Message of the Quran

By:  Dr. Maqsood Jafri

The Holy Quran is the word of God. The prophet Hazrat Mohammad (PBUH)  was untutored. The Arabic word "Umm"i means the man who can not read or write. He was the student of God. The translation of the Arabic word "Ummi" as illiterate is incorrect. He was not the student of any person but of God. The Quran is a living miracle. It is a revealed book buttressed with charming style and universal message. In the Quran there are 114 chapters which are divided in to " ayats"(verses). The chapters vary in length. The longest Surah( chapter) is The Heifer. it contains 286 verses while the shortest Surah is Al-Kusar containing 3 verse. Most of them, however, were revealed piecemeal to the Prophet during the two periods of his call. The Makkan period ( 610--622 A.D) and the Madinan period ( 622--632 A.D). Ninety three chapters were revealed in the former period and twenty one in the later period. During these intermittent and piecemeal revelations of the Quran, the prophet used to recite the revealed portions to his companions who would commit them to memory and also write them.

The Quran consists of three basic components; the words, the laws and the history of the nations. The words of the Quran are in Arabic language. The original language of the Quran is overwhelmed by the power of divine lyricism and sublimity. The Quran is neither poetry nor prose. Its' unique diction is distinct and can not be imitated. The Quranic words have a healing and miraculous power. Despite their meanings and messages, these divine words have soothing spiritual and miraculous impact. Unfortunately, the Muslims since centuries under the influence of monarchy and hollow clergy have emphasized more on recitation and ignored the revolutionary message. The style of the Quran is majestic, moving, mobilizing, elevating, exulting, motivating, captivating, brief, concise, lyrical and simple. Even the person who does not know Arabic is moved to tears on hearing the words of the Quran. No book except the Quran is committed to memory in whole or in parts than the Quran. Its' verses are like maxims and are the compendium of wisdom. I have studied Arabic language at school and college level and when I recite it I am transported to an ecstatic spiritual world. It is humbly prescribed that the non- Arabs should recite the Quran and also read its' translation in their mother tongue to understand the message of God. when some heretics blamed the prophet for concoction, the Quran challenged them to write one chapter like it. No one could accept this chapter hitherto.

The Message of the Quran is natural, humane, universal, progressive, revolutionary and rational. The tragedy with the Quran is that the non- Muslims do not read it and the Muslims do not understand it. The clerics recite it exploit the masses and derive the meanings that suit their sect. The Message of the Quran is for all times and climes. It is for all races. The Quran address the believers and all mankind. Its' basic injunctions and tenets are for all nations and for all times. The message of the Quran is important. The Quran invites all humans to the Way of God. It says:" Call to the Way of thy Lord with wisdom and goodly exhortation, and have dialogues with them in the best manner."  This verse teaches us to be moderate, tolerant, cultured, civic and pluralistic. It is the harbinger of harmony between different faiths. It invites to inter faith dialogue. It rejects the concept of the use of sword in religion. It nullifies the war mongering attitude and bloodbath. It leads to peace and mutual respect. The moral, spiritual, political, social and economic laws have been promulgated in a very candid way. there is ambiguity in the Quranic message. The obscurantism is created by professional sectarian clerics for petty purposes. They laws of the Quran are known as "Shariah." They are permanent laws and can not be changed with the passage of time. They are the roots and pillars of the edifice of Islam. They are social norms. Suppose the Quran prohibits theft, adultery, fornication, murder, bribery, falsehood, adulteration, back biting, smuggling, obscenity and nudity. These are the basic human positive values. No sane person can reject these universal human norms.

The Quranic laws are for enforcement and enactment. The Quranic laws are to be enacted in totality and entirety. The rights and responsibilities must be cared. The persons who commit virtues are mentioned as the people of success. The Quranic concept of virtue is not only prayers but good deeds. Deeds are of two types. Good deeds and bad deeds. Any thing that benefits mankind is a good deed and any thing that harms the humans is a bad deed. The persons who commit good deeds are called as positive souls with pure and pious character. The positive deeds are virtues and the negative deeds are vices. Virtue breeds a happy mind set and fortifies the inner self of the virtuous person while the sins and crimes disfigure and stultify human personality. In the Quran justice, peace, humanity, equality, sacrifice, forgiveness, honesty, fidelity and fraternity are considered virtues. 

Islam provides the basis for the construction of balanced, noble, peaceful and progressive society. Do not vilify Time, as time itself is God. It is a symbolic saying of the Holy Prophet. It exhibits the importance of time factor in shaping the religious norms in the light of the Quran and the Practice of the Prophet at soul searching level. it is called "ijtehad" in Islam. Once a man asked Jamal-ud-Deen Afghani as to what was the cause of the worldly progress of the West. He replied: "abandonment of religion." Then the same questioner asked him the cause of the downfall and decline of the Muslims. He retorted:" abandonment of religion." The questioner got confused on this queer reply. He said:" Kindly explain to me. This statement seems bewildering. It is contradictory. How the Westerners became prosperous on forsaking the religion and how the Muslims embraced decline on the same ground."  Jamal-ud-Deen said:" The nature of religion in the west is based on obscurantism, superstitions, whims, blind faith, dogmas, rituals and irrational taboos. The Europeans forsook them and adopted rational and scientific attitude and progressed. But Islam is a rational, natural, progressive, and humane religion. The Muslims abandoned it and became the victim of retrogressive and irrational rites, hence are doomed to destruction." This analysis is hundred percent correct. The Muslims are under the stone wall of monarchy, retrogression, rituals and sectarian rites and rifts. This is the reason they are in the state of depletion and destruction. We have to fight retrogressive clergy and call kings to implement the Real Islam that provides justice, freedom, equality, equity, parity, purity, love, moderation, modernity and peace. The world Islam means obedience to God and peace for humanity. It abhors war and promotes peace. The religious extremists and terrorists are out if the pale of Islam.

The protection of human rights is the core message of the Quran. when we ignore humane element from religion, we miss the real divine goal. The Muslims must stand for the uplift of human rights as they are ordained in the Quran to eliminate injustice and fight tyrants and terrorists. The Muslim jurists must reconstruct the religious thought in the light of modern needs. If we ponder on the political and economic issues in the Muslim world, we find that the Muslims have neither political rights nor the economic rights. The Quran stresses on two points. Haqooq Allah( The rights of God) and Haqooq -ul Abad ( The rights of People).  The former means that we must pray and avoid making partners with God. " Shirk" is the greatest sin in Islam. God is One. No partner of God.  Then the Quran stresses on the need of justice. It is the miracle of the Quran that in a few words it instructs. Suppose about political system it prescribes general consensus. In the Chapter "Shoorah," the Quran exhorts democratic norms. The Quran condemns monarchy and promotes democracy. So far as the social justice and economic justice is considered, the Quran exhorts economic parity. In a verse the Quran says that more than Need must be surrendered. The people who do not willingly surrender surplus wealth are warned in an other verse. It orders the Islamic government to usurp surplus wealth and distribute it in the have-nots. In economic terminology, the Needs are the basic needs and must be provided to all humans. The basic human needs are food, clothing, shelter, education and health care. Whether it is a Socialist government, a welfare state or an Islamic State, these basic five needs have to be provided to citizens. The economic term Wants are unlimited. The Needs are limited. The capitalist economy supports the Wants of the elite class while the Socialist and Islamic Economy support the concept of Basic Needs and rejects the Wants of the Capitalists. The Quran has cited so many stories of the prophets and nations to guide humans so that the people should learn lessons. I strongly suggest the sane element to study the Quran and interpret it in its' true spirit for the betterment of humanity.