Revelation, Rationality, Knowledge & Truth — Page 760
EPILOGUE. These verses leave no room for doubt on the issue of continuity of revelation. The Quran further states: وَإِذَا سَأَلَكَ عِبَادِي عَنِّي فَإِنِّي قَرِيْبٌ أُحِيْبُ دَعْوَةَ الدَّاعِ إِذَا دَعَانِ فَلْيَسْتَجِيبُوا لِي 2:187. When My servants ask thee about Me, tell them, I am close, I do answer the call of the caller when he seeks Me. So they too should respond to Me. . . ³. H. ERE the promise of revelation is widened to include all servants of God who sincerely seek Him and submissively respond to His Call. This is a universal promise, not confined to any particular age or people. . Islam, in short, is a religion of eternal hope which does not relegate communion with God only to the past. . His interest in human affairs as a Benign Mentor shall never cease. He is accessible when sought for and responds when prayed to. He is Eternal, none of His attributes will ever die. . Man shall always stand in need of Divine revelation. . After the institution of prophethood, it is revelation which keeps the lamp of faith alight above all other means of rational and philosophical investigation. Through revelation, man is reassured of the existence of a Living. God. He bestows such signs of nearness to Him as are not only subjective in their nature but are also objectively verifiable. Revelation builds faith on solid belief. dismissing all wavering doubts. The greatest tragedy of contemporary Islam is for it to fall under the ominous spell of medieval clergy and modern intellectuals. To the medievalists goes the lion's share of the kill but the great thinkers like 'Allamah Iqbal and theologians like Maudoodi are not far behind in vying for the leftovers. Iqbal as an able 718