The Victory of Islam — Page 8
8 Quranic teaching and would never allow it to grow cold, lifeless, or lightless—had kept silent upon seeing this darkness, gazing upon mischief, internal and external, all the while forgetting that promise of His which He had affirmed so emphatically in His Holy Word! I say it again, if there were an occasion for surprise, it would be that the clear and explicit prophecy of that Holy Messenger went unfulfilled, in which it had been stated that God Almighty would continue to raise a servant of such [exalted] calibre at the head of every century who would revive His Religion. 1 ٭ So this is no occasion for surprise. On the contrary, it is an occasion for 1. ٭ Tajd i d-e-D i n [ Revival of the Religion], in its complete and true sense, cannot be said to consist of such activities as disseminating transla - tions of the Holy Quran merely in the manner of superficial formality and custom, or simply translating and publishing religious books and a ha d i th of the Prophet in Urdu or Persian, or teaching the empty rit - uals—abounding with heretical innovations—that are becoming the norm of most religious leaders of the present time. On the contrary, the last-mentioned activity is actually a revival of satanic ways and is subversive to the Faith. Disseminating the Holy Quran and authentic a ha d i th throughout the world is undoubtedly a noble feat, but to do this work as ritual and formality through rational thought and deliberation, without truly submitting one’s ego to the Hadith and Quran, is such an empty and ostentatious service as can be rendered by any learned man. They have been rendered continually, but have nothing whatsoever to do with Mujaddidiyyat [i. e. the position of an Islamic Reformer]. In the sight of God Almighty, all of these works are nothing more than selling the skeleton [i. e. sheer roguery]. Allah, the Lord of Glory, states: َمِل َنْوُلْوُقَت اَم اَل َنْوُلَعْفَت۰۰َرُبَك اًتْقَم َدْنِع ِهّٰللا ْنَا اْوُلْوُقَت اَم اَل َنْوُلَعْفَت۰۰ َمِل َنْوُلْوُقَت اَم اَل َنْوُلَعْفَت۰۰َرُبَك اًتْقَم َدْنِع ِهّٰللا ْنَا اْوُلْوُقَت اَم اَل َنْوُلَعْفَت۰۰ [Why do you say what you do not do? Most hateful is it in the sight of Allah that you say what you do not do ( S u rah a s - S aff, 61:3–4). ]