6. Al-An'aam

Admonition is effective only for those who live in fear of God. Only one who is concerned about possible danger can be warned about imminent calamity. On the contrary, those who live reckless lives are never serious about admonition, and that is why they are never prepared to heed advice. Recklessness or fearlessness arises from two factors—one is worship of the world and the other is worship of ancestors. Those who are lost in worldly things or are satisfied with worldly success do not even remember that one day, when they die, they shall have to appear before their Creator and Lord, and so do not consider the Hereafter as anything significant. Remembrance of the Hereafter does not, therefore, find a place in their thinking. Their temperament is such that they ignore such things, considering them unimportant. Another category of individuals includes those who consider recommendation the key to Paradise. They presume that the ‘great ones’ for whom they have developed an attachment will be their supporters and commenders in the Hereafter and that no matter how unfavourable the conditions, that will be sufficient for their salvation. Such people live in the fond hope that since they have grasped the hands of some ‘holy’ personalities and since they are with the group which is ostensibly loved and favoured by God, no affair of theirs can go awry. It is this mentality which makes them unafraid of the Hereafter. They are not ready to give serious consideration to anything which may throw doubt on their position in the life to come.

Those who have achieved wealth and popularity prefer to give weightage to the considerations of their worldly interests, rather than support the pure and unadulterated call of Truth, because, according to them, supporting the Truth would amount to demolition of the entire structure of their vested interests. Moreover, when they see that Truth is upheld by people of ordinary status, their way of thinking is further strengthened. They feel that by associating with the Truth they will be lowering their own status. Instead of testing the Truth on the touchstone of Truth, they judge it by their own criteria, i.e. by their own private and personal touchstone, and when the Truth does not measure up to this, they ignore it.

During the period of the Prophet Muhammad, there were those who demanded miracles before accepting his bona fides. Unlike them, there were others who embraced the faith on hearing him recite the verses of the Quran. This sort of test of man goes on in every era. In the present world God does not appear in physical form. He advances His arguments through the medium of the bearer of truth, casting them in verbal form, so that they may be presented to mankind. Now, one in whom nature is alive is able to see the glow of God in these arguments and he accepts it and bows down before it. But, those who have shrouded their nature in artificial veils fail to find God through His ‘words’. They are unable to see God through reasoning and therefore they want God to appear before them physically, in an observable shape. But this is not possible in the present world of trial. Here, only that person will find God who is able to recognise Him while He is still invisible. One who insists on witnessing God in physical form in this world faces spiritual destitution of the most extreme kind. Those who sedulously avoid the truth by adopting a wrong approach, accuse those who accept the Truth of various kinds of wrongdoing, so that they may prove themselves to be much better than them. They are unable to see their own transgressions but, if a truthful person happens to commit any slight mistake, they try to exaggerate it with a view to establishing that those who have rallied to the quest for truth are unreliable. The truth is quite the reverse. Believers who have abjured untruth and accepted truth tread the path of faith and righteousness. In this way, in accordance with the will of God, they become entitled to receive inspiration for the betterment of their present position and share the bounties of God. Unlike them, those who steer clear of the truth only prove by their actions that they are not interested in adopting the way of faith and righteousness. Even when such people are deprived of God’s guidance, their bravado does not come to an end, and it is their effrontery which constitutes the greatest crime in this world of God. God expresses Himself in the language of ‘symbols’. Symbols are useful only to one who has the desire to read or interpret them. Similarly, guidance will be available only to one who is eager to have it. One who shows no interest in guidance has no other option but to go astray.

During the period of the Prophet Muhammad, there were those who demanded miracles before accepting his bona fides. Unlike them, there were others who embraced the faith on hearing him recite the verses of the Quran. This sort of test of man goes on in every era. In the present world God does not appear in physical form. He advances His arguments through the medium of the bearer of truth, casting them in verbal form, so that they may be presented to mankind. Now, one in whom nature is alive is able to see the glow of God in these arguments and he accepts it and bows down before it. But, those who have shrouded their nature in artificial veils fail to find God through His ‘words’. They are unable to see God through reasoning and therefore they want God to appear before them physically, in an observable shape. But this is not possible in the present world of trial. Here, only that person will find God who is able to recognise Him while He is still invisible. One who insists on witnessing God in physical form in this world faces spiritual destitution of the most extreme kind. Those who sedulously avoid the truth by adopting a wrong approach, accuse those who accept the Truth of various kinds of wrongdoing, so that they may prove themselves to be much better than them. They are unable to see their own transgressions but, if a truthful person happens to commit any slight mistake, they try to exaggerate it with a view to establishing that those who have rallied to the quest for truth are unreliable. The truth is quite the reverse. Believers who have abjured untruth and accepted truth tread the path of faith and righteousness. In this way, in accordance with the will of God, they become entitled to receive inspiration for the betterment of their present position and share the bounties of God. Unlike them, those who steer clear of the truth only prove by their actions that they are not interested in adopting the way of faith and righteousness. Even when such people are deprived of God’s guidance, their bravado does not come to an end, and it is their effrontery which constitutes the greatest crime in this world of God. God expresses Himself in the language of ‘symbols’. Symbols are useful only to one who has the desire to read or interpret them. Similarly, guidance will be available only to one who is eager to have it. One who shows no interest in guidance has no other option but to go astray.

Man’s own wishful thinking—which he presumes to be a reality, is all too often raised to the status of something worth worshipping. Sometimes, just to save himself from the consequences of his negligence of religious duties, he accepts someone as God’s favourite and treats him as one who is supposed to support him before God and recommend his case to Him. Sometimes he imagines such a person to have charismatic, supernatural greatness in him, and that he could make up for his own shortcomings by attaching himself to him. Sometimes, due to his easy-going nature, he invents a god who is easy of access and who can easily be pleased with small things. But all such things are mere suppositions and suppositions can never lead anyone to reality. However, there are some who become so blinkered by cheap demands that they even challenge those who have rallied to the side of the real Lord of the Universe. They challenge them thus: ‘If all greatness and majesty belong to the one and only God whom you represent, then arrange to let His retribution come down upon us. Let us see.’ They dare to behave in this way, because they observe that they are much more surrounded by worldly glories than the da‘is who work for the acceptance of God’s unity. They forget that the material amenities available to them are due to their devotion to worldly considerations and worldly interests, whereas the missionaries of God, who are bereft of all these things, are in such a condition because their yearning for the Hereafter has prevented them from stooping to the level of devotion to worldly goals.

Man’s own wishful thinking—which he presumes to be a reality, is all too often raised to the status of something worth worshipping. Sometimes, just to save himself from the consequences of his negligence of religious duties, he accepts someone as God’s favourite and treats him as one who is supposed to support him before God and recommend his case to Him. Sometimes he imagines such a person to have charismatic, supernatural greatness in him, and that he could make up for his own shortcomings by attaching himself to him. Sometimes, due to his easy-going nature, he invents a god who is easy of access and who can easily be pleased with small things. But all such things are mere suppositions and suppositions can never lead anyone to reality. However, there are some who become so blinkered by cheap demands that they even challenge those who have rallied to the side of the real Lord of the Universe. They challenge them thus: ‘If all greatness and majesty belong to the one and only God whom you represent, then arrange to let His retribution come down upon us. Let us see.’ They dare to behave in this way, because they observe that they are much more surrounded by worldly glories than the da‘is who work for the acceptance of God’s unity. They forget that the material amenities available to them are due to their devotion to worldly considerations and worldly interests, whereas the missionaries of God, who are bereft of all these things, are in such a condition because their yearning for the Hereafter has prevented them from stooping to the level of devotion to worldly goals.

The present world is one of test and trial. Therefore, what is truly significant here is not the material conditions in which a man lives, but whether he is taking a stand on the rationale of truth or on suppositions and false hopes. In the final analysis, only that person will be successful who takes a stand on the real rationale of Truth. The people who rely on suppositions in this world of God will be ultimately reduced to a state of utter helplessness. How could the final fate of the world, which is functioning under the strict control of the Almighty, become relegated to an abyss of false hopes?

The present world is one of test and trial. Therefore, what is truly significant here is not the material conditions in which a man lives, but whether he is taking a stand on the rationale of truth or on suppositions and false hopes. In the final analysis, only that person will be successful who takes a stand on the real rationale of Truth. The people who rely on suppositions in this world of God will be ultimately reduced to a state of utter helplessness. How could the final fate of the world, which is functioning under the strict control of the Almighty, become relegated to an abyss of false hopes?

God has created this world in such a way that it provides practical examples of those facts to which the attention of human beings is called. If a man does not close his eyes and does not screen off his mind with false veils, he will find in the whole universe practical demonstrations of the Quran’s challenge to man’s thinking processes. Branches emerge from a tree trunk and leaves sprout from the branches, but there is a difference in their respective joints. In other words, the Creator knows that the branches have to remain attached to the trunk, while the leaves have to detach themselves and fall down. If this were not so, the leaves would fail to separate from the branches and the entire system of bringing new life to the tree every year would be upset. Similarly, when a seed is sown, the earth in which it is placed already possesses all the ingredients from which it derives nourishment and finally grows into a full-fledged tree. Then, how is it possible that God who is aware of the conditions of such things as a leaf and a seed could be unaware of the human condition?