The Day of great fortune and joy Friday, 12 November 2010 05:04

ourth, Islam also reveals man to himself. To be able to make the best use of himself and guard against the dangers inherent within himself, man needs to see himself thoroughly in a clear, unwavering light. Islam tells him what his strengths and weaknesses are. It opens up for his view all the hidden recesses of his nature. Knowing himself in this way he can be aware of the possibilities ingrained in his nature - the possibility of his ennoblement or of his downfall. It exposes to him the terrible monsters residing within him and constantly working to his ruin. It unflatteringly warns man of his enormous capacity to deceive himself - to act as his own enemy. With his limited knowledge and understanding and partiality toward himself man could never know himself as he needs to. Only Allah who created and fashioned man to His design can provide this knowledge for man.

Islam not only tells man what is within him, it tells him in minute detail how to fortify his strengths and guard against the inner monsters. The programme of life that Islam offers man has built-in ways and means to ensure these twin aims.

Fifth, Islam exposes the Devil to man as his sworn enemy who wants to possess his soul and thus destroy him. It tells man how ubiquitous Shaytan is and how wily and various his ways are. He works day and night and knows no rest. One meets him unexpectedly in dark corners. He lays his trap everywhere, making pleasant and attractive all that is damning for man. The Devil lies, charms, bribes and threatens. He can make his lies the sweetest music in man’s ears. He knows all the arts of persuasion as well as of torture. He has agents among men. Against this most potent enemy man has no defense unless he turns for protection to the Lord of the universe who is also his Creator and Master. Islam says that his Lord has already armed man against this danger. He has shown man the sure way to recognise the Devil and his ways, to fight him and defeat his designs.

Sixth, Islam offers man an unchanging criterion to discriminate between truth and falsehood, sacred and profane, right and wrong. With this criterion in his possession he has an unfailing light and a sharp weapon to cut through the jungle of this world and move forward to reach his final and cherished home where his Lord will welcome him. He can face all the contingencies of life and can save himself from being torn asunder by the whims and frenzies of this world.

Seventh, Islam banishes despair and offers man hope that is ever ready and ever near. Weak, ignorant, erring, vain, wayward and foolhardy though man is, he need not despair. He is never abandoned and forever lost. However great his disobedience to his Lord and his transgressions may be, he can always salvage himself. He can have AllahÕs mercy and forgiveness and redeem himself. It is as if he is born again without any taint or blemish. His Lord has proclaimed: “Oh my servants who have transgressed against their souls! Despair not of the mercy of Allah: for Allah forgives all sins: for He is oft-forgiving, most merciful. Turn you to your Lord in repentance and submit to Him, before the chastisement comes on you: after that you shall not be helped.”

Governments and communities cannot forgive every transgression of their members for the simple reason that all human systems and arrangements are flawed and vulnerable. Allah alone can forgive everything: nothing threatens or undermines Him.

Eighth, Islam offers man the consolation that he craves. Man lives this life with a wounded heart. Sorrow, disappointment, loss and injustice visit him daily. Sometimes they look accidental and undeserved, and so man feels baffled and aggrieved. But Islam assures him that his Lord is aware of all that has been happening and promises to one day recompense man for all the anguish he underwent in this world. All suffering will turn into unimaginable joy. All the wounds in man’s heart will be permanently healed, leaving not the least scar; he will have no more grievances. His heart will be filled with overflowing joy and contentment never to be lost again. Man only has to wait patiently in faith and hope for the coming of that Day of great fortune and joy. That is why Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) told his companions that for the Mu’min (believer) there is no loss: “Strange is the affair of the believer. Verily, all his affairs are good for him. If something pleasing befalls him, he thanks Allah and it becomes better for him. And if something harmful befalls him, he is patient and it becomes better for him. And this is only for the believer.” (Sahih Muslim)

All this is easy for Allah, the Creator of the universe and the giver of life and its sustenance. He can bring back and create and recreate anything and change the state of man’s heart. When He gives, His store does not decrease one bit, and He is Himself free of all needs.

These are the offers that Islam makes to mankind. Is there anyone who can honestly say that he does not need them? Could he find any of these offers elsewhere? Man dare not take them lightly; he must consider them very seriously indeed.

What life is there if man does not know who he is, where he came from, where he is going, why he is here, what this world he lives in is, how best to live, what hope there is when he strays or suffers in virtue and what consolation he has in pain? There is none. Man would then be in unspeakable distress. For man cannot construct any truth or meaning for his life, nor can he create any hope or consolation for himself. Man’s constructions do not endure, they crumble before they are completed or put to use. The truth that Islam reveals to man is both enduring and life-giving, and the programme of life that it charts out for him is within his capacity to follow. Thus the call of Islam is a call to life, true life, and the offers it makes are offers to one in dire distress. It is for this Allah invites man with these words: “Respond to Allah and His Messenger, when He calls you to that which will give you life....” (Quran 8: 24)

One final point remains to be made. Islam claims that the Qur’an is the final revelation from Allah Almighty for man’s guidance and that Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) is His Messenger, and that the two basic documents on which Islam rests, the Qur’an and the body of Hadith, are historically authentic. The claims can be easily verified. The documents are still intact, in their original form and available for everyone. They have not undergone any change or loss. Any one who wishes can examine them and learn the truth.

Concluded

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(Quran 39:53-54).