messengers communicated to mankind that there is only one God worthy of being worshipped, and they should shun the worship of any other being. However, since God was unseen, the majority did not pay any heed to

these messengers. Veneration or worshipping God meant to worship a being which was unobservable. Man, who wanted to revere some visible object, made nature his god by virtue of its visibility. Polytheism is

of speech. Those who proclaimed the Oneness of God were regularly subjected to such forms of persecution as stoning, burning, and the tearing of their bodies apart. The reason for this was that earlier

polytheism. That is, the kings of ancient times ruled in the capacity of representatives of their assumed gods. Whenever there was, any move by enlightened persons to demonstrate that polytheism was baseless;

all right -thinking people to “fight against (religious persecution) so that religion is only for God” (2:193). And, indeed the revolution brought about by the Prophet of Islam caused idolatry to be re-defined

this selection will be done by none other than God Almighty in the world hereafter. The hearts of the people of Paradise will be filled with the glory of God. (39:75) This is the first quality of a muzakka

muzakka person. That is, he must discover the glory of God in the present world and acknowledge it from deep within his heart. Glorifying God is always a result of discovery. It means that a person should

Creator of this universe, and that he should acknowledge Him and surrender before Him totally. Belief in God is another name for this conscious discovery. This belief, or realization, is an intellectual revolution

who make one God the centre of their feelings of worship are the true worshippers. Whereas those who make other than God their object of worship are indulging in shirk, or polytheism. And God will never

acknowledged Prophet for all time, enabling people to enter into the sphere of God’s mercy in an unending procession. With God’s choice of Muhammad, then, prophethood was given historical credibility. This

of divine proclamation. Certain conditions had to be fulfilled before this could happen. Firstly, God’s commandments relating to every walk of human life had to be revealed. This was duly accomplished as

permanent preservation of the Quran. This task Almighty God took upon Himself: “It was We who revealed Quran, and We will certainly preserve it.”7 God’s way with previous prophets had been to send them with

acknowledged Prophet for all time, enabling people to enter into the sphere of God’s mercy in an unending procession. With God’s choice of Muhammad, then, prophethood was given historical credibility. This

of divine proclamation. Certain conditions had to be fulfilled before this could happen. Firstly, God’s commandments relating to every walk of human life had to be revealed. This was duly accomplished as

permanent preservation of the Quran. This task Almighty God took upon Himself: “It was We who revealed Quran, and We will certainly preserve it.”7 God’s way with previous prophets had been to send them with

O God, I seek Your protection from misery and grief, from weakness and laziness, and from the burden of loans and from things that will make others overcome me. HADITH OF AL-BUKHARI AND MUSLIM ON THE AUTHORITY

related how she heard the Prophet praying thus: ‘O God, be lenient with me while judging me.’ When she asked him what leniency of judgement meant, he said, ‘God’s forgiveness after He has seen a man’s record

mind is either God-oriented or selforiented. It sees people through either divine or personal lenses. These are two very different ways of seeing things. Those who look at matters from God’s point of view

not on the basis of their own biased opinions. They see people as they really are, for that is how God views them. Others see things quite differently. They view people in the light of their own interests

Members of their own clique are “white”, strangers “black”. The true Muslim sees everybody from God’s point of view. He does not judge others on the basis of personal opinion. It is this divine vision

For one who lives in this present world as a true seeker of Paradise, is one who will be selected by God to be lodged in eternal Paradise. Those who fail to become seekers of Paradise in their present lives

are set on things other than Paradise are not held desirable by God.These are the people who have set no value upon the blessings of God in this world. Their case is one of showing disrespect rather than

receive the blessing of sharing in the heavenly provision of Paradise. They ignored God’s Paradise in the present world. Now God will ignore them in the Hereafter. In the world Hereafter they will be subjected

But God repeatedly gave them the good tidings that they were His representatives and that, therefore, no one could overcome them. They seek to extinguish the light of God with their mouths; but God will

possible is that he was God’s emissary, and that purely on the strength of God’s assistance, he was able to gain a victory over his enemies. And such was the victory granted by God to his mission that all

the whole of human history (p.228). There is such compelling evidence of his being a messenger of God that even Sir William Muir, the distinguished orientalist, has accepted him as such, albeit indirectly