Al-Anbya 21:31–63

Here some prominent features of the earth have been mentioned which remind man of God in order to make him a grateful servant of God. One of these is the mountain ranges that have risen up on the surface of the earth in order to keep the dense matter beneath the seas well-balanced. Probably this refers to what is known as ‘isostasy’ in modern science. Similarly, it is also a sign of God that the earth is so made that man is able to make roadways sometimes on level plains, and sometimes as passages between mountains and rivers. The roof of the sky, which is our upper atmosphere, is composed in such a way as to prevent certain harmful rays of the sun from affecting us in the form of the ozone layer. The atmosphere also prevents the majority of the continuous shower of meteorites from reaching us. In the same way, there are signs in the moving of the sun and the moon in their orbits without clashing with each other, resulting in the regular occurrence of day and night on the earth. Innumerable such signs are found on the earth. If man examines them in depth, he will be overwhelmed by the realisation of God’s blessings and His powers. But he ignores them. Even after seeing clear events and signs, he continues to turn a deaf ear and a blind eye to them.

Those who were opponents of the Prophet Muhammad in Makkah were more affluent and powerful in terms of material resources. They enjoyed respect and positions of superiority in the society of those days. According to them, this difference meant that they were on the right path and the Prophet Muhammad on the wrong path. But an excess or paucity of worldly effects bears no relation to superiority or inferiority, being purely for the purpose of trial. It is a trial imposed at the behest of God. If, after acquiring worldly resources, a man thinks highly of himself, he is as if proving himself unworthy of this blessing. The result will be that after death, in the life hereafter, he will be totally deprived of his riches. The people of Makkah were engaged in strenuous efforts to defeat the Prophet Muhammad, to the extent that they wanted to eliminate him somehow in order to nip his mission in the bud. God says that those who conspired against the Prophet had forgotten the fact that those who dug a grave for others, have ultimately to enter the grave themselves. Then, after death, when they faced their Real Lord, what would they do?

The gods of the Quraysh were, in reality, the great ones of the community. On the one hand, there was their imaginary greatness which was imbedded in their minds. On the other hand, there was the Prophet, whose image at that time was not more elevated than that of an ordinary man. In this comparison, the Prophet appeared, indeed, to be an ordinary man with no special merit. They used to ask contemptuously, ‘Is this the man who criticises our great men, who rejects the religion of these great men which we follow, and seeks to introduce a new religion?’ The Prophet Muhammad used to invite people to accept the oneness of God. But these people were not interested in God. All their interests were centred round their great men, whom they had elevated to the status of gods. As it was these false gods who were affected by the call of the Prophet, their devotees became his deadly opponents. They forgot that, by rejecting the false gods, he was presenting the cause of the real God and not promoting his own self.

The people of Arabia, although believers in the life hereafter, denied that concept of the Hereafter, as described by the Prophet Muhammad. They were proud to be followers of a religion which guaranteed their success. When the Prophet contradicted this firm belief of theirs, they became incensed. Making a show of fearlessness, they said, ‘Show us the retribution of God with which you are threatening us.’ God says that their haste was entirely due to the fact that they were still in the process of being tested, and as such, were distanced from God’s retribution. But when this period of respite ended and they were overwhelmed by God’s punishment, it would dawn on them that they had committed a huge blunder in not taking the Prophet’s words seriously.

God’s reckoning is not something which belongs to a distant future. It is latent in this very diurnal routine in which man feels so secure and protected. For instance, if the distance between the sun and the earth were to be reduced by half, our days would become so hot that we would be roasted as if by the flames of a fire. On the contrary, if the distance between the sun and the earth were doubled, our nights would become so cold that we would be frozen like ice. The Being who has established such a highly favourable system of the earth and the heavens deserves to have homage paid to Him, to be worshipped and offered total loyalty, instead of false gods who are not capable of giving people anything.

In ancient times, the people of Makkah were considered leaders of the Arab world. This leadership was God’s gift to them, but it only gave rise to false pride and egoism. So, when the Truth was declared through the Prophet Muhammad, they refused to accept it on account of their egoistic mentality. Such was the position of Islam in Makkah. But, among the people of other places who did not suffer from similar psychological complications, the truth of Islam was spreading. In Makkah, Islam was rejected, but in other places, Islam was being adopted by the tribesmen. The large-scale adoption of Islam by the people of Madinah had finally made it clear that the sphere of leadership of the people in Makkah was continually contracting. But those who suffer from a superiority complex do not learn a lesson from any warning, however open that might be.

‘I warn you only through the Revelation’ means warning people with the help of arguments. The giver of the call for the Truth always supports his statements with convincing arguments and people are required to recognise the truth solely on the basis of his reasoning. Those who are blind and deaf to arguments, are jerked into awareness only when God’s power reveals itself openly after their death. Every arrogant and vain person will thereupon admit the Truth. But the acceptance of Truth at that stage will be of no avail.

In the present world, a ‘balance (or scale)’ is a device for finding out the weight of an object. Therefore, God has used this known term to explain the events on Judgement Day. Where the scales of the world weigh material things, on the Day of Judgement, the scales of God will weigh intangible facts and show their ‘weights.’ That is, the scales of the world can measure the material aspect of things but the divine scales will be able to measure the inner value of our deeds. In this world, a man obtains things by paying for them. One who pays less receives less and one who pays more receives more. The same will be the position on the Day of Judgement. Things of high value will be available only on payment of their price which will be in terms of good deeds. Just as things are not available gratis in this world, similarly things will be available on the Day of Judgement only on making a suitable payment: the Quran is a book which indicates what the cost will be. According to the Quranic criterion, a believer will have to develop a spiritual personality in this world itself. This is the price which he has to pay if he wants to find an entry into the ideal world of Paradise.

The criterion or discernment (al-furqan), light and reminder or remembrance (dhikr), which were given to Moses, were the same things which all the prophets received from God. Al-furqan means that ideological standard which enables a man to distinguish between Truth and falsehood. Light means divine guidance which pulls a man out of the darkness of the wrong path and puts him on to the straight path. Dhikr means remembrance, i.e. the highlighting of the latent educative aspect of things, so that they do not figure simply as things, but as treasure chests of knowledge for the recognition and realisation of God and His Divine guidance. In this way God has arranged for the guidance of man. But, it is possible for God’s Guide Book to provide guidance in the real sense only when a man is anxious about his fate in the Hereafter, and this anxiety makes him so serious that he attaches more importance to Truth and righteousness than to all other things.

It is God’s principle to give according to the capability of the receiver. Abraham passed through different trials and tests and proved his mettle: God accordingly gave him guidance and divine knowledge. This is how God deals with His subjects. Abraham was born in Iraq in the ancient city of Ur. At that time polytheism was all-pervasive. In spite of being brought up in this polytheistic atmosphere, Abraham was not influenced by it. He examined things rationally, rising completely above his immediate environment, he was able to discover the truth. He was living in a world where every worldly honour and progress were linked with polytheism. But he did not care for all this. Unmindful of all worldly considerations, he criticised the behaviour of his community and became ready to declare the Truth before it—these are the attributes which make an individual capable of receiving God’s guidance.

During Abraham’s period, people’s minds were in the grip of polytheistic ideas, so much so that in the beginning they took Abraham’s criticism to be frivolous. Therefore, they asked him whether his utterances had been well thought out, or whether he was mouthing words out of sheer frivolity. Abraham said that the fact that they considered matters of the greatest importance as frivolous was further proof of their ignorance. The truth is that the entire earth and the heavens bear testimony to the word of God. The next day, in an act of extraordinary courage, he broke down their deities. In this way, Abraham proved in practice what he had been saying in theory, namely, that the deities were absolutely worthless.

The next day when the people entered the temple and saw their deities broken to pieces, they were shocked. They eventually discovered that it was the handiwork of a young man who had deviated from their ancestral religion and spoken against it. While demolishing the deities, Abraham had purposely spared the tallest one. When he was called by the people and enquiries were made of him, he pointed out that the big deity was still there, untouched and intact, and that people might put their questions to it. He said that if the big deity was god, then let it explain how the other deities had come to this pass. Although Abraham did not answer their questions directly, it was his indirect statement that sufficed to convey his message effectively. This shows that sometimes indirect speech is more effective than direct speech.