Haqiqatul-Wahi (The Philosophy of Divine Revelation) — Page 173
POSTSCRIPT-RESPONSE TO SOME CRITICS' OBJECTIONS 173 Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him; only then shall the belief of the person be considered authentic and genuine. In this verse, God Almighty did not say مَنْ أَمَنَ بِالرَّحْمَنِ ]Whosoever believes in the Gracious God'] or مَنْ أَمَنَ بِالرَّحِيمِ ]Whosoever believes in the Merciful God] or مَنْ أَمَنَ بِالْكَرِيمِ ]‘Whosoever believes in the Benevolent God'[. Instead, He said مَنْ آمَنَ بِالله ]Whosoever believes in Allah'] and ‘Allah' means the Being who comprehends all perfect attributes, and one sublime attribute of His is that He revealed the Holy Quran. In this context, only that person can be said to have belief in Allah who also believes in the Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, as well as the Holy Quran. If someone were to ask, ‘What, then, is the meaning of إِنَّ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا then be it known that it only means that the faith of those who only believe in Allah lacks credibility unless they believe in the Messenger of Allah, or until they perfect that faith. It must be remembered that there is no contradiction in the Holy Quran. Therefore, how can it be possible that [on the one hand] God Almighty says in hundreds of verses that Tauhid alone is insufficient, and that belief in His Propheta is also necessary for salvation except when a person remains uninformed about this Prophet; while on the other, He says the opposite in some verse that salvation is possible sim- ply through Tauhid, and there is no need to believe in the Holy Quran and the Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him? The interesting part of it is that this verse makes no mention of Tauhid at all. If Tauhid were meant, it should have read : مَنْ أَمَنَ بِالتَّوْحِيْدِ ]whoso - ever believes in Tauhid']. Instead the wording of the verse is : مَنْ أَمَنَ بِاللَّهِ ]‘whosoever believes in Allah']. Hence, the statement مَنْ أَمَنَ بِاللهِ ]who- soever believes in Allah'] makes it obligatory upon us to ponder over the sense in which the term 'Allah' has been used in the Holy Quran. Honesty on our part should demand that when the Holy Quran itself informs us that implicit in the word 'Allah' is that Allah is the One 1. Whoso believes in Allah (Sūrah al-Ma'idah, 5:70) [Publisher] 2. They who believe (Sūrah al-Baqarah, 2:83) [Publisher]