Pars Today

Welcome to our latest episode of “Path towards Enlightenment” which is an endeavour to make you and us familiar with an easy and fluent explanation of God’s Final Scripture to all mankind, the holy Qur’an that was revealed to the Last and Greatest of all Messengers, Prophet Mohammad (blessings of God upon him and his progeny).

Last week we started explanation of “Surah Saff”, which was revealed in Medina and declares God’s love of all those believers who maintain the solid ranks or unity in selflessly and fearlessly defending Islam. It encourages the believers to stick together in support of God’s cause and criticizes those who broke their word and those who argued against the faith. Moses and Jesus are among the prophets whose communities became fragmented: the rebellious were left to go astray and the faithful granted success.

We continue from where we left you a fortnight ago and here is Ayah 5:

“When Moses said to his people, ‘O my people! Why do you torment me, when you certainly know that I am Allah’s Messenger to you?’ So when they swerved [from the right path], Allah left their hearts to swerve, and Allah does not guide the transgressing lot.”

This Ayah is a reference to the troubles given by the Israelites to Prophet Moses despite the favours of God Almighty to them. They annoyed him to such an extent that they ridiculed the miracles he performed as magic and accused him of forging lies despite the fact that they were certain of his mission as the Prophet of God. The Israelites deviated from the Straight Path and because of the extent of their evil deeds the All-Merciful Lord left them to drift away from the Path of Truth. Thus, there is no affliction worse than deprivation of Divine Justice and the hardening of the heart to drift away from the Path of Truth.

This Ayah teaches us the following points:

1. Familiarity with the accounts of the Prophets makes us firm-footed on the path of God and inspires us to resist against hardships.
2. The Israelites were ungrateful to the favours of God and disobeyed the Prophets, including Prophet Moses, who delivered them from the tyranny of the Pharaoh. They thus deprived themselves of Divine guidance.

Now listen to Ayah 6 of the same Surah:

“And when Jesus son of Mary said, ‘O Children of Israel! Indeed I am the Messenger of Allah to you, to confirm what is before me of the Torah, and to give the good news of a Messenger who will come after me, whose name is Ahmad.’ But when he brought them manifest proofs, they said, ‘This is plain magic.’”

This Ayah points to the message of Prophet Jesus who confirmed to the Israelites the teachings of Prophet Moses and gave the good news to them of the coming of the Last and Greatest Messenger of God, that is Prophet Muhammad (blessings of God upon him and his progeny). The name “Ahmad” mentioned in this Ayah means “Praiseworthy”, and despite the interpolation of the “Evangel”, this prophecy of Prophet Jesus of the coming of the Last Prophet is preserved. This is evident by the word “Comforter” used for “Ahmad” in the English translation of the Gospel of Saint John, which says in Verse 16 of Chapter 14:

“He will give you another to be your Comforter, who will be with you for ever-the spirit of truth.”

In verse 13 of chapter 16 of the same Gospel, Jesus also says of the Prophet to come after him:

“However, when he comes who is the spirit of truth, he will guide into all the truth, he will not speak on his own authority, but will tell only what he hears; and he will make known to you the things that are coming.”

Prophet Jesus performed miracles like raising the dead, curing the blind, moulding birds out of clay and infusing life into them by the command of the Almighty Creator, but the ever-rebellious Israelites, rejected these miracles as magic. Along with the pagan Arabs, they also ridiculed the miracles performed by the Prophet of Islam, as magic.

From this Ayah we learn that:

1. Every Prophet used to confirm the mission of the past Prophets and give tidings of the Prophets to come after.
2. Prophet Jesus has explicitly announced the universal mission of Prophet Muhammad (blessings of God upon him and his progeny).
3. The prophecies of Jesus regarding Islam are all too evident in the Bible despite the interpolation.
4. The deniers of truth ridicule miracles as magic.

Here we present you Ayahs 7, 8, and 9 of Surah Saff in conclusion of this week’s episode:

“And who is a greater wrongdoer than him who fabricates falsehoods against Allah, while he is being summoned to Islam? And Allah does not guide the wrongdoing lot.”

“They desire to put out the Light of Allah with their mouths, but Allah will perfect His Light though the faithless should be averse.

“It is He who has sent His Prophet with the guidance and the religion of truth that He may make it prevail over all religions though the polytheists should be averse.”

These Ayahs are reference to those evil persons who when invited to the Path of Truth resort to blasphemy, even against the Almighty Creator, and as a result are left by God to go astray. Allah sends His guidance freely, but withdraws His grace from those who willfully indulge in falsehood and debasing superstitions in opposition to the light of eternal unity and harmony, which is Islam. The Divine Light of guidance enlightens the seekers of truth in all times. It is a continuous process. It is inextinguishable, despite the gravity of the plots of the disbelievers to try to snuff it out.

The Islamic doctrines are steadily gaining ground all over the world through promotion of the concept of justice, harmony, fraternity, human rights, and the real freedom for women – free from exploitation by men.

Thus, to aversion of the disbelievers, the light of guidance of Islam, its progress towards ultimate triumph over all other religions, will illuminate the whole world with the advent in end times of the Prophet’s 12^th and Last Infallible Heir, Imam Mahdi (AS), who will end corruption on Earth and establish the global government of peace, prosperity, and justice.

From these Ayahs we learn that:

1. It is a cardinal sin to ascribe lies to the Almighty Creator and his Prophets.
2. The genuine teachings of Islam are light since their enlighten hearts, minds, and souls.
3. The enemies of humanity have always tried to put out the light of guidance through every means, but have miserably failed.
4. Islam is the universal religion, and will eventually prevail over all creeds and schools of thought.
5. God Almighty Who sent Prophets for the guidance of human beings has promised the eventual triumph of Islam, even if the disbelievers are averse, with the reappearance of Imam Mahdi and his global government of peace, prosperity and justice.

AS/MG