Islam

Why Is It Called Islam?

Every religion in the world has been named after some particular person, or after the nation among whom it arose. For example, Christianity was named after its preacher, Hazrat Jesus (peace be upon him). Buddhism was named after its founder, Gautama Buddha. Zoroastrianism was likewise named after its founder, Zoroaster. Judaism, again, arose among a particular group called Judah. The other religions of the world have similarly been named. Islam, however, has a remarkable distinction in this respect. Its name is not connected with any particular person or nation. Rather, in the meaning of the word “Islam,” we find a particular quality, and that quality is expressed in this name. The name itself makes clear that Islam is not the invention of one person, nor is this religion confined to one nation. Islam is not the property of any particular person, country, or nation. Its purpose is to create the qualities of Islam in people. In every age and among every people, those truthful and righteous people in whom these qualities were found were “Muslims.” People of this kind exist today and will continue to exist in the future.

The Meaning of the Word Islam

In Arabic, “Islam” means obedience and submission. Since acknowledging obedience and submission to Allah is the aim of this religion, it has been named “Islam.”

The Significance of Islam

Everyone can see that the moon, sun, stars, and all the creations of the universe operate according to an unchanging law. There is no possibility of the slightest deviation from that law. The world revolves at a fixed speed, traversing a fixed course. The time, speed, and path appointed for its movement never change. Water and air, heat and light—everything functions under a precise order. The inanimate world, plants, and the realm of animals and birds also have their own laws. According to those laws they are born, grow, decay, live, and die. If we reflect on the condition of human beings, we see that they too are subject to a particular natural law. According to a specific biological law, a person is born, breathes, and lives by absorbing water, food, heat, and light. The movement of the heart, the circulation of blood through the body, and breathing all proceed under the same fixed order. The brain, stomach, veins and arteries, muscles, hands, feet, tongue, ears, and nose—in short, every organ and limb of the body—functions according to the same method appointed for each of them.

The powerful law under which everything operates, from the greatest star in the universe to the tiniest particle, is the creation of an Almighty Lawgiver. The entire creation and every substance within it acknowledge obedience to this Lawgiver, and all follow the rules He has given. I have already said that Islam means obedience to and surrender before Allah, the Lord of the universe; in this respect, therefore, the religion of all creation is Islam. The moon, sun, stars, plants, stones, and animals are all Muslims! A person who does not know Allah, denies Him, worships someone other than Allah, or makes someone else a partner in Allah’s authority is also a Muslim by nature, because every aspect of his life and death follows Allah’s law. Every one of his limbs and every particle of his body follows Islam, because his creation, growth, and movement are all subject to the rules given by Allah. The tongue with which, out of ignorance, he speaks of shirk and kufr is, by nature, also Muslim. The head that he forcibly bows before someone other than Allah is, by birth, Muslim; and the heart in which, out of ignorance, he cherishes respect and love for another is also Muslim by its innate nature. They are all obedient to Allah’s law, and all their actions proceed in accordance with it.

Let us now consider the matter from another perspective.

Within nature’s play, human existence has two aspects. On the one hand, like all other created beings, a person is bound by the fixed laws of the living world and must follow them. On the other hand, he possesses knowledge and the ability to think, understand, and reach particular decisions. According to his own choice, he follows one view and rejects another; he prefers one method and dislikes another. In matters of life, he sometimes voluntarily devises rules and principles, and at other times adopts rules and principles made by others. In this respect, he is not subject to exactly the same fixed laws as the other things in the world; rather, he has been given freedom of thought, opinion, and action.

These two aspects have distinct existences in human life. In the first respect, a human being is, like all other things in the world, a Muslim by birth and is compelled to be a Muslim in the manner I have described. In the second respect, he possesses both the ability to be Muslim and the ability not to be Muslim, and it is because of this power of choice that humanity has been divided into two classes.

One class consists of those who have recognized their Creator, accepted Him as their only Master and Owner, and, even in matters where they were given the power of choice, chosen to follow the path of obeying the law prescribed by Him. They have become complete Muslims. Their Islam has become complete, because their entire lives have been surrendered wholly to Allah. They obeyed His laws unknowingly and involuntarily, but knowingly and willingly they too adopted the path of obedience to Him. They once followed the path of submission to Allah unwillingly; voluntarily, too, they chose that same path. They have now become possessors of true knowledge, because they have known the Allah who gave them the ability to know and learn. They have now acquired sound reasoning and judgment, because, by thinking and understanding, they chose to obey the very Allah who gave them the ability to think, understand, and reach correct decisions. Their tongues have become truthful, because they have proclaimed the sovereignty of the One who gave them the power of speech. Their entire lives have now become firmly rooted in truth, because, willingly and unwillingly alike, they follow only Allah’s law. They are in harmony with all creation, because they too serve the One whom all created things serve. On earth they are Allah’s caliphs (representatives); the whole world now belongs to them, and they belong to Allah.

The Significance of Kufr

Opposite the kind of person described above is another class of people. He was born a Muslim and remained a Muslim throughout his life without knowing or understanding it. But, using his own knowledge and intellect, he did not recognize Allah, and within the sphere of his power of choice he refused to obey Him. Such a person is a kafir. The original meaning of the word “kufr” is to cover or conceal something. Such a person is called a “kafir” (one who conceals) because he has cast a veil of ignorance over his own nature. He was born with an Islamic nature. His entire body and every part of it continue to function according to that Islamic nature, but his view has moved away from the natural disposition of the world around him and from his own innate nature. He has thought contrary to this nature and tried to live in opposition to it.

It is now clear how great a delusion the kafir is immersed in.

The Harmfulness of Kufr

Kufr is a form of ignorance; indeed, kufr itself is the real ignorance. If a person remains ignorant because he does not know Allah, what could be greater ignorance than that? A person sees day and night that the vast workshop of creation is operating, yet he does not know who created and runs this workshop. Who is the Craftsman who brought into existence countless incomparable creatures like human beings by combining coal, iron, calcium, sodium, and several other substances? A person looks around the world and sees objects and activities containing remarkable perfection in engineering, mathematics, chemistry, and various branches of knowledge; yet he does not know what Being, endowed with extraordinary and limitless knowledge and science, is directing these activities of creation. One should consider that if a person does not even know the elementary level of knowledge, how will the gateway to true knowledge open before him? However much he thinks and investigates, he will find no straightforward, correct, reliable path in any direction, because at every stage, from the beginning to the end of his effort, the darkness of ignorance will be evident.

Kufr is an injustice; indeed, this kufr is the greatest injustice. What is injustice? Injustice is forcibly making something perform an action contrary to its innate nature. We already know that everything in the world follows Allah’s command, and that its innate nature (fitrah) is “Islam,” meaning obedience to Allah’s law. The human body and every part of it were born upon this nature. Allah has, of course, granted human beings some freedom to direct these things, but the demand of the innate nature of every thing is that it be used according to Allah’s will. Yet the person who commits kufr uses it for purposes contrary to its nature. In his heart he cherishes the superiority, love, and fear of another, whereas the nature of his heart demands that he cherish in it the superiority, love, and fear of Allah alone. He uses his limbs and everything under his dominion in the world to achieve purposes contrary to Allah’s will, whereas their nature demands that they be made to work according to Allah’s law. Thus, what greater wrongdoer can there be than the person who continually commits injustice against everything at every moment of his life—even against his own existence?

Kufr is not only injustice; it is also rebellion, ingratitude, and betrayal of trust. Let us consider what human beings can truly call their own. Did a person create his own brain, or did Allah create it? Is the human being or Allah the creator of his heart, eyes, tongue, hands, feet, and every other limb? Did human beings create everything around them, or did Allah create those things, make them useful and necessary for people, and give people the power to use them? Everyone will say that these things belong to Allah: He created them, He is the Owner of everything, and people gained control over them only as a gift from Allah. If this is the reality, then who could be a greater rebel than the person who uses the brain Allah gave him to think contrary to Allah’s will? Allah gave him eyes, a tongue, hands, feet, and countless other things, and he has used all of them for purposes contrary to Allah’s choice and will. If a servant eats his master’s salt and then acts against his trust, everyone calls him ungrateful. If a government officer uses the authority granted by the government against the government, he is called a rebel. If someone betrays a beneficent friend, everyone readily calls him ungrateful. But how substantial is betrayal and ingratitude between human beings? From where does one person obtain the food he gives another? It is food provided by Allah. From where did the authority given by a government to its employees come? Allah gave it the power to govern the state. From where does a benefactor obtain the ability to benefit another? Everything is a gift from Allah. Who placed parental love for children in the hearts of parents? Who gave the mother breasts? Who placed such feelings in the father’s heart that he gladly spends the wealth earned through hard labor on an inactive mass of flesh, sacrificing his time, money, and comfort for its upbringing and education? If a person disbelieves in Allah—the true benefactor of humanity, the real King, and the greatest Sustainer—does not accept Him as Allah, denies serving Him, and turns away from obeying Him, what rebellion, ingratitude, and betrayal could be more serious than that?

It can never be supposed that by committing kufr a person can cause Allah any harm. The kingdom of that King is so vast that even with the largest telescope we have still been unable to determine where it begins or ends. That King is so mighty that, at His command, our earth, the sun, Mars, and millions upon millions of planets and satellites revolve in circles like a ball. He is so rich that no one shares with Him dominion over all creation. He is so self-sufficient and independent that everything depends on Him while He depends on no one. Does a human being possess enough existence to harm that King by accepting or rejecting Him? Through kufr and rebellion, a person cannot harm Him; rather, he merely opens the path to his own destruction.

The inevitable result of kufr and disobedience is that a person becomes unsuccessful and hopeless forever. Such a person will never find the easy path to knowledge, because one who does not know his own Creator cannot truly know anything else. His intellect always travels along crooked paths, because he errs in recognizing his Creator and therefore cannot understand anything correctly. Failure after failure is inevitable in every activity of his life. His morality, culture, social system, means of earning a livelihood, system of administration and governance, and politics—in short, every activity of his life—must be driven toward corruption. On earth he will create disorder, commit murder, seize others’ rights, and perpetrate oppression and persecution. Through ill will, injustice, wrongdoing, and evil, he will make his own life bitter and unpleasant. Then, when he leaves this world and reaches the world of the Hereafter, the things against which he committed injustice throughout his life will complain against him. His brain, heart, eyes, ears, hands, feet—in short, all his limbs—will accuse him before Allah’s court, saying: “This rebellious oppressor against Allah forcibly made us work in the path of his rebellion.” Everything with which he disobeyed in the world, earned through unlawful means and spent unlawfully, everything he seized through disobedience and used in the path of his rebellion, will appear before him as a complainant. Then Allah, the true Judge, will punish the rebel with humiliating punishment in retribution for the wrongs done to the oppressed.

The Benefits of Islam

So much for the harmfulness of kufr. Let us now see what benefits can be gained by following the path of Islam.

The preceding discussion has shown that countless signs of Allah’s authority are spread throughout every part of this world. The vast workshop of creation operates under a complete law and an unchanging order, testifying that its Creator and Director is an Almighty Ruler under whose administration no one can remain disobedient. Like all creation, the nature of human beings is obedience to Him. Therefore, unconsciously, a person obeys Him day and night, because he cannot remain alive while acting contrary to his natural law.

But Allah has given human beings the ability to acquire knowledge, the power to think and understand, and the capacity to distinguish between good and evil; He has also granted them some freedom of will and choice. In fact, this freedom itself is the human test: a test of knowledge, reason, discernment, and, in addition, of how one uses the freedom one has been given. People were not compelled to adopt any particular method in this test, because imposing compulsion would defeat its purpose. Everyone can understand that if, after receiving a question paper, an examinee were compelled to give a particular kind of answer, such an examination would not be effective. The examinee’s true ability will be demonstrated only when he is given freedom to offer any kind of answer. If he gives the correct answer, he will succeed and the doors of future progress will open before him. If he gives the wrong answer, he will fail and, through his incompetence, block his own path to progress. In exactly the same way, Allah has given human beings the freedom to follow any path in this test.

Here we may speak of a person who has not understood his own innate nature or that of creation, who has erred in recognizing the essence and attributes of the Creator, and who has used the freedom of independent thought granted to him to follow the path of disobedience and rebellion. This person has failed in the tests of knowledge, reason, discernment, and devotion to duty. He has himself proved that he is an inferior person in every respect. Therefore, the consequence described above awaits him.

On the other hand, there is another person who has succeeded in this test. Using knowledge and reason correctly, he has known and accepted Allah, although he was not compelled to follow this path. He has not erred in distinguishing good from evil; through his own free power of choice, he has chosen the right path, although he was free to take the wrong one. He has understood his innate nature, recognized Allah, and adopted the path of obedience to Allah despite possessing the freedom to disobey. He has directed his reason along the correct path. He has seen the right things with his eyes, heard the right words with his ears, and reached the correct conclusions by using his mind; thus he has earned success and honor in the test. By recognizing the truth, he has proved himself a seeker of truth, and by bowing his head before the truth, he has shown himself to be a worshipper of truth.

There is no doubt that whoever possesses all these qualities achieves success in both this world and the Hereafter.

This class of people will follow the correct path in every field of knowledge and reason, because the person who has understood Allah’s essence and learned His attributes has known everything from the beginning to the end of knowledge. Such a person can never follow the path of error, because from the outset he has stepped toward the truth and has learned his final destination with complete conviction. He will then try, through philosophical thought and investigation, to uncover the mysteries of creation, but unlike the kafir philosopher, he will never become submerged in a heap of doubts and confusion. Using science, he will try to understand the laws of nature and bring the hidden treasures of creation into the light. He will discover all the forces Allah has created in the world and in the human body. He will seek the best ways to use all the substances found on earth and in the heavens, but devotion to Allah will turn him back at every step from misusing science. He will never sink into such misguided thoughts as: “I am the owner of these things; I have conquered nature; I will use knowledge for my own benefit; I will bring destruction to the world and establish the dominion of my power throughout it through plunder, devastation, and murder.” This is the work of the kafir scientist. The more scientific achievement a Muslim scientist attains, the more his faith in Allah will grow, and the more he will become a grateful servant of Allah. His attitude will be: “I will try to benefit myself and all the people of the world from the power my Master has given me and the way He has increased my knowledge.” This is the proper way for him to express gratitude.

Likewise, in history, economics, politics, law, and the other branches of knowledge, a Muslim will not lag behind a kafir in research and activity, but the outlook of the two will be different. The Muslim will study every branch of knowledge with a sound perspective; he will have a precise goal before him and will reach a sound conclusion. From humanity’s past experience in history, he will learn lessons, discover the true causes of the rise and fall of nations, and investigate the beneficial aspects of their civilization and culture. He will benefit by studying the lives of the righteous people described in history. He will avoid the causes that destroyed many past nations. In economics, he will seek novel methods of earning and spending wealth that can benefit all people; his aim will not be the benefit of one person and the harm of countless others. In politics, his complete attention will be directed toward achieving the goal of establishing a kingdom of peace, justice, honesty, and nobility in the world. No individual or group will be able to turn Allah’s servants into its own servants; governing authority and all power will be regarded as a trust from Allah and used for the benefit of Allah’s servants. In law, he will consider how to establish people’s rightful rights with justice and fairness, so that no one may be oppressed in any way.

A Muslim’s character will contain fear of Allah, truthfulness, and justice. He will live in the world with the conviction that Allah owns everything. Everything in my possession and in the possession of people in the world is a gift from Allah. I am not the owner of anything—not even my own body or the strength of my body. Everything is a trust from Allah, and it is my duty to use, according to Allah’s will, the freedom I have been given to spend from this trust. One day Allah will take this trust back from me, and on that day I will have to account for everything.

The character of a person who lives in the world with this conviction can easily be imagined. He will keep his mind free from evil thoughts, protect his brain from thoughts of wrongdoing, guard his ears from listening to immoral talk, protect his eyes from casting an evil gaze on anyone, and preserve his tongue from uttering falsehood. He will prefer to remain hungry rather than fill his stomach with unlawful things. He will never raise his hand to commit injustice. He will never set his feet on the path of wrongdoing. Even if his head were cut off, he would not bow it before falsehood. He will not satisfy any desire or need through injustice and falsehood. He will embody honesty and nobility. He will regard truth and justice as dearer than everything in the world and will sacrifice all his interests and inner desires—even his own self—for them. He will hate injustice and wrongdoing above all else and will not support them out of fear of loss or greed for gain. Only people of this class can achieve success in this world.

Who could be more deserving of honor, more noble, than the person whose head bows before no one except Allah and whose hand is extended before no one except Allah? How could humiliation ever come near him?

Who could be stronger than the person whose heart fears no one except Allah and expects reward and favor from no one except Allah? What power can divert him from the path of truth and justice? What wealth can purchase his faith?

Who could be richer or more prosperous in this world than the person who is not devoted to comfort, does not serve sensuality, does not live a lawless life of greed, is content with earnings gained through honest labor, contemptuously ignores heaps of unlawful wealth when they are placed before him, and has attained the greatest human wealth—peace and contentment?

Who could be a greater friend and more universally loved than the person who acknowledges everyone’s rights and deprives no one of his rightful due; who treats everyone well and mistreats no one; whose aim is to strive for everyone’s welfare, yet asks nothing in return? People’s hearts naturally incline toward him, and everyone is compelled to draw him close with respect and affection.

There can be no one in the world more trustworthy than he, for he never betrays anyone’s trust and never turns away from the path of justice. He keeps his promises and demonstrates integrity in his conduct, and, whether anyone sees him or not, he does everything faithfully, knowing that Allah sees everything. Who would question the trustworthiness of such a person, or fail to place confidence in him?

Once the Muslim character is properly understood, it can be believed that a Muslim can never remain humiliated, defeated, or subject to another’s command in this world. He will always remain victorious and a leader, because no power can prevail over the qualities that Islam has created within him.

When, having thus lived in the world with dignity and honor, he appears before his Lord, Allah’s boundless grace and mercy will be poured upon him, because he has fully discharged the trust Allah had entrusted to him and has achieved complete success with distinction in the test to which Allah subjected him. This is everlasting success, whose continuity extends from the life of this world to the life of the Hereafter and never comes to an end.

This is Islam—the natural religion of humanity. This way of life is not confined within the boundaries of any nation or country. In every age, among every nation and in every country, the God-fearing and truthful people who have passed away followed Islam as their religion and ideal. They were Muslims—perhaps the name of that religion in their language was Islam, or perhaps it was something else.

Faith and Obedience

Obedience Requires Knowledge and Conviction

It has been learned from the discussion in the previous chapter that obedience to Allah is what is called Islam. I shall now say that a person cannot obey Allah until he acquires certain specific knowledge and that knowledge reaches the level of conviction.

Above all, a person needs complete conviction regarding Allah’s existence. For if he does not believe that Allah exists, how can he show obedience to Him?

Along with this, knowledge of Allah’s attributes is necessary. If a person does not know that Allah is One and has no partner in sovereignty, how can he protect himself from the danger of bowing before and begging from others? A person who cannot believe that Allah sees everything, hears everything, and knows everything—how can he keep himself away from disobedience to Allah? When these matters are considered calmly, it becomes clear that until a person possesses correct knowledge of Allah’s attributes, the qualities essential for following Islam’s simple and straight path in thought, conduct, and action cannot develop within him. Nor is it enough for that knowledge to remain confined to the limits of mere information. Rather, he must firmly implant it in his heart with conviction, so that his mind may remain safe from thoughts opposed to it and his life from actions contrary to his knowledge.

A person must then learn what the correct way is to live according to Allah’s will: which actions Allah likes and which he should perform, and which things Allah dislikes and from which he should keep away. For this purpose, it is essential for a person to become fully acquainted with Allah’s laws and commandments. He must possess complete conviction that Allah’s pleasure can be attained only by following these laws and commandments. For if he has no knowledge of them from the outset, whom will he obey? And if he has knowledge but lacks complete conviction—or holds the notion that some other law and system besides these could also be sound—how can he follow them correctly?

A person must then learn what the correct way is to live according to Allah’s will: which actions Allah likes and which he should perform, and which things Allah dislikes and from which he should keep away. For this purpose, it is essential for a person to become fully acquainted with Allah’s laws and commandments. He must possess complete conviction that Allah’s pleasure can be attained only by following these laws and commandments. For if he has no knowledge of them from the outset, whom will he obey? And if he has knowledge but lacks complete conviction—or holds the notion that some other law and system besides these could also be flawless—how can he follow them correctly?

A person must also learn what the consequences are of following a path opposed to Allah’s will and of refusing to obey the laws He approves, and what reward there is for obeying His commands. For this purpose, it is essential to possess knowledge and conviction concerning the life of the Hereafter, appearing before Allah’s court, the certainty of receiving punishment for disobedience, and the reward for obedience. To one who is unaware of the life of the Hereafter, both obedience and disobedience appear futile. He thinks that, in the end, the condition of the one who obeys and the one who does not is the same, since both will be reduced to dust. How, then, can it be expected that he will agree to bear the obligations and hardships of obedience and restrain himself from sins whose worldly consequences he does not fear? A person who holds such ideas can never become obedient to Allah’s law. Similarly, a person who has knowledge of the life of the Hereafter and of appearing before Allah’s court, but lacks conviction, cannot remain firm in obedience. For no one can form a firm view about anything while living with doubt and hesitation. A person applies himself to an action only when he becomes convinced that it is beneficial. Likewise, he resolves to abandon another action only when he becomes fully convinced that it is harmful. Thus it is clear that, just as knowledge of the consequences and results of following a particular method is essential, that knowledge must also reach the level of conviction.

The Meaning of Faith

The thing described above as knowledge and conviction is called iman. Iman means knowing and accepting. A person who knows about Allah’s oneness, His true attributes, His law, and His rewards and punishments, and holds conviction about these matters in his heart, is called a mu’min. The result of iman is that it makes a person a Muslim—that is, obedient and submissive to Allah.

From this explanation of iman, it can easily be understood that no person can become a Muslim without iman. The relationship between Islam and iman is exactly like the relationship between a tree and its seed. A tree cannot grow without a seed. Of course, it may happen that a seed is sown in the earth, but because the soil is poor or the weather unfavorable, the tree grows weak or deformed. Similarly, if a person has no iman from the beginning, how can he become a Muslim? It is certainly possible that a person has iman in his heart but, because of weak desires, distorted education, or bad company, is unable to become a complete and mature Muslim.

If the whole of humanity is considered from the standpoint of iman and Islam, it may be divided into four classes:

First: Those who possess iman, and whose iman makes them completely obedient to Allah’s commands and prohibitions. They keep away from the things Allah dislikes just as a person keeps away from contact with fire. They perform whatever Allah likes with the same enthusiasm with which a person works eagerly to earn wealth. These are the true Muslims.

Second: Those who possess iman, but whose iman is not strong enough to make them completely obedient to Allah. Although they are of a somewhat lower rank, they are nevertheless Muslims. Even when disobedient, they are still Muslims. If they disobey, they will deserve punishment according to the degree of their individual offense; but although they are offenders, they are not rebels. For they acknowledge the king as king and recognize his law as law.

Third: Those who have no iman, but publicly perform actions that appear to conform to Allah’s law. In reality, they are rebels. Their apparent good deeds are not truly obedience and submission to Allah, and therefore no reliance can be placed upon them. They may be compared to those who do not acknowledge the king as king and do not regard his law as law. Even if the actions of such people are not contrary to the law, they still cannot be called loyal to the king or followers of his law. They will certainly be counted among the rebels.

Fourth: Those who have no iman and are also wicked and evildoers in their actions. These are the lowest class of people, for they are both rebels and troublemakers. This classification of humanity clearly shows that human success in reality depends solely upon iman. Islam—whether complete or incomplete—grows only from the seed of iman. Where iman is absent, kufr—rebellion against Allah—takes its place, whether its intensity is great or small.

The Means of Acquiring Knowledge

The necessity of iman for obedience has been established. The question now is: what is the means of acquiring knowledge about Allah’s attributes, the laws He approves, and the life of the Hereafter—knowledge upon which conviction can be based?

It has already been stated that signs of Allah’s workmanship are spread in every direction. All these signs testify that this workshop is the creation of one Craftsman and that He alone is running it. The radiance of all Allah’s attributes is visible within these signs: His wisdom, knowledge, power, mercy, lordship, and anger—in short, there is no attribute of His that has not been reflected through His works. Yet human intellect and human ability repeatedly err when trying to see and understand these things. These signs are present before people’s eyes. Nevertheless, some say there are two gods, some say three, and some believe in countless gods; while others divide Allah’s authority into pieces. They assign separate gods to rain, wind, and fire. In short, their claim is that every force has a separate god, and that one chief god presides over all those gods. Human intellect has been deceived many times in trying to comprehend their existence and attributes. It is not possible to give a detailed account of this here.

People also hold various mistaken ideas about the life of the Hereafter. Some say that after death a person will dissolve into the earth and there will be no further life. Others say that a person will be born again and again in this world and will continue to receive punishment or reward for his deeds.

It is even more difficult to determine, through one’s own intellect, the law whose observance is absolutely essential for living according to Allah’s will.

“Even if a person possesses sound intellect and a high level of educational attainment, after years of experimentation, thought, and research he can reach conclusions about these matters only up to a certain point. In such a situation, he will not develop complete conviction that he has fully grasped the truth. Certainly, if people had been left without any guidance, their intellect and knowledge could have been tested to the fullest. In that case, those who reached the path of truth and justice through their own effort and ability would have succeeded, while those who did not reach it would have failed. But Allah did not subject His servants to such a difficult test! In His own mercy, He raised from among humanity people whom He granted accurate knowledge of His attributes. He also taught them the method by which people could live in this world according to Allah’s will. Giving them correct knowledge of the life of the Hereafter, He instructed them to convey this knowledge to other people. These are Allah’s prophets. The means Allah used to give them knowledge is called revelation, and the book in which this knowledge was given to them is called Allah’s Book and the Word of Allah. Now a person’s intellect and ability are tested by observing the holy lives of these prophets, reviewing their exalted teachings, and determining whether he has iman in them. Those who seek and uphold the truth will pass the test by accepting the word of truth and the teachings of sincere people. If they do not accept them, it will be understood that they lack the ability to recognize and accept truth and justice. This rejection will cause them to fail the test, and they will never acquire correct knowledge of the life of the Hereafter.”

Faith in the Unseen

When a person has no knowledge of a particular matter, he seeks out a knowledgeable person and acts according to his instructions. When someone is ill, he does not treat himself; rather, he goes to a doctor. After learning of the doctor’s qualifications, experience, the many patients who have recovered under his care, and other such facts, he develops faith that the doctor possesses the qualifications needed to treat him. Relying on this faith, he uses the medicines exactly as the doctor instructs and avoids the things the doctor tells him to avoid. Similarly, in legal matters a person places faith in a lawyer and follows him. In matters of education, he places faith in a teacher and follows him. When traveling somewhere without knowing the way, he must place faith in someone familiar with the route and follow the path that person shows him. In short, in every worldly matter a person places faith in an experienced person for the sake of his own understanding and knowledge and is obliged to obey him. This is called faith in the unseen.

Faith in the unseen means learning from a knowledgeable person whatever is unknown to people and holding conviction in it. People have no knowledge of Allah’s essence and attributes. No one knows that His angels are carrying out His commands and surrounding humanity on every side. No one knows the way of living according to Allah’s will. The true condition of the life of the Hereafter is unknown to everyone. People must acquire knowledge of all these matters from someone whose trustworthiness, truthfulness, simplicity, fear of Allah, pure and virtuous life, and learned discourse will convince them that whatever he says is accurate and that all his words deserve conviction. This is called faith in the unseen. Faith in the unseen is essential for obeying Allah and acting according to His will, because it is impossible for people to acquire correct knowledge through any means other than the prophets, and without correct knowledge it is impossible to follow the path of Islam correctly.

Prophethood

Three matters were discussed in the previous chapter:

First, obedience to Allah requires accurate knowledge of Allah’s essence and attributes, His chosen way of life, and the rewards for good deeds and consequences of evil deeds in the Hereafter; and this knowledge must be advanced to such a degree that complete conviction, or iman, develops regarding it.

Second, Allah did not subject people to the difficult test of acquiring this knowledge through their own efforts. Rather, from among humanity He chose servants—called prophets—to whom He gave this knowledge through revelation, and He commanded them to convey it to His other servants.

Third, ordinary people have only one responsibility: to recognize Allah’s true prophet. Once the truth is known that a certain person is truly Allah’s prophet, it becomes their essential duty to have iman in every teaching he gives, obey every instruction of his, and follow the method he himself followed.

I shall now first discuss the essence of prophethood and how a prophet can be recognized.

The Essence of Prophethood

Allah Himself has provided everything people need in this world. When a child is born, there is no accounting for how many things he is sent into the world with. Eyes for seeing, ears for hearing, a nose for smelling and drawing breath, a sense of touch throughout the skin for feeling, feet for walking, hands for working, a brain for thinking, and countless other things, provided in advance according to every kind of need, have been attached to his tiny body. As soon as he sets foot in the world, he finds an abundance of means necessary for sustaining life—so many that they cannot be counted. There is air, light, water, and earth; milk has already been stored in his mother’s breast; parents and relatives—and even in the hearts of others—Allah has instilled affection, love, and sympathy for him, through which he is nurtured. As he grows, every kind of thing continues to become available to meet his needs, as though all the forces of earth and heaven are working for his nurture and service.

Let us proceed a little further. People have been given everything required for carrying on the affairs of the world. Physical strength, intelligence, understanding, the power of expression, and many other abilities exist in people in varying degrees. But here we find another remarkable aspect of Allah’s arrangement. He has not granted all people exactly the same abilities. If He had, no one would have needed anyone else, and no one would have cared even the least about anyone else. Therefore, Allah has created among people every kind of ability according to humanity’s collective needs; the arrangement is that one person is given more of one ability, while another is given some other ability. Some possess greater strength for physical labor than others. Some people are born with special aptitude for particular arts or professions, which is not found in others. Some have more talent and intellectual power than others. By inborn qualities, some become military commanders, while others possess a special capacity for leadership. Some are born with extraordinary eloquence, while others possess a natural gift for composition. Some are born with minds especially inclined toward mathematics and can effortlessly solve complex problems that are beyond the understanding of others. Again, some are born with the power to invent many strange and novel things, and the world gazes at their inventive ability in astonishment. Some possess such incomparable knowledge of law that their insight reaches the intricate facts of laws which others cannot understand even after years of effort to uncover them. This is Allah’s gift. No person can create such ability within himself through his own effort. Nor are these things produced through education and training. In reality, they are inborn abilities, and through His own knowledge Allah grants them to whomever He wills.

If we also reflect on this gift from Allah, we will see that the abilities most needed for the development of human civilization are created in greater measure among people, while those needed less are created in lesser measure. Ordinary soldiers are born in great numbers. Farmers, potters, smiths, and countless other kinds of workers are born in abundance, but people possessing extraordinary intellect in knowledge and science, along with ability in politics and military command, are born less frequently. Those endowed with extraordinary ability, skill, and talent in a particular field are born even more rarely, because their distinguished achievements continue to meet the needs of people like them for many subsequent centuries.

It must now be considered that the birth among people of engineers, mathematicians, scientists, legal experts, political specialists, economists, and people qualified in various other fields is not sufficient to ensure success in human worldly life. There is a need for another class of people greater than all of these—people who can guide humanity to the right path of Allah. Other people can learn only what exists for the people of the world and the ways in which it can be used; but there must also be someone to say: Why was the human being himself created? Who gave people all the things of this world? And what is the will and purpose of that Giver? For people can attain certain and everlasting success only by living in this world according to His will. This is humanity’s true and most important need. Human reason cannot accept that Allah, who has arranged to fulfill even our smallest needs, would leave this important need unfulfilled. No, that is impossible. Just as Allah created people qualified in particular arts and in knowledge and science, He also created people who possessed the highest capacity to know Allah. From His own work, He gave them knowledge of Allah’s law—of religion, conduct, and the way of life—and appointed them to teach these matters to others. In our language, such people are called prophets, messengers, or paigambars.

The Character of a Prophet

Just as people endowed with abilities in various sciences, knowledge, and arts are born with particular talents and dispositions, so a prophet also comes with a particular kind of disposition.

As soon as we hear the words of a poet endowed with innate talent, we understand that he was born with a special ability, because some other people cannot recite comparable poetry even after making great efforts. Similarly, the distinct identity of speakers, writers, inventors, and leaders possessing innate talent becomes evident through their respective work, because each of them displays in his own field an extraordinary ability not found in others. The same is true of a prophet. His mind is capable of contemplating problems that other minds cannot even approach. He can illuminate various subjects by saying things that others are unable to say. Matters whose depths others cannot reach even after years of thought and research are reached by his insight spontaneously. Whatever he says is accepted by our reason, our hearts perceive its truth, and the truth of each of his statements is demonstrated by the world’s endless experiments and the creation’s limitless experience. Of course, if we ourselves tried to say similar things, our failure would be certain. His disposition is so pure and immaculate that in every matter he adopts a truthful, simple, straightforward, and noble course. He never makes a false statement or commits a dishonest act. He always teaches virtue and good deeds, and he puts into practice whatever advice he gives to others. No example can be found in his life of his doing himself the opposite of what he says. No touch of self-interest enters his words or deeds. He accepts hardship for the welfare of others, but does not harm others for his own benefit. His entire life becomes an ideal of truth and justice, nobility, purity, lofty thought, and the highest humanity; even after careful investigation, no defect or deviation can be found in him. From these qualities alone, this person can clearly be recognized as Allah’s true prophet.

Obedience to the Prophet

Whenever a particular person is recognized as Allah’s true Prophet, it becomes essential to accept his word, acknowledge his obedience, and follow the path he has shown. To accept someone as a Prophet yet not obey his commands is wholly contrary to reason. To recognize a particular person as a Prophet means accepting that whatever he has said, he has said from Allah, and whatever he has done, he has done according to Allah’s will and pleasure. Thereafter, whatever is said or done against him is against Allah. And whatever is contrary to Allah can never be true. For this reason, after accepting someone as a Prophet, it naturally becomes an obligatory duty to accept his words without protest. Whether the wisdom and benefit of his words are understood or not, one must bow one’s head before his commands and prohibitions. The message that comes from the Prophet must be accepted as true, full of wisdom, and reasonable solely because it is the Prophet’s message. If someone cannot comprehend the reason behind one of his instructions, this does not mean that there is any defect in it; rather, it means that there is some error in that person’s understanding.

It is clear that if a person is not fully familiar with a particular art, he cannot perceive all its subtleties. But if he were to refuse to accept an expert’s word merely on the grounds that he could not understand it, how great a fool would he prove himself to be? Every task in the world requires an expert. Once an expert is acknowledged, one must place complete trust in him and must not interfere in his work, because no one can be an expert in every matter. No person can understand everything in the world equally. For any purpose, one must seek an expert with full knowledge and care; and once complete conviction arises that a particular person is the best expert for achieving that purpose, the only duty is to rely fully upon him. Interfering in his work and repeatedly saying, ‘Explain everything to me first, otherwise I will not accept it,’ is not wise; it is simply the act of a fool. If, after entrusting a lawsuit to a lawyer, someone created such disturbances, the lawyer would throw him out of his office. If someone went to a doctor for treatment but demanded proof for every instruction, the doctor would abandon the treatment. The same is true in matters of religion. Everyone needs to acquire knowledge of Allah. Everyone wants to know by what method one can live according to Allah’s will and pleasure. Yet no one has a correct means of knowing this independently. Therefore, it is everyone’s duty to seek a true Prophet of Allah. One must proceed in this search with great caution, knowledge, and understanding. For if someone accepts any other person as a Prophet instead of a true Prophet, that person will naturally lead him astray. But after repeated examination and testing, when conviction and certainty arise that such-and-such a person is Allah’s true Prophet, then placing complete trust in him and obeying each of his commands becomes obligatory for everyone.

The Necessity of Believing in the Prophets

Once it is known that the path directed by Allah’s Prophet is the true and straight path of Islam, it becomes self-evident that believing in the Prophet, obeying him, and following the path he has shown are obligatory duties for every person. Whoever abandons the path shown by the Prophet and devises another path according to his own reasoning is certainly misguided.

In this matter, people follow many strange paths of error. One group acknowledges the truth of the Prophet but neither believes in him nor obeys his commands. Such people are not merely unbelievers; they are also foolish. For after acknowledging the Prophet as a true Prophet, refusing to follow his instructions means knowingly obeying falsehood. It is an obvious truth that no greater folly is possible than this.

Some people say, ‘We do not need to obey the Prophet. We can discover the path of truth through our own reason.’ This too is a dangerously mistaken path. From the study of mathematics, it is certain that only one straight line can be drawn from one point to another. Any other line drawn will either be curved or will not reach the other point. The path of truth, called in Islamic terminology the Sirat al-Mustaqim (the straight, correct path), follows the same principle. This path begins with humanity and reaches Allah, and according to the mathematical principle just mentioned, there can be only one such path. All other paths are either crooked or do not reach Allah. Therefore, since the Prophet has directed people to the easy and straight path, no other road can be the Sirat al-Mustaqim. Whoever abandons the path directed by the Prophet and searches for one independently must face one of two possible consequences. Either he will find no path by which to reach Allah, or, even if he finds one, it will be a crooked and lengthy path. Instead of a straight line, it will be a curved line. His destruction is inevitable in the first case, while in the second there can be no doubt that his folly will be proved. Even a foolish and ignorant animal abandons a crooked path and takes a straight one when going from one place to another. In such a case, if a righteous servant of Allah who has shown him the straight path keeps telling him, ‘No, I will not follow the path you have shown me; I will stumble along a crooked path and seek my destination for myself,’ what could he be called?

Anyone can understand this common error at a glance, but on deeper reflection it becomes even clearer that a person who refuses to believe in the Prophet can find neither a crooked nor a straight path to attain nearness to Allah. The reason is that anyone who refuses to accept the word of a pure and truthful person must certainly have some distortion in his mind that causes him to turn away from the true path. There may be a defect in his understanding, or his nature may be so distorted that he is unwilling to accept anything true and good. Perhaps he is blindly imitating his forefathers and unwilling to hear any adverse criticism of what has long been followed as custom. Or perhaps he has become a slave to his own desires and refuses to accept the Prophet’s teachings because, after accepting them, he would no longer have the freedom to engage in sinful and unlawful activities. If any one of these causes exists in a particular person, it is impossible for him to find Allah’s path. Conversely, if none of these causes exists in someone, it is impossible that a truthful, innocent, and upright person would refuse to accept the teachings of a true Prophet.

The most important point is that the Prophet was sent by Allah, and Allah Himself commanded people to believe in him and obey him. Whoever does not believe in the Prophet rebels against Allah Himself. A man who is a subject of a king is obliged to obey whomever the king appoints as governor. If he disobeys the governor appointed by the king, it means that he has rebelled against the king. Accepting the governing authority while refusing to obey its appointed governor is wholly contradictory. The same principle applies to Allah and His sent Prophet. Allah is the true King of all humanity. It is the duty of every person to acknowledge as Prophet the person He sent to guide humanity and whose obedience He commanded, to abandon obedience to everything else, and to follow only his path. Whoever turns away from following him is certainly an unbeliever. Whether he accepts Allah or not makes no difference.

A Brief History of Prophethood

I shall now explain how the chain of Prophethood began among humankind, how it gradually rose to the highest stage of development, and how it came to an end through the last and greatest Prophet.

It is known that Allah first created a single human being, and from that human being He created his mate. Then century after century passed. The descendants of that first human spread across the face of the earth. All the people living in the world today are the children of the first pair created. The religious and historical accounts of all peoples testify that the human race began with one person. Scientific investigations into human origins have found no evidence that separate human beings were created in different parts of the world. Rather, most scientists suppose that only one human being was created first in the world, and that all the people seen today in every part of the earth are descendants of that one person.

In our language, the first human being in the world is called Adam. The word Adami is derived from Adam, and it is synonymous with insan, or human being. Allah first appointed Adam, peace be upon him, as His Prophet and instructed him to teach Islam to his children and descendants, so that he might tell them: ‘Your God and the God of the whole world is One. Worship Him alone, bow your heads before Him alone, seek help from Him alone, and live on earth with honesty and justice according to His will and pleasure. If you live in this way, you will receive the desired reward; but if you turn away from obeying Him, you will deserve the severest punishment.’

Among the descendants of Adam, peace be upon him, those who were righteous continued to follow the easy path directed by their father, but the wicked abandoned that path. Gradually, every kind of wrongdoing arose. Some began worshipping the moon, the sun, and the stars; others began worshipping plants, animals, rivers, and mountains. Some thought that the wind, water, fire, disease, health, strength, and other beneficial elements and forces of nature each had separate gods, and that each god had to be worshipped so that each might be pleased and show them kindness. Thus, through ignorance, various forms of shirk (associating partners with Allah) and idol-worship arose, and countless religions emerged through them. This was the age when the descendants of Adam, peace be upon him, had spread to different parts of the world. Various nations arose across the earth. Each nation created a new religion, and each developed its own customs and practices. The teaching that Adam (peace be upon him) had presented to his descendants was forgotten along with the forgetting of Allah. People then began to serve their own desires. Every kind of wrongful custom arose, and every kind of ignorant idea spread everywhere. People began to judge good and evil wrongly. They regarded many wrongs as good and many good deeds as bad.

Allah began sending His Prophets among every nation. The other Prophets taught people the same teaching that Adam, peace be upon him, had first taught them. They reminded their respective nations of the teachings they had forgotten. They taught people to worship the One Allah and turned them away from shirk and idol-worship. Breaking the customs of ignorance, they guided people to live according to Allah’s will and pleasure, and, explaining the flawless law, led them along the path of obedience to Him. Hindustan, China, Iran, Iraq, Egypt, Africa, and Europe—in short, there was no country in the world to which no Prophet had come from Allah. The religion of all of them was one and the same, which we call Islam in our own language. However, their methods of teaching and systems of life differed somewhat. Greater emphasis was placed on removing the particular forms of ignorance that had spread among each nation. At the initial stage, attention was focused on correcting the misconceptions that were most prevalent, and simple teachings and simple laws were given to them. As they gradually advanced, their teachings and the laws they were to follow also became more extensive. This variety in teaching and law was limited only to outward form; their essence was one: in belief, Tawhid; in conduct, honesty and order; and in conviction of the recompense and punishment of the Hereafter.

People also behaved in many strange ways toward the Prophets. At first they mistreated them and rejected their advice; they drove some out of the country and killed others. Some spent their entire lives preaching to people and, with great difficulty, gained only a handful of followers. Yet these chosen servants of Allah always performed their duty steadfastly. Eventually their teachings influenced people, and great nations acknowledged their obedience. Then the human tendency toward error (misguidance) assumed a new form. After the Prophets’ deaths, their communities forgot their teachings. They mixed all kinds of ideas of their own into their scriptures. They adopted new forms of worship, and some groups even began worshipping the Prophets themselves. Some called their Prophet an incarnation of Allah—that is, Allah Himself had appeared in human form—while others made their Prophet a partner with Allah. In short, people began such arbitrary practices that they turned into idols the very Prophets who had destroyed idols. The system of life (Shariah) that the Prophets had left for their communities was gradually distorted. They mixed every kind of custom born of ignorance into it, combined it with many stories and false accounts, and introduced man-made laws alongside the laws shown by the Prophets. As a result, after several centuries there remained no way to determine what the Prophets’ actual teachings and laws had been and what later people had added to distort them. The Prophets’ own life stories were so covered with false and imaginary accounts that no reliable history of their lives could be found. Nevertheless, the entire effort of the Prophets’ lives did not become futile. Despite every distortion and alteration, some truth still survives among all nations even today. The existence of Allah and the concept of the Hereafter have spread among all nations in one form or another. Certain principles of honesty, truth, and moral life have generally gained the world’s acceptance. Moreover, the Prophets of different nations had prepared each nation separately to a certain point, so that a common religious teaching, acceptable to all people without distinction, could be presented to humanity.

As I have said before, in the beginning separate Prophets came to each nation, and each Prophet’s teaching was confined to his own people. The reason was that, in those days, all nations were separated from one another. There was very little interaction among them. In fact, each nation was confined within its own country. Under such circumstances, spreading one common, universal teaching among all nations was extremely difficult. Moreover, the circumstances of the various nations differed from one another. In those days, ignorant ideas had spread extensively. Consequently, the distorted forms of moral awareness and conduct differed from place to place. For this reason, it was necessary for Allah’s Prophets to present separate teachings and guidance among each nation: gradually to eradicate misleading ideas and spread correct ones; gradually to destroy the ignorant way of life and teach obedience to the finest law; and to teach people as children are educated. How many thousands of years passed in educating the nations of the world in this way, Allah alone knows. Eventually humanity passed beyond its childhood and began to reach maturity. Progress in trade, industry, and architecture established relations among peoples. From China and Japan to distant parts of Europe and Africa, sea travel and journeys by land became established. Most nations developed alphabets, and the practice of reading and writing began. Knowledge and science spread, and ideas and knowledge were exchanged among nations. Great conquerors arose and established great empires, uniting different countries and peoples under one political system. Thus, the distance and differences that had initially existed among the various nations of humanity gradually diminished, and the possibility arose of presenting Islam’s single teaching and single system of life (Shariah) to the entire world. Two and a half thousand years ago, humanity had advanced enough to feel the need for a universal system of life. Although Buddhism was not a complete religious law and consisted only of certain principles concerning moral character, it spread from Hindustan on one side as far as Japan and Mongolia, and on the other as far as Afghanistan and Bukhara. Its preachers travelled through many distant lands. Several centuries later, Christianity arose. Although Jesus, peace be upon him, came with the teachings of Islam, after his disappearance a distorted religion called Christianity was created, and the Christians spread it from Iran to distant regions of Africa and Europe. In fact, the world was then feeling an intense need for a common human religion and was so prepared for it that, when no complete and flawless system of life could be found, people began spreading immature and incomplete religions among the various nations.

The Proof of Muhammad’s Prophethood

A time came when Allah the Exalted raised a Prophet, namely Muhammad (peace be upon him), in the land of Arabia for the whole world and all the nations of humanity, gave him the complete teachings and comprehensive law of Islam, and appointed him to the great duty of propagating them throughout the entire world.

A study of the geography of the world makes it clear at first glance that there could be no place on earth more suitable than Arabia for a Prophethood meant for the entire world. This country lies exactly at the center of the continents of Asia and Africa. Europe too is very close to it. In particular, in those days the civilized peoples of Europe lived in its southern regions, and that region was as close to Arabia as Hindustan was.

A study of the world’s history in those days also shows that no people were more suitable than the Arabs for this Prophethood. All the other great nations had become weary from struggling to establish their own supremacy on earth. The Arabs, however, still possessed the freshness of youth. With the gradual advancement of civilization, various distortions had entered the conduct of other nations; but Arab society had not yet been affected by civilization in a way that would make them comfort-seeking, pleasure-loving, and mean-spirited. In the sixth century of the Christian era, Arabia was completely free from the evil influence of the civilization-proud nations of that age. The Arabs possessed as much brilliance of human qualities as is possible in a nation untouched by the winds of civilization. They were vigorous, fearless, and noble-hearted. They kept their promises, loved independent thought and an independent life, and would not accept the enslavement of any other nation. They did not hesitate to sacrifice their lives to preserve their honor. They lived extremely simple lives and had no attachment to luxury and pleasure. Undoubtedly, many kinds of wrongdoing existed among them, whose details will be discussed later; but the reason for their wrongdoing was that no Prophet had appeared in their country for two and a half thousand years, nor had any reformer come among them with the moral and cultural refinement and education needed to reform them. As a result of living independently for many centuries in the harsh, barren desert, ignorance and ideas of the Age of Ignorance had spread among them. Their ways, born of ignorance, had become so rigid and deeply rooted that no ordinary person could turn them into true human beings. At the same time, however, they possessed such potential that if a brilliantly gifted person came forward to reform their lives and awakened them by directing them toward a great goal, they would not hesitate to overturn the whole world to achieve that goal. The propagation of the teachings of the Prophet for the entire world required such a youthful and powerful nation.

The Arabic language is also noteworthy. By studying Arabic and becoming acquainted with its literary wealth, one can easily understand that no language is more suitable for expressing lofty thoughts and describing the subtle mysteries of the sweetness of the knowledge of Allah in a way that influences the human heart. In this language, immense ideas can be expressed through short, concise words or sentences, and its mode of expression is so forceful that, like an arrow or spear, it pierces the human heart. The sweetness of this language pours honey into the human ear. Its melodious waves unconsciously make the human heart enamored of rhythm. A language of this kind was needed to serve as the vehicle of a great scripture like the Qur’an.

Herein lies a manifestation of Allah the Exalted’s supreme wisdom: He chose this Arabian land to send His final Prophet to the world. I shall now describe how incomparable was the pure being whom Allah the Exalted selected for this greatest duty.

Proof of Muhammad’s Prophethood

Let us look back fourteen hundred years from the present. In the world then there was no telegraph system, no telephone, no railway, no printing press, no newspapers or magazines, no books, and no facilities for foreign travel such as we see today. Travelling from one country to another required several months. In such circumstances, Arabia was isolated from all the other countries of the world. Iran, Turkey, and Egypt lay around it, and some study of knowledge and science took place there. But a vast sea of sand separated Arabia from those countries. Arab merchants travelled for months on camels to those lands for trade, but their relationship was limited to buying and selling goods. There was still no advanced civilization in the Arabian land. There were no schools, no libraries, and no practice of reading and writing among its inhabitants. Throughout the country, only a small number of people could read and write to some extent, but even that was not enough to give them knowledge of the sciences of the age. There was no organized government there and no laws or regulations. Each tribe exercised arbitrary rule in its own area. Plunder was carried on freely throughout the country. Killing, bloodshed, and warfare were everyday occurrences. Human life had no value there: whoever could exercise any kind of power over another would kill him and seize his property. They had no moral sense or contact with civilization. Crime, drinking, and gambling were very common. They did not hesitate to appear naked before one another. Arab women even circumambulated the Ka‘bah in a naked state. There was no distinction between the lawful and the unlawful in their lives. The Arabs’ freedom had exceeded all bounds: they were unwilling to follow any rule, law, or moral system, and they could not accept obedience to any leader. Arab ignorance had reached such an extreme that they worshipped stone idols. If they found a beautiful stone while travelling, they would pick it up, set it before themselves, and worship it. The head that would not bow before anyone would bend before a small stone, and they believed that the stone could fulfill all their wishes.

In such circumstances, a man appeared among such a people. In childhood, he was deprived of the loving shelter of both his parents and his father’s affection. He did not even receive whatever education could possibly be obtained in those conditions. When he grew older, he began tending goats with the Arab children. In his youth, he devoted himself to commerce. His sitting, socializing, and every aspect of his life were among those very Arabs whose condition has already been described. He had no trace of education—not even a little learning—yet despite this, his conduct, character, and thoughts were unlike those of everyone else. He never spoke a lie and never uttered harsh words to anyone. Instead of hard words, honey flowed from his mouth, and under its influence people became enchanted and came to him. He never unlawfully took even a single penny from anyone. Impressed by his trustworthiness, people entrusted their most valuable possessions to his care, and he guarded each person’s property as carefully as his own life. The entire nation, impressed by his honesty, called him “Al-Amin.” His sense of modesty was so keen that, from childhood, no one had ever seen him unclothed. He was so virtuous that, despite being raised among a depraved and corrupt people, he detested every form of misconduct and indecency, and purity was evident in all his actions. Because of the purity of his thoughts, he felt deep sorrow in his heart at seeing looting, violence, and bloodshed among his own people, and during conflict he tried to establish peace. His tender heart shared in the grief and suffering of every person. He helped orphans and widows, placed food in the mouths of the hungry, and graciously invited travelers into his home to eat. He caused no one sorrow; rather, he endured sorrow for the sake of others. He possessed flawless knowledge and, even while living among an idolatrous people, detested idol worship. He never bowed his head before any created being. A voice spontaneously arose from his heart: among all that is seen on earth and in heaven, there is none worthy of worship. His heart itself declared: Allah alone can be the Ilah, and He is One and Unique. This great personality appeared among a barbarous people like a shining diamond amid a heap of stones, like a blazing lamp in the midst of pitch darkness.

After living for nearly forty years such a pure, immaculate, exalted, and noble life, he grew suffocated by the dense darkness gathering all around him. His heart longed for release from the terrible sea of ignorance, immorality, sin, corruption, shirk, and idolatry surrounding him, for nothing there accorded with his disposition. At last, he withdrew from the people to a mountain cave and spent day after day in a world of solitude and tranquility. Through repeated fasting, he further purified his soul, heart, and mind. There he reflected, immersed himself in thought and meditation, and sought a new light whose torch he could carry to dispel the darkness thickening around him. He sought a source of power with which he could shatter this corrupted world and establish a sound and beautiful framework for humanity.

Amid this absorption in meditation, a tremendous spiritual transformation took place in his life. The light for which his nature had searched for so long suddenly appeared in his heart in radiant rays. Suddenly, a power entered his heart whose manifestation he had never before experienced. Leaving the solitude of the mountain cave, he came out before the people and approached his own nation, telling them: “Stone idols possess no power; abandon their worship. The power of this moon, this sun, this earth, and all the heavens is created by Allah alone. He is the Creator of you all; He is the Provider, and life and death are all subject to His order. Worship Him alone, leaving everyone else, and seek the fulfillment of your desires from Him alone. Abandon the sins you are committing—thievery, robbery, plunder, drinking, gambling, and fraud—for these are contrary to Allah’s will. Speak the truth, administer justice, do not take anyone’s life, do not seize anyone’s property; whatever you take, take lawfully, and whatever you give, give lawfully. You are all human beings, and all people are equal to one another. Human superiority and nobility (sharafat) do not lie in lineage, nor in color, appearance, or wealth. Devotion to Allah, righteous deeds, and a pure way of life are the signs of human nobility. The person who fears Allah and lives a righteous and pure life is the highest kind of human being. Whoever does the opposite has no honor at all. After death, all of you will have to appear before the Creator, before that true Judge on the Day of Final Judgment; no intercession or bribe will be accepted there. No question of lineage will arise there. There will be only an accounting of faith and righteous deeds. Whoever possesses these treasures will have Paradise as his abode, while whoever possesses none of them will face despair and the punishment of Hell.”

The ignorant people of Arabia at that time mistreated and persecuted this pious man solely because he condemned the practices established in the time of their forefathers and taught a way of life contrary to that followed by their ancestors. For this “crime,” they began hurling unspeakable abuse at him and made his life unbearable by pelting him with stones. They plotted to kill him. Not for a day or two, but continuously for thirteen years, they inflicted the harshest persecution upon him. At last, he had to leave the familiar surroundings of his homeland and go abroad. Even where he sought refuge after leaving his country, they continued to trouble him for several years.

Why did he endure all this suffering, hardship, and persecution? His sole aim was to guide his people to the easy and correct path of truth. His nation was ready to give him the status of a king and wished to heap piles of wealth at his feet. They wanted only to prevent him from preaching the truth. He rejected all their temptations without hesitation and remained steadfast in his aim. Can anyone imagine a nobler heart or greater honesty than that of a person who continually endures suffering, hardship, and persecution not for his own interests but for the welfare of others? The very people for whose welfare he was striving injured him by throwing stones at him, yet he wished their welfare in return. Not only human beings—even angels become awestruck at such an example of honesty.

It is especially important to observe how great a revolution took place in this man when he came out of the mountain cave with this message of truth before human society. The message he began to convey to people was so clear and fluent, and so elevated and full of eloquence by the standards of language and literature, that no one had ever spoken anything like it before or afterward. The Arabs took pride in poetry, oratory, and clarity of language. Before the people of Arabia, he challenged them to produce a surah like a surah of the Holy Qur’an, but everyone bowed their heads before that challenge. The language of this special Discourse (the Noble Qur’an) was as it was; the language of his ordinary conversation and speeches, however, was not similarly elevated. Even today, when we compare this Discourse with his other sayings, a clear distinction becomes apparent between them.

This man—this illiterate man of the Arabian desert—began uttering profound philosophical teachings such as no human being had spoken before him and no one has been able to speak like them to this day; indeed, no one had ever heard such words from his lips before he reached the age of forty.

This unlettered man formulated such laws concerning moral and social life, economics, politics, and every other aspect of human life that great scholars and learned people, through years of thought and research and a lifetime of testing and investigation, can only with great difficulty grasp some of their profound significance. And the more human experience and experimentation in the world expands, the clearer their profound significance becomes to people. More than thirteen hundred years have passed, yet no need for correction has been felt in the laws he formulated. The laws devised by human beings in the world have meanwhile been formulated and repealed thousands of times; these laws have proved unsuccessful in every test, and each time they have had to be altered. But not a single clause of the system that this unlettered desert dweller presented to humanity without the help of any other person has required alteration.

Within the twenty-three years of his prophethood, through the influence of his own character, honesty, nobility, and exalted teachings, he turned enemies into friends and rivals into collaborators. Great powers that stood against him ultimately accepted defeat and surrendered at his feet. Even after victory, he never took revenge on any enemy for their enmity and never treated anyone harshly. Though victorious over the man who had killed his own uncle, torn out his heart, and chewed it, he forgave him. He also pardoned those who had stoned him and driven him from his homeland when they fell into his hands. He never deceived anyone and never broke a promise. Even in battle he displayed no cruelty; not even his fiercest enemy could ever accuse him of injustice or oppression. Through the influence of this unparalleled honesty, he ultimately won the hearts of all Arabia. Through his own teachings and guidance, he freed the Arabs whose condition was described above from barbarism and ignorance and transformed them into a highly respected and civilized nation. The Arabs who had refused to submit to any law were made so law-abiding that history has never seen another nation so obedient to law. The Arabs who had no inclination whatsoever to obey others were made obedient to a vast empire. Even those untouched by the slightest breath of moral awareness were made so moral in character that the world today is astonished and awed when it examines their condition. The Arabs, who in those days held the lowest status among the nations of the world, became within twenty-three years, through the influence of this one man, so powerful that they overturned the thrones of the mighty emperors of Iran, Rome, and Egypt. They gave the world civilization, moral life, and the teachings of humanity; bearing the one teaching and one Shariah of Islam, they spread across the finest regions of Asia, Europe, and Africa.

So much for Islam’s influence on the Arab nation. Even more astonishing was the influence of the unlettered Arab Prophet upon the entire world. He brought an unprecedented revolution to the prevailing thoughts, practices, and laws of the whole world. Even setting aside those who accepted his leadership, the remarkable fact is that those who refused to acknowledge his authority, opposed him, and became his enemies were not free from his influence either. The world had forgotten the teaching of Tawhid; he reminded humanity of it once again. He sounded the trumpet of truth with such force that today even the religions of idol-worshippers and polytheists are compelled to acknowledge Tawhid. He left humanity such a powerful moral teaching that its codified principles have spread through, and continue to spread through, the prevailing moral teachings of the entire world. The principles he established in law, politics, civilization, and social economics are so rooted in truth and applicable in every age that even his opposing critics have silently gathered and continue to gather material from them.

As I have already said, this extraordinary man was born among an ignorant people in a country shrouded in profound darkness. Until the age of forty, he pursued no occupation other than tending animals and trading. He received no education or instruction of any kind. It is worth considering: from where did such completeness suddenly come to him after the age of forty? From where did his remarkable store of knowledge come? From where did he obtain this immense power? One single man—at times an extraordinary military commander, at times a judge of incomparable knowledge, at times a lawgiver of immense power, at times an unrivaled philosopher, at times an incomparable reformer in moral and cultural life, and at times a leader of astonishing political wisdom! Despite the many-sided activity of his life, he spent hours and hours at night in worship of Allah, fulfilled the rights of his wives and children, and served the poor and distressed. Though he gained authority over a vast empire, he lived like a poor man; he slept on a mat, wore coarse clothing, ate like the poor, and sometimes spent his days fasting or eating only half his fill.

If, after displaying such astonishing, superhuman perfection, he had claimed that he possessed a superhuman existence, no one could have rejected that claim. But what did he say instead? He did not claim that perfection as his own achievement; rather, he always said:

“I possess nothing of my own; Allah owns everything, and I have received all this from Allah. The message I present, whose like all humanity has failed to produce, is not my own message, nor is it a composition produced by my mind. It is the Word of Allah, and all praise for it belongs to Allah. Whatever actions I perform are not accomplished through my own ability; they are accomplished solely by Allah’s command. I act and speak in accordance with the guidance I receive from Allah.”

How could one fail to accept such a truthful man as Allah’s Prophet? He possessed such perfection that, from the beginning of the world until today, no one like him can be found anywhere. Yet his truthfulness was so extraordinary that he had no pride whatsoever in that perfection. He sought no praise for it. He clearly attributed all praise to the One who had given him everything. How could one fail to acknowledge him as truthful? When he himself acknowledged all his excellence as belonging to Allah, why should we say, “No, all of this was created by your own mind”? It is liars who try to appropriate the achievements of others; but this man did not try to claim as his own even those achievements that he could easily have claimed—achievements whose causes were known to no one, and through which, had he claimed a superhuman status, no one would have rejected him. Who, then, could be more devoted to truth than he?

This man—this extraordinarily accomplished man—was our leader, the Prophet of the entire world, Hazrat Muhammad Mustafa (peace be upon him). His own truthfulness is irrefutable proof of his prophethood. His glorious deeds, his character, and the events of his pure life have all been established in history. Whoever reads his account with a clear heart, a desire to seek the truth, and a sense of justice will spontaneously bear witness in his heart that he was certainly Allah’s Prophet. The message he presented is the Qur’an, which we read. Whoever reads this incomparable Book with an open heart and comprehends it must acknowledge that it is certainly a revealed Book from Allah and that no human being possesses the ability to compose a book like it.

The Finality of Prophethood

It is necessary to know that in this age there is no means other than the teachings of Hazrat Muhammad Mustafa (peace be upon him) and the Noble Qur’an for learning the true, simple, and correct guidance of Islam. Muhammad (peace be upon him) is Allah’s Prophet for all humanity. In him, the chain of prophethood has ended. Through His Final Prophet, Allah Most High sent all the guidance by which He wishes to guide humanity. Therefore, whoever seeks the truth and wishes to become a Muslim servant of Allah has the indispensable duty of believing in Allah’s Final Prophet, accepting the teachings he brought, and following the path he showed.

Proof of the Finality of Prophethood

The significance of prophethood has already been analyzed. Once those points are understood and considered, it will easily become clear that prophets are not born every day and that there is no need for a prophet to appear continually among every nation. The life of a prophet is, in reality, the life of his teaching and guidance. As long as his teaching and guidance remain alive, he remains alive. Earlier prophets died because the people of the world distorted the teachings they had brought. None of the scriptures they brought remains intact today. Their followers can no longer claim that the original Book given by their prophet is preserved among them; they themselves have caused the path shown by their prophet to be forgotten. Nowhere can an accurate and reliable account of even one of the earlier prophets be found. It cannot be stated with certainty in what age he lived, what deeds he performed, how he lived, what actions he taught, or from which actions he sought to restrain people. This is how their true death occurred.

In contrast, Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him) remains alive today because his teaching and guidance are still alive. The Qur’an he left remains preserved intact today, with its original vocabulary; not a single letter, dot, or vowel mark has been altered anywhere. His life story, sayings, and deeds have all been preserved. Even after an interval of thirteen hundred years, we can still see his account in history so clearly that it is as though we had seen him directly. No other person’s life story in the history of the world has been preserved as intact as that of Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him). We can learn from his life in every action and every moment of our own lives. This proves that no prophet is needed after Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him).

There can be only three reasons for the appearance of another prophet after one prophet:

First: when the teaching and guidance of the earlier prophet have been completely erased and need to be presented again; second: when the teaching of the earlier prophet is incomplete and requires correction and addition; third: when the teaching of the earlier prophet is confined to a particular nation and another prophet is needed for another nation or nations.

None of the three reasons mentioned above can apply today, because:

First: the teaching and guidance of Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him) remain alive today, and the sources through which it can be known at every moment—what his religion was, what way of life he introduced, and which practices he sought to eradicate and prevent—are now fully preserved. Since his teaching and guidance have not been erased, there is no need for another prophet to come and present them anew.

Second: through Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him), the complete teaching of Islam has been given to the world. There is no need either to add to or subtract from it, nor is there any deficiency in it that would require another prophet to come and complete it. Therefore, the second reason has no existence.

Third: Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him) was sent not for any particular nation but as a prophet for the entire world, and his teaching is sufficient for all humanity. Therefore, there is no need for an independent prophet for any particular nation. Thus, the third reason is also inapplicable here.

For these reasons, Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him) has been called Khatam al-Nabiyyin, meaning the one in whom the chain of prophethood came to an end. There is now no need for the appearance of any new prophet in the world; what is needed are people who will follow the path of Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him) themselves and lead others along it; who will understand his teaching, act according to it, and establish states in the world according to the laws and regulations with which Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him) came.

A Description of Faith

Before proceeding further, it is necessary to review once what has been said in the preceding chapters:

First: although Islam means obedience to Allah and compliance with His commands, accurate knowledge of Allah’s essence and attributes, the way of living according to His will and pleasure, and the rewards and punishments of the Hereafter can be acquired only through Allah’s Prophets. Therefore, according to the precise definition of Islam, Islam consists in believing in the Prophet’s teachings and acknowledging servitude to Allah in the manner he showed. Whoever abandons the Prophet’s path and claims to obey Allah directly and comply with His commands is not a Muslim.

Second: in the past, separate prophets appeared for separate nations, and prophets appeared successively within the same nation. In those days, for each nation, “Islam” meant the religion taught specifically by the prophet or prophets of that nation. Although the essence of Islam was the same in every country and every age, the Shariah—that is, the laws and methods of worship—differed. For this reason, it was not obligatory for one nation to follow the prophet of another nation, although believing in all the prophets was obligatory.

Third: when Hazrat Muhammad Mustafa (peace be upon him) was sent as a prophet into the world, the teaching of Islam was completed through him, one Shariah was sent for the entire world, and the Shariah he brought became applicable for all time. The Shariahs instituted by all prophets before the appearance of Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him) were abrogated. Just as no prophet will come until the Day of Resurrection, no new Shariah will come from Allah Most High. Therefore, today, obedience to Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him) alone is called Islam. Acknowledging his prophethood, accepting his teachings on the basis of faith in him, and obeying all his commands while regarding them as Allah’s commands—this is Islam. No person will come from Allah whose acceptance will be an essential condition for being a Muslim and whose rejection will make a person a disbeliever.

I shall now explain what things Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him) taught people to believe in, and what elevated status a person can attain by accepting them.

Faith in Allah

The first and most important teaching of Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him) is:

        اللّهُ اِلّا اِلَهَ لآ

“There is no Ilah except Allah.”

This declaration is the foundation of Islam; through it, a Muslim is distinguished from a disbeliever, a polytheist, and an atheist. Its acceptance or rejection creates a vast difference between one person and another. Its followers become one nation, while those who reject it become a distinct nation apart from them. Its followers attain progress, success, and honor beginning in this world and continuing into the Hereafter, while the consequence for those who reject it is failure, humiliation, and decline.

Such an enormous difference between people cannot be created merely by uttering this small phrase with the tongue. Just as malaria cannot be cured by saying “quinine, quinine” ten million times without taking it, likewise, if one utters “লা ইলাহা ইল্লাল্লাহু” without understanding what it means, what great thing is being acknowledged by uttering these few words, and what great responsibility one assumes as a result, then no benefit can come from repeating it in ignorance. In reality, the difference can arise only when the significance of “লা ইলাহা ইল্লাল্লাহ” becomes clear in the heart, complete conviction in its meaning develops, the mind is wholly freed from every belief opposed to it, and faith in this kalimah exerts at least as much influence on the heart and mind as belief in fire’s burning power and poison’s capacity to cause death. Just as belief in the nature of fire keeps a person away from touching it, and belief in the nature of poison saves him from drinking it, so faith in the kalimah “লা ইলাহা ইল্লাল্লাহ” will, in every sphere of belief and action, keep a person away from even the smallest forms of shirk, kufr, atheism and other evil deeds.

The Meaning of “لا إله إلا الله”

First, one must understand what is meant by “ilah.” In Arabic, the word “ilah” means one worthy of worship: that is, a being possessing superiority, glory and majesty, worthy of worship, before whom one may bow one’s head in servitude and worship. The meaning of “ilah” also includes the idea that he possesses infinite power, the comprehension of which exceeds the limits of human knowledge and intellect. It also implies that he is dependent on no one, while everyone else is dependent on him in every affair of life and compelled to seek help from him. The word “ilah” further contains the meaning of mystery. That is, only one whose power is veiled in mystery may be called an “ilah.” In Persian, the word “Khuda,” in Hindi, “devata,” and in English, “God,” are used with approximately this meaning; other languages of the world likewise have particular words used in the same sense.

The word “Allah” is the ‘ism al-dhat,’ or essential name, of the One, without partner, Allah—the name identifying the ultimate essence. The literal translation of “لا إله إلا الله” is: there is no ilah except that particular Being whose name is Allah. Its significance is that throughout all creation there is no being besides Allah worthy of worship. There is no other being besides Him before whom the head may be bowed in worship, servitude and obedience. He alone is the Owner and Lawgiver of the entire universe; everything depends on Him, and everyone is compelled to seek help from Him alone. He is hidden beyond human perception, and when human knowledge and intellect attempt to perceive His existence, they return in failure.

The True Significance of “لا إله إلا الله”

Above, only the literal meaning of the phrase “لا إله إلا الله” was analyzed. We shall now examine its correct significance.

From the information available to us about the earliest ages of human history and the ruins we have discovered of the oldest nations, it is clear that people in every age accepted some kind of god and practiced some form of worship. Even today, all the nations of the world—whether utterly primitive or highly civilized—share this characteristic: they accept some particular being as god and worship it. This shows that the idea of a god is embedded in human nature. There is something within human beings that has compelled them to accept someone as god and worship him.

The question then arises: what is that particular thing within human beings? Every person can grasp the answer naturally by observing his own existence and the condition of all humanity.

In reality, human beings were created as servants. By nature, they are dependent, weak and needy. The countless things required to maintain their existence are not under the control of their power. Sometimes these things come into their hands of their own accord, and sometimes they are deprived of them.

There are many things that are beneficial to a person. He wants to obtain them, but sometimes they come into his hands and sometimes they do not, because he has no independent power at all to acquire them.

There are also many things that harm him, destroy the labor of his entire life in an instant, reduce all his hopes and aspirations to dust, and subject him to disease and death. He wants to destroy these harmful things; sometimes they are destroyed and sometimes they are not. As a result, he realizes that he has no control over whether these things come or do not come, disappear or remain.

There are many things whose grandeur and vastness fill a person with fear. Mountains, rivers and terrifying predatory animals appear before his eyes. He sees the naked force of storms, floods and earthquakes. The roar of clouds, the gathering darkness, the thunder’s roar, flashes of lightning and scenes of torrential rain continue to appear before him one after another. He sees how vast, powerful and majestic these things are, and how weak and insignificant he himself is in comparison.

When a person sees these varied natural phenomena and the various proofs of his own lowliness before his eyes, a feeling of his own servitude, dependence and weakness naturally awakens in his heart, and together with that feeling arises the idea of Allah. The idea of the One whose command moves these mighty powers awakens in his mind. Awareness of His power makes a person humble and forces him to beg for help from Him alone. Awareness of His beneficent power compels a person to stretch out his hands before Him for deliverance from danger. Awareness of His harmful power impels a person to nurture fear of Him in his heart and strive to escape His wrath.

The lowest level of ignorance is reached when people, even after directly witnessing these manifestations of grandeur and power, see their beneficial or harmful effects and imagine that these things themselves are gods; thus they continue to worship animals, mountains and rivers. They worship the earth, fire, rain, wind, the moon, the sun and countless other powers.

When the degree of this ignorance is somewhat reduced and some light of knowledge is gained, people understand that these things are dependent just like human beings. Great animals die like insignificant mosquitoes and flies; the waters of enormous rivers rise, fall and dry up; people themselves cut down mountains. The earth’s becoming rich with fruits and flowers is not under its own control; when water does not help it, the earth becomes dry and barren. Water cannot move according to its own wishes either; it too must depend on the wind. The wind is not subject to its own power; its benefit or harm depends on other factors. The moon, sun and stars move in obedience to a particular law. They cannot alter their motion even slightly outside that law. After observing all this, the human mind turns toward some unseen, mysterious liberating power. It begins to think that behind these visible objects lie hidden collections of power that direct them, and that everything is subject to these powers. This is how the idea of many gods and many deities arose. At this stage people accepted separate gods of light, wind, water, disease, health and many other things. They fashioned imaginary idols of them and continued to worship them.

Then, as the light of knowledge grew still brighter, people saw that the world was managed according to a powerful law and a great system. What order prevails in the movement of the wind, the arrival of rain, the revolution of the planets and satellites, and the changing of the seasons; how countless forces work together—observing this harmony of the universe even a polytheist had to admit that above all the lesser gods stood the sovereign authority of one greatest god. Otherwise, if these separate gods were independent and self-governing, each exercising its will everywhere, this vast factory of the world would have fallen into disorder. He gave this great god the names ‘Allah,’ ‘the Supreme Lord,’ ‘Khudaye Khodagān’ and many others. Yet in worship he associated the lesser gods with Him. He imagined Allah’s authority to function like the kingdom of an earthly king. Just as an earthly monarch rules with many ministers, trusted attendants, governors and responsible officials, so, he thought, there is one great god over this creation, with many lesser gods under him. Until these lesser gods are pleased, one cannot approach the great god. Therefore worship them as well, stretch out your hands to them, fear their displeasure, make them a means of reaching the great god, and keep them pleased with offerings and gifts.

Again, as people advanced further in knowledge, the number of gods gradually decreased. When they reflected on each of the gods created by ignorant people, they came to understand that it was not truly a god. It was a servant like themselves, and even more helpless than they were. Thus these imaginary gods were abandoned one by one, until finally only one god remained. Yet even regarding this one god, people’s notions revealed considerable ignorance. Some imagined that God possessed a body of flesh and blood like ours and sat in a particular place, conducting His divinity. Some thought that God lived like human beings with a wife, sons and daughters, and that He had a line of descendants like humans. Others supposed that God descended to earth in human form. Some said that God had set the machinery of this world in motion and now sat unconcerned, spending His days in comfort and luxury somewhere. Some believed that the intercession of the souls of venerable people was indispensable before God, and that nothing could be accomplished there without them. Some devised a particular form for Allah in their imagination and felt it absolutely necessary to place that form before themselves for worship. Despite professing belief in tawhid, such varied erroneous notions became firmly rooted in people’s minds, causing them to sink into shirk or kufr. All of this is the consequence of ignorance.

Above all stands the position of the phrase “لا إله إلا الله.” This is the knowledge that Allah Himself sent to humanity through His prophets in every age. First, He gave this knowledge to Adam (peace be upon him) and sent him down into the world with it. After Adam (peace be upon him), Noah (peace be upon him), Abraham (peace be upon him), Moses (peace be upon him) and all the other prophets received this knowledge. Finally, Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) came into the world with this very knowledge. There is no trace of ignorance in this flawless knowledge. The various forms of shirk, idol-worship and kufr described above ensnared people because they turned away from the teachings of the prophets and relied on their own perceptions and intellect. We shall now analyze the inner significance of this brief phrase.

One: The first matter to consider is the concept of Allah. When we look at this boundless universe and reflect on its primordial organization and its end, our minds become bewildered with wonder. Its movement began in an unknown age and advances toward an unknown age. Within it, countless and limitless creations have arisen and continue to arise. The features of nature are so astonishing that human knowledge is overwhelmed in trying to comprehend them. The governance of this vast creation is possible only for One who is Himself without limitation, eternally living, dependent on no one, independent, all-powerful, sovereign and all-knowing; who possesses knowledge of everything, so that nothing can remain hidden from Him; who is victorious over all, whom no one can disobey; who possesses infinite power, and from whom, by His own will, the means of life and sustenance reach all living creatures; who is free from every deficiency, fault, weakness and defect, and whose work cannot be interfered with by anyone else.

Two: These attributes of Allah’s authority must necessarily be confined to a single Being. It is impossible for all these attributes to exist equally in more than one being, because there can be only one who is victorious over all and possesses sovereign power. Nor is it possible to divide these attributes among many gods. If one god possessed sovereign power, another were all-knowing, and a third gave life, then each god would be dependent on the others, and creation would be destroyed in an instant if they failed to cooperate. Nor can these attributes be transferred from one to another—so that one god possesses an attribute at one time and another god possesses it at another—because a god unable to keep himself alive could not give life to all creation, and a god unable to preserve his own divinity could not rule over such a vast creation. Therefore, the more the light of knowledge increases, the more firmly the conviction will arise that Allah’s attributes must be gathered in one and only one Being.

Three: With a complete and accurate concept of Allah’s authority before us, we may reflect on all creation. None of the things that come within our sight or within the range of our knowledge possesses all these attributes. Everything in the universe is dependent on something else and controlled by something else; things are born, change, die and live. Nothing can remain permanently unchanged. No one has the power to do anything according to his own whim. No one can deviate even by the breadth of a hair from the law prevailing over all. Not the slightest radiance of Allah is visible in them. None of them has the least share in Allah’s works. This is the meaning of “لا إله.”

Four: After denying Allah’s authority over all the material things of the universe, one must acknowledge that there is, above all, another independent Being. He alone possesses all the attributes of authority, and there is no Allah besides Him. This is the meaning of “إلا الله.”

This is the greatest of all knowledge. The more investigation and research one conducts, the more one understands that knowledge begins here and that its ultimate boundary is also confined here. Whether one follows physics, chemistry, astronomy, geology, biology, anthropology—in short, any path of inquiry into the mysteries of the universe—as research advances, the truth of “لا إله إلا الله” will continue to unfold and conviction in it will continue to grow. At every step of scientific research it will be felt that, once this foremost and most important truth is denied, everything in creation becomes meaningless.

The Influence of Belief in Tawhid on Human Life

Here I shall describe what effect declaring acceptance of “لا إله إلا الله” has on human life, and why those who reject this kalimah fail in this world and the Hereafter.

One: A person who believes in this kalimah can never possess a narrow outlook. He believes in an Allah who is the Creator of the earth and heavens, the Owner of the East and the West, and the Lord of the entire universe. After this faith, no thing in all creation can appear separate from him in his sight. Just as he regards his own being, he regards everything as subject to the dominion of this Owner and the rule of the same King. His sympathy, love and service are not confined to any particular sphere. Just as Allah’s kingdom is infinite and boundless, his outlook likewise becomes free of all limitations. Such an outlook cannot exist in someone who accepts the existence of many lesser gods, whose gods possess only limited and defective qualities like human beings, nor in someone who rejects the existence of God altogether.

Two: This kalimah awakens in a person the highest degree of self-respect and dignity. One who believes in it knows that Allah alone possesses all power. Besides Him, no one can grant a person benefit or harm, give him life or cause his death. This knowledge and conviction free him from the influence of every power besides Allah, making him self-reliant and fearless. He does not bow his head before any created being; he does not stretch out his hand before anyone. No one’s superiority dominates his heart. These qualities do not arise from any belief other than belief in tawhid. The essential nature of shirk, kufr and atheism is that under their influence a person bows before creation, regards it as the possessor of benefit and harm, fears it in his heart and places his hopes in it.

Three: Along with self-respect, this kalimah also creates humility in a person. One who accepts this kalimah can never become swollen with pride or arrogant. Pride in power, wealth or ability can never find a place in his heart, because he knows that everything he has is a gift from Allah, and that just as He has the power to give everything, He also has the power to take everything away. In contrast, there are people who become puffed up after achieving some worldly accomplishment, because they think that their achievement is the result of their own ability. Thus the emergence of arrogance alongside shirk and kufr is inevitable, because the polytheist and unbeliever imagine that they have a special relationship with their many gods and deities, a relationship not granted to others.

Four: One who believes in this kalimah knows very well that there is no path to salvation and success except purification of the soul and righteous deeds. He believes in an Allah who is self-sufficient, who has no special relationship with anyone, who is perfectly just, and whose authority cannot be influenced or interfered with by anyone else. By contrast, polytheists and unbelievers must live constantly relying on false hopes. Some of them think that the very son of God will atone for their sins. Some think they are favored by God and therefore cannot be punished. Some believe that their venerable people will intercede for them before Allah. Others offer gifts to deities and imagine that they have been given freedom to do everything in the world. Such false beliefs continually drag them into sin and evil, and relying on those beliefs, they remain heedless of self-purification and righteous deeds. As for the atheist, he does not from the outset believe in any powerful Being before whom he will have to answer for good and evil deeds. Thus he considers himself free to do whatever he wishes in this world. The desires of such people become their gods, and they become slaves to sensuality.

Five: One who accepts this kalimah never becomes despairing or brokenhearted in any situation. He believes in an Allah who owns all the treasures of the heavens and earth, whose majesty and favor are boundless, and whose power is infinite. Faith gives him extraordinary peace and tranquility and fills his heart with hope. He may return rejected from every door in the world, nothing may come to him, and he may lose every means and avenue one by one; nevertheless, he never loses his reliance on Allah alone, and through it he begins new efforts with renewed hope. This tranquility of heart cannot be gained from any belief other than belief in Allah alone. The hearts of polytheists, unbelievers and atheists remain constricted because they must rely on limited powers. Therefore, in times of crisis, despair quickly surrounds them, and sometimes in such circumstances they take the path of suicide.

Six: Belief in this kalimah creates firm resolve, high aspiration, perseverance and immense strength of faith in Allah. When a person advances toward a noble task to earn Allah’s pleasure, he is convinced in his heart that the power of the King of the earth and heavens stands behind him. This idea gives him the firmness of a mountain, and even if all the crises, dangers and opposing forces of the world unite, they cannot divert him from his resolve. Where can strength be found in shirk, kufr and atheism?

Seven: This kalimah makes a person courageous. In reality, two things make people cowardly: on the one hand, love of wealth, life and children; on the other, the belief that some power besides Allah can cause a person’s death and that people can try to resist death. Belief in “لا إله إلا الله” removes both things from the heart. The first is removed because one who accepts this kalimah knows that Allah alone is the Owner of his wealth, life and everything else, and he is prepared to sacrifice everything for Allah’s pleasure. The second idea likewise does not remain in his heart, because in the view of one who accepts the kalimah “لا إله إلا الله,” no human, animal, cannon, sword, stick or stone possesses the power to take life; only Allah possesses this power, and before the time He has appointed for death, all the powers of the world combined cannot take anyone’s life. For this reason, no one in the world can be braver and more courageous than one who believes in Allah. The flash of naked swords, cannon fire, showers of bombs and attacks by formidable armies all prove futile before him. When he advances to fight in Allah’s path, he is able to resist an army ten times stronger than himself. Where could polytheists, unbelievers and atheists obtain this strength? To them, life is the most precious thing, and they think that the enemy brings death; if the enemy can be removed, death too can be removed.

Eight: Belief in “لا إله إلا الله” creates in a person’s heart a noble attitude of contentment, satisfaction and exclusive reliance on Allah, and removes from it the undesirable attitudes of greed, covetousness, envy and hatred. No unlawful or contemptible idea of achieving success finds any opportunity to enter his mind. He believes that provision and livelihood are in Allah’s hands: He gives more to whomever He wills and less to whomever He wills. Honor, power, fame and authority are within Allah’s control; according to His wisdom, He grants them to people as He wills. Our duty is to continue striving through lawful means within our respective limits. Success and failure depend on Allah’s favor. If He wishes to give, no power in the world can prevent Him; if He does not wish to give, no power can compel Him. In contrast, polytheists, unbelievers and atheists consider their success and failure dependent on their own efforts and on the help or opposition of worldly powers, and for that reason they remain slaves to temptation and envy. Thus they have no fear of adopting bribes, flattery, conspiracies and every kind of base method to achieve success. At the success of others they burn with envy and vindictiveness, and leave no effort undone to belittle them.

No: the most important point is that belief in “La ilaha illallah” makes a person follow Allah’s law. One who has faith in the Kalimah believes that Allah is aware of what is manifest and hidden, and that He is nearer to us than our jugular vein. If we commit a sin in the darkness of night, in lonely solitude, He knows it. If an evil desire arises deep within our hearts, Allah also knows of it. Whatever we can conceal from everyone else, we cannot conceal from Allah. Even if we can flee and escape from everyone else, we have no power to hide outside Allah’s kingdom. Even if we can evade everyone else, we cannot escape Allah’s grasp. The stronger this conviction becomes, the more obedient a person will be to Allah’s commands and prohibitions. Whatever Allah has forbidden will not be approached by him. And whatever He has commanded him to do, he will perform even in solitude and darkness. For he knows that a police officer is behind him who will never, under any circumstances, leave him alone, and he fears a court whose warrant he cannot evade by fleeing anywhere. For this reason, the first and most essential condition of becoming a Muslim is to have faith in La ilaha illallah. As stated earlier, a Muslim means one who is a devoted servant obedient to Allah; likewise, obedience to Allah is impossible until a person believes that there is no ilah except Allah.

The most important and fundamental element in the teachings of Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him) is faith in Allah. This is the center and foundation of Islam and the source of its strength. All the beliefs, commands, and laws of Islam stand upon and depend on it, and everything must draw its strength from this same center. If this faith in Allah is removed, nothing of Islam remains.

Faith in Allah’s Angels

After faith in Allah, the Noble Prophet (peace be upon him) instructed us to believe in the existence of the angels. The most important benefit of this teaching is that it keeps the belief in Tawhid free from every danger of shirk.

It was stated above that the polytheists associated two kinds of created beings with Allah in divinity. One of these two kinds consists of beings that truly exist and are visible, such as the moon, the sun, the stars, fire, water, and certain great men. The second consists of beings believed to be of a kind that have no real existence, are invisible, and operate all the forces of creation from behind the scenes: one controls the wind, another arranges the rainfall, and yet another provides light. The first kind is plainly before human eyes. The declaration “La ilaha illallah” itself proves that they have no share in Allah’s authority. The second kind is mysterious and hidden from human sight, and the polytheists show a greater tendency to believe in them. They regard these things as gods, deities, or the offspring of God. Making imagined idols of them, they present offerings before them. Therefore, in order to keep the concept of Allah’s oneness free from this second form of shirk, a distinct doctrine of faith has been set forth.

Hazrat Muhammad Mustafa (peace be upon him) has told us that the mysterious, luminous beings whom people call gods, deities, and the offspring of God are in reality Allah’s angels. They have no authority whatsoever in Allah’s dominion. They are all obedient to Allah’s command, and so completely submissive that they cannot deviate from Allah’s command even in the slightest. Allah administers His kingdom through them, and they act exactly according to Allah’s command. They have no ability to do anything through their own will or independent power. They cannot, by their own authority, present any plan to Allah. Nor do they have the power to intercede for anyone before Allah. Worshipping them or begging them for help is humiliating for human beings, because on the Day of Primordial Creation Allah Almighty compelled them to prostrate before Hazrat Adam (peace be upon him), and had granted Adam greater knowledge than them. What could be more humiliating for human beings than to prostrate before the angels who prostrated before Adam and to beg those same angels for help?

On the one hand, Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him) prohibited us from worshipping the angels and regarding them as partners with Allah. He also told us that the angels are creatures chosen by Allah Almighty. They are free from every kind of sin. Their nature is such that they cannot disobey Allah’s commands. They remain constantly occupied in the worship and servitude of Allah. Through one chosen angel among them, Allah Almighty sends revelation to His prophets; his name is Jibril (peace be upon him). The verses of the Qur’an were revealed to Hazrat Muhammad Mustafa (peace be upon him) through Jibril (peace be upon him). One group among these angels is constantly with us, examining our movements at every moment, good and bad; every one of our good and bad actions is being recorded in the record of each person’s life. After death, when we appear before Allah, they will present our record of deeds, and we will see that everything good and evil we did throughout our lives, in secret and in public, has been preserved.

The nature of the angels has not been disclosed to us. Only their attributes have been described to us. We have been commanded to believe in their existence. We have no means of knowing what they are or are not like. Therefore, inventing conjectures about their essence through our own reasoning is mere foolishness. Denying their existence, however, is kufr. For no one possesses evidence on the basis of which to deny them, and denial means declaring Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him) a liar. We believe in their existence only because Allah Almighty’s true Messenger has informed us of it.

Faith in Allah’s Books

The third thing that we have been taught through Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him) to believe in is the Books of Allah that He revealed to His prophets.

Just as Allah Almighty revealed the Qur’an to Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him), so He sent His Books to the Messengers who had passed before him. We have been told the names of some of these Books, such as the Suhuf of Ibrahim (the Scriptures of Ibrahim), sent to Hazrat Ibrahim (peace be upon him); the Torah, sent to Hazrat Musa (peace be upon him); the Zabur, revealed to Hazrat Dawud (peace be upon him); and the Injil, sent to Hazrat Isa (peace be upon him). Other Books also came to various prophets, but their names have not been given to us. For this reason, we cannot state with certainty about any other religious book that it came from Allah, nor can we say that it did not come from Allah. We do believe, however, that every Book that came from Allah was wholly founded upon truth.

Among the Books that have been mentioned to us, the Suhuf of Ibrahim no longer exists in the world. The Torah, Zabur, and Injil are certainly possessed by the Jews and Christians, but the Noble Qur’an tells us that people altered Allah’s words in these Books and mixed many things of their own into them. Christians and Jews themselves acknowledge that the original Books are no longer available; only their translations exist, and these too have been revised and altered over the centuries and continue to be so. A clear reading of these Books shows that they contain many statements that could never have come from Allah. Therefore, the Books that exist today are not exactly Allah’s Books; the word of Allah and the word of human beings have become mixed within them, and there is no way to determine which is Allah’s word and which is human speech. Thus, the command given to us regarding faith in the earlier Books means only that Allah Almighty sent His commands, through His prophets, to every nation of the world before the Noble Qur’an, and that those Books too brought His commands from the same Allah from whom the Qur’an came. The Qur’an is not a new or unprecedented Book; rather, it was sent to revive the earlier teaching, which the people of past ages had received and then destroyed, altered, or mixed with ideas produced by the human mind.

The Noble Qur’an is Allah Almighty’s final Book. It differs from the earlier Books in several respects:

First: The original scripts of most of the Books revealed earlier have disappeared from the world, leaving only their translations. But the words in which the Qur’an was revealed remain wholly intact. Not even a single letter, or even a dot, has been changed.

Second: In the earlier Books, people mixed their own words with the Divine Word. The same Book contains Allah’s word, national history, accounts of the lives of the pious, commentary, and discussions of legal issues arising from laws devised by jurists; all of these have been combined so thoroughly that it is impossible to separate Allah’s word from the rest. But the Qur’an is nothing other than Allah’s word, and not the slightest word of anyone else has been mixed into it. Tafsir, Hadith, fiqh, the biography of the Messenger, the biographies of the Companions, and history—all that Muslims have written about Islam—has been recorded in various books separate from the Qur’an. Not even a single word of it has been mixed into the Noble Qur’an.

Third: Among the Books possessed by the various nations of the world, there is not one whose attribution to a prophet can be established through historical evidence as having actually been revealed through him. Indeed, there are religious Books about which it was never known from the beginning in which age or to which prophet they were revealed. But there is such strong historical evidence concerning the Qur’an that no one can express doubt about its connection with Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him). It is even known precisely when and where each of its verses was revealed.

Fourth: The languages in which the earlier Books were revealed have, over a long period, become dead languages. Nowhere in the world are there people who speak them, and very few people can understand them. Even if such Books were available in an unaltered and accurate form, it would not be possible to understand their laws correctly and follow them. The language in which the Qur’an was revealed, however, is a living language. Hundreds of millions of people still speak it today, and hundreds of millions know and understand it. Its teaching continues throughout the world. Anyone can learn this language. If someone has no opportunity to learn it, everywhere he can find people capable of explaining the meaning of the Noble Qur’an to him.

Fifth: From the commands included in each of the religious Books possessed by the various nations of the world, it can be understood that each was sent only to meet the needs of a particular age in light of the conditions of that time; today, either it is no longer needed or it cannot be acted upon. This makes one truth clear: these Books were assigned to different nations. None of them came for the entire world. Nor was each Book applicable to the nation for which it came in every age; rather, it came for a particular period. But when we turn to the Qur’an, we find that people in general are addressed throughout this Book. No passage in it gives rise to the suspicion that it was intended for a particular nation. Likewise, the laws contained in this Book can be implemented everywhere and in every age. This proves that the Qur’an is needed throughout the world for all time.

Sixth: Every one of the earlier Books described good deeds and principles of justice, and taught the principles of character, morality, honesty, and truthfulness. It is true that every Book instructed people to live according to Allah’s will and pleasure, but none contained the complete collection of all virtues without leaving anything out. The virtues described separately in the earlier Books have all been gathered together only in the Qur’an, and the matters omitted from the earlier Books have also been included in this Book.

Because of human intervention and distortion, all religious Books have become mixed with statements that contradict objective truth and reason and are founded upon oppression and injustice. As a result, people’s beliefs and practices become corrupted. Some Books even contain obscenities and statements contrary to morality. The Qur’an is free from these distortions. It contains nothing contrary to reason that could be proved false by sound evidence and examination. None of its commands has any contact with injustice; none of its statements can mislead people; and it contains not the slightest trace of obscenity or immorality. From beginning to end, the entire Noble Qur’an is filled with the highest knowledge, understanding and intellect, instruction in justice, guidance to the right path, and the finest laws and ordinances.

Because of the qualities mentioned above, all the nations of the world have been instructed to believe in the Qur’an and, leaving aside all other Books, follow this Book alone. For everything that people need in the way of guidance to live according to Allah’s will and pleasure has been described in it completely and accurately. After the revelation of this Book, no other Book is needed.

Once the difference between the Qur’an and the other Books is understood, everyone can see how different one’s faith in the Books of Allah other than the Qur’an must be. Faith in the earlier Books extends only to acknowledging their truth: one must believe that those Books too came from Allah, were founded upon truth, and came for the same purpose for which the Qur’an was revealed. Faith in the Qur’an must be of such a kind that it is recognized as Allah’s pure Word and the bearer of complete truth; every word of it is protected, every statement is true, and following every command is obligatory. Anything opposed to the Qur’an must be rejected.

Faith in Allah’s Messengers

After the Books, we have also been instructed to believe in all of Allah’s Messengers.

It was stated in the previous chapter that Allah’s Messengers came among all the nations of the world, and that they too taught the same one teaching for which the last of them, Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him), came into the world to teach Islam. In this respect, all Allah’s Messengers belonged to the same category. If someone declares any one particular Messenger among them to be false, he has thereby declared all of them false. Likewise, if someone acknowledges the truth of one Messenger, it becomes necessary for him to acknowledge the truth of all. For example, suppose ten people are saying the same thing. If one of them is acknowledged as truthful, the remaining nine are automatically acknowledged as truthful as well. If one is called a liar, that means the very statement made by all of them is being declared false. Consequently, all ten have been called liars. This is why Islam makes it essential to believe in all the Messengers. Whoever does not believe in any one Messenger becomes a disbeliever; believing in the others does not make an exception to this rule.

It is narrated in Hadith that the number of prophets sent to the various nations of the world was 124,000. Considering how long human beings have inhabited this world and how many nations have passed away, it can be understood that this number is not excessive. Of these 124,000 prophets, it is essential to possess explicit faith in those whose names have been mentioned to us in the Qur’an. Regarding the rest, we have only been taught to hold the belief that everyone sent by Allah to guide His servants was upright and truthful. We believe in all the prophets who came to Hindustan, China, Iran, Egypt, Africa, Europe, and other parts of the world. But concerning any particular person, we can neither say that he was a prophet nor say that he was not a prophet, because nothing has been told to us about him. It is not lawful for us to speak against those whom the followers of different religions accept as their guides. It is quite possible that some of them were genuine prophets and that their followers later distorted the religion they had preached, just as the followers of Hazrat Musa (peace be upon him) and Hazrat Isa (peace be upon him) distorted theirs. Therefore, our judgment will concern their religion and practices, while we will remain silent about the guides, so that we do not become guilty of making an unfounded statement about a Messenger knowingly or unknowingly.

Like Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him), the other prophets were also Allah’s true Messengers. They too were sent by Allah, showed the easy and straight path of Islam, and we have been instructed to believe in all of them. In this respect there is no difference between Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him) and them. Yet, despite being equal in all these respects, Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him) and the other prophets differ in three matters.

First, the earlier prophets came for particular nations and particular ages, whereas Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him) was sent as a prophet for the entire world and for all time. We discussed this in detail in the previous chapter.

Second, the teachings of the earlier prophets have either been completely erased from the world or, even where something remains, have not been preserved in their original form. Thus, their authentic life stories cannot now be found anywhere in the world; instead, countless tales have become mixed with them. For this reason, even if someone wished to follow their path, it would not be possible for him. In contrast, Hazrat Muhammad’s (peace be upon him) teaching, his pure life, his spoken instructions, his way of practice, his moral life, his character and good deeds—in short, every aspect of his life—has been fully preserved in the world. For this reason, among all the Messengers, Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him) is in reality the only living Messenger, and only he can be followed.

Third, the teaching of Islam given through the earlier prophets was not complete. After each prophet, another prophet came and revised and added to his commands, laws, and guidance, and this process of revision and improvement continued. Therefore, after the eras of these prophets had passed, Allah Almighty did not preserve their teachings, because after every complete teaching there was no longer any need for the earlier incomplete teaching. Finally, through Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him), a teaching of Islam was given that is complete in every respect. The Shariah of all the earlier prophets was thereby abrogated on its own, because abandoning what is complete and following what is incomplete is contrary to reason. Whoever obeys Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him) is in reality obeying all the prophets. This is because everything beneficial in the teachings of all the prophets is present in the teaching of Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him). On the other hand, whoever abandons his obedience and follows an earlier prophet will be deprived of many benefits, because the beneficial instructions that came later were not present in the earlier teachings.

For the reasons stated above, it is the essential duty of all people throughout the world to obey Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him) alone. For a person to become a Muslim, believing in Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him) is extremely necessary for three reasons.

First, he is Allah’s true Messenger.

Second, his guidance is complete in every respect. It contains no deficiency and is free from every kind of error and deviation.

Third, he is Allah’s final Messenger. After him, no prophet will come among any nation until the Day of Judgment. Nor will any person ever appear whose acceptance will be a condition of becoming a Muslim, or whose rejection will make someone a disbeliever.

Faith in the Hereafter

The fifth thing in which Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him) instructed us to believe is the Hereafter. The matters relating to the Hereafter in which it is necessary to believe are as follows:

First: One day Allah Almighty will annihilate the entire universe and all the creatures within it. This day is called Qiyamah.

Second: Then all of them will be given a new life, and they will all appear before Allah. This is called Hashr.

Third: The record of everything all people did in their worldly lives will be presented before Allah’s court.

Fourth: Allah Almighty will weigh each person’s good and evil deeds. For the person whose good deeds outweigh his evil deeds on Allah’s scale, He will grant forgiveness; and for the person whose scale of evil deeds is heavier, He will impose the punishment he deserves.

Fifth: Those who receive forgiveness from Allah will enter Paradise, and those upon whom punishment is decreed will enter Hell.

The Need for Belief in the Hereafter

The concept of the Hereafter as presented by Muhammad (peace be upon him) had likewise been presented by the earlier prophets, and in every age it was an essential condition for becoming a Muslim. All the prophets called a person who denied the Hereafter or expressed doubt about it a disbeliever, because without this concept, accepting Allah, His revealed Books, and His Messengers becomes entirely meaningless, and a person’s whole life becomes distorted. The matter can easily be understood by thinking carefully. When someone is told to do something, the first question that arises in his mind is: What benefit will there be if I do it, and what harm will result if I do not? Why does this question arise? People regard an action that brings no benefit as meaningless and futile. A person who is convinced that an action will yield no benefit will never be prepared to undertake it. Similarly, no one will agree to refrain from an action if he is convinced that it will cause no harm. The same applies in the case of doubt. One cannot devote himself to an action about whose benefit he has doubts. If he doubts whether an action is harmful, he will make no special effort to avoid it. This is evident by looking at children. Why do children put their hands into fire? Because they are not convinced that fire burns. And why do they wish to stay away from their studies? Because the benefits their elders try to explain to them do not make an impression on their minds. For the same reason, a person who does not believe in the Hereafter considers believing in Allah and living according to His will futile. In his view, obeying Allah brings no benefit, just as disobeying Him brings no harm. How, then, can he obey the commands Allah has given through His Messenger and His Book? Even if we assume that he has accepted Allah, that acceptance is still completely meaningless, because he will not obey the law given by Allah or live according to His will.

This is not the end of the matter. On deeper reflection, it becomes clear that accepting or rejecting the Hereafter has a decisive influence on human life. As I have already said, it is human nature to decide whether to do something or refrain from it by considering its benefits and harms. One person’s attention is confined entirely to the gains and losses of this world. He will never show an inclination toward a virtuous deed from which he expects no benefit in this world; nor will he restrain himself from an action that poses no risk of harm in this worldly life. On the other hand, there is another person whose attention is fixed on the ultimate consequences of actions. He regards worldly gains and losses as temporary. Considering the everlasting gains and losses of the Hereafter, he will adopt the path of virtue and abandon the path of evil, regardless of how great a loss may result from the virtuous deed or how great a profit may be expected from the evil deed. One should consider how great the difference is between these two people. For the first, a good deed is whatever he will obtain in this temporary life: some money, some land, perhaps a position, fame, renown, and people’s praise, perhaps the fulfillment of some desire or the satisfaction of some pleasure. In his view, an evil deed is one that brings, or threatens to bring, a bad consequence in this life, such as loss of wealth or life, ill health, punishment from the authorities, some kind of suffering, or an unwelcome condition. In contrast, for the other person, a good deed is whatever pleases Allah, and an evil deed is whatever displeases Allah. Even if a good deed brings him no benefit in this world but causes him harm, he still regards it as a good deed and remains convinced that ultimately he will receive from Allah the everlasting reward due for it. Even if an evil deed causes him no harm, carries no fear of harm, and continues to bring him benefits, he still regards it as an evil deed and remains convinced that even if he escapes punishment in this brief worldly life and gets the opportunity to enjoy himself for some time, he will ultimately have no escape from the torment.

Under the influence of these two different concepts, people follow two different paths. For one who has no conviction in the Hereafter, it is completely impossible to advance even one step along the path of Islam. Islam says, “Give zakat to the poor for the sake of Allah.” He replies, “If I give zakat, my wealth will decrease. I will charge interest on my money and, under a decree for interest, seize even the last coin in their homes.” Islam says, “Always speak the truth and refrain from falsehood, no matter how much truthfulness harms you or how much profit lying brings.” He replies, “What will I do by accepting a truth that will bring me nothing but loss? And why should I refrain from a lie that will benefit me and carry no fear even of disgrace?” While crossing a lonely road, he notices a very valuable object. Islam immediately tells him, “This is not your property; you cannot accept it under any circumstances.” He replies, “Why should I leave something that has come to me on its own? There is no one here to see me and inform the police, testify in court, or defame me before people. Why, then, should I not profit from this found money?” Someone secretly deposits some belongings with him and dies. Islam then tells him, “Do not destroy the trust; deliver the deceased person’s property to his children.” He exclaims, “Why? There is no witness that the dead man’s property is with me, and his children do not know about it either. Since I can easily misappropriate it without fear of any law or disgrace, why should I not do so?” In short, at every step of life Islam will direct him along one particular path, while he will follow the exact opposite. In Islam, the worth and value of everything are determined in view of its everlasting consequences in the Hereafter; but this person fixes his attention in every matter on the results obtainable in the temporary life of this world. It can now be clearly understood why a person cannot become a Muslim without believing in the Hereafter. Indeed, far from becoming a Muslim, by denying the Hereafter a person descends from humanity and falls below the level of animals.

The Truth of Belief in the Hereafter

After discussing the necessity and benefit of belief in the Hereafter, I would now like to say briefly that the account of the Hereafter given to us by Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him) is also rationally true, as will become understandable to you. Although our belief is founded not merely on reason but on complete trust in the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), when we reflect carefully, we find this belief the most rational of all beliefs concerning the Hereafter.

There are three kinds of belief about the Hereafter prevalent in the world:

One group believes that after death human beings are destroyed. There is no life afterward. This is the belief of atheists who claim to be scientists.

The second group says that people are born again and again in this world in different bodies in order to experience the results of their own deeds. If they do evil, in their next life they will return as an animal such as a dog or cat, or be born as a tree, or take the form of a person of an inferior level. If they do good, they will reach a higher level of life. This kind of belief is found in some materialistic religions.

The third group believes in the Day of Resurrection, being granted a new life, appearing before Allah’s court, and receiving recompense and consequences for its deeds. This is the common belief of all the prophets.

Let us now consider the first belief. Their argument is: “We have never seen anyone come back to life after dying. Rather, we see that after death people merge into the earth. Therefore, there is no life after death.” But on reflection it becomes clear that there is no logic in this statement. From the fact that no one has been seen coming back to life after death, one may at most say, “We do not know what will happen after death.” What evidence can be presented for the stronger claim that nothing will happen after death? A villager who has never seen an airplane may say, “I do not know what an airplane is.” But when he says, “I know that there is no such thing as an airplane,” intelligent people will call him foolish. Not seeing a particular thing cannot mean that it is nothing at all. Even if one person—or all the people in the world—have never seen a particular thing, it cannot be claimed that the thing does not exist or cannot exist.

Let us next consider the second belief. According to this belief, when a particular person has lived his present life as a human being, the reason is that in a previous life, while he was an animal, he performed good deeds; and an animal that is spending its present life as an animal had previously lived as a human being and performed evil deeds. In other words, becoming a human, animal, or tree is actually the result of deeds performed in a previous life.

The question now is: What existed first? If it is said that human beings existed first, one must accept that before them there were animals or trees; otherwise the question arises: In exchange for what good deed was the human form obtained? If it is said that animals or trees existed first, one must accept that before them there were human beings; otherwise the question arises: As punishment for what evil deed was the form of a tree or animal obtained? In short, the followers of this belief cannot correctly determine the original form of creation, because before every form they must posit another form, so that the later form may be regarded as the result of deeds performed by the creation possessing the earlier form. This belief is plainly contrary to reason.

Let us now consider the third belief. It first states that one day the Day of Resurrection will come, and Allah Himself will break apart and obliterate this workshop of His, building in its place another workshop of a higher and superior order. This is a matter about whose truth there is no room for doubt. The more one reflects on this workshop of the world, the more evidence one finds that it is not permanent, because all the forces operating within it are limited, and their eventual end is certain. For this reason, all scientists agree that one day the sun will become cold and lose its light, the planets and satellites will collide with one another, and the world will be destroyed.

The second statement is: “Human beings will be given life a second time.” Is this also possible? If it is impossible, then how did human beings come to enjoy their present life? Clearly, the Allah who created human beings in this world can create them anew in another world as well.

The third matter is: “A record has been preserved of everything people have done during their life in this world, and it will be presented on the Day of Resurrection.” We are already finding evidence of this in this world. The common view in earlier times was that when a sound left a person’s mouth, it created some waves in the air and disappeared. But today we know that every sound leaves marks on various things along its path. That sound can be reproduced. Indeed, the gramophone record was invented on this very principle.

From this it can be understood that traces of our movements are being inscribed on everything that comes into our path. From this state of affairs one can confidently realize that our complete record of deeds has been preserved and can be presented again.

The fourth matter is: “On the Day of Resurrection Allah will establish a court and, according to justice, decree reward and punishment for our good and evil deeds.” Who can call this impossible? What part of it is contrary to reason? Reason itself demands that Allah decide everything according to justice in His court of justice. We see one person do good, yet receive no benefit from it in this world. Another person continues doing evil, yet suffers no harm. Not only that; we see thousands of examples in which a person keeps doing good but is instead harmed, while another person does evil and enjoys himself greatly. Observing all such events, reason demands that somewhere the good deeds of the virtuous and the evil deeds of the wicked must receive their recompense.

The final matter is Paradise and Hell. Their existence is not impossible. The Allah who was able to create the moon, the sun, Mars, and the earth—why should He ultimately be unable to create Paradise and Hell? When He establishes a court and decrees reward and punishment for people’s good and evil, there must also be designated places where those worthy of reward may receive special honor, happiness, and comfort, and where those worthy of punishment may suffer humiliation, grief, and pain.

When these matters are considered, reason itself will declare that among all the concepts concerning the fate of human beings in this world, this is the most rational; there is nothing irrational or impossible in it.

Since Allah’s truthful prophet, Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him), described this as true, and everything in it is beneficial for us, the wise course is to believe in it and not entertain doubt about it without reason.

The Excellent Declaration of Faith

The foundation of Islam has been established upon the five beliefs mentioned earlier. The essence of these five beliefs is contained in one declaration alone: (…………………)

When a person says, “There is no god but Allah,” he rejects all false deities and pledges to serve Allah alone. And when he says, “Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah,” he acknowledges the truth that Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him) is Allah’s Messenger. Along with acknowledging the truth of his messengership, it becomes an essential duty to believe in whatever Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him) taught about Allah’s Being and attributes, the angels, the heavenly Books, the prophets, and the Hereafter, and to follow the path of worship and obedience to Allah that he prescribed.

Worship

It was stated in the previous chapter that Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him) taught belief in five things:

First: In Allah, the One without partner.

Second: In the angels of Allah.

Third: In the Books of Allah, especially the Noble Qur’an.

Fourth: In Allah’s Messenger, especially His final Messenger, Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him).

Fifth: In the life of the Hereafter.

This is the foundation of Islam. When a person believes in these five things, he joins the community of Muslims, but this alone does not make him a complete Muslim. A person becomes a complete Muslim only when he obeys the commands brought by Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him) from Allah, because obedience becomes an essential duty immediately upon believing, and this obedience is what Islam means. Consider a person who acknowledges that Allah alone is his God. This means that He alone is his Master, while he is His servant; He alone gives commands, while he is obedient to Him. After accepting this Master and Commander, if he disobeys Him, he rebels against his own acknowledgement and becomes guilty. He has also acknowledged that the Noble Qur’an is Allah’s Book. This means that he has accepted everything contained in the Noble Qur’an as Allah’s command. His essential duty now is to accept every word of it and bow his head before every command. He has also acknowledged that Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him) is Allah’s Messenger. In reality, this acknowledges that whatever Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him) commanded people to do and whatever he prohibited, he did so on Allah’s behalf. After this acknowledgement, obeying Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him) becomes obligatory for him. Thus, a person becomes a complete “Muslim” when his actions correspond to his faith; the greater the difference between his faith and his actions, the more incomplete his faith remains.

I will now explain what method of living according to Allah’s will and pleasure Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him) taught us, what actions he commanded, and what he prohibited. First, in this connection, we may mention the acts of worship that have been made obligatory upon us.

The Significance of Worship

In reality, worship means servitude or slavery. Human beings are servants. Allah is the object of their worship. Whatever a servant does in obedience to his Lord is worship. We speak with people; in our conversation we refrain from lying, backbiting, and obscenity because Allah has prohibited them; we always speak of truth, justice, honesty, and purity because Allah likes these things. No matter how worldly our conversations may be, they will be our worship. We conduct financial transactions with people, buy and sell goods in the marketplace, live with our parents and siblings in our homes, and associate with our friends and loved ones. If in all these activities of life we follow Allah’s limits, laws, and regulations; if, according to Allah’s commands, we protect the rights of others; and if, because Allah has prohibited it, we refrain from usurping the rights of others, then our entire life may be said to have been spent in the worship of Allah. I help the poor, feed a hungry person, care for a sick person, and in these actions keep Allah’s pleasure before me instead of personal interest, honor, and reputation. In this case, all these actions of mine will count as worship. A person engages in business, industry, or physical labor and, fearing Allah, works with complete trustworthiness and faithfulness, earns lawful sustenance, and avoids what is unlawful; his earning of a livelihood will be included among the worship of Allah. Although he is working to earn his livelihood, it will nevertheless count as worship. In simple terms, in every moment and every matter of worldly life, one must fear Allah, make His pleasure one’s objective, follow the law He has given, disregard gains obtained through disobedience to Him, and accept any loss resulting from obedience to Him, or any feared loss that may result. This is the worship of Allah. Even eating, dressing, moving about, sleeping, waking, and speaking—in short, everything in such a life—is included in worship.

This is the true meaning of worship. The real objective of Islam is to make Muslims into servants accustomed to such worship. For this purpose, Islam has made certain acts of worship obligatory, so that people may become prepared for this greatest form of worship. It should also be understood that these acts of worship have been prescribed as a training course to prepare for the greater worship. The better a person undertakes this training, the better he will be able to perform the greater and true worship. For this reason, these special acts of worship are called obligatory duties upon every individual, and they have been described as the pillars of the religion. Just as a building stands upon several pillars, so the structure of Islamic life is established upon these pillars. If these pillars are demolished, the structure of Islam itself will be destroyed.

Salat

Among these obligatory duties, the first is salat. What is salat? It is the repetition, five times a day in words and actions, of the things in which a Muslim has believed. The Muslim rises at dawn and, before anything else, purifies himself and appears before the Great Lord; standing, sitting, bowing, and placing his head upon the earth before Him, he acknowledges his servitude, begs Him for help, renews his pledge of obedience, repeatedly expresses his desire to attain His pleasure and be saved from His wrath, and repeats the teachings of His Book. He testifies to the truth of His Messenger and remembers the day on which he will appear before His court to answer for his deeds. Thus his day begins. He remains occupied with his work for several hours, and then at noon the caller to prayer reminds him to repeat that teaching for a few minutes, so that he does not forget it and become heedless of the Great Lord. He comes, renews his faith, and returns to the world and his work. After several hours, he is called again at the time of asr, and once more renews his faith. Then maghrib arrives and night begins. The worship with which he rose at dawn is repeated so that he does not forget that teaching or commit any mistake. After several hours comes the time of isha, and with it comes the time for sleep. For the last time, he is reminded of the entire teaching of faith, because this is a time of tranquility. If he did not have the opportunity to give it full attention amid the bustle of the day, at this time he can concentrate on it with a peaceful mind.

This strengthens the foundation of a Muslim’s Islam five times every day. Salat prepares Muslims for the greater worship whose significance I analyzed a little earlier. Salat renews all their beliefs, and upon it depend the purity of their souls, the elevation of their spirit, the soundness of their character, and the reform of their actions. Reflection makes it clear why the method taught by the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) is followed in ablution, and why we perform everything in salat that he taught. The reason is that we regard obedience to Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him) as obligatory. Why does no one deliberately recite the Qur’an incorrectly? Because everyone is convinced that it is the Word of Allah. If what is recited quietly in salat were omitted or something else recited, would anyone need to fear? No human being is hearing it. It is clear that every worshipper has realized that Allah hears whatever we recite quietly and that even my hidden movements are not unknown to Him. Where no one is watching, who gets a Muslim up for salat? Its basis is the belief that Allah is watching me. What draws a person to salat, leaving aside the most urgent work, when its time arrives? It is the feeling in his heart that Allah has made salat obligatory for him. On a winter morning, at noon in summer, and amid the evening conversations of every day at the time of maghrib, what compels a Muslim to perform salat? What can it be other than a sense of duty? Why are people afraid to omit salat or knowingly perform it incorrectly? Because there is fear of Allah in their hearts, and they know that one day they must appear before His court. The question now is: What training could be better than salat for making a person a completely genuine Muslim? What greater instruction could Muslims receive than that which several times each day awakens in their minds remembrance of Allah, fear of Him, conviction that He is ever watchful, and belief in appearing before His court; which repeatedly compels them to follow the path of the Messenger of Allah; and which provides practice in fulfilling their duties every few hours from morning until night? It can be expected that such a person, after completing salat and becoming engaged in the affairs of the world, will also fear Allah, follow His law, and, whenever the possibility of committing a sin arises, remember that Allah is watching him. If, after such high-level training, someone still has no fear of Allah and does not abandon walking in the opposite direction by disobeying His commands, this is not a fault of salat; rather, it proves the fault of that person himself.

Another matter worthy of consideration is that Allah has urged the performance of Salat in congregation and, in particular, has made the Friday Salat obligatory in congregation once a week. As a result, unity and brotherhood arise among Muslims. Together they build a powerful alliance. When they all worship Allah together and sit and rise together, bonds are naturally established among them and a sense of brotherhood awakens. This, in turn, creates in them the attitude of obeying a single leader and teaches them order and discipline. Consequently, mutual sympathy, affection, and a sense of common interest arise among them. The amir and the poor, the great and the small, a high-ranking official and his peon all stand together; there is no distinction between high and low castes.

These are some of the countless benefits of Salat. Allah gains nothing from Salat; rather, it is the worshipper who benefits from it. Allah has made Salat obligatory solely for the benefit of humanity. His displeasure when Salat is not performed is not because they thereby cause Allah any harm, but because they are harming themselves. What immense power Allah has placed in Salat, yet people avoid the means of receiving it. With their tongues they acknowledge Allah’s authority, obedience to the Messenger, and the reckoning in the Hereafter, yet in practice they neglect the greatest obligatory duty prescribed by Allah and His Messenger. What a great disgrace this is. There can be two reasons behind such conduct: either a person does not acknowledge Salat as obligatory, or, despite knowing that it is obligatory, he avoids it. If an obligatory duty is denied, then in practice a lie is attributed to both the Qur’an and the Messenger of Allah, and a false claim is made to believe in them. If, while acknowledging it as obligatory, he nevertheless tries to avoid it, then he proves himself utterly untrustworthy, and no one can rely on him in any worldly matter. When he is dishonest in fulfilling his duty to Allah, can one expect him not to be dishonest in fulfilling his duties toward people?

Fasting

The second obligatory duty is Sawm. What is Sawm? The lesson that Salat reminds us of five times every day, Sawm continues to remind us of once a year, every moment throughout an entire month. When Ramadan arrives, Muslims abstain from food and drink from dawn until evening. They may be eating during the time of Suhur, but as soon as the call to prayer is given, they restrain their hands. Then, no matter how tempting the food placed before them, however hungry or thirsty they become, and however strongly their desires urge them, they cannot eat anything until evening. It is not merely that they refrain from eating in front of people; even in an empty place where no one is present to see them, they cannot swallow a drop of water or a morsel of food. This prohibition remains in force until a specified time. As soon as the Maghrib call to prayer is given, they turn to Iftar. Then throughout the night they may eat whatever they wish, freely and without hindrance. Let us consider what this is. It contains fear of Allah, Muslims’ conviction that He is ever-watchful, faith in the life of the Hereafter and Allah’s judgment, strict obedience to the Qur’an and the Messenger, and a strong sense of duties that must be performed. It teaches perseverance in striving and confronting difficulties. It also teaches the ability to resist and subdue one’s desires for the sake of earning Allah’s pleasure. Ramadan comes every year, and for the full thirty days this Sawm teaches Muslims and strives to cultivate these qualities in them, so that they may become Muslims fully and completely—qualities that a Muslim must embody in his life.

It is also worth observing that Allah has made Sawm obligatory for all Muslims in the same month, so that everyone may fast together rather than observing fasts separately. Countless further benefits are contained in this. Throughout the Islamic lands, this month is regarded as a month of holiness. The entire Muslim world then becomes filled with faith, fear of Allah, obedience to His commands, pure and clean conduct, and righteous deeds. During this time, every kind of wrongdoing is restrained and good deeds are encouraged. The righteous help one another in performing good deeds. The wicked feel ashamed to commit evil. The wealthy are inspired to help the poor. Wealth is spent in the path of Allah. All Muslims return to the same condition, and in that shared condition they feel that all Muslims belong to one congregation. This is an effective means of establishing brotherhood, compassion, and inner unity among them.

This benefit is for us. Allah gains nothing by leaving us hungry. He has made Sawm obligatory for us for our own benefit. Whoever refrains from fulfilling this obligation without a valid reason wrongs only himself. Those who openly eat and drink during the days of Ramadan follow the most shameful course. In effect, they proclaim that they are not part of the Muslim congregation, that they have no concern for Islam’s commands and prohibitions, and that they openly turn away from obeying the One they acknowledge as Allah. Then can anyone expect reliability, good conduct, trustworthiness, devotion to duty, and obedience to the law from people who separate themselves from their own congregation, feel not the slightest shame in rebelling against their Creator and Sustainer, and openly violate the law prescribed by the supreme leader of their religion?

Zakat

The third obligatory duty is Zakat. Allah has made it obligatory for every wealthy Muslim that, if he possesses at least forty taka and it remains saved for a full year, he must give one taka from it to a poor relative, a needy person, a miskin, a new Muslim, a traveler, or a person in debt.

In this way, Allah has set aside at least two and a half percent of the wealth of the rich for the poor. If anyone gives more than this, it will be regarded as a favor, and he will receive even greater reward.

The portion given for this purpose does not reach Allah. He is in need of nothing from us. Rather, He says: If you willingly give something, for My sake, to one of your poor brothers, it is as though you have given it to Me. On his behalf, I will reward you several times over. The condition, of course, is that you must not claim to have done him a favor. You must not insult or hate him, nor expect gratitude from him. You must not try to make people discuss your donation or praise you as a great benefactor. If you can keep your heart free of these impure notions, and give the poor a share of your wealth solely for My pleasure, then from My infinite riches I will give you a share that will never end.

Just as Allah has made Salat and Sawm obligatory for us, He has likewise made Zakat obligatory. Zakat is a great pillar of Islam. It is called a pillar because it creates in Muslims the strength for sacrifice and self-denial, and removes the vices of selfishness, miserliness, narrow-mindedness, and the worship of wealth. The worshipper of Lakshmi, and the greedy miser ready to give his life for money, is of no use to Islam. Only the person who can sacrifice, at Allah’s command and without any demand for personal gain, the wealth he has earned through his own physical labor can proceed along Islam’s easy and straight path. Zakat habituates Muslims to make this sacrifice and gives them the capacity that, whenever it becomes necessary to spend their wealth in Allah’s path, they do not cling to it, but spend it with an open heart.

The worldly benefit of Zakat is that through it Muslims help one another. No Muslim will remain without clothing or food, humiliated or neglected. The wealthy will support the poor in such a way that they will not have to wander begging. No one will squander his wealth solely on his own comfort, luxury, and prestige; rather, he will remember that the orphans, widows, and needy of his community have a right to it. Children who have come into the world endowed by Allah with talent and intelligence, yet cannot obtain an education because they are poor, also have a right to it. So do those who cannot work because they are sick or incapacitated. Those who refuse to acknowledge this right are wrongdoers. One person will be loaded down with bag after bag of money, enjoy comfort and luxury in mansions, and travel lavishly in an air-conditioned car, while thousands from his own community wander begging for two handfuls of rice and thousands of able-bodied people roam the streets unemployed. What greater injustice could there be? Islam is the enemy of this kind of selfishness. The civilization of the unbelievers teaches them to hoard whatever wealth comes into their hands and, by lending it at interest, to draw into their own grasp the earnings of those around them as well. Islam, their religion, teaches Muslims that if Allah grants them wealth beyond their needs, they should not hoard it; rather, they should use it to help their other brothers, so that their needs may be met and they too may be made capable of earning, like themselves.

Hajj

The fourth obligatory duty is Hajj. Hajj is required only once in a Muslim’s lifetime, and only for a person who is able to bear the cost of traveling to Makkah.

At the place where Makkah is now situated, several thousand years ago Ibrahim, peace be upon him, built a small house for the worship of Allah. In recognition of his sincerity and love, Allah accepted that house as His own and instructed us to face it when worshipping. He further instructed that every capable Muslim, wherever in the world he may live, should come at least once in his lifetime to visit this house with the same love and circumambulate it, just as His beloved servant Ibrahim, peace be upon him, used to circumambulate it. He also instructed that when anyone comes toward His house, he must purify his heart, resist his personal desires, refrain from bloodshed, wrongdoing, and obscene speech, and appear before his Lord with the courtesy, devotion, and humility appropriate at His court. He must think that he is going to appear before that King who governs the earth and the heavens, before whom all people are helpless. When they appear there in such humility and worship with purified hearts, He will enrich them with His grace.

From a particular perspective, Hajj is the most important act of worship. If a person has no love of Allah in his heart, how could he leave his work and affairs, separate himself from his loved ones and friends, and endure the hardship of such a long journey? When a person sets out on this journey, he does not regard it as an ordinary journey. On this journey, his attention is focused more than ever upon Allah. There is no room in his heart for doubt or hesitation. The closer he comes to the Kaaba, the more brightly the flame of love burns within him. He begins naturally to hate wrongdoing and disobedience in his heart. He feels shame for his past wrongdoing. For the future, he prays to Allah for the ability to obey. He experiences the taste of worship and remembrance of Allah. His prostration before Allah grows longer and longer, and his heart does not wish to raise his head from prostration before Him. Reciting the Qur’an brings new joy to his heart, and fasting brings him a new kind of feeling. When he sets foot in the land of Hijaz, all the scenes of Islam’s early history rise before the screen of his heart.

Everywhere he sees traces of people who loved Allah and sacrificed themselves for His sake. Every grain of sand there bears witness to Islam’s glory and grandeur, and every pebble there proclaims: this is the land where Islam was born and from which Allah’s message was proclaimed. Thus the Muslim’s heart becomes filled with love of Allah and affection for Islam, and he returns from there carrying such a profound impression that it never fades until his death.

Within Hajj, Allah has placed countless worldly benefits along with benefits for the religion. Through Hajj, Makkah has been made a central gathering place for Muslims from the entire world. Those who remember Allah gather there at the same time from every corner of the world and meet one another. Islamic sincerity and affection are established among them, and the conviction becomes firmly rooted in everyone’s heart that Muslims, whatever country they inhabit and whatever lineage they are born into, are brothers to one another and belong to the same community. For this reason, Hajj is, on the one hand, worship of Allah and, on the other, a gathering of Muslims from the entire world; it is also the greatest means of creating a powerful brotherhood among Muslims.

Support for Islam

The last obligatory duty prescribed for us by Allah is support for Islam (Himayat-e-Islam). Although this duty is not among the pillars of Islam, it is nevertheless extremely important among Islamic obligations. Special emphasis has been placed upon it in the Noble Qur’an and the Noble Hadith.

What support for Islam is and why it was made obligatory can be understood very easily from an example. Suppose I am friends with a person, yet in every matter it is evident that he has no sympathy for me. He has no concern whatsoever for my gain or loss. For the sake of his own interests, he carries out without hesitation whatever will benefit or harm me. When something benefits me, he refrains from helping solely because it brings him no personal benefit. When I face danger, he does not help; if he sees me being harmed somewhere, he either joins the wrongdoers himself or at least listens silently to news of my harm. If my enemies take action against me, he joins them, or at least makes not the slightest effort to save me from their wrongdoing. Would I really regard such a person as my friend? Everyone would say: Never. For this is merely a verbal claim of friendship; in reality, there is no feeling of friendship in his heart. Friendship means that a person will love and be sincere toward the one who is his friend. He will sympathize with him and wish him well. He will help him against his enemies and will not tolerate his being denounced. If these qualities are absent in him, he is a hypocrite. His claim of friendship is false.

According to this example, what duties are imposed upon someone who claims to be a Muslim? Being a Muslim means that he will possess Islamic zeal, a sense of honor rooted in faith, love for Islam, and genuine goodwill toward his Muslim brothers. Even when occupied with worldly affairs, the welfare of Islam and the well-being of Muslims will always remain before his eyes. For his personal interests or to avoid personal harm, he will not do anything harmful to Islam or contrary to the welfare of Muslims. With his heart, life, and wealth, he will take part in every undertaking beneficial to Islam and Muslims, and he will keep away from every undertaking harmful to Islam and Muslims. He will regard the honor of his religion and religious congregation as his own honor. Just as he cannot tolerate personal humiliation, he will not tolerate the humiliation of Islam or those who believe in it. Just as he will not assist his own enemies against himself, he will not assist the enemies of Islam and Muslims. Just as he is prepared to make every sacrifice of his wealth, life, and honor for what he values, he will be prepared to make every sacrifice for Islam and the Muslim congregation. Whoever claims to be a Muslim must possess all these qualities; otherwise he will be counted among the hypocrites. His actions will prove his verbal claim false.

One branch of this support for Islam is called Jihad in the language of the Shariah. Literally, Jihad means expending one’s utmost strength in a cause. In this sense, a person who strives to raise the word of Allah through wealth, speech, the pen, or his hands and feet is also engaged in Jihad. The word Jihad has been used for the war that is waged against the enemies of Islam solely for Allah’s sake, free from every worldly objective. In the Shariah, this Jihad is called Fard Kifayah. That is, it is an obligation prescribed for all Muslims, but if one group fulfills it, the responsibility is discharged from the remaining people. However, if an enemy attacks an Islamic country, then in that situation Jihad becomes Fard Ayn, or an obligatory duty, for every inhabitant of that country, just like Salat and Sawm. If they lack the strength to confront the enemy, it becomes obligatory for every Muslim in the neighboring countries to help them with life and wealth. If the enemy’s attack cannot be repelled even with their help, then assisting them becomes an obligatory duty, just like Salat and Sawm, for all Muslims throughout the world. If even one person falls behind in fulfilling this obligatory duty, he becomes sinful. In such circumstances, Jihad becomes more important than Salat and Sawm, because this is the time when faith is tested. Whoever does not support Islam and Muslims in a moment of danger leaves room for doubt concerning his faith. What use will his Salat be, and what benefit will there be in his Sawm? And if, at such a time, some wretched person supports the enemy against Islam and Muslims, he is certainly a hypocrite; his Salat and Sawm, his Zakat, and his Hajj—all of them are meaningless.

Religion and Shariah

Everything I have said so far has concerned religion. Now I shall speak about the Shariah of Muhammad, peace be upon him. But first we must understand: What is Shariah, and what is the difference between Shariah and religion?

The Difference Between Religion and Shariah

It has been stated in the preceding chapters that all the prophets brought the teaching of Islam, and that the religion of Islam consists of believing, according to the teaching of Allah’s true messengers, in Allah’s essence, His attributes, and the reward and punishment of the Hereafter; accepting Allah’s Books; abandoning all self-invented paths and recognizing as true the path prescribed by Allah’s Books; obeying Allah’s prophets and following them alone, leaving everything else. No one besides Allah may be associated with Him in worship. This faith and worship are called religion, and they were included in the teaching of all the prophets.

In addition, there is another thing called Shariah. The methods of worship, social customs, rules governing mutual transactions and the maintenance of relationships, and the limits of what is lawful and unlawful and what is permissible and impermissible are included in Shariah. Regarding these rules, Allah initially sent different Shariahs through His prophets, taking into consideration the circumstances of different communities, so that each community could be separately trained in good conduct, civilization, and good character and prepared to obey a greater law. When this work of preparing humanity had been completed, Allah sent Muhammad, peace be upon him, with that greater system, every provision of which applies to the entire world. The religion remained the same as that taught by the earlier prophets, but all the earlier Shariahs were abrogated. In their place was established a Shariah in which the methods of worship for all people, social customs, laws governing mutual exchange, and the limits of the lawful and unlawful were all codified together.

Sources for Knowing the Rules of Shariah

There are two sources before us for understanding the principles and rules of the Shariah of Muhammad. The first is the Noble Qur’an, and the second is Hadith. Everyone knows that the Noble Qur’an is the word of Allah and that every one of its words came from Allah. Hadith refers to the reports that have reached us from the Noble Messenger, peace be upon him. The entire life of the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, was an explanation of the Qur’an. From the time he became a prophet, every moment of his life for twenty-three years was spent teaching and guiding people and teaching them, through his words and actions, how to live according to Allah’s will and pleasure. During this active life, his male and female companions, relatives, and wives carefully listened to every word he spoke, observed every action he performed, and whenever any problem arose before them, received guidance from him regarding the rules of Shariah. Sometimes he would say: Do such-and-such a thing, and do not do such-and-such a thing. Those present would carefully learn his instructions. At other times he would perform an act in a particular manner. Those who saw him remembered it and told those who had not seen it that the Noble Prophet, peace be upon him, had performed such-and-such an act in such-and-such a manner. At still other times, someone would perform an act before the Noble Messenger, peace be upon him; he would either remain silent, approve it, or prohibit it. People also preserved such statements and incidents. In the same way, of the things people heard from his male and female companions, some memorized them and others wrote them down. They also remembered the name of the person from whom the report had reached them. Gradually, these reports were collected in written form. Thus a vast collection of Hadith was compiled. Among these Hadith collectors, the books of Hadith compiled by Imam Malik, Imam Bukhari, Imam Muslim, Imam Tirmidhi, Imam Abu Dawud, Imam Nasai, and Imam Ibn Majah have been regarded as highly reliable.

Fiqh

After studying and researching the rules of the Qur’an and Hadith, religious scholars recorded the laws in detail for the convenience of ordinary people. Their written works are called Fiqh. Since not every person can understand all the subtle points of the Noble Qur’an, nor is everyone sufficiently skilled in the science of Hadith to understand the rules of Shariah for himself, religious scholars labored and researched for years to compile the discipline of Fiqh. The Muslims of the world can never adequately repay them for this beneficial work. As a result of their efforts, millions upon millions of Muslims today follow the Shariah without difficulty, and they face no obstacle in understanding the commands of Allah and His Messenger.

In the beginning, many religious scholars compiled the discipline of Fiqh according to their own methods. In the end, however, four schools of Fiqh gained recognition throughout the world, and today Muslims everywhere follow them more than any others:

First: The Fiqh compiled by Imam Abu Hanifa. Imam Abu Yusuf, Imam Muhammad, Imam Zufar, and several other eminent scholars assisted in its compilation. It is called Hanafi Fiqh.

Second: The Fiqh compiled by Imam Malik. It is called Maliki Fiqh.

Third: The Fiqh compiled by Imam Shafi‘i. It is called Shafi‘i Fiqh.

Fourth: The Fiqh compiled by Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal. It is called Hanbali Fiqh.

These four schools of Fiqh were compiled within two hundred years after the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him. The differences found among them are entirely natural. When different people research a matter or try to understand its significance, their research and conclusions may differ. All these religious scholars were seekers of truth, motivated by good intentions, and genuine well-wishers of the Muslims. Therefore, all Muslims have accepted these four schools of Fiqh as grounded in truth.

It should, however, be understood that in one and the same matter, allegiance can be given to only one method; allegiance to four different methods is not possible. For this reason, most scholars hold that Muslims should follow any one of these four methods. Another group of scholars, however, says that it is not necessary to follow any particular fiqh. Scholars should sincerely understand the injunctions of the Qur’an and Hadith, while those who do not possess knowledge should follow a scholar whom they trust. These are called Ahl al-Hadith. They too, like the aforementioned four groups, are devoted to the truth.

Tasawwuf

Fiqh is concerned with a person’s outward actions. Its example is this: Am I performing correctly the action that I have been instructed to perform in a particular way and manner? If I have performed it correctly, fiqh has nothing to say about what the state of my heart was. That which is concerned with the state of the heart is called tasawwuf¹. For example, when someone performs salat, fiqh examines only whether he performed ablution properly, stood facing the qiblah, fulfilled all the essential conditions of salat, recited everything required during salat, and performed the prescribed number of rak‘ahs at the prescribed time. When all these conditions have been fulfilled, his salat is complete in the view of fiqh. Tasawwuf, however, examines what the state of his heart was during this worship. Was he devoted in heart to Allah? Was his heart free from worldly thoughts? Did salat produce in his heart fear of Allah, conviction of His being ever-present and watchful, and a desire to seek only His pleasure? To what extent did this salat purify his soul? To what extent did it reform his character? To what extent did it make him a true worshipper and a righteous Muslim? To the extent that a person attains perfection in the matters related to the true objective of salat, salat attains that much greater perfection in the view of tasawwuf. To the extent that weakness remains in this respect, his salat is regarded as correspondingly weak. Likewise, with all the injunctions of the Shariah, fiqh examines only whether each command was carried out exactly as prescribed. Tasawwuf, on the other hand, examines how much sincerity, good intention, and genuine obedience were present in him while carrying out that command.

The difference between these two can be understood from an example. When a particular person meets someone, he looks at him from two perspectives. First: Is the man physically complete and healthy? Is he blind, one-eyed, or lame? Is he handsome or ugly? Is he wearing good clothes or dirty, worn-out clothes? Second: What is his character like, what are his nature and habits, and what kind of knowledge and intelligence does he possess? Is he learned or ignorant, honest or dishonest? The first perspective is that of fiqh, and the second is that of tasawwuf. When someone seeks to choose a person for friendship, he should examine these two aspects of personality. His desire should be that both the inner and outer aspects be beautiful. Likewise, in the ideal life envisioned by Islam, one must obey the injunctions of the Shariah in both outward and inward belief. A person who has outward obedience but no living spirit of inward obedience is like a dead person with a beautiful face. Again, a person whose actions possess every kind of beauty but whose outward obedience is not correct may be compared to a person who is extremely noble and righteous but physically ugly and deformed.

The mutual relationship between fiqh and tasawwuf can be understood from this example. Unfortunately, in later times, when many kinds of corruption arose because of the distortion of knowledge and character, the pure form of tasawwuf was also distorted. Having learned anti-Islamic philosophies from the practices of misguided peoples, people introduced them into Islam in the name of tasawwuf. They promoted many strange beliefs and practices in the name of tasawwuf that have no existence in the Qur’an or Hadith. Such people gradually freed themselves from obedience to the Shariah. According to them, tasawwuf has no relation to the Shariah. They claim that a different world exists here. Why should Sufis need to follow laws, rules, and procedures? Only ignorant Sufis hold such views; in reality, their notion is entirely erroneous. There is no tasawwuf in Islam that has no connection with the injunctions of the Shariah. No Sufi has the right to be exempt from salat, sawm, hajj, and zakat. No Sufi has the right to act contrary to the rules Allah and His Messenger have prescribed concerning social life, moral responsibility, character, mutual dealings, rights and duties, and the boundaries of halal and haram. A person who does not properly obey the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) and does not follow the course of action prescribed by him is not worthy of calling himself a Muslim Sufi. In reality, tasawwuf is true love for Allah and His Messenger, and the demand of love is that one should not deviate even a hair’s breadth from obedience to Allah’s commands and His Messenger. Islamic tasawwuf is not something separate from the Shariah; rather, tasawwuf means observing the injunctions of the Shariah with the utmost sincerity and good intention, and instilling love and fear of Allah within the heart.

The Injunctions of the Shariah

In this final chapter I shall discuss the principles of the Shariah and its particular injunctions. From this it will be possible to understand how the Islamic Shariah makes the human mind obedient to sound and beautiful laws, and how full of wisdom those laws are.

The Principles of the Shariah

Everyone can understand, by reflecting on his own condition, that he has come into the world with many powers, and that each inner power demands that he use it properly. Among them are intellect, will, desire, speech, sight, hearing, the capacity to taste, the ability to control the hands and feet, hatred and anger, affection and attraction, fear and temptation. None of these is without purpose. These things have been given to fulfill his needs. The worldly life and success of human beings depend on their making proper use of the powers Allah has given them.

It will also be seen that along with the powers given to human beings, the means of using them have also been provided. First among these is the human body, in which all the necessary instruments are present. Then there is the surrounding world, in which innumerable means of every kind have already been created. Fellow human beings are available to help people. For their service there are animals, plants, minerals, earth, water, air, heat, light, and countless other things. Allah created all these so that human beings would use them and receive help from them in living their lives.

Let us now consider another aspect. The powers given to human beings were given for their benefit, not for their harm. The proper way to use them is therefore one that produces benefit alone, without the possibility of harm, or, if harm does occur, keeps it as small as possible. It would be wrong, according to reason, to use them in any other way. If someone does something that harms himself, that is certainly wrong. If someone uses his own powers in a way that harms others, that too is wrong. If, by misusing a power, someone wastes the means and resources Allah has provided, that is also wrong. Everyone’s reason will testify that every kind of harm must be avoided, and should be accepted only when avoiding it is altogether impossible or when its outcome holds the possibility of a greater benefit.

Let us proceed further. Two kinds of people are found in the world. One kind deliberately uses some of its powers in such a way that one power harms another of its own powers, or causes harm to others. Or it misuses the means and resources given to it, although those things were given solely for benefit, not for waste. The other kind does not do this deliberately, but errs out of ignorance. The people of the first group are wrongdoers, and laws and regulations are needed to control them. The other group, which errs because of ignorance, needs an educational system through which it can understand the correct way to use its powers.

This need has been met in the Shariah that Allah sent through His prophets. It has no purpose of destroying any human power in the world, suppressing any natural desire, or eliminating human feelings and emotions. The Shariah never tells people: Renounce the world, live fasting and naked in the mountains and forests, deny the demands of the soul and cast yourself into hardship, or make every comfort and pleasure of life unlawful for yourself. The Shariah never teaches this. This is the Shariah created by Allah, and Allah created this world for the comfort of human beings. How could He want you to destroy this workshop? He has not given human beings any power pointlessly or unnecessarily. He has created nothing in heaven or earth that cannot be put to use. He wants this workshop of the world to continue operating with full vigor, people to use each of their powers fully, to gain complete benefit from everything in the world, and to use properly all the means and resources appointed in heaven and earth; they must not harm themselves or others through the ignorance and wrongdoing mentioned above.

Allah has established all the injunctions in the Shariah for this purpose. Whatever is harmful to human beings is haram (forbidden) in the Shariah, while whatever is beneficial is halal (lawful). Any act by which a person harms himself or others is forbidden in the Shariah. Everything that benefits him and causes no harm to others is permitted. All its laws are based on this principle, so that people in the world may fulfill all their desires and needs and have the right to strive in every way for their own welfare; moreover, they must benefit from this right in such a way that, through ignorance or wrongdoing, they do not violate the rights of others. In addition, they should help and cooperate with others as much as possible. Where an action involves benefit on one side and possible harm on the other, the principle of the Shariah is to accept a lesser harm for the sake of a greater benefit, and to sacrifice a lesser benefit in order to protect oneself from a greater harm.

Since people in every age cannot all know equally how beneficial or harmful a thing or action is, Allah, who possesses knowledge of all the mysteries of creation, has given human beings a flawless law for a complete life. Centuries ago, many beneficial aspects of this law lay beyond human understanding; but the progress of modern education has uncovered those mysteries. People still do not understand all its many beneficial aspects, but as knowledge continues to advance, those mysteries will increasingly be revealed to them. Those who rely on their own weak and immature knowledge and intelligence, after remaining immersed in errors for centuries, are ultimately forced to accept one or another injunction of this Shariah. But those who relied upon Allah’s Messenger were saved from the harms of ignorance and superficial understanding, because whether or not they knew its beneficial aspects, they obeyed a law founded on sound and accurate knowledge, out of faith in Allah’s Messenger.

The Four Kinds of Rights

The Islamic Shariah has established four kinds of rights for human beings.

First: Allah’s rights;

Second: a person’s rights over his own body and mind;

Third: the rights of Allah’s other servants; and

Fourth: the rights of the things that Allah has placed under human control so that people may use them and benefit from them.

It is the duty of a true Muslim to understand these four kinds of rights and use them properly. The Shariah has described these rights separately and prescribed a method of fulfilling them so that everyone’s rights may be fulfilled at the same time and, as far as possible, no one’s rights may be violated.

Allah’s Rights

Allah’s right is that people acknowledge only Him as their Ilah and associate no one with Him. I have already said that this right is fulfilled by believing in the declaration, ‘La ilaha illallah.’

Allah’s second right is to accept with complete sincerity the guidance that has come from Him. This right is fulfilled by believing in ‘Muhammadur Rasulullah.’ I have already given its details.

Allah’s third right is obedience to His commands. This right is fulfilled by following Allah’s law, as set forth in His Book and the Sunnah of His Messenger. I have already indicated this.

Allah’s fourth right is that He be worshipped. The duties prescribed for people in order to fulfill this right were described in an earlier chapter. Since this right occupies a position above all other rights, some sacrifice of other rights is necessary in fulfilling it. For example, while performing duties such as salat and sawm, people sacrifice many rights of their own bodies and minds. For salat, a person rises very early and performs ablution with cold water. Several times during the day and night, he gives up necessary tasks and the pleasures of recreation. Throughout the month of Ramadan, he accepts the hardship of suppressing hunger, thirst, and sensuality; while paying zakat, he sacrifices his love of wealth out of love for Allah. In hajj, he must accept the hardship of travel and financial sacrifice. In jihad, he sacrifices his wealth and life. In this way, while fulfilling Allah’s rights, one must also sacrifice, to some extent, the rights of others. For example, at the time of salat, a servant must leave his master’s work and go to worship his true Master. During hajj, a person must abandon all kinds of business and occupations and travel toward Makkah al-Mu‘azzamah, and the fulfillment of this duty involves the rights of many other people. In jihad, a person takes life and gives his own life solely for Allah. To fulfill Allah’s rights, many things placed under human control must be sacrificed, such as animals for sacrifice and the expenditure of wealth.

Allah has set certain limits concerning His rights. As a result, it is not necessary to sacrifice more of another person’s rights than is required to fulfill them. Let us take salat as an example. Every facility has been provided for performing the salat Allah has made obligatory. If water for ablution is unavailable, or if someone is ill, he may perform tayammum. When traveling, salat must be shortened. If ill, one may perform salat sitting or lying in bed; moreover, what must be recited in salat is not so much that a few minutes more than one prayer-time could be required. In peaceful circumstances, a person may recite a complete surah such as Surah al-Baqarah in salat if he wishes; but during busy times, offering a long salat has been prohibited. If someone wishes to offer nafl salat in addition to the obligatory salat, Allah is pleased with him, but He does not want anyone to make nighttime sleep and daytime rest unlawful for himself, spend his livelihood hours solely in salat, or continue offering salat while violating the rights of Allah’s servants.

Likewise, every facility has been provided regarding sawm. Sawm has been made obligatory for only one month of the year, and even that may be made up during travel or illness. If a person observing sawm falls ill and fears for his life, he may break the fast. It is not proper to fast even one minute beyond the time prescribed for sawm.

Eating and drinking are permitted until the end of suhur, and one has been commanded to break the fast immediately when the time of iftar arrives. If someone observes nafl sawm apart from the obligatory sawm, Allah will be extremely pleased with him. But Allah does not want anyone to fast continuously and weaken himself to the point that he becomes unable to do any work.

In the case of zakat, Allah has also prescribed a minimum rate and made it obligatory only for those who possess wealth reaching the prescribed nisab. If someone gives more in charity and alms in Allah’s way, Allah’s pleasure is attained; but Allah does not want anyone to sacrifice the rights of himself and his relatives, spend everything in charity and alms, and then sit reduced to poverty. We have been instructed to adopt moderation in giving.

Then there is the question of hajj. First, hajj has been made obligatory only for those who are able to bear the expenses of travel and the physical hardship. The greatest concession is that hajj need be performed only once in a lifetime, at a suitable time. If fighting is taking place somewhere along the route, or there is a danger threatening life, the intention to perform hajj may be postponed. In addition, the permission of one’s parents is considered essential for hajj, so that elderly parents do not suffer because of their son’s absence. These injunctions show how much Allah has considered the rights of others even in matters concerning His own rights.

Human rights must be sacrificed most extensively for the fulfillment of Allah’s rights at the time of jihad, because then a person must dedicate his wealth and life in Allah’s way and must also sacrifice the wealth and lives of others. But it has already been said that the principle of Islam is to accept a lesser harm in order to escape a greater harm. Judged in the light of this principle, it can be understood that greater than the loss of several hundred, several thousand, or several hundred thousand lives is the victory of falsehood over truth, the defeat of Allah’s religion before disbelief, polytheism, and atheism, and the spread of misguidance and moral corruption across the world. To escape this greater harm, Allah commanded Muslims to accept the lesser loss of life and property for the sake of His pleasure, but at the same time it was made clear that no more bloodshed than necessary should occur. It was prohibited to raise a hand against the elderly, children, women, the wounded, and the sick. Fighting must be directed only against those who have raised the sword in support of falsehood. Unjustified devastation in enemy territory is prohibited, and just treatment of the enemy after victory has been prescribed. If a treaty is concluded with the enemy concerning any matter, it must be honored. When they desist from hostility against the truth, fighting must cease. These injunctions show that no sacrifice of human rights beyond what is essential was considered lawful for the fulfillment of Allah’s rights.

One’s Own Rights

Let us now discuss the second kind of rights, namely, a person’s rights over his own body and mind.

Many people will perhaps be astonished to hear that a person wrongs himself while leaving everyone else aside. The statement is indeed astonishing. For outwardly everyone feels that he loves his own self most, and probably no one will admit that he is hostile to himself; but if the matter is considered a little, everyone will understand its truth.

A major weakness in human beings is that when any sensual desire overcomes them, they become its slaves and, in order to satisfy it, knowingly or unknowingly cause themselves much harm. Some people fall under the influence of alcohol and become obsessed with pursuing it, accepting harm to their health, loss of money, loss of honor—in short, every kind of harm. Another person is a glutton; he continues eating all kinds of food without restraint and thus destroys his life. A third person may become a slave to sexual desire and continue satisfying it in such a way that his own destruction inevitably results. A fourth person seeks spiritual advancement: he ignores all the needs of life, suppresses every desire of the heart, refuses to satisfy the needs of the body, does not marry, abstains from food and drink, sees no need to wear clothes, and is even unwilling to breathe; he spends his life in forests and mountains, thinking that this world was not made for him. I have presented these few examples of extremists among human beings merely by way of illustration. We see countless forms of this extremist attitude around us day and night.

The aim of the Islamic Shariah is human welfare. Therefore, it warns people: “You owe a right to yourself.”

The Islamic Shariah restrains people from whatever harms them, such as all intoxicants, including wine, toddy, and opium. The Shariah has forbidden people pork, the flesh of predatory and poisonous animals, impure creatures, dead animals, and the like, because these things have an extremely harmful effect on human health, character, intellect, and spiritual strength. In their place, the Shariah has made pure and beneficial things halal for people and instructed them not to deprive themselves of these wholesome foods, because they have a right over their bodies.

The Shariah restrains people from remaining naked and instructs them to wear the clothing Allah has prescribed to enhance the beauty of their bodies, and to cover those parts of the body whose exposure amounts to shamelessness.

The Shariah commands people to earn their livelihood and advises them not to remain idle, become beggars, or die of hunger. They should use the powers Allah has given them and obtain, through lawful means, the resources He has created in the earth and heavens for their sustenance and comfort.

The Shariah restrains people from suppressing their sensual desires and commands them to marry in order to satisfy those desires.

The Shariah forbids people to deny the demands of their souls and instructs them not to make the comforts and pleasures of life unlawful for themselves. If someone desires spiritual advancement, nearness to Allah, and salvation in the Hereafter, he need not renounce the world for that purpose. Rather, while becoming a complete and mature participant in worldly life, he should remember Allah, keep away from disobedience to Him out of fear, and obey the laws He has prescribed. This is the means of attaining complete success in this world and the Hereafter.

Denying the demands of the soul has been declared unlawful in the Shariah. Therein, man has been instructed that his wealth and life are the property of Allah. This trust has been given to him so that he may use it until the time appointed by Allah—not misuse it.

The Rights of Allah’s Servants

On the one hand, the Shariah has commanded that the rights of man’s body and soul be fulfilled; on the other hand, it has imposed the controlling condition that, in fulfilling these rights, he must not adopt any method by which the rights of others are violated. For when a person satisfies the demands of his own desires and needs in this way, his own soul becomes corrupted and every kind of harm is inflicted upon others. Moreover, the Shariah has declared theft, robbery, bribery, fraud, usury, forgery and other such evils unlawful, because although these methods may bring some benefit to an individual, in reality that benefit is obtained only by causing harm to others. Falsehood, backbiting, tale-bearing and making false accusations have also been declared unlawful, because such acts are harmful to others. Gambling, lotteries and the like have been declared unlawful because the gain of particular individuals comes at the cost of the loss of thousands upon thousands of people. Deception, fraudulent exchanges and such businesses have also been declared unlawful, because they involve the definite possibility of loss to one particular party. Murder and quarrelling have been prohibited, because no one has the right to take another’s life or cause another distress for the sake of an individual’s gain or the fulfilment of his desires. Adultery, fornication and unnatural sexual relations have been declared unlawful, because such acts damage an individual’s health and character on the one hand, while on the other they spread shamelessness and moral corruption throughout society, give rise to ugly diseases, deform the human body, cause quarrels and disputes, and distort human relationships. Above all, as a result, the bonds of the nation’s civilization and culture are severed.

It is for the purpose of preventing man from destroying the rights of others while fulfilling the rights of his own body and soul that the Islamic Shariah has devised the foregoing system of controls. But such a system is not sufficient for the progress and welfare of human civilization merely to prevent individuals from harming others; rather, it is essential to establish such mutual relations among people that they may assist one another in beneficial works. For this purpose, I shall present here only a brief account of the laws that the Shariah has formulated.

Human relationships begin with the family. Let us therefore first turn our attention in that direction. A family consists of a husband, wife and children. According to the Islamic code of conduct, the responsibility for earning a livelihood, meeting the family’s needs, and protecting the wife and sons and daughters rests upon men. The wife’s duty is to manage the household with what the man earns, to strive to provide the greatest possible comfort for her husband and children, and to educate the children. The children’s duty is to obey their parents, behave toward them with courtesy, and serve them in their old age. Islam has adopted a special system for running family affairs properly. One aspect of it is that the husband or father has been appointed the director and head of the household, for just as the administration of a city cannot run properly without a director, and a school cannot function without a head teacher, so family affairs cannot proceed properly without a designated director. In a family where everyone is guided by his own wishes, disorder and mismanagement will inevitably reign. Comfort and happiness cannot exist there. If the husband goes one way, the wife will go another, and their children will go downhill. To remove this disorder, it is essential for every family to have a director, and this responsibility may be entrusted to the man, because he is responsible for supporting and protecting the other residents of the household. The second arrangement is that, after placing the burden of all external work on the man’s shoulders, the woman has been instructed not to go outside the home without necessity. She has been freed from external duties so that she may attend calmly to her internal responsibilities and ensure that the education of the children is not disrupted. This does not mean that women are forbidden even to step outside. They are permitted to go out when necessary; but the aim of the Shariah is that their primary field of duty should be their home, and that their full energies should be devoted to making domestic life orderly and beautiful.

The family expands through blood relationships and marital relationships. Various wise provisions have been laid down by the Shariah in order to maintain sound relations among those connected with one another within the family and to make them helpers of one another. A few of these provisions are described below:

First: Marriage has been declared unlawful between men and women who naturally have to live in extremely close association with one another, such as mother and son, father and daughter, stepfather and the daughter born to his wife by her former husband, stepmother and stepson, brother and sister, paternal uncle and niece, paternal aunt and nephew, maternal uncle and niece, maternal aunt and nephew, mother-in-law and son-in-law, and father-in-law and daughter-in-law. Among the countless benefits of prohibiting these marital relationships is that the mutual relations of these men and women remain extremely pure, enabling them to mix freely with one another in genuine affection.

Second: Marriage has been made lawful between other related men and women outside the prohibited relationships mentioned above, so that their mutual ties may become stronger. Marital relationships are more successful among people who are familiar with one another’s disposition and conduct. Relationships between unfamiliar families often produce bitterness. For this reason, Islam has placed greater emphasis on marriage between related families than on marriage with unfamiliar families.

Third: Related families include all kinds of people—poor and rich, prosperous and needy. Islam’s ruling is that a person’s greatest right over him belongs to his relatives. In the terminology of the Shariah, this is called sila-e-rahmi, and the Shariah has given it special emphasis. Disloyalty toward relatives, that is, ungrateful treatment, is called qat-e-rahmi, and in Islam it is a grave sin. If a close relative becomes poor or falls into difficulty, it is the duty of the prosperous relative to help him. The rights of relatives have also been specially recognized in the matter of sadaqah and charity.

Fourth: The laws concerning inheritance have also been formulated in such a way that when a person dies leaving some property—whether little or much—it is not allowed to remain concentrated in one place; rather, his relatives receive shares of it, large or small. A person’s closest relatives are his son, daughter, wife, husband, mother, father, brother and sister. Therefore, their shares have been determined first in matters of inheritance. If they are absent, the relative who is next closest receives a share, and in this way, after a person’s death, the property he leaves behind is divided among many relatives. This law of Islam is unparalleled in the world, and other nations are now following it as well. But, sadly, because of their own ignorance and foolishness, Muslims are violating this law in many cases. In particular, the practice of depriving women of their rightful shares has become very widespread in Bangladesh and Hindustan, although this is a great injustice and contrary to the clear command of the Qur’an.

After the family, people’s relationships develop with their friends, neighbors, the inhabitants of the same town or village, and the residents of their neighborhood, with whom they must engage in one kind of business or another. According to the injunctions of Islam, one must deal truthfully, justly and honestly with all of them; no one may be caused pain, nor may anyone’s feelings be hurt. One must refrain from obscenity and foul speech. People must help one another. The sick must be tended, and when someone dies, one must attend his funeral. When anyone suffers a misfortune, sympathy must be shown to him. Poor petitioners and incapable people must be helped secretly. Orphans and widows must be cared for. Food must be placed in the mouths of the hungry, clothing must be given to the unclothed, and the unemployed must be helped to find work. If Allah has granted wealth, it must not be squandered on one’s own ease and comfort. The prohibition of using gold and silver vessels and ornaments, wearing silk clothing, and wasting money on personal recreation and meaningless luxury is rooted in Islam’s principle that money capable of providing the sustenance of thousands upon thousands of Allah’s servants must not be spent merely on one’s own comfort. Money that could have provided for the needs of many people should not hang as an ornament on one individual’s body, adorn his table as an expensive vessel, lie spread through his house as a costly carpet, or be burned in fire; this is a form of injustice. Islam does not seek to seize anyone’s wealth. Whatever a person earns or receives through inheritance, he himself remains its owner. Islam grants everyone the full right to enjoy his own wealth. Islam has also permitted the blessings Allah has bestowed to be reflected in a person’s clothing, home and outward appearance. But the aim of Islamic teaching is that everyone should live a simple, moderate and economical life, should not make the demands of his needs limitless, and should consider, along with himself, the rights of his friends, loved ones, neighbors, fellow countrymen, other members of the nation and the general public.

Having passed beyond this smaller sphere, let us now turn our attention to the wider sphere. The wider sphere consists of all the Muslims of the entire world. In this sphere, Islam has laid down laws and regulations so that Muslims may assist one another in their welfare and so that every possible avenue leading to wrongdoing among them may be blocked as far as possible. By way of example, I shall point here to a few of them.

First: To preserve national character, it has been ordained that women and men between whom marriage is not prohibited should not mix freely with one another. Women’s social environment should be separate, and men’s should be separate. Women should devote themselves primarily to the duties of domestic life. When it is necessary for them to go outside, they should not go out adorned; they should wear plain clothing and cover their entire bodies properly. If an unavoidable need arises to uncover the face and hands, they should uncover them only to meet that need. At the same time, men have been commanded to restrain their gaze from other women. If a woman suddenly comes into view, a man should turn his gaze away. Trying to look at her a second time is wrong, and trying to become acquainted with her is even more wrong. It is the duty of every man and woman to preserve his or her character and not step beyond the bounds of the marriage that Allah has prescribed for satisfying sensual desire, nor harbor such a desire in the heart.

Second: Also to preserve national character, it has been ordained that no man should uncover the part of his body between the knees and the navel, and no woman should uncover, before anyone other than her husband, any part of her body except the face and hands, regardless of how closely that person may be related to her. In the terminology of the Shariah, this is called the satr, and covering this part of the body is obligatory for both men and women. Islam aims to create a sense of modesty among people and to prevent the spread of shamelessness, which can result in moral corruption.

Third: Islam does not approve of leisure and amusements that lead to the decline of character, give rise to evil desires, and waste time, health and money. Recreation is undoubtedly necessary to revive people’s vitality and inspire them to work; but it should be of a kind that enlivens the soul and does not further corrupt and degrade the heart. Although thousands upon thousands of people gathering to waste their time in discussions of the misdeeds and shameless conduct of imaginary wrongdoers may seem enjoyable for the moment, it causes the character and disposition of the nation to become distorted.

Fourth: For national unity and welfare, Muslims have been urged to guard themselves against disputes among themselves, refrain from forming different factions, and, whenever disagreement arises over any matter, sincerely try to settle it through the Qur’an and Hadith. If it still cannot be settled, they should entrust its resolution to Allah rather than fight among themselves. In matters benefiting the nation, they should help one another, obey the leading figures of the community, keep away from those who create discord, and not squander their own energy by fighting among themselves or bring disgrace upon the nation.

Fifth: Muslims have full permission to acquire knowledge and science from non-Muslim nations and to learn their practical application; but imitating them in matters of life has been prohibited. A nation imitates another only when it recognizes its own inferiority and weakness. This is the lowest stage of slavery. It is an open declaration of one’s own decline and defeat, and its ultimate result is that the civilization of the imitating nation is destroyed. For this reason, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) strictly prohibited following the way of life of other nations. Even a person of ordinary intelligence can understand that a nation’s strength does not arise from its clothing or its way of living; it arises from its knowledge, discipline and industriousness. If strength is to be acquired, then one must adopt what other nations acquired strength from. One must not adopt those things that cause nations to accept servitude and ultimately become absorbed into another nation, losing their own national existence.

In dealing with non-Muslims, Muslims have not been taught intolerance or narrow-mindedness. Insulting their religious leaders and disparaging their religion have been prohibited. They have been forbidden to engage in pointless quarrels with them. If they maintain peaceful and conciliatory relations with us and do not interfere with our rights, then we too have been instructed to maintain peace with them, establish friendly relations and deal with them justly. Islamic nobility demands of us that we take the initiative in showing human sympathy and good conduct toward everyone. Bad conduct, injustice and narrow-mindedness are contrary to the dignity of Muslims. Muslims have been brought into the world so that they may be the finest model of sound and beautiful character, nobility and honesty, and may win the hearts of other nations through their own principles.

The Rights of Allah’s Creation

Now I shall speak briefly about the fourth right. Allah has granted man authority over His countless creatures. Through his own power, man has gained control over them, is making use of them, and is deriving benefit from them. As Allah’s finest creation, he has been granted complete authority. Yet they too have rights over man, and their right is that man must not misuse them needlessly, harm or injure them without necessity. He should cause them only as much harm as is exactly necessary for his own benefit and use them in the best possible manner.

The Shariah has laid down numerous regulations concerning this. For example, animals may be killed to protect people from their harm or to use them as food; but killing them without necessity for sport or recreation has been prohibited. The method of zabihah has been prescribed for killing animals for food. This is the best method of obtaining good meat from an animal. Although other methods may be less painful, they waste the beneficial elements of the meat. Moreover, every other method by which the beneficial elements of the meat can be preserved is more painful than the method of zabihah. Islam seeks to avoid both alternatives. In Islam, killing an animal cruelly and causing it pain is extremely blameworthy (makruh). Poisonous and predatory animals have been permitted to be killed because human life is more valuable than theirs, but killing them after causing them pain has not been permitted.

Animals used as mounts or beasts of burden must not be kept hungry, made to perform excessive work, or beaten mercilessly. Catching birds and confining them in cages has also been regarded as makruh. Not only animals—even cutting down trees and plants without necessity is not supported in Islam. Everyone may enjoy their fruits and flowers, but no one has the right to destroy them. Trees and plants, too, possess life; Islam has not permitted the needless waste of even lifeless things. Even excessive use of water has been prohibited.

A Universal and Permanent Law

This is a brief account of the Shariah sent by Allah through Muhammad (peace be upon him) for the whole world and for all time. In this Shariah, apart from certain matters relating to religious beliefs and practices, there is no distinction among different people. Systems of belief and laws that create distinctions among people on the basis of lineage, country or color can never be universal, because a person of one lineage cannot become a person of another lineage, nor can all the people of the world settle in a single country. Moreover, the black color of the people of Abyssinia, the yellow color of the Chinese, and the white color of the Europeans cannot be changed. For this reason, religions and social systems of this kind are bound to remain confined to a particular nation. In contrast to these religions and social systems, the Islamic Shariah is a universal law. Anyone who believes in the Kalimah, “There is no god but Allah; Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah,” can enter the Muslim community with all rights; there will be no distinction there on the basis of tribe, language, country or color.

Furthermore, this Shariah is an eternal law. Its laws have not been founded upon the customs and traditions prevailing among any particular nation or in any particular age; rather, this Shariah has been built upon the principles of the nature upon which man was created. Since this natural disposition remains established in all ages and circumstances, the laws founded upon its principles will likewise remain equally established in every age and circumstance.

— The End —