The Essence of Islam – Volume II — Page 349
Righteousness وَيَجْعَلْ لَّكُمْ نُورًا تَمْشُونَ بِهِ 143 349 That is, O ye who believe, if you remain steadfast in righteousness and hold fast to it for the sake of Allah, with firmness and perseverance, He will single you out from among your detractors with marked distinction. That is, you shall be blessed with a light which will accompany you wherever you go. That is to say, that that light would illumine all their actions and words and faculties and senses. Their intel- lect would be illumined and there would be light in all that they utter. There would be light in their eyes and in their ears and in their tongues and in their speech and in all their movements. The ways along which they walk would be lit up. All their ways, the ways of their faculties and their senses will be filled with light, and they will walk altogether in light. [A'īna-e-Kamālāt-e-Islām, Rūķānī Khazā'in, vol. 5, pp. 177-178] Righteousness is Essential for Heavenly Knowledge There is a great distinction between the acquisition of worldly knowledge and knowledge of the Holy Qur'an. Righteousness is not needed for the study of grammar, physics, philosophy, astronomy, medicine, etc. It is not necessary that a student of these subjects should observe Salāt and the fast and should be mindful of Divine commandments and prohibitions and should subordinate his every action and word to Divine directions. Indeed it often happens that the seekers of such knowledge be- come atheistic and are involved in every kind of vice. Today the world presents a remarkable spectacle. 143 Al-Hadid, 57:29 [Publisher]