Welcome to our weekly program "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 are ayahs 31 and 32 of Surah Fatir:

“That which We have revealed to you of the Book is the truth, confirming what was [revealed] before it. Indeed Allah is All-Aware, All-Seeing about His servants.”

“Then We made heirs to the Book those whom We chose from Our servants. Yet some of them are those who wrong themselves, and some of them are average, and some of them are those who take the lead in all the good works by Allah’s Will. That is the greatest grace [of Allah]!”

These ayahs that we recited are a firm indication that in the holy Qur’an there is not a single word that could be called idle, superstitious or illogical, let alone being a false statement. As a matter of fact, it is the holy Qur’an, the final revelation of the Almighty for the guidance of all human beings, which confirms or invalidates the legitimacy of other books, that is, the previously revealed scriptures, such as the Torah and Evangel, since interlopers have tampered with the contents of these sacred texts.

There is no contradiction in the text of the holy Qur’an, let alone falsehood. Its wordings are consistent with the logic of wisdom. Even its reference to the events of the past and sometimes detailed accounts in this regard are meant to remove the myths and legends which became associated with certain ancient events. The contents of the holy Qur’an harmoniously blend with human nature and the logical needs of mankind. This is a clear proof of the fact that the holy Qur’an, is the final heavenly scripture revealed by God the All-Aware and All-Seeing to Prophet Mohammad (blessings of God upon him and his progeny).

The next ayah speaks of the heirs of the holy Qur’an to whom God entrusted the task of protection of the letter and spirit of this heavenly scripture. It is apparent that the reference is to two three groups, and of these the first group failed to fulfil the great duty of protecting this Book and performing its ordinances. In fact, they did injustice to themselves, as is clear by God’s words: “those who wrong themselves”.

Another group did a good job in shouldering the responsibility of protecting the holy Qur’an by adhering to its contents, although they had some faults and shortcomings in their deeds. This is the reason the All-Merciful Lord has referred to them as “some of them are average”.  

And, finally, the third group is made up of outstanding and distinguished persons who diligently fulfil the task assigned to them by protecting the letter and spirit of the holy Qur’an in their deeds and in their statements, thereby outpacing all others. To use the words of the holy Qur’an for them: “those who take the lead in all the good works by Allah’s Will. That is the greatest grace [of Allah]!”

This group excels all and everybody else in piety, worship, obedience to God, wisdom, knowledge, morality, magnanimity, philanthropy, bravery, kindness, service to mankind and even self-sacrifice.

These are the heirs to the holy Qur’an and the divinely-designated heirs of the Prophet of Islam.

From these ayahs we learn that:

1.  The holy Qur’an is without the least blemish, let alone superstition or falsehood, since it is the embodiment of divine truth.
2. The theme of the messages of all heavenly scriptures is the same and so also missions of the prophets of the past.
3. The true heirs of the holy Qur’an are those who are paragons-par-excellence of virtue and all other positive values.  

Now we listen to and read ayahs 33, 34 and 35 of Surah Fatir:

“Gardens of Eden, which they will enter, adorned therein with bracelets of gold and pearl, and their garments therein will be of silk.”

“They will say, ‘All praise belongs to Allah, who has removed all grief from us. Indeed Our Lord is All-Forgiving, All-Appreciative,”

“Who has settled us in the everlasting abode by His grace. In it we are untouched by toil, and untouched therein by fatigue.”

These ayahs give the second and third groups of people mentioned in the previous ayah, the promise of reward of paradise in afterlife. Paradise, is full of bliss without the least worries or anxieties, and it is the place allotted by God to His virtuous servants for their sincere endeavours while alive.

The dwellers of paradise thank God all the time for having removes all grief from them, for which they are appreciative to the Lord Most High.

Neither depression nor boredom engulfs the dwellers of paradise by the Grace of God, and they are thankful for relieving them from any toil and fatigue.

From these ayahs we learn that:

1. Paradise and its eternal bliss are the rewards of God to the virtuous.
2. In paradise, the comfort of the body is coupled with peace of mind.
3. The dwellers of paradise are always appreciative of divine favours and constantly thank the All-Merciful and All-Forgiving Lord for His Grace.

AS/ME