Welcome to our weekly programme "Path towards Enlightenment" in which we present you a fluent and easy-to-understand explanation of the ayahs of the holy Qur’an. We start from where we left you last Friday and here is ayah 22 of Surah Zumar:

"Is someone whose breast Allah has opened to Islam so that he follows a light from His Lord [like someone entrapped in bias, obduracy, and vanity]? So woe to those whose hearts have been hardened to the remembrance of Allah. They are in manifest error."

Last week we explained the divine goal of rains to revive life and vegetation. Likewise, the ayah that we recited to you now regarding the role of Divine Revelation in enlightening minds and souls, could be compared to the showers of rain that descend upon the hearts of mankind, enabling the deserving, just as the arable land, to absorb this guidance from heaven to accept the truth of Islam.

The Islamic faith rests on arguments and one possessing freshness of mind may draw a distinction between truth and falsity through Divine Light. This ayah introduces people whose breasts are open to Islam because of reasoning while those whose hearts are darkened deprive themselves of truth and salvation. In other words, those trapped in intransigence, ignorance, and arrogance, are unable to realize the ultimate truth.

Faith in God develops the human faculties and opens up eyes and minds, irrespective of the person’s age, whether 70 or 80. Such a person, even as death approaches, is able to see the eternal bliss of afterlife.

The next part of the ayah: “So woe to those whose hearts have been hardened to the remembrance of Allah. They are in manifest error," is according to exegetes of the holy Qur’an, is a reference to such persons as Abu Lahab the misled and infidel uncle of the Prophet, who was unable to avail of the light of Islam.

From this ayah we learn that:

1. By virtue of faith in God, the human breast is expanded and new horizons appear before the believers.
2. Divine light enables the believer lead a life of righteousness by avoiding the dangers of disbelief.
3. Atheism, polytheism and other deviationist tendencies are actually denial of the manifest truth, and fall into the abyss of self-destruction.

Now we listen to or read ayah 23 of Surah Zumar:

"Allah has sent down the best of discourses, a scripture [composed] of similar motifs, whereat quiver the skins of those who fear their Lord, then their skins and hearts soften to Allah’s remembrance. That is Allah’s guidance, by which He guides whomever He wishes; and whomever Allah leads astray, has no guide."

This ayah first mentions several attributes of the holy Qur’an and then draws a comparison between the situations of the believers and unbelievers.

As the Creator and creatures are not comparable with each other, the Words of the Almighty Creator are not comparable to whatever is uttered or expressed by the creatures, however, educated and wise they are. In other words, the holy Qur’an is the Revealed Word of God Almighty and thus the best of discourses for the guidance of mankind. These Words of the heavenly scripture are clearly distinct from the words of humanity, and differs from even the words of Prophet Mohammad (SAWA). Although the holy Qur’an has been conveyed to us by the Prophet and the early Muslims heard it from the Prophet himself, it is distinct Divine Revelation and not the words of the Prophet, as could be clear by the vivid difference in the style and eloquence of the ayahs of the holy Qur’an, and the hadiths or expressions of the Prophet.

For those with even a grain of faith, the ayahs of the holy Qur’an create a feeling of awe, since the expressions alluding to different topics mentioned in the Divine Scripture, are proof of the fact that they are never boring; rather they are enthusing and invigorating.

The blessed ayahs revealing Divine Wrath and warnings naturally make the hearts shiver, but are followed by ayahs pertaining to Divine Mercy and thus leading to peace of mind. In other words, reflection upon the Essence of Truth and the Pre-eternality and Infiniteness of God’s Pure Essence causes fear in hearts, but pondering on the Signs of the Sacred Essence in the horizons and souls bestows peace of mind on the believers.

The holy Qur’an is indeed guidance for humanity from the Almighty Creator Who facilitates the ways of guidance for the deserving, while those who turn away from the manifest truth, actually deprive themselves of Divine Mercy and Salvation.

From this ayah we learn that:

1. The holy Qur’an is the best and the most excellent form of discourse.
2. The ayahs of the holy Qur’an never contradict each other and pursue a single goal, without the least inconsistency.
3. The people of faith, when they recite the ayahs pertaining to divine wrath, will awe, but when reciting the ayahs of mercy, they become hopeful.
4. God has provided guidance for all human beings, and the holy Qur’an has not been sent to guide only a certain people. The holy Qur’an is the Revealed Word of the One and Only Creator for all humanity.

AS/ME