Testimony of the Holy Quran — Page 8
T E S T I MON Y OF T HE HOLY Q U R AN 8 upon him, himself took part, and to which regions the rule of Islam had extended in the lifetime of his holy and honoured personage, and whether the Holy Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be on him, addressed letters to the rulers of the time, inviting them to Islam, and if he did so, what was the result, and after the death of the Holy Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be on him, what were the victories achieved during the time of Hadrat Ab u Bakr S idd i q, and what difficulties came about, and in the time of Hadrat [‘Umar] F aru q which countries did Islam achieve conquests—all these matters are known only through a ha d i th and the statements of the Companions. Hence, if a ha - d i th amount to nothing, it would not just be difficult, but rather quite impossible, to learn of the events of that time, and in such a case the opponents of Islam would be free to invent whatever lies they like concerning the events of the life of the Holy Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, and of the lives of his Companions, may Allah be pleased with them. We would thus provide to the enemies of Islam a great opportunity to make baseless attacks against Islam, and we would have to admit that all the events and incidents related in a ha d i th are baseless and imaginary, so much so that even the names of the Companions are not known with certainty. To suppose that we cannot derive any certain and conclusive truth from a ha d i th amounts to destroying a great portion of Islam with our own hands. The true and correct position is that it is necessary to accept what is stated in the a ha d i th unless the Quran contradicts it in clear and explicit terms. For, it is established that it is natural for man to tell the truth and that he resorts to falsehood under some compulsion, for falsehood is unnatural for him. Therefore,