The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 1) — Page 34
CH. 2 AL-BAQARAH in the hereafter. It instructs man in the regulation of his relations with God and his fellow men in a manner unequalled by other religious Books. It instructs parents and children, husbands and wives and other relatives in their duties. It teaches about wills and inheritance and about the rights of neighbours, employers and employees, rulers and ruled. Above all, it tells how man should conduct himself in relation to God and His Prophets. The other Books either do not teach about these matters at all or their treatment of them is very fragmentary. -a The Quran also gives a very systematic account of morals- subject on which the other Books say either little or nothing. In the Buddhist teaching we have a discussion on the basic instincts of man, but that discussion is very meagre compared with the account of the Quran. The Quran tells us about the roots of instincts, the ends which they serve and the use to which they may rightly be put. It also tells us how instincts become transformed into good or bad moral qualities, and how good qualities may be promoted and bad ones eradicated or discouraged. The Buddhist teaching inculcates the killing of desires but does not tell how bad desires arise and how they can be checked. The Quran teaches about the sources of sin and about the means of damming them. Dealing with all these subjects in detail, the Quran is yet a book of very small dimensions, a fact which makes the reading, understanding and remembering of it a comparatively easy task. Thousands of persons 34 PT. 1 know it completely by heart. The claim of the Quran that it is a perfect Book is, therefore, based on fact, and is appropriately made in the beginning of the text. ذالك الكتاب The second meaning of (this is the Book) is that the prayer, Guide us in the right path, contained in Al-Fatihah meets with acceptance in this verse. Man prayed for guidance and guidance has come. "This is the Book" thus means, "this is the Book which contains the guidance prayed for in Al-Fātiḥah. " The expression may also mean, "This is the Book which was promised to you. " this is) ذالك الكتاب The full meaning of a perfect Book) becomes clear when we read it together with the ensuing words cali. e. this is a perfect Book; there is nothing of doubt in it; it is a guidance for the righteous. The first natural reaction to a new message is that of fear lest it should lead one into error or evil; the second reaction is the hope that the message may prove beneficial. Both these reactions the first negative and the second positive-have thus been addressed in this verse. The Quran is a Perfect Book, because on the one hand there is nothing in the Quran to cause uneasiness or to create doubt or despair, and on the other, there is everything in it which can be a guidance for the God-fearing. Else- where in the Quran we read, Aye! it is in the word of God (more literally, the remembrance of Allah) that hearts can find comfort (13:29. ) The words, there is no doubt in it, do not mean that nobody will ever entertain any doubt about the Quran. The Quran itself refers to objections