Fountain of Christianity — Page 59
59 a miser, and His blessings are everlasting, and His names and attributes are never suspended, He grants to the peo- ple of the latter days the same bounties that He gave to earlier people, but on the condition of piety and effort. This is in keeping with the prayer which He has taught us in the Holy Quran: 35 That is, O Lord, show us the right path; the path of those who received Your gifts and favours, i. e. , O Lord, give us the same rewards and bounties which You gave to the Prophets and S idd i q i n [those who testified to the truth], and do not withhold any of Your gifts from us. This verse holds out for this umma a great promise which distinguishes it from all past ummas. All the Prophets of the past possessed diverse excellences and they were granted various blessings and bounties, but God has com- manded us to pray that all those excellences may be given to us. And it is obvious that when all those diverse quali- ties and excellences come together, they will become far more impressive. That is why it has been said, 36 , i. e. , On account of your excel- lences, you are the best of all peoples. The reason why God has promised to bring together all the various excellences into this umma, is because our Holy Prophet sa himself embodies all the excellences. God 35 Al-F a ti h ah, 1:6-7 [Publishers] 36 A l-e-‘Imr a n, 3:111 [Publishers]