4). This is a direct result of the above kind of chain reaction. This chain reaction of zikr is very important for personality development. A believer increases his divine spirituality through this process.
Source: Spirit of Islam December 2014
Zikr means remembrance of God. Remembrance of God is one of the basic teachings of Islam. Forgetfulness of God shows indifference, whereas remembrance of God shows attentiveness to the divine will.
Such remembrance is a natural reality. A human being at every moment, experiences such things as are directly related to God. That is, he observes the sun and the moon, the rivers and the mountains, the air and the water,—and sees that everything has been created by God. Similarly, all the creatures that he sees in the world are reminders of the Creator. Right from the earth to the heavens, all things are reflections of God’s beauty and perfection. With their entire existence, they testify to God’s being. As such, they draw a person towards his Creator.
At every moment, an individual is reminded of God by the things amidst which he spends his days and nights in this world. Influenced by these things, his heart and mind overflow with spiritual feelings of remembrance of God.
Throughout his life a person repeatedly experiences such a connection with God, as causes him to ponder upon his existence, and his heart is filled with the sense that it is God who has created him in the best of moulds and given him all kinds of abilities in abundance. These feelings come to his lips in various ways in different words again and again. This is a true form of remembrance.
A person in his daily life has to come to grips with various ups and downs, and undergo different kinds of experiences, both pleasant and unpleasant. At these times, he focuses his attention on God. Again and again, he remembers God in different words.
In this way, during his daily worship, he repeats aloud various words and phrases. These words are sometimes derived from the Quran and Hadith, and at other time, in acknowledgement of his Lord’s beneficence, they spring spontaneously to his lips. All this is remembrance of God.
Source: The Spirit of Islam
At several places the Quran exhorts us to be on our best behaviour with parents; to pay their dues, and, even when scolded by them, to refrain from angry retorts; we should never be found lacking in loving them or in serving them. That is to say: we should at all times conduct ourselves with the utmost propriety, regardless of how our parents treat us.
According to a Hadith, a man approached the Prophet and asked, “O Prophet, who is more deserving of my good behaviour?” The Prophet said, “Your mother.” The man then asked, “Who after that?” The Prophet again said, “Your mother.” The man again repeated the question and the Prophet again said, “Your mother.” When the man asked the Prophet a fourth time, the Prophet replied, “Your father.” (Sahih Muslim, Hadith No. 2548)
A mother undertakes the great hardship of bearing and bringing up her children. Islam gives importance of a mother.
Source: Spirit of Islam July 2013
The Quran says that men are in charge of, that is, they are ‘maintainers’ of women (4:34). This leads to a common misconception that Islam gives a higher status to men then women. According to this verse of the Quran, it does not mean that men have a distinctive status over women – being maintainers of women has never been intended as a form of discriminatory treatment, it rather concerns the practical management of the home, for which the man is held responsible. However, this does not mean that a woman will never be allowed to shoulder these responsibilities. If she finds that she can bear this burden, no objection will be raised from any quarter. One example of this can be found in the Quran with reference to the people of Sheba. They lived in Yemen. The famous dam of Marib made their country very prosperous and enabled it to attain a high degree of civilization. The Quran tells us that they were ruled by a woman (27:23) without disapproving of her rule. Bilqis, the Queen of Sheba was very wise and sagacious, even more so than the men in her court. She did not want to embroil her country in war, while the men advised her to confront her enemies, namely, Solomon’s army. Abdullah Yusuf Ali writes: “In Bilqis we have a picture of womanhood, gentle, prudent, and able to tame the wilder passions of her subjects.”
It is an accepted principle with the commentators of the Quran that when the Quran reports something without any disapproval, that means that has been approved of by the Quran.
So when we look at this incident in the light of the Quran, we find the status of woman even higher than that of men. A woman is in charge of men and she has shouldered this responsibility with greater efficacy.
Thus the example of the Queen of Sheba having found mention in the Quran shows that rulership is not man’s monopoly. A woman can be a ‘qawwam’ over a man and the Quran has itself testified to it.
Source: The True Face of Islam
Women are at liberty to work in Islam. In fact, in the early period of Islam, both the sexes were fully active in different fields of life, from housework to agriculture and horticulture, and from worship in the mosque to the battleground. Everywhere women were visible and active. Gradually there came about a division of labour, which is justifiable not only biologically and physiologically, but also in terms of the ensuing social benefits. One such important benefit is that they can see each other’s lives objectively, without that personal involvement which tends to cloud their judgment and lead to a damaging emotionalism. They are better able to counsel each other coolly and wisely, to give moral support at critical moments, and to offer the daily encouragement with which every successful union should be marked.
In Islamic history, there are many examples of women giving invaluable help to their husbands in critical situations. One of the most notable was Khadijah, the wife of the Prophet of Islam who successfully brought the Prophet back from a state of fear and trembling to a state of normalcy after his receiving the first divine revelation in the solitude of the Cave of Hira from the Archangel Gabriel. She was able to reassure him that his life was not, as he feared, in danger, as she herself was emotionally detached from the incident. She observed: “God will surely never forsake you. You are kind to your kin; you always help the weak; you take care of whoever crosses your threshold; you solace the weary; you speak the truth.” The reassurance that Khadijah gave to the Prophet of Islam on this occasion was one of the most significant contributions to the furtherance of Islam.
Then it occurred to Khadijah that she had best make enquiries of some learned Christians, who, well versed as they were in the scriptures, were bound to have knowledge of revelation and prophethood. She went first to a rahib (hermit) who lived near Mecca. On seeing her, the priest asked, “O noble lady of the Quraysh, what has brought you here?” Khadijah replied, “I have come here to ask you about Gabriel.” To this the rahib said, “Glory be to God, he is God’s pure angel. He visits prophets: he came to Jesus and Moses.” Then Khadijah went to another Christian called Addas. She put the same question to him, and he too told her that Gabriel was an angel of God, the very same who had been with Moses when God drowned the Pharaoh. He had also come to Jesus, and through him God had helped Jesus.
Then Khadijah hastened to Waraqah ibn Nawfal, a Christian convert who had translated part of the Bible into Arabic. When she had finished telling him of what Muhammad had seen and heard, Waraqah exclaimed, “Holy, holy! By the Master of my soul, if your report be true, O Khadijah, this must be the great spirit who spoke to Moses. This means that Muhammad must be the Prophet of this nation.” On a subsequent visit, Khadijah brought Muhammad to meet Waraqah ibn Nawfal. Muhammad related the events exactly as they had taken place and, when he had finished, Waraqah said, “By the Master of my soul, I swear that you are the same Prophet whose coming was foretold by Jesus, son of Mary.” But then Waraqah sounded a note of warning: “You will be denied and you will be hurt. You will be abused and you will be pursued.” He nevertheless immediately pledged himself to the Prophet: “If I should ever live to see that day, I should surely help you.”
Islam gives liberty to women to work. Islam considers men and women as equal in respect, but different in role.
Source: The True Face of Islam
In Islam, a woman enjoys the same status as that of a man. There is no difference between man and woman as regards status, rights and blessings, both in this world and in the hereafter. Both are considered equal participants in the carrying out of the functions of daily living. According to Islamic belief, both men and women are born as equal partners in life. In a fine expression of gender equality, the Quran declares:
“Never will I waste the work of any of you, be they male or female: You are members, one of another…” (3:195)
We find the same definition in one of the sayings of the Prophet of Islam, (the Hadith): “Men and women are two equal halves of a single unit. (Sunan Al Tirmidhi, Hadith No. 113)
We see that both the sacred scriptures of Islam make it clear that neither sex is inferior or superior to the other. However, studies in biology and psychology show that the sexes are different in nature, each being designed for a different purpose. So, the Islamic maxim for men and women runs as: ‘Equal in respect, but different in role.’
Men and women being equal, each has a different sphere of action. That is, in making their contribution to social activity, the men undertake whatever is physically harder, while the women deal with whatever is lighter.
Men and women can be likened to a cart running on two wheels. Each of the wheels contributes equally to the running of the cart. Even if only one of the wheels goes out of order, the cart will stop. The way a cart traverses its path with the help of the two wheels, exactly in the same way, with mutual cooperation of men and women, the system of life can be run efficiently.
It is a fact that women in general are not physically as strong as men but their physical weakness in no way implies their inferiority to men. The eyes are the most delicate parts of our body, while the nails by comparison are extremely hard. That does not mean that the nails are superior to the eyes. Just as two different kinds of fruits will differ in colour, taste, shape and texture, without one being superior or inferior to the other, so also do men and women have different qualities which distinguish male from female without there being any question of inferiority or superiority. They are endowed by nature with different capacities so that they may play their respective roles in life with greater ease and effectiveness.
This makes it clear that, although males and females differ from one another biologically, they are equal in terms of human status. No distinction is made between women and men as regards their respective rights. This is all for the good if they are to be lifetime companions. Men and women in the eyes of Islam then are not equal duplicates of one another, but rather complement each other. This concept permits the shortcomings of one sex to be compensated for by the strengths of the other.
In respect of innate talents all individuals, be they men or women, differ from one another. Yet their need for each other is equal. All are of equal value. One is not more important or less important than the other. Similarly when it comes to the establishment of a home and raising a family, men and women have their separate roles to play. But each is vital. Each is indispensable to the other; and for them to come together, function in unison and live in harmony; there must be mutual respect. The prevailing sense is that a difference of biological function does not imply inequality. For the biological division of human beings into males and females is the result of the purposeful planning of our Creator.
Source: Spirit of Islam April 2013
Muslims today have to perform for the benefit of the world the same duty of calling people to God, as was performed by the prophets for their communities. This is a duty which involves conveying the message of the Quran to them. Just as without the payment of zakat all the wealth of a person remains unlawful to him, similarly without performing this duty it is unlawful for us to spend our time and money on anything else. We can have no happiness or security until we devote ourselves to this cause. Some points to keep in mind for this are as follows.
The only thing that man can do is to convey God's message to other humans with full kindness and clarity. It is not within the purview of a dayee to change one's thoughts or religion. As clearly said in the Quran:
“if they turn away, We have not sent you [O Prophet] as their keeper: your responsibility is only to convey the message.” (42:48)
Although this verse is for the Prophet, the Muslim Ummah is also included in this order in following the Prophet.
This work does not simply involve making speeches and writing books, but is rather the task of representing God. It has to be performed with the meticulous care and according to the highest standards which it demands. We have to do it with the same utmost sincerity and seriousness with which a government official conveys an important message entrusted to him.
Well-wishing and other demands as are expected of an earnest undertaker of a serious task, have to be combined together while performing this work. Moreover, it is also essential that the Hell of which one is going to warn people be a cause of great apprehension for one’s own self, and one be oneself extremely desirous of the Paradise whose glad tidings one is conveying to others. If one’s preaching or dawah work is not marked by these characteristics it would be ludicrous to even think of undertaking it.
Source: The Vision of Islam
God has created man in freedom, but this freedom is not unlimited. The freedom of the individual is taken away at death. And the freedom of the whole human race will be taken away on Doomsday. After the cessation of life in this world, a new life will begin in the Hereafter. There people will be divided into two groups: one who, having made proper use of their freedom, making it subservient to the will of God will enter into Paradise; the other group will be of those who, having been fearless of God in using the freedom granted to them, will be sent to Hell. This division will be eternal: the people of Hell will remain eternally in Hell, whereas the people of Paradise will remain in eternal bliss.
This means that about a hundred years of life in this world is going to end in an eternal fate for humans. And the end will be either a terrible punishment or the greatest of rewards. This state of affairs makes the matter of life extremely grave. Despite this extraordinary gravity, all realities remain hidden from human eyes. God, the angels, paradise, hell—nothing is visible. As such, it was expected from man that when these realities were revealed, he would say, “God, I did not know that this was going to be the end of life. Why did You not tell us before?”
In view of the delicacy of this situation, God made an arrangement whereby, with the very creation of the first man, He began sending prophets to the world. In fact the very first man was also the first prophet. The prophets were sent revelations so that they could convey the divine message to mankind. This series of prophets continued from Adam to Jesus Christ. Finally God decided to send the Final Prophet to whom He would send him the last divine book which would be preserved for all time. This event in the seventh century ushered in a new age in human history, subsequent to which the Book of God was to remain in preserved state and no further prophets were to be sent by God.
Then the question arises as to what arrangement was made by God for conveying the Creation Plan of the Creator for all the human beings who are born after the cessation of prophethood. The community of the followers of the Prophet Muhammad, the final prophet of God had the onus of conveying in full the divine message to the people. Subsequently these people were charged with conveying the divine message to every generation till Doomsday, so that when the case of these people was presented before God on the Day of Judgement, the followers of the Prophet might stand up and say that they had conveyed the divine message to the people, and that in spite of this, they had not accepted it, and were therefore themselves responsible for their actions.
This is the task that has been referred to in the Quran as ‘calling people to God.’ It is an obligation devolving upon the followers of the Prophet. They can in no way be exempted from performing this task.
No amount of individual worship will save them from God’s chastisement. If the followers of the Prophet do not perform this task of conveying God’s message to the world, they too will be held accountable along with other communities in the Hereafter. If the other communities or peoples committed the wrong of not adopting a life in accordance with Quranic principles, the Muslims will be held responsible for not having conveyed God’s message to them. The second case is in no way of a lesser degree than the former.
Source: The Vision of Islam
There is a verse in the second chapter of the Quran that says, “We have made you a middle nation so that you may be as witnesses against mankind, and the Messenger may be a witness against you.” (2:143)
The word witness (shaheed) in this verse refers to the role of Muslims as dayees. By saying that the Messenger will be a witness against us, it signifies that the Messenger is the witness that the divine religion was given to us, and that we will have to bear witness that we communicated the same divine religion to the rest of humanity. It follows that it is now our duty to communicate God’s message to every person of every generation in every age.
It was the responsibility of the followers of the Prophet to pass on the message they had received from the Prophet to others. The same responsibility was given to the ancient peoples of the Book — the historical people of Moses, and those of Jesus. In the Quran, making the message of God clear to people is called tab’iin. (3:187)
This task of being a witness, or dawah, is not mystical in nature. It is also not a mark of superiority. It is a heavy responsibility, greater than all other responsibilities, commensurate with the great gift of faith. It is also a greater responsibility than that given to the followers of previous prophets because the Prophet Muhammad was the last prophet. Until the Day of Judgement, it is the sole responsibility of Muslims to convey the message to other people. It is thus not only our responsibility to inform others of the message, but also to convey it in a manner that is clear, open, understandable and that will make a deep and lasting impression of truth, peace and spirituality on their minds.
Only by fulfilling this responsibility of dawah can we be held eligible, in God’s eyes, to be called the Middle Nation.
Source: Spirit of Islam September 2013
God said in the Quran, “Who speaks better than one who calls to God and does good works and says, ‘I am surely of those who submit?’ (41:33).
According to this verse, the Muslim Ummah has a two-fold mission— to practice Islam and to convey to people the divine message of Islam.
The mission of Muslims is dawah or the communication of the Word of God. It is in its performance that they will be held deserving of being raised in the Hereafter as the followers of the Prophet of Islam. This is expressed in the following verse of the Quran:
“O Messenger, deliver whatever has been sent down to you by your Lord. If you do not do so, you will not have conveyed His message.” (5:67)
Although this verse is addressed to the Prophet Muhammad, his followers are included in it. The first thing that this verse tells us is to convey the divine revelations to the people. This is the task which God wants Muslims to perform. According to the Quran, God has made the Muslims a middle nation, so that they may act as witnesses over mankind, and the messenger may be a witness for them. (2:143). This status of Muslims has been explained thus in a hadith:
“You are God’s witnesses on this earth.” (Sahih Al-Bukhari, Hadith No. 1367)
It is a known fact that when a person is appointed to any position of responsibility, his future depends on how well or badly he carries out the duties which that post entails. If he satisfactorily performs the duty for which he has been appointed, he will be held deserving of all kinds of rewards. But if he neglects his duty, no other work done, even if it is on a larger scale, will make him deserving on any honour in the eyes of his Creator. In this matter, Muslims must pay heed to this warning which was given to the previous people of the Book, when they stopped conveying God’s message to mankind:
“God made a covenant with those who were given the Book to make it known to people and not conceal it. But they cast it behind their backs and bartered it for a paltry price: what an evil bargain they made! Those who exult in their misdeeds and love to be praised for what they have not done should not suppose that they are secure from punishment; they shall suffer a grievous punishment.” (3:187-188)
The Muslim Ummah, which is the bearer of the Divine Book, becomes valueless in the eyes of God when it fails to convey the Divine revelation to the people. Engaging in other activities at the cost of preaching God’s word and wrongly designating other activities as dawah work is adding insult to injury. No such group can ever be held deserving of any credit for carrying out the Divine task.
Source: Spirit of Islam October 2013
God created Adam, the first man. He commanded the Angels and the Jinn, whom He had created before Adam, to prostrate themselves before him. The Angels hastened to obey this divine commandment, but Satan, the chief of the genies, held himself aloof and did not prostrate himself. When God asked him to explain his disobedience, he replied, ‘I am better than him; You created me from fire, while him you created from mud.’ (Quran 7:12). Since Satan was ready to prostrate himself before God, but not before Adam, he was declared beyond the pale and sentenced to everlasting damnation.
Clearly, in human relationships there are always two main possible courses of action: either to tread the path of acknowledgement of the superiority of others and to demonstrate our submission to them—as shown by the Angels—or to assert our own superiority over others, with the resulting friction—as shown by Satan. To this day the sons of Adam have to decide whether to side with the Angels, or to become the Devil’s comrades, saying of their neighbours: ‘I am better than he.’ The drama which was enacted at the time of Adam’s creation is still being played out over and over again, in our day-to-day existence, only on a much larger scale.
At some point or the other during our brief sojourn on earth, we are sure to encounter an ‘Adam’—one to whom something is due from us, be it only a kindly word. On all such occasions, God makes His will quite plain to us, albeit silently, that, in obedience to Him, we must bow to this Adam. Those who tread the path of the Angels will understand God’s wishes and will give their ‘Adam’ his rightful due, hastening to yield pride of place to him.
It is only people who act in this way who are the true and faithful servants of God. As such, they will find their eternal abode in heaven. Those who follow the example of Satan, and refuse—out of conceit and arrogance – to bow before the ‘Adam’ who has entered their lives, are rebels in God’s eyes. They will be cast into Hell along with Satan, to burn there for all time.
Man being God’s servant must prostrate himself first and foremost, before his Master. But in everyday situations, it often happens that in his immediate environment there are individuals who have some claim upon him or some right to assert over him. These are the ‘Adams’ before whom he must bow at the behest of the Almighty. This is a test, which God sets for man in life. It is an exacting test, because although human beings are quite prepared to bow before God, His superiority being unassailable, they find it difficult to acknowledge the rights of other ordinary individuals, who, they feel are in no way superior to themselves. This is when the ‘Satan’ in them comes alive and drives them to the perversity of ignoring, or denying the rights of others. They refuse to bow before Adam, despite this being a commandment of that very deity before whom they regularly prostrate themselves. Like Satan before them, they refuse to bow to those whom they consider inferior to themselves. It is the same superiority complex, the same hubris, that held Satan aloof when the Angels were prostrating themselves before Adam—whether they are conscious of it or not—which prevents them from carrying out the will of God.
Source: Islam: The Voice of Human Nature
