Talim-ul-Quran — Page 180
temporary and he should spare no effort to establish real connection with the Creator, and this is only possible by deep meditation on Divine attributes. Then in Ayat al-Kursi which the Holy Prophet has termed as one of the best and most exalted. Qur'anic verses a brief but very comprehensive mention is made of God's attributes and it is said that no compulsion is needed to exhort a person to establish his conection with the Possessor of such noble and sublime attributes. Then in 35th section it is stated that whereas moral righteousness takes place in an individual directly through. God's own grace, moral transformation comes about among nations through the instrumentality of Divine Messengers, and hints that both these kind of reformation are decreed to take place four times among the progeny of Abraham. Next it is said that both collective effort and national cooperation are essential for moral transformation to take place on national scale; the results in this respect of the concerted and collective efforts and mutual cooperation of true believers are far in excess of their sacrifices. Then all transactions based on interest are strictly forbidden and the giving and taking of interest has been denounced as tentamount to waging war against God and His Prophet because transactions based on interest are against the spirit of mutual help and cooperation and of doing good to fellow beings. Muslims are further told that they should entertain no apprehension that no progress is possible without interest. God has decreed that eventually destruction will overtake nations which give or take interest. Next, it is stated that one way of rendering mutual help and cooperation is to advance money on loan but all transactions dealing with lending and borrowing money should be properly written down. The Surah ends on the beautiful note that whereas the above-mentioned directions are necessary for bringing about moral transformation among a people, the best, the safest and the surest means to raise their moral standard and to effect real and true righteousness and purity of character among them is that they should have firm faith in the Word of God, constantly keep in view, reflect and mediate upon His attributes and should seek. Divine help by prayer sincerely offered to him. . This is, in brief, a summary of the subject-matter of this longest of the. Qur'anic Surahs and the moral is forcefully brought home directly to the disbelievers in general and to the people of the Book in particular that in the Holy Prophet is fulfilled the prayer of the Patriarch Abraham and thus if the Holy Prophet is rejected,. Abraham will have to be regarded as a liar and an impostor and consequently the whole Mosaic Dispensation and Christianity also will be dubbed as tissues of lies and falsehoods. Indirectly, the truth of the Message of Islām has been made clear for the whole world to accept because the creation of man possesses a great and sublime object and that object can only be fulfilled by believing in the Message embodied in the Qur'an which alone now contains the right Shariyy'ah and sheds light on the wisdom and philosophy of its ordinances and by believing in and acting upon which alone can purity of the heart and Divine Realization be attained. 180