Al-A'raf

The Book of God is, in essence, a book of guidance. But as such it is of value only to the few who have kept their consciences alive. For the others it amounts only to a warning of the impending grievous fate towards which they are moving because of their arrogance. The preacher of truth is concerned to see that what he sees as the absolute truth is being rejected by the majority of the people who consider it a falsehood. What is paramount in his eyes is treated by people with unconcern, as if it had no substance, as if it were completely unreal.

This is a world of trial. Here everybody has the opportunity and the liberty to accept or reject the truth as he pleases, and even find clever words to justify his stand. But this position is a temporary one. As soon as the period of trial comes to an end, it will be revealed to all that the preacher’s words were based on eternal truths; that it was sheer bias and egotism on his opponents’ part which prevented them from seeing the Truth at the core of his arguments. It will become clear at that time that the arguments advanced by them to contradict the preacher’s words were simply a falsification of the facts and not a form of reasoning in any real sense.

In this world the importance of an individual is gauged by the material splendour surrounding him, and his ability to influence people with his impressive words, and thus have a massive following. Since the preacher is not generally in such a happy position, his word is valueless in the eyes of worldly people, while the words of his opponents, who bask in material grandeur have a greater impact. But when Doomsday uncovers all the facts, the position will be just the opposite. Now, all the weight will be on the side of the Truth: Untruth will be divested of all its arguments and will be rendered valueless.

Whatever God has bestowed upon man in this world has been given for the purpose of eliciting his gratitude. But this is the very thing which man does not offer to his Lord. The reason for this is that Satan contrives to distort his feelings and steers him away from any expression of gratitude. It becomes evident from the story of Adam and Satan what the real criterion is for the judgement of one’s case. Man is being judged at the point where feelings of jealousy and pride develop in the human heart. In this world of trial it happens again and again that one man rises above another; sometimes one man receives a greater share of wealth and honour as compared to his fellow men. Sometimes, in a deal between two persons, it happens that one of them considers his discharging of the other’s legitimate rights as degrading to himself. On all such occasions man is being judged whether he responds positively or reacts negatively.

Sometimes God chooses a messenger to convey His word to the people, but his status as a guide is not readily acceptable to them. For this would imply that they were inferior to the messenger as they had failed to arrive at the truth. On such occasions Satan stirs up feelings of jealousy and pride. Puffed up with the feeling: ‘I am better,’ a man is not prepared to acknowledge the superiority of his brother. In the eyes of God, this amounts to treading the path of Satan. In such instances, one who treads the path of jealousy and pride makes himself deserving of the fate of hell, while one who remains humble proves that he deserves to find an abode in the gardens of Paradise. Whatever a man receives comes from God. So, the admission of someone else’s superiority is in fact an admission of the propriety of God’s endowments. Thus, denying the superiority of a well-endowed person is like the denial of God’s own decree. Similarly, when one man yields to another on the basis of some truth, he is not bowing down before just some man but before God; he does so in response to God’s command and not because of the other’s personal superiority.

Paradise with all its vast expanses was open to Adam and his spouse. There were innumerable types of good things in it. And they had all the freedom to use them in whatever manner they liked. In the midst of countless permitted things, they were prohibited the use of only one thing. Satan used this prohibition as a vantage point from which to attack them. He incited them to wrongdoing by saying that the thing from which they were kept away was the most important thing in Paradise, the whole secret of holiness and eternity was hidden therein. Adam and his spouse were influenced by Satan’s continuous urging and finally ate the fruit of the forbidden tree. But, when they did this, the result was entirely the opposite of what they had expected. This disobedience of theirs removed the cloak of safety from their bodies. They became absolutely helpless in a world where they had had every convenience and total safety. This indicates the special weapon used by Satan to deceive man into distancing himself from God’s grace and succour. His strategy was to belittle in the eyes of man the extensive world of legitimate gifts from God and to inflate the importance of the few prohibited things, by presenting them in an attractive light, all the while reassuring man of the immense advantages concealed within them. In performing this task, Satan treats everybody according to his tastes and circumstances. He will misguide some by making them hate health-giving food and teaching them that, if they want to have wonderful health, they should take to drinking wines; a man may feel that he should consolidate his own position in order to defeat his opponent, but Satan will poison his mind by suggesting that the most effective method of defeating his opponent is to start destructive activities against him; for another there will be ample opportunities to adopt the policy of self-improvement, but Satan will teach him that indulging in protests and demands is the shortest way to achieve success; yet another might have countless religious tasks before him which he may perform without there being any clash with the Government of the day, but Satan will create the misunderstanding that only if un-Islamic rulers are unseated can Islam’s perfect system prevail there and then throughout the whole country; and so on.

Both Adam and Satan have been sent to the earth as each other’s enemies. Now the battle which goes on between them will continue till Doomsday. Satan constantly strives to bring human beings on to his path and to deprive man of God’s grace, just as he himself had been deprived of it. But man should place himself in opposition to him; he should sabotage the plans of Satan. He should ignore his call and rush to obey the call of God. The fight between Adam and Satan makes itself manifest in the formation of human beings into two groups. Some succumb to the inducements of Satan and fall in line with him, while others who respond to God’s call incur the risk of all the companions of Satan contriving to vilify and defeat them. It has been seen in every age that true devotees of truth, who are always small in number, remain victims of the direst enmity of those who deny the truth. The reason for this is Satan’s inimical actions. He turns people against the true believers, in different ways filling their hearts with a burning hatred for them. Thus certain people become Satan’s tools and start harassing these devotees of truth. The real sin of Satan was his refusal to acknowledge the favour bestowed upon Adam by God. It is Satan’s effort to create in every man a temperament similar to his own. He instigates the younger ones not to give due regard to their elders. In the course of social or business transactions, when one party is honour-bound to give the other his dues, Satan persuades the former not to honour his pledge. When a servant of God brings the message of truth, Satan introduces different types of doubts into the hearts of the people and induces them not to accept it. If there is a dispute between two parties and if one of them is ready to pay an amount commensurate with his circumstances, Satan insidiously persuades the other party not to accept this offer, but rather to make such huge demands as the other party cannot meet, so that the fight continues unabated. In this way, due to the misguidance of Satan, enmity between people prevails everywhere. Two opposing groups form among human beings and Satan sees to it that the confrontation between them will be unending.

God has created the system of the world in such a way that its externals are the signs of an inner reality. By pondering over outward things, a man can arrive at hidden truths. One such outer emblem is human attire. God has given clothes to man which protect him as well as being a means of improving his looks and prestige. This is indicative of the fact that a form of clothing is necessary for man’s spiritual existence as well. This clothing is righteousness born of the fear of God (taqwa), which represents the inner personality of a man. This vestment of taqwa on the one hand protects man from the attacks of Satan and, on the other, enhances his inner self and makes him capable of inhabiting the fine and aesthetic world of Paradise. What is this righteousness, or taqwa? It is fear of God, acknowledging of the Truth, adhering to uniform criteria for oneself and others, considering oneself a subject of God, behaving with modesty and humility, leading a Hereafter-oriented life instead of going astray in the world. When a man develops these virtues he ‘dresses’ his inner self. While the outer body is covered by a garment made of cloth, the inner self, the soul, is clad in taqwa. But if his behaviour is the opposite, he is, as it were, laying his inner self bare.

God has given clothes to man which protect him as well as being a means of improving his looks and prestige. This is indicative of the fact that a form of clothing is necessary for man’s spiritual existence as well. This clothing is righteousness born of the fear of God (taqwa), which represents the inner personality of a man. This vestment of taqwa on the one hand protects man from the attacks of Satan and, on the other, enhances his inner self and makes him capable of inhabiting the fine and aesthetic world of Paradise. What is this righteousness, or taqwa? It is fear of God, acknowledging of the Truth, adhering to uniform criteria for oneself and others, considering oneself a subject of God, behaving with modesty and humility, leading a Hereafter-oriented life instead of going astray in the world. When a man develops these virtues he ‘dresses’ his inner self. While the outer body is covered by a garment made of cloth, the inner self, the soul, is clad in taqwa. But if his behaviour is the opposite, he is, as it were, laying his inner self bare.

The way that Satan leads a man astray is by misinforming him. He shows the prohibited tree as the fountainhead of all advantages. He approaches man by such innocuous ways that he has no suspicion that he is about to be misled. Satan knows all the weak points, delicate places in the moral armour of human beings and he takes care to attack those very spots. Which people is Satan successful in misguiding? He is successful with those who are unable to give proof of faith on occasions of trial; with those who do not carefully ponder over the signs of God; with those who reject valid arguments; and with those who cannot abide by the demands of truth in preference to their own personal inclinations. They do not recognize Truth as such if it does not promote their interests.

The word ‘justice’ (qist) signifies a form of behaviour which fulfills every moral criterion. It is what it should be. Worship in the form of prayer is a natural urge in every man; he wants to accept some Being as supreme and to prostrate himself before Him. In this matter justice will be done only if he worships the one true God who is his Creator, Lord and Sustainer. Man wants to have some Being at the core of his conviction. In this case, justice will consist in his making God, who is all-Powerful, the basis of his trust. Similarly, acceptance of further life after death will be justice in the absolute sense, because when a man is born, he comes into existence from non-existence. So believing in the life after death (resurrection) will amount to believing in the very reality which every man has already experienced at the time of his birth in this world. Man looks to the luminaries of former times for support, so that he may reject the preacher of Truth. The greatness of these ancient forebears has been historically established and in the eyes of all and sundry their being in the right is taken for granted. As opposed to this, the preacher of Truth before them is a new preacher who has not yet been sanctified by historical testimony. When the individual looks at the ancients, who are revered as saints because of their illustrious history, and compares them to the new missionary of Truth with no tradition behind him, he rejects him outright, believing himself to be on the right path. But this sort of misunderstanding cannot provide an excuse in the eyes of God, for, in rejecting the missionary, one is not really following God: one is merely following Satan in the name of God.