قرآن مجید

Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said one day: "Know that a time is near when the door of trials (fitan) will be opened. I asked, what is the way of safety from these trials? He said: the only thing that saves from the trials is the Book of Allah, the Glorious Quran. This Quran is the Book in which are the reports of the nations before you (their guidance and misguidance, their rise and fall), and also the reports of what will come after you (which will come before you in life, then at the time of death and in the grave and at the Gathering) all are present in it. And in it is the solution of all the differences and disputes that may arise among you. This Quran is the Book that decides between truth and falsehood. There is not a single thing in it that could be called idle or useless jest. Remember, whoever, out of his pride and rebellion, does not pay heed to the noble Quran (that is, out of arrogance turns his face away from the Quran), Allah will shatter him to pieces; and whoever, turning away from this Quran, seeks guidance and success somewhere else, Allah will thrust him into the cave of misguidance (that is, he will remain deprived of true guidance). This Quran is the firm rope of Allah; it is such counsel that in its soundness there is no room for doubt, and it is the Straight Path. It is that firm and secure Book in which those who follow their desires cannot make any change (that is, just as distortion entered the earlier Books through tongues, no distortion can enter the Quran; Allah has arranged for its preservation until the Day of Resurrection). It is the sacred Book that people of different languages will recite, yet their different dialects will have no effect upon it. It is that treasure of knowledge from acquiring which the seekers of knowledge are never quenched (that is, the process of reflecting upon the Quran and searching out its realities and insights will always continue, and a time will never come when there is nothing left to gain from the Quran; rather the state of the students of the Quran will always be that the further they advance in its knowledge, the more their thirst increases, and their feeling will be that what we have attained is nothing compared with what we have not yet attained). Nor does this Book grow old through frequent recitation (that is, whereas the state of other books of the world is that after reading them again and again a person finds no pleasure in reading them, the matter of the Holy Quran is the very opposite: the more it is recited and the more it is pondered and reflected upon, the more its pleasure and delight increases). It is that rare Book whose wonders described within it have no limit. Yes, it is the very Book, hearing which the jinn had to acknowledge and said: we have heard a wondrous Book which is certainly a divine revelation, so we believe in it. This Book is entirely a treasure of guidance and right direction. It is the Book: whoever speaks by it is certainly truthful, whoever acts upon it obtains reward, whoever makes it his law acts justly, and whoever calls towards it is certainly a guide to the Straight Path."

This noble hadith is without doubt a most comprehensive hadith in describing the greatness and excellence of the Glorious Quran. The greatest Book of the world was sent down upon the greatest human being of the world, Hazrat Muhammad (peace be upon him). During the twenty-three years of prophethood, this greatest Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), acting solely upon the revelation of Allah, showed the people the way of following the Quran, and at the same time urged the community to hold fast to the Quran and to make it alone their leader (Al-Hadith). The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) made the leadership and guidance of the Quran binding, because this and this alone is the divine guidance that can bring the children of Adam to their intended destination and restore to them their inheritance. But alas, the community made this heavenly guidance a forgotten bouquet placed on a shelf, withdrew from following it, deprived itself of walking in its light, and thus lost the reality of the Quran; and as Allama Iqbal says:

"The truth was lost in myths; this community was lost in traditions."

The British Prime Minister Baldwin rightly said that if you wish to bring the Muslims to ruin and collapse, take the Quran and the sword out of their hands, and they will be finished entirely. Thus the Crusader nations did exactly that, and today the Muslim community is deprived of that mercy and blessing which it could obtain in return for holding to the Quran and acting upon it. Until the Muslim community regains the fresh spirit of the Quran, this will remain its plight, which continues to this day. It is a matter of shame and disgrace that a community whose God is living, whose Book, the Quran, is true and living, should decline in such a way and become so humiliated and disgraced. Therefore, for salvation and success in this world and the Hereafter, it is necessary that, in accordance with the noble command of the Master of both worlds (peace be upon him), we turn back to the Glorious Quran. Let us take courage, go forward, open the shining pages of the Glorious Quran with respect, understand its meanings and insights through reflection and thought, obey its commands and its prohibitions, its words and its rulings, and act upon them with a sincere heart; then the second renaissance of Islam is not far.

"Cast the lasso of your resolves higher, up to the galaxy; then show the age once more the strength of your arm."