Essence of the Holy Qur’an — Page 18
Essence of the Holy Qur’ ā n 18 to repeat parrot-like that no Sign has been shown to them. The opponents of the Holy Prophet have seen many Signs but have not profited by them. They are, therefore, warned that now they will see only the Sign of punishment. But God is not quick to punish. It is when disbelievers wilfully and persistently shut the door of repentance upon themselves and scornfully reject the Divine Message that they are punished. Next, it is stated that only those who have fear of God in their hearts accept the truth, and the Holy Prophet is told to address his appeal only to the God-fearing. For the others, it is necessary that fear of God should first be created in their hearts, then will arguments and reasons benefit them. Further, it is stated that it is essential for the progress of Islam that special attention be paid to the spiritual training of believers, because the Prophet is mortal and must die one day and only the community of believers will remain behind to preach and propagate the Divine Message. Next, the disbelievers are told that they are foolish to find fault with the Holy Prophet merely because the promised punishment has not already overtaken them. They are told that to punish the haughty and boastful rejecters of truth rests entirely in the hand of God Who punishes them as He thinks fit or opportune. It may be that a person, who is today the enemy of truth and seems to deserve Divine punishment, may bring about true reformation in himself tomorrow and deserve Divine mercy. So the infliction of punishment, or deferring thereof, is God’s own work. The S u rah then exposes the falsity of polytheistic doctrines by means of an argument which the Patriarch Abraham had with his people; and then mention is made of the favours and blessings which God bestowed upon him and his descendants because they strove hard to establish truth in the world. The S u rah proceeds to state that the mission of God’s Messengers never fails. Like rain-water it gives fertility and freshness to a soil spiritually bleak and barren, and as it is not possible to attain true realization of God unless He reveals Himself to men, it is necessary that Divine Messengers should appear time after time as it is through them that God reveals Himself to the world. Then it is stated that for the attainment of true faith a corresponding wholesome change of heart is a sine qua non. Without such a change, even Signs and miracles prove of no avail. Next, a contrast is instituted between Islamic Teaching, which answers and satisfies the demands of reason and justice and the doctrines and practices of idolaters, which are based neither on reason nor on argument. Towards the end of the S u rah we are told that the Qur’ a n has been revealed to raise and honour even those nations to whom no revelation has so far been sent in order that they may not suffer from a feeling of inferiority before the People of the Book. The Message of the Qur’ a n, unlike that of former revealed Scriptures, is for the whole of mankind, and it seeks to establish real and permanent peace between different sections of humanity as well as between man and his Creator.