“Alif. Lām. Rā. This is a book which We have bestowed on you from on high.” (Verse 1)

This book which consists of words made up of letters like these is one which you certainly have not authored. It has been revealed to you for a definite purpose, “so that you might bring forth all mankind, by their Lord’s leave, from darkness into the light.” (Verse 1) Your role is to take mankind out of the depths of darkness into which they have sunk, the darkness of superstition, conflicting systems and traditions; the darkness of believing in alleged deities, and false concepts, values and standards.

You are to bring them, i.e. all of mankind, into the real light which removes all darkness. Not only does this light dispel all darkness from people’s consciences and minds, it also affects their lives generally, setting for them new values and traditions.

Faith based on God’s oneness is a light that shines within the human heart, to make the whole human being shine as well. Man is created out of cold clay in which God has blown of His spirit. Should he abandon the light of this breath of spirit, he turns back into dark clay, and becomes a mass of flesh and blood like an animal. It is indeed the flesh and blood alone that are made of the earth’s clay. It is with this breath from God’s spirit that light spreads over it. Then faith makes it appear in its full glory. With it the mass of flesh and blood blooms.

Faith is a light that illuminates the soul so that it can see the way leading to God, clear without any confusion caused by superstition or desires, and without any misleading fancy or greed. When the human soul sees the way so clearly ahead of it, it proceeds with steady steps, and without hesitation.

The light of faith illuminates the whole of life, making all mankind equal servants of God, united together by their bond of faith. They submit themselves to none other than God, which means that they are never divided into slaves and tyrants. With the universe around them they establish a bond based on knowledge of the great law that sets the whole universe and all its forces into operation. This brings them peace with the universe and with all creatures that live in it.

Faith is the light of justice, freedom and knowledge. It is the light of a bond with God based on compassion. It is a bond that gives us reassurance of God’s justice, grace and wisdom in situations of ease and hardship. Such reassurance requires that we adopt an attitude of patience in adversity and gratitude in happier circumstances.

It also adds the light of understanding that adverse situations occur for a definite purpose.

Believing in God alone as the Supreme Lord is not merely a personal faith that fills one’s conscience and spreads light over one’s soul. It is a complete code of living based on the concept of total submission to God alone, discarding all claims of lordship by other creatures, and rejecting any attempt that gives such creatures any form of sovereignty. This code of living fits completely with human nature so as to satisfy all its needs and fill it with happiness, light and reassurance. It is also so stable that it protects people against the sort of upheaval experienced by societies that submit to the sovereignty claimed by others and who follow systems devised by them in politics, government, economics, social structure, morals and social behaviour, as well as in customs and traditions. Furthermore, this code of living preserves and promotes human potential. It prevents people from glorifying and singing the praises of despots.

“Never have We sent a messenger otherwise than speaking the language of his own people, so that he might make [the truth] clear to them.” (Verse 4) This is a blessing God grants to people with every message He sends to them. For a messenger to be able to bring people out of darkness into light, by their Lord’s leave, he must be given his message in his own people’s language. This is how he is then able to explain God’s message to them. It is how the objectives of the message are fulfilled.

Although the Prophet Muĥammad is a Messenger to all mankind, he is given his message in his own people’s language, so that he can explain matters to them. They are the ones who would be conveying his message to the rest of mankind. His own life is, after all, limited. Therefore, he is commanded to call first on his own people so that the Arabian Peninsula becomes purely Muslim. It will then fulfil its role as the place from which the final divine message is carried to the rest of the world. What happened in practice, as God, who knows everything, determined, was that the Prophet passed away when Islam became the religion in the whole of Arabia. The Prophet raised an army under the command of Usāmah to be dispatched to areas bordering on Arabia, but the Prophet (peace be upon him) died before the army began its march. It is true that the Prophet sent his letters and emissaries to the heads of countries outside Arabia, calling on them to accept the message of Islam, and making it clear that his message was addressed to all mankind. However, what God determined for him, which fits with the limited duration of human life, is that Muĥammad (peace be upon him) delivered his message to his own people in their own language. Then the task was completed by those who carried his message to other communities all over the world. Hence, there is no contradiction between his message being addressed to all humanity, and its being expressed in Arabic, the language of his own people.

“Never have We sent a messenger otherwise than speaking the language of his own people, so that he might make [the truth] clear to them. But God lets go astray whomever He wills, and guides whomever He wills.” (Verse 4) A messenger’s task is completed when he has made the truth clear to people. What comes out of it in the form of people following guidance or going astray is not in his power, and does not follow his desire. It is entirely up to God who has subjected human beings to a law of His own making, in keeping with His free-will. Whoever follows the way of error is left to go astray, and whoever follows the way of divine guidance reaches his destination. Both are subject to God’s will.

“He is Almighty, truly Wise.” (Verse 4) He conducts life in accordance with His wisdom and careful planning. Nothing is left haphazard, without guidance or planning.

This applied to the message “We have sent forth Moses with Our revelations, saying, ‘Lead your people out of darkness into the light, and remind them of the Days of God. Surely in this there are signs for everyone who is patient in adversity and deeply grateful [to God].

Moses began to fulfil his task and remind his people. “Moses said to his people:

‘Remember the blessings God bestowed on you when He saved you from Pharaoh’s people who afflicted you with grievous torment, slaughtered your sons and spared [only] your women.

That was indeed an awesome trial from your Lord.’“ (Verse 6) He reminds them first of God’s grace when he delivered them from the great torment inflicted on them by Pharaoh’s people. That torment was visited on them time after time, with little reprieve. One of the ghastlier features of that torment was the killing of the male but not the female population as a means of preventing them from increasing in number.

This aimed to ensure their continued weakness and subjugation. The fact that God saved them from all this was a great act demonstrating His grace. It should be remembered with gratitude.

“That was indeed an awesome trial from your Lord.” (Verse 6) Their trial consisted of the affliction visited on them by Pharaoh. It was a means to test their patience, resistance, perseverance and determination. Patience does not merely entail enduring hardship. It is rather endurance without being shaken or mentally defeated, coupled with the determination to stand up to tyranny until freedom is achieved. Endurance that only entails tolerating humiliation is not worthy of praise. The Israelites also experienced the trial of deliverance from tyranny, so as to test their gratitude for God’s grace, which should be reflected in following the path of His guidance.

Moses continues to explain matters to his people after having reminded them of the Days of God, and directed them to the ultimate objective of the trial. He tells them about the reward God attaches to gratitude and His punishment for ingratitude: “For your Lord had declared: ‘If you are grateful, I shall certainly give you more; but if you are ungrateful, then My punishment shall be severe indeed.’“ (Verse 7)

It is useful to reflect a little here on this great truth whereby God’s blessings are increased for the grateful and whereby severe punishment awaits those who adopt the opposite stance. In the first instance, we feel reassured, since it is a promise by God, and God always fulfils His promises. It must come to pass. If we want to see it in practice, and look for its material causes, we need not go very far.

Expressing gratitude for a blessing is evidence of implementing correct standards in day-to-day life. The proper reward for a blessing, according to sound human nature, is to be grateful for it. Moreover, a person who thanks God for His blessings is always watching Him when it comes to making use of such blessings. He shows no arrogance, and he never puts God’s blessings to foul or evil use. Both qualities add to the purity of the human soul, and motivate it to further good action that helps such blessings grow and increase. Thus a grateful person also earns other people’s good- will, and they are then ready to help. This reflects on the community as a whole, as ties within the community are placed on a sound footing. Its wealth increases with security. God’s promise is however sufficient reassurance for a believer, whether he understands the causes or not. He knows that God’s promise always comes true.

Moses continues with his reminders, but now he no longer features in the scene painted in the sūrah. Instead, a picture is drawn of the raging battle between the community that follows the Prophets and jāhiliyyah society which denies the messengers and their messages alike. This is a remarkable aspect of the refined style of the Qur’ān which brings the scene alive, transforming it from a historical one that someone is reporting to an immediate one that we see in front of our eyes, able to listen to the people in it as they talk, and notice all their actions and reactions. In this panoramic scene, all limitations of time and space are done away with.

Have you not received accounts of what befell those who lived before you? The people of Noah, the `Ād, and Thamūd, and those who came after them? None knows them all but God. Their messengers came to them with clear evidence of the truth, but they put their hands to their mouths, and said: ‘We disbelieve in that with which you have been sent, and we are in grave doubt about that to which you call us.’ (Verse 9)

This reminder is made by Moses, but as he goes behind the scenes the sūrah continues with its account of what happened to God’s messengers and messages during all periods of history, and the confrontation between them and jāhiliyyah in its different states and societies, and the fate of those who denied these messages. It is as if Moses is a narrator who begins with a reference to the main events of a great history, before leaving its players to take over and enact that history, and say whatever they wish. This method of narrating a story or historical account is often employed in the Qur’ān. It serves to bring the historical account alive. We see here God’s noble messengers following one another, and confronting all mankind who had given in to jāhiliyyah. The gaps between generations and communities disappear, while the great truths stand out without being tied to a specific time or place.

“Have you not received accounts of what befell those who lived before you? The people of Noah, the `Ād, and Thamūd, and those who came after them? None knows them all but God.” (Verse 9) Thus, they are numerous. There were many other such communities than those mentioned in the Qur’ān, who lived during the intervening period between the time of Thamūd and that of Moses. The sūrah does not give any details of them, because there is complete unity in the message preached by all prophets, and a unity in the reaction to it.

“Their messengers came to them with clear evidence of the truth.” (Verse 9) That evidence is absolutely clear, giving no room for confusion by anyone with undistorted faculties of understanding. “But they put their hands to their mouths, and said: ‘We disbelieve in that with which you have been sent, and we are in grave doubt about that to which you call us.” (Verse 9) They put their hands to their mouths as does he who wishes to change the pitch of his voice so that it can be heard at a distance. He moves his hand in front of his mouth as he raises his voice, and this causes the sound to break and be heard from afar. The sūrah paints this movement in order to indicate the fact that they were outspoken in their denial of the divine message. Furthermore, they make such an impolite movement to reassert their open rejection of the faith.

As for producing clear proof, which means a miracle or some supernatural event, the messengers make it clear to their communities that this is something determined by God alone. The messengers try to make people realize very clearly the difference between Godhead and their own mortal beings. They want them to understand the true significance of the oneness of God who is unlike anyone else in nature and attributes. The lack of such clarity was the source of the great confusion into which pagan beliefs had sunk, as well as the church concepts which mixed Christianity with the pagan beliefs of Greece, Rome, Egypt and India. The starting point in this confusion into which Christianity had sunk was the attribution of supernatural powers to Jesus himself, leading to a great mix-up between the Divine Being and His servant, Jesus Christ (peace be upon him).

The messengers made their position very clear: “It is not within our power to bring you any proof except by God’s leave.” We do not rely on any power other than His own:

“It is in God that all believers must place their trust.” (Verse 11) The messengers announce this as a permanent truth. A believer does not place his trust in anyone other than God. He turns to no one else for help or support, and he seeks refuge with none other than Him.

The messengers then confront tyranny and rejection with an attitude based on faith, remaining steadfast in the face of adversity and abuse. They ask a question which means an assertion: “And why should we not place our trust in God, when He has guided us on our paths? Hence we will bear with patience all your persecution. In God alone let all the faithful place their trust.” (Verse 12)

“And why should we not place our trust in God, when He has guided us on our paths?” (Verse 12) This is a statement by one who is certain of his attitude and the way he follows. He entertains no doubts about the support he has, and believes that God who guides to the straight path will undoubtedly give him His support. What does it matter if victory is not given in this present life, when one is sure that God is guiding him along the right path?

Anyone who feels deep in his heart that God’s hand guides his footsteps is someone that has real contact with God. Such a person does not mistake the sense of His existence and that He is God who controls everything. This is a feeling that leaves no room for reluctance in following the path of faith, regardless of what obstacles may lie along the way, including tyrannical forces that persecute those who follow it. This explains why God’s messengers’ reply links their feeling of being guided by God with their placing their trust in Him as they faced open opposition from tyrants. It also explains their determination to go along the way despite all the threats.

Such an association is real only in the hearts and minds of people who take positive action to confront the tyranny of jāhiliyyah society. Such hearts and minds realize deep inside that God’s hand opens windows for them to see the light that illuminates great horizons before them. They feel the comfort of faith and true knowledge, and feel reassured by their strong bond with God. Hence, they do not care about the threats they receive from tyrants. Threats and temptations do not have any effect on them, as they look down on all the tyrants on earth and their means of oppression and persecution. Why would a heart that knows its link with God fear anything that others may have?

We must realize here that the Supreme Power does not intervene to settle the issue between the messengers and their communities until the messengers themselves declare their final split with their people. The believers must make it clear that they will never return to their people’s old ways after God has saved them. They must also insist on having their own separate identity, society and leadership. This means that the community is split into two which differ in faith, lifestyle, leadership and structure. This is when God intervenes to destroy the despots who persecute the believers. This is when God fulfils His promise to His messengers to grant them victory and establish the believers on earth. Such intervention will never happen while the believers are integrated in un-Islamic society, working from within its institutions. They must first have their own identity and their own separate structure and leadership.

“Their Lord revealed this to His messengers: Most certainly shall We destroy the wrongdoers.” (Verse 13) Here we have an emphatic statement. Furthermore, it adds power through its use of inversion and the plural pronoun in reference to God. It asserts a promise to destroy the tyrants who threaten the believers and, by their threats, do wrong to themselves, the truth, God’s messengers and all people. “And most certainly shall We cause you to dwell in the land long after they are gone.” (Verse 14)

This is not an act of favouritism, but the work of a fair law of nature that God has set in operation.

“This [I promise] to all who stand in awe of My presence, and stand in awe of My warnings.” (Verse 14) This settlement in the land after the tyrants have gone is promised to those who fear God and do not act with arrogance or overbearing pride.

Such people fear what God has warned them against, so they take measures to avoid it. They do not engage in corruption or wrongdoing against other people. Hence they deserve to be given their chance and be established on earth.

This sets the scene for a confrontation between the feeble power of wrongdoing despots and the great power of God, the Supreme Being who controls the whole universe. The messengers’ task has been completed with the clear delivery of the message and the declaration of a split between themselves and the unbelievers. The tyrants marshal all their feeble power and stand to one side, and the messengers, who in all humility call people to faith, stand opposite, but they are supported by God, the Almighty. Both parties pray for victory, and the result is as expected: “And they prayed for God’s help and victory [for the truth]. And every powerful, obstinate enemy of the truth shall come to grief. Behind him stretches hell where he shall be made to drink putrefied water, gulping it little by little, and yet hardly able to swallow it. Death will beset him from every side, yet he shall not die. More severe suffering still awaits him.” (Verses 15- 17)

This is a remarkable scene showing every hardened despot ending up in failure in this life on earth. As he takes his position of miserable failure, hell is looming large behind him. There he is made to drink putrefied fluids. He is violently forced to gulp it down, although he can hardly take a sip because it is both dirty and bitter. His disgust is evident from the look on his face, so much so that we can almost see it through the words. Death approaches him from every corner, but he will not die, because he must take his punishment in full. But beyond this is an even sterner punishment.

The fitting comment on the destiny of tyrants and the misery they are made to suffer is part of a scene painting the situation of the unbelievers, with its assertion of God’s power, a power which can easily do away with them all and replace them with a new creation. This picture follows the last confrontation that takes place in this life.

The curtains are drawn here before they open again to show what happens to both sides in the life to come.

“The works of those who disbelieve in their Lord are like ashes which the wind blows about fiercely on a stormy day. They cannot achieve any benefit from all that they might have earned. This [disbelief] is indeed going very far astray.” (Verse 18) The image of ashes being blown about on a stormy day adds action to the concept that the unbelievers’ works will come to nothing. People cannot hold on to any part of their actions, or make use of them. This image gives a far more profound effect than any expression of the same meaning of total loss in intellectual terms.

This scene expresses a basic truth about what the unbelievers do. Actions that have no basis in faith, and are not controlled by that bond relating every action to its motive, and relating that motive to God remain loose, lacking a solid entity. They are like ashes or flying particles. It is not the action itself that carries paramount value, but rather the motivation behind it. Action is a mechanical movement, but its motive is what differentiates man from machine.

The comment which follows is also very apt: “This [disbelief] is indeed going very far astray.” (Verse 18) Just like the ashes blown far away by fierce winds, so too have they gone far astray.

The following verses then speak of the fate of the unbelievers of olden times in order to demonstrate the fate of the unbelieving Arabs of the Quraysh. These verses threaten them with God’s ability to replace them with a new creation: “Do you not see that God has created the heavens and the earth in accordance with the truth. If He so wills, He can do away with you and bring into being a new creation. This is no difficult thing for God.” (Verses 19-20)

This switch from a discussion about faith and disbelief, and the dispute between God’s messengers and the unbelievers in un-Islamic societies, to a picture of the heavens and the earth is very natural in the Qur’ān. It is also natural in human feelings and perceptions. This is a further indication of the divine source of the Qur’ān. There is a secret but intelligible discourse between man and the universe.

Human nature responds instinctively to this secret communication once it tunes in to it and receives its signals.

Those who do not pick up on these signals and indicators must examine their receptive faculties. For these must be faulty. Eyes may turn blind, and ears may become deaf, and a person may be dumb. Those who cannot receive the signals of the universe have defective faculties. Hence they are unsuited to positions of leadership. This includes all those who accept a materialistic philosophy which produces what is falsely called ‘scientific doctrines’. Science cannot function with faulty faculties and a defective means of contact with the universe. Such people are described in the Qur’ān as blind. It is not possible for human life to prosper under a system, doctrine or philosophy promoted by someone who is blind.

At this point in the sūrah we note an even higher level of the inimitable style of the Qur’ān, and its power of imagery, expression and harmony between scenes and ideas. A short while ago we saw obstinate tyrants coming to grief, with an image of hell looming large behind them as they are made to suffer their greatest disappointment in this life. Now we see them on the Day of Judgement. It is at once an extraordinary and powerful scene, full of movement, reaction and dialogue between the weak and the powerful, and between both and Satan.

They will all appear before God, and then the weak will say to those who acted with arrogance: ‘We were your followers: can you relieve us of something of God’s punishment?’ [And the others] will reply: Had God given us guidance, we would have guided you. It is now all one for us whether we grieve impatiently or endure with patience. There is no escape for us now.’ And when everything will have been decided, Satan will say: ‘God has made you a true promise. I, too, made promises to you, but I did not keep them. Yet I had no power at all over you, except that I called you and you responded to me. Hence, do not now blame me, but blame yourselves. It is not for me to respond to your cries, nor for you to respond to mine. I have already disclaimed your associating me with God.’ Indeed, for all wrongdoers there is grievous suffering in store. Those who believe and do righteous deeds will be admitted to gardens through which running waters flow, wherein they will abide, by their Lord’s leave. Their greeting shall be: Peace. (Verses 21-23)

We have now moved from this world’s stage to that of the next where everyone appears before God: “They will all appear before God.” They all come forward: the arrogant tyrants who reject His message and their weak subordinates, joined by Satan, and also those who believed in the messengers and did righteous deeds. In fact they have always been exposed before God, but now they know and feel that there is no screen to give them cover or protection. They all appear in front of Him, and now the dialogue starts:

“Then the weak will say to those who acted with arrogance: ‘We were your followers: can you relieve us of something of God’s punishment?’” (Verse 21) The weak are those who forfeited the most essential quality of the human being honoured by God when they forfeited their rights to freedom of thought, belief and choice, making themselves no more than the slaves of arrogant despots. They submitted themselves like servants to such despots like themselves in preference to submission to God alone. Such weakness is no excuse; indeed it is their crime.

God does not like that anyone should feel weak. Indeed he calls on all people to seek His protection, and find strength in His support. He does not like that anyone should abandon, willingly or unwillingly, his or her share of freedom, which is a privilege for which they deserve honour. No material force, great as it may be, can force into submission a human being who wants to remain free and hold on to his human dignity. The maximum that brute force can achieve is to have power over the body, imprisoning and tormenting it. As for the mind, conscience and spirit, these cannot be imprisoned by anyone unless the victim so agrees to hand them over.

Matters have been settled and there can be no room for discussion or argument.

Everyone has been shown their place in the life to come. But at this point we see a remarkable portrait: it is Satan, the one who did everything in his power to divert people away from the truth and turn them towards error and falsehood, who reproaches both the weak and the tyrants. His words may sound to them worse than the torture they will soon face: “And when everything will have been decided, Satan will say: ‘God has made you a true promise. I, too, made promises to you, but I did not keep them.

Yet I had no power at all over you, except that I called you and you responded to me. Hence, do not now blame me, but blame yourselves. It is not for me to respond to your cries, nor for you to respond to mine. I have already disclaimed your associating me with God.’ Indeed, for all wrongdoers there is grievous suffering in store.” (Verse 22)

What an amazing scene. Satan is truly devilish! His personality appears here in its most striking colours, just as we have seen the true character of the weak and the powerful. Satan who was the constant whisperer, presenting every type of temptation, turning people away from the voice of truth is now stabbing his followers in the back. Now that matters have been settled, they cannot make any counter attack. They cannot even reply to him. It is he who says now, after the issues have been decided: “God has made you a true promise. I, too, made promises to you, but I did not keep them.” (Verse 22) He goes on to rub it in, reproaching them for responding to him when he had no power over them. It is they who gave themselves up to him, forgetting all the old enmity between themselves and Satan. They embraced his falsehood and abandoned the message of truth God had sent them.

“Yet I had no power at all over you, except that I called you and you responded to me.” (Verse 22) He not only rebukes them, but calls on them to rebuke themselves for having obeyed him: “Do not now blame me, but blame yourselves.” (Verse 22) He then adds insult to injury, lets them down unashamedly, and declares that he wants nothing further to do with them. Yet it was he who had previously given them all sorts of rosy promises. He went on to tell them that no one could ever defeat them.

Now he will not even try to give them any support should they appeal to him for it, nor will they help him when he cries out: “It is not for me to respond to your cries, nor for you to respond to mine.” (Verse 22) There is no contact or relationship between us now. He then absolves himself of their associating him as a partner with God. “I have already disclaimed your associating me with God.” (Verse 22) He then finishes this Satanic speech with a devastating blow directed at those who followed him in every way: “Indeed for all wrongdoers there is grievous suffering in store.” (Verse 22)

This is what they receive from Satan, after they have followed him blindly into error. This is what they get from him for having abandoned God’s messengers who called on them to follow God’s guidance.

While the nature of the story is the same in every age, the believers who follow God’s messengers stand in this world face to face against tyrannical ignorance, or jāhiliyyah: “And they prayed for God’s help and victory [for the truth]. And every powerful, obstinate enemy of the truth shall come to grief. Behind him stretches hell where he shall be made to drink putrefied water, gulping it little by little, and yet hardly able to swallow it.

Death will beset him from every side, yet he shall not die. More severe suffering still awaits him.” (Verses 15-17)

While this takes place in this life, a scene of the hereafter is portrayed whereby an unusual conversation ensues between arrogant tyrants, their powerless followers and Satan. The sūrah also portrays the widely different destinies of good and evil people before providing an analogy of what good and bad words are like. This portrays the working of the law God has set in nature concerning good and evil in life. It also serves as a final comment on the story: “Do you not see how God compares a good word to a good tree? Its roots are firm and its branches reach to the sky. It yields its fruits at all times by its Lord’s leave. Thus does God set parables for people so that they may reflect. And an evil word is like a corrupt tree, torn up onto the face of the earth. It cannot have a stable position. God will strengthen the believers through the true, unshakeable word in both this life and the life to come; but the wrongdoers God lets go astray. God does whatever He wills.” (Verses 24-27)

This scene describing words and utterances, good and evil, is derived from the general atmosphere of the sūrah, and from the history of prophets and those who deny their messages, as well as the destiny of both groups. The tree of prophethood, with its prominent figure of Abraham, the Prophet Muĥammad’s ancestor, is portrayed here as it delivers its great yield every now and then, in the shape of a new prophet who spreads faith and goodness.

Yet the analogy is far more comprehensive, real and effective than just that. For the good word of truth is indeed like a great firm tree, yielding its fruits, solid, unaffected by wind and undisturbed by the storm of evil. It cannot be uprooted by evil tyranny, even though there may be times when it seems to be exposed to grave danger. As it stands high, it looks on evil, injustice and tyranny from above, even though it sometimes seems to the short-sighted that evil squeezes it into a narrow corner. Its fruits are yielded time after time, because its seeds grow within good souls, generation after generation.

The same analogy applies in reverse. An evil word of falsehood is like a foul tree which may spread its branches high and wide, and which may seem to some people to be greater and stronger than the good tree of truth. Nevertheless, it is weak and hollow. Its roots are easily pulled out, as though they stretch on the surface of the earth. One day, it will definitely be uprooted, and then it will have no stable means of existence.

We need to pause here in order to reflect on the main facts in the history of God’s messengers and their encounter with jāhiliyyah. We have already made brief references to these in our commentary, but they now merit further discussion.

The first basic fact which God, in His absolute wisdom and faultless knowledge, tells us is that there has been a procession of faith ever since the beginning of human history. This procession has continued uninterrupted, led by God’s messengers who have advocated the same truth and followed the same method. They have advocated the oneness of God, the Lord of the universe. None of them has ever associated any partners with God. None relied on, or sought support from, or appealed to, anyone other than God.

This means that faith in the One God has not come about progressively or developed from a belief in a multiplicity of deities, to dualism and then the concept of a single God, as claimed by scholars of Comparative Religion. This claim saying that man started with the worship of totems, spirits and stars before progressing to the worship of a single deity is false. Nor is it true to claim that such progress parallels the progress of human knowledge and experience, or the development of political power in human society. All such claims are false.

Faith in God, the only deity to be worshipped, has been preached by God’s messengers ever since the beginning of history. The basic truth of God’s oneness was established in its full form in all divine messages. None of these messages or divine religions introduced any change in, or modification of, this truth. This is what we are told by God whose knowledge encompasses all things.

Had such scholars said that acceptability of the faith based on God’s oneness developed over the centuries, and that pagan beliefs have been influenced by the different forms of the divine faith, preached by God’s successive messengers who confronted such pagan beliefs, until there was a time when the masses were more ready to accept the divine faith, then their claims might have had some validity. But such scholars follow a method of research and investigation that is based on an old subtle hostility to the church in Europe. This old hostility still survives although it may go unnoticed by modern scholars. They are motivated by an underlying desire, of which they may or may not be aware, to disprove the religious way of thinking. In this respect, they want to prove that religion never came about as revelation from on high, but was instead invented by human beings. When it is classified as such, then it is subject to all the rules applicable to human thinking, such as modification, experimentation, and revision. It is such old hostility and subtle desire that have given birth to the study of Comparative Religion which is falsely called a branch of science.

Such claims may deceive some people into accepting what such scholars say.

However, no Muslim who respects his faith and its method of establishing the facts should be deceived by it for a moment. How can he, when such claims contradict clear Islamic texts that put the facts in a most lucid manner?4

A long procession of God’s messengers called on humanity, right from the very first day, to believe in a single message embodying the same faith. Jāhiliyyah, on the other hand, confronted this call to faith with the same type of rejection. The Qur’ān portrays this confrontation, disregarding the elements of time and place, in order to show the fact that the resistance to the divine faith has not changed throughout history. This in itself is very noteworthy. Jāhiliyyah is the same throughout history. It is not a particular stage of human history. It is a state of mind giving rise to a belief and a social structure based on it.

The state of ignorance, or jāhiliyyah, is based on the submission of one group of people to another, giving the qualities of Godhead to someone other than God, or assigning lordship to anyone other than God. Whether people believe in polytheism or in a monotheism that acknowledges a multiplicity of lords, they sink into a state of ignorance, or what is described in Islamic terminology as jāhiliyyah, with all its secondary characteristics.

The message preached by God’s messengers is essentially based on God’s oneness and the rejection of all false lords. Submission to God must be pure and complete. He is the only Lord, and to Him belongs sovereignty and all authority. Hence it is in direct conflict with the conceptual foundation of jāhiliyyah society, constituting a direct threat to it. This is especially so when the message begins to form a separate grouping that draws its members from within that society, giving them new beliefs and a new leadership and loyalties. This is a normal and essential line of action which divine religion inevitably follows.

As a single unit, jāhiliyyah society begins to feel the ideological threat to its existence, particularly when the faith based on submission to God alone, or Islam, comes to be represented as a separate entity. Hence, jāhiliyyah society declares its hostile attitude to Islam, in its general meaning of submission to God alone.

The conflict, then, is between two entities which cannot co-exist peacefully. It is a conflict between two structures, each one of which has a basis that is totally opposed to that of the other. One of them permits submission to human beings, while the other rejects this totally. The Islamic grouping, particularly during its formative period, takes its recruits from jāhiliyyah society. Later, it confronts that society to take over leadership and liberate all mankind from submission to anyone other than God.

Such development is inevitable when the advocates of Islam follow the right course defined by their faith. In view of this, jāhiliyyah society does not tolerate Islam right from the beginning. With this being the case, we can readily understand the unity of reaction by all jāhiliyyah societies to the messages of all God’s messengers. Jāhiliyyah society is defending its own existence. It has usurped God’s sovereignty, and it wants to keep it.

Since jāhiliyyah society senses the danger to its very existence represented by the Islamic message, it confronts that message with an onslaught that accepts neither a truce nor a modus vivendi. It is a war to the bitter end, since it is over survival. Neither jāhiliyyah society nor God’s noble messengers indulge in any self-deception over the nature of this confrontation. Nor did God’s messengers ever deceive their followers over it. “The unbelievers said to their messengers: ‘We shall most certainly expel you from our land, unless you return to our ways.’“ (Verse 13) They do not accept that the messengers or their followers should have a separate faith, leadership or grouping.

A brief note on the style employed in this passage should be added. It is at this juncture that we find the breathtakingly beautiful style of the Qur’ān demonstrating the procession of faith as it confronts erring jāhiliyyah throughout human history. It is the beauty of the truth: simple, natural, clear, confident, reassured, strong and profound: “Said the messengers sent to them: ‘Can there be any doubt about God, the Originator of the heavens and the earth? He calls you, so that He may forgive you your sins and grant you respite for an appointed term.’ They replied: ‘You are but mortals like ourselves. You want to turn us away from what our forefathers used to worship. Bring us, then, a clear proof’ Their messengers replied: ‘We are indeed but mortals like yourselves. But God bestows His grace on whomever He wills of His servants. It is not within our power to bring you any proof except by God’s leave. It is in God that all believers must place their trust. And why should we not place our trust in God, when He has guided us on our paths?

Hence we will bear with patience all your persecution. In God let all the faithful place their trust.’“ (Verses 10-12)

Here we see all God’s messengers marching in a single procession, confronting jāhiliyyah which is one in nature. This essential fact remains true despite the changing circumstances. The beauty of the Qur’ānic style is at its best where it describes the truth embodied in the message preached by the prophets as related to the truth behind the existence of the universe: “Said the messengers sent to them: Can there be any doubt about God, the Originator of the heavens and earth?” (Verse 10) “And why should we not place our trust in God, when He has guided us on our paths?” (Verse 12) “Do you not see that God has created the heavens and the earth in accordance with the truth. If He so wills, He can do away with you and bring into being a new creation. This is no difficult thing for God.” (Verses 19-20)

Thus the fundamental relationship between the truth embodied in the divine message and the truth of the existence of the universe is emphasized as one single truth, derived from God who is the truth. It is firmly established and deeply rooted, just like “a good tree: its roots are firm and its branches reach to the sky.” (Verse 24)

Everything else is false, transitory, similar to “a corrupt tree, torn up onto the face of the earth. It cannot have a stable position.” (Verse 26)

The same beauty is seen in the nature of the messengers’ understanding of the nature of their Lord, and the nature of Godhead as it fills the hearts of His faithful servants: “And why should we not place our trust in God, when He has guided us on our paths? Hence we will bear with patience all your persecution. In God alone let all the faithful place their trust.” (Verse 12)

All these are aspects of that spectacular beauty which human expression cannot describe. It can only be pointed to, just like we point to a far away star. We do not reach it with our signal, but we draw attention to it as it lights up our horizon.