The Call of the Quran pdf download

The call of the Quran

THE CALL OF THE QURAN

Book Contents

1. Divine Planning 7
2. The Call to God and Unity 35
3. The Witness of the Universe 49
4. Moral Concept of Islam 54
5. The Call of Dawah in the Modern Age

Divine planning

Adam was the first man as well as the first prophet. The generations succeeding Adam (according to some traditions) adhered to the path of monotheism and true religion for about a millennium.Adam’s people later came under the influence of polytheism (2: 213).

The Prophet Noah was then sent to reform the descendants of Adam who inhabited the green, luxuriant land lying between the Tigris and Euphrates.

Despite Prophet Noah’s prolonged efforts, Adam’s progeny, with the exception of a very few, remained resistant to renouncing their polytheistic religion. Consequently, the Great Storm came and swept away all human existence from the earth.

Now the human race made a fresh start with the followers of Noah. But again, this new generation, with the passage of time, digressed from the path of monotheism to the path of polytheism. This went on, repeatedly, for many centuries

 God continued to send prophets in succession (23:44), but far from showing any willingness to accept their message, people laughed His apostles to scorn (36:30).

This process continued for thousands of years until polytheism came to be firmly rooted in human existence.

Anyone born in the societies of those days came under the influence of polytheism from his surroundings.

Religious rituals, social ceremonies, national affairs, governmental organizations, —all were founded on polytheistic beliefs.

Ultimately, the situation deteriorated to the extent that any child born in this world opened his eyes in an atmosphere of idolatry and when he closed his eyes for the last time, it was in that same atmosphere.

The practice of idolatry, once having set in in history, became ineradicable. It is this state of affairs, which finds expression in this prayer of Noah:

 ‘Lord, do not leave a single unbeliever in the land. If You spare them, they will mislead Your servants and beget none but sinners and unbelievers.’ (71:27).

Prophet Abraham, who lived between 1800 and 2000 B.C., attempted to reform society in ancient Iraq, but met the same fate as that of the prophets preceding him.

Then God devised a new plan for the guidance of man.

It meant preparing a human race by exclusive divine arrangement, totally detaching them from the sphere of polytheistic influence, so that they would find it easier to accept the message of monotheism.

Then people so conditioned were to be used, as per the divine plan, to encounter and rout out the forces of polytheism in order to change the course of history.

Accordingly, Abraham was commanded to leave populated areas like Iraq, Egypt, Syria and Palestine for the desert land of ancient Makkah and settle his wife and little child Isma’il there.

Being an uncultivable valley, this area was totally devoid of human population, hence completely free from ancient polytheistic culture.

 This is what is meant by Abraham’s prayer:

“Lord, I have settled some of my offspring in a barren valley near Your Sacred House, so that they may observe the prayer” (14:37).

 That is to say, Abraham consciously chose a place which was beyond the influence of polytheism, so that there might arise a generation, nurtured in an environment free from polytheistic influences, who would become true worshippers of the one God.

The effect of such detachment from a cultural continuity is illustrated by an example from the life of the writer who belongs to an Urdu-speaking area.

My parents spoke Urdu, which is the mother tongue of my children.

Now it happened that my eldest son took up residence in London in an area with a predominantly English-speaking population.

 As a result, my grandsons now only know English and cannot express themselves in Urdu. On my visit to London, I had to converse with them in English.