Ar-Rum

At the time of the advent of Islam, there were two very great empires in the world —the Christian Roman Empire and the Zoroastrian Persian Empire. There were constant clashes between these two. In the year 603 A.D., Iran (Persia) attacked the Roman Empire, taking advantage of certain weaknesses in the latter. The Romans suffered defeat after defeat, so much so that by the year 616 A.D., a large part of the Roman Empire, including Jerusalem, had been captured by the Iranians. The Prophet received the prophethood in the year 610 A.D. and he started upon the task of explaining the Oneness of God in Makkah. This was the period of the struggle between monotheism and polytheism in that city. The polytheists of Makkah, taking their cue from the events on the border, told the Muslims that their polytheist brothers, the fire-worshipping Zoroastrians, had defeated the possessors of the Book and brothers of the Muslims (namely, the Christians) and that in the same manner they (the polytheists of Makkah) would finally overwhelm the Muslims. At that time, completely against the prevailing trend, the Quran predicted that within ten years, the Romans would regain supremacy over the Iranians. Roman historians say that immediately thereafter the vanquished King of the Romans, Heraclius, started undergoing a mysterious change, so much so that in the year 623 A.D., he led a retaliatory attack on Iran. In the year 624 A.D., he achieved a decisive victory over Iran. By the year 627 A.D., he had recovered all his occupied territories from the Iranians. Thus it was proved that the Quran was a revelation from God, as nobody else except God could have made such statements about the future so accurately. Moreover, these events indicate that victory or defeat are directly in the hands of God. It is according to His decision who gains and who loses power. The downfall of a nation and the rise of another nation, to all appearances seem to be ordinary, normal, worldly events, but appearances have an inner aspect to it. Every event is caused by a number of angels of God, though they are not visible to ordinary human eyes. Similarly, there is an invisible aspect of the present, outward world and it is the world of the Hereafter.

Constant remembrance (through prayer, etc.) and deep contemplation lead a man towards finding God. It is by profound thought that a man finds God. In the present world, God has scattered His signs everywhere—in the human environment, in the surrounding universe and also in the teachings of the Prophet. Those who give serious consideration to these signs of God will find God. Argument in favour of God is God’s representative on earth. If rightful argument is presented to a man and he ignores it, it is as if he has ignored God Himself. For such people there is nothing before God except eternal deprivation.

The existence of a perfect and complete world is a definite proof of the First Creation. If the first creation was possible, why should the second creation not be possible? If one accepts the present world, but does not accept the Hereafter, it amounts to denying a natural corollary of a fact which one has oneself accepted as such. ‘The guilty’ refers to the influential people who led the campaign against the Truth, and who provided arguments in support of the denial of Truth. When the Doomsday explosion dislocates the system of the world, the guilty ones will suddenly realize that the supports of which they had been proud were without foundation. The words which, according to them, supplied uncontradictable arguments in favour of their stand, will all prove false. When they see conditions which are quite contrary to their expectations and which shatter their illusions, they will be dumbfounded. On the Day of Judgement, human beings will be divided into two groups—one consisting of those who glorify God and offer praises to Him, and the other consisting of those who do quite the reverse. The people of the first group are those who realize God to such a degree that He becomes the sole topic of their conversation. A definite manifestation of this glorification of God and offering praises is the prayers offered five times a day. In this verse, the offering of praises ‘in the morning’ means the fajr. The prayers of maghrib, and ‘isha are included in the words ‘in the evening’. Prayer at midday is called zuhr, while that of in the late afternoon is called ‘asr.

A wonderful miracle of the present world is growth and development. Here, one finds an inert, non-growing material turning into a material which is capable of growing and increasing. Here, lifeless earth, in other words, earth’s elements, undergo a change and take the shape of moving and talking human beings. On account of this, human civilization has survived for thousands of years now. This change, and that too a well-organized, proportionate and harmonious change, would not be at all possible unless it were the work of an all-powerful God. The fact is that if a man gives deep consideration to God’s creations, he will feel that the presence of God is reflected in everything.

The Universe in all the elements of its existence is the sign of God. Its coming into existence from nothingness and the enormous variety found in it indicates His vast powers. The utmost meaningfulness in all things reflects His quality of mercy. The existence of destructive things like lightning acquaints us with how God takes punitive actions. The revival of greenery on earth after its being dry and barren demonstrates re-creation and resurrection. All these are the signs of God. But these signs are only for those who lend their ears to the silent call of the Universe—for those who put their wisdom and their knowledge to the correct use.

In the vastness of space, the earth, the sun, the planets and stars—all wonderfully rare phenomena—proclaim by their very existence that there exists a Maintainer at whose behest, they continue to function. If this Being were taken away from the cosmos even for a moment, the whole system would be scattered helter-skelter. In this world, even an ordinary aeroplane will be destroyed if the pilot loses control. Then, how can the huge system of the Universe be run without the control of a Controller? Given the Great Power exhibited in the Universe by its Creator, it appears an easy task for Him to re-create or resurrect man after his death. In the light of the feat of the first creation, which is being performed in the universe at every moment, to accept the possibility of the second creation is just like accepting a proven fact. In the universe, God’s powers and His wisdom find expression at such a high level that attributing any remarkable feat to God on this basis is in no way a remote possibility.

If there is common property, all those who share it have a right to it, and every partner has to think of the other partners. But, God’s position is not of this kind. God alone is the Lord of the entire Universe. The relation between God and His creatures is the same as that between master and servant on a larger scale, and not that of sharers of a property. Nobody gives his servant a status equal to that of himself. Similarly there is no one in the entire universe who enjoys a status equal to that of God. Lordship is for God, while for all other creatures there is only subjection. Apart from this, any other equation propounded will be based only on supposition and not on any real ground.

The true religion is one, and it has been revealed in its perfect form to every prophet. That religion is turning towards God, fear of God, worship of God and giving one’s attention to God with all one’s heart and soul. This is the religion of nature and it eternally pervades the inner soul of man. All prophets preached this one religion, but their followers in latter generations split it into many religions. This results from the additions made by later generations to the original teachings of Prophets. Hair-splitting innovations in beliefs, new interpretations of religion with the changing times—all these things have created many religions out of one. When these additions are made people start laying more stress on them than on the original religion, due to which different groups set themselves up in opposition to each other. One group emphasizes one set of additions, while another group empasizes another set. At last a stage is reached when the followers of a single religion become divided up into many religious factions.