Why We Desperately Need the Guidance of the Quran
It has
become clear to fair-minded scholars and researchers that Allah, Glorified and
Exalted, did not create this creation in vain, nor did He make it for amusement
or play. Allah Says, {We did not create the heavens
and the earth and everything in between for sport.} [Al-Anbiya’ 21:16], {We have not created the heavens and the earth and
everything in between except for a purpose.} [Al-Hijr 15:85], {Did you then think that We had created you without
purpose, and that you would never be returned to Us?”} [Al-Mu’minun 23:115],
{Do people think they will be left without
purpose?} [Al-Qiyamah 75:36], {I did not
create jinn and humans except to worship Me.} [Adh-Dhariyat 51:56]
Whether
worship here is understood in its outward sense, or as knowledge of Allah—as
held by Ibn `Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both)—knowledge cannot exist
without worship, and
worship cannot exist without knowledge.
Why
Humanity Needs Divine Guidance More Than Anything Else
Therefore,
people’s need to be guided by the law of the One who Created them is necessary
and greater than their need for anything else. Do you not see that most of the
world lives without a physician, for example? All the Bedouins, all villagers,
and the majority of mankind do not rely on doctors, yet they often possess
healthier bodies and stronger constitutions than those in major cities who are
constantly bound to medical care.
Allah has
Created human beings with an innate nature to consume what benefits them and
avoid what harms them. He has made for every people customs and traditions for
treating illnesses that befall them, to the extent that many foundations of
medicine were derived from people’s habits, customs, and experiences.
As for
divine law, it is built upon knowing where Allah’s pleasure and displeasure lie
in one’s voluntary actions—and there is no path to this knowledge except pure
revelation. Medicine, by contrast, is based on recognizing what benefits and
harms the body, and its foundation lies in experimentation and testing.
At worst,
ignorance of bodily benefits and harms results in the death of the body and the
separation of the soul from it. But what results from the absence of divine law
is the corruption of the soul, its deviation from the straight path, and its
immersion in the mire of vices—leading to the ruin of both the individual and
the society in which they live. There is an immense difference between this and
the mere death of the body.
People
are in dire need of knowing what the Messenger (peace be upon him) brought, acting upon it, calling to it, remaining
patient upon it, and striving against those who deviate from it until they
return to it. There can be no righteousness in the world without this—ever.
There is
no path to true happiness and
ultimate success except by crossing this bridge. The history of Islamic
nations—during times when they held firmly to the rope of religion and when
they neglected it—and what we witness today in Western societies
of deep social and moral crises, despite their material advancement and
superiority, all bear witness to this reality.
Islam:
One Religion for All Prophets and All Times
What the
Messenger (peace be upon him) brought
is the Noble Book and the authentic Sunnah. This is Islam—the
religion of Allah and His law for all nations from the beginning of creation
until the Hour is established. Allah has Stated this clearly in multiple places
in the Quran: {Certainly, Allah’s only Way is
Islam.} [Ali `Imran 3:19]
Thus,
Islam is the religion of the earlier and later prophets and messengers alike.
Allah also Says, {Whoever seeks a way other than
Islam, it will never be accepted from them, and in the Hereafter they will be
among the losers.} [Ali `Imran 3:85]
It
applies universally to all times and places. Nuh, Ibrahim, Ya`qub, the Tribes
(Al-Asbat), Musa, `Issa, and the disciples—all of them followed Islam:
worshipping Allah alone with no partner, submitting to Him outwardly and
inwardly, and refusing submission to any other besides Him, as the Quran has
clearly explained. Their religion was one, even though their laws differed.
Allah Says, {To each of you We have ordained a code
of law and a way of life.} [Al-Ma’idah 5:48]
And Allah
Said to His Prophet (peace be upon him): {Now We have set you ˹O Prophet˺ on the ˹clear˺ Way of faith. So follow it, and do not follow the desires of those who
do not know ˹the truth˺. They
certainly can be of no benefit to you against Allah whatsoever. Surely the
wrongdoers are patrons of each other, whereas Allah is the Patron of the
righteous.} [Al-Jathiyah 45:18–19]
The
Complete Structure of Islam, Faith, and Doing Good
The Quran
and the authentic Sunnah brought both the outward laws of Islam and the inward
realities of faith. In Sahih Muslim, it is narrated from `Umar (may Allah be
pleased with him) that Gabriel came to the Prophet (peace be
upon him) and asked him about Islam, Iman, and doing
good (Ihsan). He
said: “Islam means that you should testify that
there is no god but God and that Muhammad is God’s messenger, that you should
observe the prayer, pay the zakat, fast during Ramadan, and make the pilgrimage
to the House… It means that you should believe in God, His angels, His books,
His apostles, and the last day, and that you should believe in the decreeing
both of good and evil… Doing good (Ihsan) means that you should worship God as
though you saw Him, for He sees you though you do not see Him..”
Whoever
does not uphold the outward laws of Islam cannot attain the inward realities of
faith. And whoever truly possesses the inward realities of faith must
necessarily manifest the outward laws of Islam.
The heart
is the king, and the limbs are its soldiers. When the king is upright and
sound, his soldiers become upright and sound. In the two authentic collections
of Al-Bukhari and Muslim, the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “Indeed, there
is a piece of flesh in the body: if it is sound, the whole body is sound; and
if it is corrupt, the whole body is corrupt. Indeed, it is the heart.”
Faith
in the Messengers… The Foundation of Belief
The
foundation of faith and piety is belief in all the messengers of Allah, and the
cornerstone of that belief is faith in the Seal of the Messengers (peace be
upon him). Belief in him necessarily includes
belief in all of the books of Allah and messengers.
The
foundation of disbelief and hypocrisy, on the other hand, is rejection of the
messengers and what they brought—leading inevitably to the greatest punishment.
Allah has Informed us in His Book that He does not punish anyone until the
message has reached them: {And We would never
punish ˹a people˺ until
We have sent a messenger ˹to warn them˺.} [Al-Isra’ 17:15], {And your Lord would not destroy the cities until He sent
to their mother city a messenger reciting Our verses to them.} [Al-Qasas 28:59]
Heavenly
law is the cause of true happiness. It is a grave mistake to replace it with
purely human, earthly law—which, even when agreed upon by consensus, is never
free from flaws and errors—especially when it is formulated by those who lack
true knowledge of the meanings of the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His
Prophet, who called to Allah with clear insight.
For Further Reading:
- Estrangement of Faith… When Islam Returns as It Began
- Breaking Down Mental Idols (1) Has God Been Compelled to Create Us?
- 4 Quranic Causes of True Happiness
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