Introduction to the Study of The Holy Quran — Page 290
290 Muslims to help him and to find means for procuring his liberty. 367 It may, however, be that a prisoner may prefer to remain with his Muslim master rather than return to his non-Muslim relations and live under a non-Muslim Government. In such a case the Quran prescribes that he should be fairly and equitably treated. The Holy Prophet has said that in such a case the master should feed his prisoner on the kind of food he himself eats and should clothe him with the kind of garments he himself wears and should provide him with a mount like his own or should share his own with him. 368 The Quran stresses the equality of all mankind. It is the first Scripture that teaches that mankind is one community. It recognizes the division into countries, nations and tribes but explains that this is only for the purpose of identification and that with regard to rights all mankind are equal. It deprecates all distinctions based on racial, economic or other fancied superiority. It warns people that those who arrogate any kind of superiority to themselves will be humbled and laid low and that those upon whom they look down will one day be raised above them. If this sublime doctrine taught by the Quran were universally accepted, the principal obstacles in the way of the establishment of world-peace would be removed. The Quran prohibits everything that has a tendency to incite people to folly and frivolity. For instance, it prohibits gambling and the use of intoxicants. It disapproves of all frivolous and light conduct. It prohibits the use of ornaments and silk garments by men, but permits women to use them to a moderate extent. The Human Soul The Quran is the only Scripture that deals at length with the subject of the human soul and its creation. Other Scriptures either ignore the subject altogether or merely speculate upon it. The Quran says: And they ask thee concerning the soul. Say, the soul is by the command of my Lord; and of the knowledge thereof you have been given but a little. 369 This verse refutes the theory that human souls are self-existing and eternal and that they remain, as it were, in reserve in some other universe and descend to the earth from time to time and enter into human bodies. It points out that the human soul, like other created things, is created by God and develops under divine guidance. It also indicates that the birth of the soul is not a process distinct from the birth of the body. The series of developments that bring about the birth of the body also bring about the birth of the soul and provide for its progress and uplift. This subject is dealt with in greater detail at another place in the Quran where it is said: Verily, We created man from an extract of clay; then We placed him as a drop of sperm in a safe depository; then We fashioned the sperm into a clot; then We fashioned the clot into a shapeless lump; then We fashioned bones out of this shapeless lump; then We clothed the bones with flesh; then We developed it into another creation. So blessed be Allah, the Best of creators. 370