11. Hud

The Prophet Hud, successor of Noah, was chosen to guide the ‘Ad community, of which he himself was a member. This has always been God’s way in the matter of prophets. The wisdom of this is that, being of their own brethen, these prophets are thoroughly conversant with the psychology, conditions and language of the community, and can, therefore, very effectively discharge their function as missionaries of Truth. Hud gave to his community the message that they should worship the one and only God. Furthermore, he pointed out that their ‘religion’ was simply a lie of their own fabrication. This shows that a prophet’s way of preaching was not simply to present his message in a ‘positive manner,’ but also at the same time to resort to open criticism because, unless untruth is exposed as such by means of criticism and analysis, the Truth being Truth cannot be properly understood. In the case of the prophets in all ages, if they were to be accepted by their opponents, it was necessary for them to be highly placed officials with great wealth at their disposal and for them to reside in dwellings of great grandeur. But this standard of judging a preacher of Truth is not correct. The right standard by which to test the veracity of the preacher is to see whether he is serious and sincere in his mission; whether his message is rational in every detail; whether he is above every worldly interest; whether whatever he says is fully based on reality; and whether his message is perfectly consistent with the universal system; so that accepting it amounts to stepping on to the highway to success. ‘He will add strength to your strength.’ This statement does not mean an increase in material power, because in those days the ‘Ad community was already very powerful. The Quran states that when the Prophet warned them about God’s punishment, they said, ‘Who is stronger than us?’ ( 41:15 ). So, from the point of view of the call to truth, the promise of an increase in material power could not have been very attractive to them. In this verse, an increase in power means the addition of the power of Faith to material power. The Prophet meant to say that if they adopted the life of Faith, they would attain moral and spiritual power; with their present material strength, if they attained moral and spiritual power, their total power would not decrease but rather increase many times over.

The Prophet Hud’s community raised the point that he had no proof or argument in favour of his being right. This does not really mean that Hud had no argument to prove the truth of his message. He certainly had such arguments, but it did not appear to be so to his opponents. The reason for this was that man is generally unable to test statements purely on the basis of reason or rationality, but sees them from a point of view opposite to that of the presenter of the statements. Since the presenter at that time did not appear to the people to be a man of considerable status, his word did not carry any weight with them. When anyone sets out to invite others to pure unadulterated religion, leaving aside the well-established religion of the day, it invariably happens that in the prevailing atmosphere he becomes a stranger and is reduced to insignificance. People even look upon him as if he were suffering from some mental illness. This was what happened in the case of the Prophet Hud. That is why his people were emboldened to say, ‘We think that some curse has been cast on you by our holy men.’ But after the completion of theoretical arguments, the proof of the veracity of the preacher of Truth is always such that his opponents are unable to subdue him, in spite of every effort.

The Prophet Hud’s community raised the point that he had no proof or argument in favour of his being right. This does not really mean that Hud had no argument to prove the truth of his message. He certainly had such arguments, but it did not appear to be so to his opponents. The reason for this was that man is generally unable to test statements purely on the basis of reason or rationality, but sees them from a point of view opposite to that of the presenter of the statements. Since the presenter at that time did not appear to the people to be a man of considerable status, his word did not carry any weight with them. When anyone sets out to invite others to pure unadulterated religion, leaving aside the well-established religion of the day, it invariably happens that in the prevailing atmosphere he becomes a stranger and is reduced to insignificance. People even look upon him as if he were suffering from some mental illness. This was what happened in the case of the Prophet Hud. That is why his people were emboldened to say, ‘We think that some curse has been cast on you by our holy men.’ But after the completion of theoretical arguments, the proof of the veracity of the preacher of Truth is always such that his opponents are unable to subdue him, in spite of every effort.

The communities into which God’s prophets had come were all believers in God. In other words, the missionary projected himself as a God-worshipper, while his addressees also made the same claim. So the question arises: in which group is God present? The simple answer to this question is that God is on a straight highway (as-sirat al-mustaqim). So, the religion which is going on the straight path will directly reach God and that which is going on crooked paths will be diverted on to by-paths and can never be successful in reaching God. When Hud said, ‘My Lord is on the straight path,’ he was saying in other words that the path towards which he was calling them was ‘the highway of religion.’ But his people, in the name of religion, had adopted by-ways around the highway of religion and were running headlong along them. Such a headlong course does not take a man towards God; it takes him here and there and leaves him astray. In the light of these verses, the straight path shown by Hud comprises the following: belief in the unity of God, worship of God, seeking God’s pardon, repentance, turning towards God (tawbah), gratitude for God’s grace, placing trust in God, treating God as our Sustainer, treating God as the only possessor of all power, accepting God’s watchfulness over oneself, and remaining humble. All these are the basic teachings of religion. Following these teachings and making them the centre of one’s attention amounts to treading the highway of religion. One who treads this path straightaway reaches God. On the contrary, if a man gives importance to other things, it is as if he is taking the side paths to the right or the left of the highway and hastening along them. Such a course takes a man away from God, not closer to God.

The communities into which God’s prophets had come were all believers in God. In other words, the missionary projected himself as a God-worshipper, while his addressees also made the same claim. So the question arises: in which group is God present? The simple answer to this question is that God is on a straight highway (as-sirat al-mustaqim). So, the religion which is going on the straight path will directly reach God and that which is going on crooked paths will be diverted on to by-paths and can never be successful in reaching God. When Hud said, ‘My Lord is on the straight path,’ he was saying in other words that the path towards which he was calling them was ‘the highway of religion.’ But his people, in the name of religion, had adopted by-ways around the highway of religion and were running headlong along them. Such a headlong course does not take a man towards God; it takes him here and there and leaves him astray. In the light of these verses, the straight path shown by Hud comprises the following: belief in the unity of God, worship of God, seeking God’s pardon, repentance, turning towards God (tawbah), gratitude for God’s grace, placing trust in God, treating God as our Sustainer, treating God as the only possessor of all power, accepting God’s watchfulness over oneself, and remaining humble. All these are the basic teachings of religion. Following these teachings and making them the centre of one’s attention amounts to treading the highway of religion. One who treads this path straightaway reaches God. On the contrary, if a man gives importance to other things, it is as if he is taking the side paths to the right or the left of the highway and hastening along them. Such a course takes a man away from God, not closer to God.

Those who ignore God’s word, are ignored by God. This happens to a lesser degree in the present world but, on Doomsday, this will be a total reality. At that time all the arrogant and insolent people will be denied God’s grace; the grace of God will be shared only by those who lived in the world as His loyal and obedient subjects. God has introduced the principle of succession (istikhlaf) in this world, that is, the removal of a community from its position of prominence and the installing of another community in its place. This temporary prominence in the world is for the purpose of putting people to the test. In the Hereafter, in the perfect world of God, such prominence will be granted only to people of true Faith as an everlasting reward. The system of this world of trial has been formulated in such a way that, here, a man is always placed between good and bad. He has the option to follow either of these two ways. Furthermore, evil is largely dominant in this world. Only the strength of theoretical arguments is on the side of goodness. On the contrary, material power weighs in on the side of evil, and that too in such great measure that its flag-bearers develop attitudes of arrogance and hauteur and create such an atmosphere of pressure in the environment that the common man loses the courage to proceed towards the Truth.

Those who ignore God’s word, are ignored by God. This happens to a lesser degree in the present world but, on Doomsday, this will be a total reality. At that time all the arrogant and insolent people will be denied God’s grace; the grace of God will be shared only by those who lived in the world as His loyal and obedient subjects. God has introduced the principle of succession (istikhlaf) in this world, that is, the removal of a community from its position of prominence and the installing of another community in its place. This temporary prominence in the world is for the purpose of putting people to the test. In the Hereafter, in the perfect world of God, such prominence will be granted only to people of true Faith as an everlasting reward. The system of this world of trial has been formulated in such a way that, here, a man is always placed between good and bad. He has the option to follow either of these two ways. Furthermore, evil is largely dominant in this world. Only the strength of theoretical arguments is on the side of goodness. On the contrary, material power weighs in on the side of evil, and that too in such great measure that its flag-bearers develop attitudes of arrogance and hauteur and create such an atmosphere of pressure in the environment that the common man loses the courage to proceed towards the Truth.

Those who ignore God’s word, are ignored by God. This happens to a lesser degree in the present world but, on Doomsday, this will be a total reality. At that time all the arrogant and insolent people will be denied God’s grace; the grace of God will be shared only by those who lived in the world as His loyal and obedient subjects. God has introduced the principle of succession (istikhlaf) in this world, that is, the removal of a community from its position of prominence and the installing of another community in its place. This temporary prominence in the world is for the purpose of putting people to the test. In the Hereafter, in the perfect world of God, such prominence will be granted only to people of true Faith as an everlasting reward. The system of this world of trial has been formulated in such a way that, here, a man is always placed between good and bad. He has the option to follow either of these two ways. Furthermore, evil is largely dominant in this world. Only the strength of theoretical arguments is on the side of goodness. On the contrary, material power weighs in on the side of evil, and that too in such great measure that its flag-bearers develop attitudes of arrogance and hauteur and create such an atmosphere of pressure in the environment that the common man loses the courage to proceed towards the Truth.

Those who ignore God’s word, are ignored by God. This happens to a lesser degree in the present world but, on Doomsday, this will be a total reality. At that time all the arrogant and insolent people will be denied God’s grace; the grace of God will be shared only by those who lived in the world as His loyal and obedient subjects. God has introduced the principle of succession (istikhlaf) in this world, that is, the removal of a community from its position of prominence and the installing of another community in its place. This temporary prominence in the world is for the purpose of putting people to the test. In the Hereafter, in the perfect world of God, such prominence will be granted only to people of true Faith as an everlasting reward. The system of this world of trial has been formulated in such a way that, here, a man is always placed between good and bad. He has the option to follow either of these two ways. Furthermore, evil is largely dominant in this world. Only the strength of theoretical arguments is on the side of goodness. On the contrary, material power weighs in on the side of evil, and that too in such great measure that its flag-bearers develop attitudes of arrogance and hauteur and create such an atmosphere of pressure in the environment that the common man loses the courage to proceed towards the Truth.