The Light of the Holy Qur'an — Page 23
THE FIRST PROOF 23 evil condition of all nations and clearly states that the earth had died 1 due to all manner of sin. The Jews were descendants of the Prophets and professed faith in the Torah, though they were deficient in acting upon it; but at the time of the Qur'an, in addition to all sorts of cor- ruption in conduct, their doctrines too had been corrupted. Thousands of people were atheists, thousands denied revela- tion and Divine inspiration, and all sorts of evils were rife on the earth and a vicious storm of corruption in faith and doctrine was raging in the world. Yes! Jesus did make some mention of the misconduct of his peo- ple-the Jews-who were a small nation, which shows that a par- ticular nation of the Jews was then in need of a Reformer. However, the argument that we put forth in the case of the Holy Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, to affirm that he was commissioned by Allah-namely, that the Holy Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, came at the time of univer- sal corruption and was called back after effecting a perfect reform, and the presentation of both these aspects by the Qur'an itself, and calling the attention of the world to it itself-is lacking not only in the Gospel, but indeed, apart from the Holy Qur'an, it is similarly lacking in all earlier books. 1. Note: If anyone says, 'The present age is no less steeped in evil, faith- lessness, and misconduct, then why has no prophet appeared in this age?', the reply is that that age was utterly devoid of Tauhid [Oneness of God] and righteousness while in the present age there exist four hun- dred million souls who profess لا إله إلا الله ]There is no one worthy of wor- ship except Allah'] and further, God Almighty has also not deprived this age of a Mujaddid [Reformer]. -Author