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Tawhid: Faith in the Unity of God
The Meaning of the Kalimah
Effects of Tawhid on Human life
Belief in God’s Angels
Faith in the Books of God
Faith in God’s Prophets
Belief in Life after Death
The Need of this Belief
Life After Death: A Rational Vindication
Our discussion so Far can be summarised as follows:
1.Islam consists of submission and obedience to Allah, the Lord of the Universe. Since the only authentic source of knowing Him and His Will and Law is the teachings of the true Prophet, we may define Islam as that religion which stands for complete faith in the teachings of the Prophet and steadfast obedience to his ways of life. Consequently, one who ignores the medium of the Prophet and claims to follow God directly is not a 'Muslim'.
2.In earlier epochs there had been separate Prophets for different nations, and the history of Prophethood shows that even in one and the same nation several Prophets appeared one after the other. In that age Islam was the name of that religion which was taught to a nation by its own Prophet or Prophets. Though the nature and substance of Islam was the same in every age and country, the modes of worship, codes of law and other detailed rules and regulations of life varied according to local and particular conditions. It was not, therefore, necessary for any nation to follow another nation's Prophet and its responsibility was confined to following the guidance given by its own Prophet.
3.This period of poly-prophetism came to an end with the advent of Muhammad (blessings of Allah and peace be upon him). The teachings of Islam were made complete through him; one basic law was formulated for the whole world and he was made a Prophet for all mankind. His Prophethood was not meant for any particular nation or country or period; his message was for all peoples and for all ages. The earlier codes were abrogated by the advent of Muhammad (blessings of Allah and peace be upon him) who gave the world a complete code of life. This means there will be no new Prophets and no new religious code until the Last Day. Muhammad's (blessings of Allah and peace be upon him) teachings are meant for all the children of Adam, the entire human race. Now Islam consists in following Muhammad (blessings of Allah and peace be upon him), that is, acknowledging his Prophethood, believing in all that he has asked us to believe in, following him in letter and spirit, and submitting to all his commands and injunctions, the most fundamental of which is La illaha illallah "There is no deity but Allah".
This brings us to the question; what has Muhammad (blessings of Allah and peace be upon him) asked us to believe in? What are the articles of Islamic faith? We shall discuss these articles and see how simple, how true, how lovable and how valuable they are and to what high pinnacle they raise the status of Man in this world and the world to come.
The most fundamental and the most important teaching of Prophet Muhammad (blessings of Allah and peace be upon him) is faith in the unity of God. This is expressed in the primary Kalimah of Islam as "There is no deity but Allah" (La illaha illallah). This beautiful phrase is the bedrock of Islam, its foundation and its essence. It is the expression of this belief, which differentiates a true Muslim from a kafir (unbeliever), mushrik (one who associates others with God in His Divinity) or dahriyah (an atheist).
The acceptance or denial of this phrase produces a world of difference between man and man. The believers in it become one single community and those who do not believe in it form an opposing group. For the believers there is unhampered progress and success in this world and in the hereafter, while failure and ignominy are the ultimate lot of those who refuse to believe in it.
But the difference between the believers and the unbelievers does not result from the mere chanting of a few words. Obviously, the mere utterance of a phrase or two is not in itself important. The real difference lies in the conscious acceptance of this doctrine and complete adherence to it in practical life. Mere repetition of the word 'food' cannot dull hunger; mere chanting of a medical prescription cannot heal the disease.
In the same way, if the Kalimah is repeated without any understanding, it cannot work the revolution, which it is meant to bring about. This can occur only if a person grasps the full meaning of the doctrine and accepts and follows it in letter and spirit. We avoid fire because we know that it burns; we keep away from poison because we know that it can kill. Similarly, if the real meanings of Tawhid are fully grasped, we avoid, in belief as well as in action, every form of disbelief, atheism and polytheism. This is the natural consequence of belief in the Unity of God.
In Arabic the word Hah means 'one who is worshipped', that is, a being which on account of its greatness and power is considered worthy to be worshipped: to be bowed to in humility and submission. Anything or any being possessing power too great to be comprehended by man is also called Hah. The concept Hah also includes the possession of infinite powers and conveys the sense that others are dependent on Hah and that he is not dependent on anyone else. The word Hah carries, too, a sense of concealment and mystery. The word Khuda in Persian, Deva in Hindi and God in English have similar connotations. Other languages also contain words with a similar meaning1. (1. For instance, in Greek it is Oeo’s, in Latin Deus, in Gothic Guth, in German Gott. For reference, see Encyclopedia Britannica (Chicago. 1956) Vol. X. p. 460. — Editor.)
The word Allah, on the other hand, is the essential personal name of God. La illaha illallah literally means, "There is no illah other than the One Great Being known by the name Allah." It means that in the whole of the universe, there is absolutely no being worthy to be worshipped other than Allah, that it is only to Him that heads should bow in submission and adoration, that He is the only Being possessing all powers, that we are all in need of His favour, and that we are all obliged to seek His help. He is concealed from our senses, and our intellect cannot perceive what He is.
Now we know the meaning of these words, let us look more closely at their real significance.
From the earliest known history of man as well as from the oldest relics of antiquity that we have been able to obtain, it appears that in every age man recognised some deity or deities and worshipped them. Even today every nation, from the most primitive to the most advanced, believes in and worships some deity. Having a deity and worshipping him is ingrained in human nature. There is something within man's soul, which forces him to do so.
But the question is: what is that thing and why does man feel impelled to do so? The answer to this question can be discovered if we look at the position of man in this huge universe. Neither man nor his nature is omnipotent. He is neither self-sufficient nor self-existing; nor is his powers limitless. In fact, he is weak, frail, needy and destitute.
He is dependent on a multitude of forces to maintain his existence, but all of them are not essentially and totally within his powers. Sometimes they come into his possession in a simple and natural way, and at times he finds himself deprived of them. There are many important and valuable things which he endeavours to get, but sometimes he succeeds in getting them, while sometimes he does not, for it is not completely in his own power to obtain them. There are many things injurious to him; accidents destroy his life's work in a single moment; chance brings his hopes to a sudden end; illness, worries and calamities are always threatening him and marring his way to happiness. He attempts to get rid of them, and meets with both success and failure.
There are many things whose greatness and grandeur overawe him; mountains and rivers, gigantic animals and ferocious beasts. He experiences earthquakes, storms and other natural disasters. He observes clouds over his head and sees them becoming thick and dark, with peals of thunder, flashes of lightning and heavy rain. He sees the sun, the moon and the stars in their constant motions. He reflects how great, powerful and grand these bodies are, and, in contrast to them, how frail and insignificant he himself is!
These vast phenomena, on the one hand, and the consciousness of his own frailty, on the other, impress him with a deep sense of his own weakness, humbleness and helplessness. And it is quite natural that a primitive idea of divinity should coincide with this sense. He thinks of the hands, which are wielding these great forces. The sense of their greatness makes him bow in humility. The sense of their powerfulness makes him seek their help. He tries to please them so that they may be beneficent to him, and he fears them and tries to escape their wrath so that they may not destroy him.
In the most primitive stage of ignorance, man thinks that the great objects of nature whose grandeur and glory are visible, and which appear to be injurious or beneficent to him, hold in themselves the real power and authority, and, therefore, are divine. Thus he worships trees, animals, rivers, mountains, fire, rain, air, heavenly bodies and numerous other objects. This is the worst form of ignorance.
When his ignorance dissipates to some extent and some glimmers of light and knowledge appear on his intellectual horizon, he comes to know that these great and powerful objects are in themselves as helpless and dependent, or rather; they are still more dependent and helpless. The biggest and the strongest animal die like a tiny germ, and loses all his power; great rivers rise and fall and become dry: the highest mountains are blasted and shattered by man himself: the productiveness of the earth is not under the earth's control—water makes it prosperous and lack of water makes it barren, liven water is not independent. It depends on air, which brings the clouds. Air, too, is powerless and its usefulness depends on other causes. The moon, the sun, and the stars are also bound by a powerful law outside whose dictates they cannot make the slightest movement.
After these considerations man's mind turns to the possibility of some great mysterious power of divine nature, which controls the objects he sees and which may be the repository of all authority. These reflections give rise to belief in mysterious powers behind natural phenomena, with innumerable gods governing various parts and aspects of nature such as air, light and water. Material forms or symbols are constructed to represent them and man begins to worship these forms and symbols. This, too, is a form of ignorance, and reality remains hidden to the human eye even at this stage of man's intellectual and cultural pilgrimage.
As man progresses still further in knowledge and learning, and as he reflects more and more deeply on the fundamental problems of existence, he finds an all-powerful law and all-encompassing control in the universe. What a complete regularity is observed in sunrise and sunset, in winds and rains, in the motions of stars and the changes of seasons! With what a wonderful harmony countless different forces are working jointly. And what a highly effective and supremely wise law it is according to which all the various causes in the universe are made to work together at an appointed time to produce an appointed event! Observing this uniformity, regularity and complete obedience to one great law in all fields of Nature, even a polytheist finds himself obliged to believe that there must be a deity greater than all the others, exercising supreme authority. For, if there were separate, independent deities, the whole machinery of the universe would be upset.
He calls this greatest deity by different names, such as Allah, Pemeshwar, God, Khuda-i-Khuda'igan. But as the darkness of ignorance still persists, he continues worshipping minor deities along with the Supreme One. He imagines that the Divine Kingdom of God may not be different from earthly kingdoms. Just as a ruler has many ministers, trusted associates, governors, and other responsible officers, so the minor deities are like so many responsible officers under the Great God Who cannot be approached without winning the favour of the officers under Him. So they must also be worshipped and appealed to for help, and should in no case be offended. They are taken as agents through whom an approach can be made to the Great God.
The more a man increases his knowledge, the greater becomes his dissatisfaction with the multiplicity of deities. So the number of minor deities begins to decrease. More enlightened men bring each one of them under the searchlight of scrutiny and ultimately find that none of these man-made deities has any divine character; they themselves are creatures like man, though rather more helpless. They are thus eliminated one by one until only one God remains.
But the concept of one God still contains some remnants of the elements of ignorance. Some people imagine that He has a body as men have, and is in a particular place. Some believe that God came down to earth in human form; others think that God, after settling the affairs of the universe, retired and is now resting. Some believe that it is necessary to approach God through the media of saints and spirits, and that nothing can be achieved without their intercession. Some imagine God to have a certain form or image, and they believe it necessary to keep that image before them for the purposes of worship.
Such distorted notions of godhead have persisted and lingered, and many of them are prevalent among different people even today.
Tawhid is the highest conception of godhead, the knowledge of which God has sent mankind in all ages through His Prophets. It was this knowledge with which, in the beginning, Adam was sent down to earth; it was the same knowledge that was revealed to Noah, Abraham, Moses and Jesus (God's blessings be upon them all). It was this knowledge, which Muhammad (blessings of Allah and peace be upon him) brought to mankind. It is Knowledge, pure and absolute, without the least shade of ignorance. Man became guilty of shirk, idol-worship and kufr only because he turned away from the teachings of the Prophets and depended on his own faulty reasoning, false perceptions or biased interpretations. Tawhid dispels all the clouds of ignorance and illuminates the horizon with the light of reality. Let us see what significant realities the concept of Tawhid — this little phrase: la illaha illallah embraces: what truth it conveys and what beliefs it fosters.
First, we are faced with the question of the universe. We are face to face with a grand, limitless universe. Man's mind cannot discern it’s beginning or visualise its end. It has been moving along its chartered course from time immemorial and is continuing its journey in the vast vista of the future. Creatures beyond number have appeared in it — and go on appearing every day. It is so bewildering that a thinking mind finds itself wonderstruck. Man is unable to understand and grasp its reality by his unaided vision. He cannot believe that all this has appeared just by chance or accident. The universe is not a fortuitous mass of matter. It is not a jumble of un co-coordinated objects. It is not a conglomeration of chaotic and meaningless things. All this cannot be without a Creator, a Designer, a Controller, a Governor.
But who can create and control this majestic universe? Only He can do so, Who is Master of all; Who is Infinite and Eternal; Who is All-Powerful, All-Wise, Omnipotent and Omniscient; Who is All-Knowing and All-Seeing. He must have supreme authority over all that exists in the universe. He must possess limitless powers, must be Lord of the universe and all that it contains, must be free from every flaw and weakness and none may have the power to interfere with His work. Only such a Being can be the Creator, the Controller and the Governor of the universe.
Second, it is essential that all these divine attributes and powers must be vested in One Being: it is impossible for two or more personalities having equal powers and attributes to co-exist. They are bound to collide. Therefore, there must be one and only one Supreme Being having control over all others. You cannot think of two governors for the same province or two supreme commanders of the army! Similarly, the distribution of these powers among different deities, so that, for instance, one of them is all-knowledge, the other all-providence and still another life-giver — and each having an independent domain — is also unthinkable. The universe is an indivisible whole and each one of such deities will be dependent upon others in the execution of his task. Lack of co-ordination is bound to occur. And if this happened, the world would fall to pieces. These attributes are also un transferable. It is not possible that a certain attribute might be present in a certain deity at one time and at another time be found in another deity. A divine being who is incapable of remaining alive himself cannot give life to others. The one who cannot protect his, own divine power cannot be suited to govern the vast limitless universe.
The more you reflect on the problem, the firmer must your conviction be that all these divine powers and attributes must exist in one and the same Being alone. Thus, polytheism is a form of ignorance that cannot stand rational scrutiny. It is a practical impossibility. The facts of life and nature do not fit in with it. They automatically bring men to Reality, that is Tawhid, the Unity of God.
Now, keeping in mind this concept of God, look closely at this vast universe. Exert yourself to the utmost and say if you find among all the objects that you see, among all the things that you perceive, among all that you can think, feel or imagine — all that your knowledge can comprehend — anyone possessing, these attributes. The sun, the moon, the stars, animals, birds or fishes, matter, money, any man or a group of men — does any of them possess these attributes? Most certainly not! For everything in the universe is created, controlled and regulated, is dependent on others, is mortal and transitory; its slightest movements are controlled by an inexorable law from which there can be no deviation. Their helpless condition proves that the attire of divinity cannot fit their body. They do not possess the slightest trace of divinity and have absolutely nothing to do with it. It is a travesty of truth and a folly of the highest magnitude to attribute divine status to them.
This is the meaning of La ilaha, (i.e. there is no god) no human and material object possesses the divine power and authority deserving worship and obedience.
But this is not the end of our quest. We have found that divinity is not vested in any material or human element of the universe, and that none of them possesses even the slightest trace of it. This leads us to the conclusion that there is a Supreme Being, over and above all that our eyes see in the universe. Who possesses Divine attributes? Who is the Will behind all phenomena, the Creator of this grand universe, the Controller of its superb Law, the Governor of its serene rhythm, the Administrator of all its workings: He is Allah, the Lord of the Universe and no one and nothing is associated in His Divinity. This is what illallah (but Allah) means.
This knowledge is superior to all other kinds of knowledge and the greater you exert yourself; the deeper will be your conviction that this is the starting-point of all knowledge. In every field of inquiry — be it that of physics, chemistry, astronomy, geology, biology, zoology, economics, politics, sociology or the humanities, you will find that the deeper you probe, the clearer become the indications of the truth of La illaha illallah. It is this concept, which opens up the doors of inquiry and investigation and illumines the pathways of knowledge with the light of reality. And if you deny or disregard this reality, you will find that at every step you meet disillusionment, for the denial of this primary truth robs everything in the universe of its meaning and significance.
Now let us study the effects, which the belief in La illaha illallah has on the life of a man, and see why he should always make a success of life and why one who denies it becomes a failure in life, both here and in the hereafter.
1.A believer in this Kalimah can never be narrow in outlook. He believes in a God, Who is the Creator of the heavens and the earth, the Master of the East and the West and Sustainer of the entire universe. After this belief he does not regard anything in the world as a stranger to himself. He looks on everything in the universe as belonging to the same Lord he himself belongs to. His sympathy, love and service are not confined to any particular sphere or group. His vision is enlarged, his intellectual horizon widens, and his outlook becomes as liberal and as boundless as is the Kingdom of God. How can this width of vision and breadth of mind be achieved by an atheist, a polytheist or one who believes in a deity supposed to possess limited and defective powers like a man?
2.This belief produces in man the highest degree of self-respect and self-esteem. The believer knows that Allah alone is the Possessor of all power, and that none besides Him can benefit or harm a person, or provide for his needs, or give and take away life or wield authority or influence. This conviction makes him indifferent to and independent and fearless of, all powers other than those of God. He never bows his head in homage to any of God's creatures, nor does he stretch out his hand before anyone else. He is not overawed by anybody's greatness. This attitude of mind cannot be produced by any other belief. For it is necessary that those who associate other beings with God or who deny God, should bow in homage to some creatures, regard them able to benefit or harm them, fear them and place their hopes in them.
3.Along with self-respect this belief also generates in man a sense of modesty and humbleness. It makes him unostentatious and unpretending. A believer never becomes proud, haughty or arrogant. The boisterous pride of power, wealth and worth can have no room in his heart, because he knows that whatever he possesses has been given to him by God, and that God can take away just as He can give. In contrast to this, an unbeliever, when he achieves some worldly merit, becomes proud and conceited because he believes that his merit is due to his own worth. In the same way pride and self-conceit are a necessary outcome and concomitant of shirk (association of others with God in His divinity), because a mushrik believes that he has a particular relation with the deities which does not exist between them and other people.
4.This belief makes man virtuous and upright. He has the conviction that there is no other means of success and salvation for him except purity of soul and righteousness of behaviour. He has perfect faith in God Who is above all need, is related to none and is absolutely just. This belief creates in him the consciousness that, unless he lives rightly and acts justly, he cannot succeed. No influence or underhand activity can save him from ruin. As against this, the kafirs and the mushriks always live on false hopes. Some of them believe that God's son has atoned for their sins; some think that they are God's favorites, and will not be punished; others believe that their saints will intercede with God on their behalf; while others make offerings to their deities and believe that by so bribing the deities they acquire a license to do whatever they like. Such false beliefs keep them enmeshed in sin and evil deeds; depending on their deities, they do not bother about their souls and living pure and good lives. As to atheists, they do not believe that there is any Being having power over them, to Whom they should be responsible for their good or bad actions; therefore they consider themselves independent to act in whatever wav they like. Their own fancies become their gods and they live like slaves of their wishes and desires.
5.The believer never becomes despondent. He has a firm faith in God, Who is Master of all the treasures of the earth and the heavens, Whose grace and bounty have no limit and Whose powers are infinite. This faith imparts to his heart extraordinary consolation, fills it with satisfaction and keeps it filled with hope. Although he may meet with rejection from all sides in this world, faith in and dependence on God never leave him, and on their strength he goes on struggling. Such profound confidence can result from no other belief than belief in one God. Mushriks. Kafirs, and atheists have small hearts; they depend on limited powers: therefore in times of trouble they are soon overwhelmed by despair and frequently, they commit suicide2. (2. To have an idea of what a harrowing situation this despair of heart can create, the reader is referred to the thought-provoking -study of modern life by Mr. Colin Wilson: The Outsider (11th impression. London 1957). The testimony of Prof. Joad is also very explicit on this point. He writes about the West: "For the first time in history here is coming to maturity a generation of men and women who have no religion, and feel no need for one. They are content to ignore it. Also they are very unhappy, and the suicide rain abnormal high." (C. E. M. Joad, The Present and Future of Religion, quoted by Sir Arnold Lunn, and yet so New. London. 1958. p. 228). As to the world of [slam. let the views of a non-Muslim historian not in any way sympathetic to Islam, be read with profit: "In this uncompromising monotheism, with its simple, enthusiastic faith in the supreme rule of a transcendent being, lies the chief strength of Islam. Its adherent enjoy a onsciousness of contentment and resignation unknown among followers of most creeds. “Suicide is Rare in Muslim Lands” (Philip K. Hitti, History of the Arabs, 1951, p.129))
6. This belief produces in man a very strong degree of determination, patient perseverance and trust in God. When he makes up his mind and devotes his resources to fulfilling the Divine Commands in order to secure God's pleasure, he is sure that he has the support and backing of the Lord of the universe. This certainty makes him firm and strong like a mountain, and no amount of difficulties, impediments and opposition can make him give up his resolution. Shirk, kufr and atheism have no such make.
7. This declaration inspires bravery in man. There are two things which make a man cowardly: (i) fear of death and love of safety, and (ii) the idea that there is someone else besides God who can take away life and that man, by adopting certain devices, can ward off death. Belief in La illaha illallah purges the mind of both these ideas. The first idea goes out of his mind because he knows that his life and his property and everything else really belong to God, and he becomes ready to sacrifice his all for His pleasure. He gets rid of the second idea because he knows that no weapon, no man or animal has the power of taking away his life; God alone has the power to do so. A time has been ordained for him. And all the forces of the world combined cannot take away anyone’s life before that time. It is for this reason that no one is braver than the one who has faith in God. Nothing can daunt him: not even the strongest tempest of adversity and the mightiest of armies. Where can the mushriks, the kafirs and the atheists get such great determination, force and power from? They hold life the dearest thing in the world: they believe that death is brought about by the enemy and can be warded off by running away from him!
8. The belief in La ilaha illallah creates an attitude of peace and contentment, purges the mind of jealousy, envy and greed and keeps away the temptations of resorting to base and unfair means for achieving success. The believer understands that wealth is in God's hands, and He apportions it out, as He likes; that honour, power, reputation and authority — everything — is subjected to His will and He bestows them as He will; and that man's duty is only to endeavour and to struggle fairly. He knows that success and failure depend on God's grace: if He wills to give, no power in the world can prevent Him from so doing: and if He does not will it, no power can force Him to. On the other hand, the mushriks, the kafirs and the atheists consider success and failure as dependent on their own efforts and the help or opposition of earthly powers. Therefore, they always remain slaves to cupidity and envy. They never hesitate to turn to bribery, flattery, conspiracy and other kinds of base and unfair means to achieve their ends. Jealousy and envy of others' success eat them away, and they will stop at nothing to bring about the
9. The most important effect of La ilaha illallah is that it makes man obey and observe God's Law. One who has belief in it is sure that God knows everything hidden or open and is nearer to him than his own jugular vein. If he commits a sin in a secluded corner and in the darkness of night. He knows it; He even knows our thoughts and intentions, bad or good. We can hide from everyone, but we cannot hide anything from God; we can evade everyone, but it is impossible to evade God's grip. The firmer a man's belief in this respect, the more observant will he be of God's commands; he will shun what God has forbidden and he will carry out His behests even in solitude and in darkness, because he knows that God's 'police' never leaves him alone, and he dreads the Court whose warrant he can never avoid. It is for this reason that the first and the most important conditions for being a Muslim is to have faith in La illaha illallah. 'Muslim', as you have already been told, means one 'obedient to God' and obedience to God is impossible unless one firmly believes in La ilaha illallah.
In the teachings of Muhammad (blessings of Allah and peace be upon him) faith in One God is the most important and fundamental principle. It is the bedrock of Islam and the mainspring of its power. All other beliefs, commands and laws of Islam stand firm on this foundation. All of them receive strength from this source. Take it away, and there is nothing left of Islam.
The Prophet Muhammad (blessings of Allah and peace be upon him) has further instructed us to have faith in the existence of God's angels. This is the second article of Islamic faith and is very important; because it absolves the concept of Tawhid from all impurities and frees it from the danger of every conceivable shadow of shirk (polytheism). The polytheists have associated two kinds of creatures with God:
(a) Those which have material existence and are perceptible to the human eye, such as the sun, moon, stars, fire, water, animals, great men.
(b) Those who have no material existence and are not perceptible to the human eye: the unseen beings who are believed to be engaged in the administration of the universe; for instance, one controls the air, another imparts light, another brings rains, and so on and so forth.
The alleged deities of the first kind have material existence and are before man's eye. The falsity of their claim has been fully exposed by the Kalimah — La ilaha illallah. This is sufficient to dispose of the idea that they enjoy any share in divinity or deserve any reverence at all. The second kind of things, being immaterial, are hidden from the human eye and are mysterious; the polytheists are more inclined to pin their faith in them. They consider them to be deities, gods and God's children. They make their images and render offerings to them. In order to purify belief in the Unity of God, and to clear it from the admixture of this second kind of unseen creatures, this particular article of faith has been expounded.
Muhammad (blessings of Allah and peace be upon him) has informed us that these imperceptible spiritual beings, whom people believe to be deities of gods or God's children, are really His angels. They have no share in God's divinity; they cannot deviate from His commands even by the slightest fraction of an inch. God employs them to administer His Kingdom, and they carry out His orders exactly and accurately. They have no authority to do anything of their own accord; they cannot present to God any scheme conceived by themselves, they are not even authorized to intercede with God for any man.
To worship them and to solicit their help is degrading and debasing for man. For, on the very first day of man's creation, God had made them prostrate themselves before Adam, granted to him greater knowledge than they possessed and bestowed on Adam His own vicegerency on this earth in preference to them.3 (3. See Al-Quran, ii.34 and vii.11.) What debasement can, therefore, be greater for man than prostrating himself before those who had prostrated themselves before him!
Muhammad (blessings of Allah and peace be upon him) forbade us to worship angels, and to associate them with God in His divinity. He also informed us that they were the chosen creatures of God, free from sin, from their very nature unable to disobey God, and ever engaged in carrying out His orders. Moreover, he informed us that these angels of God surround us from all sides, are attached to us, and are always in our company. They observe and note all our actions, good or bad. They preserve a complete record of every man's life. After death, when we shall be brought before God, they will present a full report of our life's-work on earth, wherein we shall find everything correctly recorded, not a single movement left out, however insignificant and however carefully concealed it may be.
We have not been informed of the intrinsic nature of the angels. Only some of their virtues or attributes have been mentioned to us, and we have been asked to believe in their existence. We have no other means of knowing their nature, their attributes and their qualities. It would therefore, be sheer folly on our part to attribute any form or quality to them of our own accord. We must believe in them exactly as we have been asked to do. To deny their existence is kufr for, first, we have no reason for such a denial, and, second, our denial of them would be tantamount to attributing untruth to Muhammad (blessings of Allah and peace be upon him). We believe in their existence only because God's true Messenger has informed us of it.
The third article of faith which Muhammad (blessings of Allah and peace be upon him) has commanded us to believe is faith in the Books of God; Books which He has sent down to mankind through His Prophets.
God had revealed His Books to His Prophets before Muhammad (blessings of Allah and peace be upon him) and these books were sent down in the same way as He sent down the Qur'an to Muhammad (blessings of Allah and peace be upon him). We have been informed of the names of some of these books: Books of Abraham, the Torah of Moses. Zabur (Psalms) of David, and the lnjil (Gospel) of Jesus Christ. We have not been informed of the names of Books, which were given to other Prophets. Therefore with regard to other existing religious books, we are not in a position to say with, certainty whether they were originally revealed books or not.
But we tacitly believe that whatever Books were sent down by God are alt true.
Of the Books we have been told, the Books of Abraham are extinct and not traceable in existing world literature. David's Zabur, the Torah and the Injil exist with the Jews and the Christians, but the Qur'an informs us that people have changed and added to these books, and God's words have been mixed up with texts of their own making. This corruption and pollution of the Books has been so large and so evident that even the Jews and the Christians themselves admit that they do not possess their original texts, and have only their translations, which have been altered over many centuries and are still being changed. On studying these Books we find many passages and accounts, which evidently cannot be from God. God's words and those of man are mixed together in these books, and we have no means of knowing which portions are from God and which from man.
We have been commanded to believe in previously revealed Books only in the sense of admitting that, before the Qur'an, God had also sent down books through His Prophets, that they were all from one and the same God, the same God Who sent the Qur'an and that the sending of the Qur'an as a Divine Book is not a new and strange event, but only confirms, restates and completes those divine instructions which people had mutilated or lost in antiquity4. (4. Even a cursory study of the first books of the Old Testament and the four Gospels of the New Testament reveals that they are the productions of men and in these writings some parts of the original Psalms of David and the Gospels of Christ have been incorporated. The first five books of the Old Testament do not constitute the original Torah, but parts of the Torah have been mixed up with other narrative written by human beings and the original guidance of the. Lord is lost. Similarly, the four Gospels of Christ are not the original Gospels as they came from the Prophet Christ (peace be upon him). They are in fact, the life histories of Christ compiled by four different persons on the basis of knowledge and hearsay, and certain parts of the original Gospel also fell into them. But the original and the fictitious, the Divine and the human, are so intermingled that the grain cannot be separated from the chaff. The fact is that the original Word of God is preserved neither with the Jews nor with the Christians. The Qur'an, on the other hand, is fully preserved and not a syllable has been changed or left out of it.)
The Qur'an is the last of the Divine Books sent down by God and there are some very pertinent differences between it and the previous Books. These differences may briefly be stated as follows:
1.The original texts of most of the former Divine Books were lost altogether, and only their translations exist today. The Qur'an, on the other hand, exists exactly as it was revealed to the Prophet: not a word — nay, not a syllable of it — has been changed. It is available in its original text and the Word of God has been preserved for all time.
2.In the former Divine Books man mixed his words with God's, but in the Qur'an we find only the words of God — and in their pristine purity. This is admitted even by the opponents of Islam.
3.In respect of no other sacred Book possessed by different peoples can it be said on the basis of authentic historical evidence that it really belongs to the same Prophet to whom it is attributed. In the case of some of them it is not even known in what age and to which Prophet they were revealed. As for the Qur'an, the evidence that it was revealed to Muhammad (blessings of Allah and peace be upon him) is so voluminous, so convincing, so strong and so compelling that even the fiercest critics of Islam cannot cast doubt on it. This evidence is so detailed that even the occasion and place of the revelation of many verses and injunctions of the Qur'an can be known with certainty.
4.The former Divine Books were sent down in languages, which died long ago. No nation or community now speaks those languages and there are only a few people who claim to understand them. Thus, even if the Books existed today in their original and unadulterated form, it would be virtually impossible in our age to correctly understand and interpret their injunctions and put them into practice in their required form. The language of the Qur'an, on the other hand is a living language; millions of people speak it, and millions more know and understand it. It is being taught and learnt in nearly every university of the world; every man can learn it, and he who has not time to learn it can find men everywhere who know this language and can explain to him the meaning of the Qur'an.
5.Each one of the existing sacred Books found among different nations of the world has been addressed to a particular people. Each one contains a number of commands which seem to have been meant for a particular period of history and which meet the needs of that age only. They are neither needed today, nor can they now be smoothly and properly put into practice. It is evident from this that these Books were particularly meant for that particular people and not for the world. Furthermore, they were not sent to be followed permanently by even the people they were intended for; they were meant to be acted upon only for a certain period. In contrast to this the Qur'an is addressed to all mankind; not a single injunction of it can be suspected as having been addressed to a particular people. In the same manner, all the commands and injunctions in the Qur'an can be acted upon at any place and in any age. This proves that the Qur'an is meant for the whole world, and is an eternal code for human life.
6.There is no denying the fact that the previous divine Books also enshrined good and virtue; they also taught the principles of morality and truthfulness and presented the mode of living, which was to God's pleasure. But none of them was comprehensive enough to embrace all that is necessary for a virtuous human life. Some of them excelled in one respect others in some other. It is the Qur'an and the Qur'an alone which enshrined not only all that was good in the former Books but also perfects the way of Allah and presents it in its entirety and outlines that code of life which comprehends all that Is necessary for man on this earth.
7.On account of man's interpolations, many things have been inserted in those Books, which are against reality, revolting to reason and an affront to every instinct of justice. There are things, which are cruel and unjust, and vitiate man's beliefs and actions. Furthermore, things have unfortunately been inserted that are obscene, indecent and highly immoral. The Qur'an is free of all such rubbish. It contains nothing against reason, and nothing that can be proved wrong. None of its injunctions is unjust; nothing in it is misleading. Of indecency and immorality not a trace can be found. From the beginning to the end the Book is full of wisdom and truth. It contains the best of philosophy and the choicest of law for human civilisation. It points out the right path and guides man to success and salvation.
It is on account of these special features of the Qur'an that all the peoples of the world have been directed to have faith in it, to give up all other Books and to follow it alone.
The study of the difference between the Qur'an and other divine Books makes one easily understand that the natures of faith in the Qur’an and of belief in the former Books are not similar.
Faith in the earlier divine Books should be limited to the confirmation that they were all from God, were true and were sent down to fulfill, in their time, the same purpose for which the Qur'an has been sent. On the other hand, belief in the Qur'an should be of the nature that it is purely and absolutely God's own words, that it is perfectly true, that every word of it is preserved, that everything mentioned therein is right, that it is the bounden duly of man lo carry out in his life each and every command of it and that whatever be against it must be rejected.
In the last chapter we explained that God's Messengers had been raised among every people, and that they all brought essentially that same religion — Islam — which the Prophet Muhammad (blessings of Allah and peace be upon him) propagated. In this respect all the Messengers of God stand on a par with each other. If a man belies any one of them, he, as it were, belies all, and if a man affirms and believes in one of them, he must and ought to affirm all. The reason is simple. Suppose ten men make one and the same statement; if you admit one of them to be true, you ipso facto admit the remaining nine as true, and if you belie any one of them, by implication you belie all of them. It is for this reason that in Islam it is necessary to have implicit faith in all the Prophets of God. One who does not believe in a particular Prophet would be a Kafir, though he may profess faith in all the other Prophets.
Tradition has it that the total number of Prophets sent to different peoples at different times is 124,000. If you consider the life of the world since it was first inhabited and the number of different peoples and nations that have been on it, this number will not appear too great. We have to positively believe in those of the Prophets whose names have been mentioned in the Qur'an. Regarding the rest, we are instructed to believe that all the Prophets sent by God for the guidance of mankind were true.
Thus we believe in all the Prophets raised in India, China, Persia, Egypt, Africa, Europe and other countries of the world, but we are not in a position to be definite about a particular person outside the list of Prophets named in the Qur'an, whether or not he was a Prophet, for we have not been told anything definite about him. Nor are we permitted to say anything against the holy men of other religions. It is quite possible that some of them might have been God's Prophets, and their followers corrupted their teachings after their demise, just as the followers of Moses and Jesus (peace be upon them) have done. Therefore, whenever we express any opinion about them, it should be about the tenets and rituals of their religions; as for the founders of those religions, we will remain scrupulously silent, lest we should become guilty of irreverence towards a Prophet.
All the Prophets of God have been deputed by Him to teach the same straight path of Islam'. In this sense there is no difference between Muhammad and other Prophets (blessings of Allah and peace be upon them all), and we have been ordered to believe in all of them alike. But in spite of this equality, there are the following three differences between them:
1.The Prophets of the past came to certain people for certain periods of time, while Muhammad (blessings of Allah and peace be upon him) has been sent for the whole world and for all time to come5. (5 This point has been discussed in detail in Chapter Three.)
2.The teachings of those Prophets have either disappeared altogether from the world, or whatever of them remains is intermingled with many erroneous and fictitious statements. For this reason, even if anyone wishes to follow their teachings, he cannot do so. In contrast to this, the teachings of Muhammad (blessings of Allah and peace be upon him), his biography, his discourses, his way of living, his morals, habits and virtues, in short, all the details of his life and work, are preserved. Muhammad (blessings of Allah and peace be upon him), therefore, is the only one of the whole line of Prophets who is a living personality, and in whose footsteps it is-possible to follow correctly and confidently.
3.The guidance imparted through the Prophets of the past was not complete. Every Prophet was followed by another who effected alterations and additions in the teachings and injunctions of his predecessors and, in this way, the chain of reform and progress continued. That is why the teachings of the earlier Prophets, after the lapse of time, were lost in oblivion. Obviously there was no need to preserve earlier teachings when amended and improved guidance had taken their place. At last the most perfect code of guidance was imparted to mankind through Muhammad (blessings of Allah and peace be upon him) and all previous codes were automatically abrogated, for it is futile and imprudent to follow an incomplete code when the complete code exists. He who follows Muhammad (blessings of Allah and peace be upon him) follows all the Prophets, for whatever was good and eternally workable in their teachings has been embodied in his teachings. Whoever, therefore, rejects and refuses to follow Muhammad's (blessings of Allah and peace be upon him) teachings, and chooses to follow some other Prophet, only deprives himself of that vast amount of useful and valuable instruction and guidance which is embodied in Muhammad's (blessings of Allah and peace be upon him) teachings, which never existed in the books of the earlier Prophets and which was revealed only through the Last of the Prophets.
This is why it is incumbent on each and every human being to have faith in Muhammad (blessings of Allah and peace be upon him) and follow him alone. To become a true Muslim (a follower of the Prophet's way of life) it is necessary to have complete faith in Muhammad (blessings of Allah and peace be upon him) and to affirm that:
(a) He is a true Prophet of God;
(b) His teachings are absolutely perfect, free from any defect or error; and
(c) He is the Last Prophet of God. After him no Prophet will appear among any people till the Day of Judgement, nor is any such personage going to appear in whom it would be essential for a Muslim to believe.
The fifth article of Islamic Faith is belief in life after death. The Prophet Muhammad (blessings of Allah and peace be upon him) has directed us to believe in resurrection after death and in the Day of Judgement. The essential ingredients of this belief, as taught to us by him, are as follows:
That the life of this world and of all that is in it will come to an end on an appointed day. Everything will be annihilated. That day is called Qiyamah, i.e. the Last Day.
That all the human being's who have lived in the world since its inception will then be restored to life and will be presented before God Who will sit in judgement on that day. This is called Hashr (Resurrection).
That the entire record of every man and woman — of all their doings and misdoings — will be presented before God for final judgement.
That one who excels in goodness will be rewarded; one whose evils and wrongs outweigh his good deeds will be punished.
That those who emerge successful in this judgement will go to Paradise and the doors of eternal bliss will be opened to them; those who are condemned and deserve punishment will be sent to Hell — the abode of fire and torture.
Belief in life after death has always been an integral part of the teachings of the Prophets. Every Prophet asked his followers to believe in it, in the same way as the last of the Prophets, Muhammad (blessings of Allah and peace be upon him), has asked us to do. This has always been an essential condition of being a Muslim. All Prophets have categorically declared that one who does not believe in it, or casts doubts on it, is a Kafir. This is so because denial of life after death makes all other beliefs meaningless. This denial also destroys the very sanction for a good life and man is driven to a life of ignorance and disbelief. A little reflection makes this quite clear.
In your everyday life, whenever you are asked to do anything, you immediately think: what is the use of doing it and what harm is involved in not doing it? This is in the very nature of man. He instinctively regards a useless action as totally unnecessary. You will never be willing to waste your time and energy in useless and unproductive jobs. Similarly, you will not be very eager to avoid a thing that is harmless. And the general rule is that the deeper your conviction about the utility of a thing, the firmer will be your response to it; and the more doubtful you are about its efficacy, the more wavering will be your attitude. After all, why does a child put his hand into fire? Because he is not sure that fire burns. Why does he evade study? Because he does not fully grasp the importance and benefits of education and does not believe in what his elders try to impress on his mind.
Now think of the man who does not believe in the Day of Judgement. Will he not consider belief in God and a life in accordance with His code of no consequence? What value will he attach to a life in pursuit «f His pleasure? To him neither obedience to God is of any advantage, nor disobedience to Him of any harm. How, then, can it be possible for him to scrupulously follow the injunctions of God, His Prophet, and His Book? What incentive will there be for him to undergo trials and sacrifices and to avoid worldly pleasures? And if a man does not follow the code of God and lives according to his own likes and dislikes, of what use is his belief in the existence of God, if indeed he has any such belief? That is not all. If you reflect still deeper, you will come to the conclusion that belief in life after death is the most decisive factor in the life of a man. Its acceptance or rejection determines the very course of his life and behaviour.
A man who has in view success or failure in this world alone will be concerned with immediate benefits and ills. He will not be prepared to undertake any good act if he has no hope of gaining thereby some worldly interest, nor will he be keen to avoid any wrong act if it is not injurious to his interests in this world.
But a man who believes in the next world as well and is convinced of the final consequences of his acts will look on all worldly gains and losses as temporary and transitory and will not put his eternal bliss at stake for a passing gain. He will look on things in their wider perspective and always keep the permanent benefit or harm in view. He will do the good, however costly it may be to him in terms of worldly gains, or however injurious it may be to his immediate interests: and he will avoid the wrong, however tempting it may look. He will judge things from the viewpoint of their eternal consequences and not according to his whims and caprices.
Thus there is a radical difference between the beliefs, approaches and lives of the two persons. One's idea of a good act is limited to whether in this brief temporary life it will bring gain in the shape of money, property, public applause and similar other things which give him position, power, reputation and worldly happiness. Such things become his objectives in life. Fulfillment of his own wishes and self-aggrandizement become the be-all and end-all of his life. And he does not draw back even from cruel and unjust means to achieve his ends. Similarly, his conception of a wrong act is one, which may involve a risk or injury to his interests in this world such as loss of property and life, harming of health, blackening of reputation or some other unpleasant consequence.
In contrast to this man, the believer's concept of good and evil will be quite different. To him all that pleases God is good and all that invokes His displeasure and wrath is evil. A good act, according to him, will remain good even if it brings no benefit to him in this world, or even entails loss of some worldly possession or injury to his -personal interests. He will be confident that God will reward him in the eternal life and will be the real success. Similarly, he will not fall prey to evil deeds merely for some worldly gain, for he knows that even if he escapes punishment in his short worldly life, in the end he will be the loser because he will not be able to escape punishment from the court of God. He does not believe in the relativity of morals but sticks to the absolute standards revealed by God and lives according to them irrespective of gain or injury in this world.
Thus it is the belief or disbelief in life after death, which makes man adopt different courses in life. For one who does not believe in the Day of Judgement it is absolutely impossible to fashion his life as suggested by Islam.
Islam says "In the way of God give charity (zakah) to the poor." His answer is: "No zakah will lessen my wealth: I will, instead, take interest on my money," And in its collection he will not hesitate to take everything belonging to the debtors however poor or hungry they may be. Islam says: "Always speak the truth and shun lying, though you may gain ever so much by lying and lose ever so much by speaking the truth." But his reply will be "Well, what shall I do with a truth which is of no use to me here, and which instead brings loss to me; and why should I avoid lying where it can bring benefit to me without any risk, even that of a bad name?" He visits a lonely place and finds a precious metal lying there; in such a situation Islam says: "This is not your property, do not take it," but he would say: "This is a thing I have come by without any cost or trouble; why should I not have it? There is no one to see me pick this up, no one who might report it to the police or give evidence against me in a court of law, or give me a bad name among the people. Why should I not make use of this valuable?" Someone secretly keeps a deposit with this man, and eventually he dies. Islam says: "Be honest with the property deposited with you and give it over to the heirs of the deceased." He says: "Why? There is no evidence of his property being with me; his children also have no knowledge of it. When I can appropriate it without any difficulty, without any fear of legal claim, or stain on my reputation, why should I not do so?"
In short, at every step in life, Islam will direct him to walk in a certain direction and adopt a certain attitude and course of behaviour; but he will go in the opposite direction. For Islam measures and values everything from the viewpoint of its eternal consequence; while such a person always has in view only the immediate and earthly outcome. Now, you can understand why a man cannot be a Muslim without belief in the Day of Judgement. To be a Muslim is d very great thing; the fact is that one cannot even become a good man without this belief, for the denial of the Day of Judgement degrades man from humanity to a place even lower than that of the lowest of animals.
So far we have discussed the need and importance of belief in the Day of Judgement. Now let us consider how far the constituents of the belief are rationally understandable. The fact is that whatever Muhammad (blessings of Allah and peace be upon him) has told us about life after death is clearly borne out by reason. Although our belief in that Day is based on our implicit trust in the Messenger of God, rational reflection not only confirms this belief but also reveals that Muhammad's (blessings of Allah and peace be upon him) teachings in this respect are much more reasonable and understandable than any other viewpoint about life after death.
The following viewpoints are found about life after death:
1.Some people say that there is nothing left of man after death, and that after this life-ending event there is no other life. According to these people, belief in life after death has no reality. They say it is scientifically impossible. This is the view of the atheists who also claim to be scientific in their approach and bring in Western science to support their arguments.
2.Other people maintain that man, in order to bear the consequences of his deeds, is repeatedly regenerated in this world. If he lives a bad life, he will assume in the next generation the shape of some animal, such as a dog or a cat, or some tree or some lower kind of man. If his acts have been good, he will be reborn as a man into a higher class. This viewpoint is found in some Eastern religions.
3.There is a third viewpoint which calls for belie!' in the Day of Judgement, the Resurrection, man's presence in the Divine Court, and the meting out of reward and punishment. This is the common belief of all the Prophets.
Now let us consider these viewpoints one by one.
The first group, which arrogates to itself the authority and support of science, alleges that there is no life after death. They say that they have never seen anybody coming back from the dead. After death a man is reduced to dust; therefore, death is the end of life and there is no life after death. But consider this reasoning: is this really a scientific argument? Is the claim really founded on reason? If they have not seen a single case of revival after death, they can only say that they do not know what will happen after death. But, instead of remaining within this limit, they declare that nothing will happen after death, at the same time alleging that they speak out of knowledge! In fact they merely generalize on ignorance. Science tells us nothing — negative or positive — in this respect and their assertion that life after death has no existence is totally unfounded. Their claim is not dissimilar to the claim of an ignoramus who has not seen an aeroplane and on that 'knowledge' proclaims that aeroplanes do not exist at all! Because somebody has not seen a thing, it does not mean that that thing does not exist. No man, not even the whole of humanity, if it has not seen a thing, can claim that such a thing does not, or car-not, exist. This claim is out and out unscientific. No reasonable man can give it any weight.
Now look at the beliefs of the second group. According to them, a human being is a human being because in his previous animal form he had done good deeds; and an animal is an animal because previously as a human being he had behaved badly. In other words, to be a man or an animal is the consequence of one's deeds in one's former form. One may well ask "Which of them existed first, man or animal?" If they say man preceded animal, then they will have to accept that he must have been an animal before that, and was given a human form for its good deeds. If they say it was animal they will have to concede that there must have been before that a man who was transformed into an animal for his bad deeds. This leads to a vicious circle; the advocates of this belief cannot settle on any form for the first creature, for every generation implies a preceding generation so that the succeeding generation may be considered as the consequence of the former. This is simply absurd.
Now consider the third viewpoint. Its first proposition is: that "this world will one day come to an end. God will destroy and annihilate the universe, and in its place will evolve another higher and far superior cosmos."
This statement is undeniably true. No doubt can be cast on it. The more we reflect on the nature of the cosmos, the more clearly it is proved that the existing system is not permanent and everlasting: all the forces working in it are limited in their nature, and will one day be exhausted. That is why the scientists agree that one day the sun will become cold and will give up all its energy, stars will collide with one another and the whole system of the universe will be upset and destroyed. Moreover, if evolution is true in the case of the constituents of this universe, why may it not be true for the whole of it? To think of the universe becoming totally non-existent is more improbable than that it will pass into another evolutionary stage, and another, much-improved order of things will emerge.
The second proposition of this belief is that "man will again be given life". Is it impossible? If so, how did the present life of man become possible? It is evident that God Who created man in this world can do so in the next. Not only is it a possibility, it is also a positive necessity, as will be shown later.
The third proposition is that "the record of all the actions of man in this world is preserved and will be presented on the Day of Resurrection". The proof of the truth of this proposition is provided today by science itself. The sounds, which we make, produce slight waves in the air and die out. It has been discovered that the sound leaves its impression on its surrounding objects and can be reproduced. Gramophone records are made on this principle. From this it can be understood that the record of every movement of man is being impressed on everything, which comes into contact with the waves produced by the movements. This shows that the record of all our deeds is completely preserved and can be reproduced.
The fourth proposition is that "on the Day of Resurrection. God will hold His Court and, with just judgement, reward or punish man for his good and bad deeds". What is unreasonable about this? Reason itself demands that God should hold His court and pronounce judgement. We see men doing good deeds and gaining nothing in this world. We see other men doing bad deeds and not suffering for it. Not only this, we see thousands of cases of good acts bringing trouble on the doer, and of bad deeds resulting in the happiness and gratification of the guilty person. When we notice these events happening every day, our reason and sense of justice demand that a time must come when the man who does good must be rewarded and the one who does evil must be punished. If you have a tin of petrol and a match- box, you can set fire to the house of your opponent, and apparently escape every consequence. Does this mean that such an offence has no consequences at all? Certainly not! It means only that its physical outcome has appeared, and the moral outcome is hidden. Do you really think it reasonable that it should never appear? If you say it should, the question is, where? Certainly not in this world, where only the physical consequences of actions manifest themselves fully, and rational and moral consequences do not become apparent.
Results and consequences of this higher category can appear only if there comes into existence another order of things wherein rational and moral laws reign supreme and occupy the governing position and where the physical laws are made subject to them. That is the next world, which, as we have said before, is the next evolutionary stage of the universe. It is evolutionary in the sense that it will be governed by moral rather than by physical laws. The rational consequences of man's actions, which are hidden wholly or partly in this world, will then appear. Man's stature will be determined by his rational and moral worth judged in accordance with his conduct in this life of test and trial. There you will not find a worthy man serving under a fool, or a morally superior man in a position inferior to a wretch, as is the case in this world.
The last proposition of this belief is the existence of Paradise and Hell, which is also not impossible. If God can make the sun, the moon, the stars and the earth, why should He not be able to make Paradise and Hell? When He holds His Court, and pronounces just judgments, rewarding the meritorious and punishing the guilty, there must be a place where the meritorious may enjoy their reward — honour, happiness and gratification of all kinds — and another place where the condemned may feel debasement, pain and misery.
After considering all these questions, no reasonable person can escape the conclusion that belief in life after death is highly acceptable to reason and commonsense, and that there is nothing in it, which can be said to be unreasonable or impossible. Moreover, when a true Prophet like Muhammad (blessings of Allah and peace be upon him) has stated this to be a fact, and it involves nothing but what is good for us, wisdom lies in believing in it implicitly and not in rejecting it without any sound reasons.
The above are the five articles of faith, which form the foundation for the superstructure of Islam. Their gist is contained in the short sentence known as Kalimah-tayyibah. When you declare La illaha illallah (there is no deity but Allah), you give up all false deities, and profess that you are a creature of the One God; and when you add to these words Muhammad-ur-Rasulullah (Muhammad is Allah's Messenger) you confirm and admit the Prophethood of Muhammad (blessings of Allah and peace be upon him). With the admission of his Prophethood it becomes obligatory that you should believe in the divine nature and attributes of God, in His angels, in His Revealed Books and in life after death, and earnestly follow that method of obeying God and worshipping Him which the Prophet Muhammad (blessings of Allah and peace be upon him) has asked us to follow. That way lies the road to success and salvation.
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