Islam and Human Rights — Page 28
Isl am and Hum an R ights 28 revelation. Yet the Quran is quite clear that the guidance contained therein will be found adequate during all stages at all times. What provision, it may be asked, is there in the Quran to meet the contingency with which mankind is faced today, and which is likely to grow ever more insistent during all the tomorrows that lie ahead? To meet this contingency the Quran announced that the Prophet not only had been raised up in the generation among whom he lived, but would also be raised up among others “who have not yet joined them” (62:3-4). This means a spiritual second advent of the Prophet for the purpose of setting forth from the Quran guidance that may be needed in the New Age, and for illustrating the values demanded by the exigencies with which man may be faced. This promise has been fulfilled in the advent of Ahmad, of Qadian (1835-1908), who warned that mankind stood at the threshold of an era which would bear the same relationship to his age- that is, the beginning of the twentieth century-as the beginning of that century bore to the days of Adam, and who proceeded to set forth from the Quran, in the light of revelation vouchsafed to him, the guidance that mankind now des perately needs. The most striking characteristic of Islam is its univer -