Qaf 50:36–45

Nations of the world progress and rise until they reach their zenith. But, when they are afflicted by God’s scourge, as a result of their misdeeds, they are reduced to such a condition that they cannot find any place in the world to which they can run away or in which they might take refuge. There are great lessons in these events of history. But lessons can be learnt only by one who is mentally alive so that he may derive their unspoken message from events, or by one in whom the capacity to hear is unimpaired, so that when divine messages are conveyed to him, they go straight to the core of his innermost being unimpeded.

The creation of the heavens and the earth in six days, in other words in six stages, indicates that God’s method of doing things is a gradual one. When God, in spite of being the possessor of all Powers, brings things into existence gradually on a long-term basis, man should also desist from making undue haste, but rather try to reach his goals through action marked by patience. Preaching, from beginning to end, is an act of patience. In this process one has to put up with the bitterness evinced by others, and persevere in one’s task in spite of there being no favourable results in sight. This patience-trying process can be pursued only by one whose days and nights are spent in remembrance of God, who reposes all hope not in human beings but in God and who does not fall a prey to a feeling of frustration, in spite of having lost everything. In the Bible it is mentioned that God created heaven and earth in six days and rested on the seventh day. This part of the verse ‘...nor were We ever wearied’ contradicts and corrects the biblical statement. Rest is taken by one who becomes tired. God does not become tired and, as such, He does not need rest.

No day is fixed for Doomsday. Quite without warning, at the command of Almighty God, the angel Isra’fil will herald its commencement by blowing a trumpet (sur). Those who are unmindful of God mistakenly imagine Doomsday to be something remote. But a true believer lives in the expectation that at any time the trumpet may be blown and Doomsday will arrive. After the blowing of the trumpet, the shape of heaven and earth will undergo a drastic change and all human beings will be assembled in a new world in order to receive eternal awards, such as befit their respective deeds.

It has been recorded in the Quran, again and again, that the Prophet’s mission was only to convey the message of God to the people and it was not his responsibility to change them. On the other hand, it has been stated in the Quran on more than one occasion that, through him, the Prophet Muhammad, God would cause the religion of Truth to prevail over all other religions. These two statements, in fact, relate to different aspects of the Prophet Muhammad. From one aspect, he was the messenger of God. From another aspect, he was the ‘last of the prophets.’ As a messenger of God, his mission was the same as that of all other prophets, namely, to convey the Truth to the people in a proper manner. But, as he was the last of the prophets, it was the intention of Almighty God to create such conditions through him that the word of God should remain preserved for all eternity, so that there should be no necessity to send any further prophets. This second aspect of the Prophet necessitated that, through him, a revolution be brought about which should end the dominance of polytheism, thereby establishing Islam as a dominant force which would guarantee the continuance of Divine guidance forever.