14. Ibrahim

In reality, man is always under the eye of God. But, in the present world, man does not realize that God is watching him. In the Hereafter this veil will fall. At that time man will realize that he was completely visible to God, and to such an extent that nothing about him was hidden from Him. Those who ignore the truth do so relying on their “great men.” Whatever the common man does is done at the instance of leaders. In the Hereafter, when these people find themselves completely helpless, they will turn for assistance to their ‘great men’ on whom they had relied for guidance in this life. But the ‘great men’ will confess that their misguided leadership ended with the previous world. This being the case, how can they be expected to extend any help to them? They will tell their erstwhile followers that they are all destined to face the consequences of going astray, just as they themselves shall have to do. They will add that, whether they like it or not, they shall have to face this fate.

The world of God is the world of reality and is not based on imagination. Here, relying on the promises of Satan amounts to building on an unrealistic basis. Suppose an individual ignores the caller of Truth and himself takes the credit for doing dawah work, but he indulges in other activities besides dawah. He takes no account of the Hereafter but, relying upon self-made suppositions, still builds up the hope of salvation. He does not live his life in accordance with the commandments of God, yet hopes that his name will be included in the list of God’s most favoured subjects. All these actions stem from relying on the false promises of Satan and, in the Hereafter, man will come to know that only God’s promise was the true one and all other promises were only false hopes, which were never likely to be fulfilled. In this world of God, placing hopes on anyone or anything other than God amounts to polytheism (shirk). It is those who ignore divine realities and want to construct their lives on other things will find that nothing except God can give them any support. But this realization will be of no avail to them on that day.

To say assalamu alaykum or ‘peace be with you’ at the time of meeting is not simply a formal social custom. This is in fact an outward symbol of a heartfelt connection. Those who have lived their lives in this world with feelings of benevolence towards others, who have known how to forget their grievances and love others wholeheartedly, who have always spoken of others with respect, who have chosen for others what they desired for themselves, who have always longed in their heart of hearts for the well-being of others and who have rejoiced in seeing others in a state of well-being—such will be the people who will be entitled to take up their abode in the splendid world of paradise. The greeting assalamu alaykum has always given expression to their feelings of love and well-wishing whenever they met their brothers; in the Hereafter, when they greet their heavenly neighbours, this salutation will assume a powerful and more aesthetic form.

In the present world Almighty God has appointed outward symbols for different realities. For example, a good tree is a symbolic representation of the believer. It is the special characteristic of a tree that it makes the whole world its ‘dining table’, and in this way develops from the stage of a seed to establish itself on the earth as a majestic tree. The tree absorbs from the earth water, minerals and salts in order to grow: at the same time it obtains nourishment from the air and light from the sun. It takes nourishment from below as well as from above. Using all these through the process of photosynthesis, the tree is able to make food throughout. This is what is meant by yields its fruit all the time. This is also true of the believer. While the common tree is materially a tree, the believer is a conscious tree. The believer observes in the world God’s creation and, looking to the system governing it, derives from it a proper lesson and guidance. Moreover, he continuously receives God’s blessing from ‘above’. Fruit ripens on the tree in the proper season. Similarly, a believer adopts such behaviour as is proper for every occasion. Whether it is under economic constraints or in economic prosperity; whether it is in a moment of happiness or sorrow; whether it is a matter for complaint or commendation, whether it is in a condition of strength or weakness, on every occasion his language and behaviour express the reverence which he is expected to show as a true subject of God. The opposite example is that of the evil tree, i.e. the wild bush. Its appearance suggests that it is provided with extremely unwholesome food, as a result of which it is covered with thorns, and bitter fruits with an unpleasant taste grow on its branches. It receives anyone who goes near it with a bad smell. Nobody likes such a tree. Wherever it grows, it is uprooted and thrown away. This is the case with the unbeliever, who from the beginning has always been persona non-grata on this earth. To him, the universe, despite its superlative features, has no argument in its favour and teaches no lesson. Though there is no end to the liberality of God’s blessings, he has no share in them; God’s magnanimity is not reflected in his character or his dealings.

In the present world Almighty God has appointed outward symbols for different realities. For example, a good tree is a symbolic representation of the believer. It is the special characteristic of a tree that it makes the whole world its ‘dining table’, and in this way develops from the stage of a seed to establish itself on the earth as a majestic tree. The tree absorbs from the earth water, minerals and salts in order to grow: at the same time it obtains nourishment from the air and light from the sun. It takes nourishment from below as well as from above. Using all these through the process of photosynthesis, the tree is able to make food throughout. This is what is meant by yields its fruit all the time. This is also true of the believer. While the common tree is materially a tree, the believer is a conscious tree. The believer observes in the world God’s creation and, looking to the system governing it, derives from it a proper lesson and guidance. Moreover, he continuously receives God’s blessing from ‘above’. Fruit ripens on the tree in the proper season. Similarly, a believer adopts such behaviour as is proper for every occasion. Whether it is under economic constraints or in economic prosperity; whether it is in a moment of happiness or sorrow; whether it is a matter for complaint or commendation, whether it is in a condition of strength or weakness, on every occasion his language and behaviour express the reverence which he is expected to show as a true subject of God. The opposite example is that of the evil tree, i.e. the wild bush. Its appearance suggests that it is provided with extremely unwholesome food, as a result of which it is covered with thorns, and bitter fruits with an unpleasant taste grow on its branches. It receives anyone who goes near it with a bad smell. Nobody likes such a tree. Wherever it grows, it is uprooted and thrown away. This is the case with the unbeliever, who from the beginning has always been persona non-grata on this earth. To him, the universe, despite its superlative features, has no argument in its favour and teaches no lesson. Though there is no end to the liberality of God’s blessings, he has no share in them; God’s magnanimity is not reflected in his character or his dealings.

Being steadfast in the world means persevering in righteousness and doing good deeds at every turn in one’s life. Being steadfast in the Hereafter means having been successful at the time of questions and answers in the grave. Man is at every moment in the position of being put to the test. He faces different types of favourable and unfavourable events. On these occasions, only those who have grown ‘the tree of faith’ inside themselves behave in a correct and godly way. In the prevailing circumstances, they manifest the most appropriate reaction expected of them according to the will of God. In contrast to this, the man whose personality has grown like a wild bush evinces bitterness at every event; on every occasion he proves to be a thorn and emits a bad smell. When these two types of person are tested finally at the stage of the grave, the one who proves himself to be the ‘good tree’ will be ushered into the Garden of Paradise. And the one who proves to be the ‘evil tree’ will receive the appropriate punishment of being uprooted from this world in order to be thrown as fuel into the fire of Hell.

These verses are primarily addressed to the chiefs of the Quraysh. But they apply generally to all those leaders who wage campaigns for the rejection of truth. Only those who enjoy special benefits and opportunities become the great men of a community. The best use of these benefits and opportunities is that when the call of truth makes its impact upon them, they should stand up for it and, drawing upon all their resources, they should support it in every way. God has greater rights over the things which are given by Him than anybody else has. But in most cases, the position is the opposite. Such people not only reject the truth, but even lead movements against it. The reason for this is that accepting the truth arising from outside themselves amounts to belittling themselves in comparison. And people who have, for whatever the reason, attained high status, very rarely agree to do so. Human beings want a God—a Being who can be given the greatest position in their lives. But whenever their attention is diverted from the one and only God, they become inclined towards some non-God. Leaving God is always at the cost of setting up some non-God as God. Furthermore, those who divert people from God invest some non-God with those high qualities which are found in God, otherwise people would not be inclined towards it. That is why, when a man gives up worshipping the one God, he necessarily becomes superstitious. In this world the only alternative to believing in God is superstition.

These verses are primarily addressed to the chiefs of the Quraysh. But they apply generally to all those leaders who wage campaigns for the rejection of truth. Only those who enjoy special benefits and opportunities become the great men of a community. The best use of these benefits and opportunities is that when the call of truth makes its impact upon them, they should stand up for it and, drawing upon all their resources, they should support it in every way. God has greater rights over the things which are given by Him than anybody else has. But in most cases, the position is the opposite. Such people not only reject the truth, but even lead movements against it. The reason for this is that accepting the truth arising from outside themselves amounts to belittling themselves in comparison. And people who have, for whatever the reason, attained high status, very rarely agree to do so. Human beings want a God—a Being who can be given the greatest position in their lives. But whenever their attention is diverted from the one and only God, they become inclined towards some non-God. Leaving God is always at the cost of setting up some non-God as God. Furthermore, those who divert people from God invest some non-God with those high qualities which are found in God, otherwise people would not be inclined towards it. That is why, when a man gives up worshipping the one God, he necessarily becomes superstitious. In this world the only alternative to believing in God is superstition.

These verses are primarily addressed to the chiefs of the Quraysh. But they apply generally to all those leaders who wage campaigns for the rejection of truth. Only those who enjoy special benefits and opportunities become the great men of a community. The best use of these benefits and opportunities is that when the call of truth makes its impact upon them, they should stand up for it and, drawing upon all their resources, they should support it in every way. God has greater rights over the things which are given by Him than anybody else has. But in most cases, the position is the opposite. Such people not only reject the truth, but even lead movements against it. The reason for this is that accepting the truth arising from outside themselves amounts to belittling themselves in comparison. And people who have, for whatever the reason, attained high status, very rarely agree to do so. Human beings want a God—a Being who can be given the greatest position in their lives. But whenever their attention is diverted from the one and only God, they become inclined towards some non-God. Leaving God is always at the cost of setting up some non-God as God. Furthermore, those who divert people from God invest some non-God with those high qualities which are found in God, otherwise people would not be inclined towards it. That is why, when a man gives up worshipping the one God, he necessarily becomes superstitious. In this world the only alternative to believing in God is superstition.